Ginai Loves Michael Franks

Since the late 70's when I ditched my small town of Waianae after graduating, I found myself in a whole new world of musical genres. All I ever got to listen to growing up was what played on the radio and what my mother brought home for us to clean house to! Haha. But moving to the Bay Area at age 19 changed all of that! In walks this guy named Michael Franks, meaning, discovering his album releases. The Sleeping Gypsy record knocked me off my feet, reminding me how much catching up I had to do, and catch up I indeed did! I played that vinyl recording until I got kicked out of where I was living and sadly lost it many moons ago. But I kept up with his music through the decades and fell in love with The Art of Tea, a record that preceeded Sleeping Gypsy, then I went on to acquire Burchfield Nines, Tiger In The Rain, One Bad habit, Objects of Desire, and more! I lost track of his releases and picked him back up in the 90's with Dragonfly Summer. He was now in my car and in my room with a CD player on full blast and away we went together on the road and in my dreams! 

Michael Franks defied the world of sappy pop music of the 80's by throwing in his deeply rooted love for Jazz. Don't get me wrong. I made a living out of playing that stuff. But what did I like to listen to when I got home? Guess who. Much to our collective benefit, he was hanging out in clubs in NYC back in his day, sitting in with his peers and naturally caught the attention of what was known back then as an A&R guy. Maybe? Whatever the truth is, he was destined to entice us listeners with cynicism, sensuality, comic relief, and straight up soulfulness. His lyrics hit the listener right away with his heartfelt adoration for the masters of poetry while tuning his vocal chords to our heartstrings. He was classically inclined from the off but did not linger there! It did not take long until he toured and sold out concert venues worldwide, but always finding the work loathsome and grueling. You could tell there was a homebody in there somewhere, content to sip tea in his garden, and read libraries of books bought and borrowed. He was also a lover of love itself, and wrote sonnets to his lady faire. Music. It took him into other genres like Brazilian music, Funk, and EMO? Maybe not so much on that last one. But how would you describe him replacing the likes of The Jazz Crusaders as his studio band to a more digitally processed sound? In my circles of musician, talk I was occasionally privy to, they would say, "sounds like a keyboard player got a hold of him!" But don't knock it! Michael Franks owned it!! He never left out the great studios cats though, and made good use of them all from saxophone and trumpet players to guitarists and piano players scattered throughout his 15+ recording releases. We live better lives thanks to his music, don't we? I know I do. 

I hope you will come to the debut performance of Ginai Loves Michael Franks on June 29, 2024 at the newly managed Medici Supper Club in Manoa. Tickets are on sale now!  www.medicisupperclub.com