The Brothers Frank

You can see Zach in this photo! He’s real! Now someone...

Tue, 09 Mar 2010 10:36:19 -0500

You can see Zach in this photo! He’s real! Now someone just needs to take a photo of us with Zach and Kate in it, so we can prove that we all play the same songs at the same time.

Photo by Erin L. Erwin

Put me in panel two. C

Thu, 04 Mar 2010 15:13:52 -0500

Put me in panel two.

We're Obsolete

Sun, 28 Feb 2010 15:05:00 -0500

We're Obsolete :

http://www.miller-mccune.com/culture-society/triumph-of-the-cyborg-composer-8507/

As long as music stays good, I’m okay with that.

-H

I used to have access to a 30 story roof in Manhattan. It was an...

Sat, 27 Feb 2010 15:08:18 -0500

I used to have access to a 30 story roof in Manhattan. It was an amazing place to watch city life. Sadly, some ass-heads went up there and threw rocks off, so the building management installed an alarm on the door. No more roof for me. But this video is almost as good.

-H

While Asleep

Wed, 24 Feb 2010 16:34:00 -0500

Two girls are sitting across from one another, eating lunch. Chick chick chick chick chick. That is the sound of their iPhones being typed on, and it is the only sound coming from their table, because each girl is as immersed in her 3.5-inch color screen as anyone ever gets immersed into anything. Chick chick chick chick chick.

I hope they’re texting each other. I know they’re not, because when people get immersed in SMS exchanges, they make the same expressions of sympathy and attention they’d make in conversation, only they make them to their phones. As if the phones need to feel listened to. Maybe they do, I don’t know.

If I had an iPhone, and if I were the type to observe Lent, I might give up my iPhone for Lent. Last night in my dream someone said “For Lent, I’m giving up.” I hope no one actually said that.

There is a theory about consciousness which states that it (consciousness) cannot happen in the brain, that a brain alone does not suffice for producing conscious experiences. A brain is necessary, yes, but it must also have a world to interact with. Consciousness, in this theory, is fundamentally an interaction between an organism and its environment; and without both organism and environment, no consciousness. It is like the performance of a symphony. Where is the symphony in space? What one thing causes it? There are no answers to those questions.

If this view is right, then dreaming is something of a mystery. If we can have conscious experiences while dreaming, while we’re disconnected from the world and deep in sleep, then it seems like the brain is sufficient for consciousness after all.

One philosopher’s response is that dream experiences are not really very much like conscious experiences. Dreams are unstable, incoherent; our waking experiences are comparatively stable. Maybe the brain is sufficient for dream experiences, but not for consciousness proper. (The philosopher who says all this is Alva Noë, whose book Out of Our Heads is excellent.)

I think something is wrong with this response. Many of my dreams are indeed much stranger than waking life, but I wake from my most vivid dreams remembering events that never happened. These dreams feel real. If the brain is sufficient for dreams like these, it seems to me sufficient for conscious experience.

There is another response that, though wilder, tempts me. The force of the dream objection comes from the assumption that we’re disconnected from the world while we sleep. Perhaps we’re not. It’s conceivable that during vivid dreams, we’re interacting with the world in a way that the perception science can’t yet account for. If in fact this is what we’re doing, then it still makes sense to claim that consciousness is fundamentally an interaction between an organism and the world.

I recognize that to make this response is to posit a mysterious way of interacting with the world while dreaming. And yes, that may sound a little weird. But to someone who has dreamed a conversation and later discovered that the other person dreamed the very same conversation on the very same night, a mysterious way to interact with the world may strike him as just that—mysterious, but not implausible.

I am one such person.

Leaving the Movie Theater

Wed, 17 Feb 2010 19:58:58 -0500

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.

This Was a Bad Idea

Tue, 16 Feb 2010 02:23:18 -0500

It’s apparently more difficult to hit a parked car than a moving one. Yes? So yesterday, after nearly getting hit by a bike, I decided to start behaving like a parked car and stop dead any time a cyclist might maybe come near me, thinking I’d be harder to hit this way.

But no, I nearly got hit by a bike three times today, and at least one of the riders gave me a look like I’d insulted him.

It occurred to me shortly thereafter that I had insulted him. His face said that most bike messengers are very good at avoiding pedestrians indeed, that they manage it all the time, that they’re used to people walking slowly in straight lines, and that, come to think of it, I’d lived in New York for three-and-a-half years before even almost-hitting a bike, and I’ve still never actually been hit by one.

