News

Archives

Online Review from boingboing.net

Somewhere Out There

Jim Griffin
April 27, 2003

Boing Boing's Guestbar

Some of you know Joe Frank, a long-time contributor to National Public Radio's network in general, originating in specific from Santa Monica's trend-setting KCRW. Joe's not on the air now, but few who've heard him forget him -- for better or worse -- and he's come and gone over the years, leaving in his wake an awesome body of work, a collection of mostly one-hour, uninterrupted radio plays, dramas and monologues.

If you've not previously heard of Joe Frank, you need to check him out, and fortunately that is still possible thanks to digital archives apparently approved by Joe.... My introduction to Joe Frank was through his show Mountain Rain, which I heard on the car radio during a morning drive to Los Angeles' Chinatown for a Sunday Pho brunch. Amazing sounds, unusual -- even risque -- monologue, the avante garde sound loops and backround music enticing and the dialogue at times lyrical and beautiful, at others playful and loaded with dry wit.

Joe's played live in my area twice, once the Viper Room, another at UCLA, both times backed by Brazzaville, the band best known for accompanying Beck. He was amazing both times, though it was clear he was somewhat uncomfortable working a crowd instead of a studio's production techniques. He is by some accounts legendary for delivering material just-in-time; legend has it that he has at least once worked on the second half-hour of the show while the first-half-hour is playing.

If you listen to Joe and find it is not to your taste, try a few other samples to be sure, because the years brought different styles to his work. It makes me hopeful for his future if and when he decides to return to radio or entertainment.

About Jim Griffin

Aside from having co-founded Pho -- community that gathers over soup to share ideas about "the digital delivery of art" and "the convergence of entertainment and technology."-- Jim Griffin is an author, columnist, and wireless industry consultant. As head of technology for Geffen Records, he led a team that in 1994 distributed the first full-length commercial song on-line, by Aerosmith. Geffen was the first entertainment company to install a web server, and Geffen World was one of the first corporate intranet sites.