Frank Zappa & Elsewhere
Hello boys qnd girls! Just q auick note to let you knoz Shqrl qnd I qre currently in Buenos Qires, so posting froñ us zill be light for the next zeek or so. Ze should be bqck zith our regulqr posting qfter the sixteenth of October.
Zish you zere here! Zish my keyboqrd zere here too!
Hqstq luego 🙂
Filmed at the Swiss Cottage Hotel, London, September 2005, from the 2006 DVD documentary “Captain Beefheart: Under Review” (Prism Productions), Gary Lucas discusses working with Captain Beefheart in the early 80s, and the making of the track “Cardboard Cutout Sundown” from the 1982 Captain Beefheart and The Magic Band album “Ice Cream for Crow”, and explains Don Van Vliet‘s “Exploding Note Theory”.
Continue reading “Gary Lucas on Captain Beefheart”
Matt Groening – who once stated “Zappa is my Elvis” – discusses the major influences in his life and work in this 3 part documentary (part 2 focuses on Zappa’s influence on his life and work).
Back on Thursday, July 10th, 2008, I posted “Ron Rutherford — Lone Wolf (Debut Solo Album)” after discovering his music on Last.fm. Being a fan of many of the singer songwriters that came out of the 1970s – Warren Zevon, Neil Young, Bruce Springsteen, JD Souther, Jackson Browne, Loggins & Messina, James Taylor, Steven Stills – I found Rutherford’s mix of Country Rock, Southern Rock and Classic Rock infused with elements of Blues and Pop to be quite refreshing. That Rutherford’s CD was also self produced appealed to my “Do-It-Yourself” ethic.
In this streaming podcast interview from Radio Galactica, Rutherford speaks at length about the emerging independent music industry replacing the old boy’s club of traditional record companies and traditional radio, the meaning behind the songs on ‘Lone Wolf’, and how the internet and internet radio is changing the landscape for independent artists.
The interview is 3 hours long yet well worth the listen. It includes the entire album, ‘Lone Wolf’ for your listening pleasure. I know it was mine.
In 1974, Bill Harkleroad (Zoot Horn Rollo), Mark Boston (Rockette Morton) and Art Tripp III (Ed Marimba) left Captain Beefheart‘s Magic Band to form the new band, Mallard. Ian Anderson (of Jethro Tull fame), a Magic Band fan and friend of Mark Boston, financed their eponymous album, Mallard, which resulted in their signing with Virgin Records UK in 1975. A second album, In A Different Climate, was released a year later. On this second album, George Draggota took over on drums from Tripp, John Thomas took over keyboards from John ‘Rabbit’ Bundrick. These two with Bill Harkleroad, Mark Boston and Sam Galpin were the band that toured Europe and performed the German TV Show ‘Rockpalast’ on September 7th, 1976.
Continue reading “Mallard on Rockpalast, 1976”
The Sancho Plan collective have created an animated short film entitled “The Black Page”. It is apparently quite an ambitious undertaking:
The Black Page is our first true interactive short film & by far our most ambitious project to date. Combining the highest quality musical and visual design, The Black Page is a new entertainment experience in which our live onstage band will control in real-time a cast of onscreen animated musical characters.
The short film tells the tale of a lost wanderer who stumbles into a surreal desert landscape, and learns that the door home can only be opened by an unusual guardian. “Frank Zappa meets Salvador Dali in this unique interactive entertainment experience.”
World premiere: 24th September 2009, Tyneside Cinema, Newcastle UK.
More background here.
The disc contains:
…over 70 minutes of often hilarious but always thought provoking and stimulating interviews with Uncle Frank, during which he speaks eloquently on just about any subject thrown at him. From John and Yoko to the Sex Pistols, his political role in Czechoslovakia to his book, ‘The Real Frank Zappa’, among numerous other topics, this collection, featuring never previously heard recordings, will prove a delight for all Zappa fans as it reveals probably the sharpest brain in rock music at his very best.
Currently priced at £5.99.
Long before Don Van Vliet was considered the Godfather of Punk for his avant-garde approach to music – it was first and foremost his unique blend of psychedelic blues that attracted me to his music. On these early demos, live recordings, and select tracks only found on his early albums (and nowhere else since) is the Beefheart sound distilled to its essential. Listen and decide for yourself:
Continue reading “Beefheart Demos and Rarities”
Just when you thought KUR mixtapes couldn’t get any better. Monster solos. Interviews. Alternate versions. Cover versions. Proto versions. Live versions. Unreleased material. I bring you “Son of Tweezer Glint – Part Two“.
Savour this one slowly, it’ll be up for a month.
Click here to listen to the mixtape.