So I’d come up with a bad solution to a problem that never really existed. And I’m beginning to wonder how often I do this without realizing it.

And beginning to wonder is probably as far as I’ll get, since already I can tell I don’t want to know.

Show 4/3 at Rockwood Music Hall

Thu, 11 Feb 2010 15:42:10 -0500

This will be our second show at Rockwood, the best small music venue I know. Our set is at 4:00 PM, which I affectionately call the Teatime Slot. The show is free.

Show 2/24 at Glasslands Gallery

Thu, 11 Feb 2010 15:38:00 -0500

The show starts at 8, we play at 9, and the cover is $7. Ages 21+. Glasslands is in Brooklyn, on 289 Kent Ave, between South 1st and South 2nd streets.

The Tendencies play after us; they are astoundingly fun.

It's Like When

Sat, 06 Feb 2010 16:16:00 -0500

I think I can explain why I’m so excited about this, but only if I tell a very short story first.

When an acquaintance of mine, a former NYU grad student, got offered a job at U.C. Berkeley, I told him he’d landed the closest thing that professional philosophy has to a major-label record deal. I wasn’t trying to explain to him the awesomeness of his situation—he knew that already. I was, rather, trying to empathize, and I seem to understand things best by analogy with the music world. This former grad student happened to play in a rock band once upon a time, so I know he got it. And he even laughed some, though maybe at me.

I bring this up because I’m currently taking an ethics course from Thomas Nagel, which, in music, would be like taking a songwriting course from Paul McCartney. Nagel is one of the greatest philosophers of the twentieth century, and not because he writes things like “Yesterday / All my troubles seemed so far away”. No, he writes things like this:

“There is a persistent temptation to turn philosophy into something less difficult and more shallow than it is. It is an extremely difficult subject, and no exception to the general rule that creative efforts are rarely successful. I do not feel equal to the problems treated in this book. They seem to me to require an order of intelligence wholly different from mine. Others who have tried to address the central questions of philosophy will recognize the feeling.”

Thomas Nagel, humble genius.

Incidentally, the original first two lines of “Yesterday” were these: “Scrambled eggs / oh my baby how I love your legs”. I’d like very much to hear them sung.

: .

Show 2/12 at Sidewalk Cafe

Thu, 28 Jan 2010 10:36:40 -0500

Showcase for 194 Recordings, featuring Katie Buchannan at 10:00, The Brothers Frank at 11:00 (that’s us!), and Lacrymosa at midnight. Free show, all ages, awesome.

Sidewalk Cafe is on 94 Avenue A in NYC.

At Saturday’s Rockwood show, which, by the way, was really...

Wed, 27 Jan 2010 14:18:51 -0500

At Saturday’s Rockwood show, which, by the way, was really fun and thank you to everyone who came, I promised to post our set lists. I made one for Hayden and he made me a translated version in return. I’m assuming you can guess which is which.

Show 1/23/2010 at Rockwood Music Hall

Tue, 29 Dec 2009 17:13:42 -0500

Rockwood is one of my favorite places in the city to see shows.

4:00 PM is an unusual time for rock music, but don’t let that stop you. We’ll make it work. Free, 45 minute set, ages 21+, starting at 4:00 PM sharp.

LiiKkee LaSt sHoWW of oH NiinNneee OMGOMG!!!

Tue, 15 Dec 2009 17:51:00 -0500

Hey! Give me my computer back, Chris!

(ensuing struggle…the sound of cracking bones and high pitched squeeling)

That’s better. I should never have given him the password to this website. Uh, anyway, as Chris’ title informs you in its own special way, the Brothers Frank will soon be playing our last show of the year. It’s this Friday, 12/18, at Sullivan Hall, 8:00pm. Ten bucks gets you in if you’re 18 or over. ID’s required, but any form is accepted.

If your semester’s over, come celebrate! If your semester’s not over, come drink in the corner and be sad! If you don’t go to school, rock on! Last Frank Brothers show of 2009? Psshh—we’re gonna play like it’s our last show of 2010.

I don’t know what that means.

<3 <3 <3

-H

Mistakes Were Made I uncovered this little gem Chris made last...

Mon, 14 Dec 2009 00:00:00 -0500

Mistakes Were Made

I uncovered this little gem Chris made last winter. This was before we played together, but he brought me over to record the whistling. Because he can’t. Muahahaha. He’s almost 23 and he can’t whistle. It’s an excellent song though. Nice job, Chris.

