As afficionados, many of us make the mistake of labeling this kind of introductory information as “obvious” and “duh, nothing new there”. But you know what? I’d love to be that ignorant yet curious fifteen year old kid out there who’s right now reading this post, and clicking that link. In fact, I envy that first, one-of-a-kind thrill of what s/he’s about to discover.

FZ, Popular Music, Politics & A Cheesy Epilogue is a blogpost from killuglyradio.com.

Is it the composition itself that is so appealing? Or the individual parts and players that make up this live performance – it’s Gestalt, so to speak? And is that what transforms initial entertainment into something much, much more?

Mothers of Invention, 1974

Frank Zappa – guitar, vocals
Tom Fowler – bass
Chester Thompson – drums
Ruth Underwood – percussion
Napoleon Murphy Brock – tenor sax, vocals
George Duke – keyboards, vocals

Trouble Every Day – Live In Philadelphia ‘74 is a blogpost from killuglyradio.com.

At the end of this episode, an online test was mentioned which attempts to determine how you behave when online, in animal terms.

Of course, I had to take it. My result:

You are a Web Hedgehog

Slow-moving – Web Hedgehogs are careful internet users, taking their time to find the right information – just as the real-world hedgehog carefully searches out insects and berries.
Solitary – Hedgehogs lead mainly solitary lives and are happiest foraging for food of their own. In the ecology of the Internet, you also prefer to go it alone, rarely relying on information on social networks or other sites whose content is created by its users.
Specialised – The hedgehog relies for protection on its highly specialised ability to roll into a spiky ball. Similarly, your test suggests you are a specialised web user, best suited to concentrating on one thing at a time rather than attempting to multitask.

Yourself?
Test requires (painless) registration and about 20 minutes of your time.

Hedgehog is a blogpost from killuglyradio.com.

Frank Zappa had been referred to as a lot of things throughout his thirty year career – some complimentary (genius, iconoclast, family man) and some not so complimentary (misogynist, anti-semite, misanthropist) – yet all one need do is listen to some of the myriad of interviews Zappa gave during his life (beginning with an excerpt from the Mark Radcliffe BBC Radio 1 Interview, above) and evidence becomes overwhelmingly clear: besides being a musician and composer, Zappa was a life-long cynic, satirist, and a social anthropologist:

Dutch TV Interview – 05 Sep 1984
[Audio clip: view full post to listen]

Innerview Radio Show with Jim Ladd – KMET-FM, Los Angeles, 1976
[Audio clip: view full post to listen]

Ramalama May 1979
[Audio clip: view full post to listen]

Videowest 1980
[Audio clip: view full post to listen]

WPLR-FM New Haven, 1975
[Audio clip: view full post to listen]

As an interesting aside, I was first motivated to research this post when I came across this asinine statement at Zap (dot) com: “Frank Zappa was a mad scientist constantly pushing the boundaries of music, film, and video.” Personally, I find the description of FZ as “a mad scientist” usurps the man’s obvious, profound intelligence and replaces it with an image of cartoonish buffoonery. Makes one wonder what sort of brand they are attempting to create of FZ in the 21st Century?

Frank Zappa — Cynic, Satirist, Social Anthropologist is a blogpost from killuglyradio.com.

In 2008, The Muffin Men – a British band, based in Liverpool, England which primarily plays the music of Frank Zappa – performed at Fairport’s Cropredy Convention, performing such Zappa classics as “Zoot Allures”, “Don’t Eat The Yellow Snow” and “Black Napkins” (above) as well as “Road Ladies“, “San Ber’dino“, and “My Guitar Wants To Kill Your Mama“.

I first became familiar with The Muffin Men through the 2007 Jimmy Carl Black compilation, Where’s The $%&§#@’ Beer? (Crossfire Publications) via the following tracks:

The Indian of the Group (Whitehaven, UK, 16 May 2001)
[Audio clip: view full post to listen]

Captain Beefheart Medley (Whitehaven, UK, 16 May 2001)
[Audio clip: view full post to listen]

Plastic Factory (Whitehaven, UK, 16 May 2001)
[Audio clip: view full post to listen]

and these other tracks:

JCB Interview excerpt with Co de Kloet / Road Ladies (with The Muffin Men, ‘Siesta Studios’, Almere, The Netherlands, 28 Apr 2001)
[Audio clip: view full post to listen]

World’s Greatest Sinner Medley (The Muffin Men, The Torrington Finchley London Pub, 25 August 2002)
[Audio clip: view full post to listen]

What I find so refreshing about The Muffin Men is that since their formation in 1990, they have not performed as a direct cover band in the respect of playing note for note. Rather much as Zappa, himself, they use Zappa’s compositions as guide line by which they craft the own styles of music. I mean, if you want to hear the original, go to the source – yet if you wish to hear what brand new variations are possible within the context of Zappa’s compositions, The Muffin Men are an excellent point of exploration.

In 20 years of operation they have featured no less than six original Zappa band members. Along with Jimmy Carl Black, they have performed with Don Preston, Bunk Gardner, Ike Willis, Napoleon Murphy Brock, and Mike Keneally.

Check out their site, listen to a podcast, or even buy a CD or a DVD.

The Muffin Men

roddie gilliard: guitar, bass (2001/02/08)
carl bowry: guitar (2001/02)
mike smith: keyboard, saxes, vocals (2008)
martin smith: trumpet (2001/02)
andy frizell: bass, sax (2001/02)
tilo pirnbaum: drums (2001)
jimmy carl black: vocals and percussion (2001)
ian jump: lead guitar, vocal (2008)
paul ryan: drums, vocals (2008)
andy jacobson: keyboards, vocals (2008)

The Muffin Men @ Fairport & Elsewhere is a blogpost from killuglyradio.com.

