YOU CALL THAT NEWS?
(Hot Poop, Lukewarm Poop…final poop)
(Last
updated 1 September 2010)
Hot Poop
·
The unveiling
of the bust from Vilnius in Baltimore on 19 September marks the 25th
Anniversary of Frank’s Congressional testimony against censorship. In
commemoration of this event, Zappa Records is preparing to release Congress Shall Make No Law, a CD
containing FZ’s testimony. ZPZ are also playing for free…GZ will be speaking
openly…and the Mayor’s office will issue a formal proclamation moving Baltimore’s
annual ‘Frank Zappa Day’ to 19 September.
·
Joseph Diaz, aka ace guitarist J21, is
near the completion of his second album. Like his debut, it features Ed Mann. But this time around, he’s
managed to add Robert Martin, Don Preston and Scott Thunes. And guess what? Ed and Scott have collaborated on one
track, their first time working together since 1988. J21 has written all about
it here.
·
Following his
interview with Gail for Record Collector
last year, Alan Clayson has been
asked to write the official biography of Frank - provisionally titled Project X. On his website, Mr Clayson (who has penned a
number of excellent bios, including on the Fabs, the Stones, the mighty Zep
& Varèse) writes: “on a second ever trip to the
capital not under adult supervision, my fifteen-year-old self had been taken
aback that an entire window of Oxford Street’s vast HMV store bloomed with the
splendour of the macabre sleeve of The Mothers Of Invention's maiden LP, 1966’s
Freak Out!. From listening to it in
one of those isolation booths that such outlets had in those days, the impact of Zappa and his
Mothers was to ripple across the next seven years of my life - and Project X might be the biography that I
have been destined to write.” Alan will mediate the Thunes/Simmons
Q&A session at the Roundhouse in November.
·
Now that my Zappa The Hard Way book is out, I have
posted the full transcript of my interview with Ike Willis on the 88 tour on my
Interviews page.
·
Steve Vai will
be performing the music of Jimi Hendrix on the Experience Hendrix Tour of the US which kicks off in Pittsburgh on
26 October. He will be joining Kenny Wayne Shepherd, Susan Tedeschi, Eric
Johnson, Ernie Isley, Living Colour, and Billy Cox. Meanwhile, another rare and
previously unreleased Vai piece has just been unleashed on VaiTunes (The Burning Bush). You can purchase it from all the usual outlets (for
just 69p at Amazon.co.uk), and get the artwork for free from Steve’s website
(at http://www.Vai.com/vaitunes/).
·
After a
valiant battle with breast cancer, Cheri
Jiosne sadly passed away on 25 August. I had the pleasure of meeting Cheri
a few times (in London and Bad Doberan), and had been praying this day wouldn’t
come. My thoughts are now with her family and friends – most notably, her
long-time partner and fellow member of the very wonderful Don Preston’s Akashic
Ensemble, André Cholmondeley.
·
You can
pre-order Mike Keneally/Marco Minnemann’s Evidence Of Humanity CD/DVD here – and grab a
free download while you’re about it.
·
Ahmet Zappa has sold another script to Disney; his screenplay, co-written with
Michael Wilson, is titled Monster Witness
Relocation Program.
·
Richie Hayward, (drummer with The Factory
and Little Robert Anthony, founding member of Little Feat, etc.) sadly died on 12 August after a year-long bout
with liver cancer. He was 64.
·
Lorraine Belcher-Chamberlain married S Clay Wilson this month. This Idiot
wishes the pair all the very best for the future.
·
The Asphalt Orchestra play a great marching
band version of Zomby Woof on their
debut album.
·
The final batch
The Pal And Original Sound Studio
Archives – that’s Volumes 18-20 – are now available. These latest releases
feature such wonderment as: The Tornadoes’ Bumble
Bee Stomp, Johnny B. Goode and Malaguena (Dark Eyes) (all engineered by
FZ); an edit featuring just the performance of Cyclophony with FZ and Steve Allen; Bob Guy’s Letter From Jeepers; a longer version of The Pal Studio Band’ Fountain Of Love; a 1970 interview clip
with FZ discussing the period at Pal Studios; and the 1963 version of The Pal
Studio Band’s Never On Sunday (aka Take Your Clothes Off When You Dance).
As ever, look here and here for more.
·
My good pal, Stephen Chillemi, will be joining Ugly Radio Rebellion in August for
their tour with special guest Ike Willis.
·
Gail Zappa, The Mighty Boosh, Dweezil Zappa Plays Zappa with Scott Thunes, Jeff Simmons and Ian
Underwood…read the full details of ‘Zappa At The Roundhouse’ here: http://roundhouse.org.uk/frank-zappa
·
Julie Slick has recently been jamming with Marco
Minnemann and (gasp) Mike Keneally
in California: “They have six songs in the can
already...they are mind blowing, and the three of them are definitely going to
work on a future project, tentatively called Artificial Canadian Bear,” says Julie’s mum, Robin.
·
For those of
you who, like me, were astonished by the wondrousness that is Evil Dick on my two Cordelia CDs, check
out his new album: “Odds/Sods/Bits/Bobs features Evil
Dick and the Banned Members’ punky-DIY-jazzish-pysch-avant poo performances
and a few songs with words. It features lots of bassoon soloing thanks to Brett
Richardson (who is a marvel and who would be asked to play guitar in the new
EDBM band if only he wasn't busy doing other things all the time). There's also
a psuedo-random encryption of a Beatles melody - not that you’d ever know by
listening to it. CRAZZZY. You can download the tracks or buy a hard copy CD
with a booklet 'n' shit at http://www.reverbnation.com/store/index/artist_889850”
·
I’m really
looking forward to seeing Caballero
Reynaldo at Zappanale; read the ultimate interview with Luis G here.
·
Read all about
the Baltimore Zappa bust dedication-slash-free outdoor festival wtf here: http://www.shorefire.com/index.php?a=pressrelease&o=4108
·
Here’s a
trailer for an exhibition at Zappanale #21: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wHChVbn7ZlA&feature=player_embedded
·
I would
imagine some of this is likely to appear on a future AAAFRNAA Birthday Bundle: http://www.zappa.com/messageboard/viewtopic.php?p=466215#p466215
But I could be wrong.
·
How ‘bout this
for a nice tribute to Jimmy Carl Black
from the Muffin Men?
http://www.idiotbastard.com/Music/Jimmywop.mp3
·
First the pre-order. Then the
‘review’ and interview, Now the promo vid. Next the book itself…
·
I was excited
to learn that Caballero Reynaldo
will play 3 sets at Zappanale. Check out their new vid. And while we’re at it, here’s
some nice stuff about fellow bill-sharers (from my pal’s at KUR), ZAPPATiKA: http://www.killuglyradio.com/2010/07/20/zappanale-21-zappatika/
·
On 16 July,
Dweezil “played Naples, Italy. I was there and he
invited me on stage to sing Tengo Na
Minchia Tanta. I did it. 28 years later with his fantastic son, it was
extreme, really too much for me. Thanks Dweezil, to be you, to be such a great
artist, to be such a great guitarist, to be such a great son! I love you.” So
writeth Massimo Bassoli.
·
House Of Floyd, a reverent tribute to Pink Floyd, will feature one Scott Thunes on bass at a few shows
over the next few months as they tour the US West Coast. Scott also recently
played with ZPZ again, as well as playing keyboards for a Beatles tribute and
briefly ‘hanging’ with Mr Keneally.
·
Here’s an
interview with me: http://www.killuglyradio.com/2010/07/07/zappa-the-hard-way-a-chat-with-mr-greenaway/
...about my imminent book.
·
Interesting
new interview at: http://hangout.altsounds.com/features/119606-the-lowdown-dweezil-zappa.html
·
My book on
Frank’s ‘Broadway The Hard Way’ tour is now available to pre-order from Wymer
UK: http://www.wymeruk.co.uk/Store/index.php?_a=viewCat&catId=108.
·
Dweezil has
posted some new Fractal Experiments.
Hmmmm, tasty.
·
You can find
some amazing stuff on Twitter, like…Ahmet’s new wife is pregnant…GZ is a huge
fan of Miley Cyrus…Mike Keneally has now finished work on Satriani’s new
album…so I’ve created an account.
