Saturday, July 31, 2010

PAUL BUFF PRESENTS - VOL.15


Volume 15 of the Paul Buff Presents series is available at CDBaby !!

http://cdbaby.com/cd/paulbuffpresents11

It includes The Tornadoes' 'The Inebriated Surfer' that Frank Zappa engineered, The Pal Studio Band's (longer version of) 'Any Way The Wind Blows' that features FZ, and lots and lots more.

RALPHAMERICA NEWSFLASH

The Ralph Gang says:

Hi Kids
this won't last long, but we have a VERY limited quantity of various Ralph America Limited Editions available. These are from the RA archives (largely numbers 26-50, but in a couple cases there are some un-numbered discs)
Anyhow if you never got in on some of these fabulous items (hardbound book editions, and general fanciness) now is yer chance!

These are limited to ONE copy per customer per title. Really, these are really limited!

There are a few other items, such as some ESD titles we came across and some leftover Mole Show postcards, so pick it up while you can!

See ya in the funny papers....

http://ralphamerica.com
the RalphGang

Wednesday, July 28, 2010

PAUL BUFF PRESENTS...

Gregg Russo says:

This Friday, Volumes 15, 16 and 17 of "Paul Buff Presents..." will be released. Here are the FZ-related tracks:

Volume 15: The Tornadoes' "The Inebriated Surfer (LP Mix)" (engineering), and a longer version of The Pal Studio Band's "Any Way The Wind Blows" (composition and performance).

Volume 16: Mr. Clean's "Mr. Clean (Alternate Mix)" (composition and performance), The Tornadoes' "Raw-Hide" (engineering), and The Pal Studio Band's "Sun Dog" and "Cucamonga Surf" (surf instrumentals produced by FZ)

Volume 17: The Hollywood Persuaders' "Grunion Run (Alternate Mono Mix)" (composition and performance), The Tornadoes' "Shootin' Beavers" (engineering), and The Pal Studio Band's "Cucamonga Surf (Alternate Take)," "Straight Ahead" and "Sun Dog (Alternate Take)" (surf instrumentals produced by FZ).

ZAPPATIKA UPDATE

It looks like Zappatika's McInnes is getting ready for the trip to Zappanale...

RIP HARRY BECKET (1935-2010)

I met Harry Becket in 2006 at my friend Danny's place...
A very nice guy and an incredible musician.

Later, the same night, he shared the stage with The Wrong Object.

News like this makes me sad.

http://londonjazz.blogspot.com/2010/07/rip-harry-beckett-1935-2010.html


CABALLERO REYNALDO * * THE ULTIMATE INTERVIEW

Yes, it really is the ultimate Caballero Reynaldo interview:

http://www.arroyero.es/caballero-reynaldo-the-ultimate-interview/

DWALMACAT 391

Go to

http://www.fmbrussel.be/programmas/dwalmacat.aspx

and click on “Luister”

to enjoy
  • NE ZHDALI – Bossa V (Didjeridu-boogie)
  • ZYE YE YE – Zye ye ye
  • V/VM with TRUE BUTCHERS – I’m out of my mind
  • K. LEIMER – The cockpit
  • HÄRTE 10 – Aikido
  • TOM WAITS – Heigh ho (the dwarfs marching song)
  • SIXTEEN HORSEPOWER – Phyllis Ruth
  • JOE BERLUCK & MAURO PAWLOWSKI – Try a little love
  • ROGER WATERS & RON GEESIN – More then seven dwarfs in penis-land / Dance of the red corpuscles
  • SAMMY DAVIS JR. - Baretta’s theme
  • THE SKANKIN’ BABYLONIANS – Rough rider
  • JERI ROSSI – I left my heart but I don’t know where
  • DER PLAN – Get out!
  • CULTURAL DECAY – Fragile object
  • RICHARD HAWLEY – The ocean
  • PHILIP GLASS – Cloudscape

Tuesday, July 27, 2010

ZAPPA DOT COM NEWSFLASH

2010 07 28 - ZAPPA: Baltimore &/or Bust!!!

PLANS UNDERWAY FOR ZAPPA DEDICATION AND TRIBUTE CONCERT
SEPTEMBER EVENTS TO INCLUDE FREE OUTDOOR FESTIVAL
BALTIMORE

Since last months confirmation of the September 19th date for Baltimore Citys dedication of a bust of Frank Zappa, community support has been growing for a concert and festival in tribute to the legendary musician, composer and social icon, whose birthplace is Baltimore. The bust, donated by a Lithuanian fan club, will be placed at the Enoch Pratt Free Library Southeastern Anchor Branch in Highlandtown, and plans now include an outdoor concert featuring Zappa Plays Zappa (fronted by Franks son Dweezil), and various events at the library and nearby Patterson Theatre in support of the dedication ceremony.

The date itself is especially significant as September 19th is the anniversary of Zappas 1985 testimony on Capitol Hill in favor of free expression by Recording Artists at the Senate hearing instigated by certain congressional wives (members of the PMRC) concerning record labeling. Frank Zappas widow Gail commented on the remarkable coincidence, stating, Franks legacy rests in his uncompromising defense of the First Amendment and his uncompromising pursuit of excellence clearly demonstrated in the standards he set in all areas of Music and the arts and sciences associated with it. He was self-taught and self-realized. It is hard to imagine how that is possible except for the 4 cornerstones he had going for him: a talent for music, a hard-core curiosity, a keen sense of humor and access to a library. He was a cheap date for History.

The broader scope of events, being developed by Clearpath Entertainment in collaboration with the Zappa family, the Southeastern Community Development Corporation, Enoch Pratt Free Library, and the Creative Alliance, are intended to help anchor the new Highlandtown Arts and Entertainment District and plans now include a library exhibit, symposiums, and after party in addition to the dedication and concert. Sean Brescia of Clearpath stated, Baltimore has a rich entertainment heritage dating back to its iconic theatres and jazz ballrooms, and opportunities like this are a chance to re-capture that spirit. We wanted to build an event that was a truly fitting tribute to the Zappa legacy, but also something that can grow into a signature cornerstone event for the Highlandtown Arts and Entertainment District, and Gail [Zappa] has shared that vision from the beginning. In the interest of what the events could mean for the community, Brescia reached out to a broad group of community organizations to help plan and raise support for the events.

Echoing that sentiment of community interests, Chris Ryer of the Southeast Community Development Corporation added, The bust coming to Highlandtown and these events are high-profile, flagship opportunities to position the Highlandtown Arts and Entertainment District as major reasons for visitors to come to Southeast while theyre in Baltimore. Were excited to work with Clearpath and the Zappas to leverage this years events as a catalyst for great things to come.

Remarking on the concert lineup, Clearpaths David Christensen said, Frank Zappas musical genius and influence is undeniable and it has always been a must for us that Dweezil headline this show in the ultimate tribute to his father. This is going to be Zappa Plays Zappa, next to Zappas statue, on Zappas street, on Zappas day; it couldnt be more fitting.

xxx,

The Barfies

more info at
http://www.zappa.com/whatsnew/index.html#fzdedication

SNAKEFINGER IN GONZO CIRCUS

July 2010, Flemish magazine Gonzo Circus did a special on Snakefinger.

The article included links to the interview Snakefinger and Hardy Fox did with Oscar Smith on 1987/06/05 on a dutch local radio station (regio Amsterdam).

http://www.gonzocircus.com/7357/nagedachten-snakefinger

-- info & link: Ive Hapers

CHILDBITE - THE LIVING BREATHING ORGAN SUMMER


Detroit based Childbite doesn't hide the influence from bands like Devo, the Dead Kennedys or Pere Ubu. The band brings powerful avant-garde rock and does a great job transfering their energy to the listener.

I like this.
Sean Clancy on bass, Shawn Knight on vocals, guitar and synth, Daniel Sperry on drum, and Zack Norton on guitar.
These guys sound tight.

Call it indy punk, call it avant-garde, call it whatever you want, this sounds great.

Check them out:
http://www.myspace.com/childbite

The album is available from Joyful Noise Records:
http://www.joyfulnoiserecordings.com/catalog/jnr54

WILLEM BREUKER TRIBUTE ON DUTCH TELEVISION

Sunday, 2010/07/25, Dutch television did a rebroadcast of the episode of "Reiziger In De Muziek" that had the Willem Breuker Kollektief as guest. "Reiziger In De Muziek" was an excellent tv-show hosted by the late Han Reiziger.

