Checking Out John Flansburgh

Cinco de Mayo weekend marked another Vermont visit for me, this time to beautiful Burlington on a springy, sunny weekend. The Best Friend had booked a hotel for us and whisked me away a day early; we checked in late Friday afternoon. As we walked from our room to a nearby restaurant (and a "surprise" for me, I was informed) on Friday evening, we passed by the Higher Ground Ballroom. "THEY MIGHT BE GIANTS - MAY 4", annnounced the marquee. It took me a while (nearly halfway through our meal, really) to assimilate the info, but when I did, I was ecstatic -- the BF had gotten tickets just the day before, and... we were going to our third TMBG concert together, that very night! Wahoo!

The show was to start at 8:00, so after dinner we went back to the room for a while to play Word Sweep and check out the Red Sox pre-game stuff on TV. Later, as we prepared to head over to the concert, I glanced out our fourth floor window to the walkway below. A dark haired dude with glasses was passing below. He was sipping a coffee and munching a muffin or donut as he walked. "Cute guy," I thought. I had just been thinking about Burlington and how a lot of interesting people around my age (but with perhaps a younger mindset) tended to live there, and here was a perfect example bobbing along the sidewalk 40 feet away. Then a flash of recognition: his slightly gray, slightly spiky hair, his build, his features... "Flans! It's Flans!" I shouted to the BF in the bathroom. John Flansburgh was staying at our hotel. "It was Flans! I just saw him!" I repeated.

"Cool. What channel?" came the voice from the bathroom.

"No, no... he's HERE. I just saw him out the window! I think he was walking into the lobby!"

We grabbed our room keys and took the stairs down to the lobby, but I guess we were a bit too slow: there was no sign of Flans. We paced around outside and even camped out on a bench for a while, but as 8:00 approached and Mr. Flansburgh continued not to appear, we decided to stop our spontaneous stalking.

I told the BF as we walked to Higher Ground: "I can't believe I was checking John Flansburgh out".

The show? Yes, of COURSE it rocked. There are some very good accounts of it here.

Personally, it just may have been my favorite concert ever.