Kill Ugly Radio: Frank Zappa & Elsewhere

Andrew “Idiot Bastard Son” Greenaway and Thomas “Arf! Zappanale” Dippel at Conway Hall, Red Lion Square, London, 10 May ‘08. One for the family album.

Posted in Community, Frank Zappa | No Comments »

Way back in November 2006, we launched The KUR World Tour Book:

Remember those scrapbooks that were passed around when you were a kid? A friend would ask you to write or draw something in his/hers and then you’d give it back. Some of the pages would turn out rather cheesy, while others would consist of really cool doodles or collages.

With positive response from you guys, Sharleena and myself went and bought a (matter-of-fact) rather cheap sketchbook, filled its first pages with some introductory doo-dah, and off it went.

From there on, what can I say, really? Things went good, until they went bad.

The book is lost.

No doubt there’s a Newman in US Postal Services sitting on this book, creaming all over it at the prospect of a quick buck on eBay. Nnnnewman…
Luckily, the last recipient of the book –our good friend SOFA– made pictures of all pages before sending it on. Have a look (flickr link) — be sure to click the “All Sizes button”!

To all of you who received the book, doodled in it, then sent it on, and made it as spectacularly good as it is: you guys rock. Some samples:

Newman? We need to get in touch. I’ll make you an offer you can’t refuse.

Posted in Community, Frank Zappa, Site News, Visual Arts | 8 Comments »

My inbox just about exploded this morning with news that the city of Baltimore is to accept a statue of FZ as a gift to the city:

Until they met last night, some members of the Baltimore Public Art Commission, which voted unanimously to accept the gift of the bronze sculpture - valued at about $50,000 - were also unaware of Zappa’s connection to Charm City.
However, the donors of the bust, who come from much farther afield - in fact, from a nation Zappa never visited - are well aware of his background.

That’d be Vilnius, Lithuania, of course.

Lo and behold: GS “avidly supports placing the sculpture in Baltimore, where her late husband’s quirky views of life fit with the work of such great local artists as John Waters.”…

Posted in Community, Frank Zappa, In The News, Visual Arts | 5 Comments »

Hello and welcome to another episode of “Zappa.com Forums: The Douchebag Edition”. Idiot Bastard Son says:

I have been personally insulted at the Zappa Forum simply for commenting on the inference in DZ’s recent email about the ZPZ DVD re-release. It is actually quite clear. What he said was: “ZPZ’s goal is to capture the attention of a new audience” - not “…one of its goals…“, but “ZPZ’s goal…“. More care needs to be taken if that doesn’t mean it’s ZPZ’s sole goal (which I don’t actually believe it is). I will refrain from commenting further at the Forum: it’s a very hostile place, seemingly now populated by a couple of racist bully-boys.

There’s some cool people posting at the Z forums mind you, but the (real) idiots, it seems, are taking over. Erh… AFFZ, anyone?

Posted in Community, Frank Zappa, In Writing, Zappa Plays Zappa | 17 Comments »

Praise be! This weblog is now Gravatar enabled. Now you too can have one of those unique little personal images next to any comment you post here. All you have to do is sign up for an account with Gravatar, upload your image, and associate it with the email address you’d previously entered to comment here. Next thing you know, your avatar will appear next to your comments — retroactively!

So c’mon: bring out yer Gravatar…

Posted in Community, Site News | 8 Comments »

Next July 5 & 6 ‘08. Organized by Les Fils De L’Invention.

After London & Rome, Paris welcomes the third international conference dedicated to Frank Zappa. A great weekend of debates, spectacle and concerts (special things will happen)

Will have to see if we can make it there! Oh, and I have it on good authority that Thomas Dippel of the Arf Society will be present “to discuss Gail’s actions” — wearing one of these.

While we’re in Sarko-county: props to Zappa In France webmaster Francis Hérard who was present at the first ZFT vs Arf Society hearing and wrote about it here. In French, obviously!

Posted in Community, Frank Zappa, Music | 2 Comments »

As if there were not enough chattering going on in the comments of this weblog, I’ve decided to open up KUR’s mailing list.

If you remember, I originally conceived this list as a one off “announcement only” thingamabob, just so I could notify you guys ‘n gals when the new version of KUR would become available. Meaning: you couldn’t post, you were a passive reader. You poor thing you.

Well… all that just changed. Sign up here, and start posting! Bring on the links, the insightful observations and the superfluous banter.

Members only I’m afraid..

Care to sign up? Try this convenient little form:

Posted in Community, Site News | 3 Comments »

“Critical Mass” - 80.000 (!!!) bicyclist on the streets on the Day Of Earth, Budapest (yeah, I was there, too!); arieal photos by Jason Hawkes, National Geographic. More pics and a small video here, and see also the photographer’s website here.

Posted in Community, Visual Arts | 1 Comment »

Der Spiegel, on the day of the ZFT vs Arf Society/Zappanale trial:
Mother Of Intervention: Zappa Festival Defends Itself from… Zappa.

Quoth Goil Zeepee:

“One of the reasons you file a trademark is to protect the works of a person,” Gail Zappa told SPIEGEL ONLINE in a telephone interview. “I felt we were getting into territory where we were putting the audience at risk in terms of who Frank was. You become concerned.”

Thomas Dippel:

Dippel says that the Zappanale has long tried to get the kind of official rubber stamp that Gail Zappa insists is available. He claims that letters have been sent and that Zappanale people even met with Gail in Amsterdam at the beginning of the 1990s. He also says that he invited the Zappa family — including Gail, Dweezil and Moon — to an unveiling of a Zappa statue that now graces Bad Doberan.

Gail — who refers to the statue as an “impish creature” that “doesn’t look like Frank Zappa unless you argue that putting a moustache on any face looks like Frank Zappa” — says that very little communication has taken place with the Zappanale.

I guess you know where our sympathies lie, right?

Posted in Community, Frank Zappa, Music | 59 Comments »

Barry and I had a very interesting discussion the other day concerning why some Zappa fans also become big Captain Beefheart fans, while some do not. The crux of the biscuit, so to speak, comes down to Beefheart’s appeal, lyrically, since both Frank Zappa and Don Van Vliet are appealing musically. For example, I offer the following live version of Bat Chain Puller from the French Chorus TV show in 1980 (I suggest you turn it up loud, too):

Posted in Captain Beefheart, Community, Music, YouTubery | 8 Comments »