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the big nOte files - may 2005 |
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the big nOte files - may 2005 |
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updated May 1, 7, 8, 14, 15, 16, 18, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25 & 28, 2005
| 2005/05/28 | |
| ZZZZZ | Ruben and the Jets |
| ZZZZZ | Wrong Object |
| ZZZZZ | The Keneallist, may 28, 2005 |
| ZZZZZ | John Trubee |
| ZZZZZ | New Zappa book |
| ZZZZZ | Cucurullo Brillo Brullo |
| ZZZZZ | The Tornadoes do it again |
| ZZZZZ | The Yonder Mountain String Band |
| 2005/05/25 | |
| ZZZZZ | Tenores Di Bitti |
| ZZZZZ | A Captain Beefheart DVD bootleg |
| ZZZZZ | Roy Estrada |
| ZZZZZ | The Metropolis Orchestra album |
| 2005/05/24 | |
| ZZZZZ | Andreas Rausch: Zappaesk (a Zappa comic book novel) |
| 2005/05/23 | |
| ZZZZZ | the Rosa Ensemble on album |
| ZZZZZ | WMRecordings |
| ZZZZZ | Zappa plays Zappa |
| ZZZZZ | Hot Rats, from Norway |
| ZZZZZ | the Andre Cholmondeley newsletter |
| 2005/05/22 | |
| ZZZZZ | Whatchamacallit |
| ZZZZZ | Guy Darol & Dominique Jeunot |
| 2005/05/21 | |
| ZZZZZ | Dweezil Zappa - Digital Minds int. - part 1 |
| ZZZZZ | Dweezil Zappa - Digital Minds int. - part 2 |
| ZZZZZ | The Ulster Orchestra |
| 2005/05/20 | |
| ZZZZZ | Steve Vai |
| ZZZZZ | Doctor Dark |
| ZZZZZ | The Prime-Time Sublime Community Orchestra |
| ZZZZZ | The Kings Of Dispassion |
| ZZZZZ | Leonard, Skrowaczewski, Zappa |
| ZZZZZ | Bootleg reissues |
| ZZZZZ | A new Frank Zappa bootleg |
| 2005/05/18 | |
| ZZZZZ | Frogg Café |
| ZZZZZ | John Trubee's antipoems |
| 2005/05/16 | |
| ZZZZZ | Daniel Denis |
| ZZZZZ | Corrie van Binsbergen |
| ZZZZZ | More Trubee |
| ZZZZZ | Joanne McNab |
| ZZZZZ | Andrés Mastrangelo |
| ZZZZZ | Edmund Welles |
| ZZZZZ | Jesus Christ on Angel Dust |
| ZZZZZ | Skip Heller's latest release |
| ZZZZZ | Chris Opperman update |
| ZZZZZ | Moris Tepper |
| ZZZZZ | Ozzy Osbourne |
| 2005/05/15 | |
| ZZZZZ | Starlock anyone? |
| ZZZZZ | Jimmy Ågren update: Close Enough For Jazz |
| ZZZZZ | Metropolis Orchestra |
| ZZZZZ | Gary Lucas update |
| ZZZZZ | Magic Band tourdates & a new album announced |
| ZZZZZ | Sul Divano in concert |
| ZZZZZ | Lunatics On Parade recorded Zappa |
| 2005/05/14 | |
| ZZZZZ | Zappanale 16 |
| 2005/05/08 | |
| ZZZZZ | The Grande Mothers Re:Invented will be touring |
| ZZZZZ | Leather Dynamite, anyone? |
| ZZZZZ | New Zappa bootleg DVD |
| 2005/05/07 | |
| ZZZZZ | Stanley Zappa |
| ZZZZZ | News from RalphAmerica |
| ZZZZZ | New Zappa bootleg Thing-Fish Demos |
| ZZZZZ | New Zappa bootleg Crush All Boxes |
| ZZZZZ | Monster Road (- Bruce Bickford) Update |
| ZZZZZ | Doctor Dark & the Voice oF CheeZ in concert |
| ZZZZZ | Trubee on Enron |
| ZZZZZ | Chris Opperman newsletter 20050503 |
| 2005/05/01 | |
| ZZZZZ | Vida recorded a track called 'Ravenssong'. How many Zappa clues can you find? |
| ZZZZZ | The second Zappanale 15 DVD is out |
| ZZZZZ | Marzi Nyman and the Estonian Dream Big Band did a couple of Zappa concerts |
| ZZZZZ | Dreadnaught recorded various Zappa composition on their latest CD |
| ZZZZZ | NSACJO plays Zappa |
| ZZZZZ | New on the Cuneiform label |
| ZZZZZ | Animal Lover, the latest Rez-album |
| ZZZZZ | The Keneallist - april 30, 2005 |
| ZZZZZ | Looking for an eyeball?? |
| ZZZZZ | Jimmy Ågren & the MMB on tour |
| ZZZZZ | The first Zappateers festival: let's move to italy |
| ZZZZZ | Lester in Austria |
| ZZZZZ | Vai & the Metropole Orkest: July, in Holland |
| and be sure to check out the April newsletter at thebignotefiles - 2005/04 | |
| ZZZZZ | the concert calendar |
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short bits - more info soon
- Jazzmosis recorded Frank Zappa's 'Blessed Relief' on their selftitled
album |
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2005/05/29 Zappa, continued: So there's Ahmet and Dweezil, plus Bryan Beller and Joe Travers, Flo & Eddie have been mentioned, and also George Duke who may be an option for the late October days when you look at his schedule... |
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The Ruben And The Jets entry had a bunch of bad links. They should be gone now... |
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One of the advantages of living in Belgium is that I get to see the Wrong Object in concert every once in a while. As you're probably getting around to scheduling your holidays, please make a note of the following opportunities:
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THE KENEALLIST: May 28, 2005: MKB's GUITAR THERAPY TOUR LAST CHANCE TO SEE Mike Keneally Band's This is most likely your final opportunity to see this amazing, powerful band for many moons. After these MKB US dates, Joe and Bryan will spend the remainder of 2005 as a crucial part of Dweezil and Ahmet Zappa's "Zappa Plays Zappa" tour. With true therapeutic intention, each show will feature acoustic and electric sessions. Plans are underway for serious video and audio recording of the June 18 show at the Sellersville Theater near Philadelphia, the product of which may be released on DVD. We will be joined by some amazing artists for some of these shows, most notably the Alex Skolnick Trio and Happy Apple. The venue for the June 17 New York City performance will be announced very soon.
