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the big nOte files - november 2007 |
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| previous newsletters |  |
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| updated November 05, 06, 07, 08, 09, 11, 16, 17, 18, 20 & 21, 2007 | ||
| please send additions & corrections to bignOte@yucom.be |
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| short bits:
* * * Octafish has a new album ready: "Party Alarm" * * * |
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| 2007
12 03 With an actual newsflash: tomorrow on dutch radio 6, a Frank Zappa special !! Co de Kloet does it again... and there's a picture of a new book on Zappa. Well, not really a new book as it's a translation of a book from 2004, but still, it's new... |
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frank zappa
by barry miles - Barry Miles' book from 2004, entitled "Frank Zappa" has been published in Italy.
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December 4, 2007, on Dutch Radio 6, Co de Kloet and Wim Brands will take a closer look at some of Zappa's stories: The Chrome Plated Megaphone of Destiny (based on Kafka's "The Penal Colonly) Billy The Mountain The Adventures of Greggery Peccary A special version of Zappa’s “broadway-musical” THING-FISH. Co de Kloet will be talking to some of the musicians that participated to these projects: George Duke, Napoleon Murphy Brock and Howard Kaylan. Tuesday, december 4, 22.00 - 24.00 h on dutch radio 6 -- infol Gerard Wissink |
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| 2007
12 02 quite a busy weekend over here at the UM headquarters. i bought a new pc table, which means that i had to get the old desk out, puzzle the new one into one piece, and move the whole lot. anyway, i did treat myself to a new screen as well, so things are looking rather new and flashy... in the meantime, it looks like the show that ZpZ played in Antwerp a couple of months ago is finally up on Dime. Grab it, but make sure that you buy their DVD first :-) (support the artists) |
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| 2007 11
26 for starters, here's a couple of nice pictures for your optical enjoyment... |
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| In 1989, Frank
Zappa wrote the music for a Cousteau documentary entitled "Alaska
- Outrage At Valdez".
-- info & pictures: Hans-Peter Schmidt |
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| the vhs-video cover | the laserdisc cover |
| in 1982, frank
zappa participated in an episode of the "faerie tale theatre"
series entitled "the boy who left home to find out about the
shivers".
the episode got first aired on tv in 1984; -- info & pictures: Hans-Peter Schmidt |
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| the vhs video cover | the DVD cover |
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| info from Hans-Peter Schmidt:
German radio wdr2 asked their listeners for the best 200
longplayalbums of all time.
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| 2007 11 21 | |
| I created an entry for Eric Slick, so if you have any info that I can add, let me know. | |
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Napoleon Murphy Brock and Eric Slick at the Zappanale festival |
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The Soul Cryptographers is a funk band, featuring
The band has performed a fine version of Frank Zappa's 'Son Of Mr.Green Genes' on a couple of occasions. Examples can be found & listened to over at: http://dootcast.blogspot.com/ Pete Brunelli adds:
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-- info & picture: Nikolai Zaharov |
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More news: 2007/03/16, Les Polissons did a concert with Ike Willis at the Festival Cordes Sensibles in St Médard-en-Jalles, France. Video fragments of this concerts can be seen at the bands4 MySpace: www.myspace.com/lespolissonsjouentzappa And Les Polissons are looking for concerts. So if you know a club or venue that might book a band from France to play some Zappa, give them a call. |
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| Hans-Peter Schmidt continues his
"Zoot Allures" story:
The German cassette release on Discreet: 7 tracks listed, 9 tracks on the tape. |
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| Darn, I'm a day too late with
this. Hope you didn't miss it...
2007 11 19 [Chris
Opperman] Birthday Bash Tomorrow Night @ Room 5! It's
tomorrow night! All the
cool kids are going to be there...and don't you want to be a cool kid? Chris
Opperman Birthday Bash
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The Residents @ Yuerba Buena Center for the Arts! Coming next month! If you are in California, be sure to make it to San Francisco for the Dec. 6, 7 and 8 screenings of the Residents video retrospective. Each night is different, click on the banner to get more info. Ralph will be there selling various goodies each night, so stop by and say hi! Go
here for all the details: http://www.ybca.org/tickets/production.aspx?performanceNumber=4542 Sincerely, The
Ralph Gang - |
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Frogg
Café says: Hey
there! Hope
everyone's well! If any of
you Beltway proggers are in town, come check us out.
Orion is always a hazy crazy time. Happy
Turkey Day! Peace, Froggers FROGG
CAFE LIVE Saturday,
December 1
Info
from Mike Potter, the Baltimore Prog Pimp: DIRECTONS |
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| Fattore
Zeta, the jazz tribute to frank zappa band from Italy is still
alive and kicking. I added data for their discography & concerts.
Their next concert is at:
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New on WM Recordings: RioJafari & the Delicious Allstars Weird, funky hiphop from Germany, now available from
iTunes and other major download stores. - |
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In 1994, American underground
artist, musician and home taper, Russ Stedman compiled "Where's
My Waitress", a Frank Zappa tribute.
Russ informed me that the recordings have been remasterd and will be out on CD. With extra tracks !! More info soon. - |
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Think Of One is selected to give a showcase at Eurosonic 2008 in Groningen, The Netherlands. The band will be presenting their new album Camping Shaâbi which will be released in February 2008 by Crammed Discs (Belgian release: 29 oct 2007). The European showcase festival Eurosonic is part of the Noorderslag Weekend in Groningen. As 'Europe's Prime New Talent Event', Eurosonic takes place in more than 25 venues spread over the city centre of Groningen. The festival is supported by the European Broadcasting Union, a network of 26 European radio stations and a lot of European agents, record companies, booking offices, etc. Come check out Think Of One and their Moroccan guest musicians @ Eurosonic 2008 place
Plaza Danza
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2007 11 21 November Update The show on December 6 at Tonys Sports Bar in Sandy Springs, GA has been cancelled and waiting on a date to reschedule... We would like to welcome our newest team-mate; Layla Hall... 11/24/07 = 2 years with URR... FZ Birthday Tour with Ike Willis
Happy Thanksgiving!!!! www.uglyradiorebellion.com
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| 2007 11 20 | |
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highlights from the Zappanale newsletter: Zappanale
#19 The date for Zappanale 19 has been set. Confirmed artists:
As usual, the event will kick off with a special event on 2008/08/14
in downtown Bad Doberan, AND, Tickets are 84 euro for the three-day festival. |
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Big
Electric Chat In
this edition:
2008
ADRIAN BELEW POWER TRIO U.S. TOUR Adrian
Belew, Julie Slick, & Eric Slick will be hitting the road once again
in early 2008.
For
links to venues, please visit www.adrianbelew.net and click on the
NewsBelew link. ADRIAN
BELEW POWER TRIO - SIDE FOUR LIVE - NOW AVAILABLE You
can now order your copy of the long awaited SIDE FOUR LIVE.
Side Four Live consists of live performances by Adrian, Julie,
and Eric from 2007's amazing performances by the Power Trio and is
Adrian's 1st LIVE solo release EVER.
Side Four Live is the perfect gift for that special Belew fan on
your gift list. Available
SIGNED by Adrian, Julie, and Eric for $22.00 or UNSIGNED for
$18.00. ADRIAN'S
ALWAYS POPULAR ELEPHANT BLOG Get
the latest happenings from StudioBelew at Adrian's blog.
News, anecdotes, and other interesting bits of information
straight from Adrian.
(http://elephant-blog.blogspot.com/) DUST
PARTICLES STILL ACCUMULATING AT STOREBELEW Every
week since February 2007, a new Dust particle has been released into the
air at StoreBelew.
If you missed the 2 Bowie particles, (Pretty Pink Rose, and
Gunman), you owe it to yourself to get caught up and have a listen. vol/no.
track
For
more on Adrian's Dust particles including links to blog entries,
StoreBelew, and sample clips for each particle, please visit the
NewsBelew link at www.adrianbelew.net.
Each Dust particle is $1.49, payable through Paypal. ADRIAN
TO RECORD WITH TRENT REZNOR AGAIN In
a recent blog from Adrian, he announced he will soon be recording with
Trent Reznor again.
They're scheduled to record the first week of December and if
previous collaborations are any indication, we're in for another great
record from Trent and Adrian.
(See Downward Spiral and The Fragile for past recordings) That's
it for now, folks.
As always, please visit www.adrianbelew.net for the newest news
and latest from Adrian's blog.
(http://elephant-blog.blogspot.com) Rob
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November 17, Markus Stauss' Trank Zappa Grappa In Varese? took the stage in Baarle Nassau.
Going to the
'Plusetage' in Baarle Nassau always is nice experience. It's a small
venue, though never crowded, and the atmosphere is great. Nothing but
like-minded music-lovers. |
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Trank Zappa Grappa in Varese? |
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-- info & more: Zjakki Willems |
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The Zappa Plays Zappa show in Austin got filmed for a possible future DVD release !!
