Kill Ugly Radio: Frank Zappa & Elsewhere

On/Off

A mix of things that you may or may not already know…

• New ZPZ tourdates are announced.
• Gail and Dweez talk about an upcoming Ruben & The Jets release (mp3 link), akin to, or so it seems, the MOFO project.
• No more Zappa beers to be issued.
• A nice set of pictures taken at Project/Object’s Feb 6 ’09 gig, courtesy of our pal SOFA.
• Paul Green’s School of Rock obtains the approval stamp from the ZFT (sort of odd, since they had been sent a Cease & Desist letter previously.) We actually called a PR representative of “School of Rock” who confirmed to us that “matters have been settled” — upon which he couldn’t get off the phone with us fast enough. Hi Alex!
• Your Three Month Old – Week One — oh wait, wrong weblog…
• From Inkanish Records comes news of a compilation CD entitled “Pay The Indian”. All funds are to go to Jimmy Carl Black’s family. The album has contributions from Don Preston and Bunk Gardner, The Wrong Object, Zappatika and Ed Mann — among others.
• Take a deep breath: A Brief History of Developments in 20th Century Classical Music, related to the compositional style of Frank Zappa.
• Relevant perhaps to some recent discussions here: a profile of “moot”, creator of 4chan, as well as Malwebolence – The World of Web Trolling. Long story short: don’t be an ass.
• Steve Martin’s Cruel Shoes — or Sinister Footwear if you prefer…

Peaches, Peaches, Peaches en Regalia!

Grammy Award aside, Peaches en Regalia is a fantastic song regardless of when it is performed and by whom. These videos show Zappa Play Zappa performing the song from their live DVD; FZ and his 1988 Best Band performing the song live in Stadthalle, Wien, Austria on May 8th; the original version from Baby Snakes VHS; and students from The Paul Green School of Rock performing the track at the Baby Grande, respectively.

The following three field recordings of Peaches reveal how FZ and his bands never performed the song exactly the same way from show to show (it’s excellent fun for a Zappa freak, like myself, to listen for the similarities and differences):

Palladium, NYC, 28 Dec 1976
[audio:http://www.killuglyradio.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/02/d1-01-peaches-en-regalia.mp3]
Montreux Casino, Montreux, Switzerland, 4 Dec 1971
[audio:http://www.killuglyradio.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/02/102-peaches-en-regalia.mp3]
Hammersmith Odeon, London, UK, 28 Feb 1978
[audio:http://www.killuglyradio.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/02/03-peaches-en-regalia.mp3]

ZFT Litigation Frenzy: School of Rock Edition

I kid you not.

Incredibly, having just lost the Zappanale lawsuit, the ZFT is now going after Paul Green’s School of Rock — more specifically Napoleon M. Brock’s envolvement therein. Here’s the Berger-Kahn letter (pdf). Quote:

It recently came to our attention that Napoleon Murphy Brock and the Paul Green School of Rock All-Stars are currently scheduled to perform the music of Frank Zappa […] We understand that this tour is billed as “Napoleon Murphy Brock Performs ZAPPA with the Paul Green School of Rock All-stars”. Please be advised that none of you possess any license, permission or authority to publicly perform the songs of Frank Zappa.

Should you wonder where your precious Barfko Swill dollars are headed for, look no further: this is it.

Unbelievable.