All in all, I had a wonderful time and I would do it again. In fact, if they come back, I’ve already asked Dweezil if I can play Echidna’s Arf with them to make up for fucking it up on Zappa’s Universe. He said that if they had it ready (in their repertoire) I’m welcome to try my hand at it.
In other news we have encountered a glitch in the matrix! ZPZ has suffered the departure of Aaron Arntz. Obviously that changes the material we can readily perform and requires some shifting of duties within the band.
Then there’s Il Signore Sterbini who introduced me to a band called The Cardiacs. These guys merge FZ’s rhythmic sophistication with the “educated” punk of The Clash — and then some:
From the vaults of the popular psychedelic show ‘The Radio Lab’ which later became ‘Cryptic Propensity Projections’ and ‘Midnight Collage’ on KBOO FM, Portland, Oregon from 1971-1985, Michael Christopher, Harry Mishkin and Bill Reinhardt talk to Frank Zappa after his performance at the Paramount Theater in Portland, Oregon. In the first clip, Frank discusses Germans, pop culture, the music scene and his own dubious popularity. In the second clip, he discusses musical interests, critics, and former ‘Mothers’ drummer, Jimmy Carl Black. The third clip is a spicy stew of The Mothers of Invention and The Firesign Theater. Unavailable since it’s broadcast on the Radio Lab in 1974.
What you are about to see is a mix of unrelated YouTube videos/clips edited together to create ThruYou. In other words – what you see is what you hear:
(and to the multitudes that have already seen this I say: “oh rats!” 🙂
Back in May 2008, KUR was notified of the fact that an FZ statue donated by the state of Lithuania, risked being put on the outskirts on the city of Baltimore — “because Frank Zappa was not an appropriate image to have on their grounds.”… meaning- it would be put in a place where no one would see it.
I’m thinking it should be in Fells Point Square/Mt Vernon Park or at least somewhere downtown where people can actually see it and appreciate it.
We urged you to mail Baltimore city hall officials, asking for a better spot. Well, lo and behold:
On Wednesday, the commission formally endorsed placing the bust in the quirky Fells Point community. The neighborhood is a major tourist draw known for its nightlife.
Eric writes:
I have a friend who works in Baltimore Promotion of the Arts who said they got a TON of emails from around the world about the location of the statue. So thank you for posting. Between you guys and Zappateers (the other place I posted) I think we really made a difference!!!
When the Big Swifty theme came we left our seats, and walked backstage. After convincing one of the guards that we were about to go up and play with Frank, my next problem was I desperately needed to go to the toilet. I had lost the ability to feel needs like that – I had other things to think about. Another 5 min passed and I really had to go. I started to feel pain, I got totally confused; what would happen if Frank introduces us for 10 000 people, and I’m at the toilet unable to even hear him ?…
You might as well be interested in his other fine story called Being in Zappa´s Universe. Including some funny moments by Scott Thunes.
This particular concert took place at the Palais des Sports, Paris, France on June 11th, 1980 and was first broadcast on France’s Antenne 2 in late 1980, and later rebroadcast on Europe2 TV on May 10, 2007.
Besides the three clips posted above — “Chunga’s Revenge”, “Outside Now” and “Pound For A Brown”, respectively — I have endeavoured to link the following setlist to available videos from that concert:
There’s a lot of guitar in this concert.. nearly every song has an extended guitar solo, so if you like that sort of thing you’re definitely in luck. Ike sang really well on Outside Now, and then Ray did his usual fantastic singing of City of Tiny Lites. John Smothers runs out a couple of times and shines his flashlight into the crowd. Then something curious happens. In the middle of Pound For A Brown, Frank “brings the band on down” and says that he’s going to give a demonstration to a mystery guest… this would be Pierre Boulez, whom both Frank and Tommy Mars got to meet personally and show off their electronic effects, which Boulez seemed to enjoy.
Much thanks to “YourArf”, “bongolampo”, “zw”, “berthy75”, and “justanotherbrick” for posting all these videos.
