Four Guitarists — Far Too Soon

Posted on June 4, 2008 by urbangraffito

The recent passing of Bo Diddley got me to thinking of other great “axemen” who passed on far too soon: Curtis Mayfield (“Superfly”), Chris Whitley (“Vertical Desert”), Mark Sandman (“Buena”) of Morphine, and Warren Zevon (“Lawyers, Guns & Money”).

Posted in Miscellany | 3 Comments

Bo Diddley — Dead at 79

Posted on June 3, 2008 by urbangraffito

The musical pioneer whose songs, such as “Who Do You Love?” and “Bo Diddley,” melded rhythm and blues and rock ‘n’ roll through a distinctive thumping beat, has died. The cause was heart failure, his family said. I don’t think there is anyone who hasn’t cranked up either of the songs on this video, “Hey, Bo Diddley” and “Bo Diddley”.

Posted in In The News, Miscellany, Music, YouTubery | Tagged , , , | 5 Comments

Jesus Thinks You’re…

Posted on May 31, 2008 by Barry's Imaginary Publisher

A Guide to Christian Clichés and Phrases:

“He is risen!”
Translation: “It’s Easter! Let’s eat!”
Acceptable Response: “He is risen indeed!”
Unacceptable Response: “Where? I don’t see him.” Or, “Do you have any evidence for that statement?” Or especially, “Like yeast?”

Posted in Heh Heh, Religion | Tagged , , , | 4 Comments

New Live FZ DVD: The Torture Never Stops

Posted on May 29, 2008 by Barry's Imaginary Publisher

Well, apparently today is Zappa-news day. A new DVD, hot off the press at Barfko Swill: FZ: The Torture Never Stops. As per the blurb:

  • $21.98
  • Halloween, New York City, 1981 – Live at The Palladium
  • edited, performed & music composed & conducted by FZ
  • with Ray White, Steve Vai, Bobby Martin, Tommy Mars,Ed Mann, Scott Thunes, Chad Wackerman
  • 2 hours with xtras – ratta tat too!
  • DVD 9 Dual Layer, NTSC, American English, Dolby Digital 2.0

This appears to be a fully captured version of the Halloween ’81 show, perhaps most famous for this rendition of “Stevie’s Spanking”, as previously featured in the Dub Room Special DVD. (See Also)

Visuals? Yup:

The Torture Never Stops DVD

Have to admit I for one didn’t see that one coming. Whatever happened to frost on pumpkins and such?

Update:

Posted in Frank Zappa, Movies, Music | Tagged , , , , | 38 Comments

Frank Zappa, Fake Rocker Or True Jazz Man?

Posted on May 29, 2008 by Barry's Imaginary Publisher

Attention French shoppers! Jazz Magazine‘s June issue has an 18 page special on FZ.

Jazz Magazine June 08 FZ Special

As you can see there’s an interview with Jean-Luc Ponty on how he first met FZ, while the main article attempts to provide an answer to the question:

Zappa, Fake Rocker or True Jazz Man?

Your insights are welcomed in the comments…

(Via Gilles)

Posted in Frank Zappa, In The News, In Writing, Jean-Luc Ponty | Tagged , , | 19 Comments

The Grande Mothers: New Tourdates

Posted on May 29, 2008 by Barry's Imaginary Publisher

Grande Mothers

The Grande Mothers will be kicking off a short Canadian tour next June, playing 7 venues. If you hadn’t already, check out their MySpace page!

Posted in Frank Zappa, Music | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

New 1980 Live FZ Footage

Posted on May 29, 2008 by Barry's Imaginary Publisher

Dated October 12, 1980 and recorded in Albuquerque at Johnson Gym. October 12, 1980. The clip shows “Harder Than You Husband” with Jimmy Carl Black, and “Bamboozled By Love” with Ike Willis.

Jimmy Carl Black was living in Albuquerque at the time of this concert. This video was personally authorized by Frank Zappa, it was shot to document Jimmy’s performance.

Check it out. A higher res version can be found over at Zappateers.

Posted in Frank Zappa, Music, YouTubery | Tagged , , , | 5 Comments

Last.fm Wallpaper

Posted on May 28, 2008 by Barry's Imaginary Publisher

What a cool little toy, this: feed it with your Last.fm username, and it will generate a wallpaper image based on what you’ve been listening to recently.

Here’s mine:

ugly radio's last.fm wallpaper
(Really Big Version)

Sharleena’s:

sharleena's last.fm wallpaper
(Really Big Version)

I was expecting Sharl’s to be an exclusive Eels affair, but strangely, it turned out otherwise! * ducks *

(via)

Posted in Music, Visual Arts | Tagged , , | 4 Comments

Musical-Visual Intelligence

Posted on May 26, 2008 by Barry's Imaginary Publisher

By way of Music Thing: a test that determines how well you can relate sounds to shapes. My result:

musical visual intelligence - Barry's results

Not too shabby for a guy who’s been suffering from a hearing disability since the mid ’80s, I’d say! How are you boys ‘n girls doing?

Posted in Miscellany, Music | Tagged , | 8 Comments

120 Years Of Music Chart History

Posted on May 26, 2008 by Barry's Imaginary Publisher

Also known as The Whitburn Project:

For the last ten years, obsessive record collectors in Usenet have been working on the Whitburn Project — a huge undertaking to preserve and share high-quality recordings of every popular song since the 1890s. To assist their efforts, they’ve created a spreadsheet of 37,000 songs and 112 columns of raw data, including each song’s duration, beats-per-minute, songwriters, label, and week-by-week chart position. It’s 25 megs of OCD, and it’s awesome.

Don’t miss the follow-up on One-Hit Wonders and Pop Longevity.

Posted in Music, Pop Cult, Science | Tagged , , , , | Comments Off on 120 Years Of Music Chart History