Ray & Ike Reunite On Upcoming Project/Object Tour

Check out Project/Object’s winter tour schedule. Ike Willis and Ray White will be touring together for the first time in over 25 years:

The 1984 tour ended on Dec 23, 1984, Universal Ampitheater, Universal City. Since then, as you well know, Ike Willis has toured with Project/Object for nearly 15 years, and in that time Ray White has performed with us a handful of times in San Francisco and at Festivals around the country. Those occasions remain the only times these legendary performers have shared the stage since Zappa Tour 1984. Now… we bring you an opportunity to see them on an exclusive New Year’s/Holiday tour with Project/Object.

More at Project/Object’s wonderfully re-designed website.

News from Andre’ — Project/Object

This just in via email from Andre’ Cholmondeley:

PROJECT/OBJECT – the music of Frank Zappa
featuring IKE WILLIS & DON PRESTON
and special guest RAY WHITE (on July 4 only)

Sat 4th July – Western, Pa
The Church Of Universal Love and Music
Doors: 10 AM – 2 sets – All ages Tickets/Advance: $30 DOS:$ $40

Andre’ Cholmondeley plays guitar in this band, a tribute to the music of Frank Zappa. P/O also has Eric Svalgard (keyboards), Eric Slick (drums), Robbie “Seahag” Mangano (bass). Ray White will join P/O on their July 4 date only.

Continue reading “News from Andre’ — Project/Object”

Persona Non Grata: Adrian Belew Weighs In

With regard to this, here’s what Adrian Belew has to say:

I told dweezil I would try my best to insure he would not see andre. but I put it off and put it off and I want to make this clear: I did not say anything to andre. andre had no idea that he should keep out of dweezil’s sight.

why did I not keep my word to dweezil? andre is a valued member of my crew and a friend. I know how much he loves frank’s music. I could not bring myself to hurt andre’s feeling.

Be sure to read the whole post. Thanks to Joe Crawford for the head’s up.

Persona Non Grata — Ottawa Edition

André Cholmondeley, whom you probably know for his excellent work with Project/Object, is currently working as tour manager/guitar tech for the Adrian Belew Power Trio. The crew were to open for ZPZ at Ottawa Bluesfest last Saturday. André had wanted to watch ZPZ from the side-stage afterwards, simply to enjoy the music. In an email which I’ve condensed somewhat below, he describes how things then turned kind of ugly:

After a meeting on the bus Dweezil demanded from the Festival stage manager (ONE HOUR before their show!!) that I would NOT BE SEEN by him (Dweezil)…!! he asked that he NOT SEE ME AT ALL, EVER, throughout the night.

… and so a guy called Dave, ZPZ’s soundguy, resorted to this:

He literally almost pushed me off the stage and down some steps. It was scary shit. I can’t emphazise that enough. I am shaking still, almost 12 hrs later as i type this after 4 hrs sleep.

He continues:

It was unreal. Surreal. The best part is — before ZPZ played – BELEW played— and I had met this very same guy – Dave – monitor guy — and he was COOL!! We were rapping, talking gear, he showed me a pic on his computer of his guitar-rig which featured the same amp that Adrian uses (Johnson JM 150), like good nerds we chuckled about that as well as his computer gadget his laptop sat on…some device with 2 fans to cool it off, blah blah blah. We talked about him being new on the crew, after I said “Napoleon says hi” –“oh no — that was the old guy, I am new since last year, etc etc”…

André concludes:

Imagine being so unprofessional — and self-important — to think that a HUGE festival, should do your bidding and ban people from public areas. I know – Unreal. But par for the course in Post-Mortem Zappa-land. No surprise. Bullying at every turn.

Worth mentioning: Ottawa Bluesfest features about 230 bands, and takes place over the course of 11 days.

Update #1 9/07: Dweezil Zappa responds.
Update #2 9/07: André responds to DZ’s response (we have a copy, in case it were to mysteriously vanish from the z forums)