what we didn't know

Did I ever tell you that Frankenhooker once held Big Brother?

I won't presume to think that everyone in my town knows who Frankenhooker is, nor would I dare to pretend that those readers outside my tiny geographic radius would know who Frankenhooker is. And with my not employed outside the home status, my sitings have greatly diminished, though I did see her very recently, standing across from the BP on Broadway.

The whole story isn't so sordid as it might sound. A local restaurant, loved for their vegetarian fare as well as their delightful pizzas (lamb sausage on a pizza with kalamata olives? fuck yes!) used to host the occasional band.

It was a year or two after we moved here that The Slackers played a show at this restaurant. We were ecstatic to get to see these guys even if it meant a show with baby in tow. We weren't scared. The show was awesome, just low key enough for bringing along baby. We danced a little, the parents at music with baby dance that I hate to see other people doing. A few people mentioned Big Brother and were happy to see him in attendance. Even a couple of band members were pleasantly surprised to see such a tiny fan.

At some point in the evening, a rather odd looking young woman spoke to us for a moment, talked about the baby, and asked to hold him. It seemed like kind of on request, but we don't let one's oddities stand in the way, and we acquiesced.

There was no one around aware or, if aware, willing to tell us, who this particular person was, and had we been told, her "name" alone would likely have been a bit off putting. At the time though we had no reason yet to know who Frankenhooker was. It wasn't till years later that I realized, after having been made aware of Frankenhooker, "Oh My Fucking God! She held Big Brother at a Slackers show at Tomato Head years ago.

I don't know the whole sad and sordid story of Frankenhooker, and I won't attempt to explain even the little I've heard. She's a local sort of fixture, the kind of person about whom stories circulate from people who've been here a little longer than I. Any number of our downtown types know her, and many more know of her, probably from stories similar to those I've heard. With a name like Frankenhooker, how much do you really need to know? And she held Big Brother years ago when he was still a wee little baby.