Call it geek-rock, dork-rock, joke-rock, clever-rock; whatever you call it, They Might Be Giants have been committing it to disk for 12 years now.

And their longevity seems to justify the presence of a live album, Severe Tire Damage (Restless Records).

After all, it could be argued that as of late, it is the Giants’ live shows — featuring puppet shows, conga lines and other moments of good-natured frivolity — that catch the crowds, not their albums.

It seems perverse, then, of this rather perverse band that a good deal of Severe Tire Damage is live but not live; recorded live in a studio sans audience for a Minnesota radio show.

No matter. Led by Johns Linnell (keyboards) and Flansburgh (guitar), TMBG creates infectious smart-pop that often avoids becoming smarmy due merely to the Johns love of the absurd.

It’s hard to be accused of being too clever when you’re gleefully tossing off non-sequitors at such an insane rate.

Not that TMBG are pure Dada. Sometimes they make a point. Take "First Kiss" in which a couple takes a time machine back to that fateful event in order to put the spark back in their relationship.

It’s not a huge insight into human dynamics, but it’s not supposed to be. It proves the Johns have heart and it’s catchy as hell.

Although They Might Be Giants initially consisted solely of Linnell and Flansburgh, they expanded to a full lineup in 1994.

Severe Tire Damage features the augmented Giants gamely tackling early classics like "Ana Ng," "Istanbul (Not Constantinople)" and the immortal "Birdhouse in Your Soul" as well as more recent vintages like "XTC Vs. Adam Ant" and "Till My Head Falls Off."

As befits many live/greatest hits albums of late, Severe Tire Damage also contains a few new studio tracks, most notably the single "Doctor Worm."

Also symbolic of the times, Severe Tire Damage features that miracle of the CD age, the hidden track. Actually, the album contains seven of them.

They are all on-stage improvisations recorded over the years. And just about all of them have lyrics about, um, Planet of the Apes (how timely).

There’s a jazzy number called "Cornelius" ("I miss your toffee cape, Cornelius/You were my favorite ape"), a heavy guitar rocker "Conquest of the Planet of the Apes," and a disco pastiche called "Escape from the Planet of the Apes," (my personal favorite) and so on and so on.

Some of this is really funny. Sure, it gets old by the, oh, sixth or seventh track, but it’s almost touching how far the Johns are willing to take it.

Various other bands featuring varying degrees of goofiness, such as Ben Folds Five, Barenaked Ladies and Moxy Fruvous, owe a certain debt to the Giants.

Even a band like Phish is often silly as much as they are jammy. TMBG fans will eat Severe Tire Damage up, I suppose.

The frequency of complaints in the computer lab are finally dropping off, and I’m witnessing more and more happy users sending each other junk forwards, etc.

There are a couple issues, however, about which people still seem a little confused. I’ll touch upon them briefly.

Most importantly, as I wrote in last week’s Tech Times, you don’t need the LAN or Lotus Notes to check your E-mail. In fact, I’d almost advise against installing Lotus Notes.

Why? Not only will you have to wait in line to get the CD from audio-visual in the library, but the software is more than you need and will just waste hard drive space.

By saying "more than you need," I point out that Lotus Notes is a full-blown "groupware" package that has inter-office scheduling and a variety of other features that you’ll probably never take advantage of until you graduate and get a real job. If you have Netscape or Internet Explorer, you already have all the email capabilities you will need.

The only finagling you have to do is to configure your computer for a SLIP dial-up connection and entering the correct server names in your E-mail client.

This is relatively easy to do - just follow the instructions that are available from the LaSalle homepage!

With that said and done, let’s talk briefly about the joy of over-clocking the ol’ CPU.

Over-clocking is perhaps the most satisfying modification you can make to your hardware. Essentially, over-clocking means forcing your CPU to run faster than it is rated.

Perhaps the best "over-clockable" CPU out there is the Pentium II Celeron 266Mhz. It is a relatively cheap chip (~$100) but can be easily modified to run at speeds above 400Mhz (a chip that costs > $500).

Dangerous? Not really - mine has been purring away happily for the past couple weeks without problem (which is no guarantee that it won’t overheat and melt tomorrow).

If you’re thinking about buying a new system and are interested in over-clocking, drop me an E-mail and I’ll give you some pointers.

Dave Wyndorf has found himself a home on the cusp of lunacy.

Wyndorf’s role on Monster Magnet’s third album Powertrip (A&M) is that of a focused Viking enforcer.

As a result, the songs on this album reflect a fast-paced, tantalized life on the road and the devastating toll it can take on a person.

"I’m never gonna work another day in my life," says Wyndorf in the title song. The tone is hard-nosed, rugged and nothing short of blatant.

And most listeners will find that even the slowest of songs have a creeping virility to them. "Temple Of Your Dreams" presents itself in a calmer yet somehow meaner manner.

"Late at night I hear you cry, your taste for dirt just makes me cry," chants Wyndorf. It proves that the softer he sounds the more he stings.

