If you’ve ever wanted to be present at a Zappa rehearsal, to hear the in-jokes, the rough versions of songs, the relentless perfectionism of one merciless BandLeader - well, we’ve got something for you: a day of rehearsals at UMRK, August 12 1981.
Archive for June, 2004
A Day At UMRK
June 11th, 2004 • Barry's Imaginary Publisher
Ray Charles No More
June 11th, 2004 • Barry's Imaginary Publisher
Sad news on a Friday morning: Ray Charles has died, aged 73.
Yoko’s Birthday Card
June 10th, 2004 • Barry's Imaginary Publisher
Birthday cards to the stars. This one, to Yoko Ono, is filled with love: “P.S. I swear, Yoko, if you do anything whatsoever to break up Coldplay, I’m gonna go apeshit. Ya got that? Go break up Blink 182. They suck.”
Another monster (some kind of…)
June 9th, 2004 • Balint
OK, I know, deep in our heart we all love Metallica’s St. Anger - I happen to REALLY like it - and now here’s a great parody of it (I made a corection in the link) - I could listen to it only once, second time I laughed so much, I couldn’t stand it…
And: their new documentary is finally in the movies now (here’s an article about it), so here we have as conceptual continuity: something free to download, a piece of a song, and (some kind of) monster…
Monster Road Hits LA
June 8th, 2004 • Barry's Imaginary Publisher
Those of you who live close to Los Angeles (as opposed to, oh, say Asscrack Belgium) may be interested to know that “Monster Road”, the Bruce Bickford docu, will be screening at the LA Film Festival on June 22 & 24. The normally-reclusive Amazing Mister will be in attendance, and word has it he’ll be offering some of the original clay figures from “Baby Snakes” and other assorted goodies.
Taboo!
June 8th, 2004 • Barry's Imaginary Publisher
Pieces of Songs
June 8th, 2004 • Barry's Imaginary Publisher
“From the openings strains of Heart’s “Barracuda” to the end of The Doors’ “The End”, sometimes there are pieces of songs that are cooler than the song itself.” Okay but… Lionel Ritchie?! Your own favorite “piece of a song”?
Acetate Guitar Solo
June 7th, 2004 • Barry's Imaginary Publisher
The acetate version of WOIIFTM (’68) had quite a different tracklist compared to the subsequent release (see comments for full tracklist). Via Gilles, here’s track 7, rather aptly called: Guitar Solo. (And yes, Gilles, it sounds a lot like “Stinkfoot, The Prequel”)
UPDATE 14/06: I’ve put this track offline to save on bandwidth.
Frank Zappa: The Classic Interviews
June 5th, 2004 • Barry's Imaginary Publisher
From UK based Chrome Dreams comes a new FZ-release: The Classic Interviews. It comprises, guess what, interviews that Zappa did with Guitar Magazine’s Stephen Rosen. As the tapes were not meant for commercial reproduction (they only served for Rosen to write his articles - you can hear a woosh…woosh as the taperecorder rolls), the sound quality leaves, shall we say, something to be desired. But who cares! It’s great to actually hear Frank speak in that low, slightly smug, curmudgeonly voice of his, talking about xenochrony, flangers, fuzz, Oberheim small amps, Mod-o-fied Les Pauls, dbx compressors and the like, throwing around some of the quotes that have since started a life of their own (”the hardest thing for me to do is play straight up and down…”). The CD is accompanied by a 16 page booklet with some rare FZ photos and a peculiar foreword written by Rosen. In all, if you’re a Zappa-fan, you’ll need this one in your collection…
Columbus ‘70 Pt. II
June 4th, 2004 • Barry's Imaginary Publisher
Hey, who said the Friday boot should be available as of 9am? Here’s part II of the Nov 70 Columbus gig. Flo & Eddie - it’s something of an acquired taste, I suppose.
Medium Cool
June 3rd, 2004 • Barry's Imaginary Publisher
Tonight, at 23:50 GMT, BBC2 is broadcasting Medium Cool (’69), a movie which may ring a bell with FZ-fans as it features quite a few Zappa songs (Oh No, Are You Hung Up, Who Needs The Peace Corps, to name but a few). Patrick Neve had this to say about it: “Admittedly, the plot thins as the action kicks in, but this is the best blurring of genres I’ve ever seen. Add to all of this a soundtrack with heavy doses of Mothers music. I seem to remember a scene with some people getting the shit kicked out of them in the street and you hear Zappa’s ‘I will love the police and they kick the shit out of me in the street…’”
Howl!
June 2nd, 2004 • Barry's Imaginary Publisher
America, you’re silly. I think you’re chronologically 12.
Psychosis, America you’ll choke on your own Exxon mine.
America I miss Abbie Hoffman. Thomas Merton and Dorothy Day. Peter Maurin and Mitch Schneider.
–America - a tribute to Allen Ginsberg
Got Your Mojo?
June 2nd, 2004 • Barry's Imaginary Publisher
As you may know, there was a large article on Frank Zappa in Mojo Magazine last January. With many thanks to thebignote honcho Magic Fingers, here it is now in all of its warts ‘n all scanned glory: pages 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11. Happy printing!
King Mandolin Kong Mandolin
June 2nd, 2004 • Barry's Imaginary Publisher
Frank Zappa but not as we know it (Jim): the Melonious Quartet plays King Kong. With mandolins. (Superfluous aside: read the title of this post out loud twice, and you get the rhythm of King Kong’s leitmotiv 
Listen again…
June 1st, 2004 • Balint
For Barry’s freeloaders (hehe): on the homepage of the BBC you can listen again a 3-part documentary on FZ. Is it the december program from Jazz File? I’m not sure.
Fun Diversions
Zappa Related
- Arf Dot Ru
- Arf Society
- Balint’s Zappa In Hungary
- Bogus Pomp
- Chrome Dinette
- Crush All Boxes
- David Ocker’s Mixed Meters
- FredUnzel
- FZ Lyrics
- Here Comes The Flood
- Jazzappa
- Lamarr Bruister
- Naurin’s FZ Shows
- Planet Of My Dreams
- Planet Zappa
- Planeta Zappa
- Project/Object
- The Grande Mothers
- The Idiot Bastard
- The Scott Thunes Effect
- Ugly Radio Rebellion
- United Mutations
- Zappa In France
- Zappa In Germany
- Zappa In Holland
- Zappa In Sweden
- Zappa Internet Jam
- Zappa Patio
- Zappa Scrapbook
- ZappaLinks.co.uk
- Zone Luco
