Zappanale Statue Ceremony

Posted on Saturday, 11/10/07 by urbangraffito

For those among us that couldn’t get to the unveiling at the 2002 Zappanale Statue Ceremony at Bad Doberan, these next two clips are the next best thing — featuring former band members Mike Keneally, Jimmy Carl Black, Bunk Gardner, Bob & Thana Harris, Napoleon Murphy Brock, Ike Willis, Roy Estrada, Candy & Bob Zappa, Pamela De Barres, as well as Wolfhard Kutz, the chief from the Zappanale. The first clip has an excellent, on-the-spot, bilingual improvisational rendition of “Help I’m A Rock.”


Kind of makes you wish you were there.

Posted in Frank Zappa | Tagged , , , , | 8 Comments

Frankfurt ’82

Posted on Friday, 11/09/07 by Magic Fingers

The Venue: Alte Oper, Frankfurt, Germany
The Date: 11th June 1982

There is one main reason to love this show (plenty of other reasons, of course, but one main one); The Black Page. I was listening to it just last week and experienced one of those “Jeez, this is good” moments (I then realized that Frank must have been pleased with it too, as you will find if you grab your copy of ‘Guitar‘ and give ‘Move It Or Park It‘ a listen).

Anyway, thinks I, the KUR aficionados have to hear this! So this week’s offering takes us back to June 11 1982, and the early evening show at the Alte Oper in Frankfurt…

Continue reading →

Posted in Frank Zappa, Friday Boots | Tagged , , , , , | 29 Comments

The Man Belonged In A Strait Jacket

Posted on Thursday, 11/08/07 by Barry's Imaginary Publisher

Blogs 4 Brownback on Zappa:

The man belonged in a strait jacket. Wherever he is now, I’m sure it’s hot and I don’t want to go there. He was one of the deviant perverts who subsumed American culture in the 1960s. His music was horrible and weird, and his viewpoints were, too. We should exhume his body and burn it in a dumpster. It’s the least we can do for him, after all he did to us.

And who the fuck is Brownback? Oh, here he is.

Posted in Amusing, Frank Zappa, Politics | Tagged , , , | 54 Comments

Remember Remember The 7th November

Posted on Wednesday, 11/07/07 by Barry's Imaginary Publisher

On this day…

  • … 150 days of a Belgium without a governement, facing an unprecedented political crisis
  • … in 1991 Frank Zappa announced to the world that he suffered from prostate cancer
  • … at around 8:30 in the morning I had a minor accident, when a car bumped against mine, as I was getting out of the garage (just some scratches on the front bumper)

Can we fast-forward to November 8th please?

Posted in In The News, Personal, Randamonium | Tagged , , | 13 Comments

Viva Zappa

Posted on Monday, 11/05/07 by urbangraffito

Viva Zappa

From the moment of Frank Zappa’s untimely passing due to prostate cancer until the formation of Zappa Plays Zappa, the only way anyone could hear Zappa’s music performed live was via one of the multitude of cover/tribute bands. From rock, jazz, baroque to big band, wind quintets, and classical ensembles, the variety of musical approaches and bands were just as eclectic and varied as much of the music itself — with names like Project/Object, FiDO, The Muffin Men just to name a few. In Canada, if you wanted a live Zappa fix, the band to see and hear was Viva Zappa, based in Quebec. You can download individual Zappa covers interpreted by Viva Zappa, or download their entire CD, Viva Zappa: The Purple Lagoon Sessions 2006 & 2007, at Zappateers (Sorry, Torrent).


What’s your favourite Zappa Tribute Band(s)?

Posted in Frank Zappa | Tagged , , , | 10 Comments

ZPZ: Big In Japan

Posted on Sunday, 11/04/07 by Barry's Imaginary Publisher

This just in — Kataoka Hiroshi, Our Man In Japan, writes:

Just a quick report to let you know that Zappa Plays Zappa will come to Japan to play next year!!! They have 3 concerts. The first one is on January 21st of 2008, which is Monday, at OSAKA ZEPP holding 720 seats and I have bought 2 tickets for the day. On the next day (2007-01-22. TUE) they will play at Tokyo, and on the day after (2008-01-23. WED) at Yokohama. And the special guests are Steve Vai and Ray White. Sadly enough is the missing/absence of Terry Bozzio.

Posted in Frank Zappa, Zappa Plays Zappa | Tagged , , | 3 Comments

Zappa Radio at zappa.com

Posted on Saturday, 11/03/07 by Balint

After a few months of “coming soon”, here it is finally: the Zappa Radio. A fine mix of FZs music, constantly playing online. Unfortunately the playlist shows only what you have listened 5 minutes ago.

