Frank Zappa – Back On The Road: The Hologram Tour
The
initial negative reaction to The Bizarre
World Of Frank Zappa hologram tour from ‘Tribe Dweezil’ (and those who
believe they know exactly how Frank would have felt about it) means that Adrian Belew “will not be playing Zappa music in the
foreseeable future in any situation”, caused Zappateers
to shut down a forum thread where the comments were getting out of hand, triggered
Vinnie Colaiuta
to issue a statement saying he had not given any commitment to be being a guest
on the tour, saw Dweezil redouble
his legal battle with his younger siblings, brought further vile abuse Ahmet’s way (as well as to the musicians who are supporting
these ‘multiple groundbreaking productions’), and generally divided the fan
base.
Hopefully
the Zappa family feud is now near an end, but for some balance I compiled this
list of quotes about the ZFT and Eyellusion’s
proposals from those who actually did know Frank.
“I’m curious about
it; I mean to be able see and hear Frank in live performance, it might not be
as bad as one would think. We all know Frank is on the other side and he knows
it too. But he might be amused at the result of being brought back to perform.” – Candy Zappa
“I seriously doubt
he’d be concerned with any perceived sacrilegious aspects – he was never too
concerned with keeping things sacred! Actually, I can easily imagine him
watching this show with a huge grin on his face.” – Mike Keneally
“Whoever plays the
music, you can bet it will be outstanding! We who had the opportunity to play
with Frank know the depth of his dedication, and genius.” – Ray White
“My position is
simple: Ahmet asked me if I wanted to play some FZ
music, and of course I said yes. If Dweezil ever asks me to play some FZ music
with him, I would say yes to that too.” –
Arthur Barrow
“It's a cool idea and
it attracts me like it would attract any smart person who was invited to go
travel the world, play Zappa music, and have semi-anonymous sex with groupies,
at the same time getting paid.” – Scott Thunes
“Of course it’s not
Frank, and I’m not 20 years old anymore, but I am very happy, and honoured that
I was invited to contribute to bringing the spirit of Frank and his eternal
music, with this new technology, to those fans who connected so deeply with
him. I felt the same way when I contributed to the ZPZ tour, and that was a
fantastic experience. I believe that the fans understand it’s just an image and
that holographic technology has its limitations, but it is an evolution in
technology and with an open mind it could be embraced for a worthwhile
experience. I would want to attend this show if I heard about it. If a person
can attend the show with their spirit of the love of Frank’s music at the
forefront I believe it could be a very touching event for all involved.” – Steve Vai
“Frank tried to get
Hologram stage props so we could afford to do the Thing-Fish Broadway play. We
had a few meetings with Dr Toshitada Doi who invented the Pulse Code Modulation, that was used
to form Compact Discs, and the PCM 3324 digital multitrack
machines that Frank and I used on many of his records. The idea was to use the
3/4 inch videotape to store the data that would project
the stage props to avoid having to spend a huge amount of money. We originally
planned on using 8 tracks of information and Dr Doi
had a basic design format laid out. Unfortunately the digital transformation
was a bit too demanding for the speed of many of the processors that were
available back then (around 1983). Many of the new processors now could easily
handle the tasks. So, we had to scrub the project.” – Mark Pinske
“If you look at my
dad’s autobiography – The Real Frank Zappa Book, chapter 18 – he talks about
wanting to start a hologram business. He was a very forward thinking guy, and
he wanted to be able to broadcast his performances and make holographic
performances for other artists. So for me, I’m finishing what he started.
I respect that Denny and Adrian had a
change of heart since we last spoke, but my hope is that once they see the
artistry of the technology, how it honours my father and provides an incredible
Zappa experience, they’ll change their minds – they’re the best and the door is
always open for them to come back.” – Ahmet Zappa
“I'll be enjoying the
great honour of taking the stage with a number of my friends and cohorts from
various Zappa tours to not only play again the amazing music Frank created, but
also to participate in world premieres of Zappa works that were discovered in
the vault that have never before been performed or recorded. I look forward to
making this world-changing music again with my brothers from past tours, and
especially to singing again alongside the one and only Ray White. In the true
spirit of the Zappa experience, the concerts will also feature a most creative
visual feast to augment the music. This stuff will blow your mind: I've seen
some of what's in store and, in addition to making this great music again, we
all look forward to seeing both old and new Zappa fans around the world.” – Robert Martin
“For anyone concerned
about a potential lack of musical spontaneity, a significant portion of each gig
will be devoted to us in the band just playing songs we want to play, and not
synchronized to specific visuals (although there WILL still be visual doodads
flying around, we won't have to "hit cues" during these sections.
We'll just be playing). It's going to be fucking great.” – Mike Keneally
At
the end of the day, Eyellusion will be providing us
with Optional Entertainment – nothing to get exercised about.
Please
remain calm.