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"Introducción a Frank Zappa" is a brand-new book (in spanish) about Zappa, written by Juan Gómez and Nando Caballero. It's published by publishing house Milenio. Nando Caballero's name should ring a bell. If not, check out the following albums:
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Dutch Zappa coverband Cucurullo Brillo Brullo will be releasing their first album on June 19, 2005. As you might expect, this also is the perfect occasion for a concert:
The new album, btw, will be called "Zapzurditiez". |
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The next Tornadoes album, due out in June / July, should contain 4 tracks that were engineered by FZ in the early sixties at PAL. --
info: Luc Reniers |
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The Yonder Mountain String Band has performed Frank Zappa's 'I'm The Slime' in concert.
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2005/05/25 good grief... check this out... |
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Remember Tenores Di Bitti? Sardinian polyphonic music? Zappa was very impressed by it and even wrote the liner notes of the Tenores Di Bitti Remunnu 'E Locu "Intonos" album. Well, if you want to
know more about Tenores Di Bitti, check out
www.tenoresdibitti.com. |
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Bass Guitar magazine will run an interview with Roy Estrada. Don't know which issue, but I'll let you know as soon as I find out. |
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METROPOLIS ORCHESTRA |
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2005/05/24 short newsflash - zappa comic book - next time: metropolis orchestra & beefheart bootleg dvd - ... |
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ANDREAS RAUSCH: ZAPPAESK |
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2005/05/23 usually, I spend my monday nights playing badminton... really. |
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Most of you know that the Rosa Ensemble did a Beefheart-tribute concert series called "Selling Hoovers In Mojave". The show has now been made available on album. More
info soon. |
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Marko Kalnenek says:
Hi folks, Four
months later we have: Sputnik in love: the remixes!
www.wmrecordings.com WM
Recordings |
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For immediate release, London, England -
Zappa Plays Zappa - Starts 25th October in Barcelona! * Tickets for the UK concerts on sale Friday June 3rd at 9am
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A message from Norwegian band Hot Rats at the alt.fan.frank-zappa newsgroup:
Hi! If you
want, you can listen to some mp3s of hotRats at : (thanks to Luc Reniers for forwarding the message) |
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From: Andre Cholmondeley (of Project/Object) - projectobject@earthlink.net Date: May 23, 2005 hello and happy spring...if you actually are having one.... WELCOME TO THE EMAIL LIST!! This is Andre' here - from project/object, the UNOFFICIAL tribute to Frank Zappa, heh heh. Haven't had a chance to 'return to normal' after the April -project/object tour...came right back to NJ to help close down the store i ran with my partner Cheri. After 10 years, we had to close the doors of our natural/organic food store. It's been a nutty, crazy couple of weeks. Thanks for coming to the shows and especially for writing in. Well, it's time for me to go full time MUSICIAN and see what happens. Wow!! I'm broke!!! It works already!!! I was also thinking of stand-up comedy. What do you think? Playing, writing music, writing words about music, booking shows, loading gear, demos, maybe even some teaching - i'm gonna do it all. let's see. OK -there's a bunch of music already planned for the year ahead: 2005/06/24 project/object/acoustic - June 24 with
ED MANN and Astrograss - NYC - Knitting Factory/Tap Bar DON PRESTON AKASHIC ENSEMBLE - MAY/JUNE 2005 TOURDATES
DON's JUNE 2005 RADIO APPEARANCES WILL BE WEBCAST LIVE:
MOOGFEST III -BB Kings Blues Club
- Annual celebration of all things Moog, featuring Pioneers of
electronica, including one of the first people to ever play a
Moog Synth-
Don Preston, along with Edgar Winter,
Bernie Worrell (P-FUNK), Jordan Rudess (Dream Theater), DJ Logic, Eumir
Deodato, Money Mark (Beastie Boys), Adam Holzman (fr. Miles Davis), Will
Calhoun (Living Colour), Sabina & Didi (Brazilian Girls), Steve Molitz
(Particle) and many more!!
Project/Object Acoustic -LIVE!!-
http://tracker.zappateers.com/index.php CDS CURRENTLY AVAILABLE -- DON PRESTON Akashic Ensemble "Inner Realities Of Evolution" Or call 1-800-buy-my-cd ask for artist ..also.... -- Andre Cholmondeley |
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2005/05/22 |
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Belgian band Whatchamacallit has a website: www.whatchamacallit.be |
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GUY DAROL & DOMINIQUE JEUNOT |
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"Zappa de Z à A", the book on Zappa by Guy Darol & Dominique Jeunot, published by Le Castor Astral in 2000, will be reissued. The new, corrected and completed edition will be available in your bookstore on June 3, 2005. More info soon. |
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2005/05/21 |
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DWEEZIL ZAPPA - DIGITAL MINDS - PART ONE |
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APRIL 2005
Digital Minds Part 1: Digital Technology Lets Him
Duet With Dad If you are not familiar with the story of Universal Audio, then I suggest you hurry over to our history pages right away. UA is a family company resurrected and updated by the sons after their father's passing. It is perhaps the greatest way that offspring can honor their parents--not just continuing a tradition, but expanding upon a vision. It's the same story in the Zappa family, where Dweezil Zappa has spearheaded the project to digitally archive his father, Frank's, entire catalog. He is also remixing, recording, even performing new versions of some tracks. This interview with Dweezil ended up yielding so much great information that we've split it into two parts. In part one, we discuss Dweezil's renovation of his dad's studio, and reissues of his Dad's work. Next month, part two will focus on Dweezil's solo album, upcoming tour and his experience with the UAD-1 card. So, first up, refurbishing Frank Zappa's infamous Utility Muffin Research Kitchen, which turned out to be a major task. "The main thing that we wanted to do," recalls
Dweezil, "was bring it up to date in the modern production world. It
wasn't a computer-based studio. The entire room itself didn't sound right
to me, so we basically started from scratch and rebuilt it. The control
room never had a machine room before, so there was a lot of construction.
