New book gives inside look at the band Talking Heads

SANDUSKY — Fans of the New Wave band Talking Heads, known for hits such as "Burning Down the House" and "Once In a Lifetime," will want to hunt up the new memoir by the band's drummer, Chris Frantz. "Remain In Love" gives a detailed account of Frantz's adventures with the Talking Heads with his other band, Tom Tom Club, and his long relationship with his wife, Talking Heads bass player Tina Weymouth. Unlike other recent rock star memoirs, Frantz apparently was determined to give fans their money's worth, and his account is so detailed it allows the reader to form vivid mental pictures. For example, when Frantz describes the band's visit to artist Andy Warhol's Factory (Warhol and Frantz are both from Pittsburgh) he even remembers the lunch Warhol served (everyone got "a very nice chicken salad sandwich and some potato chips in a little box," and cookies also were served.) There are also many great anecdotes about celebrities, and not just members of the band, along with musicians in the New York punk-rock scene, such as Debbie Harry and the Ramones. There's also insight on many other people who Frantz crossed paths with, including pop philosopher Timothy Leary, writer Kathy Acker and singer Mick Jagger. In a phone interview with the Register, Frantz explained such passages reflect his own interest in celebrities. When he took a job at a New York City furniture store while waiting for music stardom to arrive, the customers included Kurt Vonnegut Jr., Jackie Onassis, John Lennon and Yoko Ono. Frantz also remembers Paul Newman walking by while deep in conversation with Robert Redford. "I became a lover of celebrity spotting and meeting celebrities," Frantz said. "Why not write about it?" Frantz and his wife, who are Connecticut residents, also sometimes get treated as celebrities by fans who recognize them. "Usually the people are really nice. They love the music. We're happy to meet them," Frantz said. "Remain in Love" tries to set the record straight about the history of the band. Frantz explains that forming a band was his idea, he asked David Byrne to join it, he recruited his then-girlfriend Tina to play bass, and he persuaded Jerry Harrison to join as the fourth member. "Remain in Light," Frantz' favorite album, began as jam sessions with Harrison, Weymouth and himself, with Brian Eno and David Byrne then joining in. "I wanted people to know Talking Heads was very much a shared experience," Frantz said. "It wasn't just the David Byrne show." The book has many unflattering stories about Byrne, who, at various times, wanted to fire Weymouth and Harrison from the band — and who left the band without bothering to tell the other band members, letting band members read the announcement in a newspaper article. "Every rock band has problems, and every rock band has ups and downs," Frantz said. "In fact, the real star of the book is Tina. That is what I hope people will pick up on." When Byrne and Harrison decided to do solo albums, Frantz and Weymouth decided to try a side project, too. To the apparent surprise of their record company, which didn't provide an album contract right away, Tom Tom Club's record was the most successful, producing hits such as "Genius of Love" and "Wordy Rappinghood." Frantz particularly relished the fact that many Tom Tom Club records were bought by Black listeners, and Tom Tom Club was invited to appear on the TV program "Soul Train." "I grew up with a great love of soul music, and I used to listen to the R&B radio stations," he said. Tom Tom Club went on to make several other albums. Frantz said he's particularly proud of "The Good, the Bad and the Funky," released in 2000. The Talking Head's albums are distinctly different from each other; "More Songs About Buildings and Food" doesn't sound like "Remain in Light." Frantz says the fresh approaches were a point of pride with the band. If you have a big hit, he remarked, record companies usually want you to recreate it. "Maybe we were lucky in our early records we didn't ever really have hits," he said, except for a cover version of Al Green's "Take Me to the River." "We always paid for the records ourselves," Frantz said, referring to the recording costs. "If the record company wanted it, they could have it," he said. "We didn't want them coming around the studio trying to influence the record." Frantz is frank about the fact in his book that he developed a problem with drugs and alcohol and had to go into recovery. When asked about his current health, Frantz, 69, said he had a heart attack over the Memorial Day weekend that put him in the hospital for a few days. He said he is doing well now and said Weymouth, 69, also is well. She is working on her own book, Frantz said.