ONLINE PETITION

Let's make it clear to the ZFT that we don't agree with how they're dealing with zappa devoted websites, bands that play zappa's music and festivals where they play zappa's music.

www.petitiononline.com/ZFT/

We endorse the Aggressive Action by the Zappa Family Trust Petition to Zappa Family Trust.

Read the Aggressive Action by the Zappa Family Trust Petition

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ZAPPANALE CHECK-LIST

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2008/08/15 - 2008/08/17 concert "Zappanale", Bad Doberan Germany

• 2008/08/15 Underground Sensation - 14.00 h

• 2008/08/15 The Wrong Object w. guest Stanley Jason Zappa - 15.30 h

• 2008/08/15 The Paul Green School Of Rock, feat. D;Walley - 17.30h

• 2008/08/15 Indukti - 19.30 h

• 2008/08/15 The Bogus Pomp Semi Acoustic Orchestra - 21.30 h

• 2008/08/15 Electric Orange - 00.00 h
  -

• 2008/08/16 Panzerballet - 12.00 h

• 2008/08/16 Elliot Levin - 14.00 h

• 2008/08/16 Delicious Band Research Kitchen - 16.00 h

• 2008/08/16 Low Budget Research Kitchen - 18.00h

• 2008/08/16 quiz (Ben Watson)

• 2008/08/16 Alamaailman Vasarat - 20.00 h

• 2008/08/16 Zappa Circus - 22.00 h

• 2008/08/16 The Paul Green School Of Rock - 00.00 h
  -

• 2008/08/17 UZVA - 11.00 h

• 2008/08/17 Jazzprojekt Hundehagen - 13.00 h

• 2008/08/17 Fattore Zeta - 15.00 h

• 2008/08/17 Stanley Jason Zappa's "The New Texture Pantonal Fellowship" - 17.00 h

• 2008/08/17 Finnish Zappa Tribute Band feat. N.M.Brock, Denny Walley, Jason Zappa - 20.00 h

• 2008/08/17 final jam
  -

from http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/0,1518,573478,00.html

The Legal Battle for Rock Legacy

By Sebastian Knauer

The Zappa Family Trust may be willing to compromise in its legal battle against the annual Frank Zappa festival Zappanale in northern Germany. And when it comes to battling Bach, the rock legend's heirs have changed course.

It was an unlikely spot for music history to be written. The scene was room 157 of a state courthouse in the Western German town of Düsseldorf on Wednesday. There, lawyers for the two sides were asked to present their sides of the story -- a story which pitted the Zappa Family Trust against the annual German music festival Zappanale.

It is far from the first courtroom appearance for the Los Angeles-based Zappa Family Trust (ZFT), which is headed up by rock legend Frank Zappa's widow Gail. Indeed, the group has set its German and American lawyers on all manner of different bands and cover groups that have dedicated themselves to Zappa's musical legacy.

The case against the founders of Zappanale (more at http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/0,1518,546288,00.html ), which takes place every year in the north-eastern German town of Bad Doberan, is more complicated. It is a case about trademark rights and copyright -- of Zappa songs, of Zappa products, and of the famous Zappa moustache, a slightly altered version of which the not-for-profit Zappanale uses in its promotional materials. The Düsseldorf legal practice of Reimann, Osterrieth, Köhler, Haft argues on behalf of the Zappa Family Trust that the Zappanale should not be allowed to use the Zappa name on any of the T-shirts or CD's sold at the festival. Indeed, the lawyers argue, the festival shouldn't be able to use the Zappa name at all.

'Hurdles in Our Path'

In November, the plaintiffs demanded that the organizers of the Zappanale be forced to pay a €250,000 penalty or be sent to jail for two years should the festival or the related "Arf-Society" refuse to comply. Despite the threat, 18 bands took to the stage in the 19th annual Zappanale last weekend.

Following the Wednesday arguments in Düsseldorf, it is now up to the court to find an adequate solution -- one that weighs both the interests of Zappa's legacy and that of the Zappanale -- the "biggest Zappa festival in the world," the organizers claim. The Zappanale people also claim that Frank Zappa himself gave his backing to the festival during a meeting in the 1990s in Amsterdam. Some in Zappa's family will deny the meeting ever took place, but Wolfhard Kutz, the Zappanale treasurer, says it is time for Gail Zappa to give up.

"His widow should finally stop putting hurdles in our path and help us further promote this fantastic music," he says. Kutz, who grew up in East Germany, was even persecuted by the East German secret police, the Stasi, for being a Zappa fan. In his file, which SPIEGEL has seen, it says that Kutz "knows how to influence the youth with Zappa."

Such moral arguments, though, carry little weight in the courtroom. But the Zappanale may not need them. Early on in the proceedings, the defendants pointed out that the Zappa Family Trust trademark may not still be valid in Germany. The ZFT only sells its products online and buyers may only pay in US dollars. There is no ZFT office anywhere in Europe.

"That makes things interesting," says Zappanale spokesman Thomas Dippel. Dippel is also president of the Arf Society, which is intimately involved in organizing the Zappanale. He and his lawyers have now filed a counter-claim asking the court to declare the Zappa trademark to have expired, retroactive to August 1, 2007. If trademarks aren't used for five years, they are lost, and Zappanale argues that the Zappa Family Trust has not been using the trademark in Germany. Were the court to agree, Zappa's moustache would become the property of Zappanale. ZFT lawyers have responded by asking for another hearing, one which Gail Zappa herself might fly in for.

'We Are Zappa Fans'

The two sides now have some six weeks to come up with an out-of-court settlement. And the Zappa Family Trust may be willing to compromise. ZFT lawyers now say that the Zappanale can use the Zappa name if they brand the festival as "Zappa music and more." Johannes Vogel, a lawyer for Zappanale, isn't convinced. "They want to see money. That's it," he told SPIEGEL ONLINE.

Dippel and Kutz, for their part, insist that they are not interested in denying Gail Zappa's right to protect the Zappa legacy from abuse. The festival pays the requisite fees for each and every song performed in Bad Doberan. Organizers also make sure that all taxes are covered for the international numbers that fly in for the party, many coming from as far away as the US, South America and Asia. Indeed, each year the Zappanale doesn't lose money is considered a success. "We haven't become millionaires so far," says Dippel. "We are Zappa fans."

The festival has, however, begun looking beyond the site in Bad Doberan. Last week, Zappanale organizers put on a show at St. Katharinen church in Hamburg called "Zappa Plays for Bach." Some 600 guests showed up for a performance of variations on the famous Goldberg Variations. Indeed, improvisation is one quality Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750) shares with his colleague Frank Zappa (1940-1993).

All proceeds from the concert went to the Hamburg foundation Stiftung Johann Sebastian, which is trying to raise money to recondition a Barock organ on which Bach played in 1720. And it was a fantastic show -- with nine musicians from the Florida group Bogus Pomp playing together with the former Zappa saxophone player Napoleon Murphy Brock putting on pieces ranging from "Absolutely Free Medley" to "Chunga's Revenge" to "Idiot Bastard Son."

But prior to the show, the Stiftung Johann Sebastian also received a letter from Zappa Family Trust lawyers threatening legal measures if the performance went ahead. The ZFT mistakenly thought that the church was planning a performance of Zappa's orchestral work "Yellowshark," and the letter warned that Gail Zappa had not given her permission for such a performance.

'Victory of Music over Legalese'

"It is always difficult to deal with widows who manage the legacy of their husbands," says Karsten Jahnke, one of Germany's largest event organizers. All too often, he says, money becomes the primary goal.

Even Stanley Jackson Zappa, a nephew of Frank Zappa's who played tenor saxophone at this year's Zappanale finds his aunt's efforts "crazy and sick." A big band collaboration between a German radio station and the London conductor Colin Towns likewise had to be torpedoed. The distribution of a CD with Zappa arrangements was stopped after a legal challenge.

"Bach and Zappa are gods for me. A combination of the two is a fantastic idea I think," says experienced concert organizer Fritz Rau, who came to Hamburg for the show. Rau has had his hand in tours by such big names as the Rolling Stones and Bob Dylan and also helped out with a Frank Zappa tour once. Rau hopes that the Düsseldorf trial will result in a "victory of music over legalese."

CRAM CD

• Corrie van Binsbergen - guitar

• Rutger van Otterloo - baritone & soprano saxophone

• Arend Niks - drums

• Mick Paauwe - bass  

are CRAM.

Their CD will be released / presented during the 'Melkweg' concert in Amsterdam, NL

• 2008/10/01 CRAM - concert 'Melkweg', Amsterdam, NL

NEW ZAPPA BOOTLEG BOX

A couple of weeks later a set of 5 colours of this "Missing Ritz Tracks" was presented. Also on the Hoffman label.

And more recently, a new Hoffman release, a 4LP Toxic Shock Boxset got announced. This being a re-issued volume 1 up to 3, plus "The Missing Ritz Tracks". Limited to 50 copies.

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FZ - SLEEPING IN A JAR

Here's a little video of the commercial that uses FZ's Sleeping In A Jar

http://es.youtube.com/watch?v=sc6QBui6JYE

-- info: Javier

OPEN FIST 2008 09 16

Follow the link to purchase tickets:
http://joesgarage.eventbrite.com/

Get them early!

And here's a link to The Open Fist Theater's website. 
They're the one's producing this shindig: http://www.openfist.org/

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BOGUS POMP 2008 09 16

Hi Gang,

Please see the following e-mail from Jerry:

Fred,

Now that we are back from Germany, Bogus Pomp is preparing for Zappaween 13. Germany was incredible and we hope to return again next year for the 20th anniversary of the Zappanale festival as well as some other shows too.

For Zappaween 13 we are having the legendary vocals of the one and only Ike Willis and the incredible electric fiddle of Dan Campbell. This is going to be a very special show indeed. As always, the best dressed freak gets a new Dean guitar. Come hear the legendary voice that made some of Frank's greatest records so special. The original Thingfish is back!! Dan Campbell will smoke your doors off with his fiddle too!!! 
The 13th annual Zappaween festival is happening at the State Theater on Saturday, November 1st. Doors at 8, showtime at 9. 
I would like to once again offer to those who may be interested,...

for a donation of $100 you will receive two tickets to Zappaween 13 and two T-shirts as well as reserved seating in the balcony. 
Larger donations are just plain nice,.... if you are feeling nice. It certainly helps perpetuate the band. Thank you. 

I just bought Ike and Dan's plane tickets and I'm in serious need of some funds to promote this show. Please help if you can.

See you all there!!

Jerry Outlaw

If you are interested in the donation please send me a check payable to Bogus Pomp Fund and I will take care of the details. Just getting to sit up front in the balcony is worth the premium plus it will help the band with much needed advertising dollars. And Ike doesn't work for free so they need a good turnout to cover his costs. You can send a check to me at:

Fred Hemmer
11970 7th St East
Treasure Island, FL 33706

Let me know if you have any questions.

