Texas Music Scene Mourns Loss of “Super” Frank Cipra
This story is developing.
This story has been updated.
The Texas music community is small but mighty, and relies on many people behind-the-scenes to get the stars to the shows and the gear on the stage in Texas and beyond. One such individual who was beloved throughout the community was known to many simply as “Frank” or “Super Frank.”
Beginning in 2008, “Super” Frank Cipra worked for multiple artists in the Texas music scene and beyond, including as tour manager for Hayes Carll, tour manager for Canadian country artist Corb Lund, as well as the merchandise manager and guitar tech for the Old 97’s. In the summer of 2009, Cipra started working as the tour and stage manager for Roger Creager, where he spent nearly two years. Starting in April of 2012, he worked as the production manager at the Concrete Street Amphitheater and Brewster Street Icehouse in Corpus Christi, TX.
Beyond his regular gigs, Super Frank worked at many Texas and Red Dirt music festivals such as Medicine Stone and the Lone Star Jam, becoming a fixture of the Texas music scene at the side of the stage, and recognized and appreciated throughout the industry by artists and fellow road personnel, journalists, DJs, and fans alike.
Frank Cipra was raised in Ohio, and graduated from Loudonville High School. He passed away Tuesday morning (11-27) of what friends and associates consider an apparent suicide. According to the Leander, TX Police Department, they responded early Tuesday morning, and are treating the incident as an “unattended death.” An investigation is still pending.
“Rest Easy Super Frank, you were one of a kind and you were my true friend,” said Texas country artist Josh Ward. “Always took such good care of us. I wish I could have known and had the chance to tell you how much you were loved and appreciated.”
Corpus Christi radio personality Egon Barthels posted late Tuesday, “Every single one of us is unique and we handle things our own way. Sometimes things become so overwhelming that we just want to explode. We’re all human. We’re allowed to have good and bad days. Frank’s passing to me feels like Robin Williams. While making us smile he had pain on the inside. Depression does not discriminate and that it is not something that people can simply ‘snap out of.’ Help is available.”
Frank Cipra was 41-years-old. He is survived by a son, Gibson.
November 29, 2018 @ 12:16 am
Think of the family. Presuming his cause of death and publishing it is heartless. Let it be properly determined, then you may update your story. For now the cause of death is unknown. Please don’t make a painful loss more so. Please show respect for your lost friend and all who loved him.
November 29, 2018 @ 12:55 am
This is a developing story and no official cause of death has been determined, nor was the cause of death published in this article. The words of remembrance by individuals who knew and loved Super Frank were simply prefaced with the reason these individuals took the tone that they did in their statements. Saving Country Music has been in contact with local authorities over the matter, and as soon as further information can be verified, the story will be updated if necessary. Obviously any death is a very sensitive situation, and the greatest of care is always taken when reporting on such matters. Frank Cipra’s death was determined to be newsworthy and of importance to the public, and this article was written with nothing but respect for him, and the legacy he’s left behind for Texas music. It can often take weeks for an official cause of death to be determined, while Frank’s passing was worthy of an immediate response.
November 29, 2018 @ 7:17 am
Not this shit again.
Love,
Did you contact Egon Barthels as well to tell him to “think about the family?”
You would’ve never survived back in the 40s and 50s when the newspapers included pictures of people shot up and split in half.
Get a life.
November 29, 2018 @ 8:27 am
Calling a journalist heartless for not censoring part of what appears to be the story, is suspect (to me at least anyway). He handled it with nothing but respect.
Anyway that’s just a distraction from what my real response should be, which is even though I didn’t even know who he was, RIP Frank.
November 29, 2018 @ 9:25 am
Also survived by mother, father, brother, sister, aunts, uncles, cousins, grandmother, and family friends. This man was loved, regardless of how he passed.
A Fellow Buckeye
November 29, 2018 @ 12:57 pm
RIP Frank nobody knows but you and God what happened but you are missed and will be remembered fondly by lots of folks!
November 29, 2018 @ 7:35 pm
I knew Frank personally. I’m a close friend of his sister’s & know his family. I really urge everyone to reserve judgement on how Frank passed away. Yes, his death was sudden & unexpected but the circumstances surrounding where & how it happened & how he was discovered do not indicate intentional suicide. He was staying at his little sister’s house that night. The toxicology reports are not in. The autopsy hasnt been done. However, as someone who knows his family & how much he loved them, especially his little sister & his son, I cant see him having done this intentionally. Frank had a kind heart. If you looked at the right moment, you could see the saddness in his soul through his eyes but even in his darkest moments Frank knew his family loved him.
