Photos

OUR OWN 20 YEAR REUNION

| Brian

Last night Ralph was in town. What I thought was going to be a casual dinner turned into this odd reunion of sorts. While the reunion aspect of the get together was only in hindsight, its significance wasn’t lost on me nor the others involved.

Starting in the left hand corner of the photo we’ve got Roy Binnion, Brian Sokel (me), Atom Goren, Greg Giuliano, Stavroula Kritikos and Ralph Darden. Or, if we were talking gangs, !Franklin 1.0 and Franklin 2.0 with Atom & His Package. With actual planning I would have made sure to get Josh to this get together for a universal high-five. Hopefully next time.

To add to the silly nostalgia, this photo was snapped by Shawn Kilroy who just happened to be at the bar when we all arrived. Shawn who played in Dizrythmia and wrote this piece for this blog.

Small world.

If you were to tell me 20 years ago, in the summer of 1992 just after we had recorded this first demo, that we’d all meet up again to hang out, joke around and catch up I’d have said, “I can’t wait.”

So above you have the gang in 2012 and here you have 1992.

Friends don’t die.

FRANKLIN BY SHAWN BRACKBILL

| Brian

A while back I posted a photo taken by Shawn Brackbill. I was able to rifle thru my files and came up with a whole slew of other shots he took of Franklin playing out in Pittsburgh, PA where he was living at the time. These shots were around 1997 (I believe).

Great shots by a truly wonderful fella and photographer.



RANDOM CHILDREN AT JC DOBBS

| Brian


Here are some random shots of Random Children playing at J.C. Dobbs on South Street. There are no details on the backs of these photos as to the date these were taken or which show, but judging by the length of Ralph’s dreads and Greg’s rather impressive two rack tom set-up, we’re looking around mid 1991.

In the first picture, it’s Greg doing his thing while wearing his, now legendary, blue and grey Swatch watch. Next to him you will see my first major musical instrument purchase. A Peavey, 2×15″ bass cabinet that I bought from the folks who ran Rave Records (remember the Rave warehouse?) The cabinet cost me $150 and featured a blown lower speaker cone and more beer/puke? stains on it than one could ever imagine, but it got the job done. I remember driving home with that speaker in the back of my 1982 hatchback Honda Accord and thinking that with this impressive speaker NOTHING would be impossible.


This photo features my back rather prominently. A back that would go on to be featured at many a Franklin show due to a belief that looking forward to the audience who had gathered seemed elitist and too rock and roll.

Again, notice Greg’s kick-ass double rack tom action. Sick.


Lastly, we have TJ mid-jump displaying his patented “falcon-claw” finger posture for the ultimate in power-chord perfection and Ralph in his ever so stylish Christ on Parade t-shirt, 7 to 8 mini-dreads and a sweet fade.

Behind them, a myriad of framed photos that covered the side wall at JC Dobbs. I never did look closely at any of those photos to see if they were of anyone (or anything) interesting. Truly, the only time I made any sort of mental note of them was when Nation of Ulysses played and Steve Gamboa, bass player of NOU, took the head of his bass to several of the photos, smashing them. I assumed, rightfully so, that someone was gonna be upset about that.

CONTACT SHEET FROM FRANKLIN’S ROY IS DEAD 7″ BY SCHUMOW

| Brian

Before computers, I’m not really sure how any records cover art was created. It’s still rather baffling to me. In fact, considering some of the disastrous covers that are featured on some early recordings my friends and I were apart of, one could say we were exceptionally bad at getting our design ideas translated into a finished product that actually looked and felt like a real record. Nowadays it’s all ones and zeros, but then…well, who knows what the hell it took but thank god for the simplicity and beauty that is the black and white, photocopied sleeve.

I came across these contact sheets in an old folder. They were shots taken by Jenn Schumow on Ralph’s roof on Wharton Street in South Philly. I believe Roy was living there as well but I could be wrong.

These photos were taken for our Roy is Dead 7″ and as you can see, several frames are cut out. At the time, we cut out the photos we liked to include in the layout. We couldn’t simply send the electronic file to be easily re-sized and properly laid out by a professional. We had to cut the shit out and send it in the mail with crude diagrams and mock-ups. It was pretty funny actually. Fortunately, Yannick Lorraine, the fella who put the 7″ out, had some real design experience and he managed to make the release look pretty spot on.

It was a grey, miserable day up there on Ralph’s roof but I always liked how these photos turned out.

RANDOM PHOTOS FROM RANDOM TIMES

| Brian

Ever gotten ahead of yourself?

I realized this afternoon that I had uploaded many, many images and photos that I have yet to post here on the GoKidGo blog. Thus, it’s already time for some housecleaning. Meaning, before I add anymore files to our server, I am promising to clean out the backlog. The positive of that being more posts at a quicker clip.

The negative? Well, I’m not sure there is but I’ll keep thinking.

Today, we’ve got several photos that were sent to me a while back. While I don’t have any real stories to accompany these photos, I hope they kick start something from your own memory if you were there.

Most of these photos were taken during matinee shows at JC Dobbs on South Street. I’ve talked ad nauseum about JC Dobbs and how important that space was for putting on shows and seeing shows in the early 90’s but it really can’t be stressed enough. The photo above is actually Chumbawamba playing Dobbs on the Shhh! tour. Fracture opened up the show.


Here’s a somewhat random photo of Dan Goldberg (who had played with Vile, Up In Arms and Public Descent playing guitar with a later band of his. Unfortunately, I’m not positive which band this might be.


I have absolutely NO idea who this is. However, I wanted to post it because it’s just fun looking at old photos from Dobbs. For all I know, this could be Nirvana. It isn’t of course, but that’s how little I know about this photo.


This might be my favorite photos of all time. It features Atom with Rob who played drums for Fracture, Barry and Matt. I believe the name of this band was Pleasant Greene but again, I have no idea. I just like that everyone looks confused.


Finally, here’s a photo of the 2.5 Children playing at JC Dobbs. Again, sadly, I don’t know much about this photo or the band in general but maybe you do!