Meeting Zappa

Two college kids get to interview FZ. Exciting! All goes moderately well, and then…

Frank held the album with both hands and glared at it with his beady, black eyes. Clouds of what looked like dry ice vapor seemed to be coming out of his ears.
“Mistah Zappa wanna buy that record from you,” Smothers rasped in my ear.
“That’s a really great album, Frank!” my clueless, yet status-seeking friend remarked.
“How much ya want for it?” Zappa monotoned.

Hicks Loses It

WFMU has mp3’s of Bill Hicks’ “Loses It” show. When Hicks goes after some hecklers, Michael Richards will need to take some notes…

the “Bill Loses It” show also serves as a reminder of how much has changed since 1989. If Hicks had given this performance in a post 9/11 America, he would’ve faced far worse than Michael Richards did when he lost it onstage. Hicks might’ve been deported or jailed.

Mama MOFO: Wowie Zowie!

The 4 Disc MOFO arrived this morning at around 8, when a postal worker rang the doorbell saying he had a special delivery. Standing in the doorway in the freezing cold waving an oversized package at me, it soon became clear what was special about it as far as the post office was concerned: a 10 euro customs fee needed to be paid. Doctor Sharl and I proceeded to dig out what coins we had left — it took a mere 10 minutes — upon which I was granted The Package.

mama-mofo.jpg

We’re now some 9 hours later (and back from work duties): all four discs have been imported into iTunes, I’m listening to disc one (the original! stereo! vinyl! mix!) and by golly, the sound is just gorgeous — wonderfully crisp overall, in treble as well as bass. This coming from a guy who does not see the point in keeping lossless audio as he thinks mp3 will do just fine. I’ve yet to hear the other 3 discs but I thought it would be nice to post some pictures of the lavish packaging for the curious and/or nay-sayers among you. Pardon the image quality — we’ve yet to acquire a professional grade photo-studio here at KUR…

Tiny Lil’ Update:

mofo-compostions.jpg

Compostions?

Is There A Hungarian In The Audience?

Robin Slick, published novelist, raging liberal, and mother of 2/3 of “the Adrian Belew Power Trio” asks: Okay, Who Knows Hungarian?

Here’s an article about me where I am strategically placed between Pamela Des Barres, Marianne Faithful, Bebe Buell, and Germaine Greer! But for godsakes, it’s in Hungarian and so not only am I unable to translate it, there are no free on line services which will do it for me…

Why that’s a job for BalintMan if ever I saw one!

The Frank Zappa Memorial Fund

The Frank Zappa Memorial Fund:

The American Library Association’s (ALA) Office for Intellectual Freedom and the Freedom to Read Foundation have been designated by the Frank Zappa family as among the organizations to receive contributions made in his memory. The Foundation leads efforts to stop censorship wherever it arises by defending First Amendment freedoms in court and providing legal and financial help in cases involving libraries and librarians, authors, publishers and booksellers.

The AAAFNRAA Birthday Bundle

Ian Stonehouse spotted an oddity available on iTunes UK: “The Frank Zappa AAAFNRAA Birthday Bundle”. It was released December 15 and consists of the following recycled and new (?) tracks:

  1. Trying’ To Grow A Chin – FZ
    (Live ’76) Sydney, Australia 1-20-76
  2. Dead Girls of London – FZ
    (Live ’79) – Odeon Hammersmith, London 2-79
  3. You Are What You Is – FZ
    (Live ’80) 12-11-80, Santa Monica Civic Auditorium
  4. Bamboozled By Love – FZ
    (Live ’88) 5-8-88, Wein, Austria
  5. Fine Girl – FZ
    (Remix) 8-20-86 UMRK Remix by FZ with Bob Stone
  6. Girlie Woman – Diva Zappa
  7. When The Ball Drops – Diva Zappa
  8. Bring It Back – Ahmet Zappa
  9. Feel How I Need You – Ahmet Zappa
  10. Rhythmatist – Dweezil Zappa
  11. Everyone Is Going Mad – Moon Zappa & Jellybird

iTunes link for the curious…

Update: more info available at zappa.com, and entry above updated accordingly. Apparently “all tracks are previously unreleased (except #8 which is from DZ’s latest album, Go With What You Know.)”