part 1 - new from affz -

* * * frank zappa made an appearance in a graphic novel by neil gaiman.  there was also some mention of philip k.dick and of tom robbins.   i added a couple of other names to the list as well.  check it out at

"references to frank zappa by other artists - not in music"

and let me know if you have any additions.  latest entries include:

• jo-el azara (comic book artist)
• luc cromheecke (comic book artist)
• serge dutfoy (comic book artist)
• françois escalmel (comic book artist)
• gotlib (comic book artist)
• steven goupil (comic book artist)
• hilère (animation artist)
• kamagurka (comic book artist, painter)
• hec leemans (comic book artist)
• tanino liberatore (comic book artist)
• martin lodewijk (comic book artist)
• milo manara (comic book artist)
• chuck morton (comic book artist)
• peter pontiac (comic book artist, illustrator)
• marc sleen (comic book artist)
• solé  (comic book artist)
• luc van soom (sculptor)
• wegé (comic book artist)

* * * patrick neve wondered why he couldn't find the entry for "michael kenyon".  probably after the discussion on affz.  well, euh, it wasn't in the site.  sorry. added it, and a couple of other key players as well.  more will follow.

• michael kenyon
• matt groening
• neon park
• ali n. askin
• bill harrington
• bob stone

part 2 - the music -

• lex l. bronkowitz orchestra: i'm only on him for the money
      (2002, cdr, ger, private release) - incl.various frank zappa compositions
  i hear you ask: "WHO in the hell is Lex L. Bronkowitz? This shit sounds like Steve Vai doing a componation of his own composition and Frank's."
  my thoughts exactly, patrick.  i brought this one home from the zappanale festival.  i knew his first album (and liked it a lot), so when mr.bronkowitz offered me his second album, i didn't hesitate for a second.  this is really, really great stuff.  i talked to alex a bit, and he told me that it's just him (on guitar, bass and exceptional drum programming) and a couple of friends having fun.  recorded and mixed at his home on some multi-track machine.
  if steve vai's flex-able is one of your favourite albums, mr.bronkowitz's arrangements will make you go wild.  add some superb guests (great vocals, katharina ! - your 'uncle remus' made my day) and you'll understand why i recommend this to everyone.  a must have !!
  and yes, that's a real octopus on his head.
  
• the don and bunk show: necessity is...
      (2000, cdr, usa, brain records)
  this one's a bit older, but as both don and bunk were at the zappanale festival, i was happy to finally be able to buy this one.  this is one great album by two of my favourite mothers.  it includes zappa's 'eric dolphy memorial bbq' as well as don van vliet's 'neon meat dream'.
  
• the don and bunk show: joined at the hip
      (2002, cdr, usa, brain records 012) - incl. 'little house' (frank zappa)
  the latest release on don preston's brain records is another recording of the don and bunk show.  don't ask me why, but i like this disc even better than the above one.  it presents a number of very fine compositions: 'the eye of agamoto', 'i can't breath', 'sweet 15', ...
  
• joe satriani: strange beautiful music
      (2002, cd, au, epic epc 508076 2)
  joe satriani's latest album.  if you're into intrumental guitar music, you should give this one a try.  "strange beautiful music" emphasises the melodic aspect of joe's playing.  a bit like "surfing with the alien" or "flying in a blue dream".  very catchy melodies.  i like it a lot.
  

part 3 - geoff wills plays: "find the x mistakes" -

Dangerous Kitchen: The Subversive World of Zappa by Kevin Courrier
                                               ECW Press. 2002 

                                           Reviewed by Geoff Wills 

Does the world need a new Frank Zappa book? Yes, if it provides new information and insights. Does this book fulfil that brief? No, not really. Suspicions are immediately aroused by the blurb on the back cover, which tells us that the book explodes the myth that Zappa was a deranged drug addict. This myth was a dead issue years ago. To get the ball rolling quickly, factual errors commence on page 6, and continue to pop up at regular intervals from there. As an experienced cultural writer, broadcaster and worker at a Music Conservatory, Courrier ought to know better. He draws heavily on previous Zappa biographies, including those by David Walley, Michael Gray, Ben Watson and Neil Slaven, and quotes liberally from them. For instance, compare Courrier’s description of the 1988 band rehearsals with that of Neil Slaven in Electric Don Quixote. We’re presented with a familiar trawl through Zappa tours and albums, with track-by-track reviews.