·
George Duke has a new album, Déjà Vu,
which looks back to his earlier albums (like Brazilian Love Affair)and features flautist Hubert Laws.
·
Favored
Nations has now issued Steve Vai presents Western Vacation. Read more at: http://digital-nations.com/artists/westernvacation/press/.
This Idiot has now given away all of his spare copies of the CD (thank you,
Favored Nations) to people who answered my questions correctly at the
first attempt (sorry Gary). The answers were: “Scott Thunes and
Brian May”…and then, “Martin Lickert is erroneously listed as Aynsley Dunbar”).
·
The third
issue of The Rondo Hatton Report continues
to reflect the interest that this organ excites around the globe, featuring not
only a first contribution from (the?) Indian of the group, but also an essay
from the man behind that indispensible tool for true obsessives, the
superlative Information Is Not Knowledge
website. Fans of the statistical density that Google makes available will doubtless be thrilled to learn
that The Rondo Hatton Report is now
read in 35 different countries and accessed by 28 different language groups…
·
Michel Delville has alerted me to the fact that he new PaNoPTiCoN album is available for free online (at http://enterpanopticon.blogspot.com/2010/04/panopticon-welcomes-you.html
- “click on the May 28th – ‘Summer Madness’ link and the tracks will appear”).
The music is 100% improvised, but Dark
Pumpkins may sound a little familiar…
·
Available
right now: 21 Burnt Weeny Sandwiches
(by Various Friends) from www.cordeliarecords.co.uk.
To celebrate its launch, here’s a bonus track that Buzzo Landi put together utilizing Gamma’s input: Valarie. Enjoy!
·
The Zappa
Family Trust was unsuccessful in its appeal against an earlier decision by the
court in Düsseldorf, which ruled in favour of the Arf Society. So the Zappanale
goes on as before. Congrats to Thomas, Wolfhard and Co. - see you in August!
·
You may recall
I mentioned the premiere of a musical homage to the life and work of FZ that
took place in Australia at the start of the year. Well, now comes the album:
composed and performed by Michael Kieran
Harvey, complemented by Lingua
Franka with concrete poetry by Arjun
von Caemmerer, 48 Fugues For Frank
is now available to order from Move Records. It will be formally launched (with
the music performed live) at the Australian National Academy of Music on 7 July
2010. Read all about it here http://www.move.com.au/disc.cfm/3339.
·
A new DVD, Live In Germany by the Adrian Belew Power Trio,
should be with us shortly.
·
Next release
from Zappa (VAULTernative, shorely?) Records,
Joe's Menage A Trois. Shorefire says 11 June; the Barfies think not.
·
German tribute
band Sheik Yerbouti will be touring
Germany with special guest Robert Martin
in October. In Germany.
·
Read this new
‘interview’ with Lisa Popeil: http://idiotbastard.com/Interviews/LisaPopeil.htm
·
Ahmet recently
married Shana Muldoon in Malibu…Diva finished filming The Bloody Indulgent…Dweezil has a new album.
·
Mike Keneally is Joe Satriani’s new
keyboard player! “I was pleasantly surprised to get
a call from Joe a few weeks ago asking if I'd like to be the keyboardist on his
new record. Hells yeah! Sounded like fun, and turns out that it is - the
rehearsals are thoroughly chill, damned fun and extremely productive - we've
slammed through twelve new tunes and they're sounding very great indeed.”
·
Verso Books
has just published The Wire Primers: A
Guide to Modern Music, a compilation of quick-study guides to 22
non-mainstream artists - including Sun Ra, Stockhausen, Xenakis, The Fall,
Captain Beefheart (written by Mike Barnes) and FZ & the MOI (by Edwin
Pouncey, aka Savage).
·
The wonderful
drummer, Marco Minnemann, will
replace the wonderful Eric Slick in
the Adrian Belew Power Trio for
dates later this year.
·
There’s to be
a Steve Vai festival, featuring Mike Keneally, in Holland in October.
Learn more here.
·
For some ODD reason, the ZFT is now offering downloads of Buffalo, EIHN, Imaginary Diseases
and FZ:OZ - at less than extortionate
prices?
·
Frank’s ‘buxom
red-haired companion’, Lorraine Belcher,
has written a review of Nigey Lennon’s
book, Being Frank.
And I have just interviewed her for this here website. Great
lady.
·
New ZPZ
keyboardist (and little violinist), Chris
Norton - http://www.dweezilzappaworld.com/videos/216
·
Not sure
whether y’all know this, but Ensemble
Ambrosius will play at St Katharinen in Hamburg, with Napoleon Murphy Brock, ahead of Zappanale this year.
·
Watch the 21 Burnt Weeny Sandwiches
promo video at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bEZ_x_-H11g
·
“I am Neil
Carlill, Esquire!” “And I'm Warren ‘Bruce’ Cuccurullo.” “Together, we
are…CHICANERY!” Read new album review! Read this interview!
·
Flo & Eddie to be special guests on Zappa
Plays Zappa tour next June to mark (Mark! Mark!) the 40th anniversary of Fillmore East, June 1971 - are you kidding?
·
Watch the Theoretical 5 in action: www.theoretical5.com. As well as the imminent
release of Chicanery’s debut, Warren Cuccurullo is also working with The Composers (featuring Anthony J.
Resta, Eric Alexandrakis and Steve Ferrone). Busy boy.
·
Steve Vai
appears on two tracks on Meat Loaf's
new Hang Cool Teddy Bear album (on
the tracks Love Is Not Real/Next Time You
Stab Me in the Back, which also features Brian May, and Song Of
Madness).
·
Replacing
Capillary Action on the bill at this year’s Zappanale is The Plastic People of the Universe. And at the exhibition, there
will be a lot of original hand paintings by none other than Cal Schenkel.
·
The Adrian Belew Power Trio is playing in the UK in October (see Diary).
Meanwhile, you can pre-order bassist Julie
Slick’s debut CD (featuring brother Eric, André Cholmondeley, Marco
Minnemann, Pat Mastelotto and one Robert Fripp) here: http://julieslick.com/preorder/. Julie (and
Eric)’s mum, Robin, tells me “When Julie got the
idea to record this CD, she really loved the idea of inviting special guests to
play with her. She was debating who to ask, and I said to her 'Who are your
favourite musicians?' Right off the bat she reeled off the names of King
Crimson members and three excellent guitarists very special to her - André,
Alex, and Jordan. 'But I can't write to them and expect them to say yes.'
Naturally I said, 'Why not? You have nothing to lose!' So with her heart in her
mouth, she wrote to Robert and Pat, etc. Robert responded graciously within a
few hours that while his schedule is packed, Julie was welcome to sample any of
his Soundscapes that she would like. To say that Julie whooped for joy when she
received his (lovely) email is putting it mildly. I know I'm prejudiced but
Julie's bass playing combined with the Soundscapes gives me the chills. Pat
Mastelotto wrote from the road that he would be thrilled and would record his
drum parts with her as soon as he got back to the States and he was so amazing
- he even assisted with production. Marco Minnemann also replied within a
couple of hours. Michael Bernier heard from Pat that he was contributing to
Julie's CD and he immediately wrote to Julie and said 'I want in!' Can you
imagine how thrilling this was for her?”
·
J21 - aka Joseph Diaz, the excellent Zappa-loving
guitarist from Spain whose debut album featured Graham Bonnet, Trey Gunn
and Ed Mann - is now working on a
follow-up. He tells me “Scott Thunes is already recording bass for some tracks. Also, Robert Martin is going to sing one
song. And Ed is waiting for me to send him one track to play on. I have already
recorded six vocal songs with Geoff
Tyson as singer, and six instrumental tracks. Before June it should be
completed.” Also featured among such exalted company will be, er, me!
Hopefully before you hear this, J21’s excellent truncated rendition of the
entire Burnt Weeny Sandwich album will be out.
·
Have a listen
to Ben Watson’s opened lettuce to
the Arf Society (in English or German).
·
In June, Eddie Jobson releases Ultimate Zero - The Best Of The U-Z Project
Live featuring - among others - John Wetton, Eric Slick, Tony Levin, Adrian Belew, Marco Minnemann and Simon
Phillips in Japan (US and Europe have to wait till August).
