Frank Black will be damned if he’s going to let those hippie-dippy fucks in Animal Collective hog all the multimedia glory. “Visual albums?” Where’s the balls in that? “Interactive art installations?” Those words are not even in Black’s punk rock dictionary. But wait… “musical stage show?” Aha! Now that’sin the man’s wheelhouse.
According to the late-80s college-rock blog Slicing Up Eyeballs, a musical stage show based on Francis’ 2007 release Bluefinger is set to premiere via the Catastrophic Theatre on November 12 in the historically liberal-loving left-wing-artist haven of Houston, Texas. The stage show (as well as the album) takes as its subject the life and death of Herman Brood, a Dutch musician and painter who committed suicide in 2001 following a tumultuous battle with depression and drugs. It’s probably safe to say that this won’t exactly be the “feel-good play of the year.”
The play will feature songs from Black’s Bluefinger record as well as songs by Brood himself, and was brought to life by Pixies biographer Josh Frank, Francis, and Catastrophic director Jason Nodler. All of this comes on the heels of Black’s recently-released 16th solo album, NonStopErotik, as well as his recent stint behind the boards for the new Pete Yorn album, which is also due this fall.
So to recap, Black’s recent output consists of helping spawn a musical suicide show, playing MOR-muse to Pete Yorn, and spelling the word “erotic” with a “k.” I just want to make sure we’re all on the same page here.
• Frank Black: http://www.frankblack.com
• Slicing Up Eyeballs (oh-ho-ho-ho!): http://www.slicingupeyeballs.com
• Catastrophic Theatre: http://www.catastrophictheatre.com/shows/bluefinger
