Baltimore Or Bust

My inbox just about exploded this morning with news that the city of Baltimore is to accept a statue of FZ as a gift to the city:

Baltimore Zappa Statue

Until they met last night, some members of the Baltimore Public Art Commission, which voted unanimously to accept the gift of the bronze sculpture – valued at about $50,000 – were also unaware of Zappa’s connection to Charm City.
However, the donors of the bust, who come from much farther afield – in fact, from a nation Zappa never visited – are well aware of his background.

That’d be Vilnius, Lithuania, of course.

Lo and behold: GS “avidly supports placing the sculpture in Baltimore, where her late husband’s quirky views of life fit with the work of such great local artists as John Waters.”…

Posted in Community, Frank Zappa, In The News, Visual Arts | Tagged , , | 5 Comments

Parallel Worlds

Having first aired on BBC Four about a year ago, Parallel Worlds, Parallel Lives is finally given a re-run that us lowly mainland Euro’s can watch — on BBC Two:

A documentary which follows the singer of US rock band Eels, Mark Everett, as he travels across America to learn about the father he never knew – quantum physicist Hugh Everett III.

Which Eels? This Eels. Many thanks to the Beeb for broadcasting this at the ungodly hour of 12:20 am. Must… Stay… Awake…

Posted in Movies, Music, Science | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

On The Edge

U2’s The Edge is a talentless twit. Bill Bailey agrees.
Plenty more where that came from!

Posted in Heh Heh, Music, Pop Cult | Tagged , , | 17 Comments

Very Saxy

Strange what one finds on YouTube…Is it jazz, or is it big band, or is it porn? Or is it Big Band Jazz Porn? You decide…

Posted in Bizarre, Heh Heh, Miscellany, Music, YouTubery | Tagged , , , | 9 Comments

3 from Rain Dogs (live)

What is it about the music and lyrics of Tom Waits that popular culture has clung to so heartily? Has he touched upon something deep within our common unconscious, like some dimestore novel from which we are all characters?

And we’re all behaving like dogs…

Posted in Miscellany, Music, YouTubery | Tagged , , | 4 Comments

Tom Waits Gives A Press Conference

(via)

Posted in Heh Heh, Music, Pop Cult, YouTubery | Tagged , | 8 Comments

Boys Are Back In Town

Hello and welcome to another episode of “Zappa.com Forums: The Douchebag Edition”. Idiot Bastard Son says:

I have been personally insulted at the Zappa Forum simply for commenting on the inference in DZ’s recent email about the ZPZ DVD re-release. It is actually quite clear. What he said was: “ZPZ’s goal is to capture the attention of a new audience” – not “…one of its goals…“, but “ZPZ’s goal…“. More care needs to be taken if that doesn’t mean it’s ZPZ’s sole goal (which I don’t actually believe it is). I will refrain from commenting further at the Forum: it’s a very hostile place, seemingly now populated by a couple of racist bully-boys.

There’s some cool people posting at the Z forums mind you, but the (real) idiots, it seems, are taking over. Erh… AFFZ, anyone?

Posted in Community, Frank Zappa, In Writing, Zappa Plays Zappa | Tagged , , , | 20 Comments

Stanley Zappa: Live Constructions

Stanley Jason Zappa & Nick Skrowaczewski (tenor saxophone & drums), live this evening on WKCR — 9PM Eastern Standard Time. Don’t miss it!
(Hey Stanley, don’t suppose you could sqeeze in It Had To Be You for our birthday girl, could you?)

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

Got Rhythm?

Drummers worldwide listen up:

People who score high on intelligence tests are also good at keeping time, new Swedish research shows. The team that carried out the study also suspect that accuracy in timing is important to the brain processes responsible for problem solving and reasoning.

Well that certainly puts a new spin on the old proverbial drummer’s joke. Got any good ones? Feel free to share in the comments. How many drummers does it take to change a light bulb?

Posted in Heh Heh, Music, Science | Tagged , , | 4 Comments

Bring Out Yer (Gr)Avatar

Praise be! This weblog is now Gravatar enabled. Now you too can have one of those unique little personal images next to any comment you post here. All you have to do is sign up for an account with Gravatar, upload your image, and associate it with the email address you’d previously entered to comment here. Next thing you know, your avatar will appear next to your comments — retroactively!

So c’mon: bring out yer Gravatar

Posted in Community, Site News | Tagged , , , | 8 Comments