-H

Show Tonight at 5:30

Sat, 21 Nov 2009 10:52:00 -0500

The schedule for tonight’s show at Webster Hall has changed, and we’re now playing at 5:30 sharp. Kate Eastman, alas, has a theatrical engagement until six o’ clock, which means she cannot grace you with her harmonies tonight.

I’ve placed a call to the New York Philharmonic to see whether they can fill in, but with so little notice I’m not hopeful. Look for a show tonight from just me, little brother, and Zach.

Noise

Tue, 10 Nov 2009 12:05:49 -0500

I see much in Manhattan I’d rather not. Litter, for instance, which, come to think of it, I also smell. It’s at least hard to hear litter, unlike taxi brakes squealing and subway trains arriving and paranoid schizophrenics and the rest of New York’s Sounds Of The Morning. I hear in other towns they’ve got bird song.

Call any sensory input you wish you didn’t have to deal with “noise”. Noise is a problem, one that, like most problems, has at least two solutions; and one of those solutions is dumb.

You don’t want to go walking down the street blindfolded in earplugs hoping for a quiet sensory experience. You’ll get run over, or you’ll walk right by Björk in the West Village and nearly not notice. (This has happened to me.) (Not the getting run over bit. The bit with Björk.)

You don’t want to dull your senses. They get duller all by themselves with age, thanks very much.

Instead you want to be very careful about which parts of your sensory experience you attend to. You can ignore, for instance, most of what’s on the internet. You can also ignore most of what my little brother says, you can ignore W.M. Akers altogether, and you can ignore the ConEd machinery cutting up the road outside my apartment. At least, you could if it weren’t so loud and irregular and awful.

You could, I suppose, get all worked up about stuff like this and demand everyone cease their noisemaking, but you almost always lose these fights, not least because the people you’re fighting with can’t hear you. Practice ignoring; see how it feels.

TV news? Gone. “Networking”, in the sense that involves being nice to people you don’t like so they might give you something you probably don’t really want anyway? Gone. Street canvassers? Gone. (I gave up on street canvassers when one from Greenpeace tried to convince me that folks like me are “literally the backbone” of their organization.)

Careful, though, that you don’t ignore the good stuff. I considered lumping untruths with Greenpeace canvassers and TV news, on the grounds that untrue sentences can’t help but be noisy.

But here are two stories, one true, one false. I leave it to you to decide which is noisier. (And, while you’re at it, which is true.)

Today I had lunch with a friend I hadn’t seen in too long, worked, then played in a small park with another friend I hadn’t seen in not-quite-but-almost-too long. In the park you can get from the bodega to the edge of the asphalt in just four steps. Well, I can do it in four steps. It took my friend five.

Today I bought four umbrellas and opened them over a subway grate. The next train to pass brought a pressure wave with it, which carried me fifteen stories into the air. I floated haphazardly down toward my favorite street vendor and, on landing, ordered coffee and an egg sandwich, which he insisted on giving to me for free since I was his only customer today to fly into line.

Show 11/21 at The Studio @ Webster Hall

Sun, 08 Nov 2009 15:44:00 -0500

Gallatone Records is throwing a party, and we’re part of the entertainment.

Genesis Be, Shinobi Ninka, Natti Vogel, and Analogue Transit are also on the bill, which means it’s going to be a hell of a party indeed. Show starts at 6:00 sharp, and we play at precisely 7:10.

The Studio @ Webster Hall has an address: 125 East 11th St, Manhattan. It’s open to anyone 19 or older. Yes, nineteen. Why 19? Makes no sense to me.

UPDATE:

The show is now 18+. Apparently the 19+ thing didn’t make sense to someone else, too.

Quasi-show

Sun, 08 Nov 2009 15:38:00 -0500

We’ll be playing a few songs with my friends ippazzi at Rockwood Music Hall tomorrow night. 11:59 PM. I don’t know which songs, precisely, we’ll be playing, or how many, but I do know that Rockwood is a great place to see music.

If you’re awake at 11:59 and in New York, you ought to be at Rockwood.

Show 11/13 at Sidewalk Cafe

Mon, 19 Oct 2009 17:24:00 -0400

The shows keep coming. Come catch us Friday, 11/13 at the Sidewalk Cafe, at 94 Avenue A, where A meets 6th St. We play at 11:59 PM, for free, and all ages are welcome.