And rumour has it that several shows were recorded with an audio release in mind as wel. |
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-- info & picture: Nikolai Zaharov |
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| 2007 11 18 | |
| Thanks to Danny Mathys, the Sun Ra discography has been adjusted & completed. | |
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Check out Bazbo's picture diaries of the Dutch & Belgian ZpZ shows, and of the 2007/10/19 Foolz concert. Bazbo? The guy with the Rubber Chicken? The Rubber Chicken that played a synthesizer solo during the ZpZ Antwerp gig? YES !! so check it out: ZpZ: http://www.bazbo.net/wp/?cat=27 FoolZ: http://www.bazbo.net/wp/?cat=29 -
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2007 11 16 Fred Hemmer says: New Bogus Pomp show announced OK gang, time for a road trip! This ain't no redneck bar. This venue is a nice mini-theater that only seats about 300. New and classy! Muffin Man Productions Presents: "Bogus Pomp in concert" Saturday
December 15th 2007 Doors
open 8:00 PM $20
per person Marion Theatre Box Office (352) 622-1247 Ticket sale and info starting Monday 11/19/2007
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Two of the finest discoveries that I've made
the last year, were Rainer Tankred Pappon's solo albums. Not easy to get
hold of, but very worth your while. (try the Central Scrutinizer Band
website !)
Anyway, the Rainer Tankred Pappon band will be doing a concert next week, so if you happen to be in the area, check them out!
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| 2007 11 17 | |
In its latest newsletter, The Zappa Family
Trusts says that the Zappa Plays Zappa DVD is now available both on tour
and through Barko-Swill.
The Australia dates:
The big news, however, is that the Zappa Plays Zappa tour is going to Japan!!
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http://www.zappa.com/zpz/tourdates.html#japan2008
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2007 11 17 Sgt.
Leonard's Loopy Arts Dub Band Hello,
Glenn Leonard here. Recently I've been leading the Zappa repertoire band
Pojama People up and down the west coast. I am also performing as a solo
act under the name "Sgt. Leonard's Loopy Arts Dub Band." The
presentation features digital loops being set up before your very eyes
'n' ears on various hand drums, percussion and marimbas. It serves
equally well as ambience to any enviorment or a concert situation,
depending on how any given audience member may chose to perceive it. A demo can be viewed here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2k58rkCYXoY SLLADB
is a one-man multi-dimensional musical presentation which transcends
boundaries. Percussion loops are set up before your very eyeears to form
a virtual drum circle. Melodic lines are set up as well on
marimbas....and the journey begins. Seatbelts are optional but not
provided. Sgt.
Leonard's Loopy Arts Dub Band
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| 2007 11 16 | |
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The Keneallist 2007 11 14 - part one A
message from Mike: Europe
recap, Dëthkløk tour, Tar Tapes downloads, discounts and more! I'm
leading with this: puhleeze don't see Bee Movie. By which I mean, you
have to f***ing promise me right now that you won't see it. I'm giving
you four seconds to say it out loud. Brendon
and I saw Bee Movie tonight based on a tragic and soon to be betrayed
feeling that Jerry Seinfeld's involvement was likely to ensure some sort
of reasonably quality entertainment offering. We were the only two
people in the theater, which allowed us the blessed freedom to comment
out loud to one another (the phrase "piece of sh*t" was used a
lot) as the mounting, brain-melting absurdity of the film's pacing,
plotting and characterizations turned into an unending, insulting,
surreally poor and awful and...oh, you know what, I shouldn't dwell on
this, it's not good for any of us. Please simply believe me when I say
that this movie doesn't love you, doesn't care about you, doesn't
deserve your patronage and precious money and just, please, my God,
don't see it. Apart from all that though, "it's a rollicking good
time at the theater!! Buzz, don't walk, to this movie right now -- bee
there or bee square!" -- Mike Keneally This
is me, typing on Beller's laptop, on tour with Dethklok on a day off in
Kansas City; we don't have a gig here, we're just stopped here on the
way to Carbondale, Illinois. Sitting in the back lounge of the bus a
little after 3:00 in the morning of Nov. 13, an hour before the bus
leaves for Carbondale. I thought I was going to go to sleep when I got
to the bus at 1:45 but I ended up watching rock videos on TV with the
rest of the band -- just saw an amazing version of "Eighteen"
where Alice Cooper can't remember the words, drinking from a nearly
empty bottle of whiskey. (Although just now I watched 30 seconds of a
Lita Ford video and I could feel my soul being sucked out of my ears.)
I've been on the road forever, was home one day in the last month, and
the city was on fire that day so, weird day, and I'm feeling a bit
homesick and road-tired, but having an amazingly great time on the road
with Dethklok (we played our best show of the tour last night in
Boulder, Colorado) and I'm feeling grateful for how well the projects
which have kept me away from home all this time have gone and are
continuing to go, and here's what I mean, man... It
all started with the Zappa music project in Budapest, which I guess was
a month ago but feels like a year and a half to me right now (tonight I
was trying to remember what the hotel I stayed at in Budapest looked
like, and I can't remember at all, and I was in that room for a week),
and which was a righteous blast for fifteen different reasons. Reason
one being the opportunity to once again make music with Ed Mann, after
19 years of not having done so. We used themes from "Revised
Music," "Marqueson's Chicken," "We Are Not
Alone," "What's New In Baltimore" and "Moggio"
and constructed an hour-long free-form duet fantasia around them, which
was exhilarating as hell. Ed hasn't done all that much live playing
lately and this set certainly whetted our appetite for doing more things
together. Later in the day we collaborated with the 25-piece Hungarian
ensemble the Modern Art Orchestra -- FANTASTIC group -- on some new
arrangements of Frank tunes which were constructed and conducted by the
shockingly capable (and quick!) Tom Trapp. I guess I was sort of
possessed by something at this gig because my pal and European booking
agent Pieter van Hoogdalem said he was almost frightened (in a good way
I think) by me during the performance. I was definitely having a good
time. Anyway, big friggin' thumbs up to everyone who made the Budapest
thing possible, including Janina Szomolányi, Kornel Fekete-Kovacs,
Scott Chatfield, Pieter van Hoogdalem, Tom Trapp, Ed Mann and Gail
Zappa. (And
speaking of Tom, many thanks to him for transcribing and scoring my
string quartet piece Gita Minor, of which I've just today heard a rough
mix of a beautiful performance, soon to be released by the Zapp String
Quartet from Holland. Absolutely wonderful recording and I'm thrilled
that the first recording of my first string quartet makes me so happy.
Thanks Tom and ZSQ and Co de Kloet!) Then
I hopped over to Sweden for the IB Expo, the third annual experimental
music festival hosted by venerable progressive outfit Isildurs Bane. I
participated in some pieces by them, thereminist Pamelia Kurstin and
flutist Bjorn J:son Lindh, along with classical guitarist Christian
Saggese and trumpeter Luca Calabrese, and in turn they collaborated with
me on a 25-minute rearrangement of pieces from The Universe Will
Provide. Strange and fascinating to reduce pieces which were written for
50 players down to eight pieces, and it actually worked really well,
although it took some sort of toll on me I think -- on the second day of
rehearsal I practically passed out in the studio from exhaustion, a
pattern which would be weirdly echoed a week or so later on the second
day of Dethklok rehearsals. I couldn't find much vegetarian food which
agreed with me in Halmstad, Sweden (I've been vegetarian for about two
months now) -- someone, and it might have been popular songster Tom
Jones, had told me that Budapest was likely to be the locale which would
pose the most daunting challenge in the hunt for fresh, quality
non-meat-based meals and foods. But Hungarian citizens literally stood
on street corners and threw hummus and vegetables and protein capsules
at me. In Sweden, the only vegetarian item available to me at the hotel
buffet, and I'm completely serious about this, was rope. A thick,
weighty rope normally used for anchoring sailboats to docks. The wait
staff would laugh as they served the rope to me (and usually pull it
back out of my throat before I'd had a chance to choke the whole thing
down). So I was a little weak from malnutrition but it was still
delightful to hear the Universe pieces (we played "All of Them Were
Quiet," "Archaic Peace Strategies," "Not Just
Flutes" and "Blue 68" -- a really cool selection of
pieces, I have to admit) reborn with this smaller ensemble with really
interesting textures. A guy in the audience told me he
"understood" the Universe music for the first time after this
performance. I proffer major thanks to everyone who played so
beautifully and welcomed me so warmly, to the extraordinarily capable
and helpful Thomas Olsson, and to everyone was so freaking nice to me
the whole time. Then
I flew home to San Diego, descending over miles of fire lines slicing
through the darkness as we approached the airport. Too weird. Scrambled
around, did some laundry, hung out with Sarah and Jesse, tried to stave
off dread and choked on the air a lot. We all lucked out fire-wise
(although it was touch and go up at Scott's place for a while) but we
all know people who weren't so lucky. Strange awfulness, driving through
black sky to get to LA for the Dethklok rehearsals, shook up and
jet-lagged and exhausted. Brendon
Small, co-creator of Metalocalypse, composer and performer of all the
music on the show and leader of our live band version of Dethklok, is a
genius (this is true -- if you don't believe me I'm going to send Al
Pacino to your house to do his impression of Jack Nicholson saying
"you can't handle the truth!!"). (Now
it's 4:44 pm Nov. 13 and we're in the parking lot of the venue in
Carbondale. We're playing only universities on this tour. Just had
soundcheck and it sounds pretty damn good on stage. And today is my
mom's birthday! Happy birthday Mom!) So
yeah, Brendon is a genius, drummer Gene Hoglan is an unthinkable force
of nature and the arbiter of all which is truly metal, Bryan Beller is
of course amazing as always. The three of them were already a week into
rehearsal by the time I showed up in LA, jet-lagged, smoke-logged etc.
