Zappa corner. bung it here.

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Charlie O.
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Re: Zappa corner. bung it here.

Postby Charlie O. » 04 Apr 2021, 02:13

back in October, Charlie O. wrote:Just learned: the late Bob Stone, longtime chief engineer in Zappa's Utility Muffin Research Kitchen, wrote "Gypsys, Tramps & Thieves"...

I got this info from discogs.com. I now think that they are mistaken - that these are, in fact, two different Bob Stones. I find it hard to imagine such a successful songwriter - with credits going at least as far back as 1964 - going on the road as Frank Zappa's sound engineer in the late '80s. Nor can I fathom how the writer of "Gypsys, Tramps & Thieves" could have ended his days living in his truck, as the engineer apparently did (http://www.united-mutations.com/s/bob_stone.htm).

I left a message on the appropriate Discogs page, we'll see what response it gets (if any)...
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Re: Zappa corner. bung it here.

Postby C » 04 Apr 2021, 13:32

Charlie O. wrote:
back in October, Charlie O. wrote:Just learned: the late Bob Stone, longtime chief engineer in Zappa's Utility Muffin Research Kitchen, wrote "Gypsys, Tramps & Thieves"...

I got this info from discogs.com. I now think that they are mistaken - that these are, in fact, two different Bob Stones. I find it hard to imagine such a successful songwriter - with credits going at least as far back as 1964 - going on the road as Frank Zappa's sound engineer in the late '80s. Nor can I fathom how the writer of "Gypsys, Tramps & Thieves" could have ended his days living in his truck, as the engineer apparently did (http://www.united-mutations.com/s/bob_stone.htm).

I left a message on the appropriate Discogs page, we'll see what response it gets (if any)...


Yes - it does sound odd Chas

Very odd




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Re: Zappa corner. bung it here.

Postby mudshark » 05 Apr 2021, 22:25

Thanks to Qobuz and Mr. C. I listened to a lot of Zappa this weekend. I also went through some the memorabilia that I have. One of my favourite items is a Yellow Shark Hat. Better still, I was told it's THE Yellow Shark Hat. I just wanted to share how I obtained it: When the Yellow Shark album got released in Singapore Tower Records made a Big Deal out of it. Plastic sharks, big posters and a fisherman's hat with the logo were on grand display. I asked about it and the promotor insisted that FZ himself had worn it on stage in Frankfurt which is, I believe, where most of the compositions were recorded and I also believe it's the only Yellow Shark performance he was able to attend. I asked if the hat was for sale, but the answer was no. The album was released Nov 2nd 1993 (I looked that one up) and the man (Zappa, not the promotor) died a month after the release. Now I don't remember if the album became available in Singapore before or after his death. Anyway, I told this to my then wife. She didn't care much for the music of Uncle Frank (she was more into Anne Murray). But she did something amazing. Now, as my divorce lawyers will testify, she could be a very persuasive woman. She decided to go to Tower Records and I can just imagine what she did: she pleaded, talked, begged, flirted, threatened eternal damnation etc. etc. for hours with the determination of a Jehova witness. She just was not going to leave that place without that hat. And for sure, for Xmas she gave me The Hat. She didn't even have to buy it! That store manager was willing to do just about anything to get rid of her, I think.

So I have it. The Hat. But is it The Hat?? Fact is that FZ wore a hat on stage at that performance. I've seen photographs. And it looks just like my hat. But I have no provenance whatsoever other than the verbal assurance of a Tower Records store manager in Singapore. It could be The Hat, but why would it be? Why would the hat of the greatest composer of the 2nd half of the 20th century end up on a tiny island in South East Asia where Zappa was not very well known? In fact most of his music was not available in the country until 1992 when the regime loosened the chains a bit, and I can't imagine that Tower Records sold more than 20 copies of the album. But then again, why wouldn't it be?? It looks just like in the pictures!! I guess I could send it to some CSI kind of place where they could check on any Zappa DNA. If they can find it, great. If they can't it could have been washed off or something (the hat was used on occasion, over the years), so there's no real point. So I'll leave it as it is: for me it's The Hat. But more than anything it's a wonderful memory. On the other hand: if I can obtain provenance maybe I can earn back some of the money I lost in the divorce. Just kidding: this is one of those things I wouldn't sell. It's pretty priceless. I have a Zappa at the Crappa T-shirt that's for sale, though. What was I thinking at the time??
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Re: Zappa corner. bung it here.

