Day: April 23, 2025

For the second year in a row, Frankie Fest will highlight queer and LGBTQ+ ally artists while honoring the life of Frankie Maddox Rex of the local band The FMs, who passed away in May 2022.

“This is a punk rock festival. This is loud and in your face, joyful and beautiful, and we’re gonna scream together, we’re gonna mosh together. This is something where we get to jump around and hug each other and be free together,” said local musician and Frankie Fest founder Miss Cherry Delight. “We didn’t want to create something that was super tame. This is gonna be wild and free and beautiful and real rock and roll energy because that’s the real Frankie’s spirit.”

This year’s Frankie Fest will be headlined by the FMs, Miss Cherry Delight and Villins. Joining the lineup on the stages include Turbo Goth, Suroor, Cat Crash, Bad Static, T@b Grrrl, Late Cambrian, and Izzy True. The event will be hosted by Circus/Sideshow performer Faux Pas Le Fae.

“Frankie was somebody who didn’t fit that same mold, so in an event celebrating Frankie, I think having femme-fronted bands or bands made up of a mix of queer people, trans people, we have a decent amount of like racial diversity on this lineup,” said Matte Namer, lead singer of The FMs. “I am excited that we were able to find some great acts. This is not a hyper-specific genre night, but it’s also well-curated and not completely idiosyncratic.”

“I’ve collaborated with hundreds of performers and media artists to produce electrifying shows that embody pleasure and rage. And I especially enjoy sharing my stage with a strong community of women and queer artists who possess unique, rebellious and culturally relevant visions,” said Delight. “I always try to include bands that Frankie loved. Frankie was a big fan of Villins and Villins loved Frankie, and last year they performed this beautiful song for Frankie that they wrote, and I just absolutely sobbed because it was so gorgeous and so thoughtful. The FMs, Miss Cherry Delight and Villins will always be staples in Frankie Fest.”

“It was so incredibly painful to hear of Frankie’s passing. This is a person that was just so inspiring in our scene,” said Jesyka of Villins. “We didn’t know Frankie super personally, but just running in those same circles means a lot — we were both just deeply gutted about that.”

“Being back in the room with a lot of the same people who remember Frankie, it sort of brought us back. You take for granted some of the amounts you have in creative communities that, even if you’re working really hard, sometimes they’re more special,” said Kareem Devlin of Villins. 

This year, to add to the festivities, Frankie Fest will feature a lineup of burlesque artists, including Frankie Eleanor, Jackrabbit Slims, and Aurora North. The festival will also take place at Brooklyn’s Our Wicked Lady and will feature two stages.

“I’m particularly excited about the fact that we have two stages and all the bands that are involved are just so mind-blowingly amazing that I just feel very humbled that all these people are getting on board to support Frankie and Frankie Fest. I feel like there’s a lot of excitement, and Frankie would be super proud,” said Namer.

Those who come by Frankie Fest can expect to hear a great lineup of acts with some new music and classic hits.

“We’ll definitely be performing new material with our full four piece band in New York City for the first time, but also I think that it’s always just really important for us to stay connected to the moment that we’re in, whether that’s through songs that have like a societal message or aesthetic statements,” said Namer.

“We’re evolving certain things, we’re including a couple of different things in our show that we haven’t in the past, taking some new directions,” said Jesyka.

“[We] can’t speak so much to what the other acts are planning, but we can say that this is really a special scene, with all the bands just being there to hang out is really special,” said Devlin.

As the festival continues to grow, Namer and Delight are proud to continue Rex’s memory with Frankie Fest.

“One of the reasons why I wanted to do this is because Frankie didn’t have a funeral, didn’t have a viewing, didn’t have a funeral or a headstone or anything. If I didn’t create Frankie Fest, it just sort of feels like he’s out somewhere with no cell phone service, so I really like being able to bring him home with this festival for everyone to rock out and enjoy,” said Delight. “This is the best way that I could honor my friend so he lives inside of us with his music and the art that he left behind.”

