Frank Sinatra: S/D

Ken Roberts:

"The hat check girl, Fran, came in, and said 'Someone just shot Bobby Kennedy', and Sinatra made the comment, 'I hope they shot him in the fuckin' head.'

A couple minutes later, she came back and said 'Yes, he was shot in the head.' Sinatra turned white and became so frightened and panicked... he thought that, while he was singing, someone might shoot him"

this book is fucking insane

important new developments:

There's a QAnon follower who angrily speculates that Pope Francis is secretly Frank Sinatra, who in reality died in 1998.

Sinatra going from a world-famous boozing philanderer to the celibate head of the Catholic Church would be quite a dramatic lifestyle change. pic.twitter.com/0udwW7o2H9

— Travis View (@travis_view) January 30, 2020

the end of this reminded me very much of the last chapters of the James Brown bio "The One". Not in the particulars (Frank didn't go on any PCP-fueled cross-country car chases), more in the dynamic of being emotionally isolated (and stunted) triumphal figures with nowhere to go but down. After being on top of the world he basically just regretfully slides into creative stagnation and a sort of blank, resentful resignation: no real friends or family, nothing to do, embalmed in his own legend. Did he think it was all worth it, at the end? who knows

also yes obviously Frank is the world's first 105-year old American pope

Frank didn't go on any PCP-fueled cross-country car chases

Cannonball Run II, yo.

https://pics.imcdb.org/12851/snap480.5.jpg

"Gas, grass, or ass, baby..."

https://pics.imcdb.org/12851/snap480.5.jpg

lol fair point

Brian Wilson talking about writing "Still I Dream of It" for Frank, how awesome "Only the Lonely" is etc

https://youtu.be/YZAwYF2tLbU?t=462

(thx to Tyler for the link!)

this is so great!

Apparently Capitol Recording Studios (where Frank recorded many of his greatest records, including Only the Lonely) has closed for good - the entire staff was laid off. Would be a shame if they gut it (which I guess will probably happen) - the famous echo chamber alone is irreplaceable.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5hDFSbsqn5U

Really? That is ... not good. Where did you hear that?

Here's what a freelance cutting engineer in L.A. posted last night:

"Stephen Marsh just told me that Capitol Tower Studios is closed and staff has been let go, Ron McMaster confirmed all mastering engineers, Perry and Dave in Restoration and even Paula Salvatore (!!!)"

McMaster is their longtime mastering engineer - he was supposed to retire like a decade ago, but he wound up staying due to the vinyl boom. (Very few people left have his experience in cutting vinyl.) He finally called it a day in 2018.

Salvatore may be familiar to anyone who's seen Dave Grohl's Sound City documentary - she used to run that studio before Capitol.

Ugh.

I checked back with their website to see if an official announcement had been made. It now says "SERVICES TEMPORARILY UNAVAILABLE." (https://www.capitolstudios.com/)

Actually, what am I talking about? There's a pandemic going on, so maybe it was already up for that.

Now it sounds like the studio won't be closing altogether. The entire staff has been let go, and the mastering department is probably gone for good, but if the pandemic improves and they can start booking regular sessions again, they're hoping to re-open. I hope that's the case. I thought they were doing fine relatively speaking so I'd be stunned if this was truly the end.