Zappa News

Added week-ending 17 November 2024:

• Saddened to learn that Emile de Jonge (aka Emile Chill) has passed away following a sudden stroke. Aside from playing guitar for ZAPPATiKA he had just completed the AI generated Zappa Galaxy movie. His band mates hope to be able to make it available in due course. May he rest in peace.
• New album by The Vegetarians reviewed here.
• Dweezil and his drummers Ryan and Zach present the Anatomy Of A Solo. 
• The Spanner Big Band's new studio album, A Load Of Old Toot!!, will feature a rendition of FZ's Waka Jawaka. Official release date is 27 November, after which it should be available via Bandcamp. If not, then send an email to spannerhq@gmail.com. Here's the band's live version of Son Of Mr. Green Genes from a few years back to give you a taste.
• Here's an article about Dweezil's daughter, Zola Frank Zappa.
• Wowie Zowie! This site has now had over 150k visitors since March of last year. That's pretty amazing. Now, if each of those individual browsers had bought just one of my Zappa books, I'd be laughing!

Added week-ending 10 November 2024:

• AIIEEE! I have copies of my Frank Zappa FUQ paperback book back in stock, for those interested in the minutiae of Zappa's universe.
• SOCK! And now, Gerry Fialka interviews Bruce Fowler!
• BIFF! More on Napoleon Murphy Brock's 'almost complete' memoir: "I am writing a book about Frank and I, and what we did together, with the other brilliant musical minds of the entire line-up on the Roxy ensemble. I lay out a precise detailed analysis of what we did, and what we were doing. How and why."
• KABLAMMO! Watch Dweezil's new band spontaneously combust in Atlanta, Georgia.
• ZONX! Later this month, Libros del Kultrum will publish Zappa - Obra Lirica Completa: the Frank Zappa songbook, featuring the complete lyrical works in a bilingual edition ("it didn't even exist in English - it took 30 years to wait..."). Edited/translated by Manuel de la Fuente.
• WHACK! After the addition of two new audio treats on Dweezil's website last week, he now says, "I'm doing video editing for the next month before rehearsals start for the January 2025 run of dates. I have a lot of performances from the 2024 Rox-Postrophy tour and previous tours that I will be processing for viewing. I'm also prepping a lot of music to add to the Silver Subscription. Since there has been a lull in additions to the Silver Plan, you can expect a good handful of FREEBIES to close out the year. Also, there will be more..."

Added week-ending 3 November 2024:

• Aristocrat Bryan Beller writes about Arthur Barrow's Zappa audition and more here.
• Diva returns as Ahmet's special guest on Rocktails...to read Tarot cards.
• Full details of the next two legs of Dweezil's North American Rox(postroph)y tour now in the Diary - here's a promo vid: they will apparently be playing 'a lost Zappa song'. Sadly, DZ sez they "don't have any European tour plans yet." Here's an interview Dweezil just did with Lyndsey Parker (who you will recall also interviewed Moon recently; this time she drinks from a Zappa mug rather than an unfeasibly large goblet, though). In the interview, DZ infers there may be changes in the future as regards Zappa releases and his potential involvement; he also says he has no intention of reading Moon's new book. And finally in this week's Dweez news: he has made available live recordings of Heavy Duty Judy and Punky's Whips from the Rox(postroph)y gig in Philadelphia in September.
• Watch Tyler Bartram rattle off a bit of Drowning Witch for Halloween. Scott Thunes commented (on Reddit): "When Frank and Artie overdubbed my impossible-to-get-correct live 16ths, they slowed down the tape for him and they recorded the notes as written. Sped up (back to normal speed) those notes became artificially transposed."
• Peter at United Mutations has written some kind words on my Frank Zappa FUQ book here. I currently have no copies of the paperback left (more on order!), but the eBook is unlimited and perpetually updated!
• John Robins talks about his Zappa obsession on BBC Radio 4 here. 
• Check out The Furious Bongos feat. Chad Wackerman powering through The Black Page and Sofa a few weeks back in Quebec - here.
• Treacherous Cretins feat. Robert Martin UK and Ireland April 2025 tour dates are now in the Diary. The band will also be playing Zappanale in 2025. And to celebrate what would have been FZ's 84th birthday, they will be premiering their 2024 concert with Robert  at the Cavern Club on YouTube on 21 December. Get notified
• BEAT (Belew-Vai-Levin-Carey) tour is coming to your house, if you want it. There will be a global livestream of the band's concert from The United Theater on Broadway in LA on Sunday 10 November. This is a one time only event that will be available for 7 days from the time of the show. Grab your ticket here.
• Another Zappa band for Zappanale next year: the eleven piece Cheap Thrills. Saw them at Mosae Zappa last year and they are most excellent!
• Went to see Moon Unit in conversation with Miki Berenyi at Rough Trade East this week. Their discussion naturally covered similar ground to recent interviews (is genius worth the collateral damage, Earth To Moon written like solving a cold case, social experiment, etc). Moon did though make a point of saying she only had three siblings, even though she couldn't imagine FZ ever stopping to slip on a condom, and also that she hoped Frank's fans wouldn't stop liking his music when they read that he wasn't a great dad.

