I was really quite enthusiastic about the whole idea when Barry first tagged me on Facebook and proposed it. At first, it sounded all too simple, too easy.
The rules: Don’t take too long to think about it. Fifteen albums you’ve heard that will always stick with you. List the first fifteen you can recall in no more than fifteen minutes.
Hmmmm. Fifteen albums that had a big impact on me in fifteen minutes.
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By now I guess you all know about the Zappa event in Baltimore that is to take place on September 19. A couple of days ago, a new Zappa Records release was announced for this date:
September 19, 2010 marks the 25th anniversary of Zappa’s testimony on Capitol Hill and at Annapolis against the censorship of free expression by artists. In commemoration of this event, Zappa Records is preparing to release ‘Congress Shall Make No Law,’ a CD containing Frank Zappa’s testimony.
More info about the event here.
Update Sep 13 2010: Here’s the ZFT announcement as featured on their mailing-list from Sep 11, included for archival purposes. Pre-order link!
If you’re on Facebook, you may have come across a recent meme there which states simply:
15 albums that have had a big impact on me.
Don’t take too long to think about it. Fifteen albums you’ve heard that will always stick with you. List the first fifteen you can recall in no more than fifteen minutes.
Myself, Alex and Urbangraffito ended up posting our fifteen minutes of fame albums “that have had a big impact on us”, and thought it might make for interesting blog fodder. As first in a series, here’s my list – in no particular order, and annotated for good measure.
Little Feat co-founder Richie Hayward has died after a long battle with liver disease earlier this month on August 12, 2010. He was 64.
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I recall the first time I ever encountered the work of Gil Scott-Heron, I was in my mid teens and I had just borrowed a load of records, among them his 1971 release, Pieces of a Man from the public library on a whim (I had never heard of him before). I did that a lot back then – borrow whole batches of vinyl records during the summer vacation and listen to albums all week long. When I got home and slipped Pieces of a Man onto the turntable for the first time, Gil Scott-Heron blew my mind, especially with spoken word and vocal jazz tracks like “The Revolution Will Not Be Televised”, “Home Is Where The Hatred Is” and “Lady Day & John Coltrane” (all video clips below) to name just a few.
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So, you’re interested in learning to play The Black Page #1 on guitar? Check out this video from Polygon Head, angrily shake your fist at the guitar gods, and go back to your Neil Young Harvest songbook (that’s what I did):
Hat tip: Joe Williamson
As a long time fan of Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention, the names of particular musicians have threaded through much of the music I have listened to and collected throughout the years. Names such as Andy Cahan, Lawrence ‘Stash’ Wagner, and Tom Leavey. Together and separately, through compositions and through associations (sometimes as members and as contributors) they formed links with such bands as Frank Zappa & The Mothers, Lowell George & The Factory, Little Feat, and Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band, and Geronimo Black.
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Sometimes I am quite delighted to discover a fan-made Frank Zappa video like the one posted above. It reinforces my belief that the future of FZ’s public image is in the right hands: creative, open-minded, technology embracing hands. This is how I always envisioned Zappa’s legacy being spread.
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Captain Beefheart guitarist Gary Lucas will conduct a Beefheart Symposium at The Magic Room, Brighton, MA, on Friday Sept. 10th:
Gary Lucas, who has been called “a modern guitar miracle” (Rolling Stone), “The Thinking Man’s Guitar Hero” (The New Yorker) and “One of the 100 Greatest Living Guitarists” will give a lecture and musical demonstration devoted to his mentor and childhood hero Don Van Vliet aka Captain Beefheart.
Gary will show rare video footage of the man and the band, delve into his complex artistic oeuvre as both a composer — by performing some of his fiendishly difficult solo guitar compositions live — and as a painter by showing slides of his formidable paintings and drawings.
Funny little note at the end: “No one under 18 years old will be admitted.”
