8.5 A wknd w/ JW Francis

The artist on Space Invaders, sound-bathing and his Friday-night show at Market Hotel

Aug 05, 2022

While the word “jolly” makes us think first and foremost of Santa Clause, we’d like to introduce you to another close contender for winner of this particular word association in the form of JW Francis: another merry gentleman who embodies equal amounts of bearded cheer but is less jingle bells, more jangle pop, and does not require you to be on any list whatsoever to be on the receiving end of his (musical) gifts.

WHEEEEEEW! It’s like 7,000 degrees outside, so we’re not sure why we went down that holiday route right there (humidity-induced delirium?!), but plz bear with us. The idea here is that JW — who identifies as either a purveyor of “NYC lofi jangle dream slacker bedroom pop” or “everything bagel with scallion cream cheese,” depending on the platform—is not just a creator of sweet and funny and really goddamn good songs and videos but a ray of ultra-sincere sunshine, whose friendliness, enthusiasm and serious ~joie de vivre~ is on full display whether the artist is twirling in a meadow and playing guitar on a mountain or rolling around in a raincoat with googly-eyed fruit friends or posting selfies with his dad or writing love songs for fans or hiking the Appalachian Trail or announcing new albums—

Which, of course, brings us to the promo portion of the program! Along with releasing the brand-new single (+ vid!) “Casino” this week, JW Francis announced Dream House, a new record dropping on October 20th, which is available for pre-order on green or cream vinyl, blue-n-beige cassette and in very Simpsons-esque clouds-printed CD form now!

Cop that copy in advance on Bandcamp ASAP and start the celebrations a few months early TONIGHT at BK’s own Market Hotel, where JW will be taking the stage with support from Fusilier and Alli Millstein (tix available here).

As for the rest of the weekend, our talented pal has got you covered, and then some. Read on for a wknd plan that includes shvitzin’, sound bathin’, street-art spottin’ and secret karaoke-in’—plus K dogs and bagels and burritos and more.

WOO! HAPPY FRIDAY! Go out, get sweaty, hug your pals and plz plz plz promise you’ll do us one huge favor: Just have a lot of fun, aight?

[BUT FIRST: PRESS PLAY]

Hello dear reader. My name is JW Francis and I’m writing you a list of things I would do this weekend if I were taking myself out on a date.

FRIDAY

I begin the night at La Lupe Cantina for burritos and margaritas because I’ve been here before and everyone’s really nice.
Next we go to my show at Market Hotel because it’s Friday, August 5th and I’m supposed to be performing. I get there for doors at 7 to hang with friends and drink a beer.
After the show, karaoke afterparty at the closest place I can find that does karaoke. I love doing karaoke after a show. Google Maps is saying there’s a place called Secret Pour that has a secret door. I cannot confirm if karaoke is happening there that night but I am enticed.

SATURDAY

It’s the morning after a show and I need a very specific kind of bagel. My ideal bagel is a double toasted everything bagel with scallion cream cheese - but I don’t want the cream cheese to be runny. There are many good bagel places that make good bagels but overlook this simple pragmatic element. I want refrigerated cream cheese that’s gonna stay like a solid block while I eat. So that’s why I go to Bagels and Wraps on 14th and 5th in Park Slope.
Now I’m in the neighborhood I’m going to go to The Big Reuse in Gowanus and see if I can find any life changing books, clothes or knick knacks.
Now I’m in the mood to have my life changed. So I go to Dream House where I pay $10 (last time I checked) to lay down in a carpeted room and be bathed in sound. Funnily enough, my new album is called Dream House because of how much I love this place.

SUNDAY

It’s Sunday funday and I want to treat myself. So I head to the Russian Turkish Baths for a truly unique experience of wearing a robe all day and sweating profusely, then getting really cold, then sweating a lot again, then getting an ice cold beer and a small plate of salty haddock, then going up to the little roof deck and enjoying the sun, then doing the whole thing three more times?
I’m going right around the corner to get myself a corn dog from Oh K-Dog. I had not had a K dog until recently, and now I am obsessed.
I’m going to spend the rest of the day combing the streets of lower Manhattan looking for street art called Space Invaders made by the French artist Invader. There’s an app called Flash Invaders that gives you points for finding his work. There are over 4,000 in the world in over 50 cities. There are 215 in New York alone and I only have 19.

