Author Archives: Barry's Imaginary Publisher

Frank Zappa, Fake Rocker Or True Jazz Man?

Attention French shoppers! Jazz Magazine‘s June issue has an 18 page special on FZ. As you can see there’s an interview with Jean-Luc Ponty on how he first met FZ, while the main article attempts to provide an answer to … Continue reading

Posted in Frank Zappa, In The News, In Writing, Jean-Luc Ponty | Tagged , , | 19 Comments

The Grande Mothers: New Tourdates

The Grande Mothers will be kicking off a short Canadian tour next June, playing 7 venues. If you hadn’t already, check out their MySpace page!

Posted in Frank Zappa, Music | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

New 1980 Live FZ Footage

Dated October 12, 1980 and recorded in Albuquerque at Johnson Gym. October 12, 1980. The clip shows “Harder Than You Husband” with Jimmy Carl Black, and “Bamboozled By Love” with Ike Willis. Jimmy Carl Black was living in Albuquerque at … Continue reading

Posted in Frank Zappa, Music, YouTubery | Tagged , , , | 5 Comments

Last.fm Wallpaper

What a cool little toy, this: feed it with your Last.fm username, and it will generate a wallpaper image based on what you’ve been listening to recently. Here’s mine: (Really Big Version) Sharleena’s: (Really Big Version) I was expecting Sharl’s … Continue reading

Posted in Music, Visual Arts | Tagged , , | 4 Comments

Musical-Visual Intelligence

By way of Music Thing: a test that determines how well you can relate sounds to shapes. My result: Not too shabby for a guy who’s been suffering from a hearing disability since the mid ’80s, I’d say! How are … Continue reading

Posted in Miscellany, Music | Tagged , | 8 Comments

120 Years Of Music Chart History

Also known as The Whitburn Project: For the last ten years, obsessive record collectors in Usenet have been working on the Whitburn Project — a huge undertaking to preserve and share high-quality recordings of every popular song since the 1890s. … Continue reading

Posted in Music, Pop Cult, Science | Tagged , , , , | Comments Off on 120 Years Of Music Chart History

The Big Laurel Canyon Conspiracy

Everyone loves a good conspiracy theory, right? How about one that exposes Frank Zappa (among others) as being part of a huge undercover operation run by The Military-Industrial Complex™, the goal of which was to infiltrate, and subsequently neutralize the … Continue reading

Posted in Frank Zappa, Insane, Pop Cult | Tagged , , , , | 26 Comments

Beard Quest

It would appear I’m not the only one to be experimenting with facial hair. Introducing Jon Dyers Beard Quest: I’ve been growing a beard every winter for some years now, and every spring, I try to see how many facial … Continue reading

Posted in Heh Heh, Miscellany, Pop Cult | Tagged , | Comments Off on Beard Quest

Meet The Über-Fans

Chuck Klosterman has a look at those kooks who attempt to physically resemble their musical idol, and comes to a conclusion which I think reaches beyond just that phenomenon: My suspicion is that highly prolific artists – especially ones slagged … Continue reading

Posted in Music, Pop Cult | Tagged , , | 4 Comments

Turn Your Peter Green

Although I hardly ever contribute to the wiki anymore (yes, shame on me), I am still subscribed to the “Recent Changes” feed. Not only is it a delight to see the site grow at such an amazing speed (4,098 articles … Continue reading

Posted in Community, Frank Zappa, Heh Heh, Zappa Wiki Jawaka | Tagged , , , , | 7 Comments