| T O P I C R E V I E W |
| Cult_Of_Frank |
Posted - 02/15/2006 : 08:54:50
As we mentioned in the Frank Black podcast, we'd like to hear stories about you and Frank Black. Whether it was a chance meeting at the grocery store, a really interesting/great concert you were at, a visit on the Catholics/Pixies bus, hanging out backstage, or getting an autograph, tell it here. Even if you have no desire to be on the podcast, we'd still like to hear them.
I'm sure this topic's been around before, but I couldn't find it. I know some of you have great stories so let's have it.
 "If we hit that bullseye, the rest of the dominos will fall like a house of cards. Checkmate." |
| 19 L A T E S T R E P L I E S (Newest First) |
| Franks taco |
Posted - 03/02/2006 : 23:10:32
Well this is more of a meeting the Pixies story. Ive had the pleasure of meeting all members of the Pixies.
I met David Lovering back in 91.(I think) A couple of friends and myself all drove out to Ventura, CA to see the Pixies play at the Ventura Theater. Anyhow we had an hour or so to kill, so we all bought some forties (it was the fashion at the time) and proceeded to brown bag it homeless style in the park nearby. Low and behold, David Lovering is taking a walk in the park and we had the chance to meet and bullshit at bit before the show. He declined my complimentary swig, but did take one of my smokes.
I met Joey Santiago and his wife at the Dragonfly in Hollywood for a Martinis performance. It was after the show and he was at the bar ordering a drink, so my friends and I flagged him over to our table and we bought him a beer. Really nice guy.
I met Kim Deal at the Coconut Teaser for a Martinis show as well. I got to the show COMPLETELY HAMMERED and as I was walking through the crowd, I spotted her and HAD to say hello. I dont think she had any idea of what I was saying since I was COMPLETEY HAMMERED but I still remember that great smile.
And my encounter with THE MAN was short but sweet. He played a show at the Troubadour in Hollywood. Out of all the band members Ive had the pleasure of meeting, this encounter was by far the most nerve racking. I did the typical, big fan speech with the deer in headlights look and felt stupid doing it. I should have offered him a swig of a forty. |
| floop |
Posted - 02/25/2006 : 16:13:16
i remember reading LBF's story on Frank Black for President a long time ago. amazing. as if missing two shows in a row isn't bad enough. but i almost have more sympathy for the fact that you rode a Greyhound bus for 12 hours. and had to drive through South Baltimore |
| beckett trance |
Posted - 02/25/2006 : 12:37:49
When most people think of going out to see live music in Los Angeles, they probably think of Hollywood -- either the Sunset Strip, a big venue like the Wiltern Theater, the Greek Theater or the Palladium, or one of the smaller clubs around. There's not much of a reason to think about the West Side, but once upon a time, there were several small venues peppered along Pico Blvd. where West L.A. meets up with Santa Monica.
There was a club called Nomads (once Club Radio and also Club '88), a place called The Music Machine and a club called The Alligator Lounge. All three are history today and the only place you can see some good live music in that stretch is McCabe's Guitar Shop, which has some of the best shows in Los Angeles.
The last show I saw at McCabe's was a couple months ago, when Stan Ridgway, formerly of Wall of Voodoo, and also a contributor to "Devil's Workshop" and "Show Me Your Tears," played there. You should check out his work, if you are unfamiliar -- I recommend Drywall's "Work the Dumb Oracle." (I actually have a much better Stan Ridgway story but this is the Frank Black forum).
The last time I saw Frank Black (except with the Pixies last year at the Wiltern Theater) was at McCabe's in 2003. But one of the most memorable things from the Frank Black shows I've been lucky to see was at the old Alligator Lounge, which was just a few doors down from McCabe's. It's hard for me to remember if it was '95 or '96 (I think '95), but Frank Black was burning up the joint. All of a sudden, the power went out. The band blew all the circuits in the place.
Everybody groaned. I was a little disappointed, but it wasn't that bad. I was hoping they would start over instead of moving to the next tune. The sound guy scurried around and the power came back on. A few seconds later, the band started playing -- right where they left off when the power went out. They blew the circuits a couple more times, each time picking up exactly where they left off, like they were just on "pause." It could've been a gig-ending tragedy, but they rolled with it and turned in a great performance.
