[joe-frank-list] Chicago performance

[Peisithanatos at aol.com]

I, too, attended Joe's performance here in Chicago... however I was not 
disappointed in the slightest; it was everything that I expected and then some! 
There was a lot of humor... but it was dark in the classical Joe Frank sense 
(that bit about Suicide where he talked about lining up behind the cows at a 
Slaughter house! Come on now: That's pure brilliance!). Sure, it seemed a tad 
short; but, really, that's the highest compliment a performer can get (always leave 
the audience wanting more!)....

"Also, the material was too dark for me. I much prefer the surrealist 
sequences to the "I'm thinking about committing suicide" stuff."

Maybe I'm just a fruit-loop, but the darker elements in Joe's work have 
always appealed to me in a special way. I guess if you've lived through feelings of 
that nature it strikes a more resonant chord within your soul. And, again, 
Joe dealt with the suicide concepts in a masterfully humorous way during the 
performance. Few men can accomplish such a delicate feat! And, on the real, this 
is JOE FRANK that we're talking about here. I don't think that Joe's work can 
ever be "too dark". It simply is what it is, and, if you dig it, you dig it 
like a preacher digs the word of God! 

Joe's versatility is unbelievable, too. No matter what comes to your mind, I 
guarantee you that you'll be able to find material in Joe's body of work that 
is reflective of those thoughts. His work is all-encompassing in a 
mind-boggling way. And, in my opinion, he touched upon a little bit of everything during 
his performance here. Parts of it were dark, and parts of it were uplifting; 
parts of it made me laugh till my ribs were sore, and parts of it made me sob 
like a colicky baby. It was brilliant, and it was provocative, and it was 
enthralling. I was entertained in a way that only Joe Frank has the capability of 
entertaining me in, and I couldn't have asked for anything more.

"I had never seen Joe Frank in person before, and I found he looks far  older 
than I expected based on his voice and the other pictures of him I've seen.  
He looks old but he doesn't look dilapidated, though; not that appearance is 
all that important, but it is part of the overall impression. He looked rather 
distinguished, really."

I should hope that I'll look that good at Joe's age! I'd already seen all of 
the commercially available footage of Joe (Playboy Videos, his brief cameo in 
"The Game", etc.), so I wasn't surprised at all by his appearance. I loved his 
gear -- Suit Jacket, T-shirt, White Sneakers! The man's got impeccable class, 
and cuts a rather dashing figure (the group of ladies sitting across from me 
remarked, after the show, on how sexy Joe looked! I was like, "Aww, yeah! 
Joe's a pimp!" haha!).

"One thing I didn't like- the sound guy miked Joe wrong, in my opinion.  It 
was nice crisp audio  but sounded a little "thin" to really have that "Joe 
Frank dark" sonic color."

I'm not a sound-guy, or anything... but what I figured was that Joe was 
simply going for a more natural, subdued sound (kind of like you hear in some of 
his phone conversations). So, while it didn't sound like the classic "Cocktails 
Before Dinner" style Joe Frank voice, I thought it was very effective in an 
entirely different way... very organic and natural. He sounded phenomenal!

Tara Nicole Hughes was a real firecracker, fellas, let me tell you! Boy was I 
happy each time she came out! haha! Geez Louise! And Ed Valfre was smoking 
over those tracks (classic Joe Frank music!). I was really impressed with his 
playing. He really tore those tracks up! It completed the whole mood that Joe's r
eading evoked so nicely!

In a nutshell (the nutshell of one fan's personal opinion) Joe Frank's 
performance in Chicago was brilliant beyond words. Indubitably the greatest live 
event (of any kind) that I've ever had the pleasure of attending.

By the grace of Allah -- please, please, PLEASE -- may Joe Frank return to 
the Windy City again some time soon to bless us all with his inimitable 
works-in-progress!
   Hegesias


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