05/18/2002 Entry: "Rabid Child."

Last night The Boyfriend and I saw the West Coast premiere of the documentary Gigantic: A Tale of Two Johns at the San Francisco Indie Festival's DocFest. The movie was pretty good; very good if you're a fan of They Might Be Giants. If nothing else, it should be noted that the camera-shy Ira Glass actually appears on film. He doesn't even hide behind the microphone. Much.

Regrettably, the film was showing at Studio Z (formerly the Transmission Theater.) I say unfortunately because it's a 21-and-over venue. So the family who brought their teenage, They-head daughters to see the film couldn't come in, even after waiting outside the theater in the cold for nearly two hours (they were late opening the doors due to sound problems.) Someone somewhere—either a festival organizer or the owner of the space—neglected to mention this on any of the promotional materials. So we all had to file in past a crying 14-year-old girl, frustrated and disappointed that she couldn't see her favorite band's new movie. Ouch.

I might have forgotten about it after the movie if the point hadn't been drilled home during the movie itself; smart junior-high and high-school students make up one segment of the TMBG fan base, attracted by Their clever lyrics and quirky sound. So the scene of a teenage girl crying after having met John and John was poignant, not just because of memories of my own sometimes awkward and painful adolescence.

I know the Johns love playing for kids too...They're even releasing a new kids album, No!, in June, which looks to be as much fun for big kids as for little ones.