May 14, 2004

Strange Things Afoot at the Swedish American Building

Sorry I went AWOL for awhile there. Every now and again, I need a break to restore the tissues, or however you phrase it. I'm not all that sure about the overall effectiveness the tissue-therapy angle, but on the outside chance that there's something in it, I've been neglecting a lot of things. Not just the blog, I mean. I'll let you know how it turns out.

By the way, I'm doing a solo acoustic set at the Cafe du Nord on Wednesday, May 26th.

The situation is a bit unusual. I'm the opener for a night of "storytelling" co-presented by my pal Beth Lisick. This is a regular thing they've apparently been doing for some time (hence the name "Storytelling Series"). I've never been to one before, but as far as I can tell they have a handful of people get up and deliver unscripted monologues on a specified theme. They always have a musical act of some kind start things off, which is where I come in. The theme this time is "True Lust Confidential." I don't know who else is involved yet, but it should be kinda saucy.

I'll be playing early, around 7:15. People are going to start telling stories at 8. I'm not much good at "spoken word," as anyone who has ever heard me try to fill in the awkward pauses between songs will attest. I plan to play a bunch of songs, as usual. But it's probably the artsiest thing I've ever been directly involved with. If you're one of those people who like to witness fish-out-of-water scenarios from time to time, this show may be for you.

Posted by Dr. Frank at May 14, 2004 12:57 AM | TrackBack
Comments

I had a great time at the NY show. Frank's set was amazing; I especially loved the songs he played off his solo album. Frank did play the worst reviewed song he ever wrote, but unfortunately didnt play "Hey Emily" despite my request.

Posted by: jordan at May 14, 2004 02:29 AM

i would like to see a solo/acoustic double bill of dr frank and ben weasel. ah, pipedreams...

Posted by: resident jason at May 14, 2004 04:38 PM

Could someone please kick ben's blog's ass please? It looks like a 70's Hallmark card. Euuugggh.

Posted by: utility knife at May 14, 2004 06:21 PM

I actually told Frank in Kansas City that he and Ben should do a split cd together, singing each others songs... but it would be funny that Frank would have to play guitar for both of them... no offense to Ben

Posted by: griffin at May 14, 2004 08:18 PM

Tissue restoring sounds like a nightmare job at the local porn theater.

Posted by: Chrees at May 14, 2004 08:49 PM

I'm not sure if I should go back to the actual post or not, but I'd like to point out that people found the Tron guy as funny as you Frank. Last night, as I 'm channel surfing I came to the Jimmy Kimmel show and I caught the last moments of a segment where he had the guy(wearing the tron costume in all it's glory) doing interviews on a red carpet. Just thought I'd pass it around.

Posted by: Matt at May 15, 2004 06:34 PM

LISTEN TO THE CD FRANK! CRITIQUE! CRITIQUE!

Posted by: chach at May 15, 2004 07:33 PM

but the email address was wrong
chachination@yahoo.com

Posted by: chach at May 15, 2004 07:33 PM

Do you have a taper's section? :-)

Posted by: Dean Esmay at May 16, 2004 06:52 PM


wow,that sounds like a night of fine
entertainment....

consider my arrival a surety.

surely you must have something good to read
john flansburg can read as well as sing.
are you not as good as john flansburg?;)

Posted by: just me at May 17, 2004 06:45 PM

is that the guy from they might be giants? i heard he was a jerk from my friend who worked backstage at a show with them. like all they were doing were ignoring everyone, whining about their guitars and dissing the parents who had brought their kids to the "kids show" they were putting on. ah, public image is everything....

Posted by: utility knife at May 17, 2004 07:22 PM

ah yes in the punk rock world and
everywhere i do believe.

i hate to take a johns can do no wrong sort of
stance(especially on dr. franks board...
perhaps if you have many more comments we should
take this up in email before it turns ugly)
but of course i will.

yes and yes,that sounds like flansburg to me.
he's a kind of a rock star crank for a quirky
geeky dude. he has stupid guitar tricks to rival
mtx if i do say so.

you gotta remember these guys are folks just
like us,ones that didn't really expect their
fame,and ones that are stereotypical bitter
new yorkers. its a hard life for them;).

and yet,we that are fans still love them.

Posted by: just me at May 17, 2004 08:25 PM

Hi everybody. Could someone please ask the Dr. to play, "as life goes on you get more and more out of it". I think that is what it is called. It would make my girlfriend very very happy.

Posted by: Chuck at May 18, 2004 07:02 PM

i can understand personality quirks of musicians; but my friend(who worked there) told me of hissy fits touched off by him unpacking a guitar(it's a concert, right?)and also his trying to converse with the skinny guy and getting completely ignored as the guy read his book. you know, like: "so when's the last time you guys were in chicago?" response: "uhh-hmm"(continues reading).
i dunno dude, i say hard life my ass...
more like pampered indie rock "legends"
egomania knows no genre.

Posted by: utility knife at May 18, 2004 10:21 PM


hey like i said...cranky new yorker...
they are so much better then us...
they've been through so terribly much...

*hoping the sarcasm is evident*

...i'm just in it for the music,not
the personality anyways.
when they aren't alone in their genre, i'll stop buying their records.

Posted by: justme at May 19, 2004 01:08 AM

sarcasm is hard to convey online, but i got it after the fact. yeah i suppose as long as they entertain they don't have to be swell guys. seems like new york is kind of a cultural crackhouse , people are so stoned on their own "artistic output" they fail to view the realities of life and human interaction. it's like blaming a yuppie for driving a BMW and wearing dockers, they don't know no better...

Posted by: utilityknife at May 19, 2004 01:47 AM