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L.C. Franke talks about embracing the darkness as inspiration, how it’s sparked his own creativity, and how darker things can be more intriguing – for better or worse.
(SPF 1000) Vampire Sunscreen is a listener-supported production of KUT & KUTX Studios in Austin, Texas. You can support this podcast at supportthispodcast.org.
Credits:
Host, Creator, Producer: Laurie Gallardo
Producer: Elizabeth McQueen
Editing and Mixing: Jack Anderson
Original Music: Rene Chavez
Photo and Video: Michael Minasi
Art: Dave McClinton
The full transcript of this episode of (SPF 1000) Vampire Sunscreen is available on the KUT & KUTX Studio website. The transcript is also available as subtitles or captions on some podcast apps.
Laurie Gallardo The darkness can be terrifying. Ominous. The gaping mar of the abyss. On the other hand, it can fire up the imagination. You can work through it or with it. They are moments in time that may inspire you. Welcome to SPF 1000 vampire sunscreen. I’m Laurie Gordon. Thank you so much for listening. Episode four has a piece of my heart. Thanks to today’s guest. He’s cooler than he gives himself credit for. I love his knowledge of pop culture, classic pop culture, specifically a reverence for a different era. Did I mention this guy is funny? Because he is. No, really?
L.C. Franke My name is L.C. Franke, and I guess I’m a singer songwriter. That’s such a weird term. Singer songwriter. But I’m a singer songwriter and I live here in Austin. I’ve been here for a long time, have been in a bunch of other bands under other names and doing other things. And I have a new record that’s coming out called Still In Bloom, and it’s sort of like this weird cross between it’s like the bastard child of Leonard Cohen and Frank Sinatra with a little bit of Harry Nilsson in there. I jokingly call it sleazy listening. You know, sex, drugs and easy listening there. But I made it with a full orchestra here in Austin, and it actually kind of combines the best musicians of like the pop scene and the classical scene and the jazz scene. It really is a melting pot of just incredible talent. And I’m not including myself when I say that. And then. And then. And then I’m in the person on top. That kind of just kind of puts my smear on it.
Laurie Gallardo Despite my guests modest description of himself. Please understand that L.C. Franke is an incredible music artist of various depths and a level of sophistication that enriches everything he’s worked on. I suppose you could say I knew him in a previous existence when he was making music that was worlds away from what he’s creating now. But make no mistake, it’s the same passion that drives L.C. Franke, only this time with a different sense of being. His wry humor is as sharp as ever. He can’t help himself. It comes naturally to a person of his intelligence.
L.C. Franke I took a six year break from playing music, and in that time I revisited all the records I loved as a kid and grown up in New York. I was a little bit of a very flamboyant, dramatic child. And I loved, you know, Neil Diamond Records and Barry Manilow records and Frank Sinatra records. And and I revisited all those songs and all those records. And I started sort of writing my own version of those to kind of find out who I was again because I had no idea what I had become. Up until that point.
Laurie Gallardo I mean, that’s perfectly legit to me.
L.C. Franke Yeah.
Laurie Gallardo Who the hell am I now? Yeah. Six years to me, is a perfectly reasonable amount of time.
L.C. Franke Yeah, well, you know, there was the whole pandemic thing, which was like time travel. So three of those six years kind of felt like two months. Yeah.
Laurie Gallardo Sort of. Or they felt like 20 years.
L.C. Franke Yeah.
Laurie Gallardo It was a mixture of both.
L.C. Franke Yeah.
Laurie Gallardo Now, now, at the time of this recording, that fabulous album will be out in into the world and. And we can soak it all in. I’ve been getting special previews to soak in. Hell, yeah. So, you know that that gets me riding high. And. And again, I’ve just been excited to finally get this. Humble little project of mine going. And I never hesitate to say, Well, you know, when I started it out on my own, You were one of the original guests.
L.C. Franke Yes, I remember we sat and we sat in my kitchen.
Laurie Gallardo Yeah.
L.C. Franke And and we we riffed for a while, and it was a good time, but it definitely was another life.
Laurie Gallardo Yes.
L.C. Franke You know.
Laurie Gallardo Which is why I wanted you to come back. Yeah, And I. I love it. I get into this either right away or I don’t. But it’s always the same with all of my guests. I have that question for you. Okay. L.C. Frank, what is the darkness to you? What is dark to you?
