Dr. Frank's What's-it

Not a lot of people know that, apparently

This turned up on twitter and I dutifully reposted it (insofar as my duty, sad as it may be, requires vague, ineffectual attempts to amplify each and every mention of myself and my works, no matter how trivial.) A surprising number of people seem to have been surprised by it. Well, I hardly ever watch anything all the way to the end either, to be honest, which is an argument, I suppose, for putting your best stuff at the beginning and letting the rest trail off to a conclusory preface.

What Billy Joe Took Down, Dr. Frank Picked Up

Jane the Insane Dog Lady

Thought for the Day

"They want penance, for themselves as for others, but deprived of religion and knowing no means of describing or imposing it, have re-imagined the sacrament in a crude, child-like, and rather vicious form."

--Something said by the smartest person I know, on the current flavor of identity politics.

Scape of the Sound

So... this may well be one of those nutty ideas that won't come to anything, but I was listening to some rough mixes today and thought it could be cool to incorporate some audio of people reading little bits from the books into the sequence (like short bits in between songs, that sort of thing.) Anyway, it could be worth a shot, so if anyone has a favorite line or so from either of the King Dork books, drop me a line with a recording attached. Phone recording would work just fine. Kids or young-sounding voices would probably be extra specially good. Only do it if you feel like it, and if you don't, don't. themagnificentdrfrank@gmail.com.

My Three Songs

A swell gal named Valerie posted this on the facebook thing today:

My favorite thing about Facebook, is that occasionally Dr. Frank posts status updates that are just MTX lyrics and it's the best and it totally makes my day. Also!! It's 3:30 and I'm wide awake... so it's the perfect time to ask this question: What's your favorite Mr. T Experience song? Discuss! 💚

The comments were very nice and kind and I'm linking so the future Dr. Frank can go back and cheer himself up next time he's feeling sorry for himself. Cheer up, buddy.

Practicing My Guitar Parts

Took the little piece of duct tape off the laptop camera hole to take the photo, but it was only quick.

(Pre-order my book/album.)

Here Is a Show I Am Doing

Sat. 5/14, 8PM, Uptown, 128 Telegraph, Oakland w/Zack Bateman and the Coal Minds, The Wastedeads, and Toxic Shock Syndrome.

I Don't Remember them All, but I Do Remember this One

Mikey Erg posted this on his Instagram because this week's Chris Gerhard Show has a prom theme and this is what he went to instead of his own prom. I believe I stated home for Love Boat/Fantasy Island on "mine."

Don't Know and Don't Care about the "Rock Hall" but I Do Like What Mike Nesmith Says Here

Here's Mike Nesmith on a Facebook post, working his way towards explaining why he doesn't feel he has or can have a useful or interesting opinion on whether or not the Monkees or anyone else should be in the "Rock and Roll Hall of Fame." Like it says, I couldn't care less about the "Rock and Roll Hall of Fame" but I was struck by this conceit of "people sitting in the center of their own hurricane." I think it's quite insightful, and true:

When The Beatles were recording Sgt. Peppers, Phyllis and I spent a few days with John and Cynthia at their home, and one in the studio with “the boys." That’s where those pictures of John and I come from – the “Day in the Life” session.

The minute I had the wherewithal –cachet and money – I raced to London and looked up John.

During the ‘60s it seemed to me London was the center of the World and The Beatles were the center of London and the Sgt Pepper session was the center of The Beatles.
It was an extraordinary time, I thought, and I wanted to get as close as I could to the heart of it.

But like a hurricane the center was not stormy or tumultuous. It was exciting, but it was calm, and to an extent peaceful. The confidence of the art permeated the atmosphere. Serene – and really, really fun.

Then I discovered the reason for this.

During that time in one of our longer, more reflective, talks I realized that John was not aware of who The Beatles were. Of course he could not be. He was clueless in this regard. He had never seen or experienced them. In the strange paradox of fame, none of The Beatles ever saw The Beatles the way we did. Certainly not the way I did. I loved them beyond my ability to express it.

As the years passed and I met more and more exceptional people sitting in the center of their own hurricane I saw they all shared this same sensibility. None of them could actually know the force of their own work.

