When We Were Very Young
The Dr Frank Weakly Reader for 2.12.21
Hello friends, and welcome another edition of the Dr Frank Weakly Reader, that thing I do where I compile, illustrate, annotate and expand the previous week on the Dr Frank internet so it may be searched for and found later, should I ever wish to do that. I do it for myself mainly, but as always, feel free read along if you like.
FRONT BURNER
— Lookout Zoomout #2: Yes, I’m coming back for and with more, along with Dan Vapid, Rose Melberg, Kepi, and Lawrence Livermore, hosted as before by Grant Lawrence. I suppose Grant is thinking of me as the sort of “house band” of the series and it’s fine by me. I had a good time last time, somewhat to my own surprise.
Anyhow, it’s Sunday, Feb. 28, 12 noon Pacific time. Sign up here if you want in.
— Alex Laipeneiks (1970–2021): As you may have noticed from posts on the internet recently, Alex, the original MTX drummer, sadly passed away last month. He was a bit younger than me (a friend of my brother John, still in high school when we started) but I was not too far from teenage-hood myself back in the beginning. So through all those shows, tours, practices in his parents’ garage, and what-not, we sort of grew up together, treading the inevitable path of discovery, glory, mishap, and disillusionment inherent to that process. Many of the strangest, most unforgettable experiences I’ve had occcured in those times along with Alex. Playing with him was a big part of my life for the better part of eight years, and it’s sad that he’s gone.
Our longtime friend Last Will shared his memories and gathered some photos, and shared a reminiscence from Lawrence Livermore as well.
This recording of a 1988 radio appearance at WNYU (live set and interview) gets across more than anything I know of what it was like in those days:
I find I am unable to add anything more at this time, beyond offering sincere condolences to his close friends and his lovely family. RIP.
THE MTX OF MYTH AND LEGEND
— The catalog numbers of upcoming Sounds Radical releases for 2021… maybe you can figure some of them out? Some were guessed, but not all. Stay tuned.
— Less cute than they try to be, with the potential to be cuter than they are… via Natalie (who bought the Making Things with Light LP from a college radio station)a record reviewer assesses the cuteness on the MTX Making Things with Light LP.
— Flop / Mr T Experience / Meices: an old flier posted by Anthony Lew on the Lookout FB fan page, for a December 1992 show at the “Heinz Afterworld Lounge” more commonly known as the Heinz Club. What it was was, a little corner of a Vietnamese restaurant. Very very Oakland. Lots and lots of tiny shows happened there in those days. The location is/was a sports bar now. I’ve been there and really liked their cheeseburger back in the days when we were allowed to get cheeseburgers from places.
— Bomb Bassetts — “She’s from Salinas”, live at Gilman for the Lookout 10th anniversary, ca. 1998. Forgot about this, till I saw it just now, and now I remember it:
That’s Dallas Denery, with me and Kevin Army on guitar, Jym on drums, Joel on bass, doing an old Sweet Baby Jesus song. We had a good ’90s.
— OOF FOREVER: This week’s Song for Odin was “The Empty Experience” from a very early video, Gilman, May 2 1987.
YOU COULD THINK OF DR FRANK AS A SORT OF PERSON
— From a weird photoshoot at the Fat Wrecks office with some Suicide Girls.
— I Want to Hold Your Ear: re-visited this rendition of the old Sesame Street song as part of routine begging to subscribe to my YouTube channel:
And it worked. I got a few. Thanks.
— Rose and me: As you know from the hype above, I’m doing the Lookout Zoomout #2, which features among others the estimable Rose Melberg, and just coincidentally I came across this photo of us duetting at agent / friend Steve Malk’s wedding, ca 2012.
In addition to our own sets, we did “Don’t Go Breaking My Heart” (by request from Steve.) “Sugar Sugar” was also on the duet set list, but I’m not sure it actually occurred. At any rate, if nothing else, that’s a great picture.
But, speaking of which, this is my favorite version of the latter:
PICTURE BOOK
— Roman calendar: the martyrdom of Saint Dorothy in a painting by Hans Baldung, ca. 15th century; for Sexagesima Sunday, a depiction of sowing a field from a 15th century French manuscript; Saint Cointha; Anna Katharina Emmerick; José Sánchez del Río, whose martyrdom at fourteen years of age is depicted in the 2012 film For Greater Glory; Our Lady of Lourdes water bottles; Saint Eulalia of Barcelona…
— Gazeable: Vincent Price’s cats; Shedim by Aaron B. Heimlich; just some dancers; if sugar is so fattening, how come so many kids are thin?; iconoclasm; people asked “what saint is this?”; skeletons on the ice; among the pyramids…
FIN
And that’ll do it for the Weakly Reader for this week. But for those who’ve made it this far down the page, here’s Raquel Welch on a boat:
See you next week.