Fred

OPEN FIST

2008 09 19

L.A. Weekly - 2008 09 18  (http://www.laweekly.com/2008-09-18/stage/racy-against-time/)

FRANK ZAPPA'S JOE'S GARAGE GETS ITS PREMIERE 29 YEARS ON

Rock opera, like its revered creator, was ahead of its time

BY STEVEN LEIGH MORRIS

Pictures by Ted Soqui

Published on September 18, 2008

Some people can just see things coming. In 1979, one year before Ronald Reagan was elected president, Frank Zappa wrote a rock opera called Joe's Garage. It's a "stupid story," said Zappa, a fantasia about a garage-band singer who finds himself at odds with an increasingly religious, controlling society in which music is eventually banned for its destructive effects on society. 

L.A. Weekly

Six years after Zappa completed it, the U.S. Senate held hearings on a proposal by Tipper Gore's Parents Music Resource Center (PMRC) to put warning labels on rock-music CDs and videos. Gore had been offended by the lyrics in the Prince song "Darling Nikki": "I met her in a hotel lobby, masturbating with a magazine . ..." Children, said the PMRC, needed to be protected from sexually provocative lyrics.

Not surprisingly, Zappa, a satirist, celebrity rock musician and respected avant-garde composer, testified as an opposition witness (with John Denver and Twisted Sister's Dee Snider), describing the PMRC proposal as "an ill-conceived piece of nonsense, which fails to deliver any real benefits to children [and] infringes on the civil liberties of people who are not children."

The next year, 1986, Zappa appeared on CNN's Crossfire, with so-called leftist journalist Tom Braden (a former employee of the CIA's International Organizations Division), conservative columnist Robert Novak and John Lofton of the right-leaning Washington Times. In a contentious conversation, Zappa revealed the prescience that makes Joe's Garage as relevant as the day it was written:

Lofton: Do you support records that promote incest as just another kind of sex, or in some instances it might even be preferable? Do you agree with that?

Zappa: No I don't agree with it. I don't have any interest in incest ... but I didn't realize that incest was such a terrible problem in the United States that we suddenly need government intervention ...

Lofton: Does the government have any purpose, Frank?

Zappa: Yeah, it has a number of purposes ... how about national defense?

Lofton: I consider this national defense, pal! Our families are under attack by people like you, with these lyrics.

Braden: John, you don't have to buy them.

Zappa: Can I make a statement about national defense? The biggest threat to America today is not communism, it's moving America toward a fascist theocracy, and everything that's happened during the Reagan administration is steering us right down that pipe.

Novak: ... Do you really think ... in this country, with the permissiveness, that we are moving toward a fascist theocracy?

Zappa: You bet we are, buddy.

[Lofton and Novak laugh derisively.]

Braden: One example of a fascist theocracy?

Zappa: When you have a government that prefers a certain moral code derived from a certain religion, and that moral code turns into legislation to suit one certain religious point of view, and if that code happens to be very, very right wing, almost toward Attila the Hun ...

Lofton: Then you are an anarchist. Every form of civil government is based on some kind of morality, Frank.

Zappa: Morality in terms of behavior, not in terms of theology.

The ideas in this debate form the crux of the ribald cultural satire in Joe's Garage, which will have its world premiere on September 26 at the Open Fist Theater. The play opens with an Orwellian "Central Scrutinizer," a large robotic puppet who speaks through a megaphone and whose job is to enforce laws "that haven't yet been passed." A local policeman counsels Joe to drop his music and engage in more church activities, but Joe's sweet Catholic girlfriend, named Mary (of course), abandons him for a backstage pass to see another band. After following that band on tour and after being used as a sex toy by the band's roadies, the exhausted Mary is dumped in Miami, where she enters a wet-T-shirt contest to raise enough money to get home.

When Joe learns of her plight, he goes into a funk of depression, contracts venereal disease, and seeks religion - at the door of L. Ron Hoover and his First Church of Appliantology - to pull him back up. Membership in the church costs Joe his life's savings, and he is ordered "into the closet" in order to find salvation by having sex with home appliances - so much more safe and titillating than with human beings. There's a three-way orgy between Joe, an appliance named Sy Borg and a "modified Gay Bob Doll"; Joe accidentally destroys Sy Borg's circuitry during a golden shower episode and is imprisoned for being unable to pay for Sy's repair. In prison, Joe is gang-raped by record executives and other riffraff. He eventually emerges into a new world, where music has been banned, but he does land a good job in a muffin factory.

Among L.A.'s small theaters, Open Fist is comparatively spacious. Situated within a former warehouse, it has an expansive, freshly painted lobby, tall ceilings and audience seating on a wide bank of risers. On August 18 - one month to the day before the first preview of Joe's Garage - the stage is lit by overhanging fluorescents, because the lighting plot hasn't yet been installed; instruments hang from pipes, with cords dangling, waiting to be focused and plugged in. 

Choreographer Jennifer Lettelleir front and center, with (left to right) Lindsay Loesel, Glen Anthony Vaughan and Nicole Disson

The company forms two lines of six. They're dressed in leotards and sweats; some wear kneepads. Each actor crosses toward the opposite line of actors, walking pigeon-toed, stepping on a beat that Sandoval claps out with his hands. Among the goals is to sink into each step, to complete the gesture, regardless of its contortion, and to do it on time. This is a warm-up for the brutal choreography that's to come.

Now they're in a circle. Keeping their torsos erect, they're to dip with their knees and then return up on eight counts that are clapped out, then 10 counts - dipping slowly is more stressful. Now they execute a clean jump, a quick turn and an exclamation of "ha!" - which releases the accrued stress.

After a 10-minute break, director Patrick Towne and choreographer Jennifer Lettelleir take over. Towne's co-writer/producer, Michael Franco, crosses the front of the stage, speaking into a flashing Bluetooth cell phone in his ear.

Jason Paige portrays musician Joe, and the cast is rehearsing a scene from his suburban garage, where the solipsistic bliss of his music is interrupted by a police squad responding to an excessive-noise complaint. Herbert Russell, a gifted, roly-poly comedian, leads the squad, which strides in, with mimed weapons drawn. But this isn't an episode of Law & Order - it's closer to the Keystone Cops.

As they drag Joe away, Towne is concerned that the police exit is too realistic and too sloppy.

"Stride, stride," he barks at the cops while pacing in the risers. "Stride till the thighs hurt."

Now they're working on the song "Catholic Girls," featuring Joe's girlfriend, Mary, played by wide-eyed Becky Wahlstrom with heartbreaking naiveté.

David Castellani, as Mary's priest, Father Riley, repeats with exaggerated nasality the one-line refrain "Catholic girls" - between which the chorus of singer-dancers toss in one-line commentaries: "Catholic girls/With a tiny little mustache/Do you know how they go? In the rectory basement/Father Riley's a fairy/But it don't bother Mary."

Choreographer Lettelleir is working on jazzy moves for the chorus, trying to capture the blend of perkiness and perversion at the heart of Joe's Garage. They work through the moves with house accompanist Scott Nagatani, and then with both the piano and CD playing simultaneously.

Joe croons, "When they learn how to blow" - answered by Father Riley, "They're learning to blow/All the Catholic boys!"

Lettelleir jumps in to choreograph stylized fellatio - considerably larger than life - to a chorus line of young women on their knees, mouths gaping open like hungry carp. They bear animated expressions of disgust and alarm, bobbing necks accompanied by fake gagging and spitting that Lettelleir is working to coordinate. Wahlstrom, also on her knees with her back to the audience, sways her head to and fro. One of her wrists flings away some imagined goo, right on the song's beat, then the other wrist. A few measures later, all will repeat. It's clear that the musical's point of view is carried largely by the choreography, which depicts porn's generic eroticism as part of a numbing machine.

Towne says he's lost a couple of actors due to religious conflicts with the play. "'Why are there so many blowjobs, so much sexuality?' they asked. So we had a meeting, I tried to explain the satire. 'I don't think Frank is celebrating this stuff,' I told the cast, 'there are some people who will walk in here and will think solely that it's obscene. You've got to be ready for that and take responsibility for it.'"

Lettelleir keeps sharpening the choreography, until Wahlstrom complains, "This is a 10-hour BJ!"

"The Suzuki work is really paying off," says Towne without a trace of irony. He's right. The fellatio has moved beyond titillation through parody into an ugly and allegorical grinder, shredding whatever it means to be human.

For almost 30 years, the rights to a stage production of Joe's Garage were tied up by the Zappa Family Trust. Along the way, however, in 1995, Towne cast Moon Unit Zappa (one of Zappa and second wife Gail's four children) as Bianca Jagger in a local production of a play called Waiting for Studio 54. Gail Zappa oversees the trust and therefore controls the rights to Joe's Garage. Towne, who'd come to L.A. from Chicago after working there with the sketch-comedy company Annoyance Theatre, says he had a long-standing desire to direct a production of the musical. Finally, after Gail attended the show to see her daughter perform, Towne and his producing partner, Franco, drafted a formal proposal for a pitch meeting with Gail. Franco says the deal was eventually sealed with a handshake and that Gail was relieved they weren't "pushing papers in her face" like so many applicants who had come before.

Franco has worked as a pitchman on TV, and it shows. He's a fast-talking, product-oriented guy who has produced a number of shows in L.A. - some independently, and some (Nosferatu, Pathe X and The Master and Margarita) with the company Zoo District. Franco became the focal point of a philosophical conflict within that company, a conflict with possible reverberations for the Open Fist production of Joe's Garage. Though the opposing Zoo District camp was led by director Jon Kellam, most of those who backed him were women, revealing a gender divide within the Zoo District troupe. Franco and the men were advocates of the "let's find a script and do it now" approach to putting on plays - a view in stark contrast to Kellam and the women's desire to concentrate the company's resources on actor training and play development. Franco describes the division as the "product-versus-process debate." The women's view translated into the time-consuming idea of giving new plays readings and workshops in order to repair weak ligaments and prime the plays for a professional debut, with the highest standards possible. 

"I'm 50 years old," Franco says in the Open Fist lobby during a rehearsal. "I don't have four years to spend telling one story. There are too many other stories I still want to tell."

This attitude reflects Franco's damn-the- torpedos insistence on presenting this Joe's Garage not as a workshop but as a full production - a cavalier choice that's perplexed and bemused some people associated with the production. Franco and Towne drafted a script from the libretto and liner notes enclosed in the CD of Joe's Garage, a studio recording of the opera made in 1979, and the project now has a budget of $70,000 to $90,000. Open Fist (of which Franco is a member) is contributing the venue, some actors, equipment, staff support, operating costs and a small percentage of the overall budget. But almost anywhere else in the country, a work of this scale - blending a new script, choreography, video design, puppetry and the sound-mixing challenges that come with a live band - would at least be tried out as a smaller-scale workshop. Among the many purposes of such workshops is to attract potential investors for future productions. Franco is having none of it, and says he's happy to spend up to $25,000 of his own money to offset whatever funds he can't raise from outside sources. It wouldn't be the first time he's drawn down his mutual funds for a theater project, and it sounds like it won't be his last.

