Kill Ugly Radio: Frank Zappa & Elsewhere

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 | 5 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 | 4 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 | 16 Comments »

Stanley Jason Zappa & Nick Skrowaczewski (tenor saxophone & drums), live this evening on WKCR — 9PM Eastern Standard Time. Don’t miss it!
(Hey Stanley, don’t suppose you could sqeeze in It Had To Be You for our birthday girl, could you?)

Posted in Frank Zappa, Music | 3 Comments »

Dweezil Zappa just hit the “Post” button on the latest Z-newsletter. In case you’re not subscribed, some choice quotes:

The [ZPZ] DVD is available at last in stores now and will be available as a 2 disc set and as a special fan pack that includes both DVD discs plus audio (3) CDs of the same material. A single compilation audio CD will also be available separately.

Wonderful, but I think I’ll just stick with the double DVD…

Public television affiliates will be airing a special One Hour show from the ZPZ DVD as one of their highly acclaimed pledge shows in dozens of markets across the US. The first market to take the leap will be Southern California.

An effort to support public TV, well that’s kinda cool…

[...] an exciting opportunity to pledge your best support of your local public station in exchange for the deluxe version that includes Trance-Fusion (FZ’s final Guitar Recording) as well as “One Shot Deal”, the Exciting and New (and Official #83) Frank Zappa release available on CD

Emphasis mine. “One Shot Deal” is said to become available on the ZPZ Tour de Frank and eventually online at Barfko-Swill…

Posted in Frank Zappa, Music, Zappa Plays Zappa | 26 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 | 1 Comment »

The two CDs I ordered from the German label, Promising Music, on April 20th, arrived this afternoon. Talk about speedy delivery. I was expecting 4 to 6 weeks. I was pleasantly surprised to say the least.

To start, everything they say about their reissues is correct: the CD packaging does resemble the gatefold albums of the era, right down to the grooves in the CD, and the vinyl record sleeve itself. Even the liner notes have been recreated and translated from the original German into English for us uni-lingual folks. In the final analysis, though, it’s not what they look like that matters, but how they sound.

Promising Music explains their re-mastering philosophy as such:

Restauration of the basic material as close to the original as possible. We give the integrity of the original sound top priority. By that we rather turn down an extreme reduction of tape noises (e.g. we feel, in case of doubt, leftovers of tape hiss less disturbing than a limitation of the sound transparency), and we edit the acoustic patterns carefully on the basis of original aesthetics (i.e. no “pseudo stereo” sound, no artificial reverbs, no additional compression, no superimposed “modern” sound scapes).

We remastered the original MPS master tapes digitally on a 24bit/88,2kHz level. By this we feel to reach, in comparison to a sampling rate of 96kHz, a more transparent and smooth sound, as the down sampling to the regular 44,1kHz Compact Disc standard runs much more plain and straight.

By this we produce pristine, true-to-original listening pleasure of these precious recordings at highest possible quality — not high tech sterility.

While neither are vinyl records, I use the same test with these CDs as I do with all the vinyl records I purchase: do they possess a deep, warm enveloping sound as opposed to a sound which is harder and more artificial?

Both CDs are excellent remasterings of these early MPS titles. While, admittedly, this was my first listen to Don ‘Sugarcane’ Harris‘ Sugar Cane’s Got the Blues, the electrifying performances recorded at Berlin’s Philharmonic Hall from November, 1971, were rendered richly and vibrantly. I have heard digital copies of vinyl rips of George Duke’s Faces In Reflection, though, and this CD blows those mp3s out of the water. It’s like listening to a brand new album (which it is, in many respects). A joy in any language.

Posted in Frank Zappa, Miscellany, Music | 8 Comments »

KUR reader Mark H. writes in:

Just a little suggestion a friend of mine made about GZ and the ZFT… he says we should cease refering to her as GZ or Gail Zappa and in a petty manner that she deserves she becomes simply “Sloatman”. Try it, it feels good and adds a nice level of disassociation to Frank Zappa. I’m finding I am enjoying his music again… bad taste removed from mouth.

Sloatman. Sloat…man… I’m off to listen to Roxy & Elsewhere!

Posted in Frank Zappa, Heh Heh | 25 Comments »

The last time I entered an independent music store and asked if they had anything by George Duke in stock, the response I received was a very long, dull, blank stare followed by: “George who?” The same goes for the many of the Zappa alumni from the early to mid-70s. It’s as though they’ve been completely forgotten by the present music store owners and their databases. One cannot completely fault them, though, as much of the music from that period is out-of-print, or has never been issued on CD.

Luckily, a small German label, Promising Music, has gained access to a range of more than 400 titles of the MPS catalogue (which is owned by Universal Classics & Jazz, a division of Universal Music GmbH, Berlin/Germany). They have reissued Don ‘Sugarcane’ Harris’s classic Sugar Cane’s Got The Blues and George Duke’s Faces In Reflection, (both of which I have already gleefully ordered) with intentions of reissuing other Duke classics such as ‘I Love the Blues, She Heard My Cry’, ‘Feel’, and ‘Liberated Fantasies’.

All promising music releases are as close to the vinyl original as a CD format can be.

• All discs have black vinyl design (with a groove!)
• All CDs are packaged in downsize replicas of original LP, incl inner sleeves
• All CDs feature an extra booklet with legible reprints of liner notes and all original informations, as well as additional retrospective comments
• The subtle re-mastering is trying to get as close as possible to the warmth of the vinyl originals

Until the CDs arrive, in particular the Sugarcane reissue, I can satisfy myself listening to the five RealAudio excerpts of Don ‘Sugarcane’ Harris available for free download here.

Posted in Frank Zappa, Miscellany, Music | 18 Comments »

I was recently arranging and updating my personal MySpace profile page when I came across these two video gems: Frank Zappa’s “Watermelon in Easter Hay” live with Mike Keneally and the rest of the 1988 band, and The Mike Keneally Band live performing “My Dilemma”.

Frank Zappa: Watermelon In Easter Hay

Mike Keneally

Posted in Frank Zappa, Mike Keneally, Music, YouTubery | 5 Comments »