Posted in Frank Zappa, Music, Zappa Audio/Video | Tagged , | 30 Comments

ZPZ On Conan O’Brien

Posted on Saturday, 11/03/07 by Barry's Imaginary Publisher

As you probably know, ZPZ appeared on Conan O’Brien’s show last October 30th, playing Willie The Pimp. Took a while for that video to appear on YouTube, but here it is now:

Smokin!
Hat tip: Ryan McNealy

Posted in Frank Zappa, Zappa Plays Zappa | Tagged , , | 30 Comments

Brest ’79

Posted on Friday, 11/02/07 by Barry's Imaginary Publisher

This week’s Friday Boot takes us to France — Brest, March 21st 19th 1979, to be exact. To quote the FZTRS:

All this, *and* it’s got A- sound! An essential show to have in your collection, and perhaps the funniest of the entire 79 tour.

Posted in Frank Zappa, Friday Boots | Tagged , , | 24 Comments

Son Of T’Mershi Duween

Posted on Thursday, 11/01/07 by Barry's Imaginary Publisher

Andrew Greenaway’s regularly updated Idiot Bastard Son Zappa fan-site has found a new home — a Dot Comâ„¢, no less! Gone are the occasional questionable pop-up ads and unrequested spyware downloads (which were beyond his control, obviously). Time to update your bookmark, or bookmark now if you hadn’t already: idiotbastard.com.

Posted in Frank Zappa, Zappa Misc | Tagged , | 3 Comments

New Official Release: Zappa Wazoo

Posted on Wednesday, 10/31/07 by Barry's Imaginary Publisher

zappa-wazoo.jpg

See and listen to the intro, check the details: $30, “Available Almost Immediately”, now available at Barfko-Swill where a little more information is posted: “Grand Wazoo/Hot Rats/M.O.I 20 Piece Band – 1972”.

Update Nov. 3rd: Zappa Wiki Jawaka has all the info you need. Liner notes:

“This concert was recorded live at Boston Music Hall in Boston, Massachusetts on 24 September 1972. These stereo masters were digitally transferred from FZ’s Ampex ATR 100 deck into Nuendo at 96 K 24 bit by Joe Travers using Euphonix AM 713 Converters – in April 2007. …this concert had a slightly different original dynamic in that Big Swifty followed Greggery Peccary. Due to disc space we resequenced the program to maintain the integrity of the performance.”

Disc One

  1. Intro Intros
  2. The Grand Wazoo (Think It Over)
  3. Approximate
  4. Big Swifty

Disc Two

  1. “Ulterior Motive”
  2. The Adventures Of Greggery Peccary
  3. Movement I
  4. Movement II
  5. Movement III
  6. Movement IV – TheNewBrownClouds
  7. Penis Dimension
  8. Variant I Processional March

Happy Halloween! :)

Posted in Frank Zappa, Zappa News | Tagged , , | 36 Comments

Moggio Jazz Band Plays RDNZL

Posted on Wednesday, 10/31/07 by urbangraffito

An excellent cover of a FZ classic. The only thing missing is Ruth Underwood.

Posted in Frank Zappa | Tagged , , , , | 6 Comments

A Zappa-picture

Posted on Monday, 10/29/07 by Balint

A nice picture. I’ve found it on David Ocker’s blog, but it’s originally from Richard Emmet’ homepage (go there to see some more), and the pictures were taken possibly in ’81, one of these used for the cover of You Are What You Is (the same hat!)

Posing for the sake of the photographer (we weren’t really playing any notes).

Richard Emmet, John Steinmetz, FZ, David Ocker

Pictures made by John Livzey.

Posted in Frank Zappa, Zappa Imagery | Tagged , , , , , | 12 Comments

Download: Dweezil Zappa On Rockline 26/10/07

Posted on Friday, 10/26/07 by Barry's Imaginary Publisher

Ah the joys of Audio Hijack! Dweezil on Rockline is now available for download right over here. The file is about 101Mb, so please download directly to your hard disc (right-click, save as) instead of listening online. Bandwidth is a costly commodity…

Update: Our pal Balint has split the above monolithic track into consumable segments. Download here.

Posted in Frank Zappa, Zappa Plays Zappa | Tagged , , , , , | 18 Comments

Hartford ’81

Posted on Friday, 10/26/07 by Barry's Imaginary Publisher

This week’s Friday Boot: Hartford, CT, 6 November 1981. Say “Thank you Gilles!”

Posted in Frank Zappa, Friday Boots | Tagged , , , | 12 Comments