"There are a lot of Zappa fans out there, and they're already reserving tickets," he says when asked what plans he has for transferring this production. "I'll just have to see who turns up, and how it turns out."

On the evening of August 19, Gail Zappa floats into the lobby of the Open Fist Theatre, delighted and surprised to find daughter Diva and son Ahmet also there. A vocalist herself, Gail has the beautiful, round face of an ageless hippie, with kind, world-weary eyes. Behind her candor and gentle veneer percolates some muted frustration. "It's not easy working for a dead guy," she says in the theater office while the cast is doing their Suzuki warm-up. "The simple answer and the horrifying answer is that my future is my husband's past. And I'm just trying to keep it as unfiltered as possible by everybody who would like to have it reflect their image."

She makes no mention of the lawsuit she threatened to file last year against Arf-Society, the German musicians society and fan club that helped to organize the renaming of a Berlin street after Frank Zappa. The Zappa family failed to respond to invites from Arf-Society for its endorsement, so the the club proceeded anyway. The club also supports the kind of Frank Zappa tribute bands that arouse Gail's ire. She doesn't cite them by name, but the target of her anger is clear enough: "People who misinterpret Frank, or miscast him, somebody who plays his music, somebody who writes a book, taking a very large footprint and shrinking it down to a minuscule size that's not recognizable by anybody. It's really grand theft identity. I can imagine, but I can't prove that I'd be right about what Frank would want."

Who could possibly know more about what a man would want than the woman who bore his four children? "You can't imagine how many people would disagree with that," she says. "I've had a lot of experience with absurdity."

Many people had approached her for the rights to produce Joe's Garage, but it never felt right, she says, until Towne came along.

"The ones that have shown up ... I didn't want to get involved with. And the ones you would hope would show up have issues of their own. What I've been told is, 'Joe's too blue for the stage.' I don't know anybody who talks like that in any generation." 

  She confirms Towne's story of her coming to see Moon Unit in Towne's production of Waiting forStudio 54.

"Pat directed it. It was very small and totally cheesy," she says, clearly pleased. (Frank Zappa described Joe's Garage as "a really cheap kind of high school play.")

"I felt, 'Oh why not? Why not take a chance?' ... I think of it as, I'm doing the best I can with the tools I've got. You hope for the best, you expect the worst, and if you come out somewhere between, that's a good thing."

Unlike Towne, however, Gail plays down the importance of the story, because most of what Frank Zappa did is musical. His playfulness and gregariousness, "it's all in the music. It doesn't have anything to do with words. So that's the legacy."

The three Zappas in attendance for the rehearsal sit in the same row. Ahmet, in a suit and tie, rests his elbows on his knees. Diva sits knitting, smiling, preparing for a September exhibition of her knitting designs in New York. Towne and Lettelleir are restaging "Catholic Girls" - refining all that fellatio. Gail Zappa watches, beaming.

"I love this energy," she says.

On September 2, the full band - two keyboardists, two guitarists, a drummer and a couple of horn players - makes its first appearance for a rehearsal with the ensemble. The theater is awash in activity, with actors practicing routines in the lobby as equipment is hauled in around them. The theater's huge backstage door hangs open. A table saw stands on one side of the stage. Two platforms that have been constructed on the stage now give the actors points of elevation.

"All singers gather 'round. This is going to be a funky night, obviously," Towne bellows. "A couple of people we have wireless mikes for are Joe and Father Riley - everyone who has a solo, go over to the standing mike so we can hear what you sound like against the band."

The plan is to just sing through the whole show without choreography, so sound designer Tim Labor can get a clearer idea of how the music needs to be mixed.

"This outdoes anything I've ever done," says Towne, smoking on the sidewalk during a break. "We're going to make it flashy and put in lots of lights, but the music is key and has been the hardest to get down."

One part of a song has a 19/16 count per measure, and then it shifts to 21/16, "So you've got these weird Frank time signatures - and then, even in the easier songs, there's a funky dissonant harmony the men have, and I'm thinking, 'Am I hearing this right?' - because if you're a little flat on a dissonant chord, it's all over."

Onstage, the drummer clacks his sticks together, setting the beat, and the full band blasts out the title cut, "Joe's Garage." Lanky Ben Thomas approaches a standing mike, and apes Zappa's vocal cadences: "We could jam in Joe's Garage/His mama was screamin'/His dad was mad/We was playin' the same old song/In the afternoon 'n' sometimes we would/Play it all night long/It was all we knew 'n' easy too/So we wouldn't get it wrong ...'"

The music envelops the room. The ensemble on stage sneak glances at each other, as though they never imagined this could sound so good. Some break into irrepressible grins and begin swaying to the music.

With two weeks until the first preview, only a fraction of the theatrical elements is in play, but the interactions in the hall are so cordial and cooperative, you can't help but feel that Franco's grandiose and possibly reckless approach to producing a new musical might just fly - or, at least, that enough of it will leave the ground to give this show a future.

Joe's Garage, presented by Open Fist Theatre Company, 6209 Santa Monica Blvd., Hollywood. Currently in previews; opens September 26 and plays Fridays through Sundays through November 22. For information, call (323) 882-6912 or visit openfist.org.

THE ALEX MAGUIRE SEXTET

• alex maguire sextet: brewed in belgium
      (2008, cd, usa, moonjune mjr022)
  
  • When I saw The Alex Maguire Sextet in concert in Rijkevorsel, they were announced as The Wrong Object, featuring Alex Maguire and Robin Verheyen as special guests.
    Now that the recording has found its way to a release on the impressive Moonjune Records label, it is presented as The Alex Maguire Sextet.
    Nothing wrong with that, especially since Maguire is a big name in the progressive rock scene. Nevertheless, he is in good company with the guys from The Wrong Object, and with Robin Verheyen on the saxophone.
  • http://www.moonjune.com/
    -
  • more info soon

NEW ZAPPA ALBUM

• frank zappa: joe's menage
      (2008, cd, usa, vaulternative records)
  
  • available from zappa dot com
    -
  • more info soon

SUN RA ON TRANSPARANCY

announced Sun Ra Arkestra albums by Transparency for october - january: 

• Sun Ra: From the 1971 European Tour 
      (announced, 8cd, usa, transparancy) - The Fourth Box Set

• Sun Ra: The Road To Destiny - Live at The Gibus, Paris (1973)
      (announced, cd, usa, transparancy) - The Lost Reel Collection Volume Six
• Sun Ra: Live at Slug's Saloon (1972)
      (announced, 6cd, usa, transparancy) - The Fifth Box Set
• Sun Ra: Live in London (1970)
      (announced, 2cd, usa, transparancy) 

NEW GEORGE DUKE COLLECTION

• george duke: my soul - the complete mps fusion recordings
      (2008, 4cd, ger, mps)
  
  • Fans of George Duke mps period probably have the albums, but new Duke fans will probably be happy with this 4 CD collection.
    It does include the two Zappa / Duke tracks: 'Uncle Remus' and 'Echidna's Arf' from "The Aura Will Prevail".
    Yep, that's the same album that features Napoleon Murphy Brock.

-- info: Hans-Peter Schmidt

THE SUN RA ARKESTRA

• the sun ra arkestra: music for the 21st century - live at the uncool festival in poschiavo, switzerland
      (2003, cd, usa, el ra records 50322)
  
  • May 30, 2003, The Sun Ra Arkestra under the direction of Marshall Allen performed at the "Uncool Festival" in Switzerland.
    Produced by Arkestra percussionist Elson Nascimento, the recording has been released on El Ra Records. If I'm not mistaken, this is the second CD on El Ra Records.
    An impressive concert, and it gives you an excellent idea of what the Arkestra sounds like today.

• the sun ra arkestra: a song for the sun
      (1999, cd, usa, el ra records 99021)
  
  • About ten years ago, "A Song For The Sun" got released on the Arkestra's "El Ra" record label.
    The album includes mostly compositions by Marhall Allen and showcases the enormous talents that played in the Arkestra: Art Jenkins on vocals and Bruce Edwards on guitar, just to name two.
    Highly recommended.
    -
  • http://www.elrarecords.com/

JON LARSEN

2008 09 22

THE JIMMY CARL BLACK STORY

Jon LARSEN'S sequel to STRANGE NEWS FROM MARS!

• Jon LARSEN guitar/Martian

• Jimmy Carl BLACK vocal/percussion

• Knut REIERSRUD guitar/harmonica

• Ola KVERNBERG violin

• Rob WARING marimba

• Ole Morten VÅGAN/Nikolai EILERTSEN bass

• Andreas BYE/Håkon MJÅSET JOHANSEN drums

• Special guest: Tommy MARS keyboards

-
Last year some of FRANK ZAPPA's (1940-1993) talented alumni met guitarist/composer Jon Larsen in Arthur Barrow's Lotek recording studio in LA. Together they recorded the amazing CD STRANGE NEWS FROM MARS. Here's the new chapter in the story - THE JIMMY CARL BLACK STORY.

THE JIMMY CARL BLACK STORY is double: CD one is "The Rockumentary" - an 80 minutes documentary about the "Indian of the group", where the old, native American (Cheyenne) tells his life story. We hear about the start at the reservation, via The Soul Giants, Frank Zappa, The Mothers of Invention, Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix, mafia connections, and years of sex, drugs and rock'n'roll, but also moving stories from a long, and unusual life in music. Jimmy Carl Black is the born storyteller. Does humour belong is music? Listen for yourself.

The other CD is "The surrealistic Space Odyssey" - one hour of music inspired by Jimmy Carl Black's life story. The music is groove based R&B, laidback spacerock, and zappaesque jazz/rock, and even with  some glimpses of Django. Here is also the 20 minutes adventure of Capt. Zurcon and his crew onboard the Spaceship BigEar III, on their way to the red planet Mars, and their problems with the sexually frustrated Martian (the Guacamole Queen), the mutant fromage, and a lurking whale (depicted on the cover, enclosed).

Jimmy Carl Black is legendary not only for his drumming, but also known as one of the greatest absurdists in rock, starting with his film debut together with Ringo Starr in Zappa's 200 Motels. This is evident on the very last track on the CD, recorded in April this year, with the Indian of the group, reduced by the intensive cancer treatment, on the phone directly from his hospital bed!

On The surrealistic Space Odyssey CD you'll also hear marvelous soli by jazz musicians Knut Reiersrud (guitar/harmonica), Ola Kvernberg (violin - like you've never heard it before), Rob Waring (marimba), Jon Larsen (guitar) and Tommy Mars (keyboards).

THE JIMMY CARL BLACK CD is not an ordinary CD. The music, the adventure and the long documentary is a part of the conceptual continuity, and tell a different story - THE JIMMY CARL BLACK STORY.

THE JIMMY CARL BLACK STORY is the second release on the new label ZONIC ENTERTAINMENT / HOT CLUB RECORDS.

www.myspace.com/jonlarsenguitar

---------------

Check out Jon Larsen's entry for more info, or go to his MySpace corner to listen to some samples !
-------------------

THE RESIDENTS  -  BUNNY BOY

• the residents: the bunny boy
      (2008, cd, usa, mvd audio mvda4775)
  
  • The latest Residents album.
    There will also be a tour, and at least one new release (that will only be available at the shows) called "Postcards from Patmos".
    Reading between the lines, it seems that those Residents that are still in the band, have teamed up with some old friends for this project.

