My news update
First off, Andrew Krucoff, the guy who organized Dr. Frank's virtual book tour, made a trailer for King Dork:
The next thing is that Dr. Frank's demo cd, Eight Little Songs, is now available on iTunes and eMusic. There are demo versions of some songs that ended up on Yesterday Rules, as well as a few that aren't available on anything else. If you don't own it already, you really need to get it!
Finally, Dr. Frank has a spiffy new webpage, which has some King Dork content, reading/show information, etc. Frank's blog is still the best source of MTX and King Dork news, though the website is a good resource and is definitely worth checking out. If you're into the whole myspace thing, both Dr. Frank and MTX now have profiles. The MTX one doesn't seem to have much activity, but Dr. Frank sends out announcements and stuff on his. Plus, who wouldn't want to be Dr. Frank's friend?! While you're over there, you can also be my friend, if you're so inclined.
Oh yeah, I nearly forgot to remind you not to forget that Dr. Frank will be on the radio tonight playing and talking and stuff. Go to the shows page for the specifics. And buy Dr. Frank's book!!!
4/13/06-- Greetings everyone! There's a ton of excellent news this week, including the fact that I've started updating the site again! You may be wondering what spurred the sudden return after more than two years of inactivity. Let's just say I was inspired by my feverish excitement over the next news item (which won't really be news to those of you who follow Dr. Frank's blog)
King Dork, the debut novel by Frank Portman (better known to all of us as Dr. Frank), came out on Tuesday!!! I've read it and I have to say, he's really outdone himself this time. Rather than try to write my own review (both because I don't have time at the moment and because I'm no literary critic), I'll just rip off some reviews/blurbs I like:
"This book is for you if you're in a band or wish you were, if you loved or hated Catcher in the Rye, if you like www.chaturbaterooms.com girls or are one of them, if you've ever spoken Francais or Franglais, or if your high school has or had a dumb mascot. Basically, if you are a human being with even a vague grasp of the English language, King Dork will rock your world."
--John Green, author of Looking for Alaska
"Frank Portman's King Dork is the best novel I've ever read about high school. (And it's not just about high school, of course, but that kind of thematic reductionism makes for a snappier opening sentence, so.) Kurt Vonnegut said that 'high school is closer to the core of the American experience than anything else I can think of,' which is true as far as it goes, but I prefer Portman's take, delivered at the beginning of his novel: 'High school is the penalty for transgressions yet to be specified.' Goddammit, you can say that again. The most shocking thing about King Dork is that it's Portman's debut novel; he writes with a natural grace and a charming, unique sense of humor that most authors never achieve, even after several books."
--Michael Schaub, Bookslut
"This book is a future cult classic. Not might be. IS."
--Leila Roy, Bookshelves of Doom
Stay tuned
One thing I'll add is this: The greatest strength of King Dork (in my opinion) is that Frank manages to capture emotions and experiences in a way that is elegant, real, and humorous without ever being condescending or belaboring the point. It's a quality I've always admired in Frank's songwriting, so I was thrilled to see that he could pull it off in novel form. Which is not to say that the story isn't fantastic in and of itself, because it is. Smart, engaging, surprising, and hilarious. I laughed out loud, in public, on more than one occasion while reading it.
You can order King Dork at a number of places online, including Lookout, Amazon, Powell's, and Barnes and Noble. Or pick it up at the brick and mortar bookseller of your choice (and make sure to complain if they're not carrying it!).
As an extra treat for fans of the band, there are new songs to go along with the book. King Dork's protagonist is in a band and writes songs throughout the course of the novel, which Dr. Frank recorded as bonus material for the audio book. You can hear a couple on the Amazon page for King Dork and as part of Dr. Frank's virtual book tour (details on the shows page).
