Dr Frank Weakly Reader for 12.14.2018
Another week, another weakly reader. Once again, the activity happened, and once again I have compiled it here, in hopes that one day it may be found now that it has disappeared into the internet’s great, random, genericizing maw. Scroll on, scroller.
FRONT BURNER
— Mtx forever, the album: just today we announced this proposed double LP “best of” comp. I’m sure you have ideas, and you can vote for songs and comment at Sounds Radical. Much, much more detail is at my post on the subject.
— MTX-mas continues apace, if apace means what I think it does. You can still order your MTX Christmas box, by Dec. 17 if you want delivery by Christmas. Ornaments, shirts, pins, stickers, plus all the rest of Sounds Radical’s fine product. Ho ho ho. Hare Krishna to all and to all a good night.
— shows: there are three coming up. There’s a snarky write-up and listing for Google search, but here they are as well:
Saturday, December 22, Berkeley, CA: “Holiday Hootenany” with Dr Frank, Kepi, Grim Deeds, and the Gretchens. Arthouse Gallery and Cultural Center, 2905 Shattuck Ave., Berkeley CA. 8 PM. $5 for nice people, $25 for jerks. Tickets link is here.
Friday, January 11, Indianapolis, IN: MTX, the Putz, Cover Flops. Punk Rock Night at the Melody Inn, 3826 N. Illinois St., Indianapolis, IN. 9PM. Tix go on sale Friday 11.29, 10 AM local time. Here’s the ticket buy link. Still a few tickets left, but it will sell out so act now if you want to go.
Saturday, January 12, St Louis, MO: MTX, the Fuck Off and Dies, Horror Section, Haddonfields. 7th Anniversary Party for the 4 Hands Brewery, 6133 Delmar Blvd, Delmar Hall, St. Louis, MO. 8PM. Free show.
THE HALLOWED HALLS OF MTX
— The Mr T Experience — “Thank You (for not Being One of Them)”, live in Genoa, Italy, 1996. Video on YouTube.
— Some “minor secrets” and thoughts on censorship, naughty words, fiction, writing, characters, public shaming, and the “F word” that this song shares with the Pogues’ “Fairytale of New York” (on which, see below.)
— Your Friday morning “More than Toast”. 8Bit. Pretty cool. More “covers” here.
— I said my love was true and it approximately was…
— and, from an Instagram account called bronykong (“Ramones and pony stuff”.) Also, I would be quite remiss if, in this context, I failed to provide a link to this video. This guy will clop 4 food.
DR FRANK: IT’S THE LATEST THING
— Will Pornhub Save Civilization? Considered: shall we evade censorship by moving the whole internet to a porn site? It’s a thing I wrote. I was concerned that google search might not like the image at the head of that post and suspend it (oh the irony) so I used google search to find an image they might be less likely to censor (oh the irony.) Actually, the irony there goes all the way through and comes out the other side.
— I’m in Love with What’s-Her-Name. Turn it up, Rebecca.
— Will got his Andromeda Klein stuff.
— “There is one Buzzcocks song that literally makes me cry when I sing it, almost always, as I’ve been doing just now.” I posted that on the social medias and got many guesses. One of them is right. I do what I think is a pretty good version of it and I’m working up the nerve to attempt a video/recording of it (which is why I was singing it in the first place.) We’ll see…
— I am quoted in this article about Pete Shelley as songwriter and his continuing influence.
— Appreciating the otherworldly graphic design on the cover of Bloomberg Buisinessweek.
— If you can’t beat ’em, confuse ’em. Coupla guys talking about King Dork (which is a book I wrote) on a podcast, episode 18.
OTHER PEOPLE’S MUSIC
— Some thoughts on calls to censor the Pogues’ “Fairytale of New York”.
— “The Cover of Radio Times”: In which some BBC DJs got around the BBC’s ban of Dr Hook’s “Cover of Rolling Stone” by shouting “Radio Times” over the chorus. It really happened.
— And speaking of censored songs, some thoughts on the censored “Star Star” (a.k.a. “Starfucker”) from the Rolling Stones’ Goat’s Head Soup. You can now hear the uncensored version, and in fact the censored one is now impossible to find on the internet. In effect, the censored version (which I rather like) has itself been censored. (Well, the US one is impossible to find; there’s a crazy South African version; not so wild about that one.) As our friend Nick said in a slightly different context, they just should have had a bunch of BBC djs yell “Radio Times” over the chorus.
— Merry Christmas, World: Akim & Teddy Vann — “Santa Claus Is a Black Man”; Cheap Trick — “Come on Christmas”; AC/DC — “Mistress for Christmas”; Eddie Cantor — “The Only Thing I Want for Christmas”
FEEL THE CHRISTMAS
— The Naked Time Christmas. Yeah, I got it.
— Xmas pitchers: It’s good to be the king; oh little bike of Bethlehem; Mr French, Uncle Bill, Cissy, Buffy, & Jody; ladies and gentlemen: Julie Christie; birds with torches; Go-Go Mod.
IN THE NEWS
— The Academy Awards consider putting on the show with no host at all. I vote for just cancelling the whole thing.
— Shame Storm. In keeping with the theme of the week, and indeed of the era, here’s a thoughtful essay on internet shaming, mob behavior, and (somewhat unexpectedly) redemptive suffering and humility. I agree that people should behave better, but the only way to get beyond this regrettable “moment” is to wait till it jumps the shark, provokes a backlash, and becomes itself an embarrassing, shameful thing to be associated with. Till then, people will keep doing it, because humans find the suffering and humiliation of others absolutely entertaining and thoroughly enjoyable. It’s a tale old as time.