• 2008/10/03 The Residents – concert ‘Rio Theater’, Santa Cruz, USA

• 2008/10/07 The Residents – concert ‘9:30 Club’, Washington DC, USA

• 2008/10/08 The Residents – concert ‘Trocadero’, Philadelphia, USA

• 2008/10/09 The Residents – concert ‘Gramercy Theater’, New York, USA

• 2008/10/10 The Residents – concert ‘Gramercy Theater’, New York, USA

• 2008/10/11 The Residents – concert ‘Gramercy Theater’, New York, USA

• 2008/10/12 The Residents – concert ‘Showcase Live’, Foxboro MA, USA

• 2008/10/14 The Residents – concert ‘Oak Theater’, Detroit Royal, USA

• 2008/10/15 The Residents – concert ‘Lakeshore’, Chicago, USA

• 2008/10/16 The Residents – concert ‘Lakeshore’, Chicago, USA

• 2008/10/17 The Residents – concert ‘Lakeshore’, Chicago Laeshore, USA
  -

• 2008/11/13 The Residents – concert ‘Circolo degli Artisti’, Rome, Italy

• 2008/11/15 The Residents – concert ‘Principal Club’, Thessalonki, Greece

• 2008/11/16 The Residents – concert ‘Pallas Theater’, Athens, Greece

• 2008/11/17 The Residents – concert ‘Macedonian Opera’, Skopje, Macedonia

• 2008/11/18 The Residents – concert ‘Dom Omladine’, Belgrade, Serbia

• 2008/11/20 The Residents – concert ‘Akropolis’, Prague, Czech Rep

• 2008/11/21 The Residents – concert ‘Posthof’, Linz, Austria

• 2008/11/22 The Residents – concert ‘Karlstorbahnhof’, Heidelberg, Germany

• 2008/11/23 The Residents – concert ‘Paard van Troje’, Den Haag, Netherlands

• 2008/11/25 The Residents – concert ‘Nikolaisaal’, Potsdam, Germany

• 2008/11/26 The Residents – concert ‘Stodola’, Warsaw, Poland

• 2008/11/28 The Residents – concert ‘Stenhammarsalen’, Gothenburg, Sweden

• 2008/11/29 The Residents – concert ‘Sentrum Scene’, Oslo, Norway

• 2008/11/30 The Residents – concert ‘Kägelbanan’, Stockholm, Sweden

• 2008/12/02 The Residents – concert ‘Roxy’, Ulm, Germany

• 2008/12/03 The Residents – concert ‘Muffathalle’, Munich, Germany

• 2008/12/04 The Residents – concert ‘Mousonturm’, Frankfurt, Germany

• 2008/12/05 The Residents – concert ‘Het Depot’, Leuven, Belgium

• 2008/12/06 The Residents – concert “Trans Musicals Festival”, Rennes, France

• 2008/12/07 The Residents – concert ‘Forum’, London, UK

• 2008/12/09 The Residents – concert Pontevedra, Spain

FRZAPPA BLOGSPOT

http://frzappa.blogspot.com/

-

ZAPPATIKA - LIVE TONIGHT

a message from Les Fils de l'Invention

This is the CENTRAL SCRUTINIZER... again. Hi!... It's me again, the CENTRAL SCRUTINIZER...

La soirée Zappatika du vendredi 26 septembre chez Aris est confirmée et s'enrichit d'un set acoustique dédié à la musique de Zappa. Le répertoire devrait grosso modo être le suivant

The Zappatika night next Friday, September 26, at Aris has been confirmed and will contain a set of acoustic music, dedicated to the music of Frank Zappa. The setlist might look something like this:

• The Torture Never Stops

• Black Napkins

• Cosmik Debris

• Watermelon in Easter Hay

• Joe's Garage

• What's New in Baltimore

• Dirty Love

• City of Tiny Lites

Tentant, non ?

A partir de 20h, 115 rue Oberkampf

From 20h on, at 115 rue Oberkamf in Paris, France.

THE SUN RA ARKESTRA IN TILBURG

-

OK, so why has it been so quiet over at UM?
Well, the answer is easy: the Sun Ra Arkestra did 6 performances in 1 week in Tilburg, NL, as part of the ZXZW festival.

It was a great experience.

If you want to catch a glimpse of what you've missed, check out:

http://zaterdagavond.radio6.nl/2008/09/21/sun-ra-arkestra-live-op-radio-6/

I don't know how long this will be up, so make sure to give it a listen soon...

THE CENTRAL SCRUTINIZER BAND 2008 09 26

• 2008/09/26 Central Scrutinizer Band - concert 'CB Bar', São Paulo, Brazil

ZAPPATIKA - FINALLY GOT IT RIGHT

About a week ago, I received an mp3 of Zappatika's 'Finally Got It Right'.

Previously entitled 'Boris the Jazz Dog', 'Finally Got It Right', is laid-back, jazzy guitar tune.

M. adds:

"Sorry if you don't like it.... But this is the way I have always heard it...errmm... it's not what you expect... but I guess it's still Jazzzzzz
Oh... This is on the new DODO album by the way..."

SCOTT PARKER BOOKS

The Zappa Supplement One: A Box Of History And The Mud Shark Saga

http://www.scottparkerbooks.com/

more info soon

JC BLACK ALBUMS AVAILABLE FROM CDBABY

a message from Greg Russo:

Completely remastered versions of 12 JCB albums are now available from CD Baby with the other companies to follow.  The links are shown below.
Please note that CD Baby only sells downloads of entire albums at the moment, but iTunes, Napster, Rhapsody, etc. will sell individual tracks as well as the whole thing.  Here goes:

JUNIOR FRANKLIN AND THE GOLDEN ECHOES FEATURING JIMMY CARL BLACK: Live At KUT Radio
http://cdbaby.com/cd/juniorfranklin

JIMMY CARL BLACK WITH BIG SONNY & THE LO BOYS: In Heat
http://cdbaby.com/cd/loboys

GERONIMO BLACK: Welcome Back Geronimo Black
http://cdbaby.com/cd/geronimoblack1

THE GRANDMOTHERS: Dreams On Long Play (Original Version)
http://cdbaby.com/cd/grandmothers2 

THE GRANDMOTHERS - Dreams On Long Play (Revised Version)
http://cdbaby.com/cd/grandmothers

JIMMY CARL BLACK: Clearly Classic (Expanded Edition)
http://cdbaby.com/cd/jimmycarlblack3 

JIMMY CARL BLACK & THE MANNISH BOYS: A Lil' Dab'l Do Ya
http://cdbaby.com/cd/jimmycarlblack4 

THE JIMMY CARL BLACK BAND: How Blue Can You Get?
http://cdbaby.com/cd/jimmycarlblack5

JIMMY CARL BLACK & THE X-TRA COMBO: Mercedes Benz
http://cdbaby.com/cd/xtracombo

CHRIS HOLZHAUS, JIMMY CARL BLACK & LOUIS TERRAZAS: I Just Got in From Texas
http://cdbaby.com/cd/chjcblt

B.E.P. - Hamburger Midnight
http://cdbaby.com/cd/beptunes

ARTHUR BROWN WITH JIMMY CARL BLACK - Brown, Black & Blue
http://cdbaby.com/cd/brownblack

Seven of the albums have bonus tracks and they all sound better than ever.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

WAFFELSCHMIEDE

The tape has an early pic of The Residents on the cover.

-- info: Ive Hapers

TERRY BOZZIO

2009 09

Terry Bozzio & The Metropole Orkest Live in Groningen, 2003

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=cPoW7tTg8eQ

-- info & video: TA

ZAPPATIKA 2008 09 10

2008 09 10

DODO title Video -see it now - you'll see a DODO fly !!!

The new album is done ,dusted and sent to the Press ! It will be launched at the Party, as promised ,on Friday 26th September in Paris -France. If YOU ARE THERE YOU WILL GET A FREE COPY !!!

For now check the Title Track/Video right here >>

http://myspacetv.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=42427499

cheerz ~ Peace,Love,Life & Music

SHEIK YERBOUTI 2008 09 13

• 2008/10/04 Sheik Yerbouti - concert 'tatort musicclub', ûbach-palenberg, germany

• 2008/10/14 Sheik Yerbouti - concert 'Objekt 5', halle, germany  /  feat. Napoleon Murphy Brock

• 2008/10/15 Sheik Yerbouti - concert 'kammgarn', kaiserslautern, germany  /  feat. Napoleon Murphy Brock

• 2008/10/16 Sheik Yerbouti - concert 'colos-saal', aschaffenburg, germany  /  feat. Napoleon Murphy Brock

• 2008/10/17 Sheik Yerbouti - concert 'alte patrone', mainz, germany  /  feat. Napoleon Murphy Brock

• 2008/10/18 Sheik Yerbouti - concert 'Georg Nilius', Westerwald(wahrscheinlich Stairway, Wallmenroth), germany  /  feat. Napoleon Murphy Brock

• 2008/10/31 Sheik Yerbouti - concert 'café hahn', koblenz, germany

• 2008/11/28 Sheik Yerbouti - concert 'franzis', wetzlar, germany

• 2008/12/12 Sheik Yerbouti - concert 'bunker club', chemnitz, germany

• 2008/12/13 Sheik Yerbouti - concert 'kulturbastion', torgau, germany

• 2009/01/10 Sheik Yerbouti - concert 'wiener hof', offenbach, germany

• 2009/02/20 Sheik Yerbouti - concert 'hajo's bierakademie', rüdesheim, germany

RALPH NEWSFLASH

Ralph Friend!

We have new things and joys to bring...
More Residents Eyeball and Skull toys are in our possession and ready for you to buy at http://www.ralphamerica.com

So if you missed out before, we have more now!

Also new, the original Gary Panter, RESIDENTS FOR PRESIDENTS tee shirt is in stock. Show everyone that The Residents are a great choice for the highest position in the land.

Also, we just got more Bunny Boy discs in yesterday (the distributor ran out and had to manufacture more, so we were delayed on getting our restocks). So a big batch went out yesterday, and few more out today. 
Okay, that's all today, and don't forget to check out the new Bunny Boy videos at http://residents.com every M, W, and F - and we'll be asking opinions, consipriracy theories, and more about the Bunny Boy videos, over at ralphamerica.blogspot.com, so stop by and give us yer thoughts.

