Straight offa Wooster Street

Hello from Los Angeles, where I have been the past week and will be here for at least another, with a pit stop to come later this week when Comic Con goes down in San Diego. That will be worth following the Twitter for as there is a larger than usual MOG contingent coming this year, including me, Vik, The Kidd, Cramp and even Byalick supposedly. It's gonna be nuts. Hopefully productive as well.

How are you all doing? Is it Summer yet? Today was the first real hot day I can recall. Hard to tell you, as I have been trapped in a car all week racing from meeting to meeting. I've also eaten too goddamn much and I didn't realize how hot it is to go running. Hard to be in a proper routine or schedule when you don't actually live here. The closest thing I have to a schedule is walking this puppy, who I make run with me:



This trip has been a great way for me to deal with my pet envy. I'm getting better at handling a dog, stern when needed, understanding the personality, etc. Maybe I suck. I don't know. But I doubt Vik would let me spend all this time with her. There is an awesome Wild Rabbit on the block and the dog and I spend time staring at it. I am fascinated by Rabbits. Maybe it's because I'm part Asian. I don't know.

Honestly, I'm not very exciting. At least not blogwise. I work all day. Meetings all over town. Hustlin'. Trying to make shit happen. There is some progress. I've been fortunate enough to eat at my beloved Ca'brea twice and to eat tons of Korean food. I helped a young writer prepare for her first meeting with one of the biggest asshole agents I have ever met. I drink a lot of tea. I had in and out when I landed. I read BLACKEST NIGHT. I ate some of the best Japanese food I ever had in the US. I went to Meltodown for a Toy opening with Brad and Vik. Mark Hamill's son created the toy. I think he is Vikki's friend. I saw my mother in law, who took me for above mentioned Korean food. Today I had a meeting in Venice, then tonight I played Lazer Tag for the first time in 15 years and it was amazing. Thank you Kyle Newman for making that happen! Oh, and I convinced some people that Dan Hamill has herpes. Nice One.

Anyhow, while I am in San Diego, my sidekick himself arrives here to spend two weeks with his grandma, so hopefully I will see my small pal for a bit before I got back to NY, though honestly, right now, I don't know when I go back to NY.

But keep in touch, obviously.

F

Please Don't Suck.

Been lucky with the anticipated albums so far this year. This is a big one and I'm hoping to hear this in the next few weeks and making it the other soundtrack of the Summer (Kasabian and Dossier being the other two)

F

Was There Then.

I don't even know where to start, honestly. Most of you know where I've been. I was in Austin, I was in LA, I was back in NY, then in Rhinebeck. Did some fun stuff, wore a Matador costume, worked on some music, clowned around, oh and got married. I doubt I can get everything down, so I'm just gonna post some random stuff. I know this is going to sound like a cop out, but if you're really in a more immediate fix of Frank (and some of you HAVE complained), follow the Twitter/Facebook crap. I've just realized I can post to this blog from my phone, but I don't know. There's something personal about taking the time to type this. Who knows.

So here is just the random shit in maybe some kind of order....

In May, I went to LA to start what is considered the next stage in my career. What that is, I'm not sure yet, I just do what I do. It's tricky. It's a weird time in an odd business. The true question is, can I do what I'm good at here in NY or do I have to spend more time in LA? Well, a week from tomorrow, I am off to LA for two solid weeks (San Diego Comic Con comes in between that), so I'm still trying to find some answers. This honestly is the current great source of stress in my post married life. Stay tuned. Anyhow, the previous LA trip was a whirlwind only because I had to race back to go to the bachelor weekend in Austin...



Austin was quite possibly the best weekend of my life. Believe me, I have had a lot of good weekends, but this might be the one. No, it wasn't the insane, police being called in weekend we are normally associated with. This was the grown up version of the MOGpac, collected as a whole for the first time ever in one place enjoying each other's company and providing just awesome positive vibes the entire time. These guys SPOILED me. They put me up at the 4 seasons, fed me, clothed me (in full Matador gear), and even took me to go see the Juan Maclean. And we saw a million bats. Yes, bats. Awesome.



