Frank
The True Story that Inspired the Movie
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Narrated by:
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Jon Ronson
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By:
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Jon Ronson
About this listen
In the late 1980s Jon Ronson was the keyboard player in the Frank Sidebottom Oh Blimey Big Band. Frank wore a big fake head. Nobody outside his inner circle knew his true identity. This became the subject of feverish speculation during his zenith years. Together, they rode relatively high. Then it all went wrong.
Twenty-five years later and Jon has co-written a movie, Frank, inspired by his time in this great and bizarre band. Frank is set for release in 2014, starring Michael Fassbender, Maggie Gyllenhaal, and Domhnall Gleeson and directed by Lenny Abrahamson.
Frank: The True Story that Inspired the Movie is a memoir of funny, sad times and a tribute to outsider artists too wonderfully strange to ever make it in the mainstream. It tells the true story behind the fictionalized movie.
Jon Ronson is an award-winning writer and documentary maker. He is the author of four best sellers, Them: Adventures with Extremists, The Men Who Stare at Goats, The Psychopath Test and Lost at Sea: The Jon Ronson Mysteries, and two collections, Out of the Ordinary: True Tales of Everyday Craziness and What I Do: More True Tales of Everyday Craziness. He lives in London and New York City.
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No longer dismissed as relics of the hippie era, a new generation has lionized the Dead for creating a culture that paved the way for social networking, free music swapping, and the uncompromising anticorporate attitude of indie rock. Now, fifty years after the band first began changing rock 'n' roll both sonically and psychically, So Many Roads paints the most vivid portrait yet of the Grateful Dead, one of the most enduring institutions in American music and culture.
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Great first book on the Dead
- By robert on 10-30-15
By: David Browne
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Fire and Rain
- The Beatles, Simon and Garfunkel, James Taylor, CSNY and the Lost Story of 1970
- By: David Browne
- Narrated by: Sean Runnette
- Length: 11 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
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January 1970: the Beatles assemble one more time to put the finishing touches on Let It Be; Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young are wrapping up Déjà Vu; Simon and Garfunkel are unveiling Bridge Over Troubled Water; James Taylor is an upstart singer-songwriter who's just completed Sweet Baby James. Over the course of the next twelve months, their lives---and the world around them---will change irrevocably.
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Fascinating information, easy to listen
- By NCKitkat on 07-28-11
By: David Browne
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Toni Tennille
- A Memoir
- By: Toni Tennille, Caroline Tennille St. Clair
- Narrated by: Toni Tennille
- Length: 8 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
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Since bursting onto the scene in the mid '70s, the pop duo Captain and Tennille have long defined the sparkling, optimistic idea of everlasting love, both in their music and through their image as a happy and, seemingly, unbreakable couple. They were an irresistible pair to millions of fans all over the world, further underscored by the rousing "yes, we can!" gospel of their biggest hit, "Love Will Keep Us Together". But underneath the image was an entirely different story that the fans never saw.
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Loved it for several reasons
- By Jennifer on 05-28-16
By: Toni Tennille, and others
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The Never-Ending Present
- The Story of Gord Downie and the Tragically Hip
- By: Michael Barclay
- Narrated by: George Stroumboulopoulos
- Length: 17 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
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From our talent-rich neighbor to the north comes this biography of one of the most successful Canadian rock bands, The Tragically Hip, which announced a year-long tour after sharing the news of lead singer Gord Downie’s inoperable cancer. Now available to US listeners, The Never-Ending Present details what led up to the memorable night when music fans all over the world watched Downie’s heroic final performance.
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Hometown Heroes
- By Tommy Garou on 12-13-18
By: Michael Barclay
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Kicking and Dreaming
- A Story of Heart, Soul, and Rock and Roll
- By: Ann Wilson, Nancy Wilson
- Narrated by: Ann Wilson, Nancy Wilson
- Length: 8 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
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Two sisters. Two voices. One Heart.
The mystery of "Magic Man." The wicked riff of "Barracuda." The sadness and beauty of "Alone." The raw energy of "Crazy On You." These songs, and so many more, are part of the fabric of American music. Heart, fronted by Ann and Nancy Wilson, has given fans everywhere classic, raw, and pure badass rock and roll for more than three decades. As the only sisters in rock who write their own music and play their own instruments, Ann and Nancy have always stood apart - certainly from their male counterparts but also from their female peers.
