We've been stockpiling some exciting news here at FrankBlack.net - so let's get right to it!

First of all, for all of our United States/Western Canadian readers, make sure to try and catch either Grand Duchy or Black Francis solo on their July tour!

July 6 - Edmonton, Alberta - Starlight (Black Francis only)
July 7 - Calgary, Alberta The Grand (Black Francis only)
July 8 - Regina, Saskatchewan - The Exchange (Black Francis only)
July 10 - Minneapolis, MN - Triple Rock (Black Francis only)
July 11 - Madison, WI - High Noon (early show) (Black Francis only)
July 14 - Pittsburgh, PA - Club Cafe (Black Francis only)
July 15 - Easton, MD - Avalon Theatre (Black Francis only)
July 16 - Washington, DC - Black Cat (Grand Duchy)
July 17 - Hoboken, NJ - Maxwell's (Grand Duchy)
July 18 - Brooklyn, NY - Siren Festival (Grand Duchy)
July 19 - Cambridge, MA - Middle East (Grand Duchy)
July 20 - Wellfleet, MA - Beachcomber (Black Francis only)
July 23 - Cleveland, OH - Grog Shop (Black Francis only)
July 24 - Chicago, IL - Subterranean (Grand Duchy)
July 25 - Chicago, IL - Wicker Park Festival
July 29 - Denver, CO - Walnut Room (Black Francis only)

Now, for all those across the pond who feel left out, the Pixies will be touring Doolittle in its entirety, along with its appropriate b-sides, throughout Europe in October. The tour is celebrating the record's 20th anniversary.

October 1 - Olympia, Dublin
October 2 - Olympia, Dublin
October 4 - SECC, Glasgow
October 6 - Brixton Academy, London
October 7 - Brixton Academy, London
October 8 - Brixton Academy, London
October 9 - Brixton Academy, London
October 11 - Jahrhunderhalle, Frankfurt
October 13 - Heineken Music Hall, Amsterdam
October 14 - Forest National, Brussels
October 15 - Zenith, Paris

In addition to all the live dates, we have a bit of additional Pixies news. It seems that Mr. Black Francis has offered a challenge to Hollywood directors - let the Pixies score your film! “The band needs to work with a film director. Quentin Tarantino or someone like that. It’d be like, ‘Make some music for our film, you guys be the sound of the film’.” Will anyone take them up on this task? Do you see them working with someone like the aforementioned Tarantino, or someone like David Fincher? Or maybe even Judd Apatow!

And finally, we have some sad news from a friend of our website and of FBF, Mark Mulcahy. Some of you might recognize the name as the singer/songwriter behind Miracle Legion and Polaris, both of which featured Catholics David McCafferey and Scott Boutier, or perhaps you recognize the name from the liner notes of Christmass, as Mark provided backing vocals for both "Radio Lizards" and "Don't Get Me Wrong." Or maybe, like me, you saw Mark open for the Pixies in Atlantic City in 2005. Regardless, Mark's wife recently passed away, leaving him as a single dad to two small children. Some friends and admirers, including our Frank Black Francis, have recorded some of Mark's songs for a tribute record called Ciao My Shining Star: The Songs of Mark Mulcahy. Check out this AMAZING group of artists contributing:

01 Thom Yorke: "All for the Best"
02 The National: "Ashamed of the Story I Told"
03 Michael Stipe: "Everything’s Coming Undone"
04 David Berkeley: "Love's the Only Thing That Shuts Me Up"
05 Dinosaur Jr.: "The Backyard"
06 Chris Harford and Mr. Ray Neal: "Micon the Icon"
07 Frank Black: "Bill Jocko"
08 Vic Chesnutt: "Little Man"
09 Unbelievable Truth: "Ciao My Shining Star"
10 Butterflies of Love: "I Have Patience"
11 Chris Collingwood of Fountains of Wayne: "Cookie Jar"
12 Frank Turner: "The Quiet One"
13 Rocket From the Tombs: "In Pursuit of Your Happiness"
14 Ben Kweller: "Wake Up Whispering"
15 Josh Rouse: "I Woke Up in the Mayflower"
16 Autumn Defense: "Paradise"
17 Hayden: "Happy Birthday Yesterday"
18 Juliana Hatfield: "We're Not in Charleston Anymore"
19 Mercury Rev: "Sailors and Animals"
20 Elvis Perkins: "She Watches Over Me"
21 Sean Watkins: "A World Away From This One"

The record comes out September 29th (my wedding anniversary!) on Shout! Factory records and was put together by friend of the site, Myles Mangino (who we hope to have on a podcast soon to further talk up the record).

