Frankie Cavone, An Interview with Liam Sweeny – Xperience Monthly

Frankie Cavone.

It’s funny how you get into the creative arts. In Frankie Cavone’s case, it was very physical, on four wheels, with grinding and ollies. This would, in a series of fortunate incidents, put him on the path to video production and entertainment news outlet Mirth Films. You may know his work; in fact, you may know it and not know it was his. It stands up against any video out there, and Frankie’s just a great guy.

I connect with Frankie, and we talk about 360-degree film techniques.

RRX: I try to shy away from controversy, as we’re an (Addams) family-friendly program, but I think it’s time to air this, and from what I’ve recently learned, you have a pony in the race. Reubens. So, I am ardently in the camp of corned beef, Swiss, kraut, and Russian dressing on rye. No pastrami, no Thousand Island. Am I a heathen?

FC: Russian all day, baby. In Fact, Ken’s Russian Dressing is hands down the best dressing for a Reuben. And get that pastrami sh*t out of here. Sounds like you know your stuff Liam!

RRX: You started a video production/entertainment news outlet called Mirth Films. I think being that it’s seven years old, “started” probably isn’t the right word. The name Mirth came from a kind of inside joke that carried over the years. Can you explain it to our readers? The name origin, but also the feeling that inspired Mirth Films?

FC: We are celebrating our fifth year as a company and at the end of the day, I am very thankful to have some of my bestest friends working alongside me. Five years ago, I was sitting on my friend’s couch drinking my usual six pack of Busch and Cumby’s black iced coffee and knew that I wanted to start a publication/video company hybrid but knew it had to have the right name. Years before this my friends and I had an inside joke where we all would say “Mirth Is King!” Now what the f*** does that mean? Well at first it had zero meaning to us. The slogan all came from my friend wanting to watch a Phish live stream at his apartment but unfortunately his Wi-Fi wasn’t working so he went to his upstairs neighbors to ask for the WiFi password and that happened to be “Mirthisking.” So, at the end of the day, I named Mirth Films after that password/inside joke that my friends and I bonded over.

RRX: The beauty of what you do is that you make it look effortless. When I watch your videos, I’m tempted to think you just opened your camera and waved a wand, and all the angles and cuts just fell in line, but really, it’s work. It’s maybe a maxim that if you’re really good at what you do, people will think it’s easy. Does that ever get in your way?

FC: When it comes to making videos, I want to be able to say at the end of the day that I put in my full energy. Nothing is more important than the quality of our content. While quality is a big focus, I also want to make sure that our content is making an impact big or small. We have a lot of great stories to be told in Upstate NY and we just want to tell them right.

RRX: You cover entertainment news in Upstate New York, as well as putting together video production for people who come to you. Have you always wanted to do entertainment, or I should say entertainment only, or did you cut your teeth off something like video-journalism? If so, any difficult scenes or moments?

FC: To be completely honest, I have no clue how I ended up where I am today, but I am grateful for it. I really didn’t even have a why either. But what I can say is that if it wasn’t for skateboarding, I would have never picked up a camera in any form.

RRX: You recently did a documentary called Grapplin’ Greg: The Story of Greg Bell. Greg Bell is a local music promoter with over 30 years of bringing shows to the area. It was well-received, and I’m sure people who saw it would love a quick “The making of…” So here and now is your chance to do that.

FC: I, among many other individuals owe a lot to Greg Bell for always elevating the great music scene we have here in the Capital Region. While a “making of” would be pretty rad, I’d rather take that time/energy to shine a light on someone else.

RRX: This is where you answer the question I didn’t ask. Comments? Remarks? Educate, enlighten, emote – the floor is yours.

FC: All I need to say is to follow the golden rule, respect others’ creative visions, and don’t forget to ask for extra dressing while ordering a Reuben out on the town. Great Reubens never have enough dressing.