Added week-ending 27 October 2024:

• Dweezil talks about his Hollywood career, guitars and more here.
• Two more non-Zappa bands for Zappanale next year: Det Skandaløse Orkester and Tō Yō. And but also, Ciardelli-Drago-Strano have just been added. Yay, some FZ! Their Shake Your Duty album is fab - link on the right hand side (or down below if in mobile portrait view mode).
• New album, Reunion Live, by G3 (Joe Satriani, Steve Vai and Eric Johnson) will be released on 31 January 2025.
• Apostrophe 50 ZappaCast here. And here's a new 'official visualizer' video for Don't Eat The Yellow Snow.
• Watch the Mint Douche All-Stars performing Burnt Weeny Sandwich live here.

Added week-ending 20 October 2024:

• Finally a couple of bands that will play some Zappa at Zappanale next year: firstly The BREED (who will also play the music of Pekka Pohjola); and secondly, Paul Green's Rock Academy featuring Robert Martin, Scott Thunes and Ray White.
• Two fans talk about Apostrophe here.
• I have previously mentioned Bradley Morgan's upcoming book, Frank Zappa's America. This will be published by the Louisiana State University Press next Spring. It explores the political messaging of Zappa's music, tracing the means by which he created passionate art that challenges conservativism in its many forms. Over on the right hand side of this page, you will find the book's spiffy cover art.
• Check out Dweezil's touring guitar rig here. (P.S. Tour resumes next January.)
• Current ZappaCast host Bill Camarata has dusted off a 50 year old school project and now presents for your delectation a Cosmik Debris slide-show - here.
• Here's Moon watching an all-girl group cover Valley Girl.
• Now you can playalongascott: check out this Strictly Genteel bass transcription by Pedro Marques.
• Ahmet's cousin, Stanley Jason Zappa, is the special guest on the latest Rocktails podcast, with some interesting stories about Bob and Frank's early years.
• The London Philharmonic Orchestra will takes us on a journey through time and space, with innovative works by FZ, Bohuslav Martinů and Dinuk Wijeratne, next March. Details here.
• After last week's announcement that the Ozric Tentacles would be returning to play Zappanale next year (after a 23 year break!), the festival team has announced four more acts for 2025: Monika Roscher Bigband, Yuval Ron, The Dorf and Silas & Saski. So no Zappa bands yet, but great to have these artists confirmed before Xmas.
• The Idiot has a number of non-FZ CDs for sale - mostly old Mojo magazine cover mount discs, bundled together with a relevant doo-dad, and all going cheap. Check 'em out here.

Added week-ending 13 October 2024:

• The Zappas 'n Travers (and also some others) are pulling one off about a review of Hot Rats that marks it's 55th anniversary. The deep dive video can be found here, there's a 10-minute read transcript here, or there's a 60 second short here.
• Check out Gerry Fialka's brand new 'innerview' with Napoleon Murphy Brock here.
• UMe's October 'From The Vaults' giveaway is unsurprisingly Halloween themed. Check it out/enter here.
• Multi-instrumentalist Zach Tabori, of Dweezil's latest band, has a new live album and concert film out now via all streaming platforms. For Old TImes Sake includes original songs plus covers of classics like Queen's Keep Yourself Alive and the Allman Brothers' Whipping Post. Tabori's band features Bobby Victor, also of the new 'ZPZ'!
• First band confirmed for Zappanale #34 next year: the Ozric Tentacles! First time they've played since my first Zappanale in 2002; somewhere I have a pic of Mike Keneally gyrating to them in the audience.
• Z3 fan Georg Nilius has started a GoFundMe campaign to get the US Zappa cover band to Zappanale next year. He's hoping to raise €7500 for flights and accommodation by 30 November 2024.
• Another UK book tour date for Moon in the Diary.

