the big nOte files - 2002/12/29

and you thought it was a quiet week?  ...

last time, i told you that some record company was going to (re)publish frank zappa's "fz:oz": a cheaper new edition that should make it to the shops.  well, was i wrong or what.  the latest bits of info say that it is the leftover copies from original release that have been dumped.  appearantly, 5,000 copies of "fz:oz" were printed and only about 4,000 were sold.  the leftover copies are now available for a lower price from different outlets.
yes.  we've been had.  makes you wonder who will buy the next vaulternative release... "dumb all over, yes we are"
-- info: danny

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but there's also some good news:

the residents, my friends, are coming to town !!  i haven't checked it all out yet, but saturday march 8, 2002, they're scheduled to play in 'le botanique' in brussels.  so be sure to check your local whatevers to find out where they play.

 

the thurston lava tube: me ka nahuku
    (2002, cd, uk, cordelia records) - incl.'what's the ugliest part of your body' (frank zappa)
  • alan jenkins' thurston lave tube gives your favourite beatles songs a surf colour.  this is a superb and very funny album.  i don't know if i'll play it a lot, but it had me laughing out loud a couple of times.
    the thurston lava tube is alan jenkins, his wife and two of their friends.  they recorded this album in his living room.  i would think a bathroom would be a more logical choice for surf music, but what do i know...  anyway, 'back in the ussr', 'i am the walrus', 'i feel fine', ...  all these classics are played in surf mode. great tremelo guitar stuff by jenkins.  between all these tracks, one finds the zappa classic 'what's the ugliest part of your body' and it gets exactly the same treatment.

    very funny album & very funny zappa classic.
 jenkmek.jpg (78544 bytes)

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concerto caledonia is a scottish baroque ensemble, specialising in the music of 18th century scotland played on period instruments, and directed by david mcguinness.
more recently, they have also performed works by contemporary composers, including frank zappa.

from their website:
"Thursday 24 October 2002

Yesterday's rehearsal bodes well for the rest of the week - we've tacked the baroque-d Frank Zappa Echidna's Arf onto the end of the bizarre Geminiani arrangement of Bonny Christy to make a medley of 'inappropriate music' to start the second half."

other parts of their diary talk about performing the zappa piece.

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mr mcfall's chamber is another scottish ensemble.  they also take on zappa's 'echidna's arf'.  from their website:

Mr McFall's Chamber plays Hendrix to elderly classical audiences, Arvo Part to stoned clubbers, mixes songs by Lowell George and Elvis Costello with new compositions from James MacMillan and Edward McGuire, seeks out music which straddles the divide between classical and other styles - for example, the tango music of Astor Piazzolla, the cartoon swing classics of Raymond Scott or the yippie modernism of Frank Zappa -, makes a string quartet sound like a rock group, using electric instruments, or rock music sound gentle and intimate on natural strings. We do these things, not to perplex or shock, not to labour a point or idea, but to entertain, move and excite.

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raq has an album out.  it's called "shed tech".  to celebrate this, they made a couple of mp3s available through their website. one of these is called 'caroline hardcore ecstasy' and is indeed the famous frank zappa song.
http://www.raqmusic.com/htm/music.html

the site sez: "This live recording of 'Carolina Hardcore Ecstasy' is from November 1, 2002 at The Livingroom in Providence, RI. This is an extended version of the Zappa song with a guest apearance from Psychedelic Breakfast's guitarist, Tim Palmieri."

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from the united-mutations mailbox: 
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albert estiamba, drummer on arthur barrow's "ab3" album, has a web-site:
www.albertestiamba.cjb.net   
-- info: matthew lasalle

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the song 'a play' by judith sloan and warren lehrer mentions zappa twice in its lyrics.  the track can be found on the judith sloan album "denial of the fittest" from 1998, but also on a sampler called "jewish alternative movement".
-- info: guus veldhuis

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the soundtrack from "y tu mama tambien" has zappa's 'watermelon in easter hay' on it. the album is released on cooking vinyl.
-- info: zjakki willems

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from the alt.fan.frank-zappa newsgroup:
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japanese improvisation band kokoo has an album out called "supernova" on which they play frank zappa's 'peaches en regalia'.

"the following was taken from the zorn-list: "..With all the top 10 talk, I've started on another cycle through the Japan Improv set, and I was very impressed today with Disk 8, which is all koto and shamisen. One of the koto players is Michiyo Yagi, and as I perused the japan improv web site, I see that she has an album on Tzadik. Anyone heard this? Any comments? A short trawl through her discography reveals a group called Kokoo, two koto and one shakuhachi. One of their albums (http://www.japanimprov.com/indies/sevenseas/supernova.html) contains songs by Hendrix, Led Zep, Zappa (Peaches en Regalia!), Pink Floyd (One of these Days) and the Beatles. Anyone heard *this*? Those of you who collect cover versions may wanna check it out."
--info: graham connah

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http://www.orpheum.at/orpheum.htm
Wickerl Adam, founder and leader of Austria's *legendary* Hallucination Company, will perform the entire "Joe's Garage - Musical" on January 15, 2003.

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and here's another attempt to fill some of the gaps !

the albums, including pictures

additions, corrections, ...

talk again to you soon - zappy new year, everyone

peter van laarhoven