Kill Ugly Radio: Frank Zappa & Elsewhere

Tweezer Glint: Finale — The Roxy Years 73/74 (Part I) (aka Ruth Is A Sugar Bear — Or, The Continuing Adventures of Marty Perellis)

Between February 1973 and December 1974 Frank Zappa and the Mothers – featuring George Duke, Napoleon Murphy Brock, Ruth Underwood, Ian Underwood, Bruce Fowler, Tom Fowler, Walt Fowler, Jean-Luc Ponty, Don Preston, Ralph Humphrey, Chester Thompson, Jeff Simmons, and Sal Marquez – were almost continuously on the road. During this time, they set the musical foundations for such classic Zappa albums as Overnite Sensation, Apostrophe, Roxy & Elsewhere, One Size Fits All, as well as many of the classic Zappa standards we’ve come to know.

In “Tweezer Glint: Finale — The Roxy Years 73/74 (Part I)“, we hear Zappa songs evolve as his band toured them, some growing from their early proto instrumentals into fully realized versions, while others became more refined with each successive performance; still others act as a showcase for the talents each and every band member. What should be obvious to anyone who listens to these tracks is that Frank and band are having a lot of fun. So are the many and varied audiences. So should you. I know I had a ball putting this one together. A fine way to end the series, methinks.

Click here to listen to the mixtape.

Note: Parts two and three will be posted in two and four weeks, respectively. I wish to thank Charles Ulrich’s analysis of the 1973-1974 bands at Planet of My Dreams for his useful research. This mixtape would be much, much less than it is if not for his efforts.

Happy Festivus, Xmas, Chanukkah, Kwanzaa, whatever, everybody!!!

Ray & Ike Reunite On Upcoming Project/Object Tour

Check out Project/Object’s winter tour schedule. Ike Willis and Ray White will be touring together for the first time in over 25 years:

The 1984 tour ended on Dec 23, 1984, Universal Ampitheater, Universal City. Since then, as you well know, Ike Willis has toured with Project/Object for nearly 15 years, and in that time Ray White has performed with us a handful of times in San Francisco and at Festivals around the country. Those occasions remain the only times these legendary performers have shared the stage since Zappa Tour 1984. Now… we bring you an opportunity to see them on an exclusive New Year’s/Holiday tour with Project/Object.

More at Project/Object’s wonderfully re-designed website.

The Rondo Hatton Report #1

As announced back in October, the inaugural edition of The Rondo Hatton Report is now available for download. Topics explored are:

• King Kong: A Conversational Analysis – Paul Carr & Michel Delville
• The Bard Of Baltimore – Kanguy Chow
• Zappa’s Music Is a Sphere – Guillaume Dauzou & Sabrina Bergamin
• Author/Recipient Relationships in FZ Movies – Manuel de la Fuente
• My Dogs Are Barking – Andrew Greenaway
• Trouble With Pigs And Ponies – Andy Hollinden
• FZ And The English Language – John Loska
• When Zappa Played Like Coltrane – Philippe Mérigot
• La Dérive Uncle Meat – Didier Mervelet
• Waxing Lyrical; Why I Love Frank – Sarah Moore
• Isn’t It Romantic, Punky? – Simon Prentis
• Frank Zappa Versus the People – Pacôme Thiellement
• Are You Hung Up? – Hugo Vanneck
• On “Oh No” From Weasels Ripped My Flesh – Ben Watson

Direct link to the PDF.

Happy reading, and happy holidays!

Phones In C

On This Day

• Thomas Dippel announces Jean-Luc Ponty & His Band will be playing Zappanale 2010!
• Paul Carr publishes a new paper on FZ and The Big Note concept.
• In Baltimore, 69 years ago, a boy was born who would soon be playing very mediocre drums for a while, produce fake porn soundtracks, have a short failed carreer designing greeting cards, and play music on a bicycle. Luckily that was just the beginning!

Emil Richards About Lumpy Gravy

From a documentary by the Wrecking Crew, – originally found on Dweezil’s (relatively) new homepage. A nice story, huh?

The Jack and Jim Show

Eugene Chadbourne and Jimmy Carl Black – the principle members of the Jack and Jim Show – perform a cover of Captain Beefheart‘s “Dropout Boogie” (first clip, below) at The Pit Inn, Shinjuku on June 6th, 2008 (available on their CD, Pachuco Cadaver), and a cover of the song, “One More Road To Cross” (second clip, below) from their 2007 DVD, The Jack & Jim Show: Live at the Stone, NYC.
(more…)

Blow Your Harmonica, Son

See some more covers here.

Tom Waits: Musik & Mythos Box

Kids, if you’re not into Tom Waits, I suggest you skip reading this entry altogether. If you are though — or if you like the way Sharl and I illustrate — you may want to read on.
(more…)

Anatomy of a Field Recording

One of the most interesting things about acquiring Frank Zappa field recordings is that after a certain point of collecting and listening to them, one reaches a point of critical mass where particular questions keep popping into one’s mind again and again. How would an earlier version of a song sound with a particular drummer? Violinist? Percussionist? Or from an ensemble from a completely different era? I mean, after a point, the sheer number of individual versions of songs becomes quite incredible.
(more…)