By the Grande Mothers: Don Preston, Tom Fowler, Robbie 'Seahag' Mangano, Christopher Garcia, and Napoleon Murphy Brock. Aachen, Germany, just over six weeks ago.
Frank's not dead. He just smells funny.
Tag: Frank Zappa
Lucy
The uploader says this is Detroit, 1988. Sounds like Ike Willis on the vocals.
Sound Check
With a bit of Girl from Ipanema.
Doo-Wop Medley
Santa Monica, '81.
I should add that a lot of these audio-only recordings of live performances are from an uploader named YourArf. He has one hell of a library and is to be commended for it!
Whatcha Tryna Doota Me?
Lucille Has Messed My Mind Up. In honor of this week's issue #100 of The Walking Dead.
And yes, I am fairly confident this makes me a terrible person.
(Also included: Who Needs the Peace Corps? Per the uploader, the recording is from a show in Binghamton, NY, in '88.)
He used to cut my grass. He was a very nice boy.
The uploader calls this Persona non Grata, and says it was performed in Manchester in '79.
On Joe's Garage it's called He Used to Cut the Grass.
Boléro di Ravel
Zappa does classical.
I like stuff like this -- it highlights his skill at arranging and conducting, independent of his own composition.
Chunga's Revenge
No embedding allowed, but well worth a click: Chunga's Revenge, Chorus in Paris. 1980, if I'm not mistaken.
My Guitar Wants to Kill Your Mama
Soundboard recording, Boston, 1969-07-08.
Genius in France
Yes, the phrase I was hinting at in last night's post was "Genius in France" -- Weird Al's tribute to Zappa, featuring Dweezil on the intro.
Last night I noted that Zappa was often dismissed as a novelty act. Well, Weird Al is a novelty act, and proud of it, but I've heard people take that to mean he's not much of a musician.
But here's the thing: Al and his band are the ultimate chameleons, and that takes some serious talent. They've successfully imitated (deep breath) Eminem, Avril Lavigne, Bob Dylan, Don McLean, Madonna, Michael Jackson, Devo, both Billy Ray and Miley Cyrus, Ritchie Valens, the Talking Heads, Bob Marley, Green Day, the Presidents of the United States of America, Coolio, Billy Joel, They Might Be Giants, R Kelly, Lady Gaga, Nirvana, the Doors, Usher, Queen, John Mellencamp, the Kinks, Joan Jett, the Beatles, Stevie Knicks, the New Kids on the Block, the B-52's, the Police, Randy Newman, Huey Lewis and the News, Tiffany, Billy Idol, the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Soul Asylum, Elvis Costello, Nine Inch Nails, the Barenaked ladies, and, yes, Frank Zappa, to name a few -- and on more than one occasion I've seen them do probably half that list in one night.
Imitating one band's style may be easy, but imitating dozens' takes some chops. And being consistently funny while doing it for 35 years is, near as I can tell, unique.