United Mutations

Saturday, December 7, 2019

NEW ZAPPA BAND SHOWS ANNOUNCED

A message from Robert Martin :

Zappa fans rejoice!

Seven shows over four nights of Zappa music coming soon. If you live in southern California, or if you’re coming to the annual NAMM Show in Anaheim, check the attached graphics for details.

We’ll be playing Saturday night, January 18th for the X-JAMM event at the M3 Live Theater, 2232 S. Harbor Blvd, Anaheim, CA 92802.

Then three nights at the iconic Baked Potato in Studio City on the 20th through the 22nd of January. Here are separate ticket links for each of the three nights:

TICKETS: https://www.thebakedpotato.com/events/zappa/ January 20th, Shows: $40.00 9:30 / $35.00 11:30

TICKETS: https://www.thebakedpotato.com/events/zappa-2/ January 21st, Shows: $40.00 9:30 / $35.00 11:30

TICKETS: https://www.thebakedpotato.com/events/zappa-3/ January 22nd, Shows: $40.00 9:30 / $35.00 11:30

And for all you amazing European fans, watch for announcements coming soon for summer and fall Zappa madness.

For all you folks who love hearing this very special music as much as we love playing it, we look forward to seeing you soon!

Thursday, December 5, 2019

THE BUREAU OF ATOMIC TOURISM

New release by The Bureau Of Atomic Tourism !
featuring Jon Irabagon, Markus Broo, Jozef Dumoulin, Julien Desrez, Ingebrigt Häker Flaten and Teun Verbruggen.

Let's take a closer look at that artwork !!!
Wow!

Wednesday, December 4, 2019

KENT NAGANO

A bit of info on "The John Adams Album" by Kent Nagano and the Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal.

http://exystence.net/blog/2019/12/04/kent-nagano-orchestre-symphonique-de-montreal-the-john-adams-album-2019/

-- info: Jan van Kemenade

MOSAE & ELSEWHERE

Last weekend was Mosae Zappa weekend, an annual event that takes place in Heerlen and celebrates the music of the Moustache Man.

On Friday, the Oefenbunker (in Landgraaf, NL) gave the stage to Zappa Talks, VLAMP and The Dangerous Kitchen.

Zappa Talks (featuring Wan and Marco, both from The Foolz) mixed familiar melodies with samples and percussion. Highlight of the evening.
Guitar/bass/drums trio VLAMP was up next. Blues, Hendrix, The Soul Train,... It was all there. It even included some local carnaval artist, a moment that was enjoyed by a couple of people (while others left the building...).
The Dangerous Kitchen had flown in from Germany. Zappa with horns. Nothing wrong with that. I would have liked the band to be a bit more tight and I did miss the ripping guitar solos, but as Klaas said, 'We're spoiled'. Great vocals. Great band.
An excellent evening it was.

Saturday kicked off at noon with Die Miserablen HuSos, a German guitar duo that offered German versions of Zappa Tunes. In a pub in Heerlen. Quite funny. Liked it a lot.
Right after Die HuSos, the famous Carillion From Hell played Zappa. The town square will never be the same. Beautiful.
Next up was a Q and A session with Dweezil Zappa. Hosted by Tim, who did a fine job. Informative, relaxed and very enjoyable.
The afternoon ended with Jeff Silvertrust, a multi-instrumentalist who plays keyboards, percussion and trumpet and who also sings. I only caught a glimpse of this as I wanted to pay the local record store a visit...

My Saturday ended with Dweezil Zappa playing Hot Rats (and more) at the theater hall in Heerlen. Pretty amazing. Great band, excellent choice of tunes and a fabulous sound !!

Mosae rules.

Sunday had Dweezil playing in Utrecht, NL. At Tivoli.
I was standing next to some guys from Switzerland !!

Same set but it was great to see and hear it again.
Some of my German friends called it too sterile, too predictable. I just called it awesome.
I'm already looking forward to the Zappanale concert.

CORRIE VAN BINSBERGEN'S ZAPPA TRIBUTE

Composition-assignment for The Asko Ensemble.
A tribute to Frank Zappa, dec 2003.
Part II of the suite The Magic Sock, composed by Corrie van Binsbergen

ZAPPA JAM PERFORMING ZAPPA'S G-SPOT TORNADO

Zappa Jam

HAPPY ZAPPADAN EVERYBODY

As my friend Sally wrote earlier today:

My friends and family know I am a big Frank Zappa fan. Today is the 26th anniversary of Franks death, and for Zappa fans marks the first day of Zappadan. This celebration runs from Dec. 4th to the 21st, Franks Birthday. I know a lot of people know very little about this man, and Frankly, ( get that?) I don’t recommend a random search for the faint of heart because his vast career is peppered with many types of music, and as Frank himself has said not all is equally liked by even the most ardent fan. So on this first day of Zappadan, I post this video of one of my favorite pieces, covered by the Ed Palermo Big Band. It is an instrumental jazz piece .

Let me add another nice little tune, from one of Dan's Facebook posts :

Tuesday, December 3, 2019

ZAPPA DOO WOP

zappa doo wop

by bruce whitaker
(2019, book, usa, private release)

"Zappa Doo Wop" is a brand-new 150-page book that discusses the relation between doo-wop and Zappa's music : early influences, songs that FZ covered, snippets that he used and more.

I've been reading it while YouTube is taking care of the originals / soundtrack.
I love it.

J. ROLOFF'S PAPER ON ZAPPA'S MUSIC

frank zappa und seine musik im spiegel der möglichkeiten moderner studiotechnik und ihre auswirkungen auf den produktionsprozess und die ästhetik des klangs

by j.roloff (2004, book, germany, grin)

Jan Roloff submitted his paper on Frank Zappa's music in 2004.
It was made available as a digital e-book and as a paperback.
20 pages.
In German.
Paper edition is available from Amazon although I bought my copy through ebay.