Tag Archives: united

Moustache Mania

Tany Ling here. I’ve recently returned from a quick work trip to Florida to record some vocals for the new Trans-Siberian Orchestra album “Nightcastle”, due out later this year. It was fantastic to see some of the gang again, even though I was bonkers due to insomnia and all that time-traveling.

Anyhow, this Saturday I spent a lovely afternoon downtown attending L.A.’s first Renegade Craft Fair. I was expecting to catch the roving rabble-rousers Killsonic, which sometimes features IJG’s very own Daniel Rosenboom, but, alas, I was off by one day, as they’ll be stirring it up this Sunday at 3pm.

Yet, I was not disappointed with the offerings off the day. Notably, there was a plethora of moustaches all about this craft parade. I was particularly tickled by these plush ‘staches from Fuzzy Ink:
colorful_staches giant_stache
And, yes, I did enter the drawing to win the Monster ‘Stache.

Fuzzy-Ink also served up this graphic on a t-shirt

Also of note were these wearable ‘staches (below left), though you wouldn’t want to wear them on your face, unless you’re already pierced there:
staches_on_bag beards
No, the IJG hasn’t gone bearded as of yet, but those (above right), from I Made You A Beard were too fun to exclude.

So, what’s with all the moustaches? From the multiple artists here to the dudes from that United video, to the well-‘stached guy at the craft fair wearing the red sweater who I was too shy to ask for a photo op, I felt like I was a member of a popular taste-maker’s club. Because, you see, I, too have been ‘stached. All of us in the IJG, in fact, know the moustache well. As do our fans, as evidenced here:
IJGmoustaches2629

Soon, thanks to our new-ish tune “Theme For A Cable News Show”, all you lucky folks who’ll be able to catch us on our October 2009 tour (with many more dates/locations soon to be posted) throughout the North East will know the power of the moustache. Is there, perhaps, one lying in bed next to you right now?

United breaks guitars

Our faux-mustachioed brethren, Sons of Maxwell, sing a true song of woe called United Breaks Guitars. The band’s singer/guitarist, Dave Carroll (no relation to our own Ian Carroll), had his Taylor guitar obliterated by the United ground crew at O’Hare, and when he didn’t get no satisfaction from that fine airline over the course of 9 months, he decided to get all songwritey and YouTubey about it. YES! I love this man!

This, my friends, is why The Industrial Jazz Group is a Southwest Airlines kind of band. I love their low fares, snarky attitude, no-change-fee policy, blah blah blah, all that. They just freakin’ rule.

You know, for all the cross-country flying that we do (which is a lot, considering we’re 17 people), I think Southwest should give us some kind of corporate sponsorship. Don’t you think? “The Industrial Jazz Group: The official avant-garde party band of Southwest Airlines” sounds pretty good to me.