L.C. Franke Dark is actually inspiration to me, I think. As weird as that sounds at this point, and I think I speak for most people, I think that I have become accustomed to darkness being something that is a bit of a hurdle that you have to either overcome or adjust to. And so for me, I have, like many people have lived through a lot of stressful times and a lot of unfortunate tragedy and and those are the things that inspire me artistically, whether I want them to or not. So I think that darkness is I mean, it’s balance and it’s really the thing that makes you sort of have to compose yourself and figure out what you’re going to do to get through the darkness. I think when I was younger, I definitely embraced it a lot more than maybe I should have. And I had a lot of bad habits. And I really like to wallow in my self-pity and self-importance and everything else. And I think during that six year break that I took, I think it was a big moment for me to want to actually find a little bit more joy in my life. Yeah. And now that doesn’t mean that you can’t have joy within the darkness and embrace all these things because again, if we’re talking in like a surface value way, it’s like I love horror movies, I love dark music. You know what I mean? Like, I, you know, I grew up I grew up on showtunes and goth music. So it’s like, you know, like they either wanted to be Liza minnelli or I wanted to be Peter Murphy, you know, And so why not both? They have the same haircut for Chris. I know, I know.
Laurie Gallardo And I love it. And I used to really try to emulate Liza and that haircut and her style. So I get it. I get it.
L.C. Franke But yeah, I don’t, you know, what is dark is just anything that’s just sort of a hurdle. I think anything that’s something that you have to overcome or just deal with. And I feel like also things that are darker are the more intriguing things. I have a very addictive personality from things that I no longer do or put into my body anymore to, you know, even the silliest of things where it’s like if I find a certain kind of tea that I like, I will drink it 700 times a day. If I find a certain kind of ice cream I like, I will have it. I live a life of extremes. It’s like I have two sets of friends. I have best friends, and you’re dead to me, you know? And I have things that I love and have 8 million times a day or e-mailing times a week or things that I don’t do. So I don’t dabble. And I think that that’s a thing that are of people that are drawn to a quote unquote, darkness kind of do. I’m not a morning person by any means. Yeah.
Laurie Gallardo I can understand that. Yeah, I had to learn. Yeah, in some instances. But yeah, I know I can’t. Don’t have the smile. Don’t have the personality for it. I mean, I still have the fangs. Come on.
L.C. Franke For me. I think it means just like all the challenges that I have to get through, you know, I definitely battle a lot with mood swings heavily. And so I definitely have periods of dark mental health periods, although, you know, I have been known in my life to write sort of. I mean, sometimes people are like, you write like depressing music or sad music. And a lot of times actually that would be sort of like my temporary cure for it, to be honest with you. Right? It’s like if you go deeper into it, that’s how I would get out of it. And now I think what I’m doing is making what to me is joyful music. And that’s the way that I got to get through it all. So, you know, and I embrace it. But I mean, I don’t run away from it and I still love all the dark things, but I’m trying to kind of like wear it in a different light.
Laurie Gallardo I like that description, wearing it in a different light. But I also or maybe I use this word a little too much, but I appreciate the balance because I did grow up with that music. I I’m a big lover of classic film and you have something like Rt-cgm, which is usually on in my home a lot.
L.C. Franke Maybe I’m talking Turner Classic Music or Texas Chainsaw Massacre.
Laurie Gallardo Texas Chainsaw Massacre is a big part of my classic loving life.
L.C. Franke I got the mask. Know where in the smock?
Laurie Gallardo It’s great wandering around with that damn chainsaw. And the neighbors hate me.
L.C. Franke Good look, but my hair looks fabulous behind this thing. It’s.
Laurie Gallardo It’s. It’s Turner, all right? Although, you know, Rt-cgm, I’m like, I’m still not use what I’d call it. Turner Classic movies. Yeah. Today I was so proud of myself. But it could mean Texas Chainsaw Massacre in my home.
L.C. Franke Yeah, but.
Laurie Gallardo The music and then I have my parents to credit because of them. I know about Nat King Cole.
L.C. Franke Nat King Cole. Nat King Cole. So incredible. And even thing, you know, for me, I got so lost in even like Jimmy Durante.
Laurie Gallardo my God. So.
L.C. Franke And during pandemic I was trading a via text a lot of a bunch of records with Mickey. Rafael from Willie’s band? Yeah. Monica. Yeah. And he actually, in some ways, sort of inspired me to even go further with this because, you know, we kept on just like, going back and forth. And he’s like, you got to check out this Jimmy Durante record. You’d love it. And I got so lost in it. You know.
Laurie Gallardo It’s charming and wonderful.