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Good Behind-The-Scenes Look At "Heart"
- By Kathy on 11-13-12
By: Ann Wilson, and others
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Iggy Pop
- Open Up and Bleed
- By: Paul Trynka
- Narrated by: William Dufris
- Length: 14 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
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Iggy Pop's legendary career has been tumultuous, reaching great heights with mega-hits and then hitting rock-bottom lows in jail and mental institutions. Along the way, he's become a cult-rock hero, an inspiration for dozens of other famous rockers, and has had a pretty good time of it, too. But the image of Iggy Pop versus the man behind that image, James Newell Osterberg, Jr., is surprisingly contradictory.
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Banal and Boring
- By Michael on 12-03-08
By: Paul Trynka
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Catch a Wave
- The Rise, Fall, and Redemption of the Beach Boys' Brian Wilson
- By: Peter Ames Carlin
- Narrated by: Bronson Pinchot
- Length: 14 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
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In Catch a Wave, Peter Ames Carlin pulls back the curtain on Brian Wilson, one of popular music's most revered luminaries, as well as its biggest mystery. Drawing on hundreds of interviews and never-before heard studio recordings, Carlin follows the Beach Boys from their earliest days through Brian's deepening emotional problems to his triumphant re-emergence with the release of Smile, the legendarily unreleased album he had originally shelved.
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Not great
- By J. Barker on 08-08-16
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Brian Jones
- The Making of the Rolling Stones
- By: Paul Trynka
- Narrated by: Steven Crossley
- Length: 12 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
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Brian Jones is a forensic, thrilling account of Jones' life, which for the first time details his pioneering achievements and messy unraveling. With more than 120 new interviews, Trynka offers countless new revelations and sets straight the tall tales that have long marred Jones' legacy. His story is a gripping battle between creativity and ambition, between self-sabotage and betrayal. It's all here: the girlfriends, the drugs, and some of the greatest music of all time.
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Great story, exceptionally well narrated
- By M. Graham on 11-17-15
By: Paul Trynka
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Keith Richards
- The Unauthorised Biography
- By: Victor Bockris
- Narrated by: Adrian Mulraney
- Length: 20 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
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In 1992, Victor Bockris' celebrated biography was the first to recognize Richards' pivotal role in the legend of the Rolling Stones. Now that book on rock's most incredible survivor has been expanded. Here are the true facts behind Richards' battles with his demons: the women, the drugs and the love-hate relationship with Jagger. His struggle with heroin and his status as the rock star most likely to die in the 1970s. His scarcely believable rebirth as a family man in the 1980s. Illuminated with revealing quotes and thoughtful insights into the man behind the band that goes on forever.
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doesn't comapre to LIFE
- By A. Garofalo on 02-20-14
By: Victor Bockris
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Dreaming the Beatles
- A Love Story of One Band and the Whole World
- By: Rob Sheffield
- Narrated by: Rob Sheffield
- Length: 9 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
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Dreaming the Beatles is not another biography of the Beatles or a song-by-song analysis of the best of John and Paul. It isn't another exposé about how they broke up. It isn't a history of their gigs or their gear. It is a collection of essays telling the story of what this ubiquitous band means to a generation who grew up with the Beatles' music on their parents' stereos and their faces on T-shirts. What do the Beatles mean today? Why are they more famous and beloved now than ever? Find out.
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Wonderful ramble
- By Tad Davis on 05-18-17
By: Rob Sheffield
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Uncommon People
- The Rise and Fall of The Rock Stars
- By: David Hepworth
- Narrated by: Matthew Lloyd Davies
- Length: 10 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
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The age of the rock star, like the age of the cowboy, has passed. Like the cowboy, the idea of the rock star lives on in our imaginations. What did we see in them? Swagger. Recklessness. Sexual charisma. Damn-the-torpedoes self-belief. A certain way of carrying themselves. Good hair. Interesting shoes. Talent we wished we had. What did we want of them? To be larger than life but also like us. To live out their songs. To stay young forever. No wonder many didn't stay the course.
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INSIGHTFULL!
- By CLAUDIA R KENNEDY on 02-18-18
By: David Hepworth
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From the Sunday Times top ten bestselling author of The Psychopath Test, a captivating and brilliant exploration of one of our world's most underappreciated forces: shame. 'It's about the terror, isn't it?' 'The terror of what?' I said. 'The terror of being found out.' For the past three years, Jon Ronson has travelled the world meeting recipients of high-profile public shamings. The shamed are people like us - people who, say, made a joke on social media that came out badly, or made a mistake at work.