With no intention of comparison of work, I am in something of the same position with The Monkees. It was one of my private hurricanes – long gone and calm now, leaving me with great memories and artifacts – but with a critical element hidden to me in a most profound way.

Indeed. I don’t even know what the element is.

(via Ann Althouse, who gets there via Steve Miller.)

Still Blue

They were lying around next to the board at the Static Room where I did vox last night, and it seemed... auspicious.

Is that a Fret or a Promise?

Hard to imagine a more dim-witted piece of criticism than this, as a (perhaps surprising) 100% of Stranger commenters avow. I don't care too much about that (though it's fun when snark like "hey there's this thing called the internet you can look stuff up on grandpa" comes from someone who doesn't know what "beguiled" means, and who couldn''t be bothered to use the wacky new google to familiarize himself with his own subject, who happens to be the rather famous Calvin Trillin nobody who reads the New Yorker ever heard of.)

What I'm concerned about is the assertion that the word "fret" is archaic and forbidden as a rhyming word. It doesn't seem so to me, though admittedly I'm pretty archaic myself. Not to mention the fact that it describes an activity to which I devote a considerable amount of my energy, sometimes all of it. I hate to see it go. Then again, I'm the guy who put the word "tresses" in a pop song, over my producer's objections on just those grounds, so I was out of it a long time ago.

UPDATE: this guy returns, saying "sorry not sorry" for missing the irony while demonstrating that he isn't all that clear on what irony is, but linking to the famously non-ironic Alanis Morissette song. (Now that's ironic.) Comments are once again funny and re-assuring. He still doesn't get it. I love the poorly educated.

Snakebite

Doing this Again

UPDATE 4/5/16: So this thing is winding down, though I still have the non-crossed-out stuff listed below. I'm going to leave this up here and in the sidebar (at this link) for anyone who wants to check in the future, but if you want any of this stuff soon now would be a good time, while I'm in mailing mode before I fall back into procrastination mode, a mode in which I hardly ever manage to do anything. Thanks everybody.

So, another record sale. Let's see what happens.

Here's what I've got:

LPs ($20): Alcatraz, Revenge Is Sweet, Love Is Dead, Milk Milk Lemonade, Making Things with Light, Night Shift

10" ($15): Big Black Bugs

7" ($8): Tapin' Up My Heart, Andromeda Klein, Bomb Bassets "Please Don't Die", Bomb Bassett/McCrackins "Trip" split.

CDs ($10): Everyone's Entitled, Night Shift, Making Things with Light, And the Women..., Show Business, Alcatraz, Yesterday Rules

CDep: ($9) Miracle of Shame

CDR ($9): The Way Things Sound Like, Eight Little Songs

cassingle ($5): King Dork Approximately / O'Brien Is Trying to Learn to Talk Hawaiian

shirts ($20): Dr. Frank / Kepi Euro-tour (M, S, and Ladies' M only), King Dork Approximately, Sam Hellerman (M only)

So if you want in on this, drop me a line (at themagnificentdrfrank@gmail.com) saying what you want, and I'll calculate the shipping and total and tell you the amount to paypal to: themagnificentdrfrank@gmail.com. Include in the paypal order a list of what you're ordering so I don't screw up. And when you do the paypal order, please do it as an order for goods/services and include your address in the order. (Avoiding the fee by making it a gift instead is a nice idea but in fact makes the whole thing more of a hassle, plus the shipping often winds up costing more.)

Please make sure to indicate if you are outside of the US because that obviously affects shipping. (Also, note that Canada is, in fact, outside of the US.)

I'll send these out on a first paid, first served basis, meaning that if there's one copy left and you've inquired about it, but someone else pays first, the payer gets it.

I'm happy to sign anything or whatever. The quantities are limited to whatever I've got in these two boxes. When they're gone, they're gone till (possibly) next time.

UPDATE: Revenge, Love Is Dead, and Alcatraz are all gone or spoken for (unless any of the spoken-for ones become unspoken for.) Also, no more Dress Rehearsal 7"s, EETTOO CDs, and women who love them CDS.