Added week-ending 6 October 2024:

• Dweezil loves his knob. See him fiddle with it while playing Jimi's Freedom.
• Here Chanan Hanspal analyses The Adventures Of Greggery Peccary. Chanan incidentally was The Mike Keneally Report's special guest at their gig in Finland on 4 October.
• Another Apostrophe 50 interview with box set producers Ahmet and Joe by SDE here. And part two of their 'official' chat here.
• Health update from Ike Willis' daughter on Facebook: "Thank you very much for your continued care, support and positive vibes for my dad. He's near us now and stable, but still on a long road to recovery. We're praying and doing all we can for him and my mother. He's got to do his part now."

Added week-ending 29 September 2024:

• Arthur Barrow: "I am releasing a new composition! It is different from many of my other pieces. It's called A Lovely Time and has a nostalgic, calm, soothing mood to it. It is now on Bandcamp and will soon be available on YouTube, Spotify and the rest. (You can hear it on Bandcamp without having to buy it, BTW.) Hope you like it!"
• Apostrophe is back on the Billboard chart!
• A few years ago, I shared a link to an interesting article about a unique visit made by FZ and the Mothers to Westminster College, Salt Lake City in March 1974. Rick Wood, the author of said article, has recently updated it so I again urge you to check it out. It's here.
• Check out Filip Fjellström's ace live rendition of Mo's Vacation here.
• At the end of this video (of Dweezil's craziest guitar moment ever), we're told the Rox(postroph)y tour will continue in January 2025. Yippee!
• For those of you who have ordered a copy of my Frank Zappa FUQ eBook (previously titled Zappa FUQs), please be aware that since 13 May 2022 there has been a dedicated download link and password that will get you the latest version when used. I am planning to significantly expand the book at the start of 2025, so if you have a link that no longer works or have lost the details provided, let me know and I'll sort it out.
• At the weekend, the good folk of Zappacord got to quiz the ZappaCast team about Apostrophe 50. Keep an eye out for an official 'deep dish' podcast soon.

Added week-ending 22 September 2024:

• Following Jean-Luc Ponty's announcement that he is now retired from touring, he's now flogging some of his violins - including the red Barcus Berry one he played during his tenure with FZ and the Mothers. Full details of the auction can be found here.
• On 12 December, a 'new' special edition of Alex Winter's Zappa documentary will be released in Germany in dual Blu-ray/DVD format. This will include art cards, director/editor commentary and deleted scenes, as per the UK edition from 2021. The only difference seems to be the inclusion of a booklet.
• Next April, the NDR Big Band will meet the Ensemble Modern at a three-day festival in the Rolf Liebermann Studio in Hamburg. NDR will open the festival with Colin Towns' arrangaments of Zappa's music (Hot Licks (And Funny Smells)), while Zappa's "last band", EM, will complete the evening with works that have influenced FZ (by Xenakis, Webern, Varèse and Stockhausen). More details here.
• Dweezil tells Rick Beato what he learned from Eddie Van Halen...and his dad...here. Dweezil will again join the Experience Hendrix tour, starting in October. Full tour dates here, but DZ is not playing them all.
• Don Van Vliet has just been inducted into the Antelope Valley High School Hall of Fame, Class of 2024. He was nominated in the Visual and Performing Arts category. FZ was posthumously inducted in 2015 for his contributions in Music.
• After Roxy By Proxy (2014), Roxy—The Soundtrack (2015), The Roxy Performances (2018) and indeed Zappa/Erie (2022), don't expect a Roxy & Elsewhere anniversary box this year. So what will be the next release? 🙂
• Don Preston's solo piano tour dates are now finalised and in the Diary. Here's a press release.
• Domenic Priore & Dan Konoske will delve into the cultural significance of the "Freak Out! Hot Spots!" map at the Philosophical Research Society in LA on 8 December. Details here.
• Barfko-Swill is back! Yes, old stock is being made available again for those who missed out the first time around. Go here.
• The October Revolution in Jazz 60th Anniversary (ORJ 60) is a five-day interdisciplinary event celebrating the transformative power of free improvisation and collectivity taking place in California in October. Its music director is FZ's nephew Stanley J. Zappa, who will host 40+ improvisors in open rehearsals and performances. See the full programme here.
• Ahmet talks Apostrophe 50 here (to Joe Travers). And over here also (on Rocktails, although there's far more fuck, kill or marry related chat).