As for the article mentioning suicide as a possible cause of death & all the speculation, its just that, unfounded speculation. Someday his son, Gibson, will google his name or look at his facebook, see the article & read that. I hope he reads the comments & knows that Frank loved him too much to take his own life intentionally & himself away from Gibson. If anything this had to be completely accidental. He had plans. He had things to do. He spoke of the future. The truly suicidal arent looking for their next home that’s kid friendly. He’d truly just discovered the love & joy of being Gibson’s father.
November 29, 2018 @ 8:12 pm
I spent time w my exi boss recently and he was trying to be a good dad.. lets wait n see and no matter the reason…he was a good dude. RIP duder…
November 30, 2018 @ 2:33 pm
“…what friends and associates consider an apparent suicide” is a slanderous statement that is absolutely not based on any fact. It turns what could have been a good journalistic article into a biased editorial based on fabricated opinions that throw a dark and unwarranted stigma over this tragedy. This family does NOT consider this ‘an apparent suicide’, and I am outraged that such insensitive, thoughtless, and damaging speculation would even be included in this article.
November 30, 2018 @ 5:53 pm
Chris (and others),
First off, to anyone who was close to “Super” Frank Cipra, I offer my sincerest condolences on his passing. Any time I write an obituary (which I have written hundreds of), I take it as a solemn responsibility, and a public service that is necessary, especially for members of the music community such as Frank Cipra who may otherwise not receive an obituary in a national publication. Despite Frank not being “famous” beyond the Texas music community, I felt his contributions were important enough to put in print, so his legacy to the music could be remembered, and so that the public could know who this “Super Frank” that so many music artists, and other members of the Texas music industry were mourning the passing of.
““…what friends and associates consider an apparent suicide” is a slanderous statement that is absolutely not based on any fact.”
I don’t want to get in back and fort arguments with individuals over an obituary, and what is clearly a very emotional situation, but this is just patently untrue. As can be seen in this very article, country music artist Josh Ward, as well as Egon Barthels, who is a public figure, along with multiple other individuals had either said or alluded that Frank had passed away due to suicide 24 hours or more before this article was posted. Whether he ultimately died of suicide or something else, there is nothing incorrect about the statement you quoted. Conversely, what I reported was that the Leander Police Department had NOT concluded that the death was a suicide at this time, refuting these pervasive rumors on social media, perpetrated by music personalities and other public figures, along with fans and others. The idea that Saving Country Music reported the death of Frank Cipra as a suicide is just as much social media conjecture as concluding he passed away from suicide before we have verification from authorities.
You also say, ” It turns what could have been a good journalistic article into a biased editorial based on fabricated opinions that throw a dark and unwarranted stigma over this tragedy.”
It is my obligation as a member of the media to report on the cause of death, the potential cause of death, or the state of an investigation whenever writing a story of this nature. It would have been biased if I had left the circumstances surrounding his death. The public has a right to know, was he murdered? Did he die in an automobile accident? Was he sufferering from Cancer and lost the battle? In the case of Frank Cipra, it has currently been ruled an unattended death. I have no animosity towards Frank Cipra, nor did I know him personally (we did meet once briefly, I believe). If I had any “bias,” it would be FOR Frank, not to fabricate the circumstances surrounding his death.
Finally, I just want to say that it is a pernicious, and ugly element of society that suicides and drug overdoses are seen as stigmas against families. Again, I am not saying Frank died of either of these, but if he had, NOBODY should look down at his family, or the family of anyone else under these circumstances. Depression is a disease, and should not hold a stigma to it any different than any other disease.
Again, my condolences go out to anyone who was affected by Frank Cipra’s death in a personal way, I continue to be in contact with the Leander Police Department and continue to treat this as a developing story where facts can be updated in the future, and it was offered to the public with nothing but respect and honor for Frank’s legacy in Texas music, and the hope to spread and preserve that legacy.
–Kyle “Trigger” Coroneos
November 30, 2018 @ 7:12 pm
Also, I don’t want to throw Josh Ward or anyone else under the bus. I used their words to illustrate the importance of Frank’s death to the music community, which hold more weight than my own.
December 2, 2018 @ 6:10 am
Miss you duder