The Emperor’s New Clothes

Posted on Tuesday, 03/22/05 by Barry's Imaginary Publisher

There seems to be an increasing amount of problems all over this site when trying to comment, post at the forums or download anything. Some kind people have let me know about this privately since I hadn’t been experiencing the problem all that much myself.
Thanks for that, as for a while I was sitting here feeling like the emperor wearing new clothes (“they no longer love me”, “it’s my breath”, “where’s my Freudian manual, I know I left it close to the sofa”). I have a hunch as to why this is happening though (*cough* new webhost policies *cough*). Will be investigating the phenomenon — and in the mean time, please do comment, if you can…

Update 23/05: fair is fair, dreamhost had nothing to do with this; it be my own stupidity…

Posted in Personal, Site News | 8 Comments

EyebrowTweezer Productions

Posted on Monday, 03/21/05 by Barry's Imaginary Publisher

I recently got together with SOFA and Magic Fingers, two members of theBIGnote that I hold in very high esteem. For those not in the know: SOFA is the driving force behind TBN’s website as well as a genius audio-tweaker, and Magic Fingers, in his capacity of Musibrarium Curator has built up a firm reputation with his series of FZ guitar solo variations known as “The Variation Variations”. If you’re a Zappa List member, you’ve probably witnessed the eagerness with which these collections are currently being traded.

Anyway, enough of me talking, here’s the interview I had with them, where they announce their latest project entitled “EyebrowTweezer Productions”. Read it, and then download a taste of what they’re up to…

Continue reading →

Posted in Frank Zappa, Zappa Audio/Video | 5 Comments

Bob & Bobette

Posted on Monday, 03/21/05 by Barry's Imaginary Publisher

Bob Dylan has finally given permission to a Hollywood studio to make a film about his life:

It is traditional in films spanning a lifetime for characters to be played by more than one actor, but rare for them to change sex or race. Haynes is considering female actors, including the pop singer Beyonce Knowles, the tennis champion Venus Williams and the television presenter Oprah Winfrey.

You might want to read that again.

Posted in Bizarre, Film, Music | Comments Off on Bob & Bobette

13 Things

Posted on Monday, 03/21/05 by Barry's Imaginary Publisher

New Scientist: 13 things that do not make sense. Surprisingly, this is not one of them.

Posted in Amusing, Science | 2 Comments

Rock School

Posted on Monday, 03/21/05 by Barry's Imaginary Publisher

As a kid I attended music school — for exactly one day. I mean music notation? Who needs that, right? :)
Of course, in those days we didn’t have things like Rock School (see also). Will have to see this one when it’s released here. Oh, and who’s that smiling across the screen near the end of the trailer?

Posted in Film, Music | Comments Off on Rock School

Zappa Wiki Jawaka: Going Public

Posted on Sunday, 03/20/05 by Barry's Imaginary Publisher

I hereby declare Zappa Wiki Jawaka, the wiki open for the general public. It’s only just started so it’ll need your contributions and will fail miserably without them. Want to contribute? Get an account and then read the main page before you jump in. Questions? Suggestions? There’s a Wiki Jawaka chat session taking place today, at my 6pm (CET). The informal chat will be held here (much thanks to Dennis). Be there or be square!

Posted in Frank Zappa, Zappa Wiki | 1 Comment

If It’s Friday This Must Be Fréjus

Posted on Friday, 03/18/05 by Barry's Imaginary Publisher

Signs that you need to step away from your computer: you have feverish dreams riddled with double square brackets, featuring a sinister looking librarian who chases you around with a huge encyclopaedia whilst singing the Alphabet Song. Whereupon you oversleep, come in late for work, overdose on cafeine — and post Fréjus, May 29 ’82.