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From taking the knee to transgender rights, wedge issues are everywhere in modern life - dividing opinions, polarising debate and tearing friendships and families apart. Even something as seemingly innocuous as wearing a facemask can provoke vicious disagreement. But how did we get here, and what does it mean for society going forward? In this gripping series, acclaimed writer and journalist Jon Ronson searches for the origin stories of the hostilities - the pebbles thrown in the pond, creating the ripples that led to where we are today.
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a healing masterpiece
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'But Hillary is a known Luciferian,' he tried. 'She's not a known Luciferian,' I said. 'Well, yes and no,' he said. In The Elephant in the Room, Jon Ronson, the New York Times best-selling author of The Psychopath Test, Them, and So You've Been Publicly Shamed, travels to Cleveland at the height of summer to witness the Republican National Convention.
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What listeners say about Frank
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- jme
- 11-17-17
Two thumbs up
Jon Ronson books are always worth the read/listen. This is is just as odd and entertaining as any other. 10/10 Would buy again.
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2 people found this helpful
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- Stephen H
- 05-26-18
Not the author's best
Jon Ronson once again delivers a tale in his own fascinating way. Unfortunately, there was not a lot of meat here, and the story suffers for that.
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- Nina Gaby
- 11-20-15
Jon Ronson can do no wrong!
Would you listen to Frank again? Why?
Yes, he is relevant and provocative. Great writer.
What did you like best about this story?
His gentle irony.And what a great story.
Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?
I chuckled throughout, but also resonated with the sadness.
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1 person found this helpful
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- Eric
- 08-29-23
Wish there was more
This wasn't a bad story by any means, it's just disappointing that this is just the last chapter of 'Lost at Sea: The Jon Ronson Mysteries' as a separate release. Which in of itself isn't the worst thing ever, however I have been listening to all of Ronson's books in order and to have this follow Lost at Sea in that order left me a bit dissapointed that it wasn't a more comprehensive expanded version of this story.
If you already have Lost at Sea you can skip this one, unless your are a completionist/collector or just want to support the author by buying all they have on offer.
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- Chris S.
- 06-12-19
Short but good
It's no Psychopath Test, but if you have finished all Ronson's other full-length works this is a nice addition for those craving more.
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1 person found this helpful
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- Dubi
- 07-31-17
Frankly, Not Enough
In his younger days, Jon Ronson played keyboards in a band fronted by Frank Sidebottom, a comic character who always wore a big plastic head. In 2014, Ronson co-wrote a screenplay that was a fictionalized version of his memoir of being in Frank's band. That film character was based on Frank Sidebottom but also incorporated elements of other outsider artists like Captain Beefheart and Daniel Johnston.
In this short audiobook, Ronson tells the non-fictionalized version of his time with Frank, as well as discussing outsider artists, including Beefheart, Johnston. and the Shaggs. What we have is typical Ronson -- droll, entertaining, illuminating, and as always perfectly narrated by Ronson himself.
But it's not enough. This should have been a full length book. There should have been full chapters on Beefheart, Johnston, the Shaggs, and other outsider musical artists like Gong, The Residents, Wild Man Fischer, Moondog, Tiny Tim, even William Shatner as a singer -- the proof is the chapter on Insane Clown Posse in Ronson's Lost at Sea, one of his very best pieces of work.
Jon, if this ever comes your way -- please, that would be an awesome book. For Jon's fans, this is a tasty little morsel, but it leaves you wanting for more, and not in the best sense of that phrase.
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8 people found this helpful
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- R. Cooper
- 08-13-17
Great backstory, wish it was longer
Very short audio book but well worth listening to if you're curious after seeing the film. Felt like it could have been so much more fleshed out, though. The author's narration is fairly monotone but still charming because of the accent.
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2 people found this helpful
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- LMcL
- 06-11-24
Had to be there and I wasn’t
Just not interesting on its own merits. Would have to be way more detailed and insightful to appeal to the average reader.
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- Norma Miles
- 12-13-21
"Harnessing infinity."
Attracted by the cover and the author, Jon Ronson, who also narrates, I enjoyed this short ramble through memories of a time when he was the keyboard player for a. 'plincky plonk' cover band of more successful recordings, fronted by a man who hid behind a large take head. A strange little tale of another odd character from Ronson's life, apparently written to accompany the release of a film of the same name which he'd co-written.
Before reading this short account, I had neither heard of Frank (real name Chris), his group or the film but it did revive my own memories of the time, now nearly forty years ago. Quite interesting and worth reading.
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- Tina_t
- 04-28-15
Interesting but short
I'm not sure what I thought this book was about, but it was oddly entertaining. I almost couldn't stop listening until it was over.
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