and they had all the songs pretty much nailed down while I was still
fumbling my way through. On the second day I was there Brendon sent me
back to the hotel early because I was so clearly unwell, but by the last
day of rehearsal I was nailing that sh*t pretty good, feeling strong and
healthy and happy. So, yay, let's go out to dinner, Sarah and Matt
Resnicoff! Yay, great dinner! Here, I'll drive you back to your hotel,
Matt! I'll just drive completely normally through this green light at
this intersection here and BAMMM! A thoroughly oblivious 18-year old
girl will run a red light and pile into the right side of our car,
causing all of us pain, shock and dismay! I
was completely out of it for at least three hours, absolutely in shock,
nominally better the next day but still way out of it by the time I had
to go to the airport to leave for the Dethklok tour. I'll spare you the
details of how we dealt with the mashed car and everything because I
don't want to relive it all, but Sarah managed to get safely back to San
Diego, and then I was on the road. Thank God this tour has an absurd
amount of days off and down time because I was really about to lose it
there for a while. And after a few early shows trying to get all the
technical stuff nailed down (staying in synch with the projected
animated video, getting a good solid metal-sounding mix) we've trained
ourselves to be a fully reliable machine of massive metal muscle. Get
yourself ready, Carbondale. This
is sort of a try-out tour, and most of the shows have been
students-only, but next year we're going to do this up for real where
everyone can see it. So
that's what. Please read elsewhere in this Keneallist for exciting
details about the now-downloadable Tar Tapes Vol. 1 and Vol. 2! And the
holiday deals which Moosemart offers to make you and your loved ones'
holiday season just a little more undeniably superb! When
I get home I'm plunging back into School of Rock duties (our Best of the
90s shows are going to be at The Epicentre on Mira Mesa Blvd. on Dec. 15
and 16, and for a change I'm going to play a few songs at these shows --
plus you'll get to hear my daughter sing "Paranoid Android"
and you KNOW you need to witness that) and co-producing the debut album
by The Assumptions (about which more later), and working on
curriculum/textbooks for the SoR, and continuing work on a very patient
Scambot, and projects by Marco Minnemann and Raul Huelves and Phi
Yaan-Zek and other stuff which I know I'm forgetting. Happy
birthday Mom! Love Mike The Keneallist 2007 11 14 - part two Happy
Holidays from Mike-- MK's Holiday Sale and Tar Tapes dowloads now at
MooseMart! Now
through the end of the year is a great time to pick up any Keneally
music or shirts for yourself or as gifts, because you can save 10% on
all orders over $40 by entering the promotional code
"MKHOLIDAY" at check out! Plus,
the much-clamored-after Tar Tapes, Vol. 1 and Tar Tapes, Vol. 2 have
just been made available for download only. These are downloadable
versions of the long-sold-out limited edition CDs that highlight Mike's
music from the '80s and very early '90s. Each CD comes with an
eight-page digital reproduction of the original CD cover, liner notes
and lyrics. They can be downloaded as zip files containing high-quality
(minimum 256k variable bit rate) mp3 audio files, compatible with all
mp3 players. The files are DRM-free, meaning that there is no
anti-copying code buried in them (we trust you). And they're only $10
each. In
addition, all three out-of-print Exowax bonus CDs that helped make the
sold-out Special Editions so special are still available for downloading
at MooseMart, including the interview/music disc Nonkertalk, the live
acoustic Dancing With Myself and the exquisite re-imagined Wooden Smoke
Asleep. Ten
years after on Keneally.com: Sluggo! is loose! Saturday
November 22 1997 Chatfield
Manor San Diego CA No
specific reason for me not to have typed this at home and emailed it to
Mr. Chatfield since I am in fact ONLINE AT HOME once again and gleefully
receiving and responding to email after a long time away. But here I am
in San Diego having just done another two days in the studio with Jip
finishing up (mix and all) the three songs we started a few weeks ago.
The last two days brought approximately equal measures of giddiness and
despair, now it's all evened out and I'm doing just fine, not really
leaning toward one extreme or the other. Playing the Neil Young
"Young Man's Fancy" bootleg and typing away. Shiny van with a
tank full o' premium out in the street. CAN'T COMPLAIN. Finally
"Sluggo!". It is flying around the world as we speak; look
there's one in Paris there's one in Cangool. "Sluggo!" zoomin'
'round the world, flying like a zooming fool. What you gonna do when
"Sluggo!" gets on you. "I know what I'm-a do", says
a girl without a shoe. "I'm gonna play it louder than I ever did
befoo". "Sluggo", "Gluggo", what you gone to
do. Put it near a box of corn and let it work for YOU. Savor the golden
brown taste of "Sluggo!" with a loved one today. OK. I
was remiss and didn't warn the Lost Angelenos amongst you that there
were a couple of Robb Vallier performaces with JT and me taking place
over the last couple of weeks. One was an acoustic set at Genghis Cohen,
then a rockin' electric shindoo at the legendary Luna Park (now ever
more legendary thanks to a certain new tune on a certain new album what
rhymes with "Kruggo"). We've got another show on December 1 at
the Troubador and you should come if you can, we have got a genuinely
cool vibe happening. No BFD shows booked, we're taking the rest of '97
off whilst various people take the holidays off and I try to engender as
much industry awareness of "Sluggo!" as I can using the mail
and the phone and the computer. I'll be interested to know what you
folks make of the album. Response from everyone who's heard it thus far
is shocking and positive and validating. It feels like a new day dawning
and stuff. I love the album with every fiber of my being myself but
that's just me. You may find out more of what the album's about by
visiting the "Sluggo!" entry in the discography. There
are numerous releases which I need to write about for the discography,
in particular the Ed Palermo Big Band album which is finally out, the
Mark Craney benefit album, the "Merry Axemas" compilation, the
Tar Tapes CD, and I realized not long ago that I've never done proper
discography entries for "Half Alive" and the "Music For
Pets" box. I'll be vacationing during Thanksgiving week but in
early December I'll plug up the textual holes, and get going on some
more tour diary stuff. I've
been going to a lot of shows lately, doing the shmooze thing big time.
Sadly I had to forego seeing The Loud Family in Santa Monica tonight as
circumstances have kept me in San Diego for an extra day working with
Jip. The most amazing thing I've seen lately was Michael Landau and
Rascal Balls at the Mint in Hollywood, with none other than Toss Panos
on drums. Toss is playing the best he's ever played and there may be no
finer rock-blues guitarist than Landau; he's absolutely breathtaking.
They've got the next few Wednesdays at the Mint so if you're around you
absolutely have to see them, you'll collapse with ecstasy. Of
course we didn't win anything at the Rock City News awards, we'll see
what if anything transpires at the LA Music Awards on the 16th. I do
know that the awards were somehow restructured and my three nominations
were somehow reduced to one, Best Guitarist (which makes sense since the
other two nominations were for a three-year old album). It's a little
annoying but not as rough as Billy Joel's Rock and Roll Hall Of Fame
nomination being announced, then rescinded the next day. Ouch. Been
talking with Steve Vai a lot lately, he's very enthused about
"Sluggo!" which is cool. I saw the legendary Magee (drum tech
on the Vai tour) a couple of weeks ago at a Dream Theatre show, he's
working with them now, in charge of Mike Portnoy's absurdly huge kit.
Speaking of absurdly huge I saw the Tommy and Pamela Lee video at Rich
Pike's house not long ago. Yikes. I still talk to Mangini and Bynoe
every once in a while. We're keeping touch during the off time, don't
worry. We all love each other like big bears. MK/BFD
or MK/BB or just MK will be doing various things in January connected
with the NAMM convention, I'll fill you in on the details when it gets a
little closer to the actual date. Baby. New
Zeppelin BBC release is cool, so's the Simon and Garfunkel box, but the
very most rockingest thing in the world right now is "The Pet
Sounds Sessions". What divine music is contained therein, it makes
me want to do nothing so much as to get into a studio with a bunch of
grizzled session vets and just invent a shitload of music on the spot
and go into quadruple union overtime. I could do two albums a week if
someone would provide a budget. Brian Wilson is a total inspiration to
me. My standard line lately in reference to "Sluggo!" is that
it's the third best album of all time. First is, of course, the Miles
Davis Plugged Nickel box. The second, at least this week, is the Pet
Sounds box. Go git it! And PLEASE get "OK Computer" if you
haven't already - great new music must be supported, oh baby. Please
have the most wonderful Thanksgiving you can, surrounded by people whom
you adore to pieces and I'll be in touch in December. Thinking of you. They
killed Kenny, MK
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The cover of Eddie Meduza's "Garagetaper" is a copy of Zappa's "Joe's Garage" album.
The album got released in 1980 on CBS Records.
-- info & picture: Hans-Peter Schmidt |
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| Here's some
nice label pictures of a couple of 7"s that Zappa knew very well
(as he covered all of them)
-- pics: Hans-Peter Schmidt |
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| side a: mr.undertaker: here lies my love - the label | side b: the 4 deuces: w.p.l.j. - the label |
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http://chrisgoesrocks.blogspot.com/2007/09/electronic-hole-electronic-hole-us.html - -- info: Jan van Kemenade |
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Hans-Peter Schmidt supplied me with a better
picture of the "Frankie's Greatest Hits" vinyl bootleg album,
so here you are:
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2007 11 15 THE GRANDE MOTHERS RE:INVENTED the only FZ alumni on the planet consistently
performing the music of the maestro THE GRANDE MOTHERS RE:INVENTED
IN LOS ANGELES FEB 2008 Safari Sam¹s U.K. Tour MARCH 2008
CANADA JULY 2008 festival tour
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| The Grande Mothers
Re:Invented live at the club
Aquarius in Zagreb, Croatia.