Postby Robert » 05 Apr 2021, 22:35

mudshark wrote:Thanks to Qobuz and Mr. C. I listened to a lot of Zappa this weekend. I also went through some the memorabilia that I have. One of my favourite items is a Yellow Shark Hat. Better still, I was told it's THE Yellow Shark Hat. I just wanted to share how I obtained it: When the Yellow Shark album got released in Singapore Tower Records made a Big Deal out of it. Plastic sharks, big posters and a fisherman's hat with the logo were on grand display. I asked about it and the promotor insisted that FZ himself had worn it on stage in Frankfurt which is, I believe, where most of the compositions were recorded and I also believe it's the only Yellow Shark performance he was able to attend. I asked if the hat was for sale, but the answer was no. The album was released Nov 2nd 1993 (I looked that one up) and the man (Zappa, not the promotor) died a month after the release. Now I don't remember if the album became available in Singapore before or after his death. Anyway, I told this to my then wife. She didn't care much for the music of Uncle Frank (she was more into Anne Murray). But she did something amazing. Now, as my divorce lawyers will testify, she could be a very persuasive woman. She decided to go to Tower Records and I can just imagine what she did: she pleaded, talked, begged, flirted, threatened eternal damnation etc. etc. for hours with the determination of a Jehova witness. She just was not going to leave that place without that hat. And for sure, for Xmas she gave me The Hat. She didn't even have to buy it! That store manager was willing to do just about anything to get rid of her, I think.

So I have it. The Hat. But is it The Hat?? Fact is that FZ wore a hat on stage at that performance. I've seen photographs. And it looks just like my hat. But I have no provenance whatsoever other than the verbal assurance of a Tower Records store manager in Singapore. It could be The Hat, but why would it be? Why would the hat of the greatest composer of the 2nd half of the 20th century end up on a tiny island in South East Asia where Zappa was not very well known? In fact most of his music was not available in the country until 1992 when the regime loosened the chains a bit, and I can't imagine that Tower Records sold more than 20 copies of the album. But then again, why wouldn't it be?? It looks just like in the pictures!! I guess I could send it to some CSI kind of place where they could check on any Zappa DNA. If they can find it, great. If they can't it could have been washed off or something (the hat was used on occasion, over the years), so there's no real point. So I'll leave it as it is: for me it's The Hat. But more than anything it's a wonderful memory. On the other hand: if I can obtain provenance maybe I can earn back some of the money I lost in the divorce. Just kidding: this is one of those things I wouldn't sell. It's pretty priceless. I have a Zappa at the Crappa T-shirt that's for sale, though. What was I thinking at the time??




I would keep the Zappa is Crappa t-shirt. With advancing age, a good reminder is always welcome.

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Re: Zappa corner. bung it here.

Postby mudshark » 05 Apr 2021, 22:47

Very good!
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Re: Zappa corner. bung it here.

Postby Charlie O. » 06 Apr 2021, 11:28

Cool story, mudshark!
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Re: Zappa corner. bung it here.

Postby C » 06 Apr 2021, 13:37

Charlie O. wrote:Cool story, mudshark!


Indeed!




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Re: Zappa corner. bung it here.

Postby Charlie O. » 22 Apr 2021, 19:44

I'm a moron, and this is my wife
She's frosting a cake with a paper knife

      - "Flakes" (Sheik Yerbouti)


Every now and then I think of things like this - where there's a reference in a song lyric that's very temporal and/or unique to a particular culture. In this case I'm guessing that most European Zappa fans (and younger North American ones) wouldn't be aware of the reference, so allow me:


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Re: Zappa corner. bung it here.

Postby mudshark » 22 Apr 2021, 20:42

Charlie, I bet you have read The Negative Dialectics of Poodle Play. That book is full of information on references and Zappa's Conceptual Continuity. Watson discovered stuff in the music that even Frank himself wasn't aware of.
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Re: Zappa corner. bung it here.

Postby Charlie O. » 22 Apr 2021, 20:44

I never have! It seemed a bit daunting, to be honest. I know Frank was tickled by it, though.
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Re: Zappa corner. bung it here.

Postby mudshark » 22 Apr 2021, 22:28

You should. I got it for my birthday back in the 90s when it came out and I re-read it last year. I agree: 621 pages on Zappa's work seems a bit much and it's definitely over the top. A scientific/sociological approach to Ruben & The Jets goes a bit too far for me. But it's an absolute labour of love and that helps make it fun to read most of it. At the end of the book there's his interview with Frank which very well could have been the last one he's done and that alone makes it worthwhile for any Zappatista to own it. 20 bucks on Amazon, I just saw. You can't go wrong.
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Re: Zappa corner. bung it here.

Postby Charlie O. » 22 Apr 2021, 22:30

Thanks, m, I'll give it a shot.
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Re: Zappa corner. bung it here.