This subtle power, however, will be their legacy in years to come. Anyone who’s heard the successful single "Space Lord" has a good sense of what I’m talking about.

Monster Magnet currently has tour dates with Megadeth and Sevendust, but they owe most of their credit to classic bands like Black Sabbath and Led Zeppelin. As principal writer and mastermind of the band, Wyndorf consciously tries to mesh classic riffs with non-traditional lyrics. The result is the most articulate form of debauchery around today.

All of the songs on Powertrip were written during some crazed nights in Las Vegas. "I decided to go into the belly of the beast," says Dave.

This formula seems to have worked because the words and music on Powertrip are the result of pure, unadulterated hedonism.

Wyndorf has said that his albums are like giant, psychedelic comic books that thrust upon you their over the top sensibility.

Fittingly, "3rd Eye Landslide" mixes and matches various shades of mayhem. The song has a raw, coily backbeat while the rhythm is heavy and heated.

However, it is slightly more intricate than this description because the fury of it all is somehow tamed and well-organized.

The other members of Monster Magnet include Ed Mundell on lead guitar, Joe Calandra on bass, and Jon Kleiman on drums.

They are the balance for the brainstorming of Wyndorf with brilliantly cohesive and steady playing.

Monster Magnet’s other A&M projects include Superjudge in 1993, Dopes To Infinity in ‘95, each of which share the same wild, epic spirit of Powertrip.

"Atomic Clock 5" has desperate screams that seem to linger. You begin to get the feeling that Wyndorf is actually talking about power, greed, American lust and the way it grips us all.

He makes it real in the only way that he knows how.

Other songs such as "Goliath and the Vampires," and "See you in Hell" will suffice nicely, but it is the metallic melancholy of "Your Lies Become You" that is really gripping.

It’s as bittersweet a farewell as I have ever heard on such a rough-edged album.

The title of the song speaks for itself and it kind of recaps the album, for those that haven’t gotten it.

* 9,10,11; The U.S. premiere of Garcia Lorca’s "Poenta en Nueva York." —surrealistic visual poetry from Spain’s Producciones Imperdibles. Starts 8:00PM. Tickets $12.

* 12-13; Free Fall: An Evening of Music Spoken Word & Accapella Vocology— an audio-visual coffeehouse. Starts 8PM. Tix $10.

* 14-15; The Field Exchange: Dancers from Miami, Atlanta, Chicago & Philadelphia—artists bring poetic motion and imagery into a dance/theater setting. Starts 8PM. Tix $9.

* 16-18; Dancers from the Pennsylvania Ballet with Ilse Pfiefer in "Storage Space"—combines dance, music, text and technology. Starts 8PM. Tix $12.

* 19; "A Huey P. Newton Story"—Roger Guenveur Smith’s award winning solo theater piece. Starts 8PM. Tix $15.

After all, with the exception of about four good movies, this summer seemed to be an abyss of cheesy scripts and waste celluloid. What’s worse, there is nothing good on the horizon.

But don’t fear! As long as you have a library card and a VCR you can save yourself from the ravages of a bad movie season. And I am here to lead you through this dismal demilitarized zone.

First, even with all of LaSalle University’s shortcomings, they did manage to implement one good policy: Students can rent movies in the library for free. And even though they don’t have the greatest collection, they have enough to sustain the movie fanatic’s appetite for at least four years.

So, here are my recommendations for this week: with the fever that is occuring over this whole home run derby, I suggest The Natural, starring Robert Redford, Glenn Close and Robert Duvall.

In this period piece, Barry Levinson manages to create a new myth about the nation’s beloved pastime, baseball.

Also, the final scene is guara- teed to give you chills. But if the sports genre isn’t your bag, maybe you want something darker, more sinister. In that case, I highly recommend Roman Polanski’s

Chinatown, starring Jack Nicholson. In this twisted Noir piece, Jack plays the coolest sleuth to hit L.A. since Bogart in Dark Passage.

Okay, so maybe your better half isn’t into that sort of thing. Perhaps, you’re hoping for something a little more romantic. Then, check out From Here to Eternity, starring Burt Lancaster, Montgomery Clift, and Frank Sinatra.

This 1953 Best Picture winner is about a company stationed in Hawaii right before the Pearl Harbor attack.

The picture contains one of the most famous love scenes ever-caught on film where waves rush over Lancaster and Deborah Kerr as they kiss on black-sanded Hawaiian beach.

Oh yeah, and try to get over the fact that it’s black and white — most of the best ones are. But then again, maybe that sort of thing isn’t for you.

Maybe you’re not quite yourself and you want something colorful and visually stimulating to aid you in a late-night adventure (if you know what I mean).

So, let me suggest 2001:A Space Odyssey. I promise you that the whole time your watching this movie you will have no clue what’s going on and you will still love every minute of it.

Finally, I will give my last recommendation. Marathon Man, starring Lawrence Olivier and Dustin Hoffman, is a great flick that will keep you guessing to the end.

