Frank Zappa & Elsewhere
I just stumbled upon this wonderful documentary on Nick Drake, early 70s singer-songwriter of near mythical fame. We’re big fans here at Barry Towers. Be sure to check out the man’s small but fabulous body of work (if you hadn’t already, of course).
Part two is here; from there use the right sidebar to get to the other parts.
The Black Page Hole:
Michael Moore’s latest film, Slacker Uprising is now available as a free download — US and Canada only unfortunately, although it’s reported to be available as a torrent at a certain pirate bay on the intertubes. The film is described as “a road trip documentary based on the 2004 film election about Michael Moore trying to inspire the youth of the nation.” Here’s the trailer:
… and a 10 minute chunk of the movie on YouTube.
Philip Marion writes:
A wonderful cultural archivist, metaphysical snake-oil salesman, antiquarian ne’er-do-well, and star of the end of the VHS version of “Baby Snakes” Gerry Fialka interviewed Bruce Bickford recently after the showing of FZ’s Bickford film at the silent movie theatre in LA.
Part one:
Ol’ Neil seems to be in quite a talkative mood. Via Thrasher’s Wheat.
What happens if you put three professional musicians in a recording studio and … have them watch porn movies?
While you probably begin imagining strange situations, these guys made it a creative venture. They created a new soundtrack to the 70ties adult movies they were watching – turning off the sound and just letting their instincts come up with vivid musical imaginations. And it worked.
Unedited interviews of children of hippies displayed as short video clips that you choose how to view. Participants answered the same 20 questions with no interviewer prompting them as they looked at the camera. Hippie kids, now in their 30s and 40s, were chosen as an example of how an interesting subject could be explored in a way that encouraged viewers to explore media and come to their own conclusions.
When asked what was good about her childhood, one participant says: “I was high-priestess at my dad’s second wedding.” That pretty much nails it. 🙂
Joe Travers’ letter, on the audio-tracks of the new DVD – found on the Usenet group alt.fan.frank-zappa:
I’m sorry Mark, but it’s Dolby Digital. We originally were going to with PCM audio but we decided that we would go Dolby since we did not treat the audio in any way, nor remix. We went for picture quality instead. But when we switched the audio, the print work had already been completed.
That’s the story. We are planning on a special edition-type release with (hopefully) the full shows & all remixed in surround. The Nina Blackwood stuff should be on that.Enjoy & thanks!!!
Joe
Khm.
Well, apparently today is Zappa-news day. A new DVD, hot off the press at Barfko Swill: FZ: The Torture Never Stops. As per the blurb:
This appears to be a fully captured version of the Halloween ’81 show, perhaps most famous for this rendition of “Stevie’s Spanking”, as previously featured in the Dub Room Special DVD. (See Also)
Visuals? Yup:
Have to admit I for one didn’t see that one coming. Whatever happened to frost on pumpkins and such?
Update: