Everyone who’s been to Frank’s Chop Shop knows that music can be a big part of the haircut experience.  The soundtrack at the Chop Shop, hand-picked by the barbers, is always full of especially good conversation pieces; every time you come in, you’re bound to leave with a new band or a new song to go searching for.

Starting this week, we’ll be talking regularly with the legendary Chop Shop barbers Mr. Bee, Chris and Fritz about the unique soundtrack they bring to the exclusive Chop Shop clientele – what they’ve been rocking, what’s the best song to trim a beard to, what won’t get Chop Shop play… you get the idea.   

FRANK151: Since this is the first time we’ve done this, let’s start with the basics – what role do you think music has at the Chop Shop?

MR. BEE: Definitely a big role.  It’s like anywhere.  The music’s a reflection of our style and attitude.  There’s no better way to put it.  That’s why it varies.  That’s why we try to keep it very eclectic, as eclectic as possible.  We try to be the most well-rounded barbershop in the city, and I think the well-rounded music we play reflects that.

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Our good friends at No Mas just gave us the heads up on their new online video series, The Undercard.   Check the premiere episode, featuring Kid Chocolate — one of NYC’s hardest hitters:

Each new episode will explore the hidden stories of the boxing world; untold tales of “up and coming prospects, down and out train wrecks, unsung cut men, promoters on the make, refs not on the take, Vegas and AC late night shake and bake.”  Sounds promising, doesn’t it?  Frank will be tuning in regularly. 

Don’t sleep on it….

This is really impressive.  Seriously, we’ll give $50 to anyone who can tell us how they did these special effects. 

Cloverfield could learn a thing or two.

Tomorrow night, from 12:55 to 1 am Eastern, there’s a movement on to unplug all electrical devices – most importantly lights.  

Just for five minutes.  Just to see what happens. 

If the response is big enough, the energy saved in 5 minutes could be massive (although it’s a Friday night, so the numbers might be a bit thin…)

Organizers say the goal is to give the planet 5 minutes “to breathe.”  We’re more interested to see what will happen if this goes down on a major scale.  The damage those 5 minutes’ worldwide blackout might do to energy corporations’ revenue could be devastating… which could actually have a positive impact energy consumption.

So tomorrow night, fight the power – light a candle.  Give it a try.  

The Onion’s A.V. site has a new online feature, Taste Test, where they taste weird food products and review the experience, and it’s actually a lot of fun.   Check out their latest, the German oddity Cheeseburger in a Can.

The stuff is real; it’s made by Trekking Mahlzeiten, a division of the Swiss camping & hiking company Katadyn which specializes in preserved meals, “just-add-water” style.  Trekking Mahlzeiten actually make the preserved rations — including powdered wine — for a majority of the most serious expeditions going on these days (guys like Sir Edmund Hillary and Arved Fuchs).  

Still, the A.V. staff say the cheeseburger sucks.  No surprise, really. 

Follow the jump to see some crazy close-ups of the burger in action.  (more…)

 Just a little too late for Valentine’s Day, researchers at Denmark’s University of Aaarhus recently completed a study of spider mating habits — and were suprised to learn that female nursery web spiders really, really dig the quiet guys….  In fact, they like the strong & silents so much that male nursery web spiders’ most successful courtship strategy is to play dead.  

Follow the jump to read more. (more…)

Michael Jackson has something in common with 233,000 other Americans– he is set to lose his house due to foreclosure in January. Michael Jackson’s lavish and expansive Neverland Ranch, which has on its property train tracks and locomotives as well as ferris wheels, carousels, and merry-go-rounds, is set for a public auction next month unless he pays the $24 million he still owes on the property.

Jackson lost much of his fortune to a series of colossally bad business decisions. For about the past 15 years or so the former King of Pop has been living off loans that used his Beatles catalog (which he bought in 1985 for $47 million) and Ranch as collateral. Jackson has been living abroad since his 2005 child molestation case and the ranch was boarded up in 2006 after the staff and the insurance went unpaid. We’ve heard that he is planning to make a ‘comeback’ in the near future, but it doesn’t take psychic to see where that’s going. Remember Thriller? What happened to ya Mike?

Click here, or either image below to download this mix for free…..

The Onion put this spoof together… but it strikes us as dangerously close to reality.

As Stalin once said, “it’s not the people who vote that count; it’s the people who count the votes.”

Remember to watch your back in November….  As Frank151 previously reported, our increasing dependence on e-voting technology and electronic vote-counters is putting American democracy in some serious jeopardy.  We have to get these Diebold guys off the job; they’re literally helping to destroy the country’s founding principles. With people like this in charge, will our votes even be counted at all anymore?  One more time: these guys promised the President a win back in 2004.  

The Onion is right.  They’re not even bothering to cover up the conspiracy anymore.