TaTa and toodles from the RalphGang

http://ralphamerica.com 

The official Residents online store

-

GEORGE DUKE

• 2007/01/25 George Duke & Friends - concert "The Smooth Jazz Cruise", Vista Lounge, MS Zuiderdam, NL
  • George Duke - keyboards, vocals, Dwight Sills - guitar, Ronnie Gutierrez - percussion, Nate Phillips - bass, Rayford Griffin - drums, Arlington Jones - keyboards
    Guests: Mindi Abair - alto sax (3), Tom Braxton - tenor sax (4), Jonathan Butler - guitar, vocals (5), Najee - flute (5), alto sax (10 - 12), Marcus Miller - bass (9 - 12), Cederick Johnson - vocals, Yvonne Johnson - vocals, Traci Johnson - vocals

• 1. Introduction
  2. Fuzzzion
  3. Chillin'
  4. In A Mellow Tone
  5. Cravo E Canela
  6. Songs Introduction
  7. Sweet baby
  8. No Rhyme, No Reason
  9. Let Me Roll
  10. Reach For It
  11. Let Me Ride
  12. Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin)
• total time: 83 minutes

PANOPTICON

2009 09

2008/09/13 PaNoPTiCoN - concert 'L'An Vert', Liège, Belgium

*PaNoPTiCoN*

• Domenico Solazzo: drums (Fungus Imperator, UNITY...)
• Pierre Mottet: bass
• Michel Delville: guitar (The Wrong Object, Trank Zappa Grappa in Varese?,...)
• Antoine Guenet: keyboards  (Shhh)
• François Lourtie: soprano sax  (La cigarette sans cravate, Cru controL...)

Panopticon is a Domenic Solazzo project.

http://www.myspace.com/enterpanopticon
http://enterpanopticon.blogspot.com
http://users.skynet.be/carpigstroke/
http://www.myspace.com/domenicosolazzo

JIMMY CARL BLACK - FREEDOM JAZZ DANCE

• jimmy carl black: freedom jazz dance
      (2008, cd, italy, azzuramusic tbp11473)
  

  • You know that Jimmy Carl Black has been in the news lately. Jimmy is being treated for cancer. 
    Last year, may 2007, the indian of the group performed in Italy with a rather curious line-up: drums, keyboard, three saxes, percussion and electronics... Add to that some vocals and, with these musicians, you get an impressive mixture of contemporary, jazzy music. There are no guitars on this album. No bass either. Just great rhythmS with funky melody lines.
    -
    This album presents Jimmy Carl Black as you have never heard him before.
    Exellent stuff. 
    Highly Recommended.
    -

  • www.azzuramusic.it

ELECTRIC BONGO FURY

• electric bongo fury: revised frank zappa phase I
      (2008, cd, italy, 2008 elb)
  
  • There's an old Zappateers saying that goes like: "Italian bands always deliver!". And this is true for Electric Bongo Fury as well. This is quite a remarkable record, especially if you consider that it was recorded by just two musicians: Nicol Franza (on vocals, guitar, bass, keyboards and whatever else), and Jacopo Giusti (on drums and percussion).
    Impressive, to say the least.
    I like this. I like it a lot. No high-brow stuff. Just laid back Zappa.
    

CRAM

CRAM = 

• Corrie van Binsbergen - guitar

• Rutger van Otterloo - baritone & soprano saxophone

• Arend Niks - drums

• Mick Paauwe - bass  

Something to look forward to...

VIVA ZAPPA

• viva zappa: the purple lagoon sessions 2006 - 2007
      (2008, cdr, can, private release)
  
  • This superb demo got recorded at The Purple Lagoon Studio in Québec, Canada, by Viva Zappa.
    Good vocals, heavy on the guitars, nice arrangements and funny. This is how band that plays the music of Frank Zappa should sound like.
    I love it.
  • http://vivazappa.ifrance.com/
  • How long has it been since we've seen a band from Canada at Zappanale?  :-)

• 2008/10/18 Viva Zappa - concert 'Au vieux bureau de poste', saint romuald, canada

-

WEASEL MUSIC ACETATE FOR SALE

There's still a couple of days to go, and the highest bid is about 2,125.00 US $.

TRUBEE 2008 09 07

2008 09 07
John Trubee: I Wake Up At 3 AM Thinking These Things

"The love of tradition springs from these human failings and weaknesses:

1. LACK OF CURIOSITY to explore new ways of doing things

2. LACK OF IMAGINATION to create new, better ways of doing things

3. FEAR of the unknown; IGNORANCE, terrifies weak people to cling to ancient ways

4. The inability for or AVERSION TO THINKING causes average, mediocre people to retreat to modes of behavior for which thinking is unnecessary.

Hence, tradition: a crutch for the fearful, weak, and unimaginative "     --John Trubee

$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

"In a world in which people are increasingly willfully ignorant and obtuse, deliberately obstreperous, consciously averse to reason, and unable or unwilling to listen--the only methods to change their behavior are to interfere with and obstruct their means of making money, or to inflict so much pain upon them that they must cease all normal activities to immediately address the source of pain.

-

J21 - YELLOW MIND : BLUE MIND

• j21: yellow mind : blue mind
      (2008, download, spain, private release)
  
  • Do you recall the EyeInHand Sampler CD? It got released in 2001 and featured Don Preston, Arthur Barrow, The Muffin Men, and many more.
    On the EyeInHand Sampler, one could also find two compositions by J. D'Amour, an alias for Joseph Diaz, who compiled the album. These compositions were called 'Spiral Heart's Harp' and 'The Revealing' and were said to be from his upcoming album "Yellow Mind : Blue Mind".
    7 years later, Joseph Diaz, who now goes by the name of J21, finally finished his album. It's available as download-only, and I now that scares some of you, but it's really worth your while. 'Spiral Heart's Harp' and 'The Revealing' aren't on the album, but the 7 tracks that you do get, are fabulous.
    Participating musicians include Graham Bonnet (yes, Graham Bonnet !!), Trey Gunn (of King Krimson fame), and Ed Mann.
  • Recommended!!
    -
  • http://www.lawof21.com/home.htm
    -

-- info: Andrew's www.idiotbastard.com website

JAZZ OP HET DAK

Check out "Vrije Geluiden" on dutch tv: Nederland 1, from 10.30 h until 11.30 h.

A CONCERT FOR JIMMY - THE LINK

It's over at Andrew's www.idiotbastard.com and it will be updated regularly!! Just click the picture on the right.

(I also put it on the UM home-page)

KENEALLY: WINE AND PICKLES

• mike keneally: wine and pickles
      (2008, cd, usa, exowax)
  
  • The latest Keneally album, "Wine And Pickles", is an 80-minute collection of unreleased songs from 1998 - 2006. And although the album is 'a collection of unreleased material', it doesn't sound like it. "Wine And Pickles" sounds great. A perfect match to the other Keneally albums.
    The way that Mike states it in the booklet is a better description: "The album I didn't know I was making over the last ten years.".
    Essential !!
    -
    The CD label says "Volume One". I hope this is true.
    -
  • www.keneally.com
    

HOT RATS

-
Did you know that the picture for the cover of Hot Rats was taken by Andee Nathanson?

Miss Cristine (the woman on the cover of "Hot Rats") was Andee's roomate at that time.
Andee and Joseph Horgen are in the process of working on a new book project with Andee's and Micheal Cooper's work.

Joseph Horgen adds:
"I have seen the contact sheets of that roll of film with the Hot Rats cover- that include many more fantastic shots from that day."

So it's not Ed Caraeff that took this picture... It's Andee Nathanson.

-- info: Joseph Horgen

KILISSA'S ZAPPANALE PICTURES

-

I'm pretty sure that Kilissa won't mind...

Here's the link to her photo album of the Zappanale Festival (and the other general shots of East Germany)

http://www.kilissa.myphotoalbum.com/

Kilissa added:

"The cool thing about that site is, if you want to make a mug or tshirt... you can do it!!"

- 

THE NEW DRUMBO ALBUM

2008 09 04
from Proper Records

Drumbo release date / sound clips

http://www.proper-records.co.uk/artists.php?action=alview&alid=2116

City Of Refuge

1. Bogeyman

2. Bus Ticket Outta Town

3. Blood On A Porcupine Quill

4. City Of Refuge

5. Abandon

6. Get So Mean

7. Maybe That'll Teach Ya

8. To The Loft Of Ravenscroft

9. The Shirt Off My Back

10. Wicked Witch Of War

11. Whose Side Ya On

12. The Withered Hand Of Time

RELEASED 10th NOVEMBER 2008

Here's the paradox of John "Drumbo" French: his influence has been sizable and significant, while remaining largely invisible. As the drummer and music director for revered iconoclasts Captain Beefheart and The Magic Band, Drumbo made central contributions to a handful of LPs - notably 1969's mind-altering, revered masterpiece "Trout Mask Replica," on which French first acquired the antic stage-name "Drumbo" - that vastly expanded the parameters of contemporary music. Yet while the group earned droves of ultra-impassioned admirers, its music was too unusual and idiosyncratic to spawn many direct descendants.

The same is true of Drumbo himself. While his hugely energetic, exceptionally disciplined playing told us new things about the drums and their possibilities, it was too personal, and context-specific, to be taken up by many other players. But what Drumbo did - memorably, gorgeously - was to provide a model for musical invention. After exposure to Drumbo's extraordinary reinvention of his instrument, a generation of drummers responsive to innovation felt liberated to go their own ways. French sired not so much a school of playing as a possibility of freedom.

-

URR FALL UPDATE

2008 09 04

URR FALL UPDATE

Ugly Radio Rebellion performs the music of Frank Zappa...

We finally have new audio on the site from the Summer 08 'Non-Dramatic' tour with Ike Willis!!! Let us know what you think?!?!

Upcoming shows with Ike...

Franksgiving Tour 08

11/26 - 11/30

FZ Birthday Tour 08

12/17 - 12/23

Thanks to everyone for all your support!!!

www.uglyradiorebellion.com

www.myspace.com/uglyradiorebellion

-

FERNANDO MIYATA

2008 09 04

Sorry to hassle you with mail but you MUST see this dude.... Fernando Miyata ...a fat,lonely boy in Brazil who can play guitar like NONE of us have ever seen !

I mean this kid is off the fuckin planet !  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ATub40Npxik&NR=1

PAY PARTICULAR ATTENTION to the phrasing he uses just to bring his Solo in between 0:40 - 0:52 ....that shit is too difficult for words ! 
after that it kinda just blows your head off !    Seriously ...take a deep breath & check it out -  someone has GOT to sign this dude !

Enjoy !
cheerz 
mcinnes 
(guitarist ZAPPATiKA)

--

WARREN CUCCURULLO

2008 09
from: Denise G

I am sending you this announcement from Warren -

"Warren has asked me to announce that his new album, "Playing in Tongues" which reunites him with Missing Persons/Zappa drummer Terry Bozzio, will be released on Edel Records. Warren considers this his best guitar work ever recorded, now in its final stages of production.

He's also excited about his new website venture, HAUPTCOUTURE - a website featuring t-shirts with a message & for a cause. The shirts are high-quality materials displaying messages that will get people talking about the false and dangerous information being broadcast by the major media and news outlets. This is a cause that is most important to him, and he's looking forward to sharing it with all of you. www.hauptcouture.com

On that note, he also wants to urge all of you to see the film "September Clues." This definitive breakdown of the details surrounding the 9/11 attacks goes into forensic detail about how the news portrayed this event versus scientific facts debunking the media hype.