I'm sure I would've had a great time if the power never went out, but it actually made the show stand out from the others.
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** feeling deluxe for just a couple of bucks ** |
| Ziggy |
Posted - 02/23/2006 : 16:00:13
Yeah, thanks for sharing :) |
| Cult_Of_Frank |
Posted - 02/23/2006 : 14:16:53
Wow, very cool, great story!
"If we hit that bullseye, the rest of the dominos will fall like a house of cards. Checkmate." |
| FranknWeezer |
Posted - 02/23/2006 : 13:19:42
The skinny version: my profile picture is from (and I'll never forget it) Jan 29, 1999 in front of Proud Larry's on the Square in Oxford, MS. I was in my senior year at Ole Miss, and I didn't know a soul in town who cared that The Baldheaded Buddah of Rock was coming to town. I had one of my friends go with me (he was slightly interested b/c he'd heard of the Pixies), and we got there way early. Early enough to see FB and the cath's come in and unload their own gear in t-shirts and work gloves. I waited until he was finished and pulled FB over to the side. The guy amazingly talked to me for about 20 minutes. It was unreal. Talked about my favorite songs, how I saw his video for Los Angeles on Beavis and Butthead and thought the hovercraft was cool, so I bought his self titled album, and a bunch of other stuff. Extremely small venue, but I was standing right under his mic, 3 ft away, and the stage was only 3 ft. off the ground where the audience stood. They played mostly FB&C's self titled stuff, but he stopped and in the middle of the set told a story about how he just met his #1 fan Ryan (me) and how he was about to play my favorite song (at the time), which was Superabound. I'd given my audio cassette minirecorder to the sound guy b/c he said he could get the show great from where he was standing. Would you believe that to save me room on the tape, he cuts the recorder off just after FB says, "I, uh met a guy, this afternoon as we were loading in our stuff, and..." I coulda killed the guy once I got home and found out.
Anyway, he signed my Teenager insert, my COR poster (the insert folded out), and I got a big poster from the show framed (the FB&C's album soldiers w/ spears thing) and bought a shirt from that tour (tan FBC's one I wore to NO and the Ryman since then). Also talked to FB a little after the show.
I know I'm leaving a bunch of stuff out since it's been so long, but the experience was unreal. There was nobody else there looking to talk to him but me, so I had his full attention, and he delivered.
The meeting after the House of Blues show in NO was very short. He got off his big tour bus and signed the pic in my profile and I talked to him for a few seconds before he had to walk away...and at the Ryman I didn't see him at all before or after the show.
Meeting the man in Oxford was as good as it gets for me.
FranknWeezer |
| fumanbru |
Posted - 02/22/2006 : 18:19:48
ya, great story and great first post but not as good as my first post:
"hello, my name is fumanbru and i'm a frankoholic."
"I joined the Cult of Frank/ cause I'm a real go-getter!" |
| kathryn |
Posted - 02/22/2006 : 17:27:48
That's gotta be the best first post ever. Welcome to the forum.
I got some heaven in my head
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| frankie5549 |
Posted - 02/22/2006 : 17:08:56
I have the pleasure/honor of meeting Frank when he played Indianapolis Indiana while he was on the Devil's Workshop/Black Letters Day Tour. He played in a small club so it was very up close and personal for me. David Loverlorn opened for him doing his Science/Magic Show. After that Frank came out and played the most amazing show ever. He opened with Where is My Mind which was unforgetable for me. At the end of the show as Scott was walking off the stage he came up to me and gave me his drum stick which I proudly display in my house, the nice thing about the drum stick is that it has FBandC enscribed into it. As I was walking out of the club I saw that Frank was outside of the club talking with the fans. I sprinted to my car and grabbed everything Frank Black out of my car, which consisted of three cd's and one tape. I then ran back and I was able to meet Frank. I actually got to shake his hand, and he signed all of my stuff for me. But the kicker to the night was while I was shakeing his hand I told him "Thank you for makeing such wonderful music, and thank you for giveing me such joy and happiness with your music". Frank looked me in the eye and told me that I had given him one of the best compliments that he had ever received. So that is my Frank Black experience. I have seen the Pixies twice, but those are stories for another day and another time, besides there not as exciting as this one. |
| spunXtain |
Posted - 02/22/2006 : 15:25:44
I met Frank on March 20th 2003 in Louisville Kentucky. It was an awesome Catholics show, and the first time I ever seen THE MAN perform live. After the show, David Lovering was over near the bar selling T-shirts and I chatted with him for a bit and bought a Scientific Phenomenalist Shirt, an autographed photo, and had David sign my Pickle which I got from his magic show (currently still in the freezer.. a prized possession)
after that we headed outside and I noticed Frank's tour bus parked just to the side of the venue, with a small group of maybe 5 or 6 people gathered near it. I headed over to investigate, and I saw THE MAN peek his head out of the glass doors of the bus. He stepped out and shook hands/signed autographs.