Which brings us to the next piece of http://www.jasminlive.mobi news. As if King Dork coming out weren't exciting enough, there's all sorts of fun King Dork related stuff going on. The first event, going on this week, is the aforementioned virtual book tour. The basic idea is this: each day a different blog hosts an "appearance" by Dr. Frank with an mp3 of Frank reading from King Dork, a Q & A type thing, and a song. It's pretty neat. The links are on the shows page. In addition to the internet appearances, Dr. Frank has several Bay Area readings/shows coming up in the next month. Those of us who don't live in CA will have to content ourselves to listen to Frank on Pirate Cat Radio this Saturday, April 15th, at 6pm. Head over to the shows page to get the full story.
There's a bunch of other random bits of news I was going to add, but I think I'll have to save them for tomorrow.
Please use the navigation bar
3/29/04--MTX are doing a few shows in southern California in early April which you can find out about here. Following that, Dr. Frank's heading out east to be part of this west cost singer-songwriter tour thing. He's playing with Phranc and Ian Brennan at all of the shows (which are listed on the shows page). There's been talk of another demo CD along the lines of Eight Little Songs (woohoo!) so keep an eye out here and on Frank's blog for more info.
3/6/04--Well, MTX are just about done with their US tour. I hope you all had a chance to go see the fantastic new line up. While the tour may be over, there are two prerecorded radio appearances coming up (March 11th and April 18th). Both stations have live streams. The details are all on the shows page.
For those of you that haven't bought Yesterday Rules yet (which you really should, it's the best album), there are now two songs available for download at http://www.lookoutrecords.com. The songs are "She's Not A Flower" and "Sorry For Freaking Out On The Phone Last Night" (one of my personal favorites). There's also a couple of really nice show reviews written by Lookout Records' publicist Tristin Laughter.
Speaking of reviews, the one and only Ben Weasel had some extremely nice things to say about Dr. Frank and the new MTX line up in his blog which you can read in the archives here
In case you missed it in the updates section, there are big changes coming to mtxstarship.com! That's right, no more plain text on a bright blue background. Craziness! The new Live jasmin page is going to be more interactive, updated regularly (woah), more graphic and media intensive, and generally much prettier and easier to use. You can look for this revolution to be completed sometime in the next month, I hope. I'm still looking for people to be guinea pigs and give me some feedback on the new site. If this interests you, write me and let me know.
12/18/03--One thing I forgot to mention in the news below. The song She's Not A Flower from Yesterday Rules is available for download on the Lookout sound page.
12/15/03--Wow, almost three years exactly since the last time I updated the news section. Craziness. A lot is happening in the world of MTX these days, so out of my sense of duty to "the starship" I'm making an attempt at getting back into the webmaster gig. I know, I know, I said that a few years ago. I'm really going to make a serious effort this time though! Anyway, on to what you're here for... the MTX news!!!
Most importantly, in case you haven't heard, MTX are releasing a new album called Yesterday Rules on January 13th. You can preorder it now at Amazon.com. Interpunk also has a listing for it, so I expect you'll be able to preorder it there soon if you prefer. It's going to have all sorts of extra content and ways that you can interact and provide feedback about the songs. I'm not exactly sure what this will entail, but it should be interesting.
There are a lot of things going on in an effort to promote the album. There will be a record release show at Slims in San Francisco on January 31st. MTX will be doing a full US tour (and Canada?) in February/March in support of the album. I'll have the dates on the tour dates page as soon as they're announced.
Lookout is running a contest, although time is almost up. The basic idea is to find a creative way to spread the word about the MTX album and take a picture of it. The best idea wins a promo copy of Yesterday Rules, a t-shirt, some stickers, and a potential mystery prize. Head over to the Lookout MTX page for all of the details. There is talk of an Interpunk contest as well, although there isn't any information available about it yet.
