Status Back Baby

If you haven’t already, we still urge you to sign the petition regarding the ZFT’s recent “Aggressive Actions”. 1208 signatures at this time of writing — not too shabby for a petition that’s been online for 4 days, but the more the merrier, obviously. You’ll find yourself in the company of such illustrious names as Jon Naurin, Robert Kevorkian, Don Preston, Jimmy Carl Black, Nigey Lennon and Candy Zappa.
For those of you who wish to be kept abreast (now there’s a wonderful expression): there’s a direct link to the petition at the right of this page. See that little banner with Dr Sharl’s hand waving at you? Indeed.

Meanwhile, these litigations have been gaining interest on several weblogs who specialize in intellectual property and fair use. Couple of links:

Now, when people who are actually knowledgeable in this particular legal field begin to express their doubt as to the validity of the ZFT’s claims, that has to mean something, right?

In other news, a couple of new-ish DVD releases, available on Amazon:

How questionable are these? You tell me.

Boy, I sure hope the ZFT won’t crack down on Amazon.com! :D

New Official Release: Zappa Wazoo

zappa-wazoo.jpg

See and listen to the intro, check the details: $30, “Available Almost Immediately”, now available at Barfko-Swill where a little more information is posted: “Grand Wazoo/Hot Rats/M.O.I 20 Piece Band – 1972”.

Update Nov. 3rd: Zappa Wiki Jawaka has all the info you need. Liner notes:

“This concert was recorded live at Boston Music Hall in Boston, Massachusetts on 24 September 1972. These stereo masters were digitally transferred from FZ’s Ampex ATR 100 deck into Nuendo at 96 K 24 bit by Joe Travers using Euphonix AM 713 Converters – in April 2007. …this concert had a slightly different original dynamic in that Big Swifty followed Greggery Peccary. Due to disc space we resequenced the program to maintain the integrity of the performance.”

Disc One

  1. Intro Intros
  2. The Grand Wazoo (Think It Over)
  3. Approximate
  4. Big Swifty

Disc Two

  1. “Ulterior Motive”
  2. The Adventures Of Greggery Peccary
  3. Movement I
  4. Movement II
  5. Movement III
  6. Movement IV – TheNewBrownClouds
  7. Penis Dimension
  8. Variant I Processional March

Happy Halloween! :)

Big Trouble In Little Zappa Straße

Remember this? The naming of Zappa Straße is rapidly turning into a classic Gail Zappa vs The Rest Of The World type event:

This Saturday, the city of Berlin will dedicate a street to the memory of Frank Zappa. But Gail Zappa, wife of the late rock iconoclast, has threatened to sue the musicians’ collective behind the naming unless Germany’s formally-chartered Zappa fan club withdraws from the event.

Who’s right, who’s wrong?
Here’s Ed Mann‘s opinion, as I received it via email:
Continue reading “Big Trouble In Little Zappa Straße”

ZPZ DVD Previews

Zappa.com’s what’s new section really needs permalinks, because I can’t link to any entries directly. Which is why I’m copying them here:

* * *
ZPZ DVD Previews, Posted 03 July 2007

Ladies and Gentlemen, for your audio & visual gratification the upcoming Zappa Plays Zappa DVD proudly presents these delights:

Continue reading “ZPZ DVD Previews”

Zappa Plays Zappa ’07’s Special Guest: Ray White

As noted in the comments by KUR’s Intrepid Eastern Europe Correspondent Balint, ZPZ’s summer/fall tour will not feature Napoleon Murphy Brock on vocals. Filling the void, guitarist and vocalist Ray White is said to join the tour instead. GuitarWorld Magazine:

Joining the tour this year is Ray White, the vocalist who toured and recorded with Frank Zappa during the period of such albums as Tinsel Town Rebellion, You Are What You Is and Zappa in New York (his is the lead vocal on the song “The Illinois Enema Bandit”).