To be fair, the book does give a decent general overview of Zappa’s life and career, and there’s a sympathetic and comprehensive account of his final years. Dangerous Kitchen has a nice cover, a collage including a photo of the young Edgard Varese looking uncannily like Dweezil – how’s that for conceptual continuity? – and it contains some little-seen photographs. But I can’t see the point of the book’s appearance at the present time, unless it’s some kind of vanity publication. If you’re not a Zappa completist, wait for the upcoming updates of Greg Russo’s Cosmik Debris and Nigey Lennon’s Being Frank.

A List of Errors

page 6.   Denny Walley did not play in the early ‘80s outfit.
  “           Marc Ziegenhagen comes from Minneapolis , not Sweden . 
page 33  “Through these works (The Firebird, Petrushka and The Rite of Spring), Stravinsky had forsaken the world of romanticism and forged a new style of neoclassicism.” This is wrong. Stravinsky initiated his neoclassical phase later, with his 1919-1920 composition Pulcinella.
page 37. “... beginning with Pulcinella (1920) (Stravinsky) started his foray into neoclassicism.” Here, Courrier unwittingly corrects and contradicts his statement of page 33.
page 54. “... xenochronous compositions like Brown Shoes Don’t Make It.” Xenochrony is the taking of instrumental passages from completely different songs (bass part from one song, drum part from another etc.) and fitting them together musically. This technique is not used in Brown Shoes Don’t Make It.
page 116. “ ‘ Brown Shoes Don’t Make It’ ... is about a middle-class American, just out of school ... looking to make a career for himself at City Hall.” This is wrong. As Neil Slaven correctly states in Electric Don Quixote, the song “contrasted the average American family’s humdrum existence ... (with) the corrupt minds of politicians ... and their triumphalism.”
page 131. Discussing Lumpy Gravy, Courrier states that, as the main theme Duodenum fades, “a bit of twelve-tone music (left over from the film Run Home Slow) leads us into an orchestral version of ... Oh No.”  The music is not twelve-tone, and it actually comes from The World’s Greatest Sinner.
page 188. Victoria Ironside should be Virginia Ironside.
page 197. On The Gumbo Variations Ian Underwood plays tenor sax, not alto sax.
page 211. “ ‘ The Eric Dolphy Memorial Barbecue’  is a marvellous piece of solo horn work by Underwood and the Gardner brothers.” Grammatically and descriptively, this sentence is nonsense. Courrier may be attempting to say that Underwood and the Gardners state the theme together, and then perform bits of collective improvisation.
page 211. Eric Dolphy did not die from a brain tumour, and he was not the first jazz player to use the bass clarinet as a solo instrument. He died from undiagnosed diabetes, and the first musician to play solos on bass clarinet was probably Harry Carney with Duke Ellington, although Adrian Rollini may have beaten him to it.
page 249. Courrier states that The Grand Wazoo band broke up on September 24, 1972 , and omits to say that they transformed into the Petit Wazoo.
page 259. “Brock ... eventually joined the group for a three-day stint at the Roxy Theatre in L.A. ” Napoleon Murphy Brock actually joined Zappa in October 1973.
page 295. “Kenny McNabb” should be Kerry McNabb.
page 348. Courrier omits any mention of the first 1980 band with David Logeman.
page 460. “David Braxton” is actually David Raksin, the famous film composer previously referred to on page 205. 

(Geoff Wills, 2002 )

thank you, geoff.

OK, that's all for now.  talk again to you soon,

peter van laarhoven