While we're on the subject of the new MTX album, I think I'll put my two cents in. I hesitate to say too much about the album because I'm not capable of describing it in a way that does it justice, but here are a few of my thoughts on it anyway. It's some of the best MTX material ever and certainly the best execution (at least as far as I understand Frank's intentions). The lyrics are intensely true, sad, and clever and as far as I'm concerned very relatable. Yesterday Rules has all of the elements that made the middle era albums wonderful mixed with the added complexity of Alcatraz/Miracle of Shame mixed with something completely different and fabulous. That's about the only way I can think to describe it. There's definitely an evolution going on, just as there's always been with MTX, and I really like where it's taken them this time. Even if Alcatraz wasn't really your thing, I encourage you to give the new album a shot because I really think anyone who has ever found something they enjoy in MTX will love Yesterday Rules. Ok, enough plugging, back to the news!
John Jughead (of Screeching Weasel fame, currently in the fantastic band Even In Blackouts) is publishing a book of interviews with Frank done by Ben Weasel. It's supposed to come out around the same time as the album, but as of about a month ago that seemed to be an over optimistic goal. John's publishing company has a website although at this time there's no mention of the Frank book.
The rest of this is sort of old news, but it's stuff that some people might not be aware of.
There are two new members in MTX: Ted on 2nd guitar and keyboards and Bobby on bass. I've seen MTX once since the line-up change, and I have to say I'm very pleased.
Dr. Frank has a blog that's updated pretty regularly. It's not inherently MTX-related but it's generally the best source for MTX news and information.
Dr. Frank released a short solo album called Eight Little Songs which you can order here. It has demo versions of some of the songs that appear on the new album and a few others that don't. Definitely worth picking up.
MTX now have an official site. There's not a lot to it at the moment, but it's still worth a look.
Wow, that ended up being a rather long update. I think that's it though! Be sure to check out the updates page because I've added some stuff and there's more coming soon!
12/21/00--I know, I know, the updates have been seriously lacking lately. In case you didn't know yet, MTX came out with a new ep this fall. It's excellent. Very different, but personally I like that sort of thing. It's called the Miracle of Shame and I'll have lyrics and stuff up shortly. In other news, MTX are heading to Europe early next year with the Queers. Some tour dates are up, although the list is still incomplete. It'll be updated as soon as a get more information. It's rumored that Frank is working on a second solo album, although I have yet to get any details. I've been very much out of the MTX loop due to my hectic school situation last semester.
5/24/00--As promised, I have the track list for the upcoming MTX ep. The songs are:
Spy vs. Spy
Leave the Thinking to the Smart People
Mr. Ramones
Stephanies of the World, Unite
I Don't Know Where Dan Treacy Lives
The ep doesn't have a title yet, and will be out in August or September.
5/18/00--Well, I could list a bunch of reasons why I've been so deficient at maintaining the page, but I'll spare you. Hopefully I'll have some more free time over the summer to keep things up to date. There's some cool news, which is why I finally got around to updating the jasminelive page again. MTX are almost finished recording an ep that will be released next Fall (an exact date and a track list will be coming soon). They're also planning on doing a tour in August/September, although I don't know many details as far as that. Coming soon... more page updates! I've got a ton of pictures to put up, including some of Gabe. Woohoo!
1/26/00--Some of you may have heard the big MTX news. I was holding off to tell everyone until after the show on the 15th, but then I got really wrapped up in stuff at school. Anyway, for those of you who don't know, Joel is no longer in the band. Yikes! Never fear though, things are looking good for both Joel and MTX. Joel's band the Plus Ones will be releasing their debut 7" next month, followed by a month long tour with the Smugglers and the Donnas. MTX have a new bassist, Gabe (who used to be in Tilt). They'll be playing a few shows in California in February and March, and then they're playing the South By Southwest festival in Austin, TX (I'll be there, woohoo!). Check the shows page for all the current dates.
1/4/00--Wow, the first news of the new year. I didn't even realize how long it's been since I added some news. Yikes! Some of you may have heard that there's a big MTX announcement brewing. I can't tell you what it is until the band gives the official word, but don't worry, there's not long to wait. MTX are doing a show on January 15th, and the news will probably be announced then (I'm not making any promises, but it seems likely). They won't be playing any shows for a while, but they're trying to get on South By Southwest. Also, Joel's band the Plus Ones will be touring with the Smugglers and the Donnas in March. I think that's about all the news for now.