·
Lauren Knudsen
has filed for divorce from Dweezil,
citing irreconcilable differences. She is seeking sole physical custody of
their daughters, Zola Frank and Ceylon Indira, with legal custody to be shared.
She is also seeking spousal support from her husband.
·
You can see a
short clip of The Sancho Plan’s The Black
Page performed live in Newcastle, September 2009 here: http://vimeo.com/8281006
·
February saw
the world premiere of FZ's Revised Music
For Marimba And Orchestra, performed by Simon Boyar and the NYU Zappa Pickup Orchestra, conducted by Jonathan Haas. Marimbist Boyar had to
meet with Zappa's second wife to get the rights to the piece, it says here. You can see
clips from the concert and rehearsals on
YouTube.
·
Robert Martin is a part of the World Rock
Symphony Orchestra, whose current show ('Britain Rocks’) plays in theatres
across Canada this summer.
·
Nigey Lennon has just written this interesting article about FZ and her former
husband, Lionel Rolfe: http://boryanabooks.com/?p=2159
·
Herb Cohen has taken his final vacation: http://www.variety.com/article/VR1118016565.html?categoryid=16&cs=1.
RIP.
·
Release of the
ANT-BEE’s long-awaited Electronic Church Muzik is nigh – read
this review.
·
Mr Warren Cuccurullo tells me: “Me, Arthur
and Tommy have hooked up again over
the last few months...been filming and recording jams every couple of weeks...Andy Kravitz is on drums and Larry Klimas on tenor...it's sounding
really great...we should be getting some clips up on YouTube soon...Arthur
wants to call it the Venice Chamber Orchestra or the Theoretical Five...also,
my Chicanery project got signed to
dPulse/Universal...out in April...” Exciting or what?
·
Heard The Artisan Acetate
yet?
·
Oh dear – the Grande Mothers have had to cancel their
planned gigs in Vancouver and Yukon due to Napoleon
Murphy Brock and Roy Estrada
being refused entry by (cough) Canadian
Customs (read more here). Meanwhile,
Napi’s ‘new’ CD, What Frank Zappa Heard - Just
in Case You Were Wondering - Live at the Red Noodle in Waikiki, Hawaii,
should be ready to ship mid-April and is to be mentioned in a new book about
the Red Noodle’s owner, Claude Hall.
The book is called Hazardous To My
Health, The Marlboro Man I Knew, and was written by Marcia Hill - who Hall
once kidnapped! There may be a film too.
·
Denny Walley has confirmed he is joining the Muffin
Men for their performance at Zappanale in August. Roddie and Denny became
close friends during the 2005 Magic Band
UK tour, when they first started talking about a collaboration.
·
Crossfire Publications has revised some of its downloads (because the licensing period for
some of the tracks was coming to an end): so check out the new versions of Welcome Back Geronimo Black, Where’s My Waitress?
and It’s All Bunk! One of Jimmy Carl Black’s final recordings (I believe his very last was
the vocal for his duet with Candy Zappa
on Stolen Cadillac, recorded in July 2008 and
premiered at A Concert For Jimmy the week after his
death) can now be purchased as part of artist Peregrine Honig’s Widow
project – see below and here for more.
·
Composer/guitarist
Thierry Deruelle has followed up his solo tribute to FZ with a track recorded
with Dweezil, Peter Griffin and Joe
Travers at UMRK, called Stardust.
Read more at www.dztd.ca. Dweezil Zappa Plays Zappa© will be playing on the Prog Stage at the High Voltage
Festival in London’s Victoria Park, 24/25 July. Check out who else is playing
at: http://www.highvoltagefestival.com/home.htm
·
The Muffin Men have posted another extract from one of the tunes they recently
recorded at their website: A Simple Message From The Ordinary Man In The Street.
Meantime, they have announced another date ahead of Zappanale at the O2 Academy
2 in Liverpool on 29 May (get tickets here: http://www.o2academyliverpool.co.uk/event/12567/the-muffin-men-play-zappa-tickets).
And also in the meanwhile, the band's sax/keyboard player, Mikey, has a solo
album out called Ginger Tunes (cheap
as chips at AmazonMP3), which
also features Marty.
·
Get ready to
expand your harmonic horizons and ignite your musical creativity this summer at
DWEEZILLA! DWEEZILLA
is a unique five-day experience where musicians will be surrounded by Dweezil Zappa and members of his core
band for a musical bootcamp. From June
21-24 in the Catskill Forest Preserve in upstate New York, DWEEZILLA offers aspiring musicians a wide range of master classes
at all skill levels in addition to one-on-one sessions with Dweezil
himself...read more here.
·
Since the end
of 2009, ZAPPATiKA live shows have regularly featured the talents of Dutch
violin-lady KE, who also has appeared with Sheik Yerbouti and, for some years
now, with Dutch FZ tribute band, The FoolZ. She has slotted into
ZAPPATIKA-World very ,very well,despite being the only girl...or maybe because
she's the only girl?! But seriously,
folks, this girl can play that damn thing! KE has now been made official
"keeper of the Pony" and will join ZAPPATiKA onstage for all their
main 2010 shows. The latest development within ZAPPATiKA, however, involves the
addition of a 3rd (yes THIRD) guitar player! DADDO is a young,but gifted, Jazz
Fusion guitarist/singer born in former-Yugoslavia with a penchant for good
music and high level audio production. He takes to Zappa's music like a duck to
water and brings a whole lot to the table when it comes to ZAPPATiKA's own
compositions......the new line-up is now (Feb 2010) in rehearsal and looking
forward to the getting back on stage. "This extra melodic strength in the
band,from a violin and 3rd guitar", says bandleader Mcinnes, "has
brought such a scope for arrangement and sound,using midi-synth-tech, that we
are doing mad stuff, lots of the crazy shit from our Dodo album too ! I am confident the 2010 show will absolutely
blow your socks off "
·
Schwing! Zooey Deschanel (Almost Famous, The Happening,
Elf) is to star as Miss Pamela in a
pilot for HBO’s I’m With the Band:
Confessions of a Groupie, based on Ms Des Barres wonderful book.
·
Just in case
any of you missed this, here’s some silent Wazoo film footage: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uA_SXhu8ClQ
·
Although Steve Vai didn't win a Grammy this
year, Vinnie Colaiuta kind of did
win two: Jeff Beck's A Day In The Life beat Vai in the Best
Rock Instrumental Performance category, and the Five Peace Band's Live
platter won Best Jazz Instrumental Album.
·
Jon Larsen has just been to Arthur Barrow's
Lotek Studio to record The Don Preston Story and The Bunk
Gardner Story (proposed sequels to his JCB Story CD - but these will be made available for download only,
once Arthur has edited them). “From these
historical recording sessions, we went directly into another unforgettable
recording session: new music composed and performed by Tommy Mars - in my view the most brilliant keyboard player today,
he is pure genius! This time, Mars recorded new, almost orchestral music to the
surrealistic story Willie Nickerson's Egg,
by yours truly. Tommy had already read the story, so now I only have to mix and
edit the project before release.” adds Jon.
·
Many
Zappateers celebrated my birthday by going to Larvik in Norway without me.
Obviously we all love our MufFinZ,
but many who went are now raving about the Dead
Dino Storage band, who also played at the Zappa Fest there. Here's some
clips which Ludznl recommends you watch: http://www.facebook.com/l/dee5c;www.youtube.com/watch?v=aGX4E8LPTh4;
http://www.facebook.com/l/dee5c;www.youtube.com/watch?v=G3V52FGaSEo;
http://www.facebook.com/l/dee5c;www.youtube.com/watch?v=371s0_PSmEg
·
Frank did it.
Dweezil and Vinnie did it. Now Steve Vai has had a go...at playing on a cover
of the mighty Zep’s Stairway To Heaven.
This latest one will appear on Mary J.
Blige's next album. Meantime, Sony has released a new compilation: Playlist - The Very Best of Steve Vai.
