DR FRANK WEAKLY READER FOR 10.19.2018
Here we are again, another week’s worth of the Dr Frank web activity you probably missed most of. As I’ve complained about before (e.g. here and here) Web 2.0, curse its benighted soul, has neglected to provide us with an index, so I decided that if I ever want to stand a chance of locating this stuff in future, I have to create one manually. And this is it. Let’s begin.
PRODUCT
— Shards news: the vinyl LP of the second volume of the MTX Shards collection is sold out at the label, though it may still be found in the wild. There still seem to be a few copies of volume 1 floating around as well. Go here for a list of some such places. Sounds Rad does have an array of other Shards products, shirts, stickers and such, as well as CDs and cassettes. Yes, we do cassettes and CDs, just like in the olden days.
— Andromeda Klein. Sounds Radical has decided to celebrate the Hallowe’en season with an Andromeda Klein package, including the book, shirt, pin, a signed vinyl 7" and rare poster, all wrapped up in one of those cool, much sought-after and collected Sounds Rad boxes. Here’s the background, i.e. how it all came about.
You can mix and match and “build your own box” if you like, but these packages are limited to fifty, as that’s how many posters I found. As of press time, just around half of these limited packages are already gone, so if you want one now’s the time.
And, speaking of which: Dr. Frank — “Andromeda Klein”, a video on YouTube. “Minor secrets” of Dr Frank — “Andromeda Klein” revealed.
INSIDE DR FRANK
— Death to all butt pedal: how I missed out on Steel Panther’s “Pussy Melter” stomp box. It’s a silly thing in the grand scheme, but in a way this story encompasses nearly everything I complain about concerning our digital dystopia, not least of which is the fact that the fact that the plug-in had turned into a physical pedal was effectively hidden from me by the platforms till I’d already missed out on it. I mean, I follow all those guys multi-platformly, and my eyes are constantly glued to the internet. I should have seen something. Yet somehow everything about this pedal release managed to evade my “flow.” It’s almost like the algorithms are designed to figure out the things you’re interested in and then hide those specific things, just to spite you. Or maybe the powers that be decided I’d be better off without a “Pussy Melter.” And no doubt they’re right. But that’s the kind of mistake, it seems to me, that one should be free to make on one’s own. Platforms, jeez…
— Even semi-OK can be a miracle: Amy directed me to the first use of the term “semi-OK” I’ve seen outside of my song, in a National Geographic article. Could be coincidence, but I like to think of it as my sinister, corrosive influence finally seeping into the world. Background here.
— THE WAY HOW I USED TO TAPE UP MY GUITAR LIKE. Revealed here.
— Wild turkeys raiding the vegetable garden at the Plymouth “Jazz and Justice” church in Oakland.
— Just a really good Argentine wine, all gone.
— Watching that Chappaquiddick movie on Netflix, I was presented with a warning that the film would contain “historical smoking.” I braced myself for the horror, but in fact there was very little “historical smoking” to speak of in the film. I felt let down. I was promised “historical smoking”. Don’t believe the hype.
HOUSEKEEPING
— Facebook has been blocking minds.com links as “insecure”, making you prove you’re not a robot (which I don’t mind all that much) in order to post, and passively-aggressively discouraging you from going ahead with such posts. If you go through the CAPTCHA routine, the post appears to go up, but there’s evidence to suggest that these links are severely “shadowbanned” and invisibilized to all but scattered viewers.
I don’t know what the motivation could be. Trying to kill the competition? I only wish minds.com were that much of a threat to Facebook. Anyway, if you’re interested in my “content” and you’re only getting it through Facebook or twitter, you’re probably missing out on at least some of it. I post everything on minds, and share from there, because whatever its flaws, at least it doesn’t hide and delete things. What you see is what I’ve posted. Go here and join if you’d like to see the uncensored Dr. Frank.
OTHER PEOPLE’S MUSIC
— Appreciating the Wicker Man soundtrack album. Also: “Willow’s Song”.
— Appreciating the Wombles.
— Good morning, world: Strawberry Alarm Clock — “Curse of the Witches”; Johaness Symonis (Ensemble PAN) — “Puisque je suis femeux”.
IT’S HALLOWE’EN
— Yeah man, I really dig the power; just some fiends; spicy stories; we told you not to play it backwards; once a year, a virgin must die; Sam, Tabitha, Endora; the Devil vs. Miss America; teach ghouls not to haunt; a pumpkin-carving cutie from Vargas; scene from The Nude Vampire; the darkest lady; kitten with cat demon.
IN THE NEWS
— Hannah Arendt, via twitter, on Krushchev’s totalitarianism, seems like foreshadowing twitter: “…the people can be expected and trusted to be their own policemen, and deliver up the victims necessary for the terror…”
— Montenegro church fresco depicts Marx, Engels, and Tito in Hell.
— I “can’t even.”
AND FINALLY
— Your Friday morning “Sackcloth and Ashes”. Covers playlist is here. YouTube channel is here.
That’ll do it. See you next week and such.
