Zappanale Fever

Posted on February 17, 2011 by Barry's Imaginary Publisher

Herr Thomas, head cheese over at Zappanale, just announced this year’s headliner (drum roll):

Eddie Jobson

Yes, that would be Eddie Jobson!

Posted in Alumni, Frank Zappa, Zappanale | 6 Comments

Glass Ghost, Burning Castle

Posted on February 16, 2011 by Barry's Imaginary Publisher

Flashback to December 17 2008, when KUR received the following email:

I’m recording a new project soon and I wrote NEW music for The Black Page. If I sent you guys a copy of the album and you like it would you mind saying so on killuglyradio? (It is going to be a digital release via my own site so I don’t stuck w/a shitty bitrate.)

Whereupon I responded:

New music for The Black Page? Sounds exciting! I’d love to hear this so by all means, do send us a copy if you want. I’ll be sure to give it a listen and give it a mention at KUR. Do you have a site where I can download the track(s)?

Cue tumbleweeds.

Fast Forward to the present:

As you can tell by the date stamp on the email, it took me a lot longer to get this project done than I thought. New music for the Black Page is here:

Glass Ghost, Burning Castle. Check it out.

Posted in Frank Zappa, FZcovers, Heh Heh, Music | 21 Comments

Project/Object Winter Tour 2011

Posted on February 15, 2011 by urbangraffito

Project/Object – The Music Of Frank Zappa – is back on tour with Zappa vocalist/guitarists Ike Willis and Ray White, Denny Walley, and Don Preston & Bunk Gardner (Feb 22 only) – along with Andre’ Cholmondeley on guitar and vocals, 
David Johnsen on bass and vocals, 
Eric Svalgard on keyboards and vocals, and introducing Ryan Berg on drums on the following dates and venues in February 2011:
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Posted in Alumni, Frank Zappa, Music, YouTubery | Tagged , , | 8 Comments

King Kong – Mother of All Monster Songs

Posted on February 14, 2011 by urbangraffito

From its first introduction in 1967, Frank Zappa‘s “King Kong” was a composition made for solos – horn solos, keyboard solos, drum solos, guitar solos. “King Kong” had them all. It was also a vehicle for extensive jamming. So, no matter the tour, no matter the particular ensemble, Zappa was there to determine exactly how structured the piece would or wouldn’t be, and what kind of atmosphere the particular solos would create – thus making “King Kong” a fan favourite whether it was performed by the original Mothers of Invention, the Hot Rats Band, The Roxy Band, or any of Zappa’s ensembles from the 1980s.
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Posted in Frank Zappa, Music, Personal | Tagged , , | 6 Comments

Sunday Big Note – Listening Session #14

Posted on February 13, 2011 by urbangraffito

Like a lot of other North American listeners, my first exposure to the progressive rock group, Yes, was via their edited for radio version of “Roundabout” from their fourth album, Fragile. Albeit a small hook, given the edited version, yet like everyone else I, too, was blown away by the sheer prowess of the full length version, as well as the rest of the album. For the rest of the 1970s, the album Fragile was in nearly every record collection I ever looked through. Now, if that isn’t a gage of a truly classic album, I don’t know what is.
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Posted in Music, Sunday Big Note, YouTubery | Tagged , , , , , | 12 Comments

Mothers of Invention on Vinyl – Are You Experienced?

Posted on February 9, 2011 by urbangraffito

When I came across these posts on YouTube, I could not help but share them here at KUR. Not because of the individual tracks themselves (which have been digitalized) – “Aybe Sea” (above) which closes side one of Burnt Weenie Sandwich and Uncle Meat‘s “Nine Types of Industrial Pollution” (below) – but because as these videos illustrate so well, a way of experiencing music which newer technologies have so hurriedly bypassed. I’m speaking of the whole tactile experience of listening to the vinyl record, itself: from how you held it in your hands, set the vinyl on the turntable, adjusted the amplifier and equalizer, then sitting before your stereo system, examined the album cover in your hands while the music filled the room.
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Posted in Frank Zappa, Music, Personal, YouTubery | Tagged , , , , | 31 Comments

Sunday Big Note – Listening Session #13

Posted on February 6, 2011 by urbangraffito

Growing up as a Canadian teenager in the 1970s, one could literally count the number of well known “homegrown” musical groups and artists on the fingers of one’s hand (okay, maybe two). The trouble was that, at the time, Canada really didn’t possess a viable recording industry. For any Canadian musician or group to “make it”, they literally had to leave the country to do so. Whether you were Joni Mitchell, Anne Murray, The Guess Who, The Sparrows (who would become Steppenwolf upon their move to the U.S.), Denny Doherty (of The Mamas & the Papas), or Neil Young you had to relocate south if you wanted any kind of career.
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Posted in Interview, Music, Personal, Sunday Big Note, YouTubery | Tagged , , , , , | 17 Comments

FiDO plays ZAPPA – Too Big To Fail (2011)

Posted on February 1, 2011 by urbangraffito

FiDO plays ZAPPA – the Swiss 10 piece orchestra – has been one of my absolute favorite Zappa tribute bands since I first heard their CDR, FiDO plays ZAPPA Live @Sudhaus Basel in 2007, followed by their incredibly energetic 2008 DVD, FiDO plays ZAPPA on the Dental Floss. Now in 2011, FiDO plays ZAPPA present their first studio album: Too Big To Fail.

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Posted in Frank Zappa, FZcovers | Tagged , , , | 21 Comments

Frank’s Little Houses

Posted on January 31, 2011 by urbangraffito

For the Frank Zappa and Mothers of Invention fan, there is almost always a particular album which they refer to as that album which “hooked” them as long-term fans. For me, that album was the 1970 release, ‘Burnt Weeny Sandwich‘, and in particular the more than 18 minute composition, “The Little House I Used To Live In” which functioned as the centerpiece of that album. Zappa’s 1969 solo release ‘Hot Rats‘ might have ensured my long-term Zappa fanaticism, yet ‘Burnt Weeny Sandwich‘ solidified it. When I first heard the movements and compound meters of “Little House“, my musical universe was never quite the same ever again.
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Posted in Frank Zappa, Music | Tagged , , , , | 27 Comments

Sunday Big Note – Listening Session #12

Posted on January 30, 2011 by urbangraffito

I’m certain each of us has our own personal experience in relation to Pink Floyd‘s masterpiece, Dark Side of the Moon. The band itself had conceived the album as a concept reflecting themes such as conflict, greed, the passage of time, death, and insanity. Indeed, the album struck such a universal chord during those early years of the 1970s, both the band and the public having witnessed the death of the idealism borne of the 1960s and the emerging cynicism of the 1970s, the tracks of Dark Side of the Moon were a sort of common recognition of a shared humanity. Perhaps, at very least, that’s why the album “remained in the charts for 741 weeks from 1973 to 1988, longer than any other album in history.”
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Posted in Miscellany, Music, Sunday Big Note | Tagged , , , , , | 10 Comments