Writer/Co-Host/Spiritual Leader
After a decade of working as the spark plug/air filter/seatbelt man on Richard Petty's Mazola Indy car
race team, Frank Atencio left the world of Formula 1 in 1990
to pursue his passion for the theater. Living off an
inheritance from a loophole in Jim Henson's will, Frank became
stage manager for the Baldwin Park Light Opera. Troubles began
almost immediately. First, there was a "misunderstanding" with
a castrato that nearly sent Frank to prison. Then, during
pre-production for Peter Pan, "creative differences" brought
Frank and star Cathy Rigby to blows. Though Frank won the
fight handily (and paved
the way for understudy Mary Lou Retton's stunning debut),
the lawsuits in the aftermath left both the Light Opera and
Frank destitute.
It took only a single afternoon of living on the street for Frank to turn to the dark side. He took up squatter's rights in an abandoned machine shop in La Puente, and there he attempted to start the San Gabriel Valley chapter of the SLA. When his recruitment efforts brought in only "slack-jawed pinheads and borderline schizophrenics on day passes," Frank stole a Yugo and went on a nationwide bank robbery spree that eventually landed him on the FBI's Ten Most Wanted list. Upon hearing John Walsh mispronounce his name on America's Most Wanted, Frank turned himself in, pleaded insanity and was paroled within the year.
While living in a halfway house in Bassett, Frank happened to catch a broadcast of a little cable access variety show called Marty's Corner. He began sending letter after letter to host Marty Shields. Most of the letters were incoherent rants on subjects ranging from the failures of NASA to Scott Baio to concerns about the subliminal messages being emitted by Dan Rather's hairpiece, but Marty caught a thread of something in Frank and invited him down to a taping of the show. Frank was hooked. He was soon spending every waking hour at the studio, often pretending to be a stray dog when security tried to throw him out.
Soon after the mysterious disappearance of Marty's original co-host, Frank took over that job and eventually landed a "Volunteer Of The Year" Award. A few years later, he joined his mentor and squash buddy Jerry Renek in the Marty's Corner writer's pit.
Frank is a Aquarius. He hates some stuff but likes other things. Frank is the plentitude. Frank is the taker of oneness.