2006/11/09
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The date below has been
corrected to 2006 !!
The Tehran Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Nader Mashayekhi performed pieces by Tschaikowsky, Zappa, Beethoven, Riahi and one comissioned piece by Mashayekhi. http://www.osnabrueck.de/19885.asp -- info: Hans-Peter Schmidt |
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| 2007 11 11 | |
| While waiting for Dieter Jakob's
bootleg bible, here's another coupe of shots from Hans-Peter Schmidt:
Zappa bootlegs.
-- pics: Hans-Peter Schmidt |
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| front cover | back cover |
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| front cover | back cover |
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front cover |
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| front cover | back cover |
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| front cover | back cover |
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front cover |
back cover |
| DimeADozen recently offered a
fine radio broadcast recording (from 2002/05/17) of the 2002/05/09
concert at the 'Porgy & Bess' Jazzclub in Vienna, Austria.
The same evening, German radio did a broadcast of the Diersbach concert. Recordings of both radio broadcasts circulate. From the same tour, there's also an audience recording of the Aschaffenburg 2002/05/16 concert being traded. |
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| Here's another addition to the Frank
Zappa / Books section, a lyrics book from 1985:
frank zappa intro
by antonio filipe marques - a 267 pages, softcover book, including photos, an intro, a discography, and a portugese translation of selected songs from "Freak Out" to "Joe's Garage".
-- info & picture: slime.oofytv.set |
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| Only recently, two excellent
recordings of the Allan Holdsworth / Alan Pasqua band (with
Jimmy Haslip and Chad Wackerman)
surfaced. The Munich one is an audience recording, the Berlin one got
broadcast on the radio. Don't hesitate if you can get them.
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ART JARVINEN - interview |
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art jarvinen interviewed by John Trubee October 2007 John
Trubee: When and where were you born? Where did you grow up? Could you
describe general impressions of your formative years? Art
Jarvinen: Ilwaco, Washington, 1956. Moved around whenever my dad was called
by God to go to yet another shitty town. Kettle River, Minnesota. Eben,
Michigan. Port Arthur, Ontario. Warren, Ohio. All shit-drags. My youth was
characterized mostly by boredom, and trying as hard as I could to be saved,
probably to please my dad. The joke was "Art went up for the altar call
again". My dad's idea of a summer vacation was to take us to Bible camp. He
fished and hunted, but never showed me how. So I did things like read chemistry
books and learn how to make nitroglycerin. Mine didn't actually explode, but it
did go off when I threw a rock at it. Huge billowing clouds of orange smoke
spewing forth everywhere. I was so excited I immdiately mixed up another batch.
I stepped back and it went off spontaneously. My dad should probably have taken
me fishing. John
Trubee: When and how did you get hired by Frank Zappa to do music copying
for him? Art
Jarvinen: 1981. He had just fired Adam Stern because he wasn't producing
enough work to earn his salary. David Ocker suggested that I submit a work
sample, and I was hired immediately. He already had three full time salaried
copyists, but needed more staff because he was not only in heavy production, but
also still re-working things like 200 Motels. I was in Frank's employ for 14
months until his accountant told him he couldn't afford to be pumping that much
money into his "classical" work, which wasn't bringing money in. John
Trubee: Did he also hire you to transcribe his music? What tunes of his
did you copy and transcribe? Art
Jarvinen: I never transcribed. Steve Vai did almost all of that, and Richard
Emmett did some. What I did was what I guess you'd call "arranging".
Specifically, I took most of his orchestra scores and worked them out so they
could be played on two pianos. That's a common practice in the classical realm.
Stravinsky, for example, did his own two piano reduction of The Rite Of Spring. John
Trubee: Your music copying work is remarkably clean and elegant. When,
where, and how did you learn to do it? Art
Jarvinen: The specific technique you're referring to was developed by Donald
Martino as far as I know. He taught it to his students at Yale, including
Stephen "Lucky" Mosko, who taught it to several of his students at
CalArts. All the Zappa copyists who were working for him when I was hired were
trained by Lucky in that specific type of copying, so unless you have a real
good eye, you can't really tell our work apart. Sometimes we would get
reassigned mid-piece, and someone else would pick up where we left off. You'd be
hard pressed to tell. But
now you couldn't get me to copy by hand for any amount of money. I only use
computer. Score and Sibelius. You couldn't pay me to use Finale either. John
Trubee: What initially inspired your interest in music? How did you get
into music and at what age? Art
Jarvinen: My family had a set of 45s with a song about every instrument of
the orchestra. When I was just starting out in grade school I listened to them
all the time, and always played Peter Percusssion several times in a row. I
didn't listen much to Lady Harp. More on that later... But
then I heard the Beatles on the Ed Sullivan show, and said to myself,
"That's what I want to do". In second grade there were these cute
girls who were Beatles fanatics, and during recess they would put on their
records - I Want To Hold Your Hand, I Saw Her Standing There, that era, when the
songs had just come out. The girls would pantomime being John, Paul and George,
and I pretended to be Ringo. So I got to play Beatles with the girls while the
other boys played baseball or whatever it is that boys that age do. Did I miss
out on anything fun? Anyway,
when I was in college this composer came to Ohio University as a guest. I had
never heard of him, his name was Alec Wilder. Only later did I learn he was the
guy who wrote Peter Percussion and
all those other songs I grew up with. I was really disappointed I hadn't known
that when I met him. John
Trubee: What instruments do you play? Did you take lessons or were you
self-taught or half and half? Art
Jarvinen: My bachelors and masters degrees are in percussion performance,
but I was self-taught until I went to college. Drum set to start with, then
mallets and most western classical instruments. Except timpani, which I had to
learn in college, and quit playing as soon as I could. I play no hand drums or
Latin stuff. Everything
else I taught myself, including composition. Flute for six years, but not since
college. I could play all the Jethro Tull stuff in high school. I'm the world's
worst big band drummer, so I didn't really make it in the college jazz ensemble,
but all the wind players sucked on flute and could barely solo, so I was this
special sideman who came out to play flute parts and take solos. It was pretty
weird, a percussion major being the improvising flute player in the O.U. jazz
ensemble, as a freshman. Electric
bass is now my primary instrument, which I started playing seriously in college,
on fretless. I would never play a bass with more than four string on it, in
fact, I wouldn't let you bring one in my house. Slide
guitar, but no lap style. I have a National Triolian ca. 1930, and model my
technique and style mostly after Johnny Winter's acoustic slide playing, except
I wear the slide on my ring finger. Chromatic harmonica, which is all I use for
blues - most people don't seem to realize how many blues players play chromatic,
and seem to think it can't be done. I've also played a lot of composed
contemporary music on the chromatic, especially when the piece is not
orchestrated, so I can choose what I want to play. Guitarron.