Stay well, and keep your eyes and minds open..."

Denise G

ZAPPOSTROPHE 110

The czech frank zappa fanclub issued number 110 (!!) of their fanzine, Zappostrophe.

ED MANN & THE MOVING TONES

• Ed Mann (vibrafoon, percussie & electronica)
• Frank van der Kooij (tenor-en sopraansax)
• Michel Delville (gitaar, electronica & zang)
• Guy Segers (basgitaar)
• Ivo Sans (drums)

-

• 2008/11/21 Ed Mann & The Moving Tones - concert 'De Singer', Rijkevorsel, Belgium
  

A CONCERT FOR JIMMY

2008 08 15

FROM: JIMMY CARL BLACK (posted on Mike Keneally's MySpace site)

I am going in the hospital and having an operation on my lung on the 20th and that is what is happening. It isn't a cancerous tumor which is good. I am not sure what they are going to do except operate on me. I hope everything is OK. I am a little worried. I don't like operations anyway. Please let the fans on Inkanish Records site know that I really need help money wise and any contributions would be appreciated. I really don't like charity but I am strapped for funds to help pay the hospital and my bills. I am willing to sell the fans CDs and that way it isn't charity. They get some good music and I get some much needed funds.

Thanks,

JCB.

Jimmy Carl Black
Hoepfling 4
83313 Siegsdorf
Germany 

2008 08 28

From Andrew (idiot bastard website, who also did an excellent interview with The Indian Of The Group)

UPDATE: I spoke with Jimmy this evening following his operation last week to remove a tumour on his lung. He confirmed that, despite what he had been told (see above-mentioned interview) the tumour WAS in fact cancerous. He sounded fairly chipper, but they say they can now only treat him with more chemotherapy. He comes out of hospital on Monday (1 September) and will soon start his treatment as an out patient. To help Jimmy pay his mounting medical bills, there's a special limited edition CD (Stick Man For Ever!) and some nifty apparel and other stuff available to buy at http://www.cafepress.com/jimmycarlblack. Please do what you can to help the dear old Mother.

A CONCERT FOR JIMMY

Sunday 9 November 2008
The Bridge House 2
Bidder Street
Canning Town
London E16
UK

Update from Andrew:

Things are starting to speed-up on the 'Concert For Jim' front. Now confirmed are: The Muffin Men, Mick Pini, Ben Watson and Fraz Knapp. Hopefully to be confirmed shortly are Sandro Oliva, The Thurston Lava Tube and Zappatika. There's others in the pipeline. The date has been confirmed at http://www.bh2live.com/page3.html, and tickets should go on sale soon. Please book early to avoid disappointment.

NEW ZAPPA DVDS

SUN RA ARKESTRA ARTIST IN RESIDENCE IN TILBURG NL

-
The Sun Ra Arkestra will be headlining the ZXZW festival in Tilburg in a couple of weeks.

5 concerts by the Arkestra, at least one tribute concert, and two movies. That's what I've read about so far.

-------------------------

ZXZW is an extensive festival for independent culture. With a solid musical base, the festival also brings visual arts, dance, theatre and movies. Over 200 cutting edge artist present themselves in an intimate context to an international audience. Black metal next to free jazz. Street art next to academic dance.

ZXZW takes place from the 14th untill 21st of September 2008 in the city of Tilburg in the Netherlands. From a squat to the mayors room. From music venue to museum. The big music-happening is on September 20-21.

For all confirmed acts, check our last.fm: http://www.last.fm/event/361621

• 2008/09/15 SUN RA ARKESTRA - concert "ZXZW Festival", 'Paradox', Tilburg, NL
  -

• 2008/09/16 SUN RA ARKESTRA - concert "ZXZW Festival", 'Paradox', Tilburg, NL
  -

• 2008/09/17 SUN RA ARKESTRA - concert "ZXZW Festival", 'Paradox', Tilburg, NL
  -

• 2008/09/18 SUN RA ARKESTRA - concert "ZXZW Festival", 'Paradox', Tilburg, NL
  

• 2008/09/19 Clazz Orchestra - concert "ZXZW Festival", 'studiozaal', Tilburg, NL
  

• 2008/09/20 SUN RA ARKESTRA - concert "ZXZW Festival", 'Paradox', Tilburg, NL
  

• 2008/09/21 SUN RA ARKESTRA - concert "ZXZW Festival", 'Open Air Stage', Tilburg, NL  --  14.30 h

HELP JIMMY CARL BLACK

2008 09 03

Subject: HELP JIMMY CARL BLACK - buy this record!
Importance: High

**A MESSAGE FROM LEAPING CAT RECORDS (UK)**

Jeff Berlin, Ed Mann, Captain Sensible, Zappatika, RagacatZZ, The Wrong Object, Dr Dot & more to come.

All have at least one thing in common. They are all coming together on a FANTASTIC new compilation CD to help Jimmy Carl Black.

Jimmy Carl Black is the original drummer and one of the founder members of The Mothers Of Invention. Jimmy has served the music industry well over five decades. He has given his life to the music industry, pleasure to millions of people over the years and now Jimmy needs help. It's time to give a bit back to jimmy and in return you will get a CD containing unique music from all of these great artists and more. This CD is not available anywhere else. You can buy it soon from Leaping Cat Records or Inkanish Records and the money that you pay for it is ALL going directly to Jimmy Carl Black, if anyone else offers to sell you it please don't buy it.

Leaping Cat Records, Inkanish Records & Jerry Ford say a big thank you now to all of the artists on the CD for helping a Brother. If you want to thank them yourselves please visit their Myspace pages and leave them a nice comment.

http://www.myspace.com/jeffberlin

http://www.myspace.com/edmannpercussion

http://www.myspace.com/thecaptainsensible

http://www.myspace.com/zappatika

http://www.myspace.com/ragacatzz

http://www.myspace.com/wrongobject

http://www.myspace.com/drdot

The CD will be available soon from Leaping Cat Records and Inkarnish Records. It will not be available as a download so if you see it offered anywhere for download please tell us and we will publically shame who ever is stealing from Jimmy Carl Black, who is a musical legend and sadly at the moment a cancer victim.

CARL FRANZONI UPDATE

2008 09 01
from John Trubee

Here's an article from the Guardian about Esouteric's Tours of LA. Carl Franzoni and I were featured guests on the Rock & Roll Hollywood Tour last February. Here's a pic of Carl dancing in front of where Vito had his art studio at Beverly & Laurel.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/travel/2008/aug/14/losangeles.top10.culture?page=all

John Trubee  
PO Box 4921  
Santa Rosa, CA 95402 USA  

LA's top 10 cult locations

Think you know Los Angeles? Think again. Benji Lanyado explores the city's cult locations and off-beat cultural landmarks

Because we've all grown up seeing the tanned, supple bodies of Los Angeles splashed across our TV and cinema screens, it's easy to make the mistake of thinking we know the city intimately. But take it from Kim Cooper and Richard Schave - native Angelenos and principals of Esotouric, the bus adventure company that delves deep into the city's secret heart - the real Los Angeles remains a beautiful enigma.

Esotouric's bus tours are dedicated to discovering these elusive locations and putting them into a cultural context - the secret power spots where pop culture moments fizzed into life, where great writers found their muses and where incredibly strange happenings gave everyday places cult status.

We caught up with them, and convinced them to divulge their top 10 spots:

... 

5. Vito's Studio

In the early 1960s, these modest art-deco storefronts were the starting point for a social, musical, artistic and fashion revolution spearheaded by Vito Paulekas, a 50-something sculptor and dancer. The community of self-professed "freaks" that formed around Vito, his fashion designer wife Szou and court jester Carl "Captain Fuck" Franzoni, included a who's who of 60s youthquakers: The Byrds got their start in the basement, Love's Bryan MacLean lived upstairs, and the Fonda kids learned how to dance freak-style. Paulekas left town around the time of the Manson killings, but today you can work out above the former site of Szou's dress shop and Vito's basement art studio in Harvey Easton's historic gymnasium, founded in 1938 and long a favourite of Hollywood's athletic set. The site is one of the highlights of Esotouric's Where the Action Was rock history tour - Carl Franzoni once got on the bus with the visitors, and then proceeded to demonstrate free-form dance moves on the sidewalk.

· Easton Gym Hollywood, 8053 Beverly Boulevard, Los Angeles, CA 90048; +1 (323) 651 3636; eastongym.com  

...

ICE-Z #3

ICE-Z #3 (International Conference of Esemplastic Zappology)
http://www.killuglyradio.com/storage/ICEZ-3-draft_2008.pdf

-

MATS AND MORGAN ON TOUR

2008 09 01

Mats/Morgan Newsletter September 2008

======================================================================

2008/09/04 Morgan Ågren drumclinic - Slagverket/Musikbörsen - Södermannag. 10, Stockholm, Sweden 19:00 / Ph. 0855693060

2008/09/20 Mats/Morgan duo - Musikmuseet - Sibylleg. 2, Stockholm, Sweden 18:00 / Ph. 0851955490

2008/09/26 Mats/Morgan Band - Bass & Drum festival, Folkungag. 84, Stockholm, Sweden
  Also performing: Terry Bozzio and more.
  Complete program available soon.
  http://www.bassndrum.se

2008/10/13-20 DW clinic tour - Morgan Ågren, Rickard Nettermalm, Eric Thyselius and more.
  More info about where and when, available soon

2008/10/26 Mats/Morgan Band - Montreal Drumfestival, Montreal, CanadA
Also performing: Simon Philips, Lenny White and more. 
See complete program here: http://www.myspace.com/montrealdrumfest

2008/12/03 Mats/Morgan Band - Metropol, Köpmannag. 11, Härnösand, Sweden / ph.  0611102 01

2008/12/04 Mats/Morgan Band - Studion - Idunteatern, Umeå, Sweden / ph. 090156200

2008/12/05 Mats/Morgan Band - Musikhuset - Hamnplan 4, Örnsköldsvik, Sweden / ph. 066019100

2008/12/06 Mats/Morgan Band - Pipeline - Kyrkog. 6, Sundsvall, Sweden / ph. 060619940

For more info on Mats/Morgan Band and Morgan Ågren, go to www.myspace.com/morganagren

DUTCH PETITION

Read all about it at: http://hoed.petities.nl/

BUCKETHEAD'S GIANT ROBOT

• buckethead: giant robot
      (1994, cd, japan, sony music entertainment)
  
  • I like Buckethead. Somehow he makes me think of Zappa and of The Residents at the same time... Love it.
    "Giant Robot" is his second album. Originally, it got released in Japan in 1994. It got released on CyberOctave  in 2000.

SUN RA'S SOUND OF JOY

• sun ra: sound of joy
      (1968, lp, usa, delmark ds-414)
  
  • I'm adding little snippets of Sun Ra while I'm listening to it. Here's "Sound Of Joy", re-released on cd in 1994.

MORE NEWS FROM WEIRDOMUSIC

In 2006, WM Recordings presented its first commercial release through iTunes, eMusic, and other e-stores.

