I’ve posted stuff about Frank here before, but it was with a post about Goober, so here he is on his own now, sheesh.
Frank Allison and the Odd Sox was the funnest band ever. They were based out of Ann Arbor in the 1990’s and they drew weekly crowds for about a decade, until Frank’s vocal cords got injured (same as Diane Rehm’s, as I recall).
Here’s a link to, and an embedded documentary, about Those Days.
But, first, the doc says it all, but I have to also: it was neat to be a part of something so catchy and fun. A hundred folks would show up and dance the entire show. The crowd invented routines to go with all the songs, which was a surprise to the band. It was one of those likely rare scenes where the crowd and the band worked together and made a sum that was bigger than the parts. It wasn’t just the band revving up the crowd and the crowd consuming the band’s energy.
But of course Frank’s songs were the key. I still love them. They’re about Everyday People. Cars that don’t start, post-hole digging jobs, lunch breaks, bestfriends, girlfriends, dreaming of time off, driving fast on back roads. Nothing sappy, though — girlfriends as people not as fantasy devices, dirt roads as dirt roads. A totally Michigan style. Realistic and funny. And so so bouncy.
It was fun to be there but that’s not required. The songs will still hook you, and deliver. CD Baby sells the CD’s — get ’em.
Nowadays Frank runs the movie theater just 10 miles SW of Ann Arbor. (I never knew where Clinton was.) clintontheatre.com, $4 seats — reviews say “eclectic” music played before the movie — I wonder whose?
