Our songs are pop-like in form and twisted in spirit. We write happy music about sad things, and sad music about happy things. We think that songs and arrangements should be as simple as possible, but no simpler. We think that music, particularly live music, should be fun, and that you should be able to dance to most of it.
We are The Brothers Frank, and this is our website.
Yes, Roland Barthes has an essay called “Leaving the Movie Theater,” and no, this is not that essay. This isn’t even an essay at all. Has anyone coined a good one-word phrase for “short bit of writing on a weblog”? Is it “post”? “Post” sounds stupid.
Anyway, the movie theater. Seems like all theaters have at least twice as many exits as entrances, and tonight I left by one of those extra ones in the back. Hadn’t done that since I was a kid. The back exits usually lead through dim, unfinished hallways to doors that, although they open right to the street, are mostly invisible to anyone who walks by. It’s a special kind of camouflage called irrelevance. Everybody knows those doors only let out, not in, so eventually we learn not to waste effort even seeing them.
This particular back exit indeed led to one of those doors, but it led with charm. The hallway was tiled, the lights were not dim but moody, and the bathrooms—there were bathrooms back there—were classier than the ones in the more travelled part of the theater.
Soon I got lost. Yes, in a hallway. Look, it twists left and right, has two staircases (the first of which seems to exist only to give the second purpose; it leads to lower but otherwise normal bit of hallway, which leads to the second staircase, which in turn takes you right back to ground level), and some parts of the hallway are pretty convincing imitations of small rooms. Really. I wouldn’t mind gathering a few friends there for drinks.
And then it hit me. Someone is using this hidden, classy, back hallway as a secret cocktail bar for people much cooler than I am. They enter late at night through the doors that no one notices.
Or, if someone isn’t doing this, someone should. I’m adding it to the list.
The list, by the way, is the List of Careers to Explore Once Thesis is Done. “Musician” is on there too.
posted 17 February 2010
607 351 5173