And finally, the writers over at Magnet, one of the best music magazines still standing, have asked a question that has plagued our forum members for years now: Frank Black Vs. the Pixies. Read the funny (and controversial!) article here.

And, keep your ears peeled for new podcasts on the 15th of the month, every month, for the foreseeable future.

-Brian

Good news for us East Coast fans who haven't had an FBF sighting in our timezone since 2006! Grand Duchy will be joining Built to Spill, the Raveonettes, Frightened Rabbit, Monotonix, Micachu and The Shapes at the 2009 Village Voice Siren Music Festival, held at Coney Island in the hipster capital of the world, Brooklyn, New York on Saturday, July 18 from Noon to 9pm. Details are slowly being released, but one thing is for sure - as in years past, this festival will be FREE! So even if you're not from the area, who can pass up a free festival, surrounded by the legendary Cyclone roller coaster, the beach, the boardwalk, AND Grand Duchy? Look for me there! -Brian

As promised, here is a recap of the twelve "Cultural Positions" taken by the Duke and Duchess of Grand Duchy over at Magnet Magazine Online this past week. Things started off with a Q&A wit the band, followed by a look at the films of Woody Allen, a discussion of Pink Champagne, the genius of Tommy Wiseau, The Cars, Atomic Ranch Magazine, the Pompidou, the comedy stylings of Tim and Eric and Zach Galifianakis, a post on happenings, the Italian crooner Paolo Conte, 21st century heath and healing remedies, the punk rock trailblazers Mick Jones and Tony James, a.k.a. Carbon/Silicon and finally, hotels.

It was quite a varied dozen - and although we are sad their week as guest editors is over, we are excited that in the morning we will officially be treated to the North American release of Petits Four. And, it appears that we will be treated to three iTunes exclusives - "Donnes Moi," "Ma Carrefour" and "Beg" - and the best part is, they are available as individual downloads (unlike so many iTunes exclusives which are only available as part of an album) - so if you would prefer a physical copy of the record, make sure to pick up the three bonus tracks on their own.

-Brian

This week, Grand Duchy is guest editing Magnet Magazine's website - this means that twice a day, we get mini-posts, called "Grand Duchy Cultural Positions," from the band about things they dig. The first such article, about Woody Allen, can be found here.

Also, Magnet did a Q&A with the duo, which touches on the Starland Vocal Band, Larry of the Three Stooges, and being "heavily into Google Translating."

Keep checking the site for more updates throughout the week, as well as a full recap from us this weekend!

-Brian and Dean

R.I.P. Duane Jarvis

It is with a heavy heart that we share the news of the passing of occasional Frank Black Francis collaborator, and all around great guy Duane Jarvis.

According to the L.A. Times, Duane passed away Wednesday morning, surrounded by family. He was 51.

Duane has played with FBF on the Fall 2006 North American tour, and his playing appears on Fastman Raiderman, as well as on the forthcoming Der Golem.

Duane was a true gentleman, and was amazingly kind to me the few times our paths crossed.

Rest in Peace, Duane. We miss you already.

Matto writes to let us know that Pitchfork has a video, along the lines of the secret videos on GrandDuchyMusic.com of an unknown song followed by a fun clip of what sounds like an early demo (with video) of "Come On Over To My House". Preceeding all this is a bunch of Grand Duchy stock footage which is sure to entertain if not promise the video a spot on MTV.

You haven't heard of the secret content on GrandDuchyMusic.com? You didn't even know there was a GrandDuchyMusic.com?? Well, go and check it out. As for the secret videos, we don't want to ruin all the fun for you, but enter your favourite country's two-letter code after the URL and you could be in for a treat. Just a few of the examples...

grandduchymusic.com/lu
grandduchymusic.com/be
grandduchymusic.com/fr
grandduchymusic.com/nl
grandduchymusic.com/de
grandduchymusic.com/uk

-Dean

At last, details of the Grand Duchy May warmup tour are starting to surface. While we still don't have most of the venues confirmed, the band will start just shy of the Canadian border in Bellingham, Washington, and work their way down to Santa Barbara, California over the first ten days of May. It is doubtful there will be time for many more shows in the springtime, as the Pixies are playing festivals in Europe come June. However, Grand Duchy should be annexing most of North America, city by city, starting in July.

Keep an eye on our list of tour dates (to the right) for upcoming dates and venue information as it becomes available.

May 1	Bellingham, WA
May 2	Tacoma, WA
May 3	Eugene, OR
May 5	Santa Cruz, CA
May 6	Oakland, CA
May 8	Costa Mesa, CA
May 9	San Diego, CA
May 10	Santa Barbara, CA

-Dean

While the sod has finally been turned on a top secret development server for the new Frank Black website and discussion of features and themes is starting to foment here, we would be remiss if we didn't share a few tidbits of news in the meantime.