… that was Flemish band The Boonx, as produced by my good friend and longtime musical compadre Franky Drappier, who also shot the video above – on a shoestring budget, I might add. Aside: at around the 1:40 mark you may ask yourself: do I know that voice?

The Boonx is, at its best, a 13 piece band whose spicy mix of soul and funk really shines when played live. Listen to more of their music here. Anyone interested in providing gigs (or record deals!)? They’d love to hear from you.

The Boonx: Citizen D is a blogpost from killuglyradio.com.

Our pal Tommi from StageCraft Entertainment has put together a deluxe “Musik & Mythos” Box. It harbours exquisite quality prints of our 12 chapter illustrations, as well as the book itself, encased in what I can only describe as a wooden box of pandora:

There’s only ten of them, five of which have already been sold — contact Tommi if you’re interested in obtaining one.

Tom Waits: Musik & Mythos Box is a blogpost from killuglyradio.com.

Take these six tracks that I have excerpted from the October 29th, 1978, Palladium show, for instance. “Watermelon In Easter Hay” opens up this concert, yet after it’s official release on Joe’s Garage it almost always ends every show. This evening’s particular version of “Watermelon” has an immediate energy as opposed to future versions which are more melancholy. Of particular interest is the interaction between Ed Mann on percussion and Vinnie Colaiuta on drums on “Black Page #2” and “Twenty-One“, as well as Vinnie’s workout on an earlier version of “Zeets“. Versions of the “Black Page #2” performed by Chad Wackerman and Terry Bozzio also pop to mind. The last two tracks, “Yo Mama” and “Packard Goose” show Zappa and band in top form. All these tracks, in my opinion, would be at home on the YCDTOSA series. Perhaps two more discs of tracks added from Zappa’s Palladium run of shows. Why not? That’s still a mystery to me, quite frankly.

For your critical enjoyment:

Watermelon In Easter Hay – Palladium, October 29th, 1978
[Audio clip: view full post to listen]

Black Page #2 – Palladium, October 29th, 1978
[Audio clip: view full post to listen]

Twenty-One – Palladium, October 29th, 1978
[Audio clip: view full post to listen]

Zeets – Palladium, October 29th, 1978
[Audio clip: view full post to listen]

Yo Mama – Palladium, October 29th, 1978
[Audio clip: view full post to listen]

Packard Goose – Palladium, October 29th, 1978
[Audio clip: view full post to listen]

Anatomy of a Field Recording is a blogpost from killuglyradio.com.

Born in El Paso, Texas, of Cheyenne heritage, Jimmy Carl Black’s trademark line, “Hi Boys and Girls, I’m Jimmy Carl Black, and I’m the Indian of the group” followed him throughout his music career. On several Mothers albums he was credited as playing “drums, vocals, and poverty”. The last credit, “poverty” seemed to follow Black’s career as it did many bluesmen of his day like a curse.

Jimmy recorded sparingly on small record labels, and when he did play (in an era of Superstar acts filling arenas), he made his living as a working musician, night in, and night out in the Texas bars with which he was so familiar – especially after the breakup of the original Mothers, and the short lived band he named after his son, Geronimo Black (after it’s breakup he took a job making donuts to feed his young family).

Still, music was never very far away from Black. When he moved to Austin, TX, meeting English singer Arthur Brown and forming the painting company “Gentlemen of Color“, the duo also recorded an album of classic R&B songs, ‘Black, Brown and Blue‘, and performed together.

Certainly, Jimmy never achieved the riches Zappa had once so eagerly promised if he performed Zappa’s music, and not even the same modicum of fame as Zappa had acquired – yet one thing is for sure, Jimmy was much, much, bigger than life and one of the greatest bluesmen of his time. His recordings available from Inkanish Records certainly attest to this.

In the following two video clips, Jimmy Carl Black performs “The Indian of the Group” with the Muffin Men, Live at the Cavern 2002 [which also appears on JCB's Where's the $%&#@ Beer?] and “Brown Shoes Don’t Make It” with Sandro Oliva live in Roma 2007 at Teatro Ambra Jovinelli – celebrating 40 Years in the Music Business:

Note: This Xmas, in honor of Jimmy, make sure you finish all your beer.

The Indian of the Group – Jimmy Carl Black is a blogpost from killuglyradio.com.

The other day, while organizing music tracks, I happened across several versions of “Sleep Dirt” by other artists as well as a live version by Frank Zappa from 1975 which has an eerie resonance when one listens to these later cover versions.

Listen for yourself, then decide:

Sleep Dirt – Henry Kaiser & Mike Keneally
- Live at the Freight and Salvage, 2000.
[Audio clip: view full post to listen]

Sleep Dirt – Ed Palermo Big Band
- Iridium Jazz Club, NYC, NY, 12 Dec 2007.
[Audio clip: view full post to listen]

Sleep Dirt – Quintette Gaucher
- Quintette Gaucher Play the Music of Frank Zappa, 1996.
[Audio clip: view full post to listen]

Sleep Dirt – Zappatistas
- Jazz Festival, Frankfurt, Germany, 3 October 2003.
[Audio clip: view full post to listen]

Sleep Dirt – Frank Zappa
- War Memorial Gym, Vancouver, B.C., Canada, 1 October 1975.
[Audio clip: view full post to listen]

Sleep Dirt Variations is a blogpost from killuglyradio.com.