Archive for the ‘Jenny Speaks’ Category

It’s been awhile since I officially wrote a webblog. So I am here in a Starbucks parking lot, borrowing their wonderful wifi. Right now, I’m just more comfortable sitting in my car in silence. Sometimes even the roar of those fancy coffee-making machines is enough to break my focus.

So it was exactly 2 weekends ago we played our first show in Minnesota and it was BEAUTIFUL. We played at the Acoustic Cafe in Winona, and the scenery around the Mississippi River was amazing. Rolling hills, water…we’re doing it again in September sometime. Acoustic Cafe employees and patrons were so amazingly friendly and I was very impressed at how they were very into serving locally grown, organic food at their cafe. (I’m totally into that type of thing.) From Winona, we stopped at Indie Coffee in Madison, Wisconsin and that was also such a treat!! Same thing happened to us there that happened in Winona! Friendly, smiling faces serving locally grown, organic oh-so-yummy food! Can’t wait to go back.

Yesterday, we went to record with our producer, Jaben Pennell. Our next song we’re working on titled ‘Change’ is going to be a good one! More on the mellow side, with a cello and some strings in the backround. Can’t wait for you to hear it when its done! Jaben is an amazing producer and is able to breath life into our songs, we are so happy to be working with him. The ease of recording with him is also something I don’t take for granted. For years, I was used to scheduling out blocks of time with engineers. It was like punching in on the clock to go and be creative. Yuck. And I’ll be honest–producing is not one of my finer qualities. At this point, I am a songwriter–and happy to do just that–but you never can tell what the future can bring.

We are working on launching a Kickstarter Project for our next album. I am nervous about this, reason being is because the release of our next album depends on the success of this kickstarter project. If you haven’t heard of Kickstart, check out their website at http://www.kickstarter.com. I am hoping to have this project up and running by the time of our next radio interveiw, which is on May 24th. Its a time crunch to get it up and running by then but I think we can do it!

I am laughing out loud, because our next show is at Lincolnwood Mall. . .A MALL!!!!! On my set list–I am going to have to write in notes along the side–reminders on when not to swear, what words to omit. I am excited to play at this Lincolnwood Mall, and it is in celebration to all those awesome Mom’s out there, for Mothers Day. I think it will be fun and I think as long as I have my notes on the side of my set list I will be able to keep this thing rated PG. Wish me luck! Mike and I have been practicing a cover song for the mall show. I KNOW we don’t really do covers, but we both thought it’d be fun to play ‘Crazy Love’ by Van Morrison. I really do enjoy that song. It was the song my brother Eric, and his wife Marissa danced to at their wedding…awww… haha.

Very recently we hit 1,000 fans on our facebook band page…to be perfectly honest it’s not that easy to get people on facebook to find your band page and like it–if you are reading this and you’re in a band, I’m sure you already know this.  Unless you have thousands of dollars set aside for marketing, facebook pages relay on word-of-mouth to grow.  So to celebrate we were able to make our song ‘I See You’ available as a free download–so do something crazy today–download the song!!  It’s our gift to you for helping us spread the word…so THANK YOU FACEBOOK FRIENDS AND FANS WE FEEL THE LOVE AND WE LOVE YOU BACK!!!

Link to our facebook page

Link to song I See You *free download*

I am excited to share this album review with you!  If you haven’t picked up a copy, it’s available online and also at record stores throughout the Chicago-land area.  It’s also available in the Madison, Wisconsin area.  Please see our blog entitled “Who’s carrying our new EP, Jenny Franck Unplugged” for specific locations, which we pride ourselves in keeping it updated!

Album review: http://reviewyou.com/jenny-franck-unplugged

Mike and I with Val...yes that's right...THE Val of Val's halla Records!

Our first in-store performance at Val’s halla Records was so much fun!  Definitely not your average gig.  When we first walked into the store we were greeted with a warm, inviting, comforting feeling….kind of like the same feeling you get when you’re returning to your parents house, right after you first move out.  She had a collection of posters plastered all along the walls and even the ceiling of the store.  Her record collection was endless..from Frank Zappa to Ceaser Franck, from The Beatles to Nine Inch Nails…and everything in between.

There is a stage in the front corner of the store right next to the register, for musicians to perform…the store-front window is right behind the stage, so as people are walking by they can see there is live music going on and they are invited to come in and check it out.  I loved the stage…it was a solid polished wood platform.  I have experienced a lot of different stages, and I know how..hmmm how do I say……..structurally interesting a stage can be!  Basically lets just say I always find relief when I see that we won’t need to worry about falling thru the stage while we’re performing!  Good times…

So if you’re looking for something special….or just looking for something, go to Val’s halla Records…….she’ll find ANYTHING!  Thanks Val, for your hospitality and wonderful record store!

