Dweezil Zappa – Dodge Theater, Phoenix, AZ

While Zappa Plays Zappa were performing at the Dodge Theater in Phoenix, Arizona on February 26th, 2009, Dweezil Zappa spoke about his early influence – Eddie Van Halen – the day Eddie called up the Zappa family home wanting to meet Frank Zappa – before performing his cover of “Eruption“.

Chat Roulette Piano Improv

Ah, the wonders of Chatroulette: advertised as “instant video-chat” with complete strangers, in my experience it’s mostly a place where young desperate men log on to, erh, yank their crank for all the world to see. That and loads of badly lit, pasty white fat guys with watery eyes wearing day-old underwear. Some fun to be had there too though:

(via Marco)

Frank Zappa — Cynic, Satirist, Social Anthropologist

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:
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Die Beistelltische – Are You Hardcore, Enough?

Die Beistelltische is a German sextet (from Göttingen) that performs Frank Zappa’s music a cappella. In 2007, they contributed a special edit of their a capella version of ‘The Idiot Bastard Son’ to “20 Extraordinary Renditions”, that was released on Cordelia Records. Check out their hilariously funny and offbeat a capella version of ‘Billy the Mountain’ which bounces back and forth between German and English. Are you hardcore, enough?
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Frank Zappa’s Original PMRC Letters

PMRC Envelope

Newish niche blog Letterheady publishes letterhead designs from the rich and (in)famous. The site recently got picked up and linked to by everyone and their grandmother. In the process, it came to light they also had Frank Zappa’s letterhead featured. That’s when Joe Crawford aimed this tweet at KUR, saying we should “blog it!”

Ah, but you see: Letterheady’s source is in fact… killuglyradio.com.
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“Rock ‘n Roll Evening News” with Frank Zappa

On two separate appearances on the “Rock ‘n Roll Evening News” – one on October 11th, 1986 (clip above), and another on November 29th, 1986 (clip below), Frank Zappa explains why most aspects of popular culture (in their case, the 1980s) sucks a rat’s dick, and why nothing new is seldom ever heard or performed on television or radio (AM or FM), as well as speaks his views on drugs, politics, and concerning movements generally.
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Zappa on “Freeman Report” CNN – October 26th, 1981

In this long, five part interview from the October 26th, 1981, edition of the “Freeman Report”, host Sandi Freeman appears mostly well prepared as she asks Frank Zappa open ended questions concerning his views on a variety of topics. For his own part, Zappa is unusually open and honest and personal throughout.
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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.
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