The show with Willem Breuker was recorded in 1992 and included a couple of unique fragments. One of the most remarkable ones was a piece that the Kollektief performed together with chinese cellist Yo Yo Ma.

KOMMISSAR HJULER UND FRAU AT THE NEXT ZAPPANALE

Kommissar Hjuler Und Frau are scheduled to perform at Zappanale.
They will be on the Truckstage on Friday the 13th, in the early afternoon.



Watching the YouTube movies left me with some questions.
So I asked Kommissar Hjuler Und Frau what their music is all about. I also wanted to know what their influences are and what we should expect at Zappanale.


Kommissar Hjuler Und Frau:

For Zappanale, you can expect a very extended version of Sofa No. 2, but noisier, as if Throbbing Gristle would do a cover version.

I (KHJ, 43 years old) started collecting experimental music at the age of 16. I head my first Zappa music when I was about 20 years. My favourite LP was HOT RATS, whereas I also realy loved his weird tracks like Müssen Mehr Spargel Essen from a bootleg.

The main music that I collected was experimental modern classic / 20th century and industrial music, and that is the vein one can find in the music of Kommissar Hjuler and Mama Baer.

In 1997 there was a point that no music from my huge collecting was experimental enough to me. I met another musician at that time and we made recordings together as TUULEN LAULU: two tapes, one double-LP, and since that time I record music. I met my wife Mama Baer at that time. She was not used to experimental music, but also recorded some tracks.

In 2006 / 2007 there was another change. We started to paint and to make object art, and we also thought about playing live for the first time.

Today, we have mainly played live at industrial music festivals like Avantgarde Festival Schiphost, Incubate (NL), Ultra Eczema festival (B), Colour out of space (UK), blurred edges (D), and Bruit de la neige (F), but we have also played at art only events, for instance Mary Bauermeister, 2. Kunstsalon Neukölln, Begehungen Chemnitz, Int. Künstlertreffen PL/DK/D.

We have had exhibitions (group & solo) of our art all over the world, Africa, USA, Australia, Europe, and we have become a membership as artists at the NO!art movement last year.
We are represented by a Gallery again, have been under contract at Artware/Nexus Fluxus verein Wiesbaden before, until the death of Onna Klemm.
Now, we are under contract again at www.offenesatelier.com.

Our music has always been released in small handmade editions. A lot of them are now being reissued by independant labels.
We have a very interesting contract by Psych.KG Germany. This label presents a new split LP by us every 40 days, as a series, always with different partners for other side, and one side in the series by us. Partners are The New Blockaders, Kawabata Makoto, Bomis prendin, Rudolf Eb.er, LSD March, princess Dragon Mom, just to name few.
We've already reached number 6, but 18 LPs in the series have been scheduled so far
Moreover several LPs and CDs on labels in Europe or USA exist. The wire (UK) just stated that our CD asylum lunaticum belongs to the 15 most important albums of the year 2009 in experimental music.

So you should all be very curious for the 13th of August. It will be different from what a Zappa fan might expect, but it should be okay as mosts Zappa fans have an open mind and aren't afraid of musical experiments.

KHJ


GONG - 2032


Daevid Allen's space-rock ensemble Gong released a new album last year: "2032".

The saga goes as follows:
Gong is an invisible planet in our solar system, inhabited by the so-called Octave Doctors. These Octave Doctors visited planet earth in the late sixties and while most of them left, a couple of Octave Doctors stayed behind to study mankind.
In 2032, the planet Gong will reveal itself.
The Octave Doctors are prepared to help mankind, but this will only happen if mankind will recognise the peaceful intentions of these visitors.

For this fascinating album Daevid Allen teamed up again with Steve Hillage!
And besides Gilli Smyth, Miquette Giraudy, Mike Howlett, Chris Taylor and Theo Travis, there's also a guest appearance by Didier Malherbe!

"2032" is a very impressive album. More rock than space-rock, it will take you on a fine journey.
A beautiful way to celebrate 40 years of Gong. Let's hope that the band is still around in 2032.

Saturday, August 14, 2010, Daevid Allen will be on the main stage at the Zappanale festival with his University Of Errors project.

ZA! AT THE NEXT ZAPPANALE

Spanish band ZA! is scheduled to perform at Zappanale.

UniMuta : Can you tell me a bit about ZA! ? How long has the band been around?


ZA! : Za! is a band composed by two people and more than two instruments (trumpet, drums, guitar, kalimba, keyboards, etc). It was formed in 2003 and since then we've released two albums, Eki eki eki Kazaam! (2006, Practico!) and Macumba o Muerte (2009, Acuarela/Gandula in Europea and Asia, Darla in USA).

UniMuta : Your music is very energetic. Who are your musical influences? What music do you listen to?

ZA! : We listen to anything that gives us something, from Rage Against The Machine to Cecil Taylor, passing through Sonic Youth, Vinicius de Moraes, Ali Farka Toure, Balinese Gamelan, Kongar Ol-Ondar, At the drive-in, The Flying Luttenbachers, Fugazi or Coltrane.

UniMuta : Are you familiar with the Zappanale festival or with the music of Frank Zappa?

ZA! : We love Zappa, but we've never been to Zappanale, We're really looking forward to it!!

UniMuta : You will be perfoming twice. What should we expect?

ZA! : One is at night, the other is shorter and in the afternoon, so we'll do two completely different shows. We have a lot of new songs and ideas that we normally don't have time to play in just one show, so the proposal of playing twice is perfect for us.

UniMuta : Playing at midnight or playing in the afternoon. What do you prefer?

ZA! : The concert at midnight will be more similar to one of our regular shows (which is difficult to tell, as a high percentage is improvisation so everything depends on the stage, the audience, the interstellar alignement, etc), and we want the afternoon show to be something surprising even for us! We'll see what happens...

UniMuta : Thanks for your time. I'm looking forward to your concerts.

ZA! will be performing at the truckstage at midnight on Friday the 13th, and in the afternoon on Saturday the 14th. If you're into experimental music, you don't want to miss this.



CHEAP MONSTER MOVIES

Here's "ALIEN SPACESHIP ATTACK ON PLANET TERROR VS THE SLIMY MUDSHARK DANCING LESSION".

Monday, July 26, 2010

MIKE REED'S PEOPLE, PLACES & THINGS

Friday, August 27, 2010, Dutch Radio 6 will broadcast the 2010-04-28 concert that Mike Reed's People, Places & Things gave at the Bimhuis in Amsterdam, NL.

2010 08 27 "VPROJazzLive" 22:02-24:00 h at radio 6

Saturday, July 24, 2010

KIP WINGER - SONGS FROM THE OCEAN FLOOR


Kip Winger is the frontman of the band Winger. He has also a couple of solo albums out.
The first Winger album, from 1988 and self-titled, features Dweezil Zappa as special guest.

"Songs From The Ocean Floor" is Kip Winger's third solo album. It's from 2006 and it has Moon Zappa on vocals on 'Sure Was A Wildflower'.
Nice track. Nice album.

CABALLERO REYNALDO IN CONCERT

Cabellero Reynaldo is warming up for Zappanale:

  • 2010/07/30 Caballero Reynaldo & The Grand Kazoo - concert 'La Caverna', Valencia, Spain
  • 2010/07/31 Caballero Reynaldo & The Grand Kazoo - concert 'La Edad De Oro', Valencia, Spain
  • 2010/08/01 Caballero Reynaldo & The Grand Kazoo - concert 'La Traviesa', Torredembarra, Spain
  • 2010/08/14 & 15 Caballero Reynaldo & The Grand Kazoo - concert "Zappanale", Bad Doberan, Germany


OINGO BOINGO - NOTHING TO FEAR


Wiki says:
"Oingo Boingo was an American new wave band. They are best known for their influence on other musicians, their soundtrack contributions and their high energy Halloween concerts. The band was founded in 1972 as a performance art group called The Mystic Knights of the Oingo Boingo, and from 1976 it was led by songwriter/vocalist Danny Elfman, who has since achieved substantial renown as a composer for film and television.

The group's format changed twice. In 1980, it changed from a semi-theatrical music and comedy troupe into a ska-influenced New Wave octet and shortened their name to Oingo Boingo. In 1994, the band reshuffled its lineup, adopted an alternative rock sound and rechristened themselves Boingo. The band retired after a farewell concert on Halloween 1995, having reverted to the name Oingo Boingo for the concert."

