The Mar Vista Philharmonic – No Forest Fire

MarVista[1] copy

Any fan of Tommy Mars‘ improvisational keyboards and scat filled solos within such classic Zappa compositions as “Pound For A Brown (On The Bus)” or “Little House I Used To Live In” will absolutely love the four tracks (“No Forest Fire”, “Prison Bush”, “Bitches Castle”, and “Here, George”) which make up The Mar Vista Philharmonic CD, No Forest Fire.
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Zappa’s Universe — Revisited

Zappa’s Universe (the album and video of the same title) documents the big tribute concert thrown for Frank Zappa over four nights (November 7-10, 1991, although the footage on the album and video are from the first two nights), organized by conductor Joel Thome, who assembled the Orchestra of Our Time at the Ritz in NYC. Mike Keneally and Scott Thunes were joined by other ex-Zappa sidemen Steve Vai, Denny Walley among many others including Frank’s son, Dweezil Zappa.

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Frank Zappa and Charles Bukowski

Kuiper en Berbée perform Charles Bukowski‘s poem “The Machinery of Loss” at the Leiden Poetry Festival on June 7th, 2009, accompanied by a medley of music by Frank Zappa, performed by Renk Jan Vissers (violin) and Ton Schijvens (drums and typewriter). Kuiper (the woman)= Klaas Bolhuis, Berbée (the poet)=Wilco Maas.
Technician: Lamp Wouda.

As a writer and a Zappa freak, I can certainly dig this — I mean, who else hasn’t dreamt of playing the Black Page on their manual Underwood or Smith Corona?

Ed Palermo Big Band – Live & Kicking

Anyone who knows me, knows my affinity for Big Band Zappa, so whenever I get an opportunity to hear Ed Palermo Big Band arrangements of Frank Zappa’s compositions, it’s a real treat. Today was no different, when I uncovered Palermo’s February 6th, 2009, show at Five Towns College, Dix Hills Performing Arts Center, Dix Hills, NY (with guests Napoleon Murphy Brock, Bruce McDaniel, and John Tabacco) available for download.

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Tom Waits — Early TV Appearances

In the above clip, Tom Waits appears on Fernwood 2 Night, a parody talk show, hosted by Barth Gimble (Martin Mull) and sidekick/announcer Jerry Hubbard (Fred Willard), created by Norman Lear as a spin-off/summer replacement from Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman. The show ran from July 4th, 1977 to September 8th, 1977. On it, Waits performs “The Piano Has Been Drinking (Not Me)” from his 1976 Elektra/Wea album, Small Change.

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