L.C. Franke And it’s not you know, I’m definitely not reinventing the wheel, but it’s also just like, I just don’t have to worry about all the crap that comes with everything. Like, I’m just writing songs in this style that I love and that music is like, there is. I mean, if you look if you look at like, you know, the history of a lot of these artists, that’s pretty dark also. You know what I mean? Like, it’s like me. So Nina Simone did not live a happy, pleasant life by a lot of stretches, in part, at least. And all these. Just like these classic artists and performers. And, you know, I feel like now so much of it is really forced by a lot of artists or a lot of it’s cause play or. No, I think if you really want to go for something authentic, you really got to go to the source. And when you really do tap into these golden era artists of traditional pop or whatever you want to call it, you know, this is this is like the struggle that I’m in all the time because people in meetings want to go, you know, what is this genre? What playlist is this for? And I’m like, I don’t care. Like, I don’t care about any of that anymore. Like, I literally don’t you can I can figure it out for yourself, what playlist it fits on on your streaming service or what the genre is or whatever. Like I’m writing music to, like, survive. And to enjoy because I’ve done this long enough that there have been moments where it wasn’t enjoyable anymore, which is why I took a break.
Laurie Gallardo But for your sanity.
L.C. Franke Yeah. But. But, yeah. And, you know, I just dove into all the records in my collection at home, like Blossom Dearie and Lovely. So many of these are just great, amazing songs. And I do love movies also. And these are a lot of soundtrack songs, obviously. And I got really into orchestral music, too, which is like, why there’s so much strings and things involved in it, you know? Love it. Yeah.
Laurie Gallardo Yeah, that is near and dear to me. And I have such vivid memories of very specific points in various films. Where it was a music that made me remember I had a cousin in my family who was obsessed. Just as an example, he was obsessed with singing in the rain. And I thought that was high lyrics and. All right, that’s your thing. And I was very young. And I finally sat myself down to watch it. And now I know it front to back and all the sides and the lines in addition to the music, the damn lines.
L.C. Franke I mean, you know, for me and I’m sure for you as well, everyone else is like, I know the song that like, I lost my virginity to. I know the song that like was playing. And during like the first time I ever danced with the girl, I know the song that was playing the when my mother passed away, you know, like, yeah, I know. All these, these moments are like, so important to me. And maybe because I am very dramatic and very emotional person that I relate so much to these sounds and words. And so that’s what I’m inspired to create, is music that would soundtrack these moments for other people as well, to help either get them through those moments or to make them suffer, you know, or, you know, because because there’s also songs that we all can’t listen to either because, like, you know, the moment ruined, You know what I mean? Sure.
Laurie Gallardo You’re preaching to the choir.
L.C. Franke You know, there’s definitely like, I used to love that record, you know, until that it broke up with me.
Laurie Gallardo Well, don’t get me started.
L.C. Franke No, That’s why I can never listen to Rainbow Connection. Damn it. Yeah.
Laurie Gallardo Yeah. No, it’s important. I mean, those are pivotal moments. Yeah. Those are pivotal moments. Yeah. And Frank Sinatra is a big one for me as well. I mean, the man made me laugh, in addition to everything else. What a guy. Don’t get on his bad side.
L.C. Franke Yeah.
Laurie Gallardo But yeah, Frank Sinatra. And one of the jokes I used to have with my parents is, remember, this is not just at Christmas time. He made records all year round. You know, it was it was a joke because it during the holidays, these very specific Sinatra, Nat King Cole albums came out. And that was why I was like, wait a minute. That’s the guy that does this song and he does this. And you know, I’ve got you under my skin.
L.C. Franke Well, it’s this weird thing where that the whole history of all of it in that pop culture way has been so sanitized. Yeah. Because all of these artists, you know, like, they were all, like, connected to mobsters. It was all about, you know, they were all smoking and fornicating and but, you know, like it was punk rock early on and it stays, you know what I mean? These were like emotional songs. They were very vulnerable songs. And somewhere along the way it turned into this very flowery, sanitized thing. But I think, you know, obviously with what I’m doing, I couldn’t clean myself up if I tried, like, you know what I mean? Like, there’s no I have like because I’ve lived a certain life and there is no way unless you like, drained and bombed me. Like, I don’t know any other way to, like, not be me. Yeah. But I think that it’s fitting in this music because it is such, you know, listen to, you know, one of my favorite, favorite authors of all time, Scott Walker from the Walker Brothers, you know. Right. Where he does manage to sort of like embody the spirit of so many things that it doesn’t matter what the vehicle is, you know, stuff like Sinatra, like, you know, there’s wee small hours of the morning. There’s like all those records. There’s some like, obviously. Yes, there’s some very, like, jolly swinging big band stuff. But there’s also like songs that just really and performances that just really cut you, you know, in the best way and in a very preferable way, you know, because Sinatra is this sort of whenever people say like they’re inspired by Sinatra, it’s very easy to like, roll your eyes a little bit and like you’re like, okay, here’s what’s coming. You know, like you have like sort of like a nervous about what you’re about to hear, you know? Sure. But there is definitely a large percentage of the songs that are just undeniably like the performance. Everything. And even him as a person is fascinating, you know?
