Frank Zappa & Elsewhere
This is a mix of four different arrangements / recordings of “Strictly Genteel,” synchronized measure for measure and then re-synchronized to the video.
It’s worth watching it in it’s original Youtube page, reading the detailed description of the amazing mix. Great, great work!
Here’s a nice – and long – article about and by graphic designer Dave McMacken, from Rock Pop Gallery (april 2010) – the following is a small part of the text:
That night I listened to a truly bizarre take of the scene that Zappa imagined. In fantastic detail, he proceeded to tell me the story of Over-Nite Sensation and that the cover painting was to be done in a formal, realistic “Dutch Master” style, with the objects in the painting to be portrayed as visual elements from the story. (…)
I took tight notes during this session – I wasn’t given a written assignment or description – and worked on this painting for 2 months, meeting many times with Frank to discuss the work in progress. I started with a pencil and it evolved as we went along, with Frank adding more as “more was always better”- it is really cool when the musical act is also the Art Director and owns the production company! (…)
When I was done with the project and my clients were happy, I looked back on the time I’d spent with everyone associated with Frank Zappa and realized that the experience would have a colossal effect on my work going forward. It indeed has lasted all of my life – I worked for Frank Zappa – there’s no need to say anything more.
Dave McMacken was the creator of the paintings on Over-Nite Sensation, 200 Motels, he made this fantastic 10 years anniversary poster (with Mr. McMacken’s comment there) – check out his own homepage for more!
If you notice, Fanatics, tonight is a bit of a concept show. It’s all Zappa, all night. We take this Saturday’s broadcast to do this because on 12-04-93, Frank Zappa passed away. I know, it’s not the happiest occasion to celebrate the man, his music and his considerable intellect but I wanted to do it, so here we are.
It was at the 4th of december at the KCRW radio where Henry Rollins has his own programme – the two-hour show can be listened there online (the setlist is also there!). Have fun, Fanatics!
Up there George Duke Eats that question with the ZPZ – some more Echidnas and Inca Roads are to be found. And speaking of questions… Continue reading “Eat That Question 2010”
Above Mr Thunes talks about his audition at the Zappa at the Roundhouse event. Below: still him on a) Ike Willis, b) Valley Girl, c) Solitude. Mr Thunes is a Great Guy.
For the hardcore fans: the whole Q&A in 11 parts (!), with Gail, Dweezil, Scott Thunes, Joe Travers, Todd Yvega, Ali N Askin.
What do you think about the late Frank Zappa’s criticism of your work as simply “operating a guitar like a machine gun?” Do you think that Zappa was right when he said that the whole trend in the music business was that faster is better?
I think he was just jealous! I toured with Frank, and while I’ve always enjoyed his recordings, on tour he would take very, very long guitar solos, and he just didn’t have what it takes to play long guitar solos. That said, he has every right to his opinions, and in earlier days, I’m sure he had some validity in his criticisms of my playing.
John McLaughlin on Frank Zappa, 3 days ago, in Dallas Observer. Meanwhile Zappa on McLaughlin (1984):
I met John. I think he’s a great guitar player and I think that he’s probably done a lot to educate American audiences to some aspects of Eastern music that they wouldn’t have come into contact with before. We did a tour with McLaughlin and old Mahavishnu, we did 11 concerts with them.
update: here’s the original quote FZ said in an interview called “One Size Fits All” (1977):
Steve Rosen: What about the contemporary heavies, like Jeff Beck or John McLaughlin?
Frank Zappa: I like Jeff, yeah. I’ve listened to “Wired” [Epic], and there are a couple of solos on there that I like. And I like some of his stuff on “Rough and Ready” [Epic]. A person woud be a moron not to appreciate McLaughlin’s technique. The guy has certainly found out how to operate a guitar as if it were a machine gun. But I’m not always enthusiastic about the lines I hear or the ways in which they’re used. I don’t think you can fault him, though, for the amount of time and effort it must have taken to play an instrument that fast. I think anybody who can play that fast is just wonderful. And I’m sure 90% of teenage America would agree, since the whole trend in the business has been “faster is better.”
This is yet another great release from the Zappa family trust. Excellent material (yes, one of my favorite line ups), great sound, not as “close” as Frank used to make them, but the sound is clear and the balance between the intruments and voices is very good. In some selections the vocals are a little too low though.
The sound is compressed BUT it’s not overdone, like on the Buffalo album. It’s more like the Philly ’76 album.
Read the full review at Radio Dupree! (You’ll find some reviews here as well in the discography section.)
1st: George Duke will be joining ZPZ in Los Angeles, I think on the 4th of december. Possibly in the Aposrophe tunes. Hey hey.
2nd: Gail Zappa answers 50 questions before Christmas. Follow the link – and ask!
3rd: Here’s an interesting solo by Mathias Eklund with the ZPZ in Gothenburg (from Dark Clothes). Fun. To me.
That’s all for today, folks.
To celebrate the 70th birthday of Frank Zappa, Hunchentoot presents a group show featuring the work of Pit Noack, Stefan Roigk, Heidrun Schramm, Oliver Schmidt and Nicolas Wiese. All of whom are working with sound installation. Like Zappa they use eclectic assemblage and deconstruction to develop an open form of individual references to Zappa and his multifarious work. Using comic, collage, diapositive projectors and sounds the artists create a joint collage of five individual positions. In the tradition of Frank Zappa they create a situation, in which bicycle sounds, grotesque laughter, guitar solos, notation and utopian ideas combine to an oeuvre between composition and improvisation.
All this happens in Berlin (I love it, I love it!) this december at Galerie Hunchentoot (as I see it this program is not yet on their homepage). Otherwise it opens right before FZ’s birthday:
Group Show 04.12.2010 – 12.02.2011
Opening 03.12.2010 19 – 22 Uhr
Conducted by Franck Ollu, who performed with the Ensemble Modern on the original Yellow Shark recording, the Manson Ensemble present a selection of instrumental Zappa classics alongside new transcriptions by Head of Composition, Philip Cashian, and current composition students. The programme includes Peaches en Regalia, Big Swifty, Dupree’s Paradise and new transcriptions of Music For Low-Budget Orchestra and Alien Orifice.
The programme will be broadcast live at www.roundhouse.org.uk/live, again – see the (pretty exciting) programme here.