Kill Ugly Radio: Frank Zappa & Elsewhere

Here’s a nice documentary on Jethro Tull (57 minutes), from 1979, which is a very fine year from them - got Bursting Out, right?

Want some more? Okay, a concert from 1978: Madison Square Garden. Some more??? Okay, make your choice here!

Posted in Interview, Music | 12 Comments »

A tiny snipplet from an interview, and a bit of The Black page, possibly from the Milan show (not the best audio quality, though).

“The bad businessmen may save the world, by accident!…”

Posted in Frank Zappa, Interview, Music, Politics, Religion | 2 Comments »

I picked up this unique duet album the other day, Raising Sand with Robert Plant and Alison Krauss. The album was produced by the legendary T-Bone Burnett. Any preconceptions I might have had regarding Plant’s ability to perform “roots music” was blown away after my first listen to this CD. Check out this video of “Please Read The Letter” and judge for yourself:

Posted in Interview, Music, Pop Cult, YouTubery | 11 Comments »

Ivo Niehe met with FZ back in ‘91 for his TV-show which, in veritable Dutch-like “why-be-humble” tradition, was entitled “The TV Show”. Credit to Balint’s zappa.hu for fishing this one out of the YouTube pond! Enjoy the next fifteen minutes of your life:

Part two:

Posted in Frank Zappa, Interview, YouTubery | 25 Comments »

By the time this interview was recorded in 1978, Duke had recorded and toured with Jean-Luc Ponty, Frank Zappa, Cannonball Adderly, Stanley Clarke, and Billy Cobham — covering jazz, rock, and everything on the spectrum in between before heading in a more straightforward funk direction with 1977’s Reach For It and its 1978 follow-up Don’t Let Go. Duke openly admits in this interview of trying to avoid being pigeonholed in any specific genre, and has a lot to say about the state of music in the late 1970s. Indeed, his views are as relevant today as when they were first recorded.

Click here to hear the whole interview.

Note:

‘Whatever happened to Shuggie Otis?’ is the only unanswered question in this interview. As you know, Shuggie Otis played Bass on Frank Zappa’s song “Peaches En Regalia”, from his “Hot Rats” Album.

Posted in Interview, Miscellany, Pop Cult | 3 Comments »

In this two part audio interview, DLTSP chats with Mike Keneally about his early influences, his love of progressive music, learning to play the entire Gentle Giant catalogue, Drop Control, joining Frank Zappa’s band, the realities of being in Frank Zappa’s band, DethKlok, the power of performing live, his current release “Wine and Pickles”, Radio Keneally and more.

Part 1, Part 2.

Posted in Bizarre, Interview, Mike Keneally, Miscellany | 3 Comments »

Not sure if I’ve posted this before, anyway, here’s a BBC documentary on The Captain, narrated by the late great John Peel. Part one:

Parts two, three, four, five, six.

Via MetaFilter.

Posted in Captain Beefheart, Interview, Movies, Music, YouTubery | 10 Comments »

Philip Marion writes:

A wonderful cultural archivist, metaphysical snake-oil salesman, antiquarian ne’er-do-well, and star of the end of the VHS version of “Baby Snakes” Gerry Fialka interviewed Bruce Bickford recently after the showing of FZ’s Bickford film at the silent movie theatre in LA.

Part one:

Parts two, three, four, five. Thanks, Phil!

Posted in Frank Zappa, Interview, Movies, Visual Arts, YouTubery | No Comments »

Any fan of The Tubes will seriously enjoy Ultimate Guitar’s interview with Roger Steen entitled, “The Tubes: Bizarre Is As Tubes Does”. Steen speaks of the band’s beginning in Pheonix, Arizona, their move to San Francisco in the early 1970s, and the band’s unique mixture of sounds and styles:

When we were first starting in the 60’s, my group of friends were not only listening to the radio, but also to original blues and jug-band recordings. We incorporated all these rootsy flavors with Motown, Hendrix, Cream, Zappa. When we all lived together in San Francisco, the influence came heavily from Beefheart, Mahavishnu Orchestra, Return to Forever, Mile’s Bitches Brew.

Click here for the rest of the interview.

Posted in Interview, Miscellany, Music | 1 Comment »

A few months back Just a week ago, Andrew Greenaway did an interview with Jimmy Carl Black. Despite health problems, Jimmy’s in good spirits, performing with The Muffin Men and recording with various other artists across Europe. Just one project he’s worked on:

The CD is called The Jimmy Carl Black Story. It is due out anytime. I basically went into the studio one night and told my life story. It took me about one and a half hours to do it. He [Jon Larsen - ed.] then used some blues players from Oslo and also some of the guys from the Strange News CD for the background music.

Jimmy won’t make it to Zappanale this year, but has already set his mind on next year’s edition. Which is cool, since Sharl and I won’t be able to make it there either this year, for reasons that we may well expound upon at a later date. Read the whole article here.

Posted in Frank Zappa, In Writing, Interview, Music, Personal | 11 Comments »