“Oftentimes, when people come out to an event, they get to be included. It’s being entertained, but they are being part of a community and part of an experience,” said Namer. “I think we really wanna create a community and we really want to create an experience for people that they get to be a part of and continue to be a part of in future years.”

Tickets for Frankie Fest start at $19.78 online and are $25 at the door. Doors open at 7 p.m. with bands playing from 8 p.m. to 2 a.m. This is a 21+ show.

Our Wicked Lady is located at 153 Morgan Ave. For more information or to purchase tickets, visit dice.fm.

Cassette and VHS tapes once ruled the world of entertainment — but, just a half-century after they came on the scene, they’ve largely gone the way of the dodo. 

In 2025, digital media is king. Online streaming services have libraries larger than any Blockbuster store, and the latest albums are available instantly on Spotify or Apple Music for a flat monthly fee. 

But on April 27, physical media will rise once again at the first-ever NYC Tape Fair in Bushwick, where vendors’ tables will be stacked with old and new cassettes tapes, stacks of VHS tapes in their blocky plastic boxes, and more. 

Co-founder Anthony Morton said he’s always loved physical media, starting when he was a “broke kid” who could only afford a $5 cassette at a concert.

“Similarly, with VHS, I wanted to own all my favorite movies, and realizing people were basically throwing VHSs away allowed me to do that and exposed me to so many new things because of the low financial barrier for entry,” he said. “I think keeping it that way, and maintaining tape as a medium, keeps that low barrier. It’s good for artists, good for consumers, and keeps art available for all.” 

He still collects tapes, but finding them isn’t easy. His often-fruitless shopping trips helped inspire NYC Tape Fair. 

“I went to a lot of record fairs and there would be one vendor with a box of tapes, not really curated, just kind of stuff they found along the way when they were buying records,” he said. “… and I was like, I’d really, selfishly, love for a tape fair to happen. And to get all of these people in one room.” 

It was a “labor of love” for he and co-founder Ricardo Marrero to find all the vendors, he said, but for six hours on Sunday, at least a dozen will gather at Selva, a record store-art gallery-café on Willoughby Avenue. 

“We’re honored to host the NYC Tape Fair for their first event, bringing together individuals with niche interests to celebrate music, art, and underground works that have yet to be discovered,” said Lucas Cabu and Marc Grillo, two of Selva’s owners. 

Sellers will include stores Captured Record Shop in Greenpoint and the new Night Owl Video in Williamsburg, plus independent collectors like Mike Videopunk and Billy Bombs. They’ll be offering rare, vintage tapes alongside new ones and collector necessities like hard-to-find tape storage.

Morton was particularly excited about the Found Footage Festival, which travels around the country showing off long-lost tapes they’ve found in thrift stores and estate sales and will be showing off some archival footage at NYC Tape Festival on Sunday. 

“They have essentially the world’s largest collection of obscure and niche things put to VHS,” he said. “They were excited about [the festival] and took the time to take some things from the archive to sell.” 

While streaming dominates entertainment, Morton thinks more and more people are growing fatigued with logins and subscriptions and are returning to the simplicity of popping in a tape. 

He may be right. Earlier this month, Night Owl Video opened its doors in Williamsburg, stocked entirely with DVDs, VHS tapes, and movie memorabilia. 

Recent stats have shown small surges in sales of vinyl records, cassette tapes, and DVDs — likely driven by equal parts nostalgia and practicality. Streaming giants often pull movies and TV shows from their platforms with little warning, leaving fans with no way to watch; and artists have come and gone from Spotify.

“I think people have kind of realized that they don’t have a tangible connection, they don’t have a tactile thing they can hold,” Morton said. “And that kind of scares [them,] like, what if it all goes away? It definitely has people kind of clamoring to own their favorite things, and to be able to access them at their own speed.” 

NYC Tape Fair pops up in Brooklyn for one day only on Sunday, April 27, 12-6 p.m. at Selva, 1329 Willoughby Ave. in Bushwick.