It took me years to find a good one, because even the best ones are shitty. Mine
is the best piece of shit I could find. I could tell just by looking at it, so I
traded a Fender Precision for it at a pawn shop, without even trying the
guitarron first. They're a bitch to amplify. I don't play upright bass, so I use
it when I want an acoustic bass. I played it in a Balkan music band for a couple
years and it fit in very well in that context. I'm
a good singer for certain styles, including an excellent Brian Wilson falsetto,
and overtone singing. This is all stuff I do at a professional level. Now I'm
hardly ever performing, and am playing mostly banjo, frailing style, NOT
bluegrass. I have no interest in that kind of flash and don't much care for the
music. I like the Appalachian clawhammer stuff. Banjo's the first instrument
I've ever tackled that I have no plans to use professionally. It's my backyard
instrument, just for fun. I'm trying to see how many of my favorite songs I can
play on it in open G. I've got Pinball Wizard down, and The Shaw Sleeps In Lee
Harvey's Grave, by the Butthole surfers. I do those with Travis picking, which
you taught to me via e-mail as you may recall. It's funny to hear those songs
rendered in a mountain banjo style. I've
also worked up a nice clawhammer version of Beefheart's "Orange Claw
Hammer", which as you know has no instrumental parts. Incidentally, I once
sang Orange Claw Hammer in a hotel lounge on an impromptu "cabaret"
style performance by the E.A.R. Unit in Helena Montana. John
Trubee: What inspired your obsessive interest in surf music? Art
Jarvinen: When I was a kid living in Port Arthur Ontario my brother got a
novelty album by The Silly Surfers. That's when I first started learning terms
like hodad and gremmie. I heard the Beach Boys' Surfin' USA, and also got
addicted to Good Vibrations. And I always enjoyed those stupid beach movies with
Annette and Frankie. Still watch them actually. Eventually, that's probably what
led me to find out about real surf music, but I don't remember just how when or
where. The Pyramids played in one of the Annette and Frankie movies. I don't
think they played Penetration though, which is the only tune they're known for. It's
so weird that I can't really answer that question. I remember my house mates and
I had a "beach party" at our place in Newhall about 1982 or 83. I had
a Dick Dale album by that time, but I don't think I had much else. I think
probably in the mid '90s I started to seriously explore the genre via lots of
compilations. Surf music wouldn't even exist without the compilation album,
since most of the groups only had one song, and if they had more than one, they
still only had one good one. Dick Dale, by the way, is the only real
"name" in surf music, and by far my least favorite. By
the way, did you know that the "little bit of surf music" on We're
Only In It For the Money is the opening of Heavies, by the Rotations. Only thing
is, the Rotations weren't a real group. Lots of surf music was just some guys in
a studio making a single. That was Frank playing guitar in exchange for studio
time before he bought out the owner of Studio Z in Cucamonga. At least that's
what I've read, and it makes perfect sense. The guitar playing is too good for
most surf bands. John
Trubee: How does surf music manifest itself in your own music? Art
Jarvinen: Well, in the last five years I've been writing shit-loads of surf music,
or things very inspired by it, for my web-based project The Invisible Guy. Given
how many surf tunes I've written, I feel confident in proclaiming myself the
most prolific surf composer ever. So, it manifiests itself in my music in that I
write surf music. When I'm not writing surf music, I am influenced by other
things. John
Trubee: What instruments do you own and why? Any interesting stories
about how you acquired them? Art
Jarvinen: I'm an instrument junkie. I just love instruments. Some years ago
I was invited by a New York composer named Phil Kline to contribute a cover
version of any pop tune that was on the radio in my lifetime, for a concert of
covers he was putting together for the New Museum. I did Tubular Bells with
every instrument or family of instrumnts I owned at the time. There were about
40 tracks. 2
marimbas, tuned bell plates, tuned cowbells, glockenspiel. etc. Lots of pitched
percussion. 2 Hammond organs, Hammond SoloVox. Boxes full of harmonicas. Many
guitars of various types. Bass, guitarron, flute, a consort of recorders,
electric keyboards, didjeridoo, baby grand piano, Chinese musette, jaw harps,
etc. I only used pitched instruments on Tubular Bells. I have a nice Gretsch
drum set, various gongs, an octave of turtle shells, Tibetan bowls, etc. etc. I've
gotten rid of some things since, and have acquired others. Gave away a Hammond
organ, but Jack Vees is giving me his digital Hammond. When I get that you can
have my A100 if you want it, but you probably don't have the space. I gave the
pedals to Chas Smith recently. Sold
one marimba, and have the other one for sale. Started buying a lot of guitars. I
don't play real well, but I use them for learning about the guitar, and for
recording, and the guys in my surf band use them so I can have the sound I want. Just
gave away a Fender Rhodes too. I have a Deering Good Time banjo and a hand made
Appalachian style fretless banjo. Got
a bunch of amps. Etc. The stuff comes and goes, but there are always a lot of
instruments close at hand. It
depends on what I need at the time, and what interests me for whatever reason.
Depends too on what you might consider a musical instrument. I have a ton of
guitar effects pedals, but I've never plugged a guitar into any of them. I hook
them up to each other to create internal feedback, as a kind of crude analog
synth when I do live electronic music. I also have 5 shortwave radios, which I
use as instruments. Of course you can also just listen to them! And
I recently got a Geiger counter, which I am looking forward to exploring the
possibiities of as a sound source. John
Trubee: Please recount the saga of the
Hammond Solovox. Art
Jarvinen: The SoloVox is a
thing of great beauty and wonder. Only made briefly in the 40s. It's a three
octave mini keyboard sort of like a Casio VL-Tone, hooked up to a box full of 18
tubes that are responsible for the oscillators, frequenciy dividers, timbral
controls, everything. All tube circuitry, and really weird, as are all Hammond
designs. The SoloVox is the instrument on the "organ" solo on Del
Shannon's Runaway. I got two of them on E-Bay. One of them I couldn't get
working, so I sent it to Jack Vees, whose dad fixed it, and it's currently
living in the electronic studio at Yale. The second one I got works, and I've
used it on several recordings. I won't part with that for a while. It's just too
cool. John
Trubee: What are the titles of some of the many pieces you composed, for
what type of ensemble, and for what purpose? Fun? Commissions? A bit of both? Art
Jarvinen: I caught a wave of good fortune in the '90s and had some very nice
commissions, but it's been pretty damn lean for some time now. The L.A.
Philharmonic doesn't tend to commission a lot of surf music, and even the more
"artsy" crowd, I think, sees me as more "classical", if they
see me as anything at all. My work is too diverse to build a good career on. So
I compose mostly for free, because it's the thing I enjoy doing most in life. Some
titles? Jeez, Trubee, I have 80 chamber music pieces, 50 surf tunes, songs.
Where do I start? The
Fifteen Fingers Of Dr. Wu. That's an oboe solo. I heard a voice in my sleep that
said "The name of this dream is The Fifteen Fingers of Dr. Wu". So I
named a piece after it. Philifor
Honeycombed With Childishness. That's a chapter in a book by Witold Gombrovicz,
Ferdydurke, that I used for my L.A.
Philharmonic New Music Group commission. I
borrow titles sometimes, like The Seven Golden Vampires, for two pianos. That's
from a kung fu/vampire movie. Mostly
I get my own titles. I like them to be poetic, not descriptive like String
Quartet No 2 or Sonata. Tribal
Songs of the Andromeda, Electric Jesus, Soluble Furniture, Erase the Fake, Clean
Your Gun, A Conspiracy Of Crows, White Lights Lead To Red I
keep a file of good titles I think of even before I know what they'll be, if
anything. My latest title is Mining Clouds. No idea if I'll ever use it. Fragments
Of God. That's another one I like that I do have plans for, but haven't written
yet. John
Trubee: What work or works did you compose of which you feel the
proudest? Art
Jarvinen: I am extremely proud of what I accomplished with The Invisible
Guy: a real soundtrack for an imaginary spy film. It's 50 tunes, all of which I
think are very good, some great, and every piece has a story/scene that goes
with it, and I think the writing is as good as the music. Plus it's all on line
and works real well as a web site. So it's a very rich artistic/entertainment
experience of substantial proportions. Problem is, when you spend four years
working on something like that, it's easy to be forgotten by the "new
music" community, and surf tunes don't really make it as current work
samples for the Guggenheim Fellowship Application. I also think Nighthawks is a
very special piece, but it falls in the cracks. Not "new music", not
"pop". I don't know what it is, and if I don't, makes it rather hard
to tell anyone else what it is. Recently
I've been working on a set of pieces for male chorus a cappella. Never wrote for
voice before, but my first time out this incredible group from San Francisco,
Chanticleer, premiered the first six songs, including a performance at the
Library Of Congress. I feel rather proud that one of the best vocal ensembles in
the country would take on my first choral works. I must have a knack for vocal
writing. I
also like my Three Tangos, for string quartet. They're good tangos, and good
quartets. Can't get anybody to play them though. They're not
"classical" enough, and they're not "new music" enough. I
just don't compose the right way I guess. Not to have a career anyway. For
example, I might very well be the only contemporary composer alive with
absolutely no interest in writing for orchestra. Orchestras sound weird to me.
Although if you offered me 25 grand I would certainly write you an orchestra
piece. I'm sure I have a good one in me, I just don't have any real need to
explore that territory, and wouldn't want to go there very often even if the
work was available to me, which it isn't. John
Trubee: Which of your works most successfully conveys the musical meaning
you were attempting to express, and why? Art Jarvinen: I can answer that best in the negative. I
don't generally have what I would call "meaning" to express. I have
ideas to express, compositional ideas, musical ideas. That's not the same as
meaning. I
had a very prestigious commission from the Koussevitsky Music Foundation in the
Library Of Congress, in 1990. Composers like me aren't supposed to get those
things, and a lot of composers who regularly get those things are jealous of me
because I got one and they still haven't. I know this because they tell me so. I
had been working with a particular technique I developed that turned out a
number of really cool pieces. But I saw that it could become a habit or a style,
something I could do too easily or default to, so I wanted to push the idea to
the breaking point such that I could never go back to it and would have to find
something new. So I wrote a piece called The Modulus Of Elasticity, which is a
materials enginering formula for determining things like how tall you can make a
steel pole before it collapses under its own weight. I pushed those ideas to
their breaking point. It's the weirdest piece I've ever written, and not one of
my best. But I'm proud of it because it did what I needed it to do, which was
make me move on instead of kicking back in a creative comfort zone. Then there's A Conspiracy Of Crows. It's a piece for three oboes in which I didn't consciously choose or compose any of the notes. I just used a series of numbers based on the years of the 20th Century - 190019011902...1999 - translated into fingering diagrams. I had no way of knowing what would come out, but I had a very good idea of what I thought the piece would "probably" sound like. I never heard a note of it until it was recorded here at my house last summer. It's one of the most beautiful things I've produced, and it fully matched my expectations. My wife is almost frightened by things like that, that I can intuit or anticipate these things. That's why I'm a composer, and some people aren't. In
2002 I had a City Of Los Angeles Artist Fellowship to compose and present a
piece called Nighthawks, a song cycle based on Edward Hopper paintings. It's
very autobiographical, something I thought I would never do. Some people have
told me it's maybe my best piece, certainly on the short list, and I tend to
agree. I think it works because it conveys rather powerfully a meaning that I
did not foresee or plan to express. Once the pictures started speaking to me,
the piece took over and I trusted it. That's one of the only things I've done
that carries both musical meaning and intention, and also has a very real
personal "message", my story if you will. John
Trubee: Describe your association with the Grandmothers. Art Jarvinen: I wouldn't call it an association, not musically or professionaly anyway. I am close friends with Chris Garcia, the drummer, and Miroslav Tadic, the guitarist. I am also friends with Don Preston, although I wouldn't say I know him real well, but we get along very well and have worked together several times. That's always a treat. Don is a wonderful guy and musician. I like Roy Estrada a lot, but only met him fairly recently. Although I heard him recording No Not Now at Frank's studio, and thought he sounded great. But Frank replaced Roy's parts with his own voice - not nearly as interesting or fun. But then, neither is the song. Sometimes
Chris calls to see if I have music for certain Zappa pieces the Grandmothers
would like to do. I transcribed Project X for them, which was a bitch, but I did
it because I was always interested in that piece anyway. I have no idea if
they'll ever use the transcription. Chris sent it to Art Tripp, who I'm told
gave it his seal of approval. Too late to ask Frank how close I got. John
Trubee: Would you be willing to recount your drunken Danny Elfman story
for our readers? Art
Jarvinen: That was for your amusement. I don't know Mr. Elfman and have no
reason to embarrass him or get him mad at me. He was just falling down drunk at
his own party, Who hasn't done that? Okay, you, but you're maybe the only one.