It's a great space to work now. “Quaudiophiliac has a combination of mixes that are either in quad or in full surround, including several tracks that have never been released, as well as some surprises. It was my job to bring them all together into a listening sequence that made it fun.” "Right now I'm using JBL LSR 6328P's monitors and a 6312SP(sub) for both stereo and surround," Dweezil continues. "I really like them; they given me a true response. I have a workstation and I have a mix position station, so the room is being utilized in two ways. You get a different perspective from each station, and then you can also go ahead and make references and listen to them in other rooms. It works well for me to move around the room to hear and feel what kinds of differences there are. In one area you'll make use of the sub, and in another area you don't. It's really helped to hone in on problem areas in certain mixes. I think there's probably a couple of things that the room needs to be looked at in terms of voicing and certain types of frequency build-up in certain areas. For the most part, it's really pretty accurate." Frank Zappa actually only released a small percentage of his recordings. So, there's a lot of raw material for Dweezil to inspect. Frank was one of the early pioneers in surround sound. He conducted many experiments and projects exploring multichannel mixing in the early '80s, way before 5.1 and surround sound were household words. He exploited the great short-lived format Quad. The first project Dweezil approached was a live recording of a 1978 Halloween concert recorded at the New York Palladium. Dweezil and engineer Joe Chiccarelli found the master tapes, baked them, and transferred it into Nuendo. They then mixed the tracks for 5.1. This DVD-A, Halloween, is extraordinary and has been critically acclaimed. The second release was Quaudiophiliac, also on DVD-Audio. Credited as produced by Frank Zappa and Dweezil Zappa, it includes a bunch of quad mixes that Frank did over the years, starting as early 1970. "The project started when we found a box that had a drawing on it that diagrammed where the mics were placed in the room, and the box was labeled quad. It was a drawing to re-create the room where it was recorded. It included a song that was called 'Chunga's Revenge.' It became something else further developed later on, but this early version was recorded in the original basement studio in the house. You really feel like you are there at the session, and it's conceivably the first time the song was recorded. There are a few start and stop moments which we left in the recording. Quaudiophiliac has a combination of mixes that are either in quad or in full surround, including several tracks that have never been released, as well as some surprises. It was my job to bring them all together into a listening sequence that made it fun. It's a cross section of music covering about fifteen years of his career. One cool thing was taking a piece of audio that had Frank talking about the music industry and record companies, and I superimposed it over one of Frank's songs called 'Watermelon and Easter Hay.' I mixed that in 5.1 and created some segues to improve the continuity. A lot of people have commented that it's a strange joyride that they get to go on, and the surround experience draws them in." One of the upcoming projects Dweezil plans to attempt
is a surround remix of one of Frank's classic releases: "The song 'Peaches en Regalia,' is very different on the release than it was recorded. There's a ten-minute jam in the middle of the song that never made to the record. It's was pretty interesting to find that it wasn't a complete piece of music and there was an ending that was tagged on to it as sort of an afterthought. One cool thing about that song is there are all these textures in it that I was always curious about. I thought it must have been a really early synthesizer-the song was recorded in 1969. I always wondered how he got that sound. What I thought were synthesizers were not. He had taken bass guitar and slowed the tape down and recorded certain parts at a different speed. Then when it returned to normal, it still had this sort of rubbery texture of the bass-a thicker sound playing a high part than you would get if you were just to play it on an instrument that had that octave range. "He had done all these special recording tricks, and it's really cool to discover them. I'm actually going to do a version of 'Peaches' for my new solo record where I play along with the master tapes. I'll play a lot of the guitar parts and some of the melodies, but I'll leave Frank's guitar solo and some other original things in, so it will appear that we are playing together. It should be a cool combination of new and old." I think Frank would approve. Next month we'll discuss Dweezil's upcoming solo release and get in to more detail about his working technique and use of the UAD-1 card.