I just bought the album for the beautiful cover, and, yes, that's the same Danny Elfman who wrote The Simpsons' theme.
And "Nothing To Fear" has some great music.

R.I.P. WILLEM BREUKER

Yesterday, Dutch musician and composer Willem Breuker passed away.
He was 65.

Tomorrow, Dutch television will (re)broadcast an episode of "Reiziger in de Muziek" that had the Willem Breuker Kollektief as guest.

NEW STEVE VAI SAMPLER


Epic's "Playlist" series includes samplers of Joe Satriani, Cheap Trick, Ted Nugent, and other big selling bands. And now, Steve Vai has joined the list: "Playlist - The Very Best Of Steve Vai".

ANNA RUTH E OS VISITANTES

Tomorrow, Sunday 2010/07/25, the Projeto SINTONIA DO ROCK will take place at the Cultural Centre in São Paulo, Brazil.
The concerts start at 18.00 h (!!) and will be featuring Anna Ruth e os Visitantas, as well as 3 Hombres.

You might want to know that Anna Ruth e os Visitantes includes Anna Ruth (vocals and violin), Andrei Ivanovich (bass), Tina Pappon (vocals), Jimmy Pappon (organ), Mario Conte (drums) and Rainer Tankred Pappon (guitar)
Yes, that's right. That's the same Rainer Tankred Pappon who plays the guitar in The Central Scrutinizer Band !!

You can listen to some samples at MySpace:

www.myspace.com/annarutheosvisitantes

and for 3 Hombres

www.myspace.com/3hombresbr

"ZAPPA UND DIE DDR" EXPO AT ZAPPANALE

Here's the trailer for the Zappanale expo: "Zappa und die DDR"!

Thursday, July 22, 2010

ZPZ * THE JAPANESE EDITION

Adding a bit of extra data to the Dweezil Zappa discography, here's a picture of the Japanese edition of the 2008 Zappa Plays Zappa album. It included one extra track compared to the US release: 'Cheepnis'.

DWEEZIL ZAPPA - RETURN OF THE SON OF...



The new Dweezil Zappa album has been out for a couple of weeks. If you were fortunate enough to catch Dweezil and his Zappa Plays Zappa project in concert somewhere the last couple of weeks, you'll know what to expect.

I said it last week: the DZPZ concert that I saw in Antwerp earlier this month, was one of the best Zappa concerts that I ever saw.
"Return Of The Son Of..." captures the same vibe and the same quality. (and features Ray White on a couple of tracks.)
Essential listening.

It's incredible how this band has improved...

DWALMACAT 390

Go to

http://www.fmbrussel.be/programmas/dwalmacat.aspx

and click on “Luister”, and you'll be able to whistle along to
  • LED ZEPPELIN – No quarter
  • THE EX – Bird in the hand
  • TIPSY – Grossenhosen
  • WEVIE STONDER – Guido’s alphabet garden
  • CHARLOTTE GAINSBOURG – Greenwich mean time
  • SIMON VINKENOOG & SPINVIS COMBO – Ja!
  • LCD SOUNDSYSTEM – Drunk girls (Holy ghost remix)
  • BOW WOW WOW – I want candy
  • THE CHAP – We work in bars
  • MORTON SUBOTNICK – Comet 4 / Comet 5 / 1066
  • FLYING LOTUS – A cosmic drama / Zodiac shit
  • PEAKING LIGHTS – Owls barning
  • ALAN VEGA with THE REVOLUTIONARY CORPSE OF TEENAGE JESUS – Meditation rat
  • MORPIONS – Point blank

Wednesday, July 21, 2010

DR.DOT * * I FEEL GOOD * *

When I asked Dr.Dot if she would be attending the Zappanale festival next month, she replied that she wasn't sure as August would be extremely busy for her.

Anyway, next time that she's attending, someone should ask her to guest on vocals, 'cause that girl can sing.

THE ENSEMBLE AMBROSIUS AT THE NEXT ZAPPANALE

I know people who regard the Ensemble Ambrosius' "The Zappa Album" as one of the best albums of a band or ensemble that performs the music of Frank Zappa. I agree.
The Ensemble Ambrosius is scheduled to open the 2010 edition of the Zappanale festival with a concert in Hamburg. The ensemble will also perform at the festival itself. I took the opportunity to ask Olli Virtaperko a couple of questions

.



UniMuta: You released your "Zappa" album in 2000. It's a fabulous record on which you perform Zappa's music on baroque instruments. I know that you performed it in concert at the Umea Festival in 2003, and I saw you performing it in Brugge, Belgium, in 2004. Do you get many occasions to perform?

Olli Virtaperko / Ensemble Ambrosius: During the past few years we've been performing only occationally. In 2005 we did a one-week tour in Sweden and in 2007 some concerts in Finland and one in St. Petersburg. That's about it for touring. There's not very much demand for an ambitious 7-piece group that plays weird music with unconventional instruments.

UniMuta: How does the Ensemble Ambrosius work? Is it an ongoing project? Do you have regular rehearsals, or is it project-related?

Olli Virtaperko / Ensemble Ambrosius: We perform so seldom that the only logical way to rehease the group is to do it by project-related basis.

UniMuta: You will be performing twice at the Zappanale Festival: The ensemble will do the opening concert in Hamburg (August 10, 2010), and you will be playing at the festival in Bad Doberan on Friday (August 13, 2010). What should we expect? Will you be playing the material from "The Zappa Album"? Other material?

Olli Virtaperko / Ensemble Ambrosius: We'll have a program that consists both Zappa and my own compositions. Most of the Zappa pieces will be from The Zappa Album, but re-arranged, as we have some new instruments, such as a Finnish folk music instrument kantele, whish blends very nicely with broque instruments. However, we also plan to play some new Zappa pieces as well. And Napoleon Murphy Brock will be joining us in both Hamburg and Bad Doberan, so that brings an extra flavour to the events with some potentially surprising new repertoire.

UniMuta: Having recorded an album with Zappa material, I can imagine that you're into the music of Frank Zappa. Will you be staying the three days of the Zappanale festival & are their bands that you want to see?

Olli Virtaperko / Ensemble Ambrosius: I have not have had time to study the program properly, but the little that I've seen looks very promising. Some major Zappa musicians are partisipating the festival, so I'd imagine it will be both interesting and fun.

UniMuta: The Ensemble Ambrosius has released a second album, "Metrix", with pieces that were written by you and by Jonte Knif. Is this the new direction that the Ensemble will be taking? Will you be performing material from "Metrix" as well?

Olli Virtaperko / Ensemble Ambrosius: I would imagine some material of "Metrix" will be played, but as far as our own music is concerned I think we'll concentrate on more recent material. We will be performing 'GACH' and 'Questa storia del mago non mi convince'. Both are written by me. Stylistically those two pieces lie in the category of "modal, jazz-rock-influenced music that utilize some classical compositional approaches", but we'll also play a couple of purely "conteporay classical" pieces of mine. As far as stylistical diversity of our program is concerned I'd like to say that I like to mix things and styles within a concert program, but in individual compositions I prefere to make clear stylistical choises and stick in them - in that sense I'm a conservative-sort-of-a-personality with little interest in "cross-over" as such. My main job and passion is composing music. But I also understand that the concept of Ambrosius is built on Zappa, so it will stay as the core of our doings also in future - which is nice, by the way: it's wonderful music and great fun to play. I'm lucky enough to have lots of other compositional commissions so that I don't have to overload Ambrosius with my own music to fullfill my personal musical ambitions. I think the balance that we now have between Zappa and our own material (50-50) is fine.

UniMuta: Thank you very much Olli. These concerts are something I don't want to miss.

The dates to remember are August 10 for the St.Katharinen-concert in Hamburg, and August 13 for the Zappanale concert in Bad Doberan.
I was fortunate to hear both the 'GACH' and the 'Questa storia del mago non mi convince' pieces, and theY sound great. I hope that both of these compositions will make the program as they would fit in very nice with the Zappa material.


http://www.zappanale.de/zappanale/en/press/77-pressemitteilungen/185-r-zappa-strictly-baroque.html

THE GRANDE MOTHERS RE:INVENTED

The Grande Mothers Re:Invented are continuing their European tour.
A couple of days ago, they played in Rome (watch the YouTube movies).

