Pics: The Old Masters Box

Here are some pictures of the Old Masters Box I, from FZ In Hungary. Have you ever seen one of these?

The thing that is really interesting to me is the fact that it tells the story of the re-recorded tracks (We’re Only… Ruben), and indicates the names of the new musicians as well as the “old ones”. This is new to me, since the story was (or as I’ve always heard it before) that it all happened almost secretly.

Judging from these pictures this “Old Masters” must have been a fun thing – and while watching the pictures I”ll keep on looking for some Youtube clips to attach. 😉

Later that night: pictures of some Hungarian freaks going to (West-) Berlin to a concert in ’88… 1| 2 | 3

Win An Original Frank Zappa Framed Print

No less than 20 hours after I posted this tweet, photographer Deborah Chesher (previous coverage) wrote:

Right now I’m running a free contest on my blog that I thought you might want to let your readers know about because the grand prize is a framed silver gelatin print of Frank Zappa backstage in Vancouver ’74 (currently selling for $300).

Have a look at the grand prize and be sure to check out the contest!

Musik & Mythos Giveaway!

Update: Contest closed! Winners to be announced shortly — stay tuned…

Now that the book is finally up for sale, Sharl and I are giving away:

A/ one copy of Tom Waits: Musik & Mythos, the book, along with one set of twelve postcards, and
B/ six sets of twelve postcards.

Click image to enlarge:
Tom Waits - Musik & Mythos

To enter the competition, simply post a comment answering the following three questions:

1. Name an artist who covered a Tom Waits song, and name the title of the song itself.
2. Mention your favorite Tom Waits song.
3. How does one say Good Morning in German?

The contest starts now and remains open until Wednesday April 1st, 6pm Western European Time, upon which an innocent hand will draw the winners — not to worry: there will be video! Ladies and gentlemen: start your engines…

Remember That Baltimore Bust?

Back in May 2008, KUR was notified of the fact that an FZ statue donated by the state of Lithuania, risked being put on the outskirts on the city of Baltimore — “because Frank Zappa was not an appropriate image to have on their grounds.”… meaning- it would be put in a place where no one would see it.

FZ baltimore statue

Quoth Lithuanian and Baltimorian Eric Leicus:

I’m thinking it should be in Fells Point Square/Mt Vernon Park or at least somewhere downtown where people can actually see it and appreciate it.

We urged you to mail Baltimore city hall officials, asking for a better spot. Well, lo and behold:

On Wednesday, the commission formally endorsed placing the bust in the quirky Fells Point community. The neighborhood is a major tourist draw known for its nightlife.

Eric writes:

I have a friend who works in Baltimore Promotion of the Arts who said they got a TON of emails from around the world about the location of the statue. So thank you for posting. Between you guys and Zappateers (the other place I posted) I think we really made a difference!!!

I guess we did 🙂

The Tom Waits Book Has Materialized

You’ll remember my going on and on about the Tom Waits book Sharl and I illustrated. Ah, well a couple of days ago we finally got our copy:

tw 1

The front- and back-cover with some of the postcards.

tw 2

Some more postcards.

It really turned out to be a wonderful book — great attention to detail, typography, paper choice as well as an excellent print job. More, larger pictures are available here. Call me biassed but Sharleena and I are really proud to have been part of this project.

As of now, the book is available for purchase at the publisher’s site for a mere 15 euro. Place your order fast enough, and you’ll get all twelve chapter illustrations in postcard form shipped along for free!

Tom Waits: Musik & Mythos

It took our pal Tommi Brem and his associate Daniel Knapp two years to translate Jay S. Jacob’s Tom Waits biography, “Wild Years: the Music and Myth of Tom Waits”, into German — Tommi at one point likened it to birthing a baby elephant.

Now, finally, the book is about to be published and ready for pre-ordering.

Tom Waits Illustration Preview

You may remember that Sharl and I were approached to create chapter illustrations for this book, as well as a cover. Given the subject, that turned out to be great fun, despite a near fatal computer crash.

For those interested: if you pre-order the book, you get a free set of high-quality postcards with all 12 illustrations printed on them.

As for Sharl and I: we’re chuffed to have been part of this project! Now if you’ll excuse me, I’ll go camp near the mailbox and await the arrival of my copy 🙂