Last weekend we we started recording 2 songs.  Colorscreen and Turned Into You.  Turned Into You was previously recorded on our Unplugged EP.  This upcoming version will be rockin’ with a nice heavy drum beat.  I’m thinking we’ll probably layer some vocals and lots of guitar in the chorus.  Jaben Pennell is our recording engineer and also our producer for both of these songs so I’m really excited to share them with you…I am 100% confident they will be easy to digest.
You guys have never heard the song Colorscreen before, well I guess what I mean is we’ve never recorded it before…if you’ve seen us play live then you’ve heard Colorscreen.  I am looking forward to your thoughts and your feedback.  I think it’s got a cool vibe, fun (in the sense of interesting) lyrics, and comes delivering a message open for interpretation.
The songs will be available on sites like itunes, napster, spotify, etc.  I would like to offer them free for download on our website.  I am hoping this will increase traffic and visiability…our ultimate goal here is to get one of these songs in circulation on the Triple A Radio network.  The only way our song will qualify is if we’ve got tons of requests coming into them so I am going to try to figure out a simple way people can do so.  Any tips/ideas would be warmly welcomed.
Mike and I will be heading back to the studio to record guitar, bass, and hopefully some vocals this weekend, so of course I am already excited…which makes for a long week…ah well that’s how it goes, huh.  Hope you all have a great week, I know I am going to try!

~Jenny

Last night was a wonderful night. We shared the stage with some wonderful musicians at The Frequency in Madison, WI. This particular blog I wanted to thank someone special….I will call him our ‘Mystery Man’.

Ok here goes……I never did catch your name, but I thank you from the bottom of my heart for coming out to see us play. I feel terrible you missed us perform Heart Shaped Box, and I hope that when we return, you will be there in the audience. I will dedicate Heart Shaped Box to you, our ‘Mystery Man’. It is because of people like you, that we continue to play….you are our dear friend, and we will always remember you….it is your efforts that keep us going. No matter how tired, how frustrated, or how much life beats us down….it is those certain moments, like meeting you, that allow us to get up each morning and do it again, and again, annnd again…are we going insane?!! Some days, we would answer that question with a ‘maybe!’ But last night…meeting you…revived something inside me, something that will help me keep going…so it is YOU I want to say THANK YOU to…and we hope to see you again one day! 

Louie surprised Mike and I by presenting a Commemoration Plaque to us at The Elbo Room, on June 8th. And here I thought this was just going to be our anything BUT average, run-of-the-mill show at Elbo…..well Louie, you definitely suprised us!! And it was so appropriate to give it to us there, on-stage, in front of everyone….because at that exact place Mike and I were given the freedom to create the songs for JENNY FRANCK UNPLUGGED.

So we’d like to take a moment and say THANK YOU to The ELBO ROOM for all your generosity and support you give, every single day to original bands like us…..You truly make this world a better place!!

Everyone should come out to The ELBO ROOM and check out their NEW LOOK & their GREAT BEER!!!

Well so far we are off to a good start!! You can find JENNY FRANCK UNPLUGGED at these locations, for $7….I will keep adding the stores/locations as they come in. Going to any one of these locations to pick up our cd means you are showing us much love and support, enabling us to continue to do what we do, and also you will be supporting these stores, encouraging THEM to keep doing what they do….

KISS THE SKY                                        RECKLESS RECORDS
301 W State St                                       3126 N Broadway
Geneva, IL 60134                                 Chicago, IL  60657
630-232-1888                                       773-404-5080

RECKLESS RECORDS                           BAB’S & COCO’S TEA EMPORIUM
1532 N Milwaukee Ave                      818 W Lincoln Hwy
Chicago, IL 60622                                Dekalb, IL  60115
773-235-3727                                      815-756-8320

VAL’S HALLA RECORDS                    B-SIDE RECORDS & TAPES & CD’S
239 Harrison St                                      436 State St
Oak Park, IL  60304                            Madison, WI 53703
708-524-1004                                      608-255-1977

EAR WAX RECORDS                           SAKI
254 W Gilman St                                   3716 W Fullerton Ave
#B                                                                Chicago, IL  60647
Madison, WI 53703                            773-486-3997
608-257-6402

So I found out some exciting news yesterday!! Louie was able to add us into Jango’s (internet radio station) playlist, and come to find out we are getting super popular in Bogota!! Well well Bogota….WE LOVE YOU TOO!! AND WE ALSO LOVE THE COCA LEAF!! I guess we’ve got a few things in common. Keep tuning in and thanks for all the support!!

Everyone- if you’d like to check us out on Jango, I’ve left a link for you…please while you’re visiting click on the thumbs UP button to keep our song in rotation…and again thanks for all the support!!

The Jango link