Next up are:
  • 2010/07/22 Grandmothers Re:Invented - concert BADALUCCO (IM), Italy
  • 2010/07/23 Grandmothers Re:Invented - concert Firenze Fortezza da Basso Live On festival, Italy
  • 2010/07/24 Grandmothers Re:Invented - concert FIUMARETTA DI AMELIA - TRA FIUME E MARE FESTIVAL
  • 2010/07/29 Grandmothers Re:Invented - concert Trento (venue tba)
  • 2010/07/31 Grandmothers Re:Invented - concert Trieste Piazza Marinai d'Italia, Summer Rock festival, Italy


JERRY OUTLAW AND FRIENDS IN CONCERT 2010 07 25


2010/07/25 Jerry Outlaw and Friends - concert 'Skippers Smoke House', Tampa, Florida, usa

...Next Sunday at Skippers in Tampa.

I strongly encourage all Bogus Pomp fans to check out this band. Not only is it made up of Bogus Pomp members, they have opened their Zappa repertoire to include Jeff Beck , Mahavishnu and others. Plus, they have two drummers which not only sounds great, they are fun to watch.

(Fred Hemmer)

ZAPPATIKA - STRICTLY FRANKLY


Yesterday I received a pre-sale copy of Zappatika's "Strictly Frankly" album. It looks like the band is getting up to speed for their Zappanale performance.

"Strictly Frankly" starts with a couple of low-fi live tunes: 'Winoman', 'Dirty Love', 'Broken Hearts Are For Assholes', 'Sleep Dirt' and 'Titties N Beer'.
I'm assuming that this is recent stuff, as it includes Ke on violin.
Too bad that the sound quality isn't up to it as the band shows that they have made quite a bit of progress. The sound is fuller, and the band sounds tighter as well.

From track six on, the sound quality goes up a couple of notches. This is what a demo should sound like: good quality, good playing and a bunch of fine songs.

The collection of songs that Zappatika presents here are the 'classic' rock songs: 'Dirty Love', 'My Guitar', 'Torture', 'Black Napkins', 'Cosmik Debris', ...
Their strong point, however, is that they play it in the typical Zappatika style: laid-back, with a psychedelic touch, and with lots of humour as well.
The last song of this disc, 'Wino Willies Montana Hop', is just great. These are the kind of Zappa puzzle exercises that I would like to hear more often! Love it.

If Zappatika will take this set to the Zappanale stage, the public is in for a midnight treat.

www.myspace.com/zappatika

www.zappanale.com

TWO NEW UNMATCHED ALBUMS

Hall Of Fame Records is releasing two new albums in the Unmatched series.

Both are albums by Caballero Reynaldo (performing the music of Frank Zappa).
One in English, one in Spanish:

Firecracker / Matraca is Unmatched Vol. 12
and Kazoo's Revenge is Unmatched Vol XIII.

They'll be available at the Zappanale festival !

Play the movie and take a look at these album covers, they're marvelous:

ZAPPA THE HARD WAY

Andrew's promo team made a nice little YouTube movie about Andrew's new book.

Andrew adds:
"For those of you who might not know, this is a little promotional video my son knocked-up for my forthcoming book on Frank Zappa's 1988 World Tour. You can pre-order the book right now at http://www.wymeruk.co.uk/Store/index.php.... or wait and purchase it direct from Wymer UK at this year's Zappanale festival in Bad Doberan. Either way, you might like to read this interview first: http://www.killuglyradio.com/2010/07/... The music in the video is by the ever-wondrous Mike Keneally, and the equitably delightful Thurston Lava Tube. Hope y'all like it. "

POJAMA PEOPLE SETLIST & MORE

2010/06/24 Pojama People - concert 'Sam Bond's Garage', Eugene OR 97402, usa

line-up
  • Alli Bach (Percussion, vox) * Ted Clifford (Keys, vox) * Brian Casey (Bass, vox) * Glenn Leonard (Drums, vox, etc) * Ike Willis (The Usual Suspect)
setlist

first set
  • intro set I, City Of Tiny Lites Vamp, Tell Me You Love Me, I Ain't Got No Heart, anyone seen us before?, Alien Orifice, Zomby Woof, palin the ass, Idiot Bastard Son, Sofa, Magic Fingers, Bamboozled By Love, Filthy Habits, Echidna's Arf (Of You), outro set I
second set
  • intro set II, The Dangerous Kitchen, technical difficulty, Zoot Allures > Lucille Has Messed My Mind Up, Outside Now, Blessed Relief, The Blue Light, Dupree's Paradise, Can't Afford No Shoes, San Ber'dino, I'm The Slime, outro set II
A 128-minute sbd recording of this concert got seeded at Zappateers.
http://www.zappateers.com/bb/viewtopic.php?t=19502

Tuesday, July 20, 2010

WESTERN VACATION - WESTERN VACATION

When Steve Vai went on tour in 1985, he told his friend Marty Schwartz that he could use his Stucco Blue Studio. At the time, Steve, Marty and a couple of others where sharing a house in Sylmar, California. The CD-booklet says that Marty lived in what once had been the garage (of which he had made a loft).

For the recordings, Marty got support from former Zappa bandmember Bob Harris and Bob's wife Thana. Bob not only took care of the vocals but wrote some of the lyrics as well.
Besides Marty, Bob and Thana, the core band featured Chris Frazier on drums and Jac Mihanovic on bass.
The result is a remarkable album. Excellent compositions with lots of nods to Zappa: playful melodies, great rhythms, ...
It's also astonishing how much it sounds like Steve Vai's "Flex-Able" album, or like Bob Harris's "The Great Nostalgia". But then again, they were all living in the same place and as Steve says in the liner notes: "We were all about music all day".

"Western Vacation" also features some remarkable guests: Tommy Mars' typical synthesizer sound is all over the album, Scott Thunes provided bass for one track and Steve Vai recorded the guitar solo for the title track while on the road.

"Western Vacation" is an album that you have got to hear.
Essential listening!

Read the Marty Schwartz interview at Favored Nations:
http://favorednations.com/westernvacation/interview/
***********
***********
"Western Vacation" is available from iTunes and from Amazon.

ITUNES
http://click.linksynergy.com/fs-bin/stat?id=aFxLItdJRqw&offerid=146261&type=3&subid=0&tmpid=1826&RD_PARM1=http%253A%252F%252Fitunes.apple.com%252Fus%252Falbum%252Fsteve-vai-presents-western%252Fid377028711%253Fuo%253D4%2526partnerId%253D30

AMAZON
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003H52VKC/?tag=favorednati01-20

MASSIMO BASSOLI

Massimo Bassoli is an Italian rock journalist who wrote a book about FZ, published in 1982, called "ZAPPA (E' PIU' DURO DI TUO MARITO)" (in English: "Zappa (harder than your husband)"). He provided the snarling Italian Words on Uncle Meat's 'Tengo Na Minchia Tanta' - a bonus track on the '87 re-release - and appeared in Uncle Meat (The Film). Bassoli can also be heard on "You Can't Do That On Stage Anymore Vol. 3", and seen in The Dub Room Special performing 'Tengo Na Minchia Tanta'.

On Facebook, Massimo says:
"Last friday 16th Dweezil Zappa, Frank's son, played Naples, Italy. I was there and he invited me on stage to sing Tengo Na Minchia Tanta. I did it. 28 years later with his fantastic son, it was extreme, really too much for me. Thanks Dweezil, to be you, to be such a great artist, to be such a great guitarist, to be such a great son! I love you. Massimo"

THE MUFFIN MEN AT THE NEXT ZAPPANALE

Celebrating their 20th anniversary, The Muffin Men will be returning to the Zappanale festival. Here's head-Muffin Roddie Gilliard.

UniMuta: Hello Roddie. Let me congratulate you with 20 years of Muffin Men.
It seems like Eindhoven and Guus' Zappadays happened only a couple of years ago...


Roddie / The Muffin Men: Well, who would have thought we would be here 20 years later, phew!

UniMuta: You founded The Muffin Men in 1990. At that time there were only a handful of bands performing the music of FZ. Could you ever imagine that, 20 years later, we would have big bands, baroque, classical and jazz ensembles, and of course, numerous rock bands, that would devote all their time and efforts into Zappa's music?

Roddie / The Muffin Men: Yes, there were only a few bands playing Zapper stuff back then: Marco's Bleeding Romeo in Holland, one in sweden and a few others. Back then I think we all just played Zapper because we loved the music and it was more of a challenge than a lot of other rock type stuff. We were just a rock band, with a few guys who had also a jazz background. But ultimately we were guys who liked playing in bars and having a good time. Later we developed and got a little more advanced with the material we played. Things progressed and we ended up working with people we never dreamed we could play with.