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DWEEZIL ZAPPA - DIGITAL MINDS - PART TWO |
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MAY 2005 http://www.uaudio.com/webzine/2005/may/index3.html
Digital Minds Last month, in Part 1 of our conversation with Dweezil Zappa, we discussed the renovation of his late father's, personal studio; and the ongoing effort to archive and reissue Frank Zappa's recordings. In Part 2, we dig deeper into the technical side, and Dweezil's use of the UAD-1 card on his personal projects. Dweezil's main DAW is Steinberg's Nuendo, and he considers the perfect accompaniment to Nuendo to be the UAD-1; he's especially into all of the plug-ins. "I really like the Pultec Pro," Zappa says. "I use it pretty frequently on at least eighty-five to ninety percent of the stereo mixes. I really like the Cambridge too. I had been checking out a lot of different EQs and that one feels like you could finger-paint with the sound. The first thing I liked about it was that you could create really extreme EQ curves and really do some surgery if you needed to. That is a lot of fun to play around with. I like tweaking things and taking them to extreme limits. It doesn't add any bad artifacts. Sometimes, you get into a really gritty, horrible area with digital EQs, but the Cambridge comes out pretty smooth, even when you are doing a narrow bandwidth. Those EQs get used pretty frequently. "I also recently got the Precision limiter. I really like it. I was trying to find a specific limiter that would do a very good job of holding the peaks on everything. It really does sound good, and it has some special elements to it. The metering is more precise. When I do get the time, I try to really understand what the tools are, and a lot of times some of the stuff can be confusing or daunting when you have so many options. I think I use the tools better when I understand the principles behind them more. Anything in the UAD-1 is really good. "The Plate 140 reverb I use on everything," he continues. "It's my favorite reverb of anything I have. The week before I got that, I was having a hard time finding a way to do a pre-delay that sounded natural and sounded like that old kind of Plate reverb. I was trying all sorts of things like creating a fake version by sending a sound to a reverb or tape machine with a slapback delay, using an insert delay on a separate channel. Then I would take the send down and get the entire effected signal back. It was a long tedious procedure to set up, and then it didn't exactly have that old sound because you'd have to EQ the reverb, and then, low and behold, a week later your Plate reverb came out. I got the result I wanted and I've been using it for all sorts of things. I like to do backward reverb things and create weird textures. That's one of the plug-ins that has the most personality when you do backward reverb stuff. "There's something I like to do where I play acoustic guitar and I'll play single notes, and I'll reverse them and build chords with the single notes, then I'll reverb them backwards, and then I'll mold them down and then reserve them and play them back. It's a great sound. It sounds like a combination of horns and strings at the same time. If you know the chord progression on something you are working on, and you just want to just embellish certain things about it, you can just play the single notes of the chords you want and try that procedure. It's a really cool sound. It sounds like a futuristic orchestra, but it sounds organic; it doesn't sound synthesized. It's pretty cool." “When I do get the time, I try to really understand what the tools are, and a lot of times some of the stuff can be confusing or daunting when you have so many options. I think I use the tools better when I understand the principles behind them more. Anything in the UAD-1 is really good.” Dweezil also loves classic analog gear, and he owns several vintage 1176s. "When we're tracking, we go through an analog process and then it ends up in the digital world. Even if we are recording in a digital environment, the chain is usually analog. We do use 1176s on drums and bass. In mixdown, I often use the 1176s for specific effects. I just like the way older records sound in general, so anytime I can keep it in that world I do. I do have some original 1176s and I find that it's just easier to use the one in the computer which has the same character as the hardware." In addition to all the audio restoration he's been doing, Dweezil has been recording a new solo album titled, Go With What You Know, which is coming out in May 2005. "I haven't really decided what direction to take this new solo record that' I'm working on," he says. "I have some stuff that's a little more old-school and some stuff that's more modern-sounding. It will include my version of 'Peaches' [Frank Zappa's song 'Peaches en Regalia]. It's going to be a weird combination of things. I went from someone who had zero computer knowledge whatsoever to working on computers eighteen hours a day." Immediately after the release of his solo album, Dweezil will go into rehearsals with his brother Ahmet and a handpicked band. The brothers Zappa will be touring the world with a project called "Zappa Plays Zappa." "We have a really big plan for this year, something that we've never done before." Dweezil says. "We're going to put a band together and play only Frank's music. We're going to start in Europe then come back to the states and then go to Japan. We're going to start in October, so we're going to rehearse the band for three months in order to learn close to fifty songs, including a lot of the very difficult instrumentals. I'm learning a lot of stuff on guitar that was never meant to be played on guitar. For me, it will be like training for the Guitar Olympics. We are going to create a core band of people that haven't played with Frank, and then we will have some special guests and Ahmet is going to sing. We want to have our own thing that we do that is free from interpretations of other people's expectations. "We are going to change the instrumental
arrangements. The melodies will be seen and heard in a different way," he
continues. "The melodies may be more powerful because they are being
played on a louder, more distorted instrument-- guitar instead of keyboard
or a marimba. I think [because] my brother and I are related, we have an
innate sense of what Frank was going for humor-wise. Those are some of the
elements that we'll be able to bring a new and fun interpretation of. The
show itself is going to have video footage, and a documentary about Frank
will be shown before the show. |
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THE ULSTER ORCHESTRA |
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April 29th 2005, the Ulster Orchestra performed Frank Zappa compositions in concert for BBC Radio 3. Music performed:
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2005/05/20 |
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Gitarist (NL), may 2005 |
Guitar & Bass (UK), june 2005 |
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After playing a remarkable concert alongside the Voice OF CheeZ in Buffalo, Doctor Dark has already scheduled some new concerts:
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THE PRIME-TIME SUBLIME COMMUNITY ORCHESTRA |
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The prime-Time sublime Community Orchestra has a new album out:
SONGS THAT WILL NEVER WIN A GRAMMY YOU GET:
- Lesson 1 -- Info: Paul Minotto |
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"Kings of Dispassion" is the name of the quartet (that features Stanley Zappa). They have recorded, but the CD hasn't been mastered yet. Hopefully it'll be out before the end of the year. Examples of the group
can be heard by clicking on "sistemazione" at http://www.dunes.cc/audio/s.html |
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The Leonard, Skrowaczewski, Zappa album, "Visions", can be ordered through cdbaby. |
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FRANK ZAPPA BOOTLEG REISSUES |
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Three Frank Zappa bootlegs have been reissued. The little sticker
says: "24 bit remastered"...
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2005/05/18 A new Frogg Café album will be out soon & Trubee has some urgent things to say to the world... |
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Frogg Café's latest album, "Fortunate Observer Of Time", features Ed Mann as a special guest.
More info real soon. |
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JOHN TRUBEE'S ANTIPOEMS |
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HELIOTROPIC MICE Copyright c 2005 John Trubee I dreamt of heliotropic mice Aching for the sun, Of a tabloid story of a beautiful blonde German lesbian actress seducing 2 other actresses, Of a guy in my band playing harmonica with his vagina (?) I dreamt of dark mystery hills at night Sparkling with myriad lights Of luxury homes redolent with the implied promise Of sex & booze, I dreamt of misty morning Santa Barbara shores Devoid of people, Stunning locales where I strode, the sole inhabitant, Brilliant lonesome summer meadows The antithesis of the fulsome shitholes of humanity, Dream places only my mind manufactures When this world I actually inhabit Is not good enough for me. UGLY, CHILDISH ANTIPOEM # 69 |
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2005/05/16 Quite a bit of news. Including some very fine new albums. |
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February 2003, the first 'literary concerts' took place: four writers / novelists / essayists read pieces of their work, accompanied by music. The production was done by Corrie van Binsbergen. Right now, May 2005, the second series is running. Check the Amsterdam Bimhuis for more data. In the meantime, 3 (!!) so-called audio-books that present recordings from these sessions have been released...
