The Tubes, “Young and Rich” Tour, 1976

Michael Cotten, director and coordinator of The Tubes Project, has done a superb job combining still photography and the soundboard recording of The Tubes May 8th, 1976, Buffalo, New York show from their “Young and Rich” Tour.
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Posted in Bizarre, Heh Heh, Music, Pop Cult, YouTubery | Tagged , , , , , , | 24 Comments

Napoleon’s New Album: Pre-Order Now

We reported on Napoleon M. Brock’s new album “This Is What Frank Zappa Heard” a couple of weeks ago. Now you can pre-order with the aid of this handy Word document. As a reminder of what this release is about, a quote:

On August 8th, 1973, Frank Zappa was alerted by his road manager, Marty Perellis, that an incredible band with an extraordinary lead singer was performing downtown to a standing room only audience … and that it might be wise that he come and see this for himself.
When Zappa went to the club and watched the show, he saw a young talent sing, dance, play sax, flute and keyboards, in a manner that clearly made it appear that he was having more fun than even the other patrons in the club.
After two hours of observing and listening to this young man and his very disciplined band of musicians, he introduced himself as Frank Zappa, and the young man introduced himself as Napoleon Murphy Brock. The next words out of Zappa’s mouth were, “You are my new lead vocalist.”

Me thinks Mrs Barry’s Imaginary Publisher is going to want this…

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

Mike Keneally Interview & Video

Anyone who knows me, knows I’m a big fan of Mike Keneally. His music is so utterly different from anything else that each and every listening is indeed a delight. When his early recordings (which were long out-of-print) were made available for download, believe me, I scooped them up. The words progressive and eclectic only begin to describe this musical renaissance man.
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Posted in Alumni, Interview, Mike Keneally, Music, Official Releases, YouTubery | Tagged , , , , | 7 Comments

Beating ‘Beat The Boots’

I subscribe to Google Web Alerts for the term “Frank Zappa”. And so earlier today, this alert turned up:

Beating BTB

Erhm…

Alanis Morissette type irony aside: while the ZFT continues to prohibit us from displaying so much as thumb-nailed album artwork on the discog section, there’s rampant, illegal distribution of official FZ-releases on the net.

Make a sentence, ZFT: “straight”, “priorities”, “your”, “get”… ?

Posted in Frank Zappa, Zappa Family Trust | Tagged , | 4 Comments

Interview of the Century, 1989

On the evening of December 22, 1989, Den Simms, Eric Buxton, and Rob Samler conducted a four and a half hour interview with Frank Zappa in the comfortable basement listening room of his home in the hills of Los Angeles. In the edited YouTube selection above, and the those that follow, Zappa answers give unique insight into various aspects of the ’88 Band, sources of secret words on tour, and other aspects of Zappa mythology such as “did FZ actually perform with Pink Floyd at the Amougies Festival in Belgium in October 1969?”
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Posted in Frank Zappa, Heh Heh, Interview, Miscellany, Music | 10 Comments

Son of Tweezer Glint – Part 1B

Welcome fellow KUR-meisters to the second installment of the “Son of Tweezer Glint – Part 1B.” In this installment, we hear unique versions of Mothers of Invention songs, the singles, as well as early edits of songs which would see major changes in later remixes. For some, a pleasant trip back to original vinyl collections, while for others, especially new fans of FZ and the M.O.I., a real audio treat. Also in this installment, demo (acetate) versions from Uncle Meat and We’re Only In It For The Money. Finally, a smattering of extended versions, longer edits, and proto versions to give a taste of what is forthcoming in the final four parts of the series.

Click here to listen to the mixtape.

(Note: each part in the series will be up for a two week period. Next installment: September 17th.)

Much thanks to gundamcustom for supplying the much improved audio version of “Dead Girls of London (Van Morrison, vocals)”.

Posted in Alumni, Frank Zappa, Music | Tagged , , , , , , , | 13 Comments

Coming Soon: Frank Zappa’s 200 Motels

Here’s an excerpt:

Tony Palmer DVD confirms: “we have no fixed release date… but one thing is for sure, we have the master tapes and the urban myth that they ‘disappeared’ is untrue.”

Posted in Frank Zappa, Movies, Music | Tagged , , | 15 Comments

Ed Palermo Big Band @ Southpaw (feat. Napoleon Murphy Brock)

southpawposter

If you are a fan of Ed Palermo‘s arrangements of Frank Zappa‘s compositions, and if you are in the New York area on Wednesday, September 9th, 2009, join Ed Palermo and his special guest, Napoleon Murphy Brock (on vocals and sax) at the Southpaw.
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Posted in Alumni, Frank Zappa, Music, YouTubery | Tagged , , , , , | 5 Comments

Zappa & Beefheart, Radio KWST, 1975

To promote the only album they ever made together – Bongo FuryCaptain Beefheart and Frank Zappa put together a promotional documentary of their musical lives and times. It contained some obscure material, early collaborations, demos, proto and live versions, as well as official releases. It was broadcast by KWST and other radio stations in the US, on October 1st, 1975 (the day before the official release of their album), and quickly became fodder for bootlegs.
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Posted in Alumni, Captain Beefheart, Frank Zappa, Interview, Music, Official Releases, Pop Cult, YouTubery | Tagged , , , , , | 8 Comments

The Case Of The Zappa Family Trust

Paul Carr has written an excellent paper on the clash between the ZFT and tribute bands. Looking at both conflicting points of view in depth, he comes to this conclusion:

How would Zappa himself have learnt his trade if his heroes Varèse and Stravinsky had asked him to stop appropriating their music into the popular music canon? How can musical ability and indeed our culture grow if we are not allowed to experience from the inside what the great masters have already achieved? Zappa was outspoken about this very process, as typified by the Central Scrutinizer character in Joe’s Garage. This album features the voice of Ike Willis as the voice of ‘Joe’, in a rock opera about the dangers of political systems that are ironically and alarmingly similar to those adopted by the ZFT. According to Miles, Zappa’s coverage of the suppression of freedom of speech in music was inspired in part by the Islamic revolution that had made music illegal within its jurisdiction at the time and this is something he continued in his much publicized confrontation with the Parents Music Resource Centre. It seems that the ZFT are attempting to implement precisely the type of restrictions that Zappa despised, and in doing so conflicting with his legacy. As discussed at the start of this paper, Zappa himself liberally incorporated the music of his heroes such as Ives, Stravinsky and Varèse in particular into his creative idiolect, and to restrict musicians and the public’s access to music goes against the impetus of the post modern culture we live in.

Note: I’m not posting this as flame bait — I just think it’s a really well thought through essay. Give it a read and decide for yourself.

Posted in Alumni, Frank Zappa, Music, Zappa Family Trust | Tagged , , | 23 Comments