UniMuta: The Muffin Men performed at the second and at the third edition of the Zappanale Festival (1991 and 1992). You came back in 2003 and did two concerts on two days: the first one with Jimmy Carl Black and Eugene Chadbourne, the second one with Napoleon Murphy Brock and Ike Willis (released on DVD!!).
Can you share some of your recollections / favourite moments with us?


Roddie / The Muffin Men: That first european tour was a great learning curve for us. We got to meet a lot of great people who would become very important to the band development. The very first trip was put together with a few hardcore fans (Guus Veldhuis, Peter Gors and Harald Koob) on a shoestring budget. In fact, all the band paid a couple of hundred pounds each to do it - we had to hire a bus and a van for all the equipment, I think 11 people travelled.

Back in those days things were very different: no mobile phones or internet, and all the arranging and communication was by post. The itinery was ridiculous. Our first gig was near Frankfurt, then we went back to Eindhoven, then across to Weimar, back to Belgium and then all the way over to Stralsund to play for the Arfs, finally finishing with a two day drive back to England! The travelling was horrific but the gigs were great. I remember there was practically no infrastructure in the old east germany. It was a very interesting time. Over the following years we saw many changes in germany.

We kept getting asked back to europe, so over the following years we built a following and the tours got longer, the band got tighter and we got to play with some fantastic musicians who became great friends. We did play other shows for the Arf Society guys, although these weren't "Zappanale" shows: we played around Rostock, Berlin and quite a few towns in that region during the mid/late 1990's.

Our return to "Zappanale" in 2003 was a great time. We got to re-unite with Ike after 9 years, played with Nappy and Mike Keneally for the first time, as well as a nice set with Jimmy Carl.
There are so many good memories, along with a few low times from over the years. It would need a lot of time and space to tell it all. (maybe you should do a full interview to hear more details!)

UniMuta: The Muffin Men website says that Denny Walley will be joining you on stage at Zappanale. That's great. How did you talk him into it?

Roddie / The Muffin Men: Yes, Denny is joining us for Zappanale this year, and we are really looking forward to that! Denny is a fantastic person and a dynamite guitarist/singer. I worked with him for 5 weeks on the Magic Band tour and we became great mates. He is a dear old friend of Jimmy Carl too, so that made things so easy. We have wanted to play together for ages, but this is the first real opportunity we've had. We are discussing what to play, and Denny is in touch with all the other guys (Ike, Ray, Robert) to plan the set. We will have two days to rehearse our set. It should be a wonderful time!

UniMuta: What are the future plans for The Muffin Men? You said that you were recording original material. How is this evolving? Will you include any of this at the Zappanale gig, or will it be strictly Zappa?

Roddie / The Muffin Men: Since Jimmy passed away things have been quiet for us. We wanted time out to think about ways forward. Jimmy became a big part of The Muffins. He was with us longer than he was in The Mothers. We didn't feel like playing live for a while, but we did spend some time recording some original stuff. We have about 6 songs finished. They will be available in the next few months, probably for free from our website. The website a now very old and out of date. The guy who built it went away, so all we get to do is update the news page occasionally. We need a new site building. That is one of the many things we need to sort out.
The internet has changed things drastically in the last few years. You play a gig and half of it is up on YouTube within a few days.

This year we have played a couple of gigs. Lots of video from them has been posted up on youtube, so you can see what kind of vibe the band has with this line-up. We will be playing a few more, but don't expect long tours like the old days. We are enjoying playing together. It's great to have most of the original band together again. The old spirit is back. We'll leave all the complicated chamber music to the "real" musicians. We are happy to be playing what we love best - good, honest, straight ahead rock/jazz/blues versions of Zappa stuff, played the way we like it.

UniMuta: My kinda band.
Thank you for your time and see you at Zappanale!


The Muffin Men will be performing the main stage on Friday, the 13th of August at the Zappanale festival.
Their set will be featuring a couple of Zappa sidemen. This will be fun.

If you want to learn more about The Muffin Men, their Muffin Moovies is a great place to start. It's a DVD trio with concert fragments, interviews, and much, much more.



And here's one of those YouTube movies that Roddie mentioned: Live in Larvik 2010.

PAUL BUFF PRESENTS - VOLUME 11



Not too chronological as this download only album got released two weeks ago by Crossfire Publications, and we've seen Volumes 13 & 14 as well already...

But here's Volume 11, with Mr.Clean, Paul Conrad, The Pal Studio Band, and many more.
The Pal Studio Band can be heard with an early verion of 'Take Your Clothes Off...".

Available from CDBaby:
http://cdbaby.com/cd/paulbuffpresents7

PAUL BUFF PRESENTS - VOL.12


And here's some more catching up with volume 12 of the Paul Buff Presents series.

The Hollywood Persuaders, The Masters, The Tornadoes, The Rotations and Johnny Barakat are just some examples of the bands that recorded at Paul Buff's Studio PAL.

Two of these feature a young Frank Zappa.

Available as download only from CDBaby

http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/paulbuffpresents7

PAUL BUFF PRESENTS THE PAL STUDIOS' EARLY YEARS VOL.1


Data of the "Paul Buff Presents Pal Studios' Early Years, Vol. 1. " compilation have been added to the UM Archives.
We're talking recordings from 1958 - 1960 (!!) at Paul Buff's PAL Studio in Cucamonga...

Available as download only from CDBaby.

http://cdbaby.com/cd/paulbuffpresents5

TODD RUNDGREN - ARENA



The first thing I listened to this morning, was Todd Rundgren's "Arena" album.
The album is from 2008 which means that Todd Rundgren was 60 years old when he recorded it.

"Arena" is a pretty straight-forward, heavy rock album. Todd Rundgren toys around with all the classical rock elements making the result something that you can easlily hum along.

I hope I can turn sixty like this...

KVHW 1999/12/08 Stanhope NJ ** VIDEO

KVHW

Steve Kimock * Bobby Vega * Alan Hertz * Ray White

audience/stage audio matrix and low gen video recording (2 DVD set), posted at TheTradersDen

http://www.thetradersden.org/forums/showthread.php?t=83256&highlight=kvhw

Downloaded it yesterday & I'm watching it right now. Excellent stuff.

Monday, July 19, 2010

ORCHESTRA SPAZIALE IN CONCERT 2010 07 29

Italian band Orchestra Spaziale (the Space Orchestra) will be performing in concert at the Non Sole Jazz Festival in Trentino, Italy.

The program is entitled: "All You Need Is Zappa, The Beatles, and Love."
So that should be interesting.

-- info: alelambo at the zappateers site

SHEIK YERBOUTI FEAT.ROBERT MARTIN


German band Sheik Yerbouti is taking Zappa's music on the road again. They'll be joined by none other than Zappa's keyboard / sax / vocalist Robert Martin !!

  • 2010/10/12 concert 'Stadtgarten', Köln, Germany
  • 2010/10/13 concert 'Bebop', Cloppenburg, Germany
  • 2010/10/14 concert 'Colos-Saal', Aschaffenburg, Germany
  • 2010/10/15 concert 'Kulturbastion', Torgau, Germany
  • 2010/10/16 concert 'Frankfurter Hof', Mainz, Germany

JOOST BUIS & ASTRONOTES - ZOOMIN


It has been a long wait since Joost Buis released his first Astronotes album in 2006.
We did get a tiny glimpse of what we could expect through the 2008 BBC Radio 3 broadcast on "Jazz on 3", but that just made us more curious.

"Zoomin" does not disappoint. It's an excellent album that shows the beautiful rich sound of the tentet perfoming Joost Buis' fine compositions.

Joost Buis & Astronotes' "Zoomin" got released on the dutch Datarecords label. The album is available through Joost Buis' website.

www.plutones.com

Watch the YouTube movie (live at the North Sea Jazz Festival in 2007), and enjoy the beautiful melody of 'Biefstuk', dedicated to Captain Beefheart. It's also on "Zoomin".

CHICKENFOOT - CHICKENFOOT


I mentioned the Chickenfoot CD a little while ago.
In the meantime, a concert DVD has been released "Get Your Buzz On Live", live in Phoenix, and more recently a deluxe limited edition got released in Germany. The digipack includes the original CD, plus a bonus DVD. The DVD has live tracks and the usual silliness that one expects from the Joe Satriani / Chad Smith / Michael Anthony / Sammy Hagar line-up.
Fun.