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JOHN TRUBEE'S PRETENTIOUS QUOTE FOR THE DAY |
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"Watching TV is not unlike sitting in the presence of a psychotic clown who constantly flings excrement into your face." -- John Trubee |
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Charles Ulrich was kind enough to send me the correct spelling for Joanne's last name: one B. |
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Check out http://www.edmundwelles.com/ You can hear Edmund Welles performing songs by Spinal Tap, Radiohead, Duran Duran and, yes, even The Residents (Shorty's Lament). -- info: Ive Hapers |
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JOHN TRUBEE: JESUS CHRIST ON ANGEL DUST |
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When I draw my horrendous, ugly old man drawings with sardonic slogans, write my obnoxious antipoetry, or write my songs I am not attempting to win a popularity contest or entertain or amuse anyone else. I am entertaining myself and manifesting a testosterone-driven aggression. I do not want to entertain people. It is regrettable, this loss of civility in modern
life. That being said, it is preferable, even therapeutic, to express latent hostility with written words in a pseudo-creative mode rather than endanger oneself and others in road rage incidents, postal rampages, high school massacres, inexplicable child killings, and other such atrocities in the daily headlines which assault our sensibilities. My latent aggressive tendencies, if not sublimated through sporadic and questionable creative output, would, in other people, manifest themselves as part religious mania and part psychotic aggression. I imagine a maniacal vagrant caterwauling and careening down a busy crowded street, randomly throttling people down to the cement and bashing their heads on the ground while shrieking something such as the following: MADMAN PUMMEL RANT Stop lying! Stop being such a hypocrite! Stop torturing your children! Stop whoring after money! Stop posturing and primping and preening! Stop strutting and swaggering! Stop trying to manipulate me! Stop playing one guy off of the other! Stop cheating! Stop copulating with total idiots! Stop trying to fool everybody with your bullshit! Stop bullying everyone with this 'family values' nonsense! Stop legislating laws to prosecute those you dislike for no reason! Stop grabbing everything! Stop hogging everything! Stop butting ahead of everyone else in line! Stop blabbering on that stupid cell phone! Stop sneaking and scheming! Stop playing office politics! Stop throwing crap out of your car window! Slob! Stop tailgating! Stop evading personal responsibility! Stop spitting on those below you! Stop stomping on the powerless! Stop kicking those who are down! Stop stomping on the fingers of he who is crawling! Stop shitting on those who can't fight back! Stop corrupting the innocents! Stop tormenting the young because you envy their youth! Stop breaking hearts! Stop sucking up to the pigs in power! Stop voting for idiots! Stop worshipping celebrities! Stop wasting your life watching TV! Stop enslaving yourself to possessions! (to be continued when I can think of other reprehensible human behaviors that enrage me) -- John Trubee
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[Chris Opperman Mailing List - Monday, May 16th, 2005] Episode #38: Third Eye Opp
Chris
Opperman Presents The Rock Gallery In this episode:
* Oppy Takes Manhattan Saturday, July 9th @ The Lion's Den It's official! Somehow Andre' Cholmondeley of Project/Object and I managed to convince the management at The Lion's Den in New York City to give us an 80-minute set on a Saturday night even though I've never played a concert of my own music in New York before! Since this is the first performance of my music on the East Coast in over 5 years and I will be backed up by several members of the ridiculously amazing Frank Zappa cover band Project/Object, you KNOW this isn't a show that you're going to want to miss! In addition to my own music we will also be performing pieces by Steve Vai and Mike Keneally. Tickets are $10 and can be ordered on-line at http://www.cegmusic.musictoday.com/LionsDen/calendar.aspx. Also, I know that there's a whole lot of you 973 peeps out there so if you could do me a huge favor and send me e-mails of every single promotion idea you have or come up with between now and then please let me know. Obviously The Lion's Den is putting a lot of faith in the power of this music and I want to make sure that we don't let them down. Special thanks once again to Dr. Dot for the idea and for giving one of my CD's to Mr. Charlie Watts of THE ROLLING STONES last week after his massage!!! She's curious to get his review and so am I. Check out her website at www.drdot.com.
* SPECIAL OPPS Studio Session Update Well, last weekend's studio sessions went SO WELL I can't even being to tell you how excited I am to be FINALLY making a brand new studio rock album. So far I'd estimate that things are coming out about 2,000% better than even *I* imagined that they would. I was a little concerned about the strange method engineer Neil Citron and I came up with to make this record happen but it turned out to give us an extraordinary flexibility as well as the ability to explore exotic sounds and take every section of every piece to it's logical extreme. In a nutshell, it sounds like what Special Opps would sound like if everyone in the band had at least three arms and two heads. But I'm going to let Clark Freeman, who stopped in Sunday afternoon to reprise the role he played in "A Very Space Opera" last October tell you about it:
"I've known
Chris for, what some people might call, a while. His frenzied energy and
wandering focus is summed up by most people who know him as an integral
part of his powerhouse of musical ability. I was lucky enough to
Recording at
Steve's Vai's studio, I walked into a world that Chris has obviously
dreamt of for a while, and probably lost plenty of sleep over. His focus
is nothing less than razor sharp, knowing exactly what notes he wants to
hear "I just want you to scream for a while. . . ." His assembled crew for Special Opps, some of the most exciting musicians I have seen in a while, and his engineer Neil Citron (who is a god in a man's suit) are putting together an album that should shock, amaze, and teach it's listeners for quite a while to come. I don't know about you, but I would get pretty damn excited. . . ." -- Clark Freeman, May 12th, 2005 Thank you, Clark! Well, we have several sessions to go before this album will be complete including basic tracks for the remaining three songs (the first song, the last song, and one that's going to go somewhere in the middle), a piano overdub session that will take place hopefully soon, and Jen Kuhn's cello overdub session when she gets back from Japan in June. Boy is she ever going to be surprised! For the record, the musicians who participated in the first sessions for the album were Craig Bunch on drums and percussion, Daren Burns on electric and fretless bass, Chris Spilsbury on electric guitar, Frank Macchia on flute, clarinet, and tenor saxophone. Clark Freeman played the part of Lieutenant Commander Harris and I played the part of Captain Columbus and performed my basic tracks on the KORG Triton Extreme 88-key workstation keyboard. Eternal thanks are due to Steve Vai for letting us use The Mothership while he's away on tour. Without his (and Neil's) tremendous generosity, this album would not have been possible.
