*** Frank Zappa ***

[AllenLowe]

"The modern day dead man refuses to compose." - Allen Lowe

[7/4]

April 9, 2008

Frank Zappa's Widow Sues German Fan Club

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Filed at 1:45 p.m. ET

DUESSELDORF, Germany (AP) -- Frank Zappa's widow is trying to stop a German fan club from using the Grammy-winning rocker's name for its annual ''Zappanale'' festival.

Gail Zappa says the German-based Arf Society's use of Zappa's name and an accompanying logo infringe on trademarks held by the Zappa Family Trust. The logo features a prominent mustache similar to that sported by the legendary musician.

The Arf Society says the trust has been aware of its use of the name since the festival was launched in 1998.

A state court in Duesseldorf began hearing the case Wednesday.

[porter_esq]

Something I haven't read here is Zappa's sociological resonance. The stupid lyrics (Bwana Dik, poop chute) are not there to merely grace us with their presence. They are cultural artifacts of life in 20th century America. These words (many of them) were produced by our society itself and Zappa only chose to remind us of our blossoming disintellect, our unabated consumerism, our downfall as a nation.

Here we all are in 2008. Was he wrong?

[Peter]

Anybody pick-up Zappa Plays Zappa? 5 disc mix of CD & DVD released today on Razor & Tie.

[AllenLowe]

what are the performances from?

[7/4]

May 7, 2008

Baltimore offered native Frank Zappa bust; will they accept?

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Filed at 2:41 p.m. ET

This undated photo provided by Saulius Paukstys, shows a cast used to create a replica

of a bust of musician Frank Zappa in an art studio in Vilnius, Lithuania. The original bust,

which typically sits in a public square in Vilnius, can be seen in the background. Paukstys,

longtime president of a Zappa fan club, was in Baltimore Wednesday May 7, 2008, to

pitch the Zappa bust to the city's public art commission.

(AP Photo/Saulius Paukstys)

BALTIMORE (AP) -- Frank Zappa, who sang about ''Plastic People,'' has been cast in bronze. Again.

In 1995, a quirky bunch of Lithuanian artists and intellectuals managed to erect a bust of the eccentric rocker in downtown Vilnius, the capital of the former Soviet republic.

Now, they want to place a replica in Zappa's hometown.

Saulius Paukstys, longtime president of a Zappa fan club, was in Baltimore on Wednesday to pitch the Zappa bust to the city's public art commission.

''It's carved already, and it's ready to be shipped to the U.S.,'' said Arturas Baublys, a public relations consultant and Zappa admirer who made the trip with Paukstys. ''Whenever Baltimore says, 'OK,' and gives us an address to ship it to, we pack it and we ship it on our costs. And that's a nation of three and a half million giving a present to the United States.''

Before the initial sculpture was erected, there was no known connection between Zappa and Lithuania. The mustachioed, antiestablishment musician was born in Baltimore to an Italian immigrant father and died of prostate cancer in 1993 at age 52, never having visited the Baltic state.

But his music was popular among the Lithuanian avant-garde, particularly in the immediate aftermath of the country's independence in 1990 from the Soviet Union. Paukstys, an art photographer, launched the fan club and even set up an art exhibit with imagined correspondence between himself and Zappa, whom he had never met.

The club commissioned the bust from Konstantinas Bogdanas, a respected sculptor who cast many portraits of Lenin during the Soviet era. And members managed to persuade the mayor and city council to place it in a public square, in front of the Belgian embassy.

''It was just four years after independence,'' Paukstys said through Baublys, who translated from Lithuanian. ''The opportunity for this Zappa statue was also like a trial for the new system and the newly established democracy, if that (was) possible or not.''

Paukstys and Baublys hope for a similar friendly response from Baltimore, where last year Mayor Sheila Dixon proclaimed Aug. 9 as ''Frank Zappa Day.''

Vilnius Mayor Juozas Imbrasas sent a letter to Dixon asking her to accept the gift.

''I hope that replication of the original statue of Frank Zappa in Vilnius and bringing it to Baltimore will perpetuate the memory of one of the greatest artists of the (20th) century,'' Imbrasas wrote.

Baublys estimated the cost of creating and shipping the bust at $50,000. The city would be responsible for installation and maintenance at a yet-to-be determined location.