We’d mentioned previously that playlists would differ by an approximate 70% (pun anyone?). Here’s the nitty gritty on that. Quoth Dweezil:

“What we’re preparing to do for this tour is perhaps even more complex than what we did on the first tour,” says Zappa. “Last year we learned about 40 songs from a very popular period of Frank’s career, and this year we will be learning about 30 more new ones that are somewhat more obscure. The tour will include material from [the albums] We’re Only In It for the Money, Absolutely Free, Weasels Ripped My Flesh, Joe’s Garage, You Are What You Is, The Yellow Shark and much more, including orchestral works.”

This is looking to be very, very interesting — if you ask me…

New Release: Buffalo ’80

What’s new? I’ll tell you what’s new:

fz-buffalo.jpg

Zappa — Buffalo: Vaulternative Records is proud to present another scintillating sojourn in the tour itinerary of stages past. Live 1980 concert. 2 Discs. Replete & Complete. All you need is ears!

$28 a pop. Apart the major site update (made to fit the looks of the ZPZ mini-site), be sure to check the details of the freshly released Buffalo 1980. The barfie-speak email announcement is archived here.

Update: the site’s makeover brings with it quite an interesting video section.

Apostrophe + OverNite Sensation: Making Of (DVD)

Having been aired on (Swedish? Norwegian) TV previously, this Classic Albums episode is shaping up to be a very cool DVD release:

As ever the programme uses interviews, musical demonstrations, rare archive and home movie footage plus live performances to tell the story behind the conception and recording of these groundbreaking albums

DVD extras (not included in the original broadcast):

Full live performances of Montana from the Roxy in 1973 and I’m The Slime from Saturday Night Live in 1976. New full live performance of Camarillo Brillo by Zappa Plays Zappa done specially for this DVD.

New CD Releases From Former Zappa Members

Aah press releases! They make posting here easy as pie. This one comes to us from Crossfire Publications. Bring on the quotation machine:

On the record label front, Crossfire has lined-up rare, archival releases by former Frank Zappa and the Mothers Of Invention members, such as Jimmy Carl Black, Don Preston and Bunk Gardner. When Do We Get Paid?, an archival collection of Jimmy Carl Black “the Indian Of The Group” rarities, was originally released in the UK in 1996. Crossfire head honcho Greg Russo has remastered and re-EQ’d the original recordings making them sound better than ever! The CD also includes three bonus tracks. Other CDs in the Crossfire catalogue include two rare compilations by surf music giants The Tornadoes, Now And Then and Charge Of The Tornadoes (some of the recordings were engineered by music genius Frank Zappa). Crossfire has released the Neonfire CD featuring Candy Zappa (Frank’s little sister), Nolan Porter, Napoleon Murphy Brock (Zappa vocalist extraordinaire) and Andre Cholmondeley (of Project Object) amongst others.

… In the works:

[…] an exciting release schedule for 2007, which includes ex-Zappa frontman Bob Harris’s The Great Nostalgia from 1986, which features guest performances by guitar virtuoso Steve Vai. Nolan Porter has two upcoming Crossfire releases No Apologies and Nolan (containing the Northern soul classics “If I Could Only Be Sure” and “Keep On Keeping On” – these have been in great demand in British clubs for years), whilst sister of music icon Frank Zappa, Candy Zappa’s future Crossfire CD is entitled My Brother Was A Mother.

… And finally:

soon to be available from Crossfire, the legendary Paul Buff’s PAL Studio recordings with Frank Zappa and many others – seven releases in all!

Let’s Move To Cleveland?

Cleveland’s Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum will be featuring a week-long series of events in honour of Frank Zappa, starting February 13.

Several musicians including guitarist Adrian Belew and longtime Zappa sideman Ike Willis will help celebrate his legacy, which includes 60 albums-worth of material. […] Many events are free and open to the public, but space must be reserved.

Is anyone planning to attend any of these? Feel free to say “Yes!” and rub it in… :)