Kill Ugly Radio: Frank Zappa & Elsewhere

Just had a look at ZPZ’s 2008 tourdates. While there’s loads of US gigs, the European chapter of the tour has been limited to this:

• Jul 13, ’08 - Rotterdam, NETHERLANDS — North Sea Jazz Festival
• Jul 15, ’08 - Milan, ITALY — Villa Arconati
• Jul 16, ’08 - Madrid, SPAIN — Veranos de la Villa
• Jul 18, ’08 - Barcelona, SPAIN — Palua de la Musica
• Jul 19, ’08 - Berne, SWITZERLAND — Gurtenfestival

Not only is it obvious that ZPZ are blissfully steering clear of Frank’s traditional European fanbase (Germany, France, the UK, Scandinavia, Belgium, the Baltics - Holland being the exception to the rule), on top of that ZPZ have chosen the safe route by playing festivals.

What’s the matter Dweez? Us Euro’s scaring you now? I wonder why.

Post Scriptum: you gotta love the way us Euro fans were basically used as guinea pigs when the first ZPZ tour was put on the rails.

- PR Guy: “Let’s see if it sticks with them Ol’ Country folk first. Like it or not: yer dad always had more of a following there, so it’s the sensible thing to do. If it sticks, we take this tour back to the US”
- Dweez: “Ya think?”
- PR Guy: “Trust me. Been there, done that. With a bit of luck, them Euro’s are gonna rave about you guys all over the internet. Then we hit the US. Money in the pocket.”
(cue appreciative GS nodding)
- Dweez: “Mom, whadda you think?”

… and the rest, as they say, is history.

Posted in Miscellany | 20 Comments »

I was recently arranging and updating my personal MySpace profile page when I came across these two video gems: Frank Zappa’s “Watermelon in Easter Hay” live with Mike Keneally and the rest of the 1988 band, and The Mike Keneally Band live performing “My Dilemma”.

Frank Zappa: Watermelon In Easter Hay

Mike Keneally

Posted in Frank Zappa, Mike Keneally, Music, YouTubery | 5 Comments »

The University of Vermont Jazz Ensemble will present the music of Frank Zappa at a concert on March 25 at 7:30 in the Grand Maple Ballroom of the Dudley H. Davis Center. Alexander Stewart, director of UVM’s Jazz Studies program, will lead the ensemble.

Live music for our American friends - for free, with tunes like Montana, the Idiot Bastard Son, King Kong, Peaches en Regalia, the Grand Wazoo, and Uncle Remus. The quality of the music lies in the fact that the orchestration was made by none other that Ep Palermo! Hey, a recording would be fine…

Some Other FZ News:

A 1966 concert from MOI is up at Wolfgang’s vault - thanks, hipbone!

Some Other Maybe Related DZ News:

New ZPZ releases are to be available: 1, 2, 3. Details? Noooo. Setlists? Noooo. Infos on the Official homepage? Noooo! Infos on the ZPZ homepage? Hey, forget it…

Posted in Frank Zappa, Music | 18 Comments »

The Grande Mothers featuring Nappy Brock and Don Preston finished touring Britain last Thursday. Is it just me, or does Napoleon look a lot more relaxed here than he ever did during his two-year ZPZ stint?

More onstage pictures at Flickr…

Posted in Frank Zappa, Music | 6 Comments »