Kill Ugly Radio | Frank Zappa & Elsewhere: Frank Zappa news, weird links, lumpy gravy. Wanna bun?

You’d think I woke up with a hangover this morning following yesterday’s main event, but such is not the case. However I have a sneaking suspicion that Dr Sharleena is planning something for this evening that involves good company, lots of liquor and lots of delicious food as well. You see, there’s simply too much unusual stuff in the fridge (Celery! Père Joseph cheese! Mushrooms!), and the good Doctor has been sporting an enigmatic smile on her face… we shall see…

Anyhoo, on to the show: Atlanta ‘77, Part Two. Enjoy!

Posted in Frank Zappa, Friday Boots, Personal | 5 Comments »

• The RSS feed for this site is now handled through FeedBurner. The transition should not be noticeable for you feed-readers out there though (which is actually what this entry’s testing).
• With the upgrade to WordPress’s latest version, a new spam-filter has been installed which might cause a tiny delay when you hit the “post comment” button. When that happens, there’s no need to hit it again — just wait for the page to refresh. If your comment doesn’t appear at all it’s most probably been flagged and awaiting moderation.
• Further testing of the POS intel iMac indicates the hard drive has indeed Bitten The Big One. Special thanks to KUR-reader and Mac-o-phile Scott Finney who’s been of great help over the weekend. His resolve to try and rescue at least some of the files has left us with one last straw to cling on to (more on that later, perhaps!)…

Posted in Geek, Personal | 9 Comments »

Oh lord, the shit done hit the fan. Our firstgen Intel iMac which we bought in January of this year has decided to commit digital suicide — it went from running perfectly fine to zip, nada, zilch, exorcist style within hours. Upon startup we now get the dreaded flashing folder with question mark. Yes: we have tried starting up from a proper OS X install disk; yes: we have tried hooking up directly via Firewire to another Mac — we do not even get to see the hard disk in both cases. Any Mac guru’s out there that could help us out?

Posted in Personal | 11 Comments »

… about the radio-silence around here in the last couple of days: I’ve sort of had my hands full with this:

More here and here. Any Tom Waits fans in the house, I wonder?

Posted in Music, Personal | 7 Comments »

In response to this comment from someone pretending to be Joe Travers, the real Joe Travers writes:

Only a true asshole zappa fan would go up on a site like this & say that it was me. Do you guys really think I would post comments like that? Do you really think GZ would ever allow something like that from the ZFT? Yeah, I’d really have some job security saying stuff like that. You guys really continue to prove yourselves.

There have been other occasions where a commenter reacted under the guise of Gail, or Dweezil, or Joe (or me for that matter). I tend to leave such comments untouched in cases where it’s obvious that the comment is a non-malicious spoof. When that line gets crossed however, it becomes a matter of identity-theft, and the rules change.
And so, since:

1. nobody wants their name attached to something they did not write, and do not agree with or feel insulted by,
2. it is not my ambition to get into trouble with the ZFT

… I will as of now be deleting any malicious comments from people that do not respect these guidelines. You know I like a good laugh as much as the next guy, but let’s keep it civilized and respectful. Okay?

Posted in Personal, Site News | 22 Comments »

Do you see any in this picture?

I did recently, in Buenos Aires while visiting the Rio de la Plata galleria:

Upon asking Rik, owner of Soundtrack Records, for the price, I hastily ran out of the shopping mall to call KUR headquarters.

- (me) “The price is $200, whaddayathink?”
- (The Boss) “Mmmmh… that’s a lot of money… does it have the beret?”
- “Yes!”
- “Buy it! Why, I’ll donate a kidney if need be!”

I didn’t much like the thought of a one-kidneyed Barry — so I resorted to robbing two enchanting old ladies of their pesos, and kicked a cocacola machine to get some more cash. Mission about to be accomplished…

Here’s Rik The Enabler, checking with me whether the goods are in mint condition (i’ve waited my whole life to say “mint condition”! at last!)

Fast forward to half an hour ago. Barry is running around the house sporting the beret mumbling something about disconnected synapses and swiss cheese while i take some pictures:

I’m a little worried about the foam around Barry’s mouth right now…

Posted in Frank Zappa, Personal, Zappa Imagery | 6 Comments »

I’ll be away from the site for most of the weekend enjoying things like sunshine, beer, and actual human interaction — but in the spirit of Web 2.0 I figured: why not let our readers express themselves any which way they want through the comments. The mike mic is open for any and all as of now. Bring on your stories, your pet peeves and poodle adventures, your must-see websites, your hopes and dreams, or lack thereof.