I've certainly been plenty blotto on numerous occasions. The main point of that
story was the part about the jerk who was feeding a whole platter of those
incredible lamb loin chops to the fucking dog! That kind of careless decadence
offends me. Not only was it an incredibly stupid waste of very expensive food,
it was unhealthful for the dog. That idiot should have been taken out back and
caned. And that guy wasn't Elfman, I don't know who he was. John
Trubee: Got any other funny or weird stories that you wish to immortalize
here for posterity? Art Jarvinen: FZ related? Funny and weird don't leap to mind, since I wasn't around him that much and wasn't in the band. Funny and weird would be road stories I would think. I have some nice stories. After Frank heard the piano reductions for the first time Gail called me and said she thought I'd like to know, since Frank would never tell me himself, that he was blown away by them, and was prancing around the house with glee. She was right, he never said anything to me about them. And a few years ago I met Bob Rice, Frank's engineer, who introduced himself and said that I was the only person he could think of that Frank only had good things to say about. That sort of thing is gratifying to hear once in a while. Apropos
my orchestra comment above, I was at Frank's when he was working on his string
quartet for the Kronos. He played me what he had so far on the Synclavier, and
it was set up with these huge lush orchestra sounds, nothing like a quartet. He
was very frustrated with the piece and said, and I quote, "You can't do
anything with a string quartet". I thought, gee Frank, I know some guys
named Beethoven, Brahms, Bartok, Ives, etc. who might disagree. Frank had no
interest in writing that piece. He wanted to write an orchestra piece. I think
he took the Kronos commission for the money, and because he was looking to gain
some credibility as a "classical" composer. He tried to get the Kronos
to release the piece in two versions on one disk, the acoustic quartet, and the
Synclavier version. They wisely refused. John
Trubee: Frank Zappa once helped you with some of your inquiries regarding
compositional techniques. Art
Jarvinen: Did I ever say that? I don't recall ever asking him about his
technique, or about composition. I've been real curious about his "chord
bible", which was a sort of automated way he had of harmonizing his
melodies. But I heard about that from David Ocker. I'm hoping to reverse
engineer some of the logic of the chord bible, but haven't gotten very far, not
far enough to determine whether or not I think it's even possible. But now that
I know it existed, I can see it all over the place in the score to Sinister
Footwear. I just don't know its internal logic. I wish I had known about it when
I worked for Frank, because I would have certainly asked him about that, and I'm
sure he would have enjoyed telling me about it. John
Trubee: You told me he was very generous with his time. Wanna tell our
readers about it? Art
Jarvinen: Whenever I went to the house to drop off or pick up some work, he
was always willing to spend some time talking to me, let me hang out and watch
recording sessions, gave me the sandwiches that Gail sent down for him. Stuff
like that. He just made me feel like I was welcome there, and not in the way.
When he got the Linn drum machine he insisted that I try it out. When Midget
Sloatman was installing some custom electronics in his Les Paul I got to sit
there and listen to Frank try it out. He let me hang around when the Simmons
electronic drums rep came over to demo the stuff. Frank had me sit down and play
the kit for a while and said "Wadda ya think?" I said "Real
futuristic. I dig the fins". John
Trubee: Tell our readers about your long association with the California
Ear Unit and describe the work of that ensemble to our readers, please. Art
Jarvinen: They asked me to join about three times before I finally did. I
wasn't that interested in the repertoire that they were doing in the beginning.
Once I joined I had a lot to do with bringing programming ideas to the table,
and I think the most interesting thing about the group is the amazing diversity
of repertoire that we did, because we all had different things we were
interested in. You can't show me another ensemble on the planet that covers the
territory we did over the years. The group is still together, but I left about
seven years ago. Eighteen years was enough. There was nothing left for me in the
group at that point, and they haven't done anything since that made me wish I
was up there playing it. Nothing new has happened in a long time, whereas for
most of the years I was in the group we were usually doing things that were
either very fresh at the time, or a stretch for us at least. Usually
in L.A. Dorothy would wear things like a mini skirt with six guns on it, Amy
would wear rubber skirts and cowboy boots, and I'd have on a white dinner jacket
and a Fez. Some reviewers talked more about our clothes than the music. Then we
did this gig at Columbia University, and the girls all transformed completely.
Nice dresses, tasteful jewelry, no glitter in their hair. But all the pieces on
the first half had nocturnal themes and titles, so I wore pajamas and a night
cap. The girls took Jim Rohrig, the clarinetist aside in the green room and said
"Can you get Art to not wear that? We can't talk to him, but maybe you
can". I wore the pajamas anyway. They were embarrassed because they wanted
to impress the Uptown people. I thought it was hypocritical to change your style
to try to please an audience, especially based on assumptions that might not be
valid. What if they had hired us expecting us to be the group they had heard so
much about? What if they wanted to see the rubber skirts and glitter? Maybe we
disappointed them. John
Trubee: What was the coolest gig you ever played, and why? Art Jarvinen: I don't know if I'd say it was the "coolest", but one of the most memorable performing experiences was when the E.A.R. Unit played at SUNY Buffalo. We played a mother-fucker of a hard piece called Notturno, by Donald Martino. Hard core 12 tone stuff, and I had a huge set up, every lick was hard to play, and I had about fifty mallets and sticks and was changing them almost every phrase. Most players split up the part between two percussionists, but I did it myself, as written. I remember that performance because as we were playing I would make my page turn, change my sticks, and get ready for the next hard lick - and wait. All the stuff I had been scrambling for was just right there, like the piece was happening in slow motion and I was way ahead of the game. It was a great feeling to know a piece of music that well, especially since at that time the E.A.R. Unit was learning about 30 or 40 new pieces every season, and playing most of them only once or twice. As
for the "coolest", to actually answer your question, it would have to
be the time the EARs played John Cage's "Lecture On the Weather",
which starts with a lengthy preamble that Cage requires be read before the piece
proper. I called him from the L.A. County Museum at his home in New York and got
him to read it himself live over the phone. That was very generous of him,
because he was in frail health at the time. The L.A. County Museum wouldn't
authorize us to have an outside line for the concert, so I had to tap a back
stage phone. That was cool. John
Trubee: Was 'When You Were Art' dedicated to you? Art
Jarvinen: I wouldn't say "dedicated". The title does refer to me.
It's actually "While You Were Art". A slight change on "While You
Were Out", which is a piece on the Shut Up And Play Your Guitar set, that
Frank arranged and reworked for the E.A.R. Unit at my request. No money changed
hands. John
Trubee: Please describe the fiasco surrounding the first public
performance of the piece by the Ear Unit at LA's Bing Theater. Art Jarvinen: I am STILL getting asked about that, and it was 1984 I think. Every once in a while I sit down intending to write the definitive account as I know it, once and for all, and post it on-line so I never have to tell the story again. Basically, as far as I can tell, Frank never did intend to give us a piece we could actually play. We could have played it, and intended to eventually, but he delivered it late enough that we could not possibly have learned it well enough in the time left before the scheduled performance. So he asked us if we would be willing to "lip synch" it. And we said yes. Then several people got cold feet, but we did it anyway. It was no big deal for people who could hide behind their instrument or music stand, but I busted my ass for almost a month to learn that marimba part, and played it with foam rubber mallets. I was actually playing the part, but you couldn't hear me. I had no choice, because if the marimba is near the edge of the stage in plain sight, you can't pantomime playing it. Anyway,
Frank himself leaked the secret to a reporter during a flight, so I'm told, and
the shit hit the fan. That would have been such a great opportunity for all
kinds of critical dialogue, not to mention great publicity. We could have
programmed the piece on lots of concerts so audiences could see for themselves
what we had puled off. But the E.A.R. Unit has worked a lot with Morton
Subotnick, and several people in the group at that time were particularly close
to him. Mort was very upset by what we had done, and some people were made to
feel very ashamed. So when a reporter from the L.A. Times called CalArts and
wanted to talk to someone in the E.A.R. Unit about While You Were Art, they got
the "wrong" person on the phone. Had they talked to me, history would
have unfolded differently. Instead one or two people in the group put their
tails between their legs and basically apologized for the error of our ways, on
behalf of the group. That pissed me off, but Frank was livid. He called me and
said we could never play his music again and made me send all the material back. John
Trubee: What do you really hate, and why? Art
Jarvinen: Rap and all its derivatives, because to me it is ugly and stupid. John
Trubee: What do you really love, and why? Art
Jarvinen: Thai food, because it's delicious and when I first tasted it I
felt I had found my way home. John
Trubee: What's your favorite color? Art
Jarvinen: For clothing, black. For anything else, no favorite. John
Trubee: What's you favorite flavor of ice cream? Art
Jarvinen: Green tea. That and ginger are the only ice cream I will eat, and
those infrequently.