He said the project has the blessing of Zappa's widow, Gail, who as head of the Zappa Family Trust has been protective of her late husband's image and music. Gail Zappa's attorney did not immediately respond to an e-mail seeking comment, and an agents for two of Zappa's sons, Dweezil and Ahmet, did not return phone calls.

Sterling Clifford, a spokesman for Dixon, said the mayor had no objection to the bust but would defer to the judgment of the public art commission. He noted that Zappa belongs in the pantheon of Baltimore's famously offbeat favorite sons and daughters.

''Like John Waters and a lot of artists we're proud of,'' Clifford said, ''it's a big deal that Frank Zappa is from Baltimore.''

Edited May 7, 2008 by 7/4

[7/4]

May 8, 2008

Frank Zappa's widow supports plans for Baltimore bust

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Filed at 9:33 a.m. ET

BALTIMORE (AP) -- Frank Zappa's widow is on board with plans for a bust of the eccentric rocker in his hometown of Baltimore.

Gail Zappa tells The Associated Press that she supports the project, which was spearheaded by Zappa fans from Lithuania.

Baltimore's public art commission has accepted the gift of the bronze bust, which will sit atop a stainless steel pole. It's a replica of a bust that went up in 1995 in Vilnius, Lithuania.

Zappa writes in an e-mail that the creators of the bust ''have gone about this in the right way, with total respect for the composer.''

She hopes Baltimore will benefit from commemorating its association with her husband along with other famous artists associated with the city such as Upton Sinclair, Edgar Allan Poe and John Waters.

[7/4]

New item in the Zappa shop:

Frank Zappa The Torture Never Stops

DVD

$21.98

Halloween, New York City, 1981

Live at The Palladium

edited, performed & music composed & conducted by FZ

with Ray White, Steve Vai, Bobby Martin, Tommy Mars,

Ed Mann, Scott Thunes, Chad Wackerman

2 hours with xtras - ratta tat too!

I haven't seen a set list yet.

[Quincy]

2 shows that Halloween night. Lots of stuff from that era, as in You Are What You Is, Drowning Witch and Them or Us. Quite a bit has been released on the "You Can't Do That On Stage Anymore," mostly on Vol. 1 & 3 and a bit on 6. The Dub Room Special was a documentary that premiered at the Ritz the following Halloween.

Early show:

* Chunga's Revenge

* You Are What You Is

* Mudd Club

* The Meek Shall Inherit Nothing

* Dumb All Over (YCDTOSA Vol. 1)

* Heavenly Bank Account (YCDTOSA Vol. 1)

* Suicide Chump (YCDTOSA Vol. 1)

* Jumbo Go Away (YCDTOSA Vol. 1)

* Envelopes

* Drowning Witch

* What's New In Baltimore?

* Moggio

* We're Turning Again

* Alien Orifice (parts on YCDTOSA Vol. 6)

* Teen-age Prostitute

* Flakes (The Dub Room Special!)

* Broken Hearts Are For Assholes

* The Blue Light

* Tinsel Town Rebellion

* Yo' Mama

* Bobby Brown

* City Of Tiny Lites

* Strictly Genteel

* Dancin' Fool

* Whippin' Post (Allman)

Late show:

* Black Napkins (BTB I: As An Am)

* Montana

* Easy Meat (The Dub Room Special!)

* Society Pages (YCDTOSA Vol. 3)

* I'm A Beautiful Guy (YCDTOSA Vol. 3)

* Beauty Knows No Pain (YCDTOSA Vol. 3)

* Charlie's Enormous Mouth (YCDTOSA Vol. 3)

* Fine Girl

* Teen-age Wind

* Harder Than Your Husband

* Bamboozled By Love

* Sinister Footwear II

* Stevie's Spanking (The Dub Room Special!)

* Cocaine Decisions (The Dub Room Special!)

* Nig Biz (The Dub Room Special!)

* Doreen

* Goblin Girl

* Black Page #2 (BTB I: As An Am)

* Tryin' To Grow A Chin

* Strictly Genteel (YCDTOSA Vol. 6)

* The Torture Never Stops (BTB I: As An Am)

* Joe's Garage

* Why Does It Hurt When I Pee?

* The Illinois Enema Bandit

* King Kong

* Auld Lang Syne (Burns)

[7/4]

.

[7/4]

dig the threads...dig the string and horn front line

Montanna,

Frank Zappa / The Mothers

live Aug. 21, 1973.