·
Hall Of Fame
Records has released volume 11 of its Spanish Zappa tribute series. Subtitled King Kong, it’s performed entirely by
the Filthy Habits Ensemble who, like
Hall Of Fame supremo Luis Gonzalez,
will be playing at Zappanale this year. More here: http://www.halloffame.es/zappa.html
·
The Chad Wackerman Trio has a Hits Live DVD. You can see a clip at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O8ZVU6ma2vg&feature=email,
and order it from the Drum Channel here: http://www.drumchannel.com/entertainment/Chad-Wackerman-Trio-DVD--88371.aspx
·
Steve Vai is
featured on Orianthi (The King Of Pop’s last guitarist)’s new album, Believe. Check this out: http://www.orianthi.com/player/default.aspx?meid=5547
·
The Wrong Object's fab Zappanale #19 set, featuring Stanley
Jason Zappa, has just been released on CD by Fazzul Music. Click here (and scroll
down a tad) for more info.
·
Hot Club
Records has just released A Portrait Of Jon Larsen, a ‘best of’ by the
Django/Zappa/Piazzolla-inspired guitar virtuoso. Among many others, it features
contributions from Tommy Mars, Bruce Fowler and Jimmy Carl Black. Jon should also have his new solo CD featuring
Tommy Mars ready soon (Willie Nickerson’s
Egg).
·
Artist Peregrine Honig
recently finished six years of work on Widow,
a collaboration with 18 other artists. Printed by Landfall Press, the project
will take the form of a glossy one-volume fashion magazine that includes an
audio component comprising the final studio recording of Jimmy Carl Black. Only 1,500 copies will be published. Peregrine
told me: “My husband - Mark Southerland, the
saxophonist on the album - and I met Jimmy in Nancy, France in 2007. He was
such a great guy and his wife was so sweet. I am proud to have his work in my
compilation. The CD, Snuff Black, is
a compilation of out-jazz performed live to Jimmy telling stories about his
life as Frank Zappa's drummer. He is a great storyteller and the scenes he sets
up are beautiful and dynamic. I knew he was sick when we recorded the CD, but
his death came as a huge surprise to me. His passing became poetic in the
context of the print and title ‘Widow’. Jimmy was full of life during the Snuff Black recording and he recalled
amazing moments in his life-performing in Berlin with Zappa while being pelted
with unripe pears - working at a Dunkin' Doughnuts with a side job selling
marijuana batches.”
·
Essra Mohawk (aka Sandra Hurvitz and Uncle Meat)’s debut record, Sandy’s Album Is Here at Last! -
originally released on the Bizarre label, is being reissued on CD by
Collectors’ Choice in February. FZ intended to produce the album, but handed
the reins over to Ian Underwood. Cal
Schenkel designed the album’s sleeve. The reissue contains the bonus track, Life Is Scarlet.
·
Being Frank: My Time With Frank Zappa by Nigey
Lennon has just been issued as an e-book on scribd.com. It will
also be available on the Boryanabooks.com site
shortly, and through other outlets including Amazon.
·
Finally, ‘Tony
Palmer's film of Frank Zappa’s 200 Motels’
was officially released on DVD in March. Restored using the original source
material (overseen by Palmer), it features a director’s commentary as a bonus
feature. Read more at http://www.frankzappa200motelsdvd.com/
·
Volume Two of
Billy James's biography about Todd
Rundgren, entitled A Dream Goes On
Forever - The Continuing Story Of Todd Rundgren, has just been issued by Golden Treasures Publishing.
·
Fancy some FZ
down under? Go here: http://www.idiotbastard.com/News/PressRelease1.htm
·
Dr Paul Carr’s
latest paper, on ‘the incorporation of
time, space and place in performing, composing, arranging and producing Frank
Zappa’s music’, can be read here.
·
In the
immortal words of the Rt Hon Lord Sir David of Coverdale, “here’s one for ya”: the Muffin
Men have sent greetings for a fab Winter Solstice in the form of a taster
from the band’s recent recordings. Ladies, put your legs together and listen
now to Doobie Stopping.
·
A little FZ
music has been used in a car commercial in Holland: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uw42AcLNL-o
·
Todd Grubbs' new CD, Return Of The Worm,
should be released soon. It features special guests Jerry Outlaw, Blues Saraceno
and Mike Keneally. Todd is also one
of the artists contributing to my Burnt Weeny project.
·
Shenkar has a new
album out called Face To Face. It
features guest appearances by members of Korn.
·
Shoogagoogagunga! Dweezil has a new album coming out in
January called Return Of The Son Of… It
features tracks recorded live with ZPZ on the past few tours; mainly Ray White on lead vox, but some Ben
Thomas too (Zomby Woof and Montana come from this year’s show in
Manchester).
·
Great blogging
from Mr John Adams: http://www.earbox.com/posts/45
·
This sounds
like an interesting Beefheart cover album: http://www.beefheart.com/datharp/albums/related/messin.htm
·
“Watch me now, I'm gonna eat
the label!” (Thanks, Dave! Thanks, Tom!)
·
Singalongafrank:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Karaoke-Hits-Frank-Zappa/dp/B0029RO1F2/ref=sr_1_17?ie=UTF8&s=dmusic&qid=1259354882&sr=1-17
·
Check out Morgan Ågren playing the Swedish
archipelago – live!: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yXzmW-4Z6ms
·
New interview
with Dweezil at http://digital.premierguitar.com/premierguitar/200912_1#pg82,
which reveals that The Roxy Performances
doovdé could be
released by the end of 2010. DZPZ had a special guest at their show in Austin,
Texas: “Eric Johnson…joined us for Carolina Hardcore Ecstasy and Muffin Man. I play his signature
Stratocasters on tour and it was a real thrill to have him up there with us.”
·
Live Music, a ground-breaking animated short film inspired by Romeo And Juliet, features music performed by Steve Vai and his
String Theories violinist, Ann Marie Calhoun. You can buy it on iTunes right
now (http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewMovie?id=339213497&s=143444).
·
The Drummers Of Frank Zappa (Roundtable
Discussion and Performance – you know, that marvelous thing that appeared
on the Drum Channel featuring Terry Bozzio, Chester Thompson, Chad Wackerman,
Ruth Underwood and Ralph Humphrey) is now available on DVD: http://www.abstractlogix.com/xcart/product.php?productid=24396
·
Dale Bozzio has just started her time in jail for cruelty to cats. Read more here: http://thephoenix.com/BLOGS/phlog/archive/2009/11/13/missing-persons-singer-dale-bozzio-jailed.aspx
·
Dweezil has
knocked out another odd cover: this time, it’s Paul McCartney’s Wonderful Christmastime on Purple
Pyramid’s An All-Star Salute To Christmas
album. (BTW, just discovered that Vinnie Colaiuta played drums on the Dweezil
Zappa Plays Zeppelin rendition of Stairway
To Heaven.)
·
The New Dutch
Academy's new Super Audio CD Zappa
Symphonies, Crowning Glory is available now, featuring world premiere recordings
of symphonies by Francesco Zappa
(and Graaf, Stamitz & Schwindl). A number of sample tracks from the disc
appear here: http://www.newdutchacademy.nl/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=4&Itemid=31
·
Watch The Mother People play Willie The Pimp: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qNv2yDNVmw4&feature=player_embedded#
·
On 3 February
2010, at Skinny's in North Hollywood, Patrice
“Candy” Zappa performed some of Frank's ‘stellar hits’, as well as some of
her (and husband Nolan Porter)'s
songs. Robert Martin was their
special guest. According to her recently revamped website, Candy is also working on a CD of
some of FZ’s music with Ed Palermo.
·
ANT-BEE’s live
jam with Don & Bunk, now on YouTube.
·
George Duke: “My engineer and I have been working on
this 5.1 mix of the Prague DVD whenever we get a few minutes. You Zappa fans
will be happy to note that I did a three song [Cosmik Debris/Inca Roads/Uncle Remus] medley tribute to Zappa in the middle of the show
which came out great. You fusion fans may be in for a treat – the original Cobham/Duke Band has been in
discussions about organizing a tour hopefully next year schedule permitting.” The Prague show was filmed in May 2009, but we may have
to wait to see it until after the GD Band’s Montreux concert has been released
on DVD.
·
And the Rob
Pruitt Award on Sculptor goes to...Cynthia
Plaster Caster! See http://www.artinfo.com/news/story/33122/first-annual-art-awards-winners-announced/.
·
Listen to excerpts from Blues For
Tony by Holdsworth Pasqua Haslip
Wackerman - a live double CD tribute to Tony Williams - here: http://www.moonjune.com/MJR029.htm.