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| Art Jarvinen promised John Trubee some pictures to go with the interview. As every picture came with a bit of explanation, I'm adding them like this: | |
| Art Jarvinen: Here's a pic of a very nice piece of gear, very dear to my heart. The SURB is a tank reverb, all tube, hand built and given to me by Miroslav Tadic. It's based on the Fender spring reverb unit, but with several significant improvements. Note the little surf board on the front, and all the woodwork was done by Miroslav too. Even without an amp, you go through this and into a direct box and you've got a great surf sound for recording. |
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Art
Jarvinen: Here are the electric guitars I've been using. None
are vintage. The Tele was a Japanese reissue Esquire that I added the
neck pickup to. Miroslav added the Bigsby for me. I'll take this one to
my grave. If I could only have one guitar, this would be it. The
Jag is an American reissue of the '62. The original Jaguar was a piece
of shit, especially the bridge, so of course the reissue is too, in
order to keep it authentic. It seems that only perfect things like Coca
Cola get "improved", which always ruins them, but things that
could use some real work stay the same. Go Figure. The guitar does sound
good when it's in tune, which isn't often, but the tremolo simply can't
be beat for surf music. I'd miss that a lot, but I would trade this
guitar straight across for a Taurus PT92 9mm semi-automatic. The
baritone started life as a no-name "Strat-Type" that I got for
$40 at a Sears outlet store. I had Miroslav do the work on a Stew/Mac
neck, so it plays real nice. The pickups are for shit, and I have some
better ones but haven't put them in yet. The
Ric 12 string is 21st Century, bought new at Guitar Center in L.A. They
warned me that they thought it was fucked up because they couldn't get
it in tune. It's beautiful. Someone there just can't tune a 12 string.
George Harrison once said that the great thing about the Ric 12 is that
you can even tune it drunk. - |
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| Art
Jarvinen:
Here's me recording my song "Warren",
which to be honest is just a reworking of Johhny Winter's
"Dallas". It's on my CD Pailface, Blues Singer, with Miroslav
Tadic as Midget Waterslavsky.
The album is mostly a loving parody of Muddy Waters, Folk Singer, one of the most beautiful records of all time. We did this record in one take at Miroslav's house a few years ago. That's my 1930 National Triolian. You always hear those stories about finding a National or a Strad or a Rembrandt or whatever in your grandma's attic. I hadn't seen this friend of mine in about ten years and he asked me what I was up to. I said I was getting into slide guitar and wanted a National. He said what's that and I said it's this metal guitar with a cone in it. He said, oh yeah, my uncle has one, stuck under his bed, never plays it. I went to Ohio and bought it for $450.
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And here's another fine batch of
magazine covers from slime.oofytv.set.
-- info & pictures: slime.oofytv.set |
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| The interview that Art Jarvinen
did with John Trubee, had another nice suprise:
Art Jarvinen says: Here's something fun. The guy on the right is me. That's my band, Dog Breath playing at the annual talent show at Warren Western Reserve High School. Except for Roland Kirk's "Serenade To A Cuckoo", which we did in the Jethro Tull version and featured me on flute, we played nothing but Zappa material. You gotta remember, this was 1972/73. There were no such things as tribute bands, and we weren't pretending to be the Mothers. All we wanted to play was Zappa, and that's all we did. We had to lift everything off the records, so I can't vouch for the accuracy of the charts, but what we played we played pretty well. |
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The
pieces I remember us doing were:
We probably did It Can't Happen Here. We didn't do any real gigs, only played at our school, but we did get engaged to play a dance in the gym, and I tell you what, the kids were NOT happy. They just stood there staring up at us. Fortunately we were isolated up on a balcony. No one danced. I think they were waiting for I Wanna Make It With You so the jocks could get in a slow dance with a cheerleader. No such luck, Macho Boy! Ha Ha. - |
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| 2007 11 09 | |
| strictly genteel - the recordings of
frank zappa - volume two 1970 - 1971 by scott parker The second volume of Scott Parker's series on the recordings of Frank
Zappa will be out in about a month... |
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| 2007 11 08 | |
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-- info: Hans-Peter Schmidt |
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| 2007 11 07 | |
| Did you know that there's a German
release of "Zoot Allures" that only lists 7 tracks? The album
does contain all 9 tracks, however. Here's a picture of the track-listing: |
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| And here's one of the German cassette release. The same here: 7 tracks listed, but 9 tracks on the tape. | |
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| -- info: Hans-Peter Schmidt | |
| 2007 11 06 | |
-- info: Hans-Peter Schmidt |
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2007
11 05 Bob
Harris News The
Axe Attack Is Back! '80s Rock Legends Axe Return To The Stage 11/1/07
- Texas - Rock and Roll is alive and well and living in Texas with the
return of '80s rock legends Axe. Known for such classic rock anthems as
"Rock and Roll Party In The Streets" and "Battles",
Axe has reformed and are now prepared to take the rock world by storm.
The band recently performed several special engagements and the reaction
has been none less than fervid! When Axe this Summer opened for
Queensryche at Sunken Garden Amphitheater in San Antonio to an
attendance of over 5,000, and reportedly the audience literally went
wild. Six weeks later, Axe was back in San Antonio headling at Hemisfair
Park to a capacity crowd. And again, the band showed its magic and held
the audience in their hands. Andy
Laudano of Harder Beat Magazine (Dallas/Ft. Worth) said the following of
Axe's performance at The Rockyard on August 15, 2007, "Easily one
of the best hard rock acts of the early '80s, Axe had the ability to
combine great songwriting with strong melodies, powerful guitars and
tasteful keyboards. Recently, Bob Harris (vocals/keyboards) and Brad
Banhagel (guitar/vocals) put the band back together with the blessing of
founder Bobby Barth. The current line-up also includes Chris Lewis
(drums), Dave Landis (guitar), Alex Salinas (keyboards) and newest
member, Tommy Luna (bass). Anyone who wasn't there for Axe's recent show
in Ft. Worth, really missed out. This band sounds fantastic! Highlights
included 'Battles', 'Forever', 'Where There's Smoke There's Fire',
'Sting Of The Rain' and the classic 'Rock and Roll Party In The
Streets'. Pete
with Nikita Productions says of the band ..."Having produced and
promoted Axe on two explosive concerts this year at Sunken Garden and
Hemisfair Park, I can easily say that his is one of the greatest
national bands to work with. With their combined vocals and musical
talents, the band rocks viciously, throwing in some of their ballads
that really touch the soul. Great guys, great sound!" Axe
was formed in 1978 from the ashes of a mid-western band called Babyface
and began recording their first album Axe in 1979. The band's debut
album garnered rave reviews from the music press, and in support of the
release, Axe started a tour that lasted until 1984! Their second album,
Living On The Edge, followed in 1980, and once again, the reaction was
positive. In 1981, Axe changed labels and recorded Offering for ATCO
Atlantic which featured the hit "Rock and Roll Party In the
Streets". The song reached #59 on the Billboard charts and was one
of the most-played-songs in 1982 - it became a nationwide rock anthem.
After 19 months of touring with the likes of Ozzy Osbourne, Judas
Priest, the Scorpions, ZZ Top, Kiss, Cheap Trick, Def Leopard,
Queensryche and Motley Crue, among others, it was time to record the
fourth Axe album - Nemesis. Continued success meant more touring.
Unfortunately, around this time, band leader Bobby Barth was seriously
injured in a car crash which also tragically took the life of guitar
player, Michael Osborne. This accident led to Barth disbanding Axe and
later joining Blackfoot. After his stint with Blackfoot, Barth took his
talents to Australia to join Angry Anderson (Rose Tattoo), hitting the
Top 5 on the Australian charts. In
1995, Bobby Barth decided to reform the band due to label interests in
Europe. It was at that time that Bob Harris joined the band. The band
went on to record two original albums and two Greatest Hits albums (MTM
Records) and tours of Europe. After the third tour in Europe, Barth and
Harris decided to take a break and pursue other projects. Today,
the line up of Axe is Bob Harris (lead vocals/keys), Brad Banhagel (lead
vocals/guitar), David Landes (guitar/vocals) who has performed with
Simon Wright and Greg T. Walker, Chris "Drumzilla" Lewis
(drums) who has performed with Glenn Hughes and Howard Leese of Heart,
Tommy Luna (Bass), and Alex Salinas (keys). To
his credit, Bob Harris has performed with some of the greatest artists
in the music industry. Covering vocals and keyboards for Frank Zappa ,
he proved his ability as an outstanding musician and writer. Lending his
writing skill and vocal talent to the later recordings, Harris would
help define the lasting style and sound that is Axe. Guitarist/singer
Brad Banhagel is an intricate part of the current Axe line-up and
conjures visions of classic guitarists as Steve Marriot, Tommy Bolin,
Bobby Barth and Jimmy Page. Brad himself has shared the stage and
performed with Greg T. Walker (Blackfoot) and Simon Wright (UFO, AC/DC,
Dio), and has also worked with Pat Travers, Blackfoot, Thin Lizzy, Quiet
Riot, Ratt, Rick Derringer and Warrant. "... Brad is also a very
talented singer, guitarist and song writer who deserves to be center
stage and I'm sure that that day will come sooner than he thinks."
