The Dave Parker 5 Mit 6 Members
Cidu Bill on Feb 4th 2010
Nicole: I see that it is an M.I.T. reunion and I see the band’s name is the Dave Parker Five — a play on the Dave Clark Five (potential geezer here) , and I also see that all the men are angry and the woman looks distressed. I see the one man making a gesture with his hand that has Arlo potential. And with all this information … I still don’t get it.
Filed in Bill Bickel, Brevity, CIDU, Guy & Rodd, comic strips, comics, humor | 39 responses so far
Chuck Feb 4th 2010 at 02:41 pm 1
MIT graduates can’t stand the idea of the Dave Parker FIVE having six members. They are math people.
Dustin Feb 4th 2010 at 02:42 pm 2
I think it’s because there are six of them.
Dustin Feb 4th 2010 at 02:42 pm 3
Ninja’d!
TasmanSea Feb 4th 2010 at 02:44 pm 4
I am also thinking that part of the joke is that there are six members, and that this is upsetting to literal thinking math types at MIT who are stereotypically male, but I still don’t get why it is 1965 and Dave Parker in particular. Is this supposed to be taking place in 1965, or is it the reunion of the class of 1965?
firedmyass Feb 4th 2010 at 03:30 pm 5
#4
Yeah, and why an upright bass instead of an electric one? Why the red-grey-black color progression in the banner text? Why is that one guy in the foreground NOT wearing glasses? And how did the band arrive at the venue… walk? Public transportation (subway or bus)? Private vehicles? Hitchhiking? Oh god… the questions, the UNANSWERED QUESTIONS!!!
Jeff S. Feb 4th 2010 at 03:41 pm 6
The only Dave Parker I know is the baseball player, so I’m not sure if there is any additional parts to the joke other than the number of band members already mentioned.
paperboy Feb 4th 2010 at 04:02 pm 7
The date is pertinent because these days band names can be ironic or just funny. A band now might call itself “The Dave Parker 5″, because, heh heh, there’s six of them and, get this: nobody in it is named Dave Parker!
Cidu Bill Feb 4th 2010 at 04:45 pm 8
I really don’t think you have to be an MIT graduate to notice — and be bothered by — a quintet having 6 members. And seriously, it’s not as if Dave Parker couldn’t have figured out what to do once they added a member.
Kit Feb 4th 2010 at 04:51 pm 9
I’ve never understood why the 4 Nikators has 6 people in it, either . . .
Rasheed Feb 4th 2010 at 04:58 pm 10
So how many ladies are currently in Twelve Girls Band?
furrykef Feb 4th 2010 at 04:59 pm 11
In the video game EarthBound, this is a joke of sorts. The original Japanese version of the game had a band named the Tonzura Brothers that was clearly inspired by (”a parody of” would be a stretch) the Blues Brothers. Nintendo of America was going to call them the “Runaway Brothers” in the English translation, but apparently due to legal concerns, they gave them colored outfits (instead of black) and changed their name to the Runaway Five. The band has six members.
(However, in both versions of the game, the keyboardist is never seen except on stage. Backstage, and anywhere else you meet them, there are in fact only five members.)
Cidu Bill Feb 4th 2010 at 05:03 pm 12
And let’s not even discuss the Thompson Twins.
Chuck Feb 4th 2010 at 05:15 pm 13
Cidu Bill, maybe they changed the name but couldn’t get a hold of a new drum set.
Kevin Madden Feb 4th 2010 at 05:18 pm 14
Why does it have to be looked at as a quintet with six members rather than a sextet called “The Dave Parker Five”?
Ben Folds Five was a trio after all.
Elyrest Feb 4th 2010 at 05:28 pm 15
The Big 10 now has eleven members. Of course that’s football and everyone knows they aren’t very bright.
PeterW Feb 4th 2010 at 05:36 pm 16
Ever heard of the septet “Firehouse Five Plus Two”?
paperboy Feb 4th 2010 at 07:12 pm 17
How ’bout Unit 4 + 2?
Dave Van Domelen Feb 4th 2010 at 07:56 pm 18
Actually, it’s Dave Barker in a not-so-clever disguise, and the woman on the left is Helen Narbon.
furrykef Feb 4th 2010 at 08:22 pm 19
And way back in the 1930s there was the Raymond Scott Quintette [sic], which had six members. This was partly because he liked the sound of it, and partly because he thought “sextet” sounded too racy. It was the 30s, after all.
