Tuesday, June 16, 2026
"ZAPPA AND ME" MOVIE UPDATE
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It's one of the most iconic portraits in rock'n roll.
Our film tells that story and the story of Robert Davidson, the photographer who made the portrait.
We started the film back in 2019 and we're hoping to complete it this year with your help and support.
Kickstarter Campaign Launch
Our campaign has been 'approved' and we are now making some final tweaks before a prelaunch.
However, with the football World Cup on, followed by the holidays, we think it is wise (based on some reading and advice) to launch the campaign in September, when we will not be competing for oxygen with the footie.
We plan to use this time to build our network of supporters.
For the Kickstarter to be a success, so that we stand a chance of being able to complete this film, need to grow our project supporter base, so please share the film's webpage with friends and help us spread the word on social media!
https://www.wilddogworld.com/zappa-and-me-the-image-that-created-an-icon/
Seeking Executive Producers
While we wait for the launch of the Kickstarter, we're not planning to lounge about. We're aiming to shoot several key interviews over the summer with Pauline Butcher (Zappa's PA), Chris Welch (Melody Make Journalist) and Piers Secunda (Tony Secunda' son) as well as lining up several other contributors (names to be announced soon!). We also have a filming trip to the Zappanale festival in July planned.
To do all this though, we do need to secure some extra funding. So we are looking for people to invest in the project early and come on board as Executive Producers.
There will be an Executive Producer reward offer in the Kickstarter campaign, but that will not come with the possibility of a share in the film's profits.
Executive Producers who would like to come on board early will be offered a share in film profits, IMDB credits, invitations to the cast and crew screening in London and a bundle of other goodies including signed movies posters etc.
Drop us a line if you can help!
Newsletter Bonus
As a bonus for our newsletter crew, we're really please to share this little snippet from an interview with Candy Zappa (Frank's sister) by Tom Spence on the KVTA Morning Show in California earlier this week. Candy speaks about Zappa and Me.
Seeking Executive Producers
While we wait for the launch of the Kickstarter, we're not planning to lounge about. We're aiming to shoot several key interviews over the summer with Pauline Butcher (Zappa's PA), Chris Welch (Melody Make Journalist) and Piers Secunda (Tony Secunda' son) as well as lining up several other contributors (names to be announced soon!). We also have a filming trip to the Zappanale festival in July planned.
To do all this though, we do need to secure some extra funding. So we are looking for people to invest in the project early and come on board as Executive Producers.
There will be an Executive Producer reward offer in the Kickstarter campaign, but that will not come with the possibility of a share in the film's profits.
Executive Producers who would like to come on board early will be offered a share in film profits, IMDB credits, invitations to the cast and crew screening in London and a bundle of other goodies including signed movies posters etc.
Drop us a line if you can help!
Newsletter Bonus
As a bonus for our newsletter crew, we're really please to share this little snippet from an interview with Candy Zappa (Frank's sister) by Tom Spence on the KVTA Morning Show in California earlier this week. Candy speaks about Zappa and Me.
Sunday, June 14, 2026
ØRESUND SPACE COLLECTIVE - PROGABLY YOU'RE WRONG
- Øresund Space Collective: Progably You’re Wrong
(2026, download / streaming, --, bandcamp)
The Øresund Space Collective is famous for three things: they play an instrumental, fully improvised style of psychedelic space rock; they have released over 80 albums to date; and their slashed o messes up the alphabetical system on many hard drives (at least on mine).
Featuring lots of phasing effects and trippy echoes, the label "psychedelic space rock" is not incorrect.
A lot of their albums are also made available on CD and on LP, but you can also check them out on Bandcamp:
A lot of their albums are also made available on CD and on LP, but you can also check them out on Bandcamp:
-- info: Danny Mathys
SONY CLASSICAL
Does anyone remember this Sony Classical series from the early 1990's?
Performances on contemporary classical music, conducted by Pierre Boulez, with superb album covers and lots of info included?
Searching for additional albums in this series was not easy and it's still far from complete, but I did add some of the below titles on my want list.