Postby Charlie O. » 06 May 2021, 18:57

https://theseconddisc.com/2021/05/04/the-groovy-life-i-lead-frank-zappas-final-u-s-concert-released-on-zappa-88-in-june/

The Groovy Life I Lead: Frank Zappa’s Final U.S. Concert Released on Zappa ’88 In June
by Joe Marchese

Following recent releases including the soundtrack to director Alex Winter’s documentary Zappa (already out on CD/digital and coming to vinyl this Friday) and Halloween 81, Zappa Records has announced a new archival title – and it’s a landmark, if bittersweet, addition to the library. Zappa ’88: The Last U.S. Show will arrive in CD, LP, and digital formats on June 18, preserving the March 25, 1988 show at Uniondale, New York’s Nassau Coliseum that turned out to be the musician and bandleader’s final show on American soil.

Appropriately enough, the concert closed with Zappa and his big band powering through “America the Beautiful.” It was one of nearly 100 songs rehearsed by the group including Mike Keneally (guitar, synth, vocals), Scott Thunes (electric bass, Minimoog), Ike Willis (rhythm guitar, synth, vocals), Chad Wackerman (drums, electronic percussion), Ed Mann (vibes, marimba, electronic percussion), Robert Martin (keyboards, vocals) and a horn section consisting of Walt Fowler (trumpet, flugelhorn, synth), Bruce Fowler (trombone), Paul Carman (alto, soprano, and baritone sax), Albert Wing (tenor sax) and Kurt McGettrick (baritone and bass sax, contrabass clarinet). In addition to lead vocals and guitar, Zappa made significant use of his preferred instrument of the era, the digital synthesizer and sampling system known as the Synclavier. Wackerman and Mann also incorporated electronic textures into their percussion setups.

The band members didn’t exactly gel on a personal level; following the Nassau Coliseum performance, they embarked upon a European tour that would be cut short due to rising tensions. A return to the States was then scuttled. All told, the group only performed for four months of rehearsal in 1987-1988 and the brief February-June 1988 tour which would prove to be Zappa’s last.

But any backstage drama wasn’t in evidence during the blazing New York set which featured a career-spanning selection of Zappa’s own compositions (including “Peaches en Regalia,” “Sharleena,” and “I Ain’t Got No Heart”) plus classical pieces and nods to pop culture touchstones such as “I Left My Heart in San Francisco” and the theme to Bonanza. Most notably, this show featured “The Beatles Medley” (receiving its first commercial release here). In the tour de force mini-suite, the band played “Norwegian Wood,” “Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds,” and “Strawberry Fields Forever” with the songs’ lyrics given a topical overhaul to address the headline-dominating sex scandal of televangelist Jimmy Swaggart. Zappa and the band also performed the Fabs’ “I Am the Walrus” with the horn section shining. In the spirit of these covers, Zappa ’88 makes room for two additional performances from the same tour: The Allman Brothers Band’s “Whipping Post” from the March 16 show in Providence, RI and Led Zeppelin’s “Stairway To Heaven” from the March 23 Towson, MD gig.

The concert takes on added resonance today. Before the show and during intermission, Zappa (supported by the League of Women Voters) offered voter registration. During the intermission at Nassau Coliseum, the Synclavier was set to play “One Man, One Vote.” It’s presented here in its unique mix different from the one presented on Frank Zappa Meets the Mothers of Prevention. For his efforts to get the vote out, Zappa was congratulated by then-New York Governor Mario Cuomo.

Zappa ’88: The Last U.S. Show will be available from Zappa Records and UMe as a 2-CD set or a 4-LP 180-gram black vinyl box set as well as in digital configurations. A purple vinyl variant is also up for pre-order exclusively from uDiscoverMusic and the Zappa online store. Ahmet Zappa and “Vaultmeister” Joe Travers have produced this release featuring new mixes by Craig Parker Adams from the original 48-track digital masters. (The shows were recorded using two Sony 3324 DASH PCM 24-track tape recorders synced together using a Lynx Time Code Module to yield 48-track recording capabilities.) Liner notes have been written by Travers and Chad Wackerman; the drummer was celebrating his 28th birthday during the concert and was feted in song by Zappa and the audience. Peder Andersson’s photos round out the package.

CD 1

“We Are Doing Voter Registration Here”
The Black Page (New Age Version)
I Ain’t Got No Heart
Love Of My Life
Inca Roads
Sharleena
Who Needs The Peace Corps?
I Left My Heart In San Francisco
Dickie’s Such An Asshole
When The Lie’s So Big
Jesus Thinks You’re A Jerk
Sofa #1
One Man, One Vote
Happy Birthday, Chad!
Packard Goose Pt. 1
Royal March From “L’Histoire Du Soldat”
Theme From The Bartok Piano Concerto #3
Packard Goose Pt. II
The Torture Never Stops Pt. I
Theme From “Bonanza”

CD 2

Lonesome Cowboy Burt
The Torture Never Stops Pt. II
City Of Tiny Lites
Pound For A Brown
The Beatles Medley
Peaches En Regalia
Stairway To Heaven
I Am The Walrus
Whipping Post
Bolero
America The Beautiful



That set list is pretty amazing. (Surprised there's not more in the way of then-new compositions.) I look forward to hearing it.
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Re: Zappa corner. bung it here.