KRAIG GRADY - BEYOND THE WINDOWS...


When I received this album from Transparency a little while ago, I had never heard of Kraig Grady. A little research revealed that Kraig Grady is an American composer and sound artist who is known for composing music for microtonal instruments.

On "Beyond The Windows..." Kraig Grady investigates overtones and resonance as his ensemble plays long, stretched notes. The album consists of one piece. Actually, it consists of one note on which another tone is imposed. This second note can take over, and other notes can be added.

An impressive experiment.

Read more about Kraig Grady at wikipedia, or at his Anaphoria website:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kraig_Grady

http://www.anaphoria.com/
Much of Kraig Grady's music is releated to "The North American Embassy Of The Anaphoria Island", a non-profit organisation the culture of a fictional island.

Sunday, July 18, 2010

MEET THE SEDIMENT CLUB

Read all about The Sediment Club at the WFMU blog:
http://blog.wfmu.org/freeform/2009/07/the-sediment-club-allages-nyc-no-wave.html

On the same page you can download The Sediment Club playing 'Hello Skinny' (The Residents) and 'Life Stinks' (Pere Ubu).

The band has just released a 7"EP on the SoftSpotMusic label.



WILLY'S WEEKLY CHOICE

audio only.
ollie halsall on guitar.

ANTWERP ZPZ CONCERT REVIEW ON BELGIAN RADIO 1

During the ZpZ Antwerp concert, the "Exit" Radio 1 show contacted Geert Vermaercke who was at the concert.
He gives a short review.
http://cobra.be/cm/1.824525?view=popupPlayer

It's all in Dutch, but it's good to hear that Zappa's music gets a little attention on belgian national radio.

info & link: Ive Hapers

KIMONO DRAGGIN' IN CONCERT

Kimono Draggin' might not be appearing at the Zappanale festival, but that does not mean that they're not performing anymore.

August 21, 2010, the band will play at 'The Wrench In The Works Collective' at 31 Moulton Court, in Willimantic, CT, USA.

FIDO PLAYS ZAPPA

August 14, 2010, Fido (or FpZ) will be doing another concert on the floating raft in Basel, Switzerland.

Check out the website for more info:

http://www.imfluss.ch/

BUFFALO INFRINGEMENT FESTIVAL

2010 Buffalo Infringement Festival
Thursday, July 22 — Sunday, August 1

Every summer, the streets of the Allentown neighborhood of Buffalo, NY come alive with scores of events by local and visiting theatre and dance companies, puppeteers, media artists, poets, comics, musicians, cabaret acts, digital designers, and miscellaneous insurrectionists. The annual Buffalo Infringement Festival provides artists and audiences of all backgrounds the chance to come together, take chances, push boundaries, and explore uncharted territory because exciting art can happen anywhere, anytime, without a blockbuster budget. (Or any budget at all, for that matter.)

http://www.infringebuffalo.org/

KILISSA CISSOKO SOLO CONCERT 2010 07 25

Kilissa Cissoko will be doing a solo concert at the 'Elmwood Lounge' in Buffalo, NY, on 2010 07 25 at 22:00 h.

Here's Kilissa with 'Oh Life' at the Mamapalooza Festival earlier this year:

ROUNDHOUSE UPDATE?

Well, not really.
The website still says

"5 Nov 2010 - 7 Nov 2010 / Roundhouse Main Space

Event not yet on sale

'Information is not knowledge. Knowledge is not wisdom. Wisdom is not truth. Truth is not beauty. Beauty is not love. Love is not music. Music is the best...' Frank Zappa

To celebrate what would have been Frank Zappa's 70th birthday, Zappa at the Roundhouse is a three day festival from 5–7 November that will celebrate the life and music of this legendary American artist. The programme includes performances of music drawn from across his vast range of compositions, screenings of rare film footage, world premieres of unheard Zappa material, Q&A sessions with members of the Zappa family and music masterclasses with various members of Zappa's backing bands. Full programme and event details to be announced soon!"

Which could actually mean a lot. Or not...

Saturday, July 17, 2010

OCTAFISH UPDATE

Over at www.youtube.de/user/bierbopbullys 6 Octafish live-videos have been posted.

Let's kick off with 'Bullys' (Keneally song), plus their own 'Bomster' and 'Bier Bop no.2'. It will show you why Octafish is one of my favourite bands.

RALPH SALE

a message from RalphAmerica:

Hi Folks
So tonight we put a few things on sale at http://ralphamerica.com

Stop on by, look around, and see if there's anything that you need to fill up yer Residents collection!

Also, if you tried to place an order in the last 24hrs, we've had a bit of trouble with the DNS servers, but it's all working fine now!

Seeya there...

the Ralph Gang
http://ralphamerica.com

KIMONO DRAGGIN' UPDATE

Bad news as Kimono Draggin' won't be able to make it to the Zappanale festival.

The good news, however, is that Kimono Draggin' is working on a double vinyl album, "Kome On Feel The Draggin' ".

DWEEZIL ZAPPA PLAYS ZAPPA IN CONCERT IN AMSTERDAM 2010 07 09

Didn't go to the Amsterdam gig this year. I had Antwerp scheduled, and I thought one time would be enough...
Darn. Couldn't have been more wrong.
Antwerp was one of the best Zappa gigs I ever saw...

Check this out:

DWEEZIL ZAPPA PLAYS ZAPPA IN CONCERT IN ANTWERP 2010 07 12

I have seen quite some concerts of bands performing the music of FZ, and this was top.
The sound was very good, the location & the weather were great, the choice of songs was excellent, and the performances sublime.

It seems like the band keeps improving. Especially Ben's vocals and Dweezil's guitar solos sounded better then ever.
And the mixture of songs that have strong vocals with the more technical pieces was very well balanced.

A perfect way to enjoy my 10th ZpZ gig !

Rumour has it that an audience recording of the gig will be seeded at DimeADozen very soon.

Here's a little YouTube vid...

PAUL BUFF PRESENTS - VOL.13


Yesterday, Crossfire Publications released volumes 13 and 14 of the "Paul Buff Presents The Pal And Original Sound Archives" along with "PAL Studios' Early Years - Volume 2".
Material with high historical value.

FZ contributions that can be found on Volume 13:
- "Love Of My Life (Piano Intro)" - a very brief FZ piece on piano
- "Memories Of El Monte (Stereo Mix)" by The Penguins - co-written by FZ and Ray Collins
- "It's Gonna Work Out Fine" by Buddy And The Crickets - the A-side of the extremely rare late 1962 acetate produced by FZ
- "Jezebel" by Buddy And The Crickets - the B-side of the acetate produced by FZ. This version of the song is a few months earlier than the Johnny Barakat And The Vestells version that Frank sang backup on.

Available as download-only from CDBaby.
http://cdbaby.com/cd/paulbuffpresents10

WM108

http://www.wmrecordings.com/free-downloads/wm108-claudio-nunez-sergio-paolucci-apariencias-desnudas-naked-appearances/

WM Recordings is offering another free download!
Claudio Nu̱ez & Sergio Paolucci РApariencias Desnudas [Naked Appearances]

improvised music!!

PAUL BUFF PRESENTS - VOL.14


Besides the rare tracks by The Masters, Sonny Wilson, Paul Buff, and others, volume 14 of this remarkable series includes another couple of extremely rare FZ recordings:

- "The Swag" by The Tornadoes - another late 1962 acetate engineered by FZ and produced by Dave Aerni
- "Love Of My Life (Alternate Version)" by The Pal Studio Band - a longer version of the track that appeared on "Greasy Love Songs"

Here's the link for the download:
http://cdbaby.com/cd/paulbuffpresents8

DWALMACAT 389

Go to
http://www.fmbrussel.be/programmas/dwalmacat.aspx

and click on "Luister” to enjoy
  • NAKED CITY – New Jersey scum swamp
  • MAURO AND THE GROOMS – Make it complicated
  • PERVERTED – Annual meeting
  • MI-SEX – Computer games
  • EX-HOLE – All the people
  • SUICIDE – Rocket U.S.A.
  • STOCK, HAUSEN & WALKMAN – Ici big Jim
  • EXCEPTER – Kill people
  • BLUTCH – Ei party!
  • CARIBOU – Niobe
  • C.W.VRTACEK – When
  • DIE FORM – Gestual equivoque
  • THE BEATLES – I’ll be back
  • APESCHOOL – That’s ok
  • MILES DAVIS – Générique ascenseur pour l’échafaud
  • JAC BERROCAL – Rock ‘n roll station
  • FRED FRITH & NOËL AKCHOTE – Recnik (live in France)

PAUL BUFF - PAL STUDIOS' EARLY YEARS VOL.2


Here's the second and final volume of the PAL Studios' early years.
The album consists of recordings of bands and local musicians that booked time at the Pal Studios to make recordings of their repertoire for promotional purposes and the occasional record release.

