Dr. Frank's What's-it

I'm finding the interview very interesting thus far. I'm a fan of your word-play songwriting style so it's pretty rad to find out how you come up with some of the lyrics and which ones mean the most to you.

Perhaps I'm just showing my ignorance, but thanks for the new word; it's a good one. (And, no, I don't mean "thing-making.")

My now disproven theory on your quiescence was that Ben's posts were speaking for you.

Wow, it's like "inside the songwriters studio" Very cool and informative. I've been egarly awaiting the Alcatraz section. That always has been one of my favorite albums to discuss.

something that has been bugging me,

in part 13 - it reads that you said "plutonic ideal"; but did you mean "platonic ideal"?

great stuff.

Ben's a fucking great writer.

Yeah, Jan, I meant "Platonic."

Yikes, I'm glad I read this. That's what you get, I guess. For future reference, any mistakes in the text are mine, not Frank's.

Okay, it's fixed. Sorry, Frank. But Pluto had some good ideas too.

You keep talking about your demos. Any chance you'd ever consider releasing some of them?

i saw the "warning" at the begining of the pieces, so i knew there was a chance that it was a typo.

but i did a search for plutonic's meaning (infernal, pertaining to the underworld/the god pluto, under the ground) so it might have fitted if you meant that she embodied what was wrong with rock critics, instead of what is the ideal (what would be preferred) of a rock critic.

great stuff, you two.

Hey Frank,

I've been enjoying the interview a lot, but man, it's long! I'll keep returning to it, but I only want to log on when I really have time to pay attention.

I was really intrigued by Ben's question about "I'm Straight" and "The Village Green Preservation Society" partly because you're on my list of Favorite Musical Geniuses, along with Ray Davies and Jonathan Richman (and, off the top of my head, Barbara Manning), and it's funny to see I'm not the only person who's imagined the Kinks, Modern Lovers, and MTX in some kind of group. Also, I recently bought the 3-CD rerelease of "The Kinks Are the Village Green Preservation Society" and finished reading Andy Miller's book about the album, and his account of the creation of the album reminded me of your liner notes to the CD rerelease of "...and the Women Who Love Them," with the band sort of disintegrating and, at its lowest point, somehow recording great music. Have you listened to the CD and/or read the book, and if so, what are your thoughts and reactions?

Hey, Nick - the book is definitely on my to do list, but I haven't had the chance yet. I'm torn in fact: part of me wants to know all, but part of me wants to preserve my illusions (whatever they may be) of my all time favorite work of art.

Dr. Frank,
I was reading today's installment where you discuss the role of financing in making quality records. You mentioned, breifly, file sharing. I personally bought each of your records after discovering MTX via file sharing. Otherwise I probably never would have heard some of might favorite music. I imagine file sharing probably effects different types of bands differently possibly acting as a quasi-radio. Wish I could finds studies on the subject.

Since Ben's flipped off the comments on his blog for some reason I'll do this here.

Thanks for pointing out Ben's obit on Johnny Ramone. I missed it in the midst of the interview segments somehow. This part really caught my eye and made me think...

"Much has been written about Johnny’s role as the leader of the Ramones – his high performance standards, his business acumen and his tendency to rule with an iron fist. Little has been written about the fact that he was trying to work with a group of addicts and alcoholics, nor is it often suggested that the band might well have imploded long before it did if Johnny Ramone hadn’t been around to run the show."

It caught my eye because I've been in that very same position in bands more times than I'd like to admit. I spent over five years playing with a bunch of guys who couldn't have gotten themselves home safely after a show without my help because they were too trashed to walk. And yet the fact that I did get them home to their wives/girlfriends/dealers/whatever safely was never appreciated one bit. In fact, the only thing they do seem to have noticed is that I was usually making all the decisions for the band.

They fail to remember though that I was making those decisions because they were either unable or unwilling to do it themselves, or to even participate meaningfully in the process.

At this point I'm just bitter about making music. I love the music part, and I even enjoy performing and recording, but I'm so tired of wiping other people's asses for them that I'm currently unwilling and uninterested in participating as any kind of decision-maker in a band context. I show up, my bass or guitar stays in tune, I play my parts and I go home.

Does it have to be this way?