Last night was Zappa Plays Zappa’s official opening at the Jammy’s. Judging from this review authored by one Trendmonger at the zappa.com forums, we are in for a treat. A Big Treat:
Chick Corea came out for the Fender Rhodes and Moog solos in Inca Roads and it was plain to see that this band is a tour de force as one listened to Inca Roads & Florentine Pogen with a sound believe it or not that was Thicker and had More Balls than any live Zappa performance I have ever seen and heard. When the band left the stage one could not stop and realize that this Zappa Plays Zappa band had all the right ingredients.
But of course there’s also this:
“”Other than Napi, who is always great, NONE of those people would have passed a Frank Zappa audition. Joe Travers, who I like personally, is like the Alan White of the Zappa community – he plays the songs correctly, but hardly RIGHT. The keyboardists were mediocre at best, the bassist was in over his head, and the second guitarist basically spent the night playing circles around Dweezil – which NEVER happened with Frank. Dweezil, for his part, exhibited almost no charisma on stage, and looked and acted a good deal like Steve Carell from The Office – constantly talking to the monitor guy (at both shows I understand) with such gems as “more snare and kick in the left stage monitors.” In addition, he thought it expedient to take jabs at other Zappa acts to start the show. Very unprofessional on both counts. The songs were all too SLOW (totally un-Zappa, that), the set list unispired (there is a reason Imaginary Diseases was never released) and, with the exception of the Nanook Suite (which was actually really good), almost everything was dumbed down in one way or another.””
http://idiotbastard.bravehost.com/news.html
Hey look i have ticketz fer the Albert Hall gig on June 2nd – i ain’t well – but what numberz did they do? & where are we now.
An mp3 of this event (including Inca Roads & Florentine Pogen) can be downloaded
here.
wowie zowie…yin and yang
Well…I, for one, am looking forward to June 22nd and 23rd. Thanks very much for sharing, vrnzr!
Oh, I didn’t put that up myself.
Just passing on that link … ;-)
Chick Corea is indeed very able. Just have a look at his discopgraphy.
However I keep saying: I don’t believe FZ would be happy about his kids performing his music. Kids should grow up and do their own thing, new.
Although I find it difficult to speak for a dead guy I only know from a casual “Hi Frank” spoken as he passed by me one time and a forgotten snide remark while applying autograph to dollar bill, I have to agree with Bernard’s thoughts. I can’t think of a single otherwise-unemployable-off-spring-of-famous-musician act that hasn’t resulted in some washed out nostalgia trip. I won’t participate, but certainly do hope ZPZ is able to deliver for all those with high expectations.
Now, if a guy like Chick Corea can add some new spark and twist to the brew, that could be a very dynamite show!
” with such gems as “more snare and kick in the left stage monitors.†(?)
Oh,I’m so sorry that you never been on a stage.
i cannot dll the mp3 songs. can someone email them to me please. erichasler@rogers.com
I saw both the Jammys, and the better gig aftterwards at BB kings, and then hung with the rocking teenage combo at the hotel and got all geeky with them while getting the dibs on the tour. …I know one of the members and know what’s coming up….you ain’t heard nothing yet The Jammy’s was just a warm up for sure. These guys want to be the Roxy band and get funky and play these difficult pieces with feeling. They know the songs (and will continue to get tighter which is why I’m psyched for the Beacon SHows in June!), but also take them somewhere else and take chances. Plus, Dweezil (on the Roxy SG) has taught himself ridiculous guitar parts like the marimba lick at the end of Inca Roads. Most of the music was from the 70’s period. OSFA, Roxy, apostrophe’, overnite sensation, Sheik,. They also throw in lots of cool little references to obscure things like the cool 19/16 groove from “Keep It Greasy”. yes! these guys are the real deal. They aren’t going through the motions at all. they have SOUL and play HARD.
The BB Kings after gig was where they really let loose with amazing renditions of Idiot Bastard Son, Pygmy Twylyte, Cheepnis, another Florentine Pogen that was deeper and looser than the Jammy;s. It was so damn danceable. People were dancing like mad.
And not to mention Napoleon Murphy Brock who is in great voice! he moves around like the old days!
Thank God for Zappa plays Zappa. if you miss Frank as much as I do, see this band!
I’ve been a huge FZ fan for 15 years and you won’t believe how they blow Project Object, Ed Palermo’s Big Band, and any other Zappa tributes you may have seen out of the water. Dweezil and his rocking teenage combo beat them all. FZ would have wanted it that way.
The full Jammy’s show is torrented here