Laurie Gallardo I have to tell you, whenever I get to sit down and revisit anything, it’s a huge thing for me. You mentioned Nina Simone earlier. No, I even play quite a bit of Nina Simone on my on my show. But when I sit down just to listen. And there are some specific songs I’m not going to start talking about because I actually do get emotional. There are some songs of Judy Garland did Where I Love Judy, but I can’t even look at you to talk about it. I start to lose it. I start to lose it. And I often wonder, Well, that’s really interesting because, again, they may not be specific points in my life. That’s not what I’m attaching it to. It’s just hearing it. And I don’t know what it does to me, but it does it. And that’s why I have that reaction. I mean, I absolutely connect pieces of music to very specific points in my life with all of it. But sometimes when I’m just, look, I’m going to listen to this album. This is what I’m doing and something’s going to.
L.C. Franke Get Well, music is definitely, I think, the main vehicle that can lead you into and out of darkness. If we’re talking darkness, you know where I am. There are very, very specific moments where I know exactly what I want to play if I want to get into a better mood. I know exactly what I want to play. If I want to wallow in self-pity, you know?
Laurie Gallardo Yeah, I know that one.
L.C. Franke Both both feelings are very addictive. They kind of go in tandem with each other, you know?
Laurie Gallardo I think so. I really do.
L.C. Franke Yeah. Oof!
Laurie Gallardo I just wish you could feel the rush going on in my head right now.
L.C. Franke Yeah.
Laurie Gallardo Or maybe I don’t want that on anyone. Sorry. I take it back. It’s just a thing.
L.C. Franke Yeah, I mean, well, it’s a valid thing, but that’s also how you know you’re alive. You know what I mean? Like. It’s like feeling these things and reacting to things like that’s. I know we’re in a very tech necessary world, as we spoke about off recording earlier. But I’m, you know, I’m here to make art and not to make content. And if my art becomes content, that’s awesome and whatever that means. And I think that, like, if you want to make art, you need to touch on uncomfortable things within yourself. And those uncomfortable things are usually dark things. So I think at some point you need to just sort of like stare in the mirror at yourself and really see yourself. There’s so many different ways of creating and being an artist. And if you’re a musician making music, whether you’re making dance music just for joy or this or that, for me, it’s like I’d sit and look hard in the mirror and I’m obsessed with making honest music.
Laurie Gallardo I envy that. When you say, you know, looking at yourself, I’m getting a little better at that. I tend to shut down.
L.C. Franke Yeah.
Laurie Gallardo And I shut down ugly when it’s time, especially to look at myself. Not that I haven’t. Not that I don’t. It’s very important. A lot of times it’s very necessary to move forward. I’ve had some wonderful moments from which I have acknowledged X, Y, Z. And it’s great. But it is constant work. This is not something that you flip a switch on and you’re all better. Whatever that means. I don’t even know what that means anymore.
L.C. Franke Yeah, but.
Laurie Gallardo I shut down. And then when it does come out. My.
L.C. Franke Well, yeah. I mean, you know, things don’t go away. You know, so a lot of people internalize things and they build up and. And it’s going to show its head one way or another, you know? You know?
Laurie Gallardo Yeah, I sure do. I sure do. And I’m like, I hope it doesn’t happen when I have the microphone on.
L.C. Franke Or maybe it should. And maybe that’s your arm for me down there. You know what I mean? Like, you know. Yeah. The Gigi Allen of NPR. Before you go, you heard. You know, like it’s. No. You know, like that. Sometimes. Sometimes. Sometimes. Also. Sometimes. The dam needs to break also so that you can build the dam. And I feel like that that’s honestly what happened with me, where I was just like, wow, you know, again, you know, being in other bands and think bands are like marriages and sometimes marriages are awful and you got to get out of those marriages. And then when you do, it’s not like you go straight on to dating again or because I’ve been doing music since I was a little kid. You know, when I was really young, I started doing like TV commercials and musicals and things like that. And I’ve always been doing that. It’s made so much of my identity is wrapped up in the idea of me being an artist and I make my income as an artist and it defines who I am as an artist. And I, I hit this point where I didn’t even know what that meant anymore. And I felt like I was forcing everything so hard because I was trying to make my living doing, doing music. So I just sort of like I just had a breakdown and I hit a certain definitely success of what some people would see as success. But I also like this weird point where it’s like success to some and still not to others. You know, I just sort of like, I just got super, super lost. So I think it was good that I sort of like melted down and just lit the bridge on fire and walked away. And that’s sometimes what you have to do to, like, rebuild something better. You know.