(Though many people haven’t heard of Raymond Scott, millions have heard his Powerhouse — the most famous part begins at 1:28.)
Dave Feb 4th 2010 at 11:23 pm 20
Dustin @#3… LOL.
George P Feb 5th 2010 at 12:01 am 21
Real mathematicians don’t mess with numbers, anyway. That’s an application of mathematics.
Rainey Feb 5th 2010 at 12:31 am 22
Did anybody hear of a band called “Ten Thousand Maniacs”?
Molly J Feb 5th 2010 at 01:16 am 23
Bill, The Thompson Twins got their name from characters from the popular European comic book series Tin Tin. And yeah, I was gonna mention Ben Folds Five as well.
Dave in Boston Feb 5th 2010 at 03:22 am 24
Ah, Dupont et Dupond…
MellowCake Feb 5th 2010 at 06:47 am 25
… but I bet they all love the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy “Trilogy”
Another BF Feb 5th 2010 at 07:32 am 26
At MIT, 3 + 2 = 6, for sufficiently large values of 3 and 2.
Nicole Feb 5th 2010 at 07:52 am 27
DUH ….. now I get it
Morris Keesan Feb 5th 2010 at 08:41 am 28
furrykef beat me to it, mentioning Raymond Scott. I also want to point out that it could be that the leader of the band is Dave Parker, and the rest of the band are his Five.
But the thing that really bothers me about this comic is that the saxophonist’s hands are in the wrong places; unless he’s gotten hold of an extremely rare (i.e. non-existent) left-handed saxophone, the instrument is unplayable the way he’s holding it. The trumpeter could conceivably be left-handed, although I’ve never in my life seen anyone hold a trumpet that way. And we won’t even get into the multiple errors in the drawing of the string bass.
mitch-4 Feb 5th 2010 at 09:16 am 29
Has some thorough explanation been agreed upon? I’m still rather at a loss, sadly. How about the guy grimacing in the foreground … what’s his story?
Bearman Feb 5th 2010 at 09:36 am 30
It is pretty simple. Dave Parker is Dave Parker. The Dave Parker 5 refers to the other guys.
padraig Feb 5th 2010 at 12:09 pm 31
Then there was the gang on Bullwinkle, the “Light Fingered Five - Minus Two.” Apparently a couple of them had trouble with the parole board.
mkilby Feb 5th 2010 at 01:23 pm 32
In the “Major Star” episode of “Blackadder Goes Forth“, Blackadder books an act called “The Three Twerps”, and mentions, “The big joke being that there’s only two of them.”
paperboy Feb 5th 2010 at 04:37 pm 33
Oh, bloody hell, mkilby#32, EVERYBODY knows about that Blackadder episode since Hugh Laurie hit it big over here with “House”, and the Yanks have sought out his Brit work. (his American accent is champion.)
djl Feb 5th 2010 at 05:23 pm 34
Ben Folds Five is a reference to poker. it’s Ben folds five [cards]…. not Ben Folds[’] Five.
mkilby Feb 5th 2010 at 06:45 pm 35
@ paperboy (33) - Nuts. It’s good to know that Laurie has managed to crack the US market, but unfortunately, since German TV insists on synchronizing everything in sight, I won’t be able to hear his American accent unless I invest in the DVD collection. I have no doubt that he does a good job, but he does have the advantage of being “in the element”. I’ve been irritated many times by overemphasized US accents in British TV productions (even the otherwise excellent Poirot films with David Suchet keep making the mistake of hiring British actors who can’t voice a believeable American). I suppose it’s cheaper than hiring an American actor to do it.
Mark in Boston Feb 5th 2010 at 08:48 pm 36
djl: Ben Folds (real name Benjamin Scott Folds) may not agree with you.
Shaina Feb 8th 2010 at 01:58 pm 37
The guy in the foreground not wearing glasses had them stolen by the bass player.
Todd Feb 10th 2010 at 04:45 pm 38
How about “Five for Fighting”? It’s just one guy. Since his first hit was a song about Superman, I always assumed the “five” was the Superfriends.
Mike Feb 17th 2010 at 10:02 pm 39
“Five for Fighting” is named for the penalty in hockey for fighting.