The Voices in Frank's Head

It's almost the 4th of July weekend. That means lots and lots of holiday trips to the beach and so on. Since I am a published author, it seemed only appropriate for me to mention a few books ( other than my own ) that I think would be great to take to the beach or on vaction with you. With that in mind, here is Frank's Summer Reading List for 2006 . My first pick is The Foreign Correspondent by Alan Furst. This novel is set in the late 1930s is about a journalist who fights the Mussolini regime by working for an underground newspaper. When his editor is killed by the Italian secret police, he tries to keep the newspaper going while also trying to stay alive as the secret police turn their attention to him. Alan Furst is, without a doubt, one of the best novelists writing today. If you haven't picked up any of his work before, this a great one to start with. My second pick is Lost & Found by Carolyn Parkhurst. This modern tale focuses on a series of characters who are ...

It has finally happened. The redevelopment of the Book-Cadillac Hotel - that landmark subject of my documentary - is finally moving forward again. I was at the announcement yesterday at the Detroit Athletic Club and I was impressed by every aspect of it. I was shooting pictures from behind the TV camera men and newspaper photographers. Still, it was great to see Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick and Governor Jennifer Granholm take the stage and praise this project. George Jackson, president of the Detroit Economic Growth Corporation, took a swipe at some of the preservation groups around town when he said, "The folks standing on this stage are the real preservationists." Yeah, well - as long as he's doing what I want him to do and is redeveloping historic properties instead of knocking them down for another vacant lot (*cough, cough* - Madison-Lenox and Statler Hotels) - he can talk as much trash about me at the other members of the FoBC as he darn well wants to. It was also grea...

Last Friday, was the first 4th Friday Film Festival. I hosted it in conjunction with the 4th Fridays project that the Detroit Metro Visitors & Convention Bureau is doing. The turnout for the films was a bit lower than I was hoping for (a concert with the Chicago Blues Reunion in Campus Martius Park ran over) but it was still an amazing event. Of course, the real star of the event was the films. (Yes, I'm biased and possibly deluding myself. Everyone needs a hobby.) The folks from Model D were there to celebrate their one-year anniversay. I went on the air with WWJ-AM to talk about my documentary on the Book-Cadillac Hotel as well as the other three films that I showed that evening. It was a mildly nerve-wracking experience to go on the air. Actually, that's not entirely true. Being on the air was a blast. The nerve-wracking part was the moments leading up to my interview, where I was waiting for them to get ready. The only down-side to the whole thing really was th...

I was driving along Ford Road the other day, when I noticed a sign that really grabbed my attention. It was at the Toy Chest (a topless bar near where I live) and it advertised "Topless Mondays". I can't help but wonder: how are "Topless Mondays" different from every other day of the week?

I screened my documentary, Checking In: The Story of the Book-Cadillac Hotel , at the Detroit Film Center on Saturday evening. There was a moment where I was a little worried about what attendance was going to be like, because a rather nasty thunderstorm rolled through the area about an hour or so beforehand. There were reports of some sections of the freeways being flooded and I saw one rather nasty traffic accident on my way to the DFC. (No fatalities, thankfully, but one of the cars started to hydroplane and got knocked up pretty bad). Anyway, in spite of it all, the screening had a rather impressive crowd after all. It was near capacity, in fact. I think the DFC only had a handful of vacant seats, which was great to see. My next screening is tomorrow (June 6) at the Historic Trinity Lutheran Church at 7 p.m. (Hey, what better way to spend 6/6/06 than in a church?). The Church is at 1345 Gratiot Avenue in Detroit (on-line at http://www.HistoricTrinity.org/ ) Anyway, if you haven...