8/4/99--Gee, it certainly has been ages since I've updated the news. I finally got around to it because this news is very major. MTX have a new member! His name is Erik, and you can read about him on the members page. He played his first show with the group on July 29th, and yours truly was in attendance. He's going on the fall tour, although I don't know what the future holds after that. Many of you may be wondering, why the hell did MTX get a keyboard player? Well, the new album Alcatraz has a lot of keyboards, and without a keyboard player live, the songs would end up sounding very hollow. He's also going to play on some other songs, but I'm not sure exactly which ones. The other night he played on "I Fell For You," "Book of Revelation," and I think a couple others. Don't worry though, they won't be adding keyboards where it won't sound right. Of course Erik likes playing, but since he's a fan of Frank's music he's happy to sit back and listen when a keyboard part would take away from the song. From the conversation I had with him, he seems like an extremely nice guy, and I think he'll be a great addition to MTX. In other news, I found out when the fall tour will be, although the dates aren't out yet. They'll be doing a mini tour with the Donnas in mid-September starting out with CMJ in New York, and then they'll play a few east coast shows in Philadelphia and a couple other places. Then in October they hit the road on a full blown U.S. tour. In the mean time, back home they'll be playing at the Lookout Labor Day Freakout, once on Saturday the 4th and once on Monday the 6th. The new album will be available early to those who attend the shows, so that gives you even more reason to make the trip to the Bay Area. I think that's about all the news for now, stay tuned for more!
5/21/99--Woah, it's been a while since the last news update. Good thing this is an important one. The MTX album, tentatively titled, "No," is all done. It's due for release on September 15. The guys are all really excited about it, so I'm sure that it'll be great. The release will be followed by tons of touring, starting out with CMJ in New York. They spent two months on the recording, so they're in need of a bit of a break. Never fear though! The Plus Ones will be busy building a name for themselves this summer. If you live in the Bay Area make sure you attend their shows. In Rebekah news, I'm going to be staying in Berkeley for the summer! I just may see some of you at shows. I've also begun working on the Parasites webpage. They're the band that opened for MTX on the Queers tour. It's a bit different than this page, but it's definitely fun stuff. If you don't know who they are, you should check out some of their records, 'cause they're really amazing. Anyway, enough advertising the Parasites! That's all the news there is for now.
4/28/99--Frank's solo album is out! Finally! Head on over to the solo page which has been heavily updated in honor of the event. I added all the lyrics, and there'll be some live sounds soon. In other news, Frank appears on the new Queers cd "Later Days and Better Lays." The following is Joe Queer's description of how Frank ended up on the album:
"Born to Do Dishes" is the first version of this song. We went into the studio with JIm Tierney to do "Born to Do Dishes." We could only record at the studio until 10 at night. We set everything up, got sound levels, tuned up and Jim said, "let's go, it's 9:20 pm and we don't have much time." I said we needed a minute. He asked why and I told him cause we have to write the song. So we wrote it in 5 minutes, literally, and then recorded this version here. The next day, the Riverdales, Boris the Sprinkler and MTX were at the Elvis Room in town and Dr. Frank was walking by the studio. I yelled and asked him if he could sing on a song. And so he came in and sang harmony on the chorus on this version.
That's about all the news for now! Thanks to Pat for the info about Frank being on the Queers cd!
4/25/99--The new MTX album is almost done! Yay! It may even be finished by now. It's going to be 14 songs, and 11 of them were done as of a couple weeks ago. Be on the lookout for it next fall (accompanied by lots of touring)!