·
Read Geoff Willis' entry on Don
Preston in the Encyclopedia of Jazz Musicians section of jazz.com.
·
Some bright
spark tried to edit FZ's Wikipedia entry to include the following detail of his
love affair with The Lizard King: “For a brief
period in the 1960's, Frank Zappa and Jim Morrison were seen together quite
often. There is a photograph not well known to the public, a photograph
featuring Zappa standing on his head naked in a hotel room with Morrison,
‘playing him like a fucking tuba’.” I'd love to see that!
·
Read about
FZ's friendship with American comic book artist, writer and editor, Jack Kirby at http://royalflushmagazine.com/2009/10/13/zappa_meets_kirby/
·
In the latest instalment of the continuing story of Michael Myers, Halloween II (written and directed by Rob Zombie, and starring ‘Weird Al’ Yankovic), Howard Hesseman’s
character is called Uncle Meat, the owner of the Java Hole which sports the
famous FZ on the crapper poster (you can see the bottom of it here: http://www.dreadcentral.com/img/news/jul09/hallochicks.jpg).
·
Panzerballet (who played Zappanale #19) have a new album out called Hart Genossen - von Abba bis Zappa. It
features two FZ medleys. Find out more via http://www.myspace.com/panzerballett
·
Steve Vai’s new
DVD and CD, Live In Minneapolis: Where
The Wild Things Are, are now available. And right this very minute you can
download (for free) a track from it (at http://www.vai.com/wildthings/download/eve/).
What are you waiting for? And read this too.
·
AMD’s director
of digital media and entertainment, Charlie
Boswell, has been tweeting: “I directed/produced the [ZPZ] Roxy and Hogg [Auditorium in Austin] shows. Frank Zappa’s original Roxy show will release
before we drop ZPZ's Son of Roxy,” he says.
·
The Trame Trio, founded by hurdy-gurdy virtuoso Gilles
Chabenat, have an album out called Changer
d'Air that features an interesting cover of Peaches En Regalia. Look, hear: http://www.gilleschabenat.com/audio/audio.htm#trametrio
·
Snapper Music
has just released a CD of doo-wop, R&B and experimental moments that
inspired FZ called The Roots Of Frank
Zappa. Happily, it only duplicates a few tracks on Chrome Dreams’ earlier Frank Zappa’s Jukebox. And Chrome Dreams
has yet another new FZ disc suddenly available: Frank Zappa – The Interview
Sessions.
·
Anyone want an
art print featuring a Zappa quote? Look here: http://www.urbangraphicshop.co.uk/Products/Prints/Scrawl/Something-To-Remember.html
·
The tail-end
of my recent interview with Ike Willis
is now up at http://idiotbastard.com/Interviews/IkeWillis.htm.
·
The Fall’s Last Night At The Palais CD/DVD features
a cover of Hungry Freaks, Daddy (on
which the band also briefly quotes Beefheart’s Plastic Factory).
·
New CD, Inside Out by Tom McCaslin, features FZ's Outside
Now Again performed by Tom on his tuba. Unaccompanied. “This is definitely not for the faint of heart. This
rocks my world,” says Gail.
·
On 31 October,
George Duke & Friends (including
Napoleon Murphy Brock) play a
concert with the Metropole Orchestra at the Stadsschouwburg in Amsterdam.
·
The Big Picture by Fred Frith and Arte Quartett, with special guests
Katherina Weber and Lucas Niggli, features a track called T. Square Park Lark (for Frank Zappa).
·
Andrew Bean tells me that new issue of The Comics Journal has a huge story on an unpublished book edited
by Michel Choquette and constructed
in the early 70s. Choquette spent 14-26 February 1972 on the West Coast, where
he met a wheelchair bound FZ who “promised to write
a strip and have Cal Schenkel...illustrate it. He did, but Choquette is still
trying to figure out what it is about.”
·
Steve Vai lists Black
Napkins as his sixth favourite guitar instrumental on the AOL Radio Blog. He
comments: “Frank had a unique way of phrasing on
the guitar. When he improvised his solos it was like a hurricane of wind and
notes. He could write deeply touching melodies.”
·
Five Peace Band - featuring Chick Corea, John McLaughlin and Vinnie Colaiuta - has a live
double-album out culled from its 2008 tour of Europe.
·
Nice interview with Napoleon
Murphy Brock in Der Spiegel here:
http://www.spiegel.de/international/zeitgeist/0,1518,641511,00.html
·
Abbey Road: A Tribute To The Beatles by various artists came out a few months back. It
features Dweezil covering Tomorrow Never Knows. Dweezil, of
course, previously performed a Lennon/McCartney composition (Anytime At All) on his Confessions album. He also contributed
to the Fat Boys’ rendition of Baby You're
A Rich Man, and the Peace Choir's Give
Peace A Chance.
·
The Magic Band has recently signed a new record deal with Sundazed
Records. The label will be releasing a double live CD from the band’s 2005 UK
tour.
·
Steve Vai guests on two tracks on the new Mike Stern album, Big
Neighborhood.
·
The Adrian Belew Power Trio’s
first studio album, e, is now
available from StoreBelew. The
band also recently issued a Live Overseas
album on iTunes (which includes Neurotica
and Frame By Frame, neither of which
appeared on the excellent Side Four Live).
·
Supergrass' Gaz Coombes and Danny Goffey have teamed up with
Radiohead producer Nigel Godrich for a new spin-off band, The Hot Rats, playing covers of classic rock 'n' roll tracks.
·
Reading The Gangster of Love - Johnny “Guitar” Watson: Performer,
Preacher, Pimp by Vincent Bakker has got me listening to the likes of Space Guitar, digging out my copy of The Funk Anthology and marvelling at Johnny’s great contribution to music and, of
course, his influence on our Frankie. I’ve started to review the book here.
·
If you’ve watched Grey’s Anatomy,
or seen the movies Forgetting Sarah Marshall
and Sex And The City, then you’ve
probably heard The Bird And The Bee
- a duo from LA comprising Lowell George’s
daughter, Inara, and Greg Kurstin. At the tender age of 12, Greg co-wrote and
played on Dweezil’s Crunchy Water (the b-side of My Mother Is A Space Cadet).
·
Cheepnis: http://lileks.com/bw/scifi/itconq/
·
A cover of Peaches En Regalia
will be included on How I Got Over,
the forthcoming album from hip-hop band, The
Roots.
·
Howard Kaylan is finishing up a memoir, How Not To Be Me, which he hopes will be turned into a film.
·
“The gorgeous Gail Zappa has invited me to cover a
Frank Zappa song. I am incredibly honoured. I am looking through his oeuvre.
That’s a whole lot of oeuvre! Any suggestions? You know I like things fruity.
Suggestions?” asks Lucy Lawless, aka Xena: Warrior
Princess.
·
Grand Funk off-shoot Flint
has its eponymous 1978 debut album now out on CD (from Wounded Bird Records). FZ plays guitar on
two tracks (Better You Than Me and You’ll Never Be The Same).
·
This Idiot understands that the ‘great singer from a well known group’
who ‘had not done any of the required preparation’ for the gig of singing with
ZPZ was Living Colour’s Corey Glover.
·
See Diva, Dweez, Gail and Bust in Vilnius: http://united-mutations.blogspot.com/2009/06/dweezil-and-gail-zappa-in-vilnius.html.
By the bye, I note that the radio ad for
the imminent UK dates by ZPZ on Planet Rock talks about Dweezil and a 12-piece
band. Shome mishtake surely?
·
Other Minds Records has just issued Conlon
Nancarrow’s Studies for Player
Piano: The Original 1750 Arch Recordings, Volumes 1–4 on CD. If you’ve not
heard and of this, it’s crazy, mind-blowing stuff. Go here to sample some brief
excerpts: http://www.otherminds.org/cgi-bin/shop.pl/page=Nancarrowstudies.html/SID=PUT_SID_HERE/buy=1
·
Interested in hearing Edgard
Varèse conducting Charlie Mingus?
Go here: http://blog.wfmu.org/freeform/2009/06/edgar-varèse-and-the-jazzmen-mp3s.html
·
Oh my - a new interview with Ray
Collins: http://www.dailybulletin.com/ci_12484780.