Before we get anointed in the Grand Duchy, the Der Golem Boxset is on the way. Der Golem is a 1930s silent film scored by Black Francis and Eric Drew Feldman which has gotten fans very excited especially after the track Bad News was released on French site Blackolero. We don't have an official release date, but we're looking hopefully towards the end of May. In the meantime, visit the brand new BlackFrancis.Net site and join their mailing list to get another free track!

May will be an exciting month for many other reasons, even if Der Golem should slip. Grand Duchy is planning a warm-up tour of the US West Coast in May, for starters. If you're in the Windy City, however, and can wait until the waning days of July, they are also headliner for the Wicker Park Festival though we can find no up to date third-party information on this.

Nowhere near? Well, Spin Magazine is doing a Grand Duchy feature for their "In My Room" segment in May. They will also be guest editors on Magnet.com for a week which should give eager fans a couple posts per day from the Dynamic Duchy. And sometime around there, they will be doing a session on NME Radio.

No word on the Grand Duchy's return to its roots in Europe, but with the Pixies still alive and playing the Isle of Wight festival late June (and in talks for a few other shows), there are rumours flying that Grand Duchy may stake their ancestral claims too, perhaps alongside the new Joey Santiago and David Lovering project, Everybody.

But rumours will be rumours and so we won't speculate on whether the Pixies will finally give some love to the much neglected songs of their catalogue (Motorway to Roswell, anyone?) or perhaps play some of the band members' solo tracks. We think the latter unlikely, the former probable, and the rumour that they will be debuting all new material, well, immaterial. As to the rumour that the Pixies will conclude this tour in Latvia with a lullaby (perhaps from the Rockabye Baby Pixies CD), we'll let you decide.

-Dean

It's becoming routine to say, "FrankBlack.Net is down again." I don't know why we have increasingly become a hacker target, but it seems like we're either fighting off hackers or our hosting company as a result of excess "system resources" being used fighting off these attacks. Unfortunately, in spite of my extensive digging through Google's cache to bring back the news, most of the site did not survive the last attack. The files, yes. The data, no.

What is more unfortunate is that the backups that were being made by our server provider were being corrupted so we were unable to restore from any point since I last made a manual backup. Moreover, THAT backup was also corrupted by the same server problem. And so, luckily (if you can call it that), I had an old backup from almost a year and a half ago so that SOME information (mainly our song database, as it was) was saved.

The forum, however. All but gone. I'm still working at bringing it back online (as I have been with the rest of this site for the last week or so), but when it is back, it will be November of 2007 again. If you created an account since that time, it's gone. If you posted your revelation on the deeper meaning of every Frank Black song since Ana, it's gone. Tab work on the last few albums? Gone. All that chat and analysis on Grand Duchy? Yup. Gone. Hopefully, we can reconstruct the most important pieces out of Google's cache, but in the meantime I think it's time...

It's time to move to a new server, a Unix server. It's time to migrate our Song Database, biographies, news, and (finally - photo galleries, article database, and) many other aspects of the site to a wiki. It's time for an entirely new site design, layout, and there is probably no better time than right now. Frank Black and Violet have volunteered to furnish us with new art and photos to make our new site more up to date and less Catholics-era. It is time to move our main site to the FrankBlackFrancis.Net and build something that everyone can participate in without having to go through myself or Brian.

The thing is, this is a lot of work. A lot of work. It's more than Brian and I can handle and more than we could ever hope to take on. So, quite simply, we won't without a solid pledge of assistance. We need people with some technical abilities to help craft our wiki into something usable and elegant. We need people with a flair for the graphical to help us conjure a layout that will be useful and easy to navigate. We need people to tell us what they want in the new website. Have a favourite forum software (we're sorry to say goodbye to Snitz, but it is, unfortunately, Windows only)? Wiki platform? We need to know.

If you are interested in a future fansite for Frank Black Francis, you need to let us know. Post in our forum (when it's back online) or email Brian or myself (cat with a 'k' siris@yahoo.com). If you're not, well, this site will continue as is, and we will all know that it could and should be better.

Like a certain band playing the Isle of Wight this summer (yes, that band), FrankBlack.Net has risen from the dead. Zombie or Phoenix, we now leave it up to you.

-Brian & Dean

Grand Duchy has posted a new video. This time? Some spliced together footage of a rehearsal for one of the Lovesick EP (and iTunes bonus) tracks called "The Timbers".

In addition to that, there are at last hints of the summer tour that we've all been waiting to hear about. No further details yet, but we will let you know as soon as we have any information we're able to share.

The video is also rife with trivia both relevant and for uberfans alone. So quit reading and check out the song...

-Dean