Posted in Frank Zappa, Friday Boots, Personal | 6 Comments

Zappa, Dweezil, and Naming Conventions

Posted on Thursday, 03/17/05 by Barry's Imaginary Publisher

So, let’s say hypothetically, you’re working on this thing called a wiki, right? Let’s say it’s a wiki on Frank Zappa, and you’re setting up a basic structure (bio, discog, videog, …). All goes well until you hit a bit of a brick wall: naming conventions.

When setting up an alphabetical index of names for instance, how do you list them? The way a librarian would — that is “Zappa, Dweezil”? An inbetween form, like “Zappa Dweezil” (no comma)? Or just plain jane “Dweezil Zappa”? For reading through the list and quickly finding what you’re looking for, I’d say the former is the way to go — there’s a reason why librarians do it that way.

The downside of this however is that it also forces you to mention those names in this form for every article about the person. An article on the Dweez would then read: “Zappa’s first son, Zappa, Dweezil, went on to become an acclaimed guitarist.” Bit awkward that, eh? Same would go for songtitles. You’d have sentences such as “There’s a track on Chunga’s Revenge called “Clap, The”. Hmmm…

So my hypothetical question: how should this be handled in your view? Any librarians outthere reading HotPoop?

Posted in Frank Zappa, Personal, Zappa Misc | 15 Comments

Dope

Posted on Sunday, 03/13/05 by Barry's Imaginary Publisher

Chuck Negron on sex, drugs and rock ‘n roll in the seventies — but mostly drugs.

Posted in Music, Pop Cult | 1 Comment

Zappa Wiki Forum

Posted on Saturday, 03/12/05 by Barry's Imaginary Publisher

Introducing The Frank Zappa Wiki Forum.
More later…

Posted in Frank Zappa, Site News, Zappa Misc | 4 Comments

Worcester 68

Posted on Friday, 03/11/05 by Barry's Imaginary Publisher

Gilles — aka The Man Who Is Truly Faster Than His Shadow — has stepped in and uploaded this MOI show from Worcester ’68. As for you now disgruntled Fréjus voters: next week, okay?

Posted in Frank Zappa, Friday Boots | 10 Comments

Rick Smith On Frank Zappa

Posted on Friday, 03/11/05 by Barry's Imaginary Publisher

While I straighten out the FB, you might want to have a listen to this interview with Rick Smith who was Frank Zappa’s personal engineer for 5 years in the mid 70s at Record Plant (and who is now quite an accomplished blues guitarist). “Läther was about 8% live”, he says.

Posted in Frank Zappa, Zappa Audio/Video | 3 Comments

Grunion Pun

Posted on Friday, 03/11/05 by Barry's Imaginary Publisher

So many things to do, it boggles the mind: witness a grunion run, visit a zircon rock concert, create the ultimate Frank Zappa encyclopaedia.

Posted in Frank Zappa, Randamonium, Zappa Misc | 1 Comment

Friday Moot

Posted on Friday, 03/11/05 by Barry's Imaginary Publisher

Last year, on Friday 13th February to be exact, the Friday Boot was Fréjus, France (82/5/29). Last night, I uploaded the exact same show thinking it hadn’t been featured here yet. Meet Barry’s Imaginary Idiot.

So kids, you still want it?

Posted in Frank Zappa, Friday Boots | 11 Comments

Memories Of El Monte

Posted on Wednesday, 03/09/05 by Barry's Imaginary Publisher

Shocking news from the world of Little League Baseball:

The team says El Monte is 12 and has a Web site to prove it. Born on April 7, 1989, Kenny’s mother was a groupie who traveled with Frank Zappa’s Mothers of Invention in the early seventies. He was born where his mother was conceived, at El Monte Legion Stadium. […]
However, an aide to famed Nazi hound dog Ellie Weasel reportedly provided Little League officials with an affidavit Monday that indicated Kenny El Monte was actually born Carmen Miranda in Moca Colon, a laxative smuggling center in the Dominican Republic, on April 7, 1889, league spokesman and poet laureate Lance Anger said.

(thanks Duncan!)

Posted in Amusing, Frank Zappa, Zappa Misc | 2 Comments