FOB
Friends Of Bart
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Don't Crush That Dwarf, Hand Me The PliersI have, inadvertently, plaid a cruel joke upon a friend on the occasion of her birthday. I purchased her a copy of The Firesign Theatre's Don't Crush That Dwarf, Hand Me The Pliers… My reasoning was quite simple, and quite benign. I found this in the bookstore, and said to myself, "This is widely regarded as the strongest work of the greatest comedy / social satire / audio theatre group in the history of the world. It is also one of my personal favorites. My friend teaches English, specifically Digital Technology & Culture. She should enjoy and appreciate this." So I took it home. Upon further consideration, I began to believe that I was committing a faux pas equivalent to buying someone who has never read Joyce before a copy of Finnegan's Wake. The Firesign Theatre is complicated. Their work is essentially a contiguous, branching narrative with recurring characters, themes, settings, styles, and gags. "Dwarf" is at the center of this narrative. The beginning would be a less daunting place to start. I think I'll buy her a copy of How Can You Be In Two Places At Once When You're Not Anywhere At All and throw it into the package. Along with this blog post and my previous one. Also a copy of the Lexicon. I suspect it will be one of the strangest gifts my friend will have received in a while. But heartfelt. Definitely heartfelt.
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Isn't it "Don't <i>Crush</i>
Isn't it "Don't Crush That Dwarf..."? The googlefight seems to say so.
Also, thanks for reminding me to listen to it again.
Wikipedia agrees
The Wikipedia page on the Firesign Theatre links to the album, which they label with "Crush", not "Touch".
Gah
Well, that was embarrassing.
The title doesn't even make sense the way I had it.
Thanks much to you both for the catch.
Blog entry edited to reflect legalities of file sharing.
In a previous draft of this post, I wrote: "I think I'll burn a copy of How Can You Be In Two Places At Once When You're Not Anywhere At All and throw it into the package." This would, of course, be of questionable legality at best. (Whether it is legal would depend primarily on the courts' interpretation of the Audio Home Recording Act of 1992 as amended by the No Electronic Theft Act of 1997 in this case. There seems to be some consensus of opinion that sharing a single recording with a friend—without expectation of recompense of any kind—is protected.) I have edited the blog entry to reflect the clearly-legal alternative, and apologize for any implication of impropriety. (I have also edited this comment, and again apologize if its original tone was too light-hearted.)