* "Beyond the Foggy Highway" Update Just so you know, I haven't forgotten about finishing the live album!!! Scott Chatfield and I will be getting together to do the third (and final!) round of edits for the album in the next couple weeks and local LA artist T.J. Moore is currently working on a beautiful painting for the cover. We will get this out to you as soon as possible, I promise. Johnny D. and I have also not forgotten about the live DVD. We decided as a record company that it would be best to wait until after the release of the Special Opps studio album to release the DVD so we could focus our current promotion efforts on the LA shows, the upcoming NY show, the back catalog, and the Special Opps studio album. We also have a few other DVD projects in the works which we will announce after we catch up to ourselves. All things in due time!
* Kelda De-Tour Dates My friend Kelda is currently on tour promoting her new album "Detour" on which I performed the track "Stop the Rain." The album is available directly from www.kelda.net or www.cdbaby.com and if you live in any of these areas, you should strongly consider checking her out!
New York ~
the bitter end, tuesday, may 17th, 8pm sharp, 147 Bleecker
St. (greenwich village), $5 cover Okay, that's all the news that's fit to print! See ya! -- Chris Opperman |
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* * * from the archives * * * from the archives * * * from the archives * * * from the archives
* * * from the archives * * * from the
archives |
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The latest Ozzy Osbourne release is a 4-CD box, called "Prince Of Darkness". Lots of B-sides, rare recordings and even one disc with all new songs. The box also includes Ozzy's version of 'Stayin' Alive' with Dweezil Zappa on guitar.
-- info: Danny Mathys |
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2005/05/15 |
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JIMMY ÅGREN |
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Gary Lucas in concert:
-- info: Zjakki Willems |
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A CD of The Magic Band playing live at various venues during 2003 and 2004 is being released on Proper Records to coincide with their recent UK tour. Entitled "21st Century Mirror Men" this CD, with a bonus DVD of live peformances will be available from 16th May. -- info from troutmask / thomas Magic Band Performances Tentative 2005 Dates: MAY
JUNE
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DOMINGO 15 DE MAYO A LAS 21 HS
Un show
que no te podes perder,
en LA REVUELTA U N S H O W I M P E R D I B L E ...!
Sul
Divano
Músico
invitado:
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2005/05/14 Zappanale 16. I need more info on a couple of these bands, so if you have it, send it! |
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2005/05/08 Happy Mothers Day everyone. |
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THE GRANDE MOTHERS RE:INVENTED
The Grande Mothers Re:Invented will be touring the States and probably also Canada and Yurrip.
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FRANK ZAPPA: VIDEO ARCHIVE // DVD BOOTLEG |
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2005/05/07 A couple of boots, DD and the VOC in concert, and an angry Trubee. What else do you need? Talk to you again tomorrow. |
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About a year or so ago, my pal Danny had me listen to a demo of the Kings Of Dispassion, featuring Stanley Zappa, Frank's nephew, on saxphone. I can't tell you much more about the Kings Of Dispassion, but I do know that Stanley Zappa has an album out:
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HIya Ralph friend: A note that we have a brand spankin new, loverly tee - the Mountain Man drawing from Residue, in 4 color glory on a lovely beefy t baseball shirt (brown/copper). So fabulous, you can't stand it. And for a very limited time, if you buy one of these loverlies, you also have a chance to get a BIZARRE Animal Lover tee. We printed some of these with the colors reversed, and while they still look cool, they're not printed as intended. But maybe some of you are into this. If so, pick one up! This is
all, please stop by the Ralph America store today! |
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FRANK ZAPPA: THING-FISH DEMOS |
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FRANK ZAPPA: CRUSH ALL BOXES |
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May 2005 - "Monster Road" update by Brett Ingram and Jim Haverkamp: Warmest Greetings (on this chilly spring night) to our Friends, Neighbors, and Supporters: Just a friendly reminder... IF you're not busy at 10pm on June 20th and... IF you or a friend subscribes to the Sundance Channel and... IF you're not as sick of the darn movie as we are already... ...Please tune in to see the Cable TV premiere of Monster Road.