Laurie Gallardo Yeah, because I got a deal.
L.C. Franke Let’s get the deal.
Laurie Gallardo It’s good to deal. It really is. Yeah. And sometimes, I mean, there are those occasions where you like. Yeah. And not only have matches, I have lighters. No, I have a blow torch. Let’s burn this stupid bridge down.
L.C. Franke Yeah, You know, I mean, you could do whatever you want, but you don’t want to like, let your, your struggle become the defining thing, you know, about you. And it’s easy to do. But also, you know, again, if we’re talking about artists and things like that, a lot of those are the ones that aren’t here anymore, right? The ones that you like, you we were all fascinated with because they pulled back the curtain and they were able to, like identify with this dark part of us that we like didn’t know anyone else. Understood. And like, usually those are the ones that aren’t here anymore. Because if you let that become your entire, you know, defining personality, it it’ll swallow you whole, you know, you got to spit it out. You’re not supposed to swallow it, you know, like it’s yeah, it’s, it can really, really just damage you, you know.
Laurie Gallardo And that is hard core damage.
L.C. Franke Yeah. Yeah. It’s some, it’s figuring out a way to how do you become friends with your, your demons and your ghosts instead of wrestling them all the time.
Laurie Gallardo Great point because a couple of my demons and I, we hang out.
L.C. Franke Yeah. As if they’re great at parties.
Laurie Gallardo They really are. And even a couple of them were like, okay, you know what? You’ve had enough of the wine. Let’s go and talk somewhere else. Just get some water for now. And that’s worked. And they’re great. They are great parties.
L.C. Franke Yeah.
Laurie Gallardo But I still do that. That ghosting thing, that exit that I can’t really see too many people. Come on, demons. We’re going home. Well, I guess you should hang out with your demons from time to time. I, like I said, a couple of us are friends for now. Yeah, we’re talking now, but I’m in charge and I’m going to put my fist down. I’m going to slam my fist down and say I’m in charge. And that doesn’t always work.
L.C. Franke I can’t force it.
Laurie Gallardo No, you can’t force nature, damn you. Nature.
L.C. Franke I try it every day. Doesn’t work.
Laurie Gallardo Stupid nature. Yeah, I think that’s where I do. Let people know I. I am a control freak. There are other things I don’t want to control, and I let people do their thing.
L.C. Franke Yeah. I’m trying to be a little bit more fluid with things. Learn from my past. Everyone’s working on themselves now. I guess I’m working on myself.
Laurie Gallardo Okay, so let’s call it that. Let’s call it that. And yeah, it still.
L.C. Franke Has the word work in it. I’m a very work adverse, but.
Laurie Gallardo You know.
L.C. Franke You know I’m not. But it also has my favorite word in it. Myself, myself.
Laurie Gallardo Me, me, me, me, me. But enough about me. Let’s talk about me. No, I get it. And the whole fluidity, that’s an important thing to me. And again, it’s another thing I’m learning about and also what genuinely gets me excited as I learn from everybody around me. I honestly do not go into the room saying I’m the hot shot. I’ve never really been that kind of personality anyway, but I love learning from all the people around me.
L.C. Franke yeah, I feel like my best. Talent has always been surrounding myself with incredible people.
Laurie Gallardo Hell, you.
L.C. Franke You know, I take definitely no credit for much of anything other than I have a low tolerance and threshold for baggage and anvils and sandbags. And I would rather surround myself with people that are inspiring and that are talented and ride off into the sunset on the shoulders of incredible people. I’ve definitely been spoiled in that way that I’ve been able to surround myself with awesome people, you know? So I definitely give others the credit way more than me, for sure. I mean.
Laurie Gallardo That’s such a great thing. And I have been inspired the way the way that you have, obviously. And I take that with me to all kinds of things. And I don’t want to forget that because sometimes I do. When you are like myself and you hang out with yourself all the time and you prefer usually your own silence, your own time, your own space, that’s me all the way. And people freak out When I say that out loud. They freak out. They think I’m this big social butterfly. You know, I’m the moth in black.
L.C. Franke I hate to be alone, but I love unknowns around really. You know, it’s one of those I like people strategically placed around me doing their own thing that I don’t have to. It’s like I want to be invited to every party, but I don’t want to go to any of them. Gotcha. But if you don’t invite me, I’m going to be crushed.