People were showing him Pixies tattoos and he seemed not too impressed. I finally said to him "Forget the Pixies,, the catholics are where it's at. Frank, keep it up buddy!" and he just smiled. I handed him my ticket stub, hoping to get it signed. I asked him to make it out to "Dustin". He took the ticket in his hand, and walked away slowly while examining the ticket, front and back.. i dunno what was so interesting? Then he signed the ticket "Dustin ... Frank Black".. held it up over is head and said "alright, where'd Dustin get to?" and I excitedly replied "HERE!" and got my ticket. I was feeling giddy because THE MAN actually SAID MY NAME.
After that he continued to sign stuff for a while, but wasn't feeling to chatty (maybe because he had tripped over the monitor while stepping backwards after the Catholics' round of applause) which I felt really bad for him.
But all in all it was the best day of my life and it even tops seeing the Pixies play the Ryman in October '04. It was such a personal show, with the catholics. I was so close that my hand could have been touching McDave's boot the whole show. I was RIGHT THERE with the monitors right in my face, hearing "Nadine" played live for my first time.. a new song. Such a magic night.
Here's my signed ticket if you'd like to see
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v50/spunx/back.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v50/spunx/front.jpg
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| Cult_Of_Frank |
Posted - 02/16/2006 : 17:46:07
Wow, that would be distressing, especially given that they're no longer together.
Didn't you get that free ticket from the man himself, sitting on a bench? Someone out there got on the guestlist 'cause they ran into the man and chatted with him and didn't have a ticket but gushed and didn't ask him for anything, and he made sure they got in. Or so I remember it.
They don't call him 'the man' for nuthin!
"If we hit that bullseye, the rest of the dominos will fall like a house of cards. Checkmate." |
| fumanbru |
Posted - 02/16/2006 : 17:28:42
holy shit! never heard that story before. that's really funny in a fucked up kind of way! what are the odd's. not once but twice. what a bummer. in october i drove 7 hours to minneapolis to see the new pornographers. show got canceled too. a really weird feeling. so excited and then a total letdown. but they are playing in wpg on monday night so i'll see them then. (no jinx please)
"I joined the Cult of Frank/ cause I'm a real go-getter!" |
| Little Black Francis |
Posted - 02/16/2006 : 13:30:44
I have an amazing Frank Black story that I’ve told before but I feel still has never got enough attention. I had tickets to 2 of the 3 cancelled shows in 2001.
The first was at Fletcher’s in Baltimore January 27th, 2001. I convinced a friend of mine who had never heard much of Frank to drive me 6 hours away to see a show. We stayed with a couple I knew from school who I hadn’t seen in 3 years. Also the last time I would ever see them. We made it to their house somewhere in Towson and had a lovely dinner and a tour of their house. Then off to the show. We struggle through some of the worst neighborhoods I’ve ever been through to finally make it to the club. I hate being in terrible neighborhoods not knowing where you’re going and I hate driving through a big city where I have no idea where I am going. Seems like the best clubs are always surrounded by the worst neighborhoods. Baltimore is still the murder capital of the US and I believe I had a very sufficient tour of why. So we finally get to the club to find out the show was cancelled. The little bar next to it, the IOTA I think it’s called was jam packed with the Friday night preppy drug addict crowd, we didn’t even have a drink. Then back to Bagel’s house where we watched Coyote Ugly, a great symbol of the entire journey. The next day the sad drive home.