And some interesting chats with Jimmy
Carl Black here: http://sprisk.com/kultur/jimmy-carl-black-1938-2008.html
·
Back in 2003, Gail said we “can expect a new
batch” of Beat The Boots. And
here they finally are: six ‘discs’ now being sold by AmazonMP3.
Apparently Rhino passed on flogging these particular ‘unpolished turds’ a while
back. Here’s some helpful info on what the discs contain: http://groups.google.com/group/alt.fan.frank-zappa/msg/dad9046b7600f47b?hl=en
·
Gail’s former boyfriend, Bobby
Jameson (for whom Frank arranged Gotta
Find My Roogalator) is in intensive care after emergency surgery for an
aortic aneurysm. His condition is stable. Read his mother’s blog: http://thinkaboutitworld.blogspot.com/
·
Steve Vai appears on the forthcoming Spinal Tap album, Back From
The Dead, released on 16 June. Steve is also to release a 25th Anniversary
Edition of his first solo album, Flex-Able.
·
If you were unable to attend our concert for Jimmy Carl Black in November 2008, you can hear The Thurston Lava Tube‘s Caravan (with a drum solo) and The FrazKnapp Fusion Project (featuring Carlo Bowry and Andy Frizell)’s Ra Ja For
Jimmy from that evening on their MySpace pages. And you can also hear even
more of the Thurston’s set on the band’s fifth album, The Year Of The Dog. Material from the concert is included as mp3
format in the “CD extra” content doings. The actual album includes recordings
of four of the songs (Bowie’s Ziggy
Stardust, The Beatles’ I Wanna Hold
Your Hand, and their own Don’t Borrow
Dominoes From A Black Man and Ianisation)
that they played that night. I like the Thurston Lava Tube.
·
Out now from Rykodisc, New York
Times, a two-CD set of live performances from Flo & Eddie recorded at The Bottom Line in New York City from
1979 to 1994. The second disc includes their FZ medley (Who Needs The Peace Corps?/Concentration Moon/The Ugliest Part Of Your
Body/Absolutely Free/Peaches en Regalia/Magic Fingers) from the 1993 show. “This was a great collection of songs we did while
singing with The Mothers of Invention. Howard and I loved the early Zappa
records and this medley showcases some of our favourite songs from We’re Only In It For The Money.”
says Mr. Volman. “We can’t ignore the late Mr.
Zappa whenever we are doing a history of our careers. One day, we’d love to
work with Dweezil too, just to keep the genius of his father alive. There was
never a more brilliant musician and he was, of course, a well-acknowledged
father figure to both Mark and me as well.” says Mr. Kaylan. Also
available is ‘Save The Turtles’ The
Greatest Hits of The Turtles.
·
In Germany, the May 2009 edition of Playboy
featured the lovely Moon Unit in the
naughty naked semi-rude:
·
In the May 2009 edition of Record Collector,
Alan Clayson talked to Gail Zappa – principally about Lumpy Money and her own pre-FZ musical
career. In this interesting article, Mrs Z reveals that The Rage & The Fury may never be released (“Frank didn’t care if anyone [else] heard it – and I feel the same,”), that FZ
‘ordered’ her to sell the master tapes of a second un-issued Wild Man Fischer album to Rykodisc,
that she’s thinking of taking guitar lessons, and that she is keen to write her
autobiography.
·
Out now from Zonic
Entertainment/Hot Club Records, No Forest
Fire by the Mar Vista Philharmonic
– that is: Tommy Mars, Arthur Barrow, Bruce & Walt Fowler,
Larry Klimas, Kurt McGettrick and VINNIE
COLAIUTA! Says Artie: “It is a wild and cool
free improv from August 2002. It is the one and only assemblage of this group,
sadly, as Kurt is no longer with us. This session led to the BBC sessions after
the BBC guy heard this and asked if we could do something to go with their 10th anniversary show. It’s for the hard
core fans who might like to hear what some of the vets might do left to their
own devices!” See more butts here: http://www.idiotbastard.com/News/PressRelease1.htm
·
Walt Disney Studios has signed a multiyear deal with Ahmet Zappa to help oversee its newly
christened Kingdom Comics, which will shortly announce which graphic novelists
and artists plan to collaborate on upcoming projects.
Lukewarm Poop
Love Bomb: Live 1967-1969 by Blossom Toes features FZ’s guest
appearance with the band at the legendary Amougies Festival, as well as a cover
of the good Captain’s Electricity.
Grab it from Sunbeam Records now…Billy
James (aka the ANT-BEE) is
currently hosting his own online radio programme called Listening Through A Glass Onyon on the UK’s largest classic rock
website (www.GetReadyToRock.com). The first show
was aired on 5 April; along with playing ANT-BEE music, James is also spinning “eclectic slices of prog, psychedelic and experimental
music by such legends as Frank Zappa, Captain Beefheart, Magma, Godley &
Gouldmen, Daevid Allen, Le Orme, Supersister, Flo & Eddie and Wildman
Fisher to name a few. The next show will be aired sometime in May 2009.”…listen
to Frank Zappa: A ‘Lumpy’ Legacy
– a short news item by Joel Rose for NPR, featuring Gail and Ike. After the
story first aired on 9 April, NPR was asked to take down the two FZ pieces it
had been given permission to stream…next April sees the complete works of Edgard Varèse performed in one weekend at London’s South Bank. See here for more: http://www.southbankcentre.co.uk/festivals-series/varese-360
…read ace bass-boy Bryan Beller on Scott Thunes at: http://www.bassplayer.com/article/frank-zappas-alien/apr-09/94337.
Hope that gets you juiced for me book…Brian Eno in the Grauniad: “Zappa was very technical and impressed by things that
were musically challenging - weird time signatures, strange keys, awkward chord
sequences. Zappa was important to me as an example of everything I didn’t want
to do. I’m very grateful to him, actually.”…thanks to my good friend
John Kaminski for flagging-up this clip of Frank playing the church bells in
Prague: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GjHJAysbf5s.
And Freak Out! The Carl O. Franzoni Movie, too (see http://www.davidborboa.com/projects.htm)...read
Scott Thunes’s very own account of
his recent guest appearance with ZPZ here…long time FZ
fan, Penn Jilette, talks about
turning 54…and FZ: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VZGED-s4cK0...the
Muffin Men have
just updated their website: they are to record some original music in the
summer and “this material may or may not be
released, the band may or may not take the material out on the road. Due to the
current climate with regard to permissions for playing FZ music, the Muffinz
will not be performing or recording FZ material for the rest of this year.”
There should though be a tour of Europe to celebrate their 20th anniversary
next year. Listen to the podcast for
more…interesting Dweezil interview
here from late last year: http://www.q107.com/DJsandShows/KimMitchell/Audio.aspx
(thanks, Dave). He talks about how ZPZ has pretty much used up all of the
friendly special guest alumni, impersonates Don Van Vliet, and jams along to the Mighty Zep’s How Many More Times…YouTube has some
great clips of Mike Keneally and
chums covering some ‘classic rock’. Try these for starters: War Pigs (he’s on drums); Sunshine Of Your Love (guitar &
vocals); Harvest Moon (bass!)…Jon Larsen has been in the studio again
with Tommy Mars. But this time “Tommy did not play one single note! The studio, by the
way, is the LA based Lotek Studio, owned and engineered by the Zappa alumni,
‘clonemeiser’, and bass player par excellence, Arthur Barrow. Anyway, even without touching his keyboards once
today, Tommy gave me goosebimples on my arms, chills up and down the spine, he
made me laugh, and cry. How? By reading the surrealistic short story Willie Nickerson’s Egg, or not just
reading it, but making it come alive! Tommy’s reading is spiced up by short
glimpses of music.” Willie
Nickerson’s Egg is expected to be released in the middle of August…Dale Bozzio has now been convicted of
animal cruelty. Police say 12 cats had to be put down after being found in
Bozzio’s home last year. She pleaded not guilty to several misdemeanor counts
of animal cruelty, but has been convicted of one count last week. The
54-year-old singer is expected to be sentenced next week in District Court for
Southern Carroll County. She faces up to a year in jail and a $2,000 fine. Her manager said Dale had left
the cats in the care of a friend...out now from Edel Records
in Europe, Playing In Tongues, the
new album from Warren Cuccurullo
featuring Terry Bozzio. It includes
the “never before recorded piece of music by Frank
Zappa, Wreckelection, a 14 chord
progression that was part of my 1978 Zappa audition [and] is now a ZFT approved new work by FZ…Munchkin Music is the
BEST!”. You can see WC’s Sid
Arthur’s Message solo at http://www.cuccurullo.tv/sam-vid.htm;
the album track features the voice of Warren’s long-time friend, Al Malkin. Also on the album is Dale Bozzio (as Miss Tickle). You can
buy selected tracks - and listen to samples of all of them - right now
at Play.com in the UK.