Laurie Gallardo I will be so sad, you know. No, I understand that completely. Yeah.
L.C. Franke I like that energy of busyness and exchange happening all around me so that I can sort of, like, voyeuristic. Lee Look at it. But I’m a bit the same way. I don’t. I have a group of friends that, like, I go out once a week with, you know.
Laurie Gallardo And and it’s a big deal going out once a week. Yeah, that’s a huge thing.
L.C. Franke And now that I’m decrepit too, and I’m like 700 years old, then it’s, you know.
Laurie Gallardo Join the.
L.C. Franke Club. They let me out of the home. Listen, they will me out to the big van. We go play bingo.
Laurie Gallardo Let me tell you something, you whippersnapper.
L.C. Franke I’ve got my good luck, troll. I get the hair, I picked the numbers. That’s great. They love me down at the community center.
Laurie Gallardo No one talks to me. That’s to me oftentimes at sanctuary in and kind of going behind the scenes, if I can. What I think a lot of people don’t realize is what I do. You know, I tell people while I’m in radio and they go, and rightly so. I’m lucky I can call it a job. It doesn’t even feel like one. Yeah, but except.
L.C. Franke When you’re talking to me, cept.
Laurie Gallardo When I’m.
L.C. Franke Talking to.
Laurie Gallardo You. The thing is, you’re on. You are on, on. Now what you hear is me. That’s genuinely me, me and my big mouth. And I just, you know, I’ve got to say some things, but I don’t hold back. It’s me. I get that excited. That’s for real. Okay. Can’t fake that. Cannot fake that at all. My God. Chelsea. Frank. Look, I’ve got this to play for you, and I got it for you. And I don’t. My God, I’m losing my mind. That’s me. And then at the end of the day, you would think that I had just run a marathon. I am exhausted beyond comprehension. Sometimes when I get home, this is me by myself. I don’t talk for the rest of the day. It’s a very real thing.
L.C. Franke It takes a lot of energy. You get really, really spent for sure being on. I mean, you know, it’s gravity. What goes up must come down. You know, I can relate to that for sure. I think I have a very specific personality when I’m in front of a microphone and on stage. And I probably have a fairly disappointing personality to people that, like find me in moments when I’m not doing that, that want to like, interact with me. And I’m like, I’m just sort of like a, you know, I think that that’s a, you know, I think that that’s a common thing, though, You know, I think that, like I say this all the time, but I feel like we’re we’re pie charts, right? And it’s like you don’t get 80% of something without having, unfortunately, only 20% left for everything else. Absolutely. You know, and so as the saying goes, you leave it on the mat, you know, and you leave. And it’s you know, when you when you’re not Lori Gaylord on the radio and you’re you’re you go home and you’ve you’ve kind of put all your effort and energy into giving your best what else is there except for sort of like a a shell that needs to rejuvenate so that you can do it again the next day, you know.
Laurie Gallardo It is absolutely regrouping.
L.C. Franke Everything.
Laurie Gallardo And doing the thing in addition to being a producer. And again, I always make these jokes on my Instagram, which is private. Yeah, but. I send out the reminder at least three times a year. Hi. I just had a man ask me who does your stuff? Only I produce my own show. Produce the Austin Music Minute. That’s me. That’s all Me. Well, yeah, but, I mean, you know, you put your voice on it. Like, yes, it’s called editing. You know, it’s everything. Everything adds up. And so, yeah, you obviously want to be invited to the party and have the graciousness and the class to say, I can’t. Yeah, but I love you. Does that.
L.C. Franke Make sense? And sometimes this other one, the once in a while where you do go, it’s it’s usually terrible. No, it’s usually it’s usually great and it actually is usually it can be great.
Laurie Gallardo This is where I weirdo because yes, I do prefer my own company when I’m trying to wind down. But when I go to something where there are loved ones, my favorite thing is a dinner party. You don’t even have to call a party. It’s a dinner. I love it. We wind up on the porch.
L.C. Franke A salon?
Laurie Gallardo It’s a salon. I don’t get my nails done. No, but that’s my favorite. Yeah.