I can assure you that the next time you go to the dentist after seeing this one, you will be begging for more Novocaine —watch it and you’ll understand what I mean.

Anyway, I highly recommend you get your ID cards, get over to the library and make that joker who works in the Audio-Visual room earn his pay.

And if I want to write this column, I’ll have to do so with the idea that words are so loud, in fact, that they’re incompatible with the sounds of music.

I’ll have to admit to myself that writing to you about a musician or CD will probably have nothing to do with how mind-blowing or thrilling you might find it. And I also must admit that you might rather I didn’t even mention it. You’ll be irked, I’m almost positive.

My certainty of this fact came to me one day when I was driving the car not so long ago.

I was on one of those trips where the traffic was unrelenting and every turn seemed to bring me an endless, lifeless line of cars.

So just like anybody else, I turned to the radio for the solace that the general public was no longer giving me.

I knew that being a radio roadie might be the only thing that saved me from becoming a road rager. However, I also encountered the radio roadie’s biggest problem. Flipping through the radio stations, looking for a little help, I found nothing to entertain me at all.

In fact, each song that I did find seemed to just complement the hopeless droll of the one before.

To make matters worse, I even stumbled on the usual few DJ’s who were advertising Snapple or road kill or something.

Finally, I reached a station. Although I can’t even remember which one it was, the beginning notes of "Nobody Told Me," by John Lennon came on the radio.

It was strange indeed, that a song I liked finally managed to tweak itself through the speakers. If anybody could save me, John could.

But my enjoyment was stopped when the DJ proceeded to lean into the microphone and talk through the first few choruses. "Isn’t this a fantastic song," he gawked. "Man, John is truly a God," he continued.

I started to pump on the gas while in neutral. "One of a kind," he said again as I could barely hear John muffling the first few lines.

And so I couldn’t hear a thing, not a single note, and I found myself wishing I hadn’t ever known the song was going to come on the radio. In fact, I just plain freaked and had to shut the radio off for a while.

And that is when I discovered how loud words really are. They’re barbaric, really.

If this announcer had cackled any longer, he would have said some things I’d really regret and I might have kept the radio off for the rest of the ride. I don’t think anybody should have that kind of reaction when John Lennon is on the radio.

So, you can see my dilemma. I’ve always wanted to think I was a little different.

I’ve always wanted to think that I didn’t need to yell and scream about a good song that I have heard and bother people about it, but the truth is I can’t help myself either.

So, even though you might do better to just go and buy the CD and listen for yourself, I wanted to warn you that I’m gonna try and tell you about them anyway.

After over ten years of theatre, the 1998-99 season kicks off tommorrow with a production of "Private Lives" by Noel Coward.

Directed by Aaron Posner, "Private Lives" displays some of the ultimate battles between the sexes when Elyot & Amanda fall in love again after a five year respite from their bitter divorce. The one problem is that they do this on their honeymoon with their new spouses. It is the story of a couple who manage to cleanse themselves of old turmoil by creating more.

While Coward’s play convieniently takes place on the smaller 175 seat Arcadia Stage, the main attraction of the Arden this year will continue to be the 360 seat F. Otto Mainstage Theatre. After having opened last year, it has become one of the largest and most flexible theatres in the country. It puts you no more then eight seats away the action on stage.

It has been said that the theater is never the same place twice and this mainstage will likely prove that.

And when "The Grapes of Wrath" by John Steinbeck begins on October 22, the F. Otto Haas Stage will bring you right into the middle of the Joad family saga.

Frank Galati’s Tony Award winning adaptation of this epic novel examines one family’s place in the heartland of America. Director Terrence J. Nolan will no doubt create a refreshing rendition of this classic play.

With this new theater finally in place, the Arden has been attracting around 3,000-4,000 extra people a week into

historic Olde City. This mainstage has the potential to bring many new shows to the area.

In fact, continuing the five-show season will be the Philadelphia premiere of "Coyote on a Fence," a play written by Bruce Graham and directed by James Christy.

Starting on January 28 and running through March 7, Graham’s newest play explains two men’s fate based on a very controversial issue. Among the theatre circle, this will likely become an increasing favorite.

And theater-goers who missed out on shows like "As You Like It," "Death of A Salesman" and "A Little Night Music" have a chance to get reparations with the world premiere of "The Chosen" by Chaim Potok.

The new-fashioned F. Otto Haas Stage, will showcase this internationally acclaimed tale of 1940’s Brooklyn which tells the story of two people from two different worlds that somehow manage to coexist.

And finally, in May, the F. Otto Haas Stage finishes the season with the musical "Violet" which won the 1997 New York Drama Critics Circle award for Best Musical.

The music was done by Jeanine Tesori and the book and lyrics were completed by Brian Cawley. This musical studies a young women who searches for miracles within the guise of adversity. Director Terrence J. Nolan fashioned this story-line so that it lends itself well to a host of surprises.