Mike Miller, known around Los Angeles as a guitarist’s guitarist, along with the rest of the Mike Miller Quintet – Jimmy Johnson, Chad Wackerman, Walt Fowler, and Albert Wing – performed a live set at Los Angeles’ The Baked Potato on December 26th, 2008 to promote the release of the Mike Miller Quintet CD, World Goes Round.
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Recorded Live at Incontri Musicali a Pergola – Sala dell’Abbondanza, Pergola (PU-Italy) on October 26th, 2008.
The superimposition of two sounds with different pitches. It was considered dysechia: an unpleasant and disagreeable sound. Yet time and again things that have been considered foreign synchronically have diachronically proven to be decisive for the most important revolutions in artistic languages. This is the inspiration behind the Duo Disecheis, oriented towards dissonance viewed broadly as a contrast: convergence-divergence.
Like him, hate him, despise him, abhor him – the one thing you cannot do with Ben Watson is ignore him. No matter what your position is when it comes to Frank Zappa – Ben Watson’s thought provoking, sometimes shocking, sometimes scurrilous perspectives are always bound to generate volatile responses among Zappa fans, especially hardcore Zappa fans (are there really any other kind? Ever heard of a casual Zappa fan?). (more…)
I’m really not certain which of these groups belongs in a compilation of best FZ covers – each has something different and unique in their version of Frank Zappa‘s Muffin Man that the other two groups do not. Give them a hearing and decide for yourself. MazMyth at LMCS Auditorium on January 9, 2009; Zappa Plays Zappa at Villa Arconati, July 15, 2008; or Pappa Plays Zappa at The Upperfloor (known as Stalloftet) in Hamar, Norway, August 3, 2008:
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If I were to compile an awesome compilation of Frank Zappa covers, I would begin with this band, Delicious Band Research Kitchen, and these three Zappa covers – “Uncle Remus” (above), “Wonderful Wino” and “Find Her Finer” (both below) – which they performed at ‘Les Fils de l’Invention’s FZ festival’ (Sons of Invention) in Paris, France on July 5th, 2008.
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Ever so often a cover band comes along that absolutely impresses me with their ability to interpret Zappa’s compositions in fresh, bold new ways. The French cover band Peach Noise is one such band.
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In 2008, The Muffin Men – a British band, based in Liverpool, England which primarily plays the music of Frank Zappa – performed at Fairport’s Cropredy Convention, performing such Zappa classics as “Zoot Allures”, “Don’t Eat The Yellow Snow” and “Black Napkins” (above) as well as “Road Ladies“, “San Ber’dino“, and “My Guitar Wants To Kill Your Mama“.
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Everyone knows the soft spot I hold for Zappa Tribute Bands of all shapes, sizes and origins. This Finnish group of musicians performing the Zappa Tribute, “Does Doo Belong In Bop? – Frank Zappa, a Memorial Barbecue” Live at the Doo-Bop Club in Vasa, Finland, on December 11th, 2008, is no different. Quirky, humorous, eccentric – at most they bring a special zeal to Zappa’s compositions (which brought a definite smile to my own face), and at very least, another in a very long list of tribute bands despised by GZ and the Zappa Family Trust.
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Just kidding. You didn’t really think I was going to do a “year in review”, did you? Some interesting data from my last.fm account however that I thought I’d share.
Top Artists in the last 12 months:
Well… no real surprises there.
Nay, the revelation lies in the Top Tracks for the last 12 months:
I have officially become a Bob Dylan junkie!
Of course, this list says more about the limited amount of Bobness I have in my possession than it does about my overall listening patterns — the chances of Peaches En Regalia playing 15 times on shuffle are slim, seeing as how I own pretty much the entire FZ catalogue — but still: this year’s revelation, for me, appears to have been Mr Zimmerman.
Take in account also that Sharleena’s iTunes is playing around here half the time, something which would certainly distort the above results (Eels! Flaming Lips! Ween! Sufjan Stevens! Barenaked Ladies! Spinvis!).
Yourself? Any personal listening trends you wish to share?
(Oh, and hey: have a Happy New Year!)
A new release, through iTunes:
Tracklisting:
01. Dancin’ Fool (Disco Version) 6:18
02. More Trouble Every Day 5:48
03. Gorgeous Inca 3:25
04. Ancient Armaments 4:09
05. America The Beautiful 3:35
06. You’re A Mean One Mr. Grinch 3:12
07. Saturday Girl 2:50
08. Alice 5:12
09. Espanoza 3:26
10. Dumb All Over 5:46
11. Twenty Small Cigars 5:59
12. Lacksadaisial 5:44
13. Dirty Love 4:04