L.C. Franke Man, too. I mean, that’s. That’s more my speech. You know, I do that a lot, and I cook a lot, too, So it’s like I have, like, a I have a group of friends where we do that a lot. And I think that it’s more humane to get together, hang out. Everybody actually gets time to talk commune together over food beverage, you know, and it’s not just always just allowed bar, you know because I’m sure we both grew up in loud clubs and bars and and you know like the socializing happens for you in those situations whereas now if you have just sort of like a community of friends that you can get together with, you can actually like, you know, I need to work stuff out for me, you know, like I don’t have all the answers as of this recording. I am not currently in therapy, though. I could definitely use it and I have had it before. But that is, you know, my friends are my family and my friends are my community and my friends are my therapy too. That’s not to say I don’t have a couple of crap therapists in there, but you know, you need those two to play. Yeah. How do you know the good ones if you don’t have some of the bad?
Laurie Gallardo I could be a whole podcast right there. Yeah, I know, I know.
L.C. Franke But yeah, I mean, that’s my preferred socializing, for sure. Once in a while I’ll go to like, shows bars.
Laurie Gallardo Once in a.
L.C. Franke While. Yeah.
Laurie Gallardo It’s a great thing. As long as we can do it once in a while.
L.C. Franke Yeah. Truth then.
Laurie Gallardo All right. Now, Mr. Franke, we are reaching the end, but not yet. So the tables have turned? Yes. And now you get to ask me a question, but make it count.
L.C. Franke Wow.
Laurie Gallardo Yeah. And I mean, you can go for the jugular. You can do whatever. This is my way of being vulnerable. And I. And I’m grinding my teeth as I say that.
L.C. Franke Yeah.
Laurie Gallardo Now you get to ask me a question, but again, make it count.
L.C. Franke Well, I know that this podcast is something that you’ve wanted to do for a long time. Yeah. Now that you’re doing it, what’s the next thing that you want to do? If you had what you wanted, what would you wish for? So now that you have your podcast.
Laurie Gallardo Now what I tell you, it’s a lot of work. And what I keep forgetting is that there are other people here to help me out, and I have to be reminded of that. Yeah. So I’m not even thinking in terms of, yay, I’m doing this now. Instead, my brain is going. Don’t forget you have this, this and this. And I’m not sure if I’ve even gone that far ahead. Like, excellent. This is. This thing is going now wonderful for me. Huzzah! I have victory. I’m not even thinking that way. I’m thinking in terms of I hope I can deliver something beyond people’s expectations because this is going to be a bit strange for any individual who’s only used to me playing music. I am the glorified messenger. Okay. No matter how you put it, that’s fine. I don’t mind. I am. I’m a glorified messenger. Here. Listen to this music. This is different. This is me talking about myself.
L.C. Franke Yeah, you.
Laurie Gallardo I can’t stand that. I can’t. I don’t like doing that.
L.C. Franke I’m just like, There you. Yeah, There’s a little. This doesn’t feel cathartic at all. You don’t feel like.
Laurie Gallardo It does, but.
L.C. Franke You get to tell your story to the.
Laurie Gallardo World. I think I’m a little too private for my own good. Yeah, I’m very private. I can get very defensive, which is unfortunate. But hopefully, as I keep rolling with this and I sit down and I listen back, hopefully, hopefully I’ll kind of loosen up and get that sense of cure. This is it. Because I can hear it in the conversations. I’ve had some conversations and they’re great and I said some stuff about myself. Awesome. But there is still that part of me going careful. And that’s a shame. What a shame. Careful of what everybody says everything now. But I am. I’m that way. I’m private.
L.C. Franke I mean, again, I love mystery mysteries. Good. Having some secrets are good. Yeah. Or having a vehicle that no one knows about. Really? To let those secrets into the world. You know, sometimes if you change your name.
Laurie Gallardo Sometimes if you change your name or change.
L.C. Franke You know, change any, you know, change anything fun, find any vehicle. That’s not what people are expecting for it. And, you know.
Laurie Gallardo Well, this is definitely that vehicle that people a lot of people still don’t even know about. And when I when I actually let people know, hey, I’ve been working on this for a long time, they’re wow. They’re kind of shocked. And some are pleasantly surprised and some are befuddled. What are you doing? And I like all of that. I like all of those reactions. So now that I have this podcast going. What is it that I want? I hope it can keep going. I hope I can continue to sit down and invite people in and they’re going to pull stuff out of me, too. Fair enough. Even if I squirm and get uncomfortable, I think people would pay to see me squirm and get uncomfortable.
L.C. Franke Okay. See anybody squirm?
Laurie Gallardo Yeah, that’s true. I think it’s comedy gold.
L.C. Franke Yeah.
Laurie Gallardo It can be. Yeah. And it can also be cathartic. How’s that?
L.C. Franke Yeah.
Laurie Gallardo And then who knows? Who knows? Today, the podcast, Tomorrow or Other World, You know, said the evil scientist. We’ll see.
L.C. Franke All right. Art of the musical.