Stockholm, Sweden.

Frank Zappa guitar

George Duke-keys (lots)

Jean-Luc Ponty-violin

Ian Underwood-winds,saxes,mini moog

Ruth Underwood - percussion,vibes,etc

Bruce Fowler-trombone

Tom Fowler-bass

Ralph Humphrey-drums

Edited October 11, 2008 by 7/4

[papsrus]

(Moved the post over here)

Yep, that is the same band, same year. Italy.

Frank Zappa guitar

George Duke-keys (lots)

Jean-Luc Ponty-violin

Ian Underwood-winds,saxes,mini moog

Ruth Underwood - percussion,vibes,etc

Bruce Fowler-trombone

Tom Fowler-bass

Ralph Humphrey-drums

Those youtube vids are a blast.

[7/4]

Apparently there's a Ban the Boots associated with it, Piquantique. I'm not familiar with it, but I'll check it out this afternoon.

[7/4]

Ah! A video exists - Swedish Sensation (aka Stockholm In Bondage).

The concert is amazing, I was watching it this morning and listening to the audio again now.

[7/4]

Zappa Wiki Jawaka contains 4,142 articles attempting to record the life, times and music of Frank Zappa.

[7/4]

A Concert For Jimmy

Sunday 9 November 2008

London

A benefit concert to raise funds for original Mother and Grandmother, Jimmy Carl Black, who was diagnosed with lung cancer in August 2008.

[7/4]

Anne Frank Zappa

[7/4]

In the process thinking good healing thoughts about Jimmy Carl Black, I think it's important to remember one of his essential, important contributions to American culture...

Jimmy Carl Black and Eugene Chadbourne

[mjzee]

I just saw this on eMusic - anybody know anything about it?

The Jimmy Carl Black Story by Jon Larsen

[Ken Dryden]

My review copy of Jon Larsen: The Jimmy Carl Black Story arrived today, it is a two disc set.

I interviewed Jean-Luc Ponty a few years ago. He was excited about touring with Zappa until the focus shifted from hot instrumentals to lots of vocal comedy numbers. That's why he left the band.

[7/4]

I interviewed Jean-Luc Ponty a few years ago. He was excited about touring with Zappa until the focus shifted from hot instrumentals to lots of vocal comedy numbers. That's why he left the band.

That's a shame, I like the hot instrumentals more. Zappa needed the money.

It's too bad he never had a regular violinist in the band again. Ponty was only in the band a short time and others like L. Shankar and "Sugarcane" Harris seem to have been only guests.

I really liked the combination of violin, trombone and clarinet on Swedish Sensation (aka Stockholm In Bondage).

Edited October 28, 2008 by 7/4

[Robert J]

Agreed on the violin. Maybe Zappa was worried about being another Mahavishnu?

However, I did get to see Ponty's keyboard player - Allan Zavod - on Zappa's 1984 tour.

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

"Alan Zavod, our 1984 keyboard player... ...would end his solo with this thing that everybody called 'The Volcano.' He held the sustain pedal down and churned and smashed away to get a big blur going, and then topped it off at the end with a flourish. It worked every time, but it got to be a band joke. In fact, Alan really is a great pianist (and film composer). It's just that maybe -- because he was working in a rock and roll band -- he thought that type of solo was the appropriate vehicle to project his aura across vast continental areas."

— Frank Zappa, The Real Frank Zappa Book

[7/4]

Agreed on the violin. Maybe Zappa was worried about being another Mahavishnu?

I wouldn't confuse them!

However, I did get to see Ponty's keyboard player - Allan Zavod - on Zappa's 1984 tour.

I did too, at the Does Humor Belong in Music? show on the Pier.

I may have heard him in Ponty's band too, but I'd have to do a bit of research to be sure. It was a long time ago.

[Д.Д.]

Eddie Jobson was Zappa's best violin player. He toured with FZ in mid-seventies. There are no official records featuring his violin playing (well, not soloing, at least), but there are a few bootlegs around. The short-lived 1975 (or 76?) band with him and vocalist Bianca Odin was a killer.

Meanwhile, good news: ZFT is reissuing "We Are Only In It for the Money" and "Lumpy Gravy" with some bonus material later this year.

[7/4]

Forgot about Eddie Jobson.

.