And here’s a little recent something (cough)
recorded with Joe Travers and Tommy Mars: http://www.pumpitout.com/audio/obummer.mp3
...the 399 pages of Scott Parker‘s new book, Blessed Relief: The Recordings Of FRANK
ZAPPA Volume Three, 1972-1973, are being readied for print as I type…you
can now see all seven episodes of the Drum Channel’s The Zappa Drummers Roundtable – featuring Terry Bozzio, Ralph Humphrey,
Chester Thompson, Chad Wackerman and Ruth Underwood - at http://www.drumchannel.com/entertainment/15004.aspx.
And The Zappa Drummers Drum Jam, too
(http://www.drumchannel.com/entertainment/13294.aspx)...Chris Opperman’s fifth album, The Lionheart, features ten brand new
studio recordings - including The
Porpentine, his ambitious 12-movement piece for full orchestra plus rhythm
section - and a ferocious double guitar solo by Mike Keneally…the May 2009 issue of Guitar World featured Steve
Vai on the cover and an in-depth article celebrating the 25th anniversary
of Flex-Able. Steve recounts the
production of the album, and the article includes many rare photographs of
Steve’s self-built studio, as well as photos from the sessions…sadly, there’s
no official Arf Society CDs from last year’s Zappanale, but Italian band Fattore Zeta has released its set from
the festival on a new CD called Dio Fa…coming
soon: new book, Beefheart: Through The
Eyes Of Magic, by John “Drumbo” French (http://www.propermusic.com/epk/teaser/vol1.html)...listen
to Gail Zappa & Joe Travers talking about Lumpy Money (“...and
maybe a little something special on the side”? Yeah, there is fer sure:
a Frankly Valarie excerpt from the currently-being-worked-upon 4tieth
anniversary Ruben & The Jets CD)
on KPFK Radio. It’s all here (fast-forward
one hour to the start, then to around 1:40:00 for the exclusive)…the Unmatched series of Zappa tributos just
got bigger: http://www.halloffame.es/unmatched8-9-10.html
...the small town of Middelburg in Holland has decided to name a square after
FZ in a built-up area named de Mortiere. I think we should lobby to have
something similar in Bognor Regis…read an interview from 2000 with David Ocker (Zappa copyist,
orchestrator, librarian and Synclavier programmer) by J21 at http://www.myspace.com/j21music
...you can get 20 Extraordinary Renditions
from iTunes Plus…electro-poof,
Vince Noir, has bought his parents
one of Don Van Vliet’s paintings –
read all abaht it in The Currant Bun …my
buddy J-Roc wants to share this cool video of Mike Keneally performing in Swindon
with you…Markus Stauss’s Trank Zappa
Grappa In Varese? will have a new live CD featuring Willie The Pimp, Mother
People, The Gumbo Variations, Mom & Dad, Apostrophe and King Kong
out in March. But they can all now be heard officially on Markus’s Fazzul
website at http://www.fazzulmusic.ch/deutsch/t-z-g-i-v.php
...Classic Records have re-released Hot
Rats on vinyl. See here http://www.classicrecords.com/item.cfm?item=RS%206356%2D200GRAM
…Ed Mann’s new CD, Sing Gong 24, is available now from http://www.edmann.info:80/SingGong24.html.
Read an interview with Ed by J21 at http://www.myspace.com/j21music
...you can now order the Frank Zappa And
The Mothers Of Invention In The 1960s DVD direct from Chrome Dreams. And
here’s an in-depth review…for their
special January Sale, www.rockmusicmemorabilia.com
is reducing the price of its Frank Zappa Bath and Knebworth commemorative set
by £10 to just £49.99, and it still includes the special gift of CDs ad DVDs.
This offer is only available in the UK through www.idiotbastard.com. Anyone interested should
either email info@rockmusicmemorabilia.com
or phone 01954 268088…Aynsley Dunbar is “excited
to announce that my first solo CD in many years has just been released. This CD
features many of the biggest rock and blues musicians in the industry today.
There are some new songs and some surprises in there for some of you Journey
and Zappa fans.” It features his cover of Chunga’s Revenge...the Gotan
Project have released a live album that includes another rendition of their
interpretation of Frank’s Chunga’s
Revenge...George
Duke’s new CD, Dukey
Treats (released in August), features
Napoleon Murphy Brock on two tracks, and Vinnie Colaiuta on another two…bassboy Bryan Beller’s second CD, Thanks
In Advance (featuring performances by Mike
Keneally, Joe Travers, Marco Minnemann, Scheila Gonzalez and Steve Vai’s violinist, Ann Marie Calhoun, among many other fine folk), is now out…Mondo Hollywood is now out on DVD. For
those that don’t know, this 1967 film briefly features FZ & the Mothers,
Vito, Rodney Bingenheimer, and Bobby Jameson with his then girlfriend, Gail
Sloatman. Check it out here: http://www.chaletfilms.com/dvd/395-Mondo_Hollywood_ed._Collector.html
...Jack Bruce was intimately
involved in putting together Can You
Follow?, a 6-CD set spanning his career from 1962 to 2003, which of course
features Apostrophe. Now here’s an
extract from a 1992 interview with Jack by Polish rock magazine Tylko Rock regarding his involvement in
said track: “At the time I was recording an album
with Carla Bley, far more interesting one...so Frank, whom I met earlier,
appeared one day in the studio and asked me: “Can you take your cello and go to
my session?” So I turned up in a NY studio with my cello, I’m listening to his
music, pretty awful, and just don’t know what to do with myself, and Frank says
to me: “Listen, I would like you to play a sound, like this... whaaaaaang!!!”