Laurie Gallardo Are you going to call it LG?
L.C. Franke Hey, LG, The musical. The musical. Don’t be. Hey.
Laurie Gallardo Put that on a record.
L.C. Franke Why? Why? Why? Perfect.
Laurie Gallardo It’d be perfect, wouldn’t it?
L.C. Franke Everybody’s got Broadway shows now. You can do it. I think you’re sixteens on Broadway. You could be on Broadway for crazy.
Laurie Gallardo Look, when. When I saw Evil Dead, the Musical. Come on.
L.C. Franke Yeah. Know that was a thing.
Laurie Gallardo It’s another.
L.C. Franke Musical Evil.
Laurie Gallardo Dead musical to that chainsaw.
L.C. Franke Yeah. I love it.
Laurie Gallardo I love it all. I love it all. LC Frank, thank you for being on my lovely podcast.
L.C. Franke Thanks for having me. I hope I’m I hope I’m not to disappoint you.
Laurie Gallardo Disappointing.
L.C. Franke I just really know Fiona. You were my parents. Ha. No.
Laurie Gallardo I have. I have to tell you. I have to say that without mentioning her name, because she’ll kill me. And I think that she might even be listening at some point. There was someone that I grew up with. I think we were just. Just freshmen or maybe going on to be sophomores in high school. And she had her mom and well, she would go on and on. You’re like this one. You’re obviously like this one. Talk about the lack of gratitude. And I would sit there and nod and I was taught to say, Yes, ma’am. No, ma’am. Yes, ma’am, No, ma’am. And that’s exactly what I did. And the next room, I could hear, you know, my friend going, ma’am, like that. And I understood. I can appreciate that. Parents, you know? Yeah. The guilt. The guilt. It’s all the guilt.
L.C. Franke The guilt of guilt. There’s a lot of, you know, I’m the child of, you know, old New York Jews.
Laurie Gallardo And I deeply appreciate this.
L.C. Franke Stereotypes exist for a reason sometimes. That’s definitely, you know, my my father definitely constantly on a weekly basis calls and asks, do you have food in your refrigerator? Is the electricity on? Are you sure you own your home? No. What do you do with yourself all day? Do people pay you to do this? There’s these weird moments where I feel like in some of my previous excursions, musically, you know, a few of them, I’ve done a bunch of TV and things like that. And those are the things that, for my parents, were the validating thing. Except my father calls every version of late night TV. Carson. So it’s like, you know, really, it’s going to be on Carson tonight. And it’s like, Carson’s been dead for decades. He’s on Carson going into Carson. He’s going to be on It’s Jimmy Kimmel back. He’s on Carson. Dad, it’s Letterman. It’s not Carson. But those are like the moments in I think it’s when you have these tangible things that they can tell other people about that are in their age group that they think, you know what I mean? Like, it’s all People magazine. I’ve heard, you know, like no one cares about People magazine except for me. So if you want to put me in People magazine, I’ll take it. But you know what I mean. All these antiquated media things and all that. But those are the things where it’s like, maybe there’s a modicum of sex, you know? Yeah. Otherwise he’ll see stuff on like, you know, like, you know, he’ll see like a news blurb of like, some weird viral clip of Jewel playing at a zoo for Chill, you know? Maybe you could do that. And so on. I’ll see you and they’ll make you famous. And you can start making money and get some food and electricity. It’s like, Dad, I have. I’m okay. I’m okay.
Laurie Gallardo Thanks, Dad. I love you, Dad. Deeply appreciated. Deeply appreciated. Again, thank you so much for doing this.
L.C. Franke Thanks for having.
Laurie Gallardo He’s a living gem. You can’t convince me otherwise, and neither can he. Many thanks to L.C. Frank for sharing his wit and wisdom with me. I feel Frank Sinatra would approve your vampire sunscreen. Host and creator is me, Laurie Gordon. Editing and Mixing by Jack Anderson. Original Music Composed by Rennie Chavez. Graphic Design by Dave McClinton. And many thanks to our fearless podcast leader Elizabeth McQueen for all her help in creating a new personal website where I’ll share this podcast. So many thank you’s and other projects I’m working on. Coming soon. SPF 1000 Vampire Sunscreen is a listener supported production of cute and cute studios in Austin, Texas. And if you like what you’re hearing, you can support our work by becoming a sustaining member at Support this podcast, Dawg. Thanks again for listening and thanks for your support. And something I always keep in mind. We search for the light, but behold the darkness. Until next time.
This transcript was transcribed by AI, and lightly edited by a human. Accuracy may vary. This text may be revised in the future.