Itinerary above written + submitted by JW Francis. Follow the artist at @jw__francis, buy music on Bandcamp and add songs to your Spotify playlists!

Feature image provided by the artist.

MORNING ANNOUNCEMENTS

So incredibly stoked to share our official book release-day event — presented by the wonderful people at WORD bookstores— at Saint Vitus on 9/6! Come out for a live convo between Sam & BdBK BFF Rich Weiss of Bloodless Management + a Q&A + a special performance from the one and only Atlas Engine ! (Signed copies will also be available 🤗.). Event details + RSVP here. Thank you again—so, so much—to everyone who contributed to this book. Can’t wait to celebrate our love letter to the Brooklyn music scene *finally* being out in the world and would love, love, love to see you there.
TOMORROW! MORE BOOK STUFF! A reminder we’ll be at the Macon branch of the Brooklyn Public Library during Open Streets putting on a FREE outdoor (unless it’s raining… then: indoor!) show featuring artists included in the book with lil performances from Slight Of, Olivia K and Ok Cowgirl. We’ll also be raffling off copies of the book before its ~official~ release next month. Please RSVP here and join us.
A friend of a friend in the music community recently experienced a horrible tragedy in the form of an apartment fire, losing precious belongings and even more precious pets. If you have the means, please consider donating to help them rebuild their life. Find the GoFundMe here.
Today is Union Pool’s grand (re)opening at 4 PM! Go celebrate in proper fashion (with a drink or 12) and support one of BK’s coolest venues and notoriously horny haunts.
Tuesday plans? Our pals at Women That Rock (dedicated to “featuring the best rising womxn in music” ) are throwing a show at Elsewhere ft. performances from Kaye, Kississippi, Charlotte Rose Benjamin, Rozzi and Kiah Victoria. Grab tix here.

RELEASE RADAR

New(ish) stuff from local (+ occasionally, once-local) artists we love, listed in no order whatsoever:

Pets // Debbie Dopamine

“Across the Room” video // Ok Cowgirl

“Drew” // HOAX

“Strawberry” // Sabrina Song

IT’S HAPPENIN’

Here’s a look at the events we’ve got coming up. Mark your calendars and come hang!

8.6 (TOMORROW!) Open Streets Show w/ Slight Of, Ok Cowgirl and Olivia K - a LIVE book event (FREE!) @ Brooklyn Public Library - Macon Branch (RSVP HERE)

8.14 BdBK x New Colossus Summer Sunday w/ Elizabeth Wyld, Moonglow, Atlas Engine, Stranger Waves, Two-Man Giant Squid @ 18th Ward Brewing (FREE! Deets here.)

+ PLZ SAVE THE DATE for two very special release shows (TBA): 9/17 and 10/8.

A LOOK INSIDE THE BOOK

Leading up to the 9/6 release of Bands do BK — THE BOOK (avail for pre-order here), we’ll be dropping in *short* snippets from the 18-chapter ~manifesto~ that’s equal parts Brooklyn guidebook (by bands), oral history and music-fan memoir.

Michael Tarnofsky: I feel like this has to be a really important place for everybody in how centrally located it was and how important that once was, like, before a Music Hall of Williamsburg show. You never used to want to hang out at Union Pool before the show, so you walk over from Rocka Rolla. Unless you were itching for a new STD.
Nico E.P.: I love that spot so much. When I first moved up, my friend said, “Yo, we’re gonna go bar-hopping.” He took me and he goes, “Dude, they have three-dollar chalices here.” It was literally a chalice of beer.
Tine Hill: The beer goblets.
Sean Wouters: It’s medieval!
Tarra Thiessen: Rocka Rolla has that coffee thing that we like.
Aidan: Divey, cheap drinks, chalices of beer, “that coffee drink” and eighties hair metal constantly. A dash of goth. Floors so dirty you wonder if you’d catch Hep C if you lost a shoe. That kind of magical place.
Nico E.P.: We actually did a video there.
Sean Wouters: We filmed ourselves bar-crawling, bar-hopping.
Nico E.P.: We ended up at Rocka Rolla. By the time we got to that place, that was like our fifth bar, it was such a blur. I remember having a cigar like, “Sean, just have a cigar, dude.”
Sean Wouters: I don’t even remember that.
Nico E.P.: It got me destroyed. I took an Uber home, ’cause I’m like, I cannot comprehend what is happening.