And now, august 2008, WM Recordings released its first CD: "Handle With Care - Might Panic" from Danish band Panicphobia.

Available from CDBaby and from www.wmrecordings.com

-

STEVE VAI NEWSLETTER 2008 07 14

2008 07 14

Steve Vai - "Naked Tracks"

Naked Tracks Vol. 1-5, is a series of recording packages that contain mixes of Steve's songs without the lead guitars. They are offered as "play along tracks." Included are select backing tracks from Passion and Warfare, Sex & Religion, Alien Love Secrets, Fire Garden, The Ultra Zone, Alive In An Ultra World, Real Illusions: Reflections and others.

Steve comments on the package: "Through the years, whenever I would mix my records I would usually do a mix of specific songs without the lead guitar. This allowed me to play along with the track or make loops to jam to, and because I figured perhaps someday maybe others would like to do the same. Voila! We have arrived at someday.

"Playing to these naked tracks, or creating loops of various sections, to endlessly meander over, is a phenomenal way to discover unique musical ideas from within yourself.

"When we are playing an instrument and our mind enters that exclusive elusive mental real estate of our own personal muse, it can result in a form of musical meditation.

"This series of play-along CDs is designed to help create an atmosphere of focus so you can shred yourself into a personally-induced inspirational nirvana.

"For the most part, the tracks in this series are presented in their original form with the lead guitar removed. In some cases I looped the solo sections to give you an opportunity to stretch out. I suggest you import these files into a sequencer program of sorts, (ProTools, Band, etc.) and create loops of various parts of the songs to jam over. It's an excellent way to develop your inner musical ear.

"All 5 disks will be offered together in one package at various retail stores, through Vai.com, or can be downloaded by various tracks or volumes at any of the online digital stores (such as the iTunes Music Store.)"

Keep checking Vai.com in the coming weeks for the Naked Tracks mini-site with information about each track, as well as links to download the tracks, or order the 5-CD package...       

K'm-Pee-Du-Wee - Live In Poland

Performing in countries through Eastern Europe is an adventure. We usually travel over night to the next city after the previous gig. In this situation we were coming from a gig in Vilnius, Lithuania and driving overnight for a day off in Katowice Poland. The day after that we had a show scheduled for Zabrze, Poland.

The video goals on the Real Illusions tour (among some other colorful celluloid exploits) was to capture a unique kind of performance for each song on the Real Illusions CD. Since K'm-Pee-Du-Wee was already released on a G3 DVD from Japan, I wanted to offer a different type of performance video other than a live concert setting for that song. Never having been to Katowice Poland (oddly enough), I thought it would be a cool idea to just show up and set up a little trio combo somewhere outside of the hotel in the street, unannounced, and just jam on K'm-Pee.

The band and crew were real sports about it. Mikey Mesker shot some entertaining footage and although the equipment we used to perform with looked a little anemic, it was mic'ed properly and heavily EQ-ed so the sound we captured is actually pretty good.

We just jammed through the song a few times and I cut it together. I think it turned out charming with some striking moments. The citizens of downtown Katowice took very little interest in what we were doing.

DIDN'T THEY KNOW WHO WE WERE???? Maybe not.

The full 12 minute version of "K'm-Pee-Du-Wee - Live In Poland" will be available through the iTunes Music Store very soon. In the meantime, check out a teaser trailer on the official Steve Vai YouTube Channel!

http://www.youtube.com:80/watch?v=OnjLyfj8nAg

We will also be making all of Steve's official promo videos available through iTunes, along with select cuts from the Live At The Astoria London DVD, and all videos from the Alien Love Secrets DVD.   

WEIRDOMUSIC DOT COM

Hi everyone,

Have you checked Weirdomusic.com lately?
Over the past few months our reviews section has exploded!

Check out reviews of albums by Freida Abtan, Sonny Bono, Bruce Haack, Idle Tigers, Nurse With Wound, Polka Floyd, Tangela Tricoli, Sun Ra, Frank Zappa and many more at http://www.weirdomusic.com/reviews.htm 

best wishes,

Marco Kalnenek

http://www.weirdomusic.com

-

IT'S AFTER THE END OF THE WORLD

• sun ra and his infinity research arkestra: it's after the end of the world - live at the donaueschingen and berlin festivals
      (1971, lp, usa, mps)
  
  • Here's the cover and the data for Sun Ra's "It's After The End Of The World" album from 1971.
    A classic. Recorded live in concert in 1970!

-- info: Danny Mathys

NEW SUN RA RELEASES

new releases:

SUN RA - Live at the Electric Circus (NYC 1968) and Newport Jazz Festival (RI 1969)
(2CD, Transparency 0308)

Chronologically beginning the label's in-depth survey of the lesser-known psychedelic era of Sun Ra (1968-1971), these discs were painstakingly mastered from first and second generation passes of Michael Wilderman's original recordings. The Electric Circus show features an unknown female singer who was with the group prior to June Tyson.
The Arkestra on stage at Newport cover photo is published in high resolution for the first time.

SUN RA - Untitled Recordings
(CD, Transparency 0309)

A COMPLETELY UNKNOWN Quintet recording with Sun Ra, John Gilmore, Milford Graves, Andrew Cyrille, Don Moye from Prospect Park band shell in Brooklyn, June 1985 -- Plus two intimate recordings from "The House of Ra" in Philadelphia -- a rehearsal from 1978 and a jam from 1973.

Further info: 500 copies of the factory-made version The Complete Detroit Jazz Center Residency (Transparency 0307, 28CD) will also be available the first week of September -- so if you or someone you know needs this album, now is the time to reserve your or their copy. Just 60 dollars plus Priority Mail rates as listed above.

ZAPPATIKA VISITED ZAPPANALE

 + + ZAPPANALE FESTIVAL + +

a shitty little film about a really great festival

http://myspacetv.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=41267346

-

CROSS CULTURAL DUB

a message from ZAPPATIKA:

so a recent common subject amongst us Muso's seems to be Cross Cultural Dub  - which is really cool

this odd little piece will open our DODO album and its a blend of Gregorian Chapel Singing with an old Indian Folk song.

The piece is called,aptly, "Gregor the Swami"

have a lovely sunday
wherever you am

ZAPPATiKA

check out http://www.myspace.com:80/zappatika

FATTORE ZETA AT ZAPPANALE

from Federico Pistelli's picture book:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/29734304@N03/

JOE'S CAJUN GARAGE

a message from ZAPPATIKA:

our dear friend Dr Dot recently made a comment in a video about Accordions which set us to thinking about what would have happened if Joe had been born into a Cajun family in Louisiana.......growing up with washboards,mandolins,geetarz and of course...accordions

So here (especially for Dot  ; ) ..........   Joes Cajun Garage

(dont worry, this is just a bit of fun and NOT a new direction for Zappatika !)

----

listen to it over at http://www.myspace.com:80/zappatika

-

BICKFORD AND CUCCURULLO

The Cinefamily is an organization of movie lovers devoted to finding and presenting interesting and unusual programs of exceptional, distinctive, weird and wonderful films. The Cinefamily's goal is to foster a spirit of community and a sense of discovery, while reinvigorating the movie-going experience. Like campfires, sporting events and church services, we believe that movies work best as social experiences. They are more meaningful, funnier and scarier when shared with others. Our home is the Silent Movie Theatre, one of Hollywood's most beloved and beautiful cultural landmarks. There, The Cinefamily will provide a destination spot for Los Angelenos and others to rediscover the pleasures of cinema.

http://www.silentmovietheatre.com

-

8/24 @ 7:30 & 9:30pm

Frank Zappa's The Amazing Mr. Bickford

The title is not an exaggeration. Bruce Bickford's art--a hallucinatory stop-motion amalgamation of Peter Pan, Ray Harryhausen, and The Wild Bunch--is nothing short of amazing. Frank Zappa first used the incredible talents of self-taught claymation wizard Bickford as visual companions to his music in the film Baby Snakes, and continued this collaboration in The Amazing Mr. Bickford. On the film's original VHS cover, Zappa exclaimed, "Bruce Bickford is a genius!...Few other home video products can compare with the years of effort and attention to detail contained in less than an hour of The Amazing Mr. Bickford. It is a show that will be watched again and again, freeze-framed, and gasped at for years to come." Bruce Bickford will be in attendance for a Q&A after this incredibly rare screening.

Dirs. Bruce Bickford & Frank Zappa, 1987, digital presentation, 60 min.

Tickets - $14/ $10 for members

8/26 @ 8pm

Cas'l and Other Unreleased Bruce Bickford Films

While the greater mass of animator Bruce Bickford's work seen by the public consists of the films he made while working for Frank Zappa, he never stopped working, either before or after his employ. We will screen some of Bruce's early Super-8 experiments as a teenager, as well as his unfinished 45-minute opus Cas'l, the inspired result of years of solitary work, featuring a live score by The Gaslamp Killer. Also, Bickford will perform on of his "blues raps", with musical accompaniment by Gerry Fialka.

additional info: Warren Cuccurullo will back up Bruce Bickford, and then play a short set after after the screening.

-- info: Herman, over at the Zappateers site

THE ZAPPANALE BONUS ALBUM

• various artists: zappanale #18
      (2008, 2cd, ger, arf society)
  
  • The first 500 people who bought a Zappanale ticket, received this great sampler as a gift.
    Beautiful!
    

  • larry 'wild man' fischer: "i'm famous in germany..."  (fischer)

  • don preston's akashic ensemble: ccc (central community crisis)  (chomondeley, jiosne, preston)

  • monty & the butchers: any downers  (zappa)

  • christophe godin and mörglbl: février afghan (godin)

  • i virtuosi dal pianeta talento: andy  (zappa)

  • project/object: big swifty   (zappa)

  • trigon: zeitgeist related accidents  (trigon)

  • kimono draggin': let's get bizet  (nolan, swirski, hatton)

  • octafish: nothing  (willers)

  • sex without nails bros.: uncle remus  (zappa)

  • polytoxicomane philharmonie: flight 858  (polytoxicomane philharmonie)

  • the great googly moogly: fifty-fifty  (zappa)

  • jazzprojekt hundehagen: black napkins  (zappa)

  • harmonia ensemble: king kong  ( zappa)

  • various artists (finale): eat that question  (zappa)

ZAPPANALE 18

• various artists: zappanale 18
      (2008, 2cd, ger, arf society)
  
  • This "Zappanale 18" double disc looks back at the 2007 edition of the festival. It includes a lot of hightlights, including Don Preston's Akashic Ensemble, Christophe Godin, Project/Object, Team Zappa, the Harmonia ensemble, the italian I Virtuosi band and Chad Wackerman, just to name my favorites.
    Superb!
    Another great job of the Greenaway / Campbell team, showing what an excellent festival the Arf Society puts together each year.

