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Best Band for Geeks 1999

Boston Phoenix

Monday, March 1, 1999

"I don't know if they're geeks," says Jim Infantino of his fans, "but they are sort of     technologically adept."     Infantino, who started on the folk-acoustic coffeehouse circuit and graduated to     power-pop trio format in 1996 with his band Jim's Big Ego, has been writing     anthems for professional mouse-clickers for years, but no one noticed because all     the mouse-clickers were working late at the office.     Since the release of their third     CD, though, Jim and his Egomates have been pulling the pocket-protector crowd     into clubs in record numbers. The CD-ROM bonus tracks on Don't Get Smart,     which feature a spunky pair of scissors snipping through an existential wasteland     of office detritus, have surely boosted the band's geek cachet, as has their use of     new formats for online music. (Their song "Y2K Hooray" was a big hit at the     MP3.com Web site.)     But it's Infantino's songs, with their goofy, genre-bending     arrangements and defiantly misfit lyrics ("Everybody's trying not to be just like     everybody/and I don't wanna be like that") that make Jim's Big Ego the epitome of     geek chic.     They'll be at T.T. the Bear's on November 19 and at the Lizard Lounge     on December 17. Tear yourself away from the computer and try to get there early.     Their fans -- yes, the Egomaniacs --are likely to fill up both venues.