Available as download only:

http://cdbaby.com/cd/paulbuffpresents9

Friday, July 16, 2010

BEHIND THE MIRROR AT THE NEXT ZAPPANALE

Behind The Mirror is back. They will be playing at the Zappanale festival next month. I asked Steffen Moddrow what has been happening with BTM, and if he could already tell us a bit about the upcoming Zappanale performance.

Steffen Moddrow / Behind The Mirror: Georg and I decided to restart Behind The Mirror last year to perform at a psychedelic festival in Kassel, called "Free Flow Festival". We have been playing together since our free rock past, when we started with "sod" in 1987. It became a ritual, doing work in progress, continuing practicing.

There is also a remarkable CD release this year. It's a compilation called "Native America Calling" and it includes a track that we recorded with Jimmy Carl Black. The song is called 'Tumbleweed Canyon' and it originally appeared on our "Crater 6" CD in 2000.

We were in contact again with Jimmy shortly before he passed away in autumn two years ago. We are very grateful that we were able to work with him. He became a very good friend and we miss him very much.

For the Zappanale we'll present an interesting mix of bluesy Zappa influenced music and our own stuff: poetry readings with surprising sounds and noises. Plus, of course, some pieces of Zappa, arranged specially for our duo.

There will be also a special event this year in New York City, where BTM will participate. (see notes below)
We'll support the "Nuclear Free Future Award", by playing a concert with sax player Peter Gordon.
The "Bombensicher" DVD, produced by Stefan Liedtke, includes a video with Jimmy Carl Black's critical narration in the piece "Tumbleweed Canyon". It was released in support of the Nuclear Free Future Award, and award that will be given to activists that fight against nuclear pollution and weapons.

Behind The Mirror is scheduled to perform at the Zappanale festival in Bad Doberan, Germany, on Friday the 13th of August, 2010.

BEHIND THE MIRROR IN CONCERT IN NEW YORK CITY

Behind The Mirror in concert in New York City, September 27, 2010.

"MUSIC FOR A NUCLEAR-FREE FUTURE"

An evening in honor of the 2010 Nuclear-Free Future Award Ceremony
on Sept. 30 at the Great Hall of Cooper Union
@
NUYORICAN POETS CAFE
- a cultural icon on New Yorks Lower East Side (www.nuyorican.org)

"The Cafe is the most integrated place on the planet" (Allen Ginsberg)
236 East 3rd Street between Avenue B and C, Reverend Pedro Pietri Way, NYC

Introduction: Claus Biegert, Founder of Nuclear-Free Future Award Music:
Behind The Mirror (Germany) [w/guests: Peter Gordon, etc.]
Christy and Emily (New York City)

NEWPORT JAZZ FEST, JULY 3, 1964, ONLINE

Here's a nice John Gilmore connection:

- - - from the Saturn newsgroup - - -

Everything recorded from all stages, all sets, from Mose Allison, the Thelonious Monk quartet, the Stan Getz quartet, Sister Rosetta Tharpe, the Count Basie Orchestra and Joe Williams (but not together, sadly) are all available for free streaming, and paid downloads. Incredible stuff, unbelievable stuff. Stuff like ...

>> For his July 3rd appearance at the 1964 Newport Jazz Festival, pianist-composer-arranger George Russell brought a crack sextet that included tenor saxophonist John Gilmore (a stalwart in the Sun Ra Arkestra since 1953), former Count Basie cornetist Thad Jones (who the following year would form his Thad Jones/Mel Lewis big band), drummer Albert "Tootie" Heath, bassist Steve Swallow and trombonist Brian Trentham, a college student and protégé of Russell's former trombonist, David Baker.
They open their Friday afternoon set with "The Outer View," <<

http://www.wolfgangsvault.com/george-russell-sextet/concerts/newport-jazz-festival-july-03-1964.html

full story:
http://www.npr.org/blogs/ablogsupreme/2010/07/16/128572445/everything-recorded-at-the-newport-jazz-festival-on-july-3-1964

Sunday, July 11, 2010

J21 UPDATE

You knew that J21 contributed a nice track ('Burnt Weeny Sandwich - Phaze 21') to the recent Cordelia "21 Burnt Weeny Sandwiches" Zappa tribute album.

But did you also know that his "Yellow Mind - Blue Mind" album (that features Ed Mann) got released by Voiceprint last year?
Previously, the album had only been available as a download album.

LEBOCAL AT THE NEXT ZAPPANALE

French collective LeBocal made a beautiful Frank Zappa tribute album (in 2003). Especially the fine arrangements and the great dynamics stand out.
The band will be performing at Zappanale 2010, and will be playing two concerts!
Time for some questions.




UniMuta: The “Oh No... Just Another Frank Zappa Memorial Barbecue” album was released in 2003. Has the ensemble had many opportunities to perform these pieces live?

LEBOCAL: Oh yes, the band has performed the Zappa repertoire in France and abroad on numerous occasions. We have performed in cultural centers, in jazz clubs, and at festivals. We’ve performed in Switzerland, in Africa (Senegal), and earlier this year in Bremen, Germany, at the Jazzahead Festival.
One of the most memorable ones was with guitar player Nguyen Lê in Albertville.

UniMuta: The collective will be doing two concerts at Zappanale: the first one on Saturday, the second on on Sunday. Can you already give us some details? Will these concerts be different?

LEBOCAL: The Saturday concert will be an acoustic one. It will be in close proximity to the public. The setlist has not been established.
On Sunday, we’ll have the full blown, amplified concert. Liberating all the concentrated energy, ...

UniMuta: Sounds like two concerts I don’t want to miss.
Zappanale is a rather particular festival. There’s a great atmosphere, and people really come to listen to the music. Are you ready to do another festival?


LEBOCAL: LeBocal is used to play at festivals. We’ve already played for huge crowds: in Genève we played for almost 1000 people. Bremen had a crowd of about 800 people.

UniMuta: This is something that I’m really looking forward to. "Oh No... Just Another FZ Memorial Barbecue" is a fabulous album. I’m really curious to find out what it will sound like live.
Thanks & see you at Zappanale soon.

LeBocal will be playing at the Zappanale Festival in Bad Doberan, Germany, on Saturday, August 14, 2010, at noon, at the Truckstage, and on Sunday, August 15, 2010, in the early afternoon, on the Main Stage.

NEW RESIDENTS DOWNLOAD ONLY

The latest Residents album is called "Morning Music", and it's a download only album.

Is this new or remixed material? Honestly, I don't know.
It's getting a bit difficult to keep track of all the stuff that's coming out...

PRINCE - 20TEN


Prince? Yes, Prince.
I've been a fan for years.
Never saw him live, as I'm not someone who like to be in big crowds, but I have most of his albums...

Yesterday, Prince performed in Werchter. That's a little village in Belgium. A bit north of Brussels, in the neighbourhood of Mechelen and Leuven.
Without me.
I was more than satisfied with the new Prince album that was available for free for people who bought belgian newspaper Het Nieuwsblad or De Gentenaar.
Prince is doing this very same stunt all over Europe, so check your newspapershop.

"20ten".
9 tracks. 10 if you count the hidden one.
Nice. Very nice.

Saturday, July 10, 2010

DR.LOTECH & THE MINIMAL MAN - JOURNEY INTO LIGHT


To my knowledge, Dr.Lotech & The Minimal Man only released one record: "Journey Into Light". It came out on the Bullseye / Left Of Centre label in 2001.

It's a fascinating album.
Track three is entitled "Frank's House" and is an obvious reference to the music of Frank Zappa (it's a raw guitar solo against a repetitive bass-line).
The entire disc is a fine mixture of blues, slow jazz, and zappa-esque, nonconformistic rock.

I like this.
If anyone knows anything extra about Dr.Lotech, please let me know !