Postby mudshark » 06 May 2021, 21:00

Wasn't this released as a bootleg before? I'm pretty sure I've got it somewhere. I'm 100% certain I listened to that Beatles medley. Not so great, really.
But of course I'll get this one, if only to complete the collection. The '88 band was technically brilliant and produced a few excellent live albums: Broadway The Hardway, The Best Band You Never Heard In Your Life and Make A Jazz Noise Here (with the prophetic words "you'll never hear vloerbedekking again").
Last edited by mudshark on 06 May 2021, 22:07, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Zappa corner. bung it here.

Postby Charlie O. » 06 May 2021, 21:11

I know I've heard the Beatles medley too, years ago. Maybe on YouTube.
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Re: Zappa corner. bung it here.

Postby C » 06 May 2021, 21:55

Charlie O. wrote:That set list is pretty amazing. (Surprised there's not more in the way of then-new compositions.) I look forward to hearing it.


Indeed Chas. I am looking forward to hearing it too




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Re: Zappa corner. bung it here.

Postby mudshark » 08 May 2021, 21:39

Got it: the Apogrypha Bootleg.

Disc 3: The Texas Medley: Norwegian Jim / Louisiana Hooker With Herpes / Texas Motel
Recorded live in Springfield, 13 March 1988 (so not from the last show).

Taking the piss out of Jimmy Swaggert. A bit dated. Not very drole. Certainly not Mr. C.'s cup of tea.

The all-knowing Zappateers website says that young Dweezil makes a guest appearance during the last U.S. show.

The band soon went off to Europe and played its very VERY last show in Genoa. The "The Torture Never Stops" version on YCDTOSA Vol 6. is recorded there, so that's probably the very last song ever released on an official album. But that whole show is of course available from the mighty Zappateers. They have the Motherload, and possibly more.
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Re: Zappa corner. bung it here.

Postby mudshark » 13 May 2021, 18:58

Turns out there's some more trouble in the Zappa clan. Dweezil has requested for the 2 songs on which he guested during the last concert to be cut from the recording. I'm not sure if the real reason is known. One camp says that Dweezil is just being an asshole, while the other is saying that he's truly embarrassed about his performance. So it won't be Dweezil on Whipping Post and Stairway to Heaven but FZ and Mike Kinealy respectively, from previous shows. So not quite the real thing unfortunately. I think I would have preferred the warts 'n all release of the full concert.
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Re: Zappa corner. bung it here.

Postby Neige » 14 May 2021, 06:32

mudshark wrote:Turns out there's some more trouble in the Zappa clan. Dweezil has requested for the 2 songs on which he guested during the last concert to be cut from the recording. I'm not sure if the real reason is known. One camp says that Dweezil is just being an asshole, while the other is saying that he's truly embarrassed about his performance. So it won't be Dweezil on Whipping Post and Stairway to Heaven but FZ and Mike Kinealy respectively, from previous shows. So not quite the real thing unfortunately. I think I would have preferred the warts 'n all release of the full concert.


That sucks.

I really wish Dweezil and Ahmet would make up (if that's the reason).
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Re: Zappa corner. bung it here.

Postby mudshark » 14 May 2021, 17:22

Yesterday while I was doing the dishes I listened to Tinsel Town Rebellion (yes, a lot of dishes). Apart from the feeling that a couple of the songs could have done with a bit less synthesizer in 'm and my dislike for corny fillers like Panty Rap and Dance Contest (why did he keep putting these on the albums?? I don't think I even would have liked it if I'd been in the audience) it's a pretty great album. I like in particular the rendition of Brown Shoes Don't Make it (incl. the segue into Peaches III). It was probably FZ's first Great Composition. But I think it only appears twice on the 100+ official releases: the original studio version on Absolutely Free and the aforementioned live recording. It's not on any of the 6 YCDTOSA volumes and neither is it on one of the many posthumous releases of live shows. I wonder why that is. It's pretty much the song that sent him on the way to stardom and it's still widely recognized as a 'masterpiece'. Did Frank fall out of love with the song? Were the lyrics too controversial (I can't imagine he would have given two fucks about that)? Does anybody have an idea?

PS For the hell of it I checked all the Beat The Boots releases. The song also appears on Any Way The Wind Blows, but I don't think that should be considered an official release.
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