3/22/99--Good news kids, MTX have started recording the new album! They have five songs done so far, "Naomi," "Our Days are Numbered," "We're Not No One," "Hey, Emily," and "We'll Get By." They debuted "Naomi" Saturday night at Slim's in San Francisco, and it went over really well. According to Frank, the new songs, "all come from different parts of the universe" which is exactly what he wanted so he's quite pleased so far. I'm definitely looking forward to hearing the new songs, too bad we still have several more months to wait!
3/19/99--Well, this isn't really MTX news, but it's mtxstarship.com news. I've just started a contest! Hopefully the first of a series, but who knows. The prize is an original copy of the So Long Sucker/Zero 7"! Head on over to the contest page for the details!
2/23/99--Guess what, there's finally news! Frank has finished his solo record, and is now working hard on the songs for the next MTX album. He couldn't tell me much what it'll be like, except that he's going to try as hard as he can to make it sound nothing like any of their other records. I for one am definitely excited about it!
2/12/99--Not too much news has been going on lately. I did recently find out though that MTX are doing a split 7" with the German band Gigantor, which will feature the song "King Dork." It should be out sometime next fall, and will be on G-Force records. Frank's solo record is set for release on April 3rd, finally! I knew it would happen, it was just a matter of time. Um, in show news, the Avengers (Joel, Dan Panic, and Penelope Houston) are playing a couple shows in S.F. this month, which should be really cool. Check them out if you live out there! Oh yeah! I was thinking about starting a new section of the page, featuring bands that do MTX covers. If your band covers MTX and can record a sound clip of it, please email me and let me know! That's about all the news I can think of for now, but rest assured, I'll post it as soon as anything new comes up.
1/1/99--Wow, the first update of the new year! There haven't been many updates lately because of major computer problems going on at my house. Hopefully they'll be resolved soon! As many of you may already know, Joel is in another band! They're called the Plus Ones, and along with Joel they feature Dan Panic (ex- Groovie Ghoulies, Riverdales, Screeching Weasel, and more)! They're playing their first show on January 6th (see the shows page), so go support them! Not too much else has been going on lately. There are a lot of updates to the page coming once my computer problems are resolved though! (A Plus Ones page, an improved Dr. Frank solo page, and some more cool stuff.) Oh yeah, to all the mailing list subscribers, unless you recently got another welcome message, you are no longer on the mailing list! Check out the main page to see why and to sign up again.
12/7/98--There's a lot of Dr. Frank solo news!
11/10/98--MTX will soon be back from the Queers tour, and sadly they won't be playing much for a while (except maybe a few local shows here and there). In better news though, they'll be doing a lot of recording. Finally! Frank is still working on his solo album, which should be out in March or April. The new MTX album is also in the works, and is due out in September. Yay! Plus, along with the new album will come a tour! To tide you over until then, there are a couple of unreleased songs appearing on the new Lookout comp. out in January. One is a Dr. Frank song, "Thinking of You" which is really really rad and has a neat surprise twist. The other is the MTX song, "King Dork" which is also really amazing. That's about all the news for now!
10/27/98--For those of you who are interested, there's a piece of my writing that appears on the new Hi-Fives page. It's under the fan stuff section. Sort of akin to the MTX show stories, but about the Hi-Fives. Check it out if you're interested!
10/27/98--This is a big month for MTX as far as appearances on other album's go. Their musical talent, writing, and their name have been featured on a number of albums. Joel played on Penelope Houston's, and it's finally out! Frank wrote the intro for the Hi-Fives FABULOUS new album "Get Down." It's hilarious (what else would you expect?). I'll have it online in a day or two (but you should still buy the album 'cause it rocks!). Also, MTX were thanked on Less Than Jake's new album. They played a few shows together a while back, and apparently LTJ are big MTX fans. In other MTX references, on the Queer's new album, "Punk Rock Confidential" (which rocks) there are two songs that mention them. One called "Tamara is a Punk," which talks about how he knows MTX and all these cool people, but the girl he's into still isn't impressed. The other is called "Today I Fell In Love" and the line goes, "We're not MTX, but it's all ok, 'cause my heart's in the right place." Excellent stuff, so pick up the album! Speaking of the Queers, the MTX/Queers tour starts Saturday, so make sure to go support them!