- Stravinsky, Pierre Boulez, New York Philharmonic, Cleveland Orchestra – Pétrouchka / Le Sacre Du Printemps
- Stravinsky, Pierre Boulez, BBC Symphony Orchestra, New York Philharmonic – The Firebird Suite / Pulcinella Suite / Scherzo Fantastique / Suites Nos. 1 & 2
- Ravel - Pierre Boulez – Boléro - Alborada Del Gracioso - Le Tombeau De Couperin - Concerto For The Left Hand - Pavane Pour Une Infante Défunte
- Ravel - Pierre Boulez – Shérérazade / Rapsodie Espagnole / Valses Nobles Et Sentimentales / Ma Mère L'Oye
- Ravel - Pierre Boulez – Ravel Daphnis Et Cloe
- Berg - Pierre Boulez – Chamber Concerto - Three Orchestral Pieces, Op. 6 - Violin Concerto
- Bartók - Pierre Boulez , Scriabin – The Wooden Prince - Music For Strings, Percussion And Celesta - Dance Suite - Le Poème De L'Extase
- Bartók - Pierre Boulez, New York Philharmonic – The Miraculous Mandarin / Four Orchestral Pieces / Three Village Scenes
- Schoenberg - Pierre Boulez - John Shirley-Quirk, David Wilson-Johnson, Ensemble Intercontemporain, BBC Symphony Orchestra – Serenade - 5 Pieces For Orchestra - Ode To Napoleon
- Schoenberg - Pierre Boulez, Members Of The Ensemble InterContemporain* – Suite, Op. 29 / Verklärte Nacht / 3 Pieces
- Messiaen / Stravinsky - Pierre Boulez – Et Expecto Resurrectionem Mortuorum, Couleurs De La Cité Céleste / Symphonies Of Wind Instruments
- Mahler - Pierre Boulez - Evelyn Lear, Elisabeth Söderström, Grace Hoffman, Stuart Burrows, Ernst Haefliger, Gerd Nienstedt, London Symphony Orchestra & Chorus – Das Klagende Lied
Saturday, June 13, 2026
BEAT - - - THE PARIS SHOW
The entire BEAT concert.
June 10, 2026
L'Olympia, Paris, France
Adrian Belew/Tony Levin/Steve Vai/Danny Carey
The second set has sync issues, but you can find the corrected upload of the second set below.
The second set, with the sync problems resolved:
GRUPPO SPORTIVO'S FINAL CONCERT
The final concert of Gruppo Sportivo's final tour will be at the Bibelot Poppodium in Dordrecht, NL, on June 26, 2026.
This is the same Gruppo Sportivo that used Frank Zappa's 'Takes You Clothes Off When You Dance' as an intro for their 'Superman' song, originally released in 1977 on their "10 Mistakes" album.
Later Gruppo Sportive would perform at one of the Dutch Frank Zappa Days, organised by Guus Veldhuis. They re-named themselves The Rubbers Of Prevention for the occasion and even performed at Zappanale later on.
A clip from 10 years ago, performing a song from over 40 years ago:
RPWL
RPWL will start an extensive tour in April 2027.
The German prog rock band RPWL was formed in 1997, originally as a Pink Floyd tribute band – frontman Yogi Lang’s voice bears a striking resemblance to that of David Gilmour. After a few years, RPWL switched to original material and, on albums such as World Through My Eyes (2005), Beyond Man And Time (2012) and Tales From Outer Space (2019), developed their own accessible prog rock sound in the style of Porcupine Tree and (the later) Marillion – though, of course, Pink Floyd is never far away.
NEWS FROM THE RESIDENTS
Santa Already?
Rejoice! Meanwhile, The Residents are also preparing to formally announce the release of a brand new EP of 'Eskimo Folk Tales' to accompany the tour, featuring five brand new songs inspired by a collection of stories handed to them by their mentor The Mysterious N. Senada almost a decade ago. We're told a late September release date is planned - as ever, keep 'em peeled for details as they land via the Cherry Red and MVD websites, as well as your local independent record stockist if you're lucky enough to still have one. We're contractually obliged, of course, to tell you it's a fantastic record, but it really is. Not quite a new side of 'Eskimo' (although their second three-sided album would be kinda cool), but certainly a companion piece to the 1979 original, and must-hear stuff for anybody planning to go to one of the shows and desperate to fit in by knowing all of the words.
And as ever, the group are also deep into several other projects, both new and resurrected after the enforced layoff during the first half of this year. Stage shows, books, musicals (!?) and assorted collaborations are all being discussed, worked on, reworked, discussed again and so on - any long term Residents fan will know that's nothing new, but given the health concerns of the past six months we're sure you'll agree it's particularly good news right now.
And, as ever, rest assured you'll be the first to know as everything comes together and 2027 begins to plan itself. Oh, and they haven't forgotten the long promised Bandcamp site either.
But what with the recent 'Animal Lover pREServed' offering, the 'Randy, Chuck & Bob In The Studio' Record Store Day LP and this new 'Eskimo Folk Tales' thing, the group have been overly-conscious of desensitisation, fatigue and Rez-blindness among their millions of fans. But it'll happen soon, they assure us.
And that's just about that. All that remains is a gift for you, the patient reader. Some of you may be familiar with the work of Mr Ego Plum, and will be excited to know that he has been working with The Residents a lot recently, including co-producing the new 'Eskimo' EP. Well, back in 2023 he appeared at the band's 'Secret Show' in San Francisco, performing 'Santa Dog', and has kindly given us permission to hand out his demo recording of that performance - if all goes to plan, you can find it right here:
https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/dyjb8n78yznazw26smyec/Santa-Dog-The-Residents-Secret-Show.mp3
We think it's rather wonderful, and hope you'll enjoy it. And, of course, if you haven't already heard the live version and the rest of the 'Secret Show' album (and seen the film) you really ought to add it to your to do list.
Your pals,
New Ralph Too
Friday, June 12, 2026
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