• various artists: zappanale 18 - retrospective
      (2008, dvd, ger, the arf society)
  
  • The "Zappanale 18 - Retrospective" is an impressive collection of video fragments. It includes snippets of most of the bands that performed at the festival, some little interviews and a bunch of pictures.
    With a total time of almost 160 minutes, this DVD will give you a fair impression of what it was like.
    -
    Fun, that's what it was. And great music. A lot of great music.
    -
  • you can order both the album and the dvd through the arf shop at www.arf-society.de

LES GEORGES LENINGRAD

• les georges leningrad: deux hot dogs moutarde chou
      (2002, cd, canada, les records coco cognac)
  
  • Garage rockband Les Georges Leningrad are from Montreal, Quebec. The covered The Residents' 'Constantinople' on their "Deux Hot Dogs Moutarde Chou" album from 2002. The album has been re-released at least once, and is also available for download through alien8.

-- info: Ive Hapers

MATS & MORGAN

• mats / morgan: trends and other diseases
      (2008, cd, usa, cuneiform rune 267)
  
  • Keyboard virtuoso Mats Öberg and drummer Morgan Ågren have been playing together since their childhood, formed Frank Zappa coverband Zapp-Stee-Toot, and even did a guest appearance with Zappa's band on his 1988 tour...
    "Trends And Other Diseases" was the first Mats & Morgan album. It got released on the Swedish UAE label in 1996. As this superb album has been unavailable for quite some time, the Cuneiform label decided to re-release it. Eventually, Cuneiform will be re-issuing all six of the swedish-only album by Mats / Morgan.
    "Trends And Other Diseases" is one great album, and it's the perfect introduction to the music of Mats and Morgan. These guys are a class on their own. I guess I would have to call it Zappa-esque fusion. It's angular, it's jazzy, it gets inside your head and makes you happy.
    -
    It's essential. A must-have.
    -
    Those of you who are familiar with the Swedish release, will be happy to find out that the Cuneifrom release has a 15-minute bonus track!!
    It's called 'Vault Soup Medley', and it's a collection / mix of sounds and music of the bands' EMAX sampler. A journey through the EMAX years of Mats and Morgan in 15 minutes. Wowie Zowie...
    -
  • www.cuneiform.com

• mats / morgan band: heat beats live + tourbook 1991-2007
      (2008, cd+dvd, usa, cuneifrom rune 265-266)
  
  • The big news for the Mats/Morgan Band aficionados, however, it the release of "Heat Beats Live".
    The album collects songs from three concerts: two from 2005 (France and Sweden), and one from 2007 (Sweden). I was fortunate to see the band in concert in Brussels in 2007 and I'm still amazed when I think of that performance. It was a great show, where they played some very complex and beautiful music. They made it seem so easy and you could tell that the band was having a great time. So was I, by the way.
    "Heat Beat Live" captures this atmosphere.
    And as if that isn't enough, this release also includes a DVD:
    Morgan Ågren's "Tourbook 1991 - 2007".
    You get almost two hours of music (and a couple of hilarious home-movie snippets) showcasing Morgan's drumming for Mats & Morgan, Simon Steensland, the Captain Beefheart tribute, Frederick Thodendal, and more...
    Great stuff. It makes you want beg for more...
    -
  • www.cuneiform.com

ALBERT AYLER

• golia, josephson, kaiser, keneally, morris, smith & walter: healing force - the songs of albert ayler
      (2007, cd, usa, cuneiform records rune 255) 
  
  • A couple of months ago, Cuneiform Records released an Albert Ayler tribute album. The project was initiated by guitarist Henry Kaiser and included Vinny Golia on reeds, Aurora Josephson on vocals, Mike Keneally on piano, guitar and vocals, Joe Morris on guitar and bass, Damon Smith on bass, Weasel Walter on drums, and Henry Kaiser on guitar.
    This tribute focusses on the music that Albert Ayler created in the last three years of his life: "Love Cry" (1967), New Grass" (1968), and "Music Is The Healing Force" (1969). All three albums came out on the Impulse label.
    Although Albert Ayler is known as a free jazz innovater, the music that he made from 1967 until his death are vocally oriented, theme-based and have a rhythmical structure.
    Each of the seven participating artists chose one representative sample for this album, making it a very colourful collection. "Healing Force" offers a beautiful collection of songs, combining simple child-like melodies with experimental improvisations.
    Out on Cuneiform.  Check it out!
  • www.cuneiform.com

NEW BOOK ON ZAPPA BY GUY DAROL

More recently, he was responsable for the excellent Frank Zappa special in Jazz Magazine.

And next september will see the release of his next book on Frank Zappa:

----

frank zappa / one size fits all  -  cosmogonie du sofa

by guy darol
    (scheduled, book, usa, atheles)

----

ZAPPATIKA NEWSFLASH

Zappatika! will release its new album "The Short But Legendary Flight Of The Dodo" on September 1st.

-

ED MANN

Ed Mann will be in Europe on 12 November and tour around (with various musicians including Wrong Object, Moving Tones, Corkys Cats & Zappatika) in Holland, Belgium, France and the UK thru til 5 December !!

-

NEW ALBUM BY DRUMBO / JOHN FRENCH

You can hear an exclusive clip from the new / scheduled album on Drumbo's myspace.

www.myspace.com/drumbojohnfrench

-

The new album will be called "City of Refuge”, and features Bill Harkleroad (AKA “Zoot Horn Rollo”), Mark Boston (“Rockette Morton”), Greg Davidson (“Ella Guru”) and John Thomas (keyboardist on “Bat Chain Puller”).

-

SAD NEWS

He will be missed.
-

THE RESIDENTS ON TOUR

Or as the eyeballs say: "December 5th you can see The Bunny Boy hopping in Leuven, Belgium."

• 2008/12/05 The Residents - concert 'Het Depot', Leuven, Belgium

ADRIAN BELEW POWER TRIO TOURDATES

-

OCTOBER & NOVEMBER 2008 - EUROPE

• 2008/10/15 Adrian Belew Power Trio - '', concert Budapest  Hungary

• 2008/10/18 Adrian Belew Power Trio - 'Auditorium Radio Svizzera ', concert Lugano Switzerland

• 2008/10/24 Adrian Belew Power Trio - 'Komma ', concert Woergl  Austria 

• 2008/10/25 Adrian Belew Power Trio - 'Rocking-Chair', concert Vevey  Switzerland 

• 2008/10/27 Adrian Belew Power Trio - 'Club Colos-Saal', concert Aschaffenburg Germany 

• 2008/10/28 Adrian Belew Power Trio - concert Groningen Netherlands

• 2008/10/29 Adrian Belew Power Trio - 'Paard Van Troje', concert Den Haag Netherlands 

• 2008/10/31 Adrian Belew Power Trio - 'Moods Im Schiffbau', concert Zuerich Switzerland

• 2008/11/01 Adrian Belew Power Trio - 'Der Speicher', concert Schwerin Germany 

• 2008/11/02 Adrian Belew Power Trio - 'Hotjazzclub', concert Muenster Germany 

• 2008/11/03 Adrian Belew Power Trio - 'Jazztage', concert Leverkusen Germany 

A MESSAGE FROM ZAPPATEERS

a message from Zappateers Audrey & Ben:

A long time ago, in a green and leafy corner of England, a disparate group of people met after travelling from far and rides, with a common purpose, to celebrate the music of Frank Zappa whilst drinking copious amounts of beer and having an inordinate amount of fun. That event was the 2007 Zappateers Festival held in the George at Woolley.

Skipping forward to the present, and sad tidings have been heard echoing in that normal tranquil corner of Old England, Jim and Julie will be moving on the pastures new in January 2009, meaning the demise of another traditional British pub, another little gem of good fellowship and cheer swept aside by the tide of blandness and conformity.

Well before you short your keyboard in a deluge of tears borne of sadness and frustration, let me offer temporary blessed relief, with the chance to enjoy for 1 last time the best of what a traditional public house can offer, the chance to wish Jim and Julie a fond farewell, and that made the 2007 Festival such a huge success. What I hear you cry is this chance; well it is a weekend of fun, friendship and music to be held on

The weekend of 14th to 16th November 2008 at the George in Woolley.

Provisional schedule for the weekend include:

• The Pendantics - local peddlers of good rock and blues

• Beyond the Pale - landlord Jim's Irish band which was such a riot at the 2007 festival

• The distinct possibility of a new band comprising accomplished local musicians brought together with their love of Zappa music

• Monty and the Butchers

• Crazy mad cap traditional pub games, including the World Premiere of a new game, called Swedish Roulette, where a Swede hols the dart board and inebriated dart players are blindfolded and have to try and hit the dart board. The joy of this game is its simplicity, in that there is no worrying about scoring or even winners. It is just the hilarity everyone gets from seeing the Swedes peppered with darts!

If the tempting titbits above aren't enough to convince you that this is a weekend not to be missed, how does the fact that it's all free grab you? Pardon, free? Yes that's right, don't touch that dial, you heard right, it's free, it's not a festival, it's a party, a get together, all you need to do is turn up with your party head on and your drinking pants.

The small prints
There are no tickets; the weekend is open to anyone
We are not attempting to be Zappateers festival # 4, so don't expect light shows and dancing bears, it's an informal weekend with a background of great bands and great people like you (some may even be uglier)
A limited amount of accommodation will be arranged at cost price at Melksham (some of you may have enjoyed the hospitality of Irish Tony at the 2007 festival). This accommodation is on first come first served basis, so let us know as soon as possible when you like to make use of this facility and we'll make bookings for you.
Help and advice can be given on transport to Bradford on Avon, and if needs be taxis booked for airport transfers.

See you in November!!

Ben & Audrey

SHEIK YERBOUTI

2008 The Illegailly Live Tour continues...

August:
2008/08/22 Sheik Yerbouti - concert 21:00 Uhr, Hard (Österreich), Kammgarn (Special mit Bläsersatz The Horny Hornz)
2008/08/23 Sheik Yerbouti - concert 21:00 Uhr, Kreuzlingen (Schweiz), Ort: Zirkuszelt am Bodensee (Special mit Bläsersatz The Horny Hornz)
2008/08/30 Sheik Yerbouti - concert , ??? Uhr, Zytanien Open-Air-Festival, Lehrte

Oktober:
The Return of SHEIK YERBOUTI feat. Napoleon Murphy Brock
2008/10/14 Sheik Yerbouti - concert 21:00 Uhr, Objekt 5, Halle
2008/10/15 Sheik Yerbouti - concert 21:00 Uhr, Kammgarn, Kaiserslautern
2008/10/16 Sheik Yerbouti - concert 21:00 Uhr, Colos-Saal, Aschaffenburg
2008/10/17 Sheik Yerbouti - concert 21:00 Uhr, Alte Patrone, Mainz, Veranstalter: Upart e.V.
2008/10/18 Sheik Yerbouti - concert 21:00 Uhr, bei Georg Nilius, Westerwald (wahrscheinlich Stairway, Wallmenroth)

Und weiter geht’s mit dem Halloween-Special:
2008/10/31 Sheik Yerbouti - concert 21:00 Uhr, Café Hahn, Koblenz

November:
2008/11/29 Sheik Yerbouti - concert 21:00 Uhr, Tatort Musicclub, Übach-Palenberg (bei Aachen)