Tom Waits, Beck, Bob Dylan, Ani Difranco, Les Claypool, Leonard Cohen, Morphine, Bassnectar, The Chemical Brothers, Nirvana, Kelly Joe Phelps, Kaki King, Son House, Miles Davis, Charlie Hunter, Ben Harper, Dave Matthews, Jack Kerouac, The Crystal Method, Bob Marley, Radiohead, Allen Ginsberg, Jeffery McDaniel, Spearhead, Sun Ra, Jeff Buckley, DJ Shadow, Cut-Chemist, Rage Against the Machine, scrap metal, circus clowns, dogs, spaceships, moldy bread, coffee, urinals, power tools, a sunny morning street, telephone polls, newspapers, ashtrays, light from my beer mug, bikes, bridges, giant floating heads, cactus, cobwebs, snapshots of slingshot highways at sunrise.
Shovelman has no past . . .
But this is what other people have to say about him:
“Isaac Frankle is a musical wiz kid.”
- Christa Martin, The Goodtimes Santa Cruz, 2006
"Shovelman's music would be playing on the radio if Tom Waits and Les Claypool ever went on a road trip together ......and were lost."
- Chip, 'So Wat TV
"The results are in and the decision is final. If ever I'm looking for a lead shovel, or if anyone is for that matter, Shovelman is the first and only logical choice."
-Klaus Flouride, The Dead Kennedys
"Bottom line, oddity or not, Shovelman is just the kind of off-kilter kick in the pants modern music might need to keep things interesting. Who knows? Maybe he’ll inspire some of us to put down our high tech gadgetry and start looking at low-tech objects with a new sense of purpose."
- Melissa Tan, The Rumpus.net
"Now and then you think you've seen all the shoot you're going to see...then, out of the ether, comes Shovelman and when he's got the slide on those strings and he's singing those old time songs, he's bringing you back the days of LPs
and a decade old needle on the living room floor..." - JJ Schultz, Host of SF Bay Guardian's best open mic - The Hotel Utah Saloon
"Isaac Frankle -'Shovel Man'
Is not just
a Guitarist, Singer, Lyricist
but a Percussionist
Harmonica Player
Instrument Inventor
Artist/Scientist
& Sound Sculptor
'Shovel Man' will,
without a doubt,
blow your mind away, and then some!
UNREAL Is his talent!
I, literally, think he's
from The Future
and has a Time Machine
tucked in his back pocket
which he uses to travel back & forth
from the 30's Missisppi Delta Blues
to early & current Tom Waits
to Appalachian Roots Music
to 60's & 70's Funk & Soul
80's Experimental Synth & Punk
back to the
Contempory Nashville Folk scene
& Underground Loop Artists of today
Exploring the boundless nature
of Earth's Eclectic Music
and perhaps introducing us
to the future of it, as well
Summoning the likes of
Les Claypool, Beck, Leonard Cohen,
Nirvana, Bob Dylan
and a host of influential sound makers
of old & now
Blending them all
into something that resembles
A Young Unassuming Chap
& A Wacked-Out Antique Shovel
What follows the assembly of this
One Man Dimension Hopping Troubadour
is nothing less than astonishing!!"
-Jonathan Siegel, San Francisco's 'Poetry Mission'
Congrats on your album release- make sure I get one. signed, damnit. You'll have tons of fun- wish I could attend. But I will return soon, a few months away.... Must visit Grandmother Spirit and offer myself to her (dont read into that comment too much)
you'll have to write me lots and throw yourself on the ground and scare the shit out of yourself for a while.... remember to keep it intense sometimes.
PEACE & MANY BLESSINS' ON YOUR PATH SHOVELMAN!! THANKS FOR KEEPING THE BLUES ALIVE WITH THAT COOL AXE OF YOURS!! MAY THERE BE FEW STONES IN YOUR PASSWAY MY FRIEND!! HOPE TO SEE YOU ON THE ROAD..TILL THEN.. KEEP MAKING IT DO WHAT IT DO... ~ RR
"DEVIL OFFERED A GOLD DOBRO~I SAID NO,I BE A HOBO!!" ~ RiYeN RoOtS
He came to UMD to perform. I got the chance to open for him with a poem I wrote, and my good friend at the time helped book Jeff, so we got to hang out with him afterwards.
He's actually not so strange. I guess that's a relative term. He had been apparently sober for 11 years straight at the time, and told us a little bit about the time in his life when he wasn't as much so. He talked about his book that he was then working on in a really cryptic way. He insisted on giving us copies of all the books he had published at the time which he seemed to constantly have stocked in his trunk. He looked intimidating but has a surprisingly high voice.
heheh it's usually not so bad. I had just seen Jonathan read the night before, and since he was hosting I thought he was going to start the night. Alas. Good plans this weekend?
hey! I caught your performance last night at Dalva. One of the most original things I've ever seen. Thank you for that, you sound great. Looking forward to a cd...
We don't have a stand;) I don't know who's it was. Maybe Wild things'. You btw are perfect and wonderful in every way. We must plan a show together when we come back in the fall!
