You’ve Got Mail!

Posted on March 29, 2011 by Barry's Imaginary Publisher

I’ve been rather busy outside of this website as of late, and wouldn’t you know it: that’s when people start sending in all sorts of interesting stuff hoping I’ll relay that stuff here. Without further ado…

  • Regyptian Strut guitar solo tablature as notated by Mark Hawling who says: “I just get sick of seeing them doing nothing on my HDD when there must be some nutter out there interested in something like this.”
  • “Waltz For FZ”, as featured on Utopianisti. Says Markus Pajakkala: “I’m a composer/multi-instrumentalist/producer from Finland.”
  • From Ab Stammehaus: “Warren Cucurullo’s new band Chicanery with new album coming up: listen to edited preview songs on the website.” (They’re also on MySpace)
  • Lee Mezcallo raves about the Genkin Philharmonic and hastens to add: “they’re quite good“…
Posted in Alumni, Frank Zappa, Miscellany, Music, YouTubery | 9 Comments

Sunday Big Note — Listening Session #20

Posted on March 27, 2011 by Barry's Imaginary Publisher

I was first introduced to the music of Astor Piazzolla on a trip to Buenos Aires, Argentina, back in 2005. Almost instantly, I realized that I had stumbled upon something incredibly powerful. Filled with melancholy, and while rooted firmly in the traditional Argentine tango genre, Piazzolla’s work is at the same time intensely influenced by North-American jazz and modern classical music. As with Frank Zappa, Astor Piazzolla’s music defies categorization.

I still remember the exact circumstances of that discovery. My travel companion, who spent most of our downtime checking football fixtures on international betting sites or mapping out our next meal, had dragged me into a cramped neighborhood record shop. A live album happened to be playing over the store’s battered speakers, and that was all it took to get me completely hooked.


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Posted in Classical music, Music, Sunday Big Note | Tagged , , , , | 5 Comments

Raging Slab @ De Melkweg, Amsterdam, 1993

Posted on March 25, 2011 by urbangraffito

Everyone has a secret musical pleasure. One of mine has been the music of Raging Slab. Anyone who knows me, knows I have a definite soft spot for southern rock. Perhaps what I like about Raging Slab is the unique manner in which they combine such seeming contrasting musical influences (punk, progressive, roots, metal, southern rock, country) to create their own sound.
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Posted in Miscellany, Music, YouTubery | Tagged , , , , | 7 Comments

Todd Rundgren’s Utopia Reunion Shows – January 29/30, 2011

Posted on March 23, 2011 by urbangraffito


If laughter is considered the best medicine by most – for musicians then, in contrast, music will always be their best medicine. At very least that was in the mind of Todd Rundgren and the band Utopia as they assembled on the stage of the Highline Ballroom in New York City for a two night benefit on January 29th and 30th on behalf of fellow band member Moogy Klingman (the proceeds of the reunion going toward Klingman’s treatment for cancer).
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Posted in Miscellany, Music, YouTubery | Tagged , , , , , , , | 21 Comments

Kinda Young, Kinda Dead…

Posted on March 22, 2011 by alex

In doing my thesis research (which will include a chapter on You Are What You Is), I stumbled across the discussion of “Charlie’s Enormous Mouth” over at the ARF.ru website, which had this comment:

Fuck ME. I remember the Charlie fragrance commercials, but I don’t remember kinda young kinda wow. I was real young so I dont doubt it.
I always suspected that Charlie’s Enormous Mouth was a riff on the “Charlie” fragrance because “Charlie” referred to a woman name in both cases. (For the non-English speaking, Charlie is usually a nickname for Charles, a mans name, and rarely used for Charlene or any other female variant).

In this day and age of vintage commercials being posted on YouTube for nostalgic purposes, I was able to find a 1973 ad for the Charlie fragrance…

And this, ladies and gentlemen, is why I find FZ’s work to be endlessly rewarding to the astute listener.

Posted in Bizarre, Frank Zappa, Miscellany, Music, Official Releases, Pop Cult | 24 Comments

The Rondo Hatton Report, Volume 6

Posted on March 22, 2011 by urbangraffito

The Rondo Hatton Report: an online journal for people who have outgrown the ordinary – has just published it’s sixth issue of essays and prose works devoted to the man with the Imperial.
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Posted in Community, Frank Zappa, In Writing | Tagged , , , | Comments Off on The Rondo Hatton Report, Volume 6

Band From Utopia @ Cologne’s Tanzbrunnen, 1994

Posted on March 22, 2011 by urbangraffito

While initially invited to perform at the Jazz Open Stuttgart in Liederhalle, Stuttgart, Germany on July 1st, 1994, Band From Utopia also had one other gig two days after Stuttgart at Cologne’s Tanzbrunnen on July 3rd, 1994. Watch these recently posted videos of Band From Utopia’s Cologne (courtesy of TheCaveStudioFilms) performances of “Tink / 13” (above) and “Village of the Sun / Echidna’s Arf (of You) / Don’t You Ever Wash That Thing?” (below):
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Posted in Alumni, Frank Zappa, FZcovers, Music, YouTubery | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

Interview With Michael Bruce – The Original Alice Cooper Group

Posted on March 20, 2011 by urbangraffito

Recently inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame along with the other original members of the Alice Cooper Group – Michael Bruce was the band’s guitarist, keyboard player and backing vocalist. In an exclusive interview by Nightwatcher for Nightwatcher’s House of Rock, Michael Bruce talks about his experiences as a member of the Alice Cooper Group (for the Zappa/Mother of Invention fan, though, one will find a lot of interesting historically relevant information – both in the interview, and on Michael Bruce’s website):
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Posted in Frank Zappa, Interview, Miscellany, Music, YouTubery | Tagged , , , , , | 2 Comments

Sunday Big Note – Listening Session #19

Posted on March 19, 2011 by urbangraffito

Riding the post punk wave out of the 1970s and into the 1980s along with such bands as The Talking Heads, The Residents, Devo, and Cardiacs, was a favourite band of mine – a thinking man’s band some would say – Wall of Voodoo. Particularly if you happened to pick up their second full-length album, 1982’s Call of the West – which All Music Guide described as “full of tales of ordinary folks with little in the way of hopes or dreams, getting by on illusions that seem more like a willful denial of the truth the closer you get to them.” To me, at least, a perfect description of the decade of the 80s which would later be aptly described in Jay McInerney’s novel Bright Lights, Big City and Bret Easton Ellis’ 1991 American Psycho.
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Posted in Music, Sunday Big Note, YouTubery | Tagged , , , , , | 5 Comments

The Cardiacs in Rehearsal

Posted on March 18, 2011 by urbangraffito

Long before I had began writing and posting here at KUR, one of the many things which had attracted me to this weblog (and frankly, still does, years later) was all the new music I was exposed to on a daily, weekly, and monthly basis (via posts, comments, and various emails from band publicists throughout the world).
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Posted in Community, Miscellany, Music, YouTubery | Tagged , , | 14 Comments