Monday, June 20th
is Doc Day on the Sundance Channel and Monster Road airs at 10pm. We're still working on the DVD thingy. More on that later. We can never thank you all enough for all the love, support, money, sandwiches, and good advice you've given us over the past five years.Thanks for being a big part of our little dream. Sincerely,
Brett Ingram and
Jim Haverkamp |
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Trubee says: I recently read THE SMARTEST GUYS IN THE ROOM and saw the documentary film based on the book about the Enron debacle. Here's my thoughts on it, if you give a crap. --JT $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ The Enron scandal didn't result from just a few bad apples at the top. The Enron meltdown resulted in part from the tacit complicity of the Wall Street bankers who were only too eager to lend more $$$ to an illusory cash cow. Merrill Lynch even assisted Enron hide assets to boost Enron's balance sheet to boost its stock price to qualify for even more and bigger bank loans. Chase, JP Morgan, Deutsche Bank and their analysts and Enron's lawyers and Arthur Anderson and Enron's board of directors all danced the dance and deceived themselves and others because their cash flow from the house of cards was too sexy and corrupting. When Enron's house of cards collapsed all parties involved pointed their fingers at the all others. No one would accept any responsibility. An enormous moral vacuum was one catalyst for the meltdown. These guys swaggered like such bigshots but they were only foolish, empty suits with nothing in their cores. If you read about how Enron's trader's gamed the California energy market while gleefully gloating about how much money they were making while causing Californians to sweat out summer heat with no A/C and get stuck in elevators it'll make steam whistle out of your ears. It would be comforting if this were an isolated case but recent corporate scandals involving WorldCom, Tyco, Adelphia, Healthsouth, and even the monkeyshines involving the establishment of SEC Richard Grasso's golden parachute while the little people get wiped out or reamed implores for some collective introspection. The perp walks of these scoundrels will be for naught if preventative mechanisms and checks and balances are not erected to discourage if not prevent such massively destructive skullduggery. It's as if CERTAIN SEGMENTS of capitalism have become bulls in a china shop. The china shop owner can't just sit there and do nothing. He calls animal control. It's as though since the death of Communism capitalism has gone mad with outrageously destructive excesses. A countervailing, opposing force will eventually arise to address the misery that an impure, crony capitalism generates. I hate cliches, but for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. -- John Trubee |
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[Chris Opperman Mailing List - Tuesday, May 3rd, 2005] Episode #37: The Heart of Gold * SPECIAL OPPS TONIGHT @ Level One! * Oppy in New York (or How To Get a Taylor Ham Sandwich...the Hard Way)! * ** SPECIAL OPPS Studio Sessions [Finally] Begin This Friday! **
* SPECIAL OPPS TONIGHT @ Level One! Tonight we have a very special show for you at Level One. First up will be my ensemble SPECIAL OPPS at 8:00 (little earlier than usual) featuring myself on piano, Chris Spilsbury on gutiar, Frank Macchia on flute, clarinet, and tenor saxophone, Daren Burns on electric bass, and Craig Bunch on drums. Our successful "Trial By Fire" show two weeks ago as well as our set-the-stage-on-fire 2-song set @ The Viper Room last Friday have emboldened us and we look forward to leaving the stage a smoldering mess for my friends Brent Locke & The Loaded who will be taking the stage at 9 pm. Following that act will be my favorite local country-rock ensemble Jettson at 10 and The Academy of Chess & Checkers at 11 pm. Happy hour lasts until 8, so come early and enjoy 2 for 1 appetizers and drink specials, and there will also be drink specials while the music is happening! So forget about American Idol and come down and check out some live music!
* Oppy in New York (or How To Get a Taylor Ham Sandwich...the Hard Way)! I'm really excited to announce that legendary touring Zappa cover band Project/Object has been signed on to do a huge "Oppy in New York" show on Saturday, July 9th! We're currently booking the venue but it will likely take place at The Bitter End or The Lion's Den and will feature Project/Object playing the music of Chris Opperman (with myself on piano). The set will begin with a solo performance by yours truly and then a 90-minute full rock band concert which will feature some brand new compositions as well as performances of arrangements of a couple Steve Vai and Mike Keneally tunes orchestrated by yours truly. It's been 4 years since I've set foot in New York and visited my friends in Clifton, NJ, so this is our way of making it up to you! After the show, I'll be at Six Brothers eating a taylor ham sandwich. Check out Project/Object's website at http://www.projectobject.com/. The line-up for the 7/9 NY show will be myself on piano, Andre' Cholmondeley on guitar, Robbie "The Seahag" Mangano on impossible guitar, Eric Svalgard on keyboards, Dave Jonsen on bass, and Glenn Leonard on drums.
Extra-special thanks to Dr. Dot for the idea.
* ** SPECIAL OPPS Studio Sessions [Finally] Begin This Friday! ** Our sessions last month were postponed a couple weeks due to circumstances beyond our control, but starting this Friday we will FINALLY begin recording the Special Opps studio album @ The Mothership in the Hollywood Hills with Neil Citron engineering. This album's going to require several sessions but we're shooting to have the album complete by the end of July. Wish us luck! Okay, I must shower now! Enjoy your day. -- Chris Opperman |
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2005/05/01 A new month, a new batch of info... Let's have a go at it... |
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From the Vida album: RAVENSSONG (Cadena, Troccoli) Mommy was a GTO, Romped and played with the Moon, CHORUS Now Mom is gone, and Dad is away, Czolar Czakl and Miss Sandra, REPEAT
CHORUS |
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MARZI NYMAN - THE ESTONIAN DREAM BIG BAND |
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Marzi Nyman (FIN) who had concerts with UMO Jazz Orchestra and is featured in United Mutations did it again :) Two 'Tribute to Frank Zappa' concerts held in Estonia. 2005/03/10 - Viljandi, estonia 2005/03/11 - Tallinn, estonia Estonian Dream Big Band: http://www.filharmoonia.ee/en/right/edbb/ Best regards, -- Avo Raup |