10/6/98--It finally happened! The MTX split 7" with Sicko has been reissued! It's out on Empty records, and is limited to 1500, so get your hands on it while you can!
9/2/98--Really good news folks! It's looking quite likely that MTX will be joining the Queers on their next tour (in support of their upcoming album). It's not 100% definite, but everyone seems to think it's going to happen. There's just one downside for those of you in the south, MTX might only be going on a month of the tour, which would mean they wouldn't be on the Texas/Florida shows, or anything in between. I'll keep you posted as things become more definite!
8/21/98--Well, there's some MAJOR MTX news, which has been semi-definite for a while, and it's becoming slightly more definite. They're going to record a new album!!!! Yay! There's no dates set yet.. but most likely sometime this Winter. I'll let you know as more happens. Last I heard there is going to be an ep and an album. Woohoo!
In other news, Joel just finished producing an album for a really good band called Thee Impossibles from L.A. I don't know when it'll be out yet, but definitely check it out if you see it!
8/12/98--First off, I'd just like to apologize for being so terrible about updating the page. I've had a really hellish past couple of weeks, and I just haven't had any free time for it. In real MTX news, the Road to Ruin tour editions are finally done! Yay! Also, the California mini-tour with the Hi-Fives isn't happening. Although, supposedly the Hi-Fives and MTX are playing a few weekend shows in September. I'll let you know as soon as it becomes more definite.
7/31/98--Well, I have lots of news. Especially regarding shows, yay! A lot of it is only semi-definite though, so take it all with a grain of salt. MTX have a few definite upcoming shows in California, which you can check out here. As for non-definite stuff, MTX are hopefully playing CMJ in New York in November. Also, MTX are trying to plan a Japan tour, possibly with Chixdiggit. There's also been some talk of MTX and the Queers doing some stuff together, but as far as I know, it's just talk for the moment. Another really really exciting thing is that MTX are doing a California mini-tour with the super fabulous Hi-Fives! I'm pretty sure that this is in the second week of September, but the person I talked to couldn't give me exact dates. There's also the possibility of a show at Slim's in San Francisco, and maybe even at the legendary Fillmore! I find it all pretty exciting and overwhelming, and as soon as I know anything more, I'll be sure to post it.
I think that's about all the news I can think of for now, but I'll keep you posted as anything new develops.
6/30/98--I've been rather neglectful of the news, sorry about that! There hasn't been too terribly much of it though. Road to Ruin finally came out a couple weeks ago, but the tour edition isn't out yet. You can currently get it on white or black vinyl from MTX, the Lookout Recordshop, Skullduggery mailorder, and other places. The tour edition will be out as soon as the guy doing it can find a place that will cut the covers (they're silkscreened so it's hard to find somewhere). In Dr. Frank solo news, not too much has happened. Frank is recording one day in the next couple weeks, so he'll probably get a couple more songs done, but that's about it. There's an MTX show on the 4th of July, which will be the last one for probably a couple months, due to the fact that Frank is going away to England. Once he returns there should be a show in early September, possibly at the legendary Fillmore. Another possibility is an instore at Amoeba Records in San Francisco. They won't be playing the CMJ festival as I'd previously mentioned was a possibility. The Penelope Houston record that Joel played on should be out in October, I don't know what label yet though. That's about it!
6/17/98--There hasn't been much news lately. Although, things do seem to be progressing with Frank's solo project. The last time I talked to him, he was in the process of setting up some recording time, hopefully this month. In non-MTX news, I'd like to apologize for not updating the page over the last couple weeks. I just came out to San Francisco (hopefully for good), and the place I'm staying at now doesn't have a phone (so I can't go online). As of Saturday, I'll be staying in the dorm at UC: Berkeley, so I'll have access to online again. Plus, I'll have access to a scanner, so lots of new stuff will be coming up, hopefully within the next couple of weeks. Bear with me in the time between now and then! There's also a new show story already written, which will be up this weekend, and some new lyrics and sounds and cool stuff like that. Also, if you've written me mail, I'm sorry I haven't responded, I'll respond this weekend, I promise.