Three months later, Good Friday the 13th, I took a Greyhound bus to Alexandria to see a show in DC at the Black Cat. I got to meet with my best friend from school and was very excited to turn on yet another beloved friend to Frank. We had an awesome dinner and drove up to DC through again some of the worse neighborhoods in the US, another former murder capital of the US, but at least I had been there dozens of times to see Frank, Sleater Kinney, Geraldine Fibbers, Cibo Matto, White Stripes, Sonic Youth and some other cool bands. I was also supposed to meet Jrolker from Abstract Plain, but that never happened and lost all contact with him as well, although he still posts there. So I had told her the horror story of my trip to Baltimore. We laughed. When we get to the door I was shocked beyond belief, the show was cancelled because the night before all their gear was stolen in Philadelphia. I just couldn’t believe it. It was 10 dollars to see another crappy local band and hang out in the bar. Sommer had a few drinks and we played a game of pinball. An all around 16 hours bus ride game of pinball.
Although I got to see a few friends I never get to see and I had eagerly anticipated turning them on to my all-time favorite musician, It seems like it couldn’t have gone worse . I think I am far up in the ranks of worse Frank luck ever, but also the best fan ever because I never let the shitty experiences lessen my love for Frank’s music.
As for better luck, another show I scored FB’s pick and Scott’s drumstick, front row center within arms length of Frank, I requested Stupid Me and they played it and my ex-girlfriend got to get on stage and perform science experiments with Dave Lovering. Last summer I did get a free ticket to a Pixies show where I was forth row.
So, what do you think?
... Childbirth is no more a miracle than eating food and a turd coming out of your ass. |
| vilainde |
Posted - 02/16/2006 : 01:02:36
Why would Frank need a bodyguard, he looks like one anyway.
Denis
I love Guitar Wolf from the Erath! |
| Frog in the Sand |
Posted - 02/15/2006 : 15:04:25
Oops, I've just noticed fbc's post now...
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"I want to change the world but it's changing me!" |
| The Calistanian |
Posted - 02/15/2006 : 14:07:18
Nothing special, but it was before a show in Minneapolis, and before I entered the venue (we were well early), I spotted Frank on the street corner waiting for a ride. I walked over to him, and asked "How's it going, Charles?" He said "Great". I said I was looking forward to the show, and he was too.
Like I said, nothing special, but it's nice to have musical idols that don't need an entourage of bodyguards, or are rushed from here to there to avoid psycho fans. It's nice to have one that just stands on the street corner, waiting for a cab.
1. I am a fsh with no i's.
2. You must be wearing Zubaz, 'cause you're daring to be different.
3. I am a man with 3 fingers...but that doesn't count my index finger nor my thumb. |
| Cult_Of_Frank |
Posted - 02/15/2006 : 11:23:12
Great, thanks FBC and Frogman, appreciated. There are some great stories in there.
"If we hit that bullseye, the rest of the dominos will fall like a house of cards. Checkmate." |
| Frog in the Sand |
Posted - 02/15/2006 : 10:44:11
My FB story is quite banal but... say, funny:
THE FROG MEETS THE MAN (11/6/03)
Posted - 11/07/2003 06:31:27 PST
[...]
Oops, I forgot to say – I offered the Man a bottle of white wine (Riesling cuvée 2001, Médaille d’or 2002 des grand vins alsaciens). I met him after the gig, as he was quietly chatting with some fans. He was with Scott and I heard the drummer talking about having a drink downtown or somewhere. I took immediately advantage of this unexpected occasion. I gave the bottle to Frank and told him something brilliant like "I know you love good wines, now you’ll know I love your music!" To say the truth I felt like the famous trees of the Arizona desert – petrified. Frank looked at the bottle and said : "Hey – great! Great! Thanks !" He seemed a little tired but he shook firmly and spontaneously my hand as I was desperately trying to remember at least one of the 50 questions I had planned to ask him. Finally I took my copy of SMYT out of my coat and asked him for an autograph. Simple coincidence or not, he put his signature on the lyrics of New House of the Pope (which is, as you probably know, his personal translation of "Châteauneuf-du-Pape", his favorite wine). He thanked me again and went away before I could remember my first question.
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"I want to change the world but it's changing me!" |
| fbc |
Posted - 02/15/2006 : 09:59:58
some great encounters here: http://forum.frankblack.net/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=14027 |
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