Dr. Frank's What's-it

Comings, Goings, Doings, Recordings

So, Porchlight was fun. I played "King Dork Approximately" and "Cinthya with a Y" and everyone seemed to have a pretty good time during it, from what I could tell. (It's hard under the bright lights. You can't see the faces of those you are torturing with your "art," like a police interrogation in reverse.) Before I played "King Dork Approximately" I made the observation (also noted in the book) that many, many songs can be played to the tempo and basic arrangement of "Cat Scratch Fever", the "slow" ones and the "fast" ones alike. And as with my previous Porchlight appearance (in which a stray reference to Quiet Riot's version of "Cum on Feel the Noize" led the sound guy to play that song as the outro music) "Cat Scratch Fever" played as everybody filtered out. It was a nice moment, and maybe the nicest moment involving "Cat Scratch Fever" that has ever occurred.

I'm headed off to Austin this weekend for the Teen Book Fest, where I'll be doing the same sort of song and dance plus participating in a panel on music in books (with Gayle Forman, Len Vlahos, and Kevin Emerson, moderated by Posh Deluxe of the Forever Young Adult website.) My understanding is that it is free and open to the public so if you happen to be in Austin and coming to this sounds like something you'd like to do, well then go right on ahead and do it:

Saturday, October 18th:

Texas Teen Book Festival, St. Edward's University, Austin, TX, where I'll be on a panel called Come On Feel the Noise about music in books, along with Gayle Forman, Len Vlahos, and Kevin Emerson.

Also, there are a few shows lined up for the book release week. The line-up for each is still being worked on, but I'm trying to make them all as memorable as possible. (The Andromeda Klein release party at Cato's featuring the exotic magic of Stallion will be hard to top, but I think we can do it, if only we believe in miracles.) I will post more details as I get them.

Sunday, December 7th

1-2-3-4 Go! Records, 420 40th St., #5, Oakland, CA, 94609. 7 PM.

Line-up TBA. Books will be available there in advance of the pub date (December 9th) so if you buy one there you will have two whole days to feel special.

Tuesday, December 9th

Housing Works, 126 Crosby Street, New York, NY 10012.

Hosted by Beth Lisick, featuring Chris Gethard, Emily Gould, Jami Attenberg, and many more TBA.

Friday, December 12th

Book release launch event party thing presented by The Secret Garden Bookshop, location and time TBA but it'll either be at the store (2214 NW Market Street, Seattle WA 98107) or at a space nearby, in the evening. Line-up TBA.

The Secret Garden was one of the most important early supporters of King Dork, and contacted me out of the blue before the book's release to try to arrange something at the store. This led to a fairly ramshackle funky punk rock style book tour of the NW built around it, put together by me and (mostly) my old pal Rebekah. It had its ups and downs along with many shining moments, but the Secret Garden event itself, held in a cupcake restaurant with a bare stage, no PA, and a strum, stomp, and shout set by me is one of my favorite gig memories ever. Those gals are great, and the store deserves a whole lot of credit and support, and I'm sure this thing is gonna be fantastico. So mark you collanders, Seattle-ans.

Saturday, December 13th

Barnes & Noble Downtown, 600 Pine St., Suite 107, Seattle WA 98101. 3 PM. This will be a bookstore appearance/signing, and I'll be playing songs too most likely.

And then, later that night...

The Kraken Bar and Lounge, 5257 University Way NE, Seattle WA, 9PM.

Line up TBA. This is a show show, if you know what I mean. I'll be playing a set, possibly electric w/band, or partially so. More on this as it develops.

Monday, December 15

Book Passage, Ferry Building, San Francisco. Details TBA.

There will be more to come, so watch this space.

Also, as participants in the Social Media flow have no doubt noticed, we recorded some songs over the weekend and I would say they are coming out great. More of that action to come, though at this point it's not 100% clear what it's in aid of or what's going to be done with them. Again, stay tuned.

Finally, pre-order King Dork Approximately!

And... that's about all I got right now.

Posted by Dr. Frank at October 14, 2014 05:21 PM