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From the affz newsgroup: I don't know if this is a topic that has ever been brought up here, but there are a lot of Zappa Fans in the Latin Jazz community. I'm a bass player who plays mostly Afro Cuban music these days, but I grew up listening and learning music through FZ since I was a 13 year old in '72. I moderate a Latin Jazz newsgroup that has a lot of 'heavies' in it, and we talk about Frank from time to time. I've even written, arranged, and recorded a tribute to Zappa in Afro-Cuban Jazz ("Frankness" by Grupo Jazz Tumbao"). I though you folks might be interested in knowing that Frank has influenced musicians and cultures in ways you may not have been aware of... -- Allan THE NEW SCHOOL AFRO-CUBAN JAZZ ORCHESTRA directed by Bobby Sanabria Sunday, April 24 at 8pm at the center of the known Universe... The legendary Nuyorican Poets Cafe' 236 E. 3rd St. Between Ave's B & C, NYC admission is $10, $8 w/ student ID, no minimum. The New School AFCJO is dedicated to preserving the great Afro-Cuban Jazz Big Band tradition by performing works of the great masters as well as premiering new works as well as new treatments of works by composers outside of the tradition. This Sunday the ensembles program will not only include music by Mario Bauza, Tito Puente and Chico O' Farill, but also music by the eclectic 20th century composer, arranger, electric guitarist socio-political commentator, humorist and visionary, Frank Zappa. In addition, some new works by student composers will also be performed. If you are in the NYC area, come down and hear the music that Eddie Palmieri says "...excites the human organism like no other" played by the stars of tomorrow from the New School's unique jazz program. "This is definitely not your ordinary college level big band!" - Time Out, NY Trumpets:
Justin Davis, Anthony Coleman, Carter Yasutake, Daniel Klein, Ouar Arunga Graduating
class of 2005 |
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New on Cuneiform:
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The Keneallist: April 30, 2005—More Guitar Therapy Tour Info I wanted to give you a little more information about the Mike Keneally Band's Guitar Therapy Tour, which starts tomorrow at the Belly Up in San Diego. The San Francisco show on Tuesday, May 10, is a part of the Guitar Player Presents concert series promoted by our friends at Guitar Player Magazine. And my guitar partner from The Mistakes, the inexplicably brilliant and unique Henry Kaiser, will do an opening set with his Quartet. I got an anonymous phone call saying that all of your friends are going to be there, so you know what to do. Three additional June dates have been added, and the Denver show has moved from Friday to Saturday, June 4. Look for more Guitar Therapy dates soon! Here is rock solid information: Mike Keneally Band's Sunday, May 1, 2005 - Belly Up Tavern - 143 South Cedros Avenue - Solana Beach, CA 92075 (north of San Diego) - (opening for Tony Furtado) - Showtime: 8:00 p.m. - Tickets: $10 - Info: 858-481-8140 Thursday, May 5, 2005 - The Triple Door - 216 Union Street - Seattle, WA 98101-2102 - Showtime: 8:30 p.m., Doors open 7:00 p.m. - Tickets $15, All ages welcome - Info: 206-838-4333 Monday, May 9, 2005 - Six Rivers Brewery - 1300 Central Ave. - McKinleyville, CA 95519 - Showtime: 8:00 p.m., Doors open 7:00 p.m. - Tickets $12 - Info: 707-822-0996 Tuesday, May 10, 2005 - A Guitar Player Presentation - The Boom Boom Room - 1601 Fillmore (at Geary) - San Francisco, CA 94115 - Opening act: The Henry Kaiser Quartet - Showtime: 9:30 p.m., Doors open 8:00 p.m. - Tickets $10 - Info: 415-673-8000 Wednesday, May 11, 2005 - Don Quixote's Music Hall - 6275 Highway 9 - Downtown Felton, CA 95018 - Showtime: 8:00 p.m. - Tickets $14 advance, $16 day of show - All ages welcome - Info: 831-335-2800 Monday, May 16, 2005 - SOhO - 1221 State St. - Santa
Barbara, CA 91301 - Showtime: 8:30 p.m., Doors open 6:00 p.m. Saturday, June 4, 2005 - Cervantes' Masterpiece Ballroom - 2637 Welton Street - Denver, CO 80205 - Showtime: 8:00 p.m. - Tickets $15 - Info: 303-297-1772 Wednesday, June 8, 2005 - Shank Hall - 1434 North Farwell Avenue - Milwaukee, WI 53202 - Showtime: 8:00 p.m. - Tickets $15 - Info: 414-276-7288 Friday, June 10, 2005 - Little Brother's - 1100 North High Street - Columbus, OH 43201 - Showtime: 10:00 p.m. - Tickets $TBA - Info: 614-421-2025 Sunday, June 12, 2005 - Wilbert's Food & Music - 812 Huron Avenue East - Cleveland, OH 44115 - Showtime: 9:00 p.m.- Tickets $15 advance, $20 day of show - Info: 216-902-4663 To those who don't live in these areas, please forgive the intrusion. Perhaps the following poem will refresh you and amuse y'n. --MK Dedicated to James Joyce, Jon Brion and Bob Keeshan |
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THE RESIDENTS |
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The Residents have sold one of their Performance EyeBalls through Ebay. Sold for US $ 5.123,23 (to Igor...) -- info: Ive |
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MATS / MORGAN BAND ON TOUR |
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JIMMY ÅGREN BAND ON TOUR |
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Remember their astonishing performance at last year's Zappanale? What do you mean, you weren't there? Here's your chance to make up. |
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mats/morgan band
jimmy ågren band
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AGI says: The Zappateers will have their first festival in Ancona Italy on 25 and 26 june 2005. It's organized in collaboration with ARCI Regionale Marche and our good friends of DebraKadabra (the italian FZ appreciation consortium) for it will be named 2nd UncleMeeting too. A great chance to meet fellow Zappa fans, listen together to some excellent italian bands, trade recordings and collectibles and, most important, have some fun together. the bands that will perform at the 1st zappateers fest will (almost certainly) be:
Check the
Zappateers forum often to know more, it will be updated daily. |
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from: Hasi just to let you know that there is an orchestral performance of FZ's music in Austria (Stadttheater, Wiener Neustadt) on May 12 2005. The project is initiated by Raoul Herget, who is the Director of the local Music conservatory (Mathias Hauer Conservatory), it is called: ZAPPA played by LESTER The name LESTER is a hommage to Lester Bowie, who's brother Joseph Bowie will play trombone and vocals in this concert. Not much more is known to me at this point of time, only that among the songs due to be performed is The Black Page #1 (see the link below). |
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2005/05/12 lester - concert 'stadttheater', wiener neustadt, austria |
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VAI - ACHING HUNGER PHASE II |
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Steve Vai will be
back in Holland, to bring Phase II of his Aching Hunger show.
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the concert calendar * the concert calendar |
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