Rock legend Pat Travers "When
Bob Harris and Brad Banhagel approached me about putting Axe back on the
road, I had mixed feelings," original band leader Bobby Barth
recently commented. "It made me re-examine all the years, all the
tragedies and triumphs the band has endured. Most American fans of Axe
are not aware that the band stopped the day that Michael Osborne was
killed. Soon after, Axe was back in both Europe and Japan, releasing
another four CDs and touring several times. A lot of the strength that I
needed to continue on came from my friendship with Bob Harris and what I
consider to be one of the greatest rock voices in the world. We went on
over the years to write and produce several records together, both for
Axe and for many others. We wrote and produced, what is without a doubt,
songs and CD's that are far superior to anything we recorded in the
earlier days of Axe. Those songs, and that later band, were never given
a chance here in America, and that is a shame. So it is with that in
mind that I give my blessing and lend whatever support to I can to their
endeavor, I have their promise to remain true to the music, and you
never know when I might show up." With
the added buzz that Bobby Barth may appear at selected shows, this could
prove to be the hottest incarnation of Bobby's vision of Axe yet! For
more information on Axe and current tour schedule check out the official
band websites:
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-- info: Hans-Peter Schmidt |
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2007 11 06 [DOOT] Not DOOT!, but still pretty damn good! Hey Funk Fathers and Soul Sisters, Come on down and check out Soul Cryptographers at the Kehler Liddell Gallery, 873 Whalley Avenue in the Westville section of New Haven. It is an all ages show on Thursday, November 8, and starts at 8pm sharp. There are a lot of places to get food and drink right on the same block, so feel free to take advantage of that too!
A funkified and sanctified project initiated by DOOT!s very own Pete Brunelli and Nate Trier, the Cryptos play a mix of jazzy funk, funky jazz, jazzy soul... you get the idea. They played the KL Gallery over the summer as part of the Westville Artwalk festival, and had a great time, and were well received by the Artwalk attendees. The gallery is a nice open space with great art to check out. The
gallery is on the east side of Whalley Avenue, just north of the
intersection of Whalley and Fountain. There is parking in the lot behind
the gallery, as well as some on-street parking out front. http://www.kehlerliddell.com/ is the website, and they have directions and such for your perusal. Soul
Cryptographers is:
As always, the forecast calls for a chance of special guest excitement, toe tappin', butt shakin', and and perhaps a bad case of funky pox! Hope
to see you there,
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| Thanks to Fred Bleck, here's a
bunch of pictures of The Wrong Object in concert, including the
Rijkevorsel gig:
2007/10/27 Robin Verheyen, Alex Maguire & The Wrong Object - concert 'De Singer', Rijkevorsel, Belgium http://herongbject.fotopic.net/c727328.html
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| from: The Ideal Copy
We regret to inform you that the vinyl pressing of Voice Of Midnight has been cancelled. It is unknown whether the album will be released on vinyl in the future,... - |
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2007 11 05 Subject:
For Fans in South America... Hello Fans in South America! This
is just a short note to let you know that we will be starting EVO at
6:30pm (1830h) at each show during our South American Tour. We
have plenty of EVO tickets still available for all shows, but you need
to purchase the tickets through Vai.com's Online Ticketing Store. If
you have not purchased an EVO Premium Experience or EVO UPGRADE ticket,
but would like to do please visit out Vai.com Online Ticket store now: If you have been unable to purchase an EVO Premium Experience or EVO UPGRADE ticket because you don't have a credit card, but would like to come to an EVO Experience, please email us here at this address (evo@vai.com), and we will see how we can help you. We are considering accepting cash for EVO tickets at each show. See you at the show! Mikey vai.com
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From:
Delville Michel THE
WRONG OBJECT - November 2007 Newsletter http://www.wrongobject.com 1. THE WRONG OBJECT ON DUTCH NATIONAL RADIO (VPRO) The Dutch national radio (VPRO) will air a special one-hour broadcast on The Wrong Object. The program, which is part the weekly "De Wissel" series, will feature interviews, live tracks and other goodies, including some previously unreleased excerpts from the band's recent gigs with British pianist Alex Maguire (Elton Dean, Hatfield and the North, Michael Moore, etc.). It will be broadcast for the first time on Thursday November 8 (12pm) and will remain available from the VPRO website for your listening pleasure: http://www.vpro.nl/programma/wissel/ Don't miss it! And, while you're at it, why don't you check out their recent features and web documentaries on Robert Wyatt, David Sylvian, Caravan and Robin Williamson: http://wissel.radio6.nl/ 2.
NEW STUDIO ALBUM NEWS 3.
"TRANK ZAPPA GRAPPA IN VARESE" - NEW DATES (STAUSS,
DELCHAMBRE, DELVILLE, CAMPION) Two members of The Wrong Object (Laurent
Delchambre and Michel Delville) team up again with Belgian bass player
Damien Campion and Swiss sax player extraordinaire Markus Stauss in a
new project called "Trank Zappa Grappa in Varèse".
To listen to some live samples click here: http://www.myspace.com/trankzappagrappainvarese To order their first mini-CD, "Cryptic Echoes: Live in Belgium", click here: http://www.fazzulmusic.ch/deutsch/t-z-g-i-v.php To read the first reviews (in German), click here: http://www.babyblaue-seiten.de/album_7873.html and here: http://www.ragazzi-music.de/trankzappagrappainvarese.html
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| 2007 11 05 | |
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| leftovers from the last couple of months | |
| Andrew Greenaway's superb Idiot
Bastard website, has a new address (and lots of news as well, so
check it out)
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released october 31, 2007 grand wazoo / hot rats / m.o.i. 20 piece band music composed, arranged & conducted by frank zappa disc one
disc two
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Dieter Jakob's vinyl bootleg bible has been delayed a little bit. The book
was originally scheduled for release somewhere in October. It looks like
it will be out somewhere in December, or maybe in January.
Remember, the book will be the most comprehensive work about the unofficial records of Frank Zappa. And as I told Dieter: "We Zappa fans are patient. We have to be...."
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Chad Wackerman will be touring with Alan Holdsworth again:
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| and now, the newsflash from a little while
ago, but this time with the extra bonus flyer...
Zappa(teers)
festival in Holland!!! |
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The bands confirmed so far are:
those accomplished purveyors of psychedelic jazz with modern rock sensibilities and downright great musicians are a real coup for the festival and promise to be a real highlight of the weekend. Cuccurullo Brillo Brullo, Known as the Dutch masters, veterans of Zappanale, and all round great guys, Cuccurullo Brillo Brullo are doing their best to keep the music of Zappa alive by lovingly recreating his fabulous work live. Do not miss. The Foolz, veterans of the Zappa scene and great friends of the Zappateers always entertain whenever they're let loose on their instruments and on their native soil will excel themselves. Monty and the Butchers, those young English dudes fresh from their fabulous début performance at Zappanale and their brilliant show at Bradford on Avon offer a high octane mix of Zappa and their own funky compositions. Blurp, a Dutch band will Freak everyone out with some early Zappa complete with zany and crazy stage antics reminiscent of Zappa's Garrick theatre days. The tickets are priced at 80 EUR which includes indoor festival accommodation meaning you can leave your tents at home, just bring a sleeping bag, pillow case, sheet and dancing shoes.
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Pulp To Pulpby Slev Uunofski-> http://www.rijksbinnenhaven.nl/pulp2pulp/index.htm
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I'm
glad to tell you that, August 31, I started my weekly Zappa program in
classical channel of Estonian Radio - Klassikaraadio. This
half-hour program is called Apostroof (Apostrophe) and is aired every
Friday at 19:30 GMT, re-aired on Saturday at 9:05 GMT. The program is in Estonian and you can listen it live via internet http://www.klassikaraadio.ee/index.php?lang=eng&main_id=418 Every
week I'm playing songs from one album. Current plan is:
-- Avo Raup
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L'Ensemble de Basse-Normandie is an 18-piece, professional orchestra: 12 string instruments, 5 wind instruments and 1 piano. The orchestra is conducted by Jean Luc Rimey-Meille. January 2008, the ensemble will do a tour entitled "The Big Note - Frank Zappa Alchimiste". For these concerts, a number of extra instruments will be added: guitar, bass, drums, keyboards, percussion, trumpet and a trombone. The pieces to be performed include:
the orchestra:
the added musicians:
concerts
-- info: cosmikd / zappateers |
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Now here's what I call an impressive project: Andrew Greenaway, aka The Idiot Bastard, has teamed up with Cordelia Records to bring you what might become a very fine selection of songs. Read all about it on Andrew's essential site: http://idiotbastard.bravehost.com/20xIBS.htm Contributing artists include
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the concert calendar * the concert calendar |
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october
november
december
2008 january
february
march
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