Holland Doc: Zappa Documentary

Posted on January 24, 2009 by urbangraffito

For those who missed the posting of this documentary the first time around, here’s it is again (in all it’s glory). Documentary by Roelof Kiers. Zappa talks about his youth, his interest in explosives, blues, guitars, non-Western music and the establishment of The Mothers of Invention. Also, about the unknown possibilities of the vacuum cleaner in family Zappa.

Posted in Bizarre, Frank Zappa, Interview, YouTubery | Tagged , , , , , , | 12 Comments

Tom Waits: Musik & Mythos

Posted on January 22, 2009 by Barry's Imaginary Publisher

It took our pal Tommi Brem and his associate Daniel Knapp two years to translate Jay S. Jacob’s Tom Waits biography, “Wild Years: the Music and Myth of Tom Waits”, into German — Tommi at one point likened it to birthing a baby elephant.

Now, finally, the book is about to be published and ready for pre-ordering.

Tom Waits Illustration Preview

You may remember that Sharl and I were approached to create chapter illustrations for this book, as well as a cover. Given the subject, that turned out to be great fun, despite a near fatal computer crash.

For those interested: if you pre-order the book, you get a free set of high-quality postcards with all 12 illustrations printed on them.

As for Sharl and I: we’re chuffed to have been part of this project! Now if you’ll excuse me, I’ll go camp near the mailbox and await the arrival of my copy 🙂

Posted in In Writing, Miscellany, Personal, Visual Arts | Tagged , , | 8 Comments

Thursday Mix: Mothers Auxiliary

Posted on January 22, 2009 by urbangraffito

weaselscs

When one thinks of the ever expanding web of musicians who both directly played with Frank Zappa, then those who have then played with those musicians in turn, it’s not very surprising the enormous effect that FZ had on the musical forms and musicians with which he came into contact. Just check out my own personal sampling of Zappa alumni, along with those who have recorded and performed live with him in my mixtape, “Thursday Mix: Mothers Auxiliary”, to get your own idea.

Perhaps now that Zappanale successfully fought off the ZFT’s ill-conceived litigation, we just might see some of the names in this mixtape perform at the Zappanale in the coming years?

Click here to listen to the mixtape (Be prepared, fellow KUR-meisters, it’s a BIG one).

Note: If anyone feels we are infringing their copyright, contact us and we will remove the item in question.

Posted in Captain Beefheart, Frank Zappa, Mike Keneally, Music | Tagged , , , , | 5 Comments

ZFT Litigation Frenzy: School of Rock Edition

Posted on January 21, 2009 by Barry's Imaginary Publisher

I kid you not.

Incredibly, having just lost the Zappanale lawsuit, the ZFT is now going after Paul Green’s School of Rock — more specifically Napoleon M. Brock’s envolvement therein. Here’s the Berger-Kahn letter (pdf). Quote:

It recently came to our attention that Napoleon Murphy Brock and the Paul Green School of Rock All-Stars are currently scheduled to perform the music of Frank Zappa […] We understand that this tour is billed as “Napoleon Murphy Brock Performs ZAPPA with the Paul Green School of Rock All-stars”. Please be advised that none of you possess any license, permission or authority to publicly perform the songs of Frank Zappa.

Should you wonder where your precious Barfko Swill dollars are headed for, look no further: this is it.

Unbelievable.

Posted in Community, Frank Zappa, In The News | Tagged , , , , , , | 56 Comments

ZFT vs Zappanale: Gail Loses

Posted on January 21, 2009 by Barry's Imaginary Publisher

Taken straight from Der Spiegel (and translated to English by yours truly):

His name belongs to me, thought Zappa widow Gail — and so she started a lawsuit against the music festival “Zappanale”, organized each year in his honor by a Fanclub. She has failed however to convince the DĂŒsseldorf civil court.

Yay Zappanale! So. That was money well spent, wasn’t it Gail?

Here’s the article according to Google Translate, if you’re in for a laugh.
Update: here’s the article in English.

Hat tip: Robert Graf-Waczenski!

Posted in Community, Frank Zappa, In The News, Zappanale | Tagged , , , | 9 Comments

1973 Monday Conference & RDNZL

Posted on January 21, 2009 by Barry's Imaginary Publisher

I love FZ’s deadpan delivery of lines that contain words such as “organs” and “gratification” in the interview part — also a nice version of RDNZL:

Posted in Frank Zappa, Interview, Music | Tagged , , | 3 Comments

Goodbye Mr President!

Posted on January 20, 2009 by Barry's Imaginary Publisher

Goodbye Dubya

… and may the door hit your ass on the way out.
(cartoon © Robert Ariail)

Posted in Heh Heh, In The News, Miscellany, Politics | Tagged , , , , | 30 Comments

Peek inside Frank Zappa’s vaults, parts 1-4

Posted on January 19, 2009 by Balint

One Shot Deal (which numbers 83 of all official Zappa releases, in case you’re counting), largely pulls largely from Zappa’s mid-’70s live material, which has never appeared on CD. “One Shot Deal was literally that,” says Gail. “It was like, ‘Come on, Joe. How fast can we make a record?’ I think we put that together in a week. 
 I heard the [guitar] solo [in ‘Occam’s Razor’], and I said, I have to put this out.’”

Long article in Goldmine (source: Unica)
Parts: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4

“There’s a lot of stuff I’d like to release,” says Gail. “We’re going to try to release, minimum five, but possibly eight to 10 projects a year.”

Posted in Frank Zappa, In The News, Music | Tagged , , , , | 20 Comments

Hot Rats: 200 Gram Vinyl Edition

Posted on January 19, 2009 by Barry's Imaginary Publisher

For you completists out there…

Mastered and cut directly from the original analog master tape by Bernie Grundman under the supervision of Gail Zappa. This LP features Classic’s proprietary ultra quiet vinyl formula and our 200g Super Vinyl Profile II pressed on specially outfitted semi automatic presses for maximum sonic fidelity.

Hands up who’s going to buy this!

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

The Tubes — Poland Whole/Madam I’m Adam

Posted on January 19, 2009 by urbangraffito

In this video, The Tubes are captured performing one of their classic songs from their Young and Rich album in December, 2005, in their home base: San Francisco (While the audio quality is just above average, the energy of the band and the song still come through loud and clear). As an additional treat for Tubes fans, the following is an excerpt from their April 21st, 1977 show at the Palace of Fine Arts in San Francisco:

[audio:http://www.killuglyradio.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/01/2-11-pimp1.mp3]
Posted in Bizarre, Music, YouTubery | Tagged , , , | 5 Comments