So I did what he asked me to do. Whaaaaaang!!! That was all. That was my input
to Frank Zappa’s most popular record! (laughs)” (Bear in mind that this
was found on Wikipedia, which also claimed that Jan Molby was openly bi-sexual
and that Ronnie Hazelhurst co-wrote Reach
for S Club 7.)…a bust of FZ is to be erected in Baltimore; see http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/local/baltimore_city/bal-zappa0507,0,5047730.story
Gail has said that she supports the project, spearheaded by Zappa fans from
Lithuania. Baltimore’s public art commission has accepted the gift of the
bronze bust, which will sit atop a stainless steel pole. It’s a replica of the
bust that went up in 1995 in Vilnius. GZ says the creators of the bust “have gone about this in the right way, with total respect
for the composer.” Eric Leicus, a Lithuanian resident in Baltimore says:
“A friend who works in the Baltimore Office of
Promotion & the Arts (BOP&A) tells me that various well-trafficked
locations have been denied for placement of the statue because Frank Zappa was not
an appropriate image to have on their grounds. Therefore, its very possible
that the Zappa statue could be put on the outskirts on the city...meaning,
it’ll be put in a place where no one will see it. I’m thinking it should be in
Fells Point Square/Mt Vernon Park or at least somewhere downtown where people
can actually appreciate it.” If you agree, Eric suggests you send an
email to Kim Domanski (public art coordinator for BOP&A, kdomanski@promotionandarts.com)
and tell her that you’d like to see the statue in a highly trafficked/visible
area, and not pushed to the outskirts of the city where no one will see it…My Soul - The Complete MPS Fusion
Recordings, a 4-CD box set comprising George
Duke’s Solus; The Inner Source; Faces In Reflection; Feel;
I Love The Blues…; The Aura Will Prevail; and Liberated Fantasies, has just been
released. Not sure where this leaves the Promising Music remastered
reissues…Wendy Bannister: “We have two of the big original 1971 tour posters
left (with a slightly larger tear than the ones we sold through your site for
£75) for only £45.” Anyone interested should email Wendy on info@rockmusicmemorabilia.com
or phone 01954 268088…Vivid Entertainment plans to release what it says is a
film from the vaults of classic rock: a sex film supposedly of Jimi Hendrix. The film shows a naked
man who resembles Hendrix, but his full face appears on screen for only a few
seconds, with his eyes closed. The film has no audio, but the DVD includes
commentary from two women who believe the tape is real: Pamela Des Barres and Cynthia
Plaster Caster, who says “I’m 100 percent sure
it’s him. The facial bone structure is the same. The eyebrows and the moustache
are true to the style he was wearing in 1970.”…Ray Scherr and Steve Vai are the Executive Producers
of Crazy, a new independent feature
film inspired by the tragic life and music of 1950s-era guitarist Hank Garland. Steve performs a cameo as
Hank Williams…2007 saw the release
of Tony Palmer’s All My Loving DVD. Now, available for
the first time, his All You Need Is Love
has made its DVD debut as a lavish boxed set containing all 17 episodes of the
TV series on 5 discs. This includes interviews with some of the major names of
the past 50+ years including John Lennon, Paul McCartney, Elvis Presley, Jimi
Hendrix, Tina Turner, Bill Graham, FZ and Eric Clapton. the mighty Paul StatusBaby asked Tony about the chances of 200 Motels coming out on DVD. And this
is what he said: “Keep your fingers crossed - we
are doing our best! We have now found the master tapes, so are looking into the
potential contractual problems.” Any extras? “We are still
examining the material, but there might well be an interview with me about the
film’s origins, if only to dispel some of the garbage that has been written
about what actually happened, usually by people who were not there.”…German
label, Promising Music, has gained access to a range of more than 400 titles of
the MPS catalogue and has remastered and reissued Don ‘Sugarcane’ Harris’s Got
The Blues and George Duke’s Faces In Reflection. They may also
reissue George’s I Love the Blues, She
Heard My Cry (featuring Ruth Underwood, Bruce & Tom Fowler, Janet
Ferguson and Johnny “Guitar” Watson), The
Aura Will Prevail (featuring Echidna’s Arf and Uncle Remus), Feel (featuring FZ), and Liberated Fantasies (featuring Napi).
The CDs are packaged in downsize replicas of original LP, with inner sleeves,
an extra booklet with legible reprints of liner notes…I Believe In Music: The History Of The Gross Prophet is a 50-track,
double CD collection featuring tracks recorded by Gross Prophet members before,
during and after their time in the band (1962–1999). The band’s prime line-up
included bassist/vocalist Gerald Sanders of the Tornadoes. The collection
(which includes the FZ-engineered Tornadoes’ track Moon Dawg) has been put together by Greg Russo (with Gerald’s help)
and will be available from Crossfire Publications in May. If you haven’t
checked out the two Tornadoes CDs that Greg put together (Now And Then and Charge Of
The Tornadoes), visit the Crossfire site for more info now…Bright Eye Pictures
has two new DVD releases: Prometheus’
Garden (28 minutes, 1988) is the only film over which Bruce Bickford maintained complete creative control. The DVD
features a commentary track by Bickford, an alternate score by Laird Dixon, and
the half hour documentary featurette, Luck
Of A Foghorn: The Making Of Bruce Bickford’s Prometheus’ Garden, directed
by Brett Ingram. The other is an exclusive release of the new Monster Road “Collector’s Edition” DVD,
featuring a DVD-9 encode for superior image quality, plus the movie soundtrack
by Shark Quest and 15 additional minutes (45 min. total) of extras, including
rare Bickford animation and deleted scenes from the documentary…got a very
sweet email from Frank’s brother, Charles
Robert “Bob” Zappa: “I have been reading - and enjoying - material on your
web site for quite some time and would like to thank you for keeping Frank’s
memory alive for so many of his fans,” he wrote. Guess that makes me Zappa
Family approved? Bob has written a book (Frankie
and Me: Growing Up ZAPPA), but it’s still out on submissions and has not
yet been sold…Claude Nobs and Perry Richardson have just published four
hardback books – Live! From Montreux: 40
Years Of Music From The Montreux Jazz Festival – that include many photos
from the 1971 casino fire…Guitar Center’s Fresh
Cuts Volume 1 CD, featuring Guitar Center employees & more, includes Magic Carolina by Dweezil Zappa, seemingly an excerpt from a ZPZ show of the segue
between two songs by his daddy. Get it on eBay today…in 2007, Marty Smyth released an album of tunes
played on a church organ, called Synchronous,
that includes Peaches En Regalia (http://www.martysmyth.ca/Listen/A39642BC-30AB-49D2-BA57-C54A30CFA358.html)...like
father like son: Dweezil’s version of the mighty Zep’s Stairway To Heaven can be heard on three new-ish releases: Led Box: The Ultimate Tribute To Led
Zeppelin (2008, Cleopatra Records); Rock
Band Classics (2008, Deadline); and Classic
Rock Masters (2008, Deadline). Sounds like Axl Rose on the out-chorus…Pamela Des Barres is “looking for
former groupies or modern girls still hanging with bands for an upcoming doc
based on my last book, Let’s Spend the
Night Together. The bands have to be very well known, sorry! Please send me
a brief note about your exploits,” she asks…watch George Clinton’s P-Funk All Stars rip into I’m The Slime on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Bqf2mPoOns
(thanks to The Amazing Mr Bickerton for that)…Steve Vai has contributed a previously unreleased song to the Musicians For Minneapolis - 57 Songs for the
I-35W Bridge Disaster Relief Effort benefit CD. Without Me is a soaring ballad originally recorded during the Ultra Zone sessions, and features Philip Bynoe on bass, Mike Mangini on drums and Mike Keneally on keyboards…get the
latest DVD (or CD) from Robert Martin
here: http://www.lookgreatnakedatanyage.com/...Phish has released a live album (old
recording: Vegas 96) that includes
their version of Peaches En Regalia…eaders
of T’Mershi Duween may recall Bruno MacDonald (also of The Amazing Pudding Floyd ‘zine)? Well, he’s
written a book with Robert Dimery called Rock
& Roll Heaven (Quintet Books) – about musical icons who have joined the
great gig in the sky…including FZ. Read it and weep.…the artist formerly known
as L Shankar is now Shenkar. His self-produced solo release for Big
Deal Records was released on 25 September 2007 and features guest artists and
musicians such as Patrick Leonard, Natasha Bedingfield, Wendy & Lisa and
former Pussycat Doll, Ana Maria…after Zappa Plays Zappa Phaze II, Dweezil went back to What The Hell Was I Thinking?, “a project I was hoping to finish last year,
after working on it for 14 years. It’s a continuous piece of music that’s also
a 75-minute audio movie featuring 35 different guest guitar players. It’s a
‘Guinness Book’ sort of thing, I guess.” Hoop-la! Meanwhile, Dweezil can be
heard on the soundtrack to the film, Gracie,
playing a song called Bad Intensions
(not the Dr Dre song, one
assumes?). The film, set in 1978, sounds like a Gregory’s Girl/Bend It Like
Beckham teenage girl plays footie type thing...trumpet player Malcolm McNab, who toured with both
Grand & Petit Wazoos, released his first solo album last year, entitled Exquisite - The Artistry of Malcolm McNab,
which includes a cover of The Be-Bop
Tango featuring (among others), Earle
Dumler on bass oboe, Bruce Fowler
on trombone, Ruth Underwood on
marimba and Vinnie Colaiuta on
drums...okay, this didn’t make it onto my CD, but this entry into
WFMU’s Sixty Second Song Remix contest is well worth a listen: http://blogfiles.wfmu.org/KF/2007/01/one/General_Assembly_-_Idiot_Son.mp3...spiffing
news from Mike Keneally: Vai Piano Reductions Vol. 2 is underway.
“We’ve settled on a list of songs for me
to tackle and I’ve started work on arranging Love Secrets for solo piano.
Wicked.” Indeed. If you haven’t got the first volume, what you waiting for,
godammit?...
… RIP Cheryl Ann Jiosne, 5 August 1966-25 August 2010…
21 BURNT WEENY SANDWICHES –
available now!
Contact: disco.boy@blueyonder.co.uk