El Copyright Del Mundo Invisible

Maroual writes in with the following question:

Could the Gala-Salvador Dalí Foundation send a C&D letter?

… and refers to this post he made on the Zäppî forums:

The Zappa Wazoo liner notes mention “Cover Art ‘Mundo Invisible’ (oil on canvas, 60″ x 72″) by Christopher Mark Brennan, 2003″ which itself is a derivative work of the excellent Slave Market with the Disappearing Bust of Voltaire (oil on canvas, 46.5″ x 65.5”) by Salvador Dalí, 1940.
Actually I was curious to know whether any permission was needed and/or requested to the Dalí Family Trust (la Fundació Gala-Salvador Dalí) prior painting and then publishing. This painting should not fall in the public domain before 2010 thanks to the copyright extensions, right?
Does this constitute a copyright infrigement? Does this respect the original intent of the painter?

Heh heh!

Frank Zappa Ambigram

An ambigram of the words ‘Frank Zappa.’ A bit of a hero of mine is Zappa, and I’ve wanted to design an ambigram around his name for a while. I came up with a symmetrical totem solution which I’m very please with. I particularly like the square at the bottom of the design hinting at his famous trademark beard and moustache!

Made by Derren Lee Poole, ambigram designer – this is a nice one, hm? I hope it’s not a copyright infringement…

From Zappa To Lenin

Found on the Where On Earth blog (via zappafan.net), about FZ’s bust in Vilnius, Lithuania:

A few years ago, I had the good fortune to share some beers with one of the students responsible for this very odd monument. He explained to me in a dark Vilnius pub how he and his friends, caught up in the early 1990s euphoria of post-communist freedom, decided to honor one of their favorite American singers whom they clandestinely listened to during communism because authorities banned his decadent western music.

Amazingly, during a crazy time when all things seemed possible, the students were able to convince the city government of their worthy Zappa cause. Even more remarkable, was that the students commissioned local sculptor Konstantinas Bogdanas to create the bust. Prior to this commission, Bogdanas sculpted only what the state told him to sculpt, which was mostly Lenin statues and other heroes of the socialist revolution.

And here is an interview with the sculptor:

In the far right corner is Lithuanian President Valdas Adamkus, while rock legend Frank Zappa stares from the left. But the subject that made Bogdanas best known, Soviet leader Vladimir Lenin, is noticeably absent from the cluttered display.

Pictures Of You

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These photos here were taken by our own very esteemed Magic Fingers on the Reading concert during 1975 (OMG!! WTF!!!8888 There he is…! Awesome!!!) :-)

I’m very fond of this sort of pictures, and given the fact that the core of this website is the fans, and their experience as such, we could have a gallery potraying such an experience. It doesn’t have to be pictures with the *Artist* necessarily, but those who show the general athmosphere of the concerts you’ve ever attended… This could be a new feature updated periodically and with time it could be interesting to see the results.
So, if you like the idea, I’d like to ask you for your old/recent pictures, with or without you or the artist of the concerts you attended. Doesn’t have to be related with The Man himself, this is about you as A FAN. And, also, memorabilia, signatures anything that you think might be interesting. Got the Valley Girl colouring book? A lighter or a pin? An old ticket? Send me your pictures: sharleena@gmail.com, why dontcha?

“Thank you very much for coming to the concert. Hope you liked it. Goodnight!”

Uri Balashov On The Making Of The Cover of Civilization, Phaze III

Nice interview with the artist – thanks to Vladimir Sovetov.

Well, Frank said that it’s very special record in his life, the very last. He said that his disease is incurable. In fact I know that he is seriously ill, but really hoped that US medicine can cope with this type of cancer. But unfortunately it hadn’t worked in Frank case. So he felt it and would like to see some sort of grave mound as a basic image on the cover. I thought it over and decided that I may try to put some soothing kind variation of this theme. I mean, that may be subconsciously some therapeutic role was also assigned to me by this job. That’s why I decided to make some sort of cheer up, you know, the reminder, very obvious for anyone with some mystical experience, that even after a physical death there are a lot of adventures ahead for your soul, and the symbol of it is Egyptians.

And it continues:

Yes, it was modeled after frescoes in Egyptian pyramids with scenes of pharao family having some royal fun like, you know, Nile’s alligators hunt. Everyone here have microphones and electric wires are everywhere, and everybody listen how and where it sounds. The wires winded in loops and coils which are an essential part of the Egyptian system of symbols and should remined about eternity and infinity. Zappa himself is a pharao and like in a mirror, here and there at once, passing his endless wire from one universe to another, the wire on which everything is suspended…

Gee, it’s nice. I did not know this story. I wish I had it as a good quality, big poster.

By the way: one of these days I was just thinking about the graphic works on the albums (of You-Know-Who). In CD-size these are not very good – wouldn’t it be a great idea to make a big picture-book with all the (best) covers? (Ever seen the graphic works in the vinyl version of Joe’s Garage???? Unbelieveable!!!)

Album Art Grabber

Need a good quality version of a certain album’s artwork? Been browsing Google’s image search ’til your eyes bled? Album Art Grabber to the rescue. It works by querying Apple’s iTunes database, and returns images up to 1425x1425px and above. Obvious caveat: only artwork for albums which are for sale from within the iTunes store can be downloaded — which means no Frank Zappa.

The Neocon Series

Dennis P. McCann, artist, FZ-fan and founder of the Yahoo! Zappa-List has started a series of paintings entitled the Neocon Series. He’s currently at “Phase two”:

Phase Two examines the defining events by which history will judge the Bush administration, and the overall Neocon agenda. As always, I am not going to tell you, the viewer, what this painting means. That is for you to decide for yourself. Be aware that it is not only the objects that are of importance, but also the intersection of those objects. And, as always, the color is of significance.

With fantastic results so far, I might add.

Kill Ugly Radio World Tour: Let’s Roll!

Right, well I’ve pretty much finished doing the cover of Our Latest Pet Project. Just to give you an idea of the mess this has been causing on my desktop, here are some pictures:

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The Plastified Cover…:

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More on Flickr. What’s more, Dr Sharleena has completed her contribution as well, so this book is ready to hit the road — starting with Tommi. I’ll be putting up a promotional banner shortly but until then, remember: if you want to be part of this, the place to sign up is right over here. Happy doodling! :)