I wore shorts and swam for the first time since Kruger got married in Hawaii, twice no less, drank insane amounts of ice tea and beer, and ate like a king. But honestly, it was about hanging out with these guys. There's nothing better than just getting on that plane with a bunch of the MOGpac knowing we are going to fly off to some cool adventure. Even just having a few beers in the terminal waiting for the plane or sitting on the plane waiting to take off was like a massive adrenaline shot! I love traveling with them, being in some place new and just, I don't know, being. I don't think anyone has a better group of friends than I do, really. Each one of them was a fucking man and a half. To think each one of these guys took the time to come hang out with me in Texas is so beyond flattering. I feel very lucky. And if you see me, ask me what we did before we left. Something aggression related. Cheers, Nice one.



Back in NY, Brandt and I got into the serious home stretch on the HF album. This is the real fucking deal this time. I know this because he keeps sending me demos that sound better than most people's albums and then doesn't complain. This is a good sign. I recorded him playing guitars. I sang. I have some more singing to do. It sounds like a fucking ALBUM. We just sent some stuff off to Leo to finish. Saintface himself is done. We are fucking READY. Speaking of the band, here is the ENTIRE Hypefactor band in one room for the first time ever:



Another band tidbit, Jared got in touch with me to have us contribute a track to a 4 CD compilation to benefit Cancer research. It's being put together by Jim Semonik, who is a well known figure in the PA scene. He basically booked everyone in that area and to poor guy has been battling cancer, but remains industrial tough. When speaking with Jim, it turns out he was at the last ever aggression gig and knows his Hypefactor. I'm so flattered we will be a part of this project and it's a wet dream roster of bands, including new Chemlab, which I am dead excited about.



So while this is going on, the wedding happened on June 20th. I'm not bullshitting you when I tell you that this whole weekend of activities went down without one hiccup and without any drama. This was somewhat similar to the bachelor weekend in that this was mostly asshole-free, which made it even better.



Honestly, I can't think of a thing I would do differently. The journey to this even had a few moments of drama, but honestly, I expected far worse and I have seen some BAD weddings and wedding build ups in my time. This was a piece of cake. Oh speaking of cake, we didn't have any. Screw that, we had DONUTS. With STAR WARS figures on them. The real deal. The bride was a knockout and she was in good form. We ate well and we got what we had hoped for: a big party that everyone could celebrate and have a good time at.



As one of our visitors, Skott from SF, said "You've managed to take a surgical knife and excise everything I hate about weddings right out of this wedding" (or something like that). That was the general consensus. Even my Dad, who can find fault in anything (similar to my wife), still is raving about the weekend. Maybe it was because he was up till 3am every night in the hotel bar holding court with our friends. Who knows.



Speaking of the hotel, the Ace Hotel, which is brand spanking new on 29th and Broadway kicked a lot of ass. My only true regret that whole weekend was not getting enough time to hang out there. Meanwhile, the Mrs gets two days in a huge fucking suite that I got to sleep in 4 hours total. Oh well. There's honestly too much to write about this wedding/event thing, so I'll leave it at that. It was an awesome day, a perfect weekend and the start of bigger and better things.

There were only two things I wanted at this wedding. Here's one of them:



The other was, and this is fact, the Dossier album, which, while not finished was giving to me by Saintface himself along with a disc of Saintface Demos and unreleased stuff. I'm not joking that I wanted this very badly. All that was coming were freaking Crate and Barrel boxes, which means I will eat well in my adult life, and have been, but it was nice to get something unusual ;-) B and I also saw them play a few times during this hiatus and checked out SVI last weekend as well.

Lastly, we saw TRANSFORMERS 2, written of course by the co best man. I liked this movie more than the first one, which I loathe, but at least I could tell you what this movie is about. Also, the fight in the forest is very fucking impressive. I hope Dr. Fury comes back for a third one, so my nephew can grill him some more.

Anyway, hopefully this blog is back in business, as we say in backyard wrestling. I have nephew here now for the week and then it's off to LA. Let's try and stay in touch, ok?

F