Feeds, Spam & Hard Drives

Posted on Monday, 10/16/06 by Barry's Imaginary Publisher
  • The RSS feed for this site is now handled through FeedBurner. The transition should not be noticeable for you feed-readers out there though (which is actually what this entry’s testing).
  • With the upgrade to WordPress’s latest version, a new spam-filter has been installed which might cause a tiny delay when you hit the “post comment” button. When that happens, there’s no need to hit it again — just wait for the page to refresh. If your comment doesn’t appear at all it’s most probably been flagged and awaiting moderation.
  • Further testing of the POS intel iMac indicates the hard drive has indeed Bitten The Big One. Special thanks to KUR-reader and Mac-o-phile Scott Finney who’s been of great help over the weekend. His resolve to try and rescue at least some of the files has left us with one last straw to cling on to (more on that later, perhaps!)…
Posted in Geek, Personal | 9 Comments

No Music Day

Posted on Monday, 10/16/06 by Barry's Imaginary Publisher

No Music Day is next November 21st. Because “all music is shite.“

Posted in Music, Pop Cult, Silly | 13 Comments

Bamboozled By Mac

Posted on Friday, 10/13/06 by Barry's Imaginary Publisher

Oh lord, the shit done hit the fan. Our firstgen Intel iMac which we bought in January of this year has decided to commit digital suicide — it went from running perfectly fine to zip, nada, zilch, exorcist style within hours. Upon startup we now get the dreaded flashing folder with question mark. Yes: we have tried starting up from a proper OS X install disk; yes: we have tried hooking up directly via Firewire to another Mac — we do not even get to see the hard disk in both cases. Any Mac guru’s out there that could help us out?

Posted in Personal | 11 Comments

Manipulating The Medium

Posted on Friday, 10/13/06 by Barry's Imaginary Publisher

Fun with unintended record speeds:

The day I bought Frank Zappa’s “Joe’s Garage Parts 2 & 3” I listened to the first three sides at 45 RPM before I realized I had it on the wrong speed. For forty minutes, I thought Zappa had gone crazy and released an entire two-record set in his patented Munchkin style (it could happen!) The guitar solos were amazing. Since that initial experience, I’ve never liked the album at 33 1/3.

Posted in Amusing, Music, Pop Cult | 4 Comments

Atlanta ’77

Posted on Friday, 10/13/06 by Barry's Imaginary Publisher

With Gilles being very busy, I’ve jumped in to pick this (and next) week’s Friday Boot: Live at the Fox Theater, 2318/09/77. Enjoy…

Posted in Frank Zappa, Friday Boots | 10 Comments

The World League Of Despots Newest Member

Posted on Thursday, 10/12/06 by Barry's Imaginary Publisher

In his capacity as secretary of the World League of Despots, Terry Jones welcomes George Bush to the ranks of despots.

I cannot, however, disguise the fact that we adjudicators were extremely anxious when you announced your intention to remove from office one of our most stalwart members, Mr Saddam Hussein. However, we need not have worried. According to a recent UN report, you have ensured that there are now even more human rights abuses in Iraq than there were under Saddam. No less than 10% of those in custody are being physically or psychologically abused. Well done!

Congratulations on a job well done indeed!

Posted in Amusing, In The News, Politics | Comments Off on The World League Of Despots Newest Member

Gods Of Guitar

Posted on Thursday, 10/12/06 by Barry's Imaginary Publisher

… and why we need them:

Passion and creative freedom directly threaten the executive’s grip on airplay and record sales. The music biz marginalizes any trend that doesn’t lead directly to merchandising profits, big money. What do you think they’ll do if they see that dollar slipping away? A single note can evoke so many feelings: joy, triumph, pain, anger, rebellion… how long before musical expression comes under the jurisdiction of the Patriot Act?

Posted in Music, Politics | 6 Comments

Upgrading WordPress

Posted on Thursday, 10/12/06 by Barry's Imaginary Publisher

Things will probably look a little wonky around here whilst I upgrade to the latest version of WordPress. There is no reason to panic — yet…

Update: well that went smoothly! Things seem to be running nicely. Let me know if you notice any weird stuff happening though.

Posted in Site News | 4 Comments

A Talk With Ed Palermo

Posted on Wednesday, 10/11/06 by Barry's Imaginary Publisher

At NPR: an interview with Ed Palermo on making new arrangements for Zappa’s music, with several audio cuts from his new album Take Your Clothes Off When You Dance available for download.

Posted in Frank Zappa, Zappa Audio/Video | 2 Comments

More ZappaTube Goodness

Posted on Tuesday, 10/10/06 by Barry's Imaginary Publisher

Another gem from YouTube (or GooTube if you prefer): here’s a 7:25 minute video from 1981 following Zappa during the recording of You Are What You Is.

… and this, one of the last interviews FZ gave, from NBC’s Today Show:

Posted in Frank Zappa, Zappa Audio/Video | 19 Comments

Six Degrees of Separation

Posted on Tuesday, 10/10/06 by Barry's Imaginary Publisher

Coudal asks: How do you get from Jackson Pollock to Bob Dylan in as few degrees as possible? I’d like to ask the same question, replacing Dylan with Zappa. :)

Posted in Music, Randamonium | 7 Comments

MOFO Trance-Fusion Confusion

Posted on Tuesday, 10/10/06 by Barry's Imaginary Publisher

I noticed Maroual has updated the Trance-Fusion page over at Zappa Wiki Jawaka to include cover art and a track list. Kewl! The wiki has grown immensely in the past couple of months by the way, courtesy of some very dedicated contributors — be sure to check it out.
Meanwhile the ZFT has had a good look at the calendar:

Remember when we said the 2 disc MOFO would be in stores before Halloween? That was a mistake… we meant Trance-Fusion. Trance-Fusion will be in stores before Halloween and the little MOFO will be in stores about 2 weeks later.

Posted in Zappa Audio/Video, Zappa News, Zappa Wiki | 2 Comments

The GTO’s: Permanent Damage

Posted on Tuesday, 10/10/06 by Barry's Imaginary Publisher

WFMU has the GTO’s Permanent Damage album available for download, along with “The Groupies” (previously hot-pooped) and an audio version of Pamela Des Barres’ book “I’m With The Band”. Plenty to keep you occupied…

Posted in Frank Zappa, Music, Pop Cult, Zappa Audio/Video | 1 Comment

Reich@70

Posted on Sunday, 10/08/06 by Balint

Steve Reich’s 70th birthday will be marked by festivals and features in several countries under the rubric “Steve Reich @ 70” – concerts from New York to Budapest this year. Congratulations!
(I’m sure you already know 18 Musicians, one of his major works. Check them all out!)

Posted in Music | 5 Comments

Greer Presents Zappa

Posted on Sunday, 10/08/06 by Barry's Imaginary Publisher

“Freak Out! The Frank Zappa Story” as hosted on BBC 4 Radio yesterday and presented by none other than Germaine Greer, is currently available via the Beeb’s “Listen Again” facility (until the end of the week). There are contributions from Gail Zappa, Dweezil, Steve Vai, Peter Occhiogrosso and David Butcher (of the Britten Sinfonia). (Thanks Ian!)

Posted in Frank Zappa, Zappa Audio/Video | 4 Comments