Out on this limb, there’s only me, a damaged, dim, and lonely me…
The Dr Frank Weakly Reader for 6.26.2020
… stepping on my own toes while I rattle my chain of woes…
That’s from the bridge of the song “Love Is Dead,” about which see below under: Odin, Song for. And this illustration, which always reminds me of it when I see it, is from the Petit Livre d’Amour, given by the Lyonnais poet Pierre Sala to his mistress and future wife Marguerite Bullioud in the late 15th Century.
No particular reason to bring it up now besides the fact that the “Love Is Dead” song came up this week, but the book and its miniature illustrations (attributed to the mysterious Master of the Chronique scandaleuse) are really quite Revenge Is Sweet and So Are You-esque.
Anyhow, here’s another of these Dr Frank Weakly Reader things. This was the week that was on the Dr Frank web, collated, expanded, and illustrated so it may be found in future. So without further ado (if ado means what I think it does):
FRONT BURNER
— That “Love American Style” pop-up has definitely popped down now, it seems. Thanks for playing. For those who missed out, I am informed that there may be other such items popping up in future, so keep an eye out. (The best way of keeping an eye out is to sign up for the Sounds Rad mailing list, if you’re not already on it
And, watch this space too, and by “this space” I mean all the usual annoying social media platforms but mostly the weekly summary of them like this here weekly summary on Medium. The link to that is here.
This is all partly in aid of trying to keep the Mtx forever pot stirring. It’s still a thing and you can still get it here.
— The Mr T Experience… and the Women Who Love Them. Re-issue that is. RAD-13–01. “Dibs” is still active (for the reserve reserve list) and here’s the link. Release date is August 14.
MTX ON ICE
— Yet another Mtx forever in action, from David’s Instagram, looking beautiful:
— And plus, seen on twitter:
That the Pop Hits of Dr Frank & the MTX had yet to be collected is a blasphemy…
Amen, brother.
— And, in other Mtx forever news, Brassneck Records in the UK managed to get hold of some copies and was selling them at non-transatlantic prices, but they sold out very quickly. Sounds Radical is working on a better transatlantic situation, I’m told.
— Pizza Playlist: Wuan of Betsy II’s pizza delivery cassettes include the Velvet Underground and Our Bodies Our Selves. Nice.
— Still at it: Justin Perkins at Mystery Room Mastering, mastering more MTX. More on this soon.
(This is twitter video.)
— The Mr T Experience — “What’s in the Cuckoo Clock?” live in Southampton UK, Summer of ‘92:
These old Song for Odin posts rarely come up as FB “memories” (by design I’m sure); it seems to happen only when they’ve been shared and re-shared and the re-share evades the, er, de-emphasis of YouTube in the platform wars. But when they do pop up, it’s a fine occasion to revisit.
This Rachel Sweet cover is a great, great song, great enough to survive being mauled by the Mr T Experience like this. This was a Song for Odin two years ago, when the “series” was just getting going, and here’s that “minor secrets” link.
For some reason, the write-up didn’t link to the original, which is here and is still so good:
This is the original UK mix, I believe.
— Emotional Vertigo. We had “Love Is Dead” (the song) for Odin this week, live at the Rivoli in Toronto, October, 1997:
“Minor secrets” are here. Songs for Odin playlist is here.
— …and your Friday morning “She’s Coming (Over Tonight)”, the last of three tunes in this short “live from Wallington” set from our pal Danny:
Covers playlist is here. Original (Mtx forever version) is here:
DR FRANK IS A DISH BEST SERVED COLD
— Baader-Meinhof Reverberations — the New Left and Me: Some stuff I wrote about the Baader-Meinhof gang and my own upbringing unwittingly in the shadow of ’68, with a new addendum about Astrid Proll, Joe Strummer’s T shirt, and terrorist chic. The post is on Medium.
— Dept. of bons mots:
I guess I’ve been to Europe often enough that even when in the US, if I see a guy in a baseball cap I’m a bit surprised if he doesn’t approach me and say “ramones ramones queers screeching weasel ramones.”
and
In 9th grade this girl who sat in front of me in English class passed me a note saying her favorite song was “Lovin Touchin Squeezin” and I was so distracted by the abstract concept of someone’s favorite song being by Journey that I completely missed that she was probably flirting with me.
OTHER PEOPLE’S MUSIC
— Blue Oyster Cult — “This Ain’t the Summer of Love”:
Everything obsolete is topical again.
PICTURE BOOK
— Roman calendar: Feast of the Immaculate Heart of Mary; for the feast day of Saint Leutfridus, an manuscript illumination of a monk attacking the devil with a club; Saint Alban in stained glass; Saint Æthelthryth (and the invention of the word “tawdry”); the Nativity of John the Baptist, in an illuminated miniature by Jan van Eyck (and therein lies a tale); cherry harvest for St. John’s Day, with an adapted medieval recipe for cherry pudding; Dorothea of Montau;
— Behold: Boris does space Andromeda, I suppose; Ann Peters in a field, ca. 1956; Ten of Swords; interstellar quarantine; the feelings are coming from inside your head; out on this limb, there’s only me…; oh no, not cat clowns!; a girl and her shorts;
— and finally:
IN THE NEWS
— Today on Botched: “Priceless 17th century painting of Virgin Mary is ruined after furniture repair man is paid $1,358 to restore it…”
FIN
And that’ll wrap it up for this week’s Weakly Reader. But for those who’ve made it this far down the page, but for those who’ve made it this far down the page, here’s another girl in a field:
See you next week.