5/14/98--MTX are still on tour, and things are going great! Really awesome cities included Detroit, Philadelphia, and New York. I felt extremely flattered, because Frank suggested that their huge success in Detroit is in part due to me! Wow! I'd sure love to think so, probably not though... In Rebekah related news, my car got stolen, along with a large percentage of my possessions. If anyone has any rare MTX tapes that they would like to make me copies of to help me rebuild my collection, let me know! I was just informed a few hours ago that my car was found, but I haven't been able to find out what stuff was left and what sort of condition it's in. Keep your fingers crossed!
4/15/98--MTX left for tour today with the Teen Idols! Check them out when they come to a town near you (or not so near, just as long as you see them). In other news, Frank has started recording his solo record! He's recorded four songs so far: "She Turned Out to Be Crazy," "Knock Knock," "Ask Beth," and "Thinking of You." I'm working on the solo page (I know I've been saying that for ages...) which will have even more news.
3/31/98--The counter reached 500 today! Woohoo! Pretty exciting, eh? It wasn't even just me looking at the page over and over again. In real MTX news, MTX are back from their tour with Reel Big Fish. It went quite well, but they're glad to be home. The tour was rather stressful, at least on Frank. Everyone got sick at one point or another. MTX are doing a few shows around California, and then hitting the road again on April 15 with the Teen Idols. Most of the dates are up, although a few haven't been confirmed yet.
3/12/98-- MTX are out on tour with Reel Big Fish now, and the shows have been going amazingly well. A couple of them were a little iffy (Hartford and Cincinatti) as far as crowd reaction, but the other ones have been amazing. The kids go go go crazy for em. Really huge ones that I saw were Philadelphia and Detroit.
Dr. Frank is still planning on doing the solo record. He's not sure what songs are going to be on it though. When they get back from the Reel Big Fish tour Frank is going to start recording the first song, "She Turned Out To Be Crazy" (one of the coolest songs ever) with Aaron Elliot (Cometbus) on drums.
Also, as many of you may already know, the Teen Idols are now officially opening for MTX on the next tour. The routing is up and shows are getting confirmed daily. Check out the shows section for more info as it comes in.
2/28/98-- MTX are currently out on tour. They have one more show as a headliner, then its off with Reel Big Fish. I had the joy of seeing a few of the non-RBF ones, and they were certainly great.
As promised, MTX have already booked another tour. This will be a full US tour, and they'll be headlining. The routing is already set. I'll get the dates when I see them again next week. The opening band hasn't been set yet, but there are a few possibilities. They're Bracket, the Teen Idols, and One Hit Wonder. With any luck it'll be the Teen Idols. That's who I told them to tour with, so they have to, right? I should know within the next couple weeks. I'll post it here as soon as it's decided.
That's about it for now. Go support MTX!!!
Sometime in late January-- MTX recently played at one of the Lookout Records 10th anniversary shows, and it was absolutely fabulous. They also played a couple shows with Reverend Horton Heat, one in Sacramento, and one in Eugene, OR. From what I have heard, they didn't actually get to play at the show in Eugene. Apparently MTX showed up a little bit late, so the club wouldn't let them play.
The really big news, is that MTX will be doing a Northeast/Midwest/Northwest tour with Reel Big Fish. As much as I hate to see the world's best band opening for one that I find so unspectacular, *but* I'm ecstatic about getting to see them at all. They will hopefully still be doing a full US tour of their own in early April or so.
In other news, Dr. Frank is still planning on putting out a solo record. He's supposedly going to start recording it very soon. It's going to have him playing guitar, and possibly drums on a few songs. There also may be some guest performers, such as Aaron Elliot.
Well, that's about all the news I have to report for now...