Month: September 2009

Le Labostrophe Videos

Le Labostrophe is a fellowship between freelance audio/video freak technicians, whose goals are :

– To make available to present-day art makers an original & professional video and/or audio creation, in accordance with their own budget and complementary to their own creative universe;

– To combine on each project the most suitable human resources and work method;

– To contribute to display of artists offering an indispensable alternative to present culture;

– To cause an emulation among its members in order to create Labostrophe‘s own projects.
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Zappanale 20 – Highlights

I’ve recently come across a couple of highlight videos from Zappanale 20. The first (above) is of Project Object featuring the son of the late Jimmy Carl Black, Geronimo Black performing “Cosmic Debris”. The second video (below) is The Grandmothers performing “A Pound For A Brown”. Awesome live material.
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The Tubes, “Young and Rich” Tour, 1976

Michael Cotten, director and coordinator of The Tubes Project, has done a superb job combining still photography and the soundboard recording of The Tubes May 8th, 1976, Buffalo, New York show from their “Young and Rich” Tour.
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Napoleon’s New Album: Pre-Order Now

We reported on Napoleon M. Brock’s new album “This Is What Frank Zappa Heard” a couple of weeks ago. Now you can pre-order with the aid of this handy Word document. As a reminder of what this release is about, a quote:

On August 8th, 1973, Frank Zappa was alerted by his road manager, Marty Perellis, that an incredible band with an extraordinary lead singer was performing downtown to a standing room only audience … and that it might be wise that he come and see this for himself.
When Zappa went to the club and watched the show, he saw a young talent sing, dance, play sax, flute and keyboards, in a manner that clearly made it appear that he was having more fun than even the other patrons in the club.
After two hours of observing and listening to this young man and his very disciplined band of musicians, he introduced himself as Frank Zappa, and the young man introduced himself as Napoleon Murphy Brock. The next words out of Zappa’s mouth were, “You are my new lead vocalist.”

Me thinks Mrs Barry’s Imaginary Publisher is going to want this…

Mike Keneally Interview & Video

Anyone who knows me, knows I’m a big fan of Mike Keneally. His music is so utterly different from anything else that each and every listening is indeed a delight. When his early recordings (which were long out-of-print) were made available for download, believe me, I scooped them up. The words progressive and eclectic only begin to describe this musical renaissance man.
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Beating ‘Beat The Boots’

I subscribe to Google Web Alerts for the term “Frank Zappa”. And so earlier today, this alert turned up:

Beating BTB

Erhm…

Alanis Morissette type irony aside: while the ZFT continues to prohibit us from displaying so much as thumb-nailed album artwork on the discog section, there’s rampant, illegal distribution of official FZ-releases on the net.

Make a sentence, ZFT: “straight”, “priorities”, “your”, “get”… ?

Interview of the Century, 1989

On the evening of December 22, 1989, Den Simms, Eric Buxton, and Rob Samler conducted a four and a half hour interview with Frank Zappa in the comfortable basement listening room of his home in the hills of Los Angeles. In the edited YouTube selection above, and the those that follow, Zappa answers give unique insight into various aspects of the ’88 Band, sources of secret words on tour, and other aspects of Zappa mythology such as “did FZ actually perform with Pink Floyd at the Amougies Festival in Belgium in October 1969?”
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Son of Tweezer Glint – Part 1B

Welcome fellow KUR-meisters to the second installment of the “Son of Tweezer Glint – Part 1B.” In this installment, we hear unique versions of Mothers of Invention songs, the singles, as well as early edits of songs which would see major changes in later remixes. For some, a pleasant trip back to original vinyl collections, while for others, especially new fans of FZ and the M.O.I., a real audio treat. Also in this installment, demo (acetate) versions from Uncle Meat and We’re Only In It For The Money. Finally, a smattering of extended versions, longer edits, and proto versions to give a taste of what is forthcoming in the final four parts of the series.

Click here to listen to the mixtape.

(Note: each part in the series will be up for a two week period. Next installment: September 17th.)

Much thanks to gundamcustom for supplying the much improved audio version of “Dead Girls of London (Van Morrison, vocals)”.