Sorry, should have been:
osascript 2>/dev/null \ -e 'tell app "Backdrop" to activate' \ -e 'tell app "MenuShade" to activate' \ -e 'tell app "TextMate" to activate' &
Wow, that is totally bizarre.
The only way this DOESN'T hang TextMate is if I set the Output to "Show as HTML". Ideally, I'd discard it, but that hangs the app. Bizarre.