Dweezil Zappa (Zappa Plays Zappa)...

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Author Message   Chucke99 Username: Chucke99 Registered: 2-2007 Posted on Tuesday, November 20, 2007 - 2:48 pm:    Just a quick note to say I saw the ZPZ show in Seattle last night and it was fantastic. Dweezil can shred and has done a great job of learning his dad's fingering techniques. The "special guest" for this tour was Ray White, who sang and played on Zappa albums and tours from about 1976 through the last tour in 1988. What an amazing voice, and he's still got it. The show was almost entirely new from last year (when Dweezil toured with Napolean Murphy Brock doing most of the singing). I tried taking some video with my phone but it came out lousy. A few photos, however, were acceptable. My seats were in the second row, dead center: -Chuck   Ibanezfreak1960 Username: Ibanezfreak1960 Registered: 3-2004 Posted on Wednesday, November 21, 2007 - 10:02 am:    i like Rays vocal in the Illinois enema bandit. Did they do that tune?   Chucke99 Username: Chucke99 Registered: 2-2007 Posted on Wednesday, November 21, 2007 - 11:14 am:    Yes they did. They also did Doreen, another Ray classic.   Ibanezfreak1960 Username: Ibanezfreak1960 Registered: 3-2004 Posted on Wednesday, November 21, 2007 - 10:46 pm:    Was that song from You are What You is? I can't remember.   Chucke99 Username: Chucke99 Registered: 2-2007 Posted on Thursday, November 22, 2007 - 5:13 pm:    Yeah, Doreen is from You Are What You Is, one of the great Zappa albums of all time. Recorded in and around 1979/1980, that album has Zappa doing rap and railing against the Religious Right's influence in American politics, fully five years before either gained mainstream attention. Oh, and the music is freakin' fantastic. It's the first album Steve Vai appeared on (he's billed as playing "impossible guitar parts") and Zappa was experimenting with seven-part harmonies in Doreen and other songs. I read an interview where he explained those harmonies. He builds them by adding third to the root, so if the root was C and the key C-major (Ionian scale, to keep it simple) then the harmonies would be built: C-E-G-B-D-F-A -Chuck   Ibanezfreak1960 Username: Ibanezfreak1960 Registered: 3-2004 Posted on Thursday, November 22, 2007 - 9:15 pm:    " I could tighten my headband for an extra rush during Jerry's guitar solo" that was a great album and still is.   Bobzilla Username: Bobzilla Registered: 2-2005 Posted on Friday, November 23, 2007 - 11:10 am:    Did he have videos of dad playing in the background and incorporate them into the live performances on any songs? He did that last time around and... Zappa is God. I would imagine that one could study his music for a lifetime and still have things to learn. A total lunatic guitarist and I say that in a good way. he was a genius to the tenth power and most folks don't really think about his guitar riffs, they think of the "whacky" songs, not necessarily his abilities on the guitar. his guitar playing is/was unique and mind-bending. Everyone says Dweezil's done well with the old man's stuff. That's pretty cool and... big big shoes to fill.   Ibanezfreak1960 Username: Ibanezfreak1960 Registered: 3-2004 Posted on Friday, November 23, 2007 - 11:29 am:    Bob I always loved his guitar playing. I don't know if any of you guys subscribe to Wolfgang's Vault but there is a 47 minute interview with him from 1975 that is really interesting. Check it out if you get a chance its free.   Ibanezfreak1960 Username: Ibanezfreak1960 Registered: 3-2004 Posted on Friday, November 23, 2007 - 11:38 am:    Chuck one of my favorites is Broadway the Hard Way. I really dig that album. You can see how Frank tried to lay out a profile for each candidate in the 1988 election. He did not hold back either. He was one of the few musicians in the spotlight who had the balls and talent combined to say what he wanted and took no •••• from the record company fools who would mold artist to suit what they think is best(for the money)for the public.   Chucke99 Username: Chucke99 Registered: 2-2007 Posted on Friday, November 23, 2007 - 11:50 am:    Bob, they had video of Frank playing on Muffin Man and one other song, and I can't remember what that one was (it was right at the beginning of the show while Muffin Man was one of the encores). Freak, I was at the premier of the 1988 tour, in Albany, NY, from which "Broadway the Hard Way" and "The Best Band You Never Heard in Your Life" were taken (along with "Make a Jazz Note Here", I believe). For the encore that night, he played "I am the Walrus" and "Stairway to Heaven". You can hear a version of STH on "The Best Band...". Frank puts in guitar fills through the entire song, and everyone is sitting there, expecting that Frank will play "THE SOLO", when instead, the five-piece horn section plays it instead, note-for-note. Man, I miss that guy.

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