DWEEZIL ZAPPA'S NEW ALBUM

Dweezil Zappa's, or Zappa Plays Zappa's, or DZPZ's new album, or whatever you call it, has been spotted as a promotional CDR as well. Here's a picture.

the 2cdr advance promo by razor & tie

And here are some pictures of the CDR-promo that is used to announce the concert in Tel Aviv next week.

cdr promo for the israel concert on 2010/07/14 - cover

cdr promo for the israel concert on 2010/07/14 - backcover

cdr promo for the israel concert on 2010/07/14 - label

Thursday, July 8, 2010

JOOST BUIS UPDATE

Joost Buis has released a new Astronotes album: "Zoomin".
More info soon.

DWALMACAT 388

Over at http://www.fmbrussel.be/programmas/dwalmacat.aspx

you just have to click on “Luister” to enjoy:
  • THOMAS FEHLMANN – Wasser im Fluss
  • EARL ZINGER – Got to get to Ibiza
  • HEXSTATIC – Salvador
  • DR. PHO – Sauerklang mit elektronische Weiterbildung
  • LIARS – What would they know
  • BEACH HOUSE – The arrangement
  • CARL STALLING – Dinner music for a pack of hungry cannibals
  • ROY NATHANSON, CURTIS FOWLKES & THE JAZZ PASSENGERS – Somewhere in New Jersey
  • MR. SCRUFF – Champion nibble
  • MASERATI – The world outside
  • DOMINIQUE PETITGAND – Le sens de la mesure
  • LOVE SUBSTITUTES – Open
  • VELVET UNDERGROUND – Here she comes now
  • OFFICER! - Anagrams
  • SERGE GAINSBOURG – Love on the beat

Wednesday, July 7, 2010

THIERRY DERUELLE & DWEEZIL ZAPPA - STARDUST


Download-only tracks are becoming common practise.
Call me old-fashioned, but I still haven't got used to it.

A couple of months old, and available as download-only is Thierry Deruelle's 'Stardust', a track that features Dweezil Zappa.
It's a nice track, combining a funky bass-line with psychedelic synth and guitar, or maybe it's synth-guitar...
It's a very nice track.

And besides being available as a download-only at the known outlets, you can also order it as 'CDR on demand'. A bit expensive for one track, but it does look good, and sounds even better.

TONLAST AT THE NEXT ZAPPANALE

Tonlast will be returning to Zappanale in 2010 and Arend Zwicker was kind enough to answer my questions.

UniMuta: Hello Arend, I really like the Tonlast concept. Performing in a multi-media truck is an original idea. Do you have many opportunities to perform?

Arend Z. / Tonlast : We experiment a lot but we do not play that many concerts. Tonlast is more of an Art & Soundlab that tries to start a new project every year. And each year, that project gets performed at Zappanale.
With the truck, we're also collaborating to other art projects where the truck gets used by other artists.

UniMuta: Tonlast features three musicians: Henry Friedrich, Thomas Hofmann, and yourself. Are you involved in other projects as well?

Arend Z. / Tonlast : At the moment, it's just the three of us, but we're also doing other stuff.

UniMuta: I saw Chen Unst in 2007 with an improvised set over Beefheart samples, and in 2008 I saw Tonlast with Stanley Jason Zappa and Elliott Levin. Free jazz. Magical moments.
What should we expect this year?

Arend Z. / Tonlast : This year's show is made up of two parts. One of these parts has a more jazzy approach, while the other one is more minimalistic and has corresponding projections.

Sounds good.
& to give you a glimpse of the visual aspects of the performance, here are some pictures of Tonlast at Zappanale 2009.
Tonlast will be performing at the Kamptheater in Bad Doberan, and at the festival grounds.
If you're in for an adventure...






Tuesday, July 6, 2010

SPIRIT OF 66

2010/11/12 Verviers (Belgium), Spirit of 66
ALLAN HOLDSWORTH BAND
featuring Chad Wackerman (Drums) & Jimmy Johnson (Bass)

2010/11/01 Verviers (Belgium), Spirit of 66
ADRIAN BELEW Power Trio

-- info: Philippe Lamoot

Too bad that Verviers is so far away...
Maybe I should move. Just for November.

PAUL BUFF PRESENTS

A newsflash from Crossfire Publications:

Volumes 11 and 12 of "Paul Buff Presents The Pal And Original Sound Studio Archives" are out as well as "Paul Buff Presents Pal Studios' Early Years - Volume 1." The "Early Years" album has old-school big band and Latin tracks.

Here are the FZ-related tracks:

Volume 11: Mr. Clean's "Mr. Clean" and a longer version of the original "Never On Sunday" (aka "Take Your Clothes Off When You Dance") from 1961.

Volume 12: The Hollywood Persuaders' "Grunion Run (Stereo Mix)" and the FZ-engineered "The Inebriated Surfer (Single Mix)" by The Tornadoes.

Here are the links:

Various Artists: Paul Buff Presents the Pal and Original Sound Studio Archives, Vol. 11.
http://cdbaby.com/cd/paulbuffpresents6

Various Artists: Paul Buff Presents the Pal and Original Sound Studio Archives, Vol. 12.
http://cdbaby.com/cd/paulbuffpresents7

Various Artists: Paul Buff Presents Pal Studios' Early Years, Vol. 1.
http://cdbaby.com/cd/paulbuffpresents5

NEW NIKS & ARTVARK


Arend Niks' New Niks ensemble and the Artvark Saxophone Quartet wil be performing their "Busy Busy Busy" project at the North Sea Jazz festival next weekend.

The North Sea Jazz festival is held in Rotterdam, The Netherlands.
Busy Busy Busy will be performed at the 'Missouri Zaal' at 16.00 h.

CHICKENFOOT - GET YOUR BUZZ ON LIVE


So what do you get when four rock-ickons just want to have fun? The answer is easy: rock 'n' roll.
After last year's CD, here's the DVD. Recorded in concert at the 'Dodge Theatre' in Phoenix, Arizone, "Get Your Buzz On Live" delivers a classic rock concert.

Michael Anthony on bass, Chad Smith on drums, Joe Satriani on lead guitar and Sammy Hagar on vocals.
Fun.

THE FILTHY HABITS ENSEMBLE

CABALLERO REYNALDO AT THE NEXT ZAPPANALE

Luis G. is the driving force behind Hall Of Fame Records (http://www.halloffame.es/Home.html). The Hall Of Fame label is the home of a bunch of fine artists like Teddy Baxter, Pando, Little Fish, Crosstown Traffic, and Luis G.'s alter ego Caballero Reynaldo. The very same label is also responsible for one of the finest Zappa tributes around: the Unmatched CD series.
As Caballero Reynaldo is scheduled to perform at the upcoming Zappanale festival, the time was right for a couple of questions.



UniMuta: Hello Luis, I am pretty sure that you have heard of the Zappanale festival before. Have you ever visited it?

Luis G.: Nope, never been to the Zappanale before. I am a Festival newbie.

UniMuta: You are scheduled to perform three times at the festival: friday, saturday and sunday. Will these performances be different? What should we expect?

Luis G.: Yes, It's my first time and I will perform three times. We Spaniards are this tough.
My idea is to mix the Spanish and English versions in each show. I mean, in one of them we will play "Goblin Girl" in Spanish and in English in the next one. The tracklists will also be different in each one. As we have material for up to two hours we will play with the different tracks and languages in order to make three quite different shows although, as you know, country music always sounds the same!
I am about to release two new Unmatched records, one in English and one in Spanish, and it would be great to have the world premiere at the Festival and have the CD's available, provided I manage to finish them by then.

UniMuta: Talking about your Hall Of Fame record label, and of the superb Unmatched series, one of the albums that you released was by The Filthy Habits Ensemble. Can you tell us a bit about this band?

Luis G.: They are musicians that come from very different music genres: Jazz, rock, prog. They all are very skilled performers and their selection of Zappa material is of the highest difficulty and they play it perfectly. A very nice and professional bunch.

UniMuta: You have probably seen the Zappanale program. Are there bands that you absolutely want to see?

Luis G.: Well, I don't know many of them in detail but I am really excited to see the Ensemble Ambrosius. In my opinion their Zappa Album is the best cover record ever made. I also find Lebocal very interesting, and watching David Allen and Ponty will be fantastic.

UniMuta: thank you & see you at Zappanale!
Caballero Reynaldo will be performing on Friday, Saturday and Sunday at the Zappanale Festival. He'll be playing at the mainstage, and on the truckstage, so be sure to check the program as you have to check him out !
The Filthy Habits Ensemble will be performing on Sunday afternoon. Keep an eye out for them as well.