Oh boy, this is an accident waiting to happen, if ever I saw one. La-dee-da.

Posted in Personal, Randamonium | 14 Comments »

For the next 2 Fridays, Gilles has prepared the following show for you: Vancouver Canada, 1 Oct. 1975. In other news: don’t you find it terribly annoying when the postman rings your doorbell carrying a Very Important Package while you’re in the bathroom, and by the time you get to the door, you find this letter saying you’ll have to present yourself at the post office? Next Tuesday? Yeah, me too.

Posted in Frank Zappa, Friday Boots, Personal | 6 Comments »

This morning has brought some deeply saddening news. David Walley died earlier today at his house in Maine of a heart attack. He was a smart and sweet guy, and a dear friend. Dr Sharl and I wish to extend our heartfelt condolences to David’s family. He will be sorely missed…

Posted in Personal | 1 Comment »

I’m in the middle of another holiday week as you may have noticed. Not much to report really. So far I’ve:

• Fooled a bunch of people into believing a rare Cpt. Beefheart poster had been unearthed,
• Confused some people as to my true identity, which caused The Idiot Bastard to refer to me as “Barry Moonbug”,
• Been trying to ignore the news,
• Mowed the lawn,
• Bought a replacement jacket, as well as a replacement sketchbook,
• Ate some delicious food in a fine Mexican restaurant with a horrible website,
• Deleted 40 something spam comments in the discography section,
• Spent way too much money on two Woody Allen DVD boxes (but hey: 12 movies for a mere 100 EUR!),
• Assisted Dr Sharl in her soon-to-be released album “El Viejo McDonald Tenía Una Granja“.

Yourself?

Posted in Personal, Randamonium | 5 Comments »

I’ll be keeping an eye on this one: BlunderPop:

This blog is dedicated to the horror or real-life Spinal Tap that a music festival can become. It doesn’t matter whether you’re an artist, an organiser, a volunteer or a visitor. Sometimes, it just goes terribly wrong…

… reminds me of that time when, as part of the late great (?) rocking combo Moonbug, I mounted the stage in some club, all pumped up on adrenaline, whereupon I not only hit the set’s opening chord but broke three strings of my Telecaster simultaneously — filling the place with some of the most squealing feedback I’ve ever heard. Those were the days!

Posted in Music, Personal, Pop Cult | 4 Comments »

Forgot all about this here blog’s 5th anniversary which was last July 12. No sparkling collage from Dr Sharl this time, I’m afraid. Beer anyone?

Posted in Personal, Site News | 8 Comments »

Your humble reporter is back! He can be seen here wearing a tie in the company of one Magic Fingers who got married to The Love Of His Life that same day.

Won’t bore you with holiday stories such as how we managed to almost miss every single plane we had to catch. A grand time was had throughout though — Dublin was a blast, the Aran Islands magnificent and Galway a feast to the eye (more on Flickr). Not to mention the fact that with my bright orange beard, I fitted in perfectly — to the point where people were asking me for directions!

On to the show you say? Oh, of course. This week’s boot: Seattle Center Arena, October 2 ‘81.

Posted in Frank Zappa, Friday Boots, Personal | 5 Comments »

Expect posting to be light (if non-existent) during the coming week as Dr Sharl and I travel from Brussels to London, then through to Dublin, the Aran Islands, Galway, Dublin and back again. (We’ll be crossing borders! New releases on the horizon? ) Couple of things:

• New member sign-ups at the forums will be disabled during my absence.
• Any blog comments that have links in them will be added to the moderation queue and will not appear here until I have, erh, moderated them (that old devil called spam).
• Not to worry, Pistoia ‘82 Part Two is available as of now.

In the mean time: be well and be sure to take your clothes off when you dance — see you when we get back!

Posted in Friday Boots, Personal | 8 Comments »

Dr Sharl and I will be leaving for a week long trip to Ireland starting next Friday — save a two day wedding attendance with our friends MagicFingers and Indra in the greater London area. We’re to arrive at Dublin Airport at around 8pm local time next Sunday. We have two days to spend there before we fly over to Galway. Do any Dubliners reading this have any suggestions as to which places we should visit (comic shops, music shops, curiosity shops)? If so, do let us know, either in the comments or by direct email. Thanks!

Posted in Personal | 3 Comments »