Added week-ending 15 September 2024:

• Frank Zappa's America by Bradley Morgan, a book that focusses on Frank's battle against the Religious Right and his prediction of their takeover of the US political system, should be published by LSU Press next Spring.
• Moon Unit will be in conversation and signing books in London, The Hague and Antwerp...and probably elsewhere. See Diary for known details so far.
• Time for a new FUQ - one about David Bowie!
• To celebrate the 50th anniversary of Roxy & Elsewhere this week, I created a Spotify playlist comprising all of the unedited and 'underdubbed' basic tracks - here!
• Apparently sales of Frank's father's book, Chances: And How To Take Them, just went through the roof. Jump on the bandwagon here!
• Following my own book, Frank Talk: The Inside Stories of Zappa's Other People, which featured over 40 interviews with those who knew and worked with FZ (and of course Tony Trombo's Talking Zappa tome), brace yo'seffs for Frankly Speaking: Zappa Tales and Other Stories from the Maestro's Musicians by Basssam Habal. It is a collection of full interviews with the following Zappa alumni: Ray White, Sal Marquez, Lisa Popeil, Bruce Fowler, Jim Pons, Malcolm McNabb, Tom 'Bones' Malone, David Logeman, Robert Martin and the late Ralph Humphrey. Grab a copy here.
• Here's a video chat with Ahmet, Joe Travers and the bloke with the hands (from Classic Album Review), about the 50th anniversary edition of Apostrophe. And here's my Alternative Apostrophe playlist.
• Here's the page missing from the first print run of the UK edition of Moon's memoir:

Added week-ending 8 September 2024:

• Next week marks the 50th anniversary of Roxy & Elsewhere, the release of the 50th anniversary edition of Apostrophe('), the start of the BEAT tour and the end of Dweezil's initial Rox(postroph)y trek - which means I shall be taking my Dweezil FUQ sample page offline. If anyone is interested, the full article is included with 19 Zappa-related others in my Frank Zappa FUQ book: minutes of fun with money from every sale going to good causes. Check them out!
• On the latest episode of Rocktails, Ahmet gives a detailed account of his involvement in the family business, the split, and how ZPZ came to be. Starts 26 minutes in.
• New Don Preston and One Shot Deal dates in the Diary.
• Here Chanan Hanspal talks Zappa with Infrasteff.
• Available next year from Rufus Publications, Wire & Wood: The Guitars Of Steve Vai, a high-end photo book featuring over 100 of Steve’s most famous guitars captured in exquisite detail by Michael Mesker. Details here. And there's a promo vid too.
• Banned From Utopia (with Mike Miller back in for Seahag) will play six Halloween shows at the Baked Potato. See Diary for more.
• If you love Adrian Belew, Steve Vai and King Crimson as such as me, then you'll be as excited as I am about the BEAT tour that starts next week. Here is an interview with Adrian, which includes a few references to his time with FZ, and another with Steve about learning Fripp's parts.
• Bunch of Mike Keneally Euro dates new to the Diary (both in 2024 & 2025).
• Maximum Booking is putting together the next Banned From Utopia European tour - all being well, it will take place in October 2025.
• Good to see former Dweezil band member Adam Minkoff make a guest appearance with the 'new' band at Red Bank, NJ at the weekend. And talking of former members, ex-singer Cian Coey is now in a relationship with long-time bassist Kurt Morgan ❤️

Added week-ending 1 September 2024:

• Check out Gerry Fialka's 'Frank Zappa Rant' here.
• Ahmet's special guest on Rocktails this week is his little sister Diva.
• Tickets now on sale for a bunch of upcoming Pygmy Twylyte gigs here.
• ProgJect (featuring Mike Keneally and Pete Griffin) has had to postpone its tour of Europe in September, including one date in the UK at the 1865.
• UMe is hosting another ATMOS listening party, this time for Apostrophe 50, on 11 September. If you're 18 or older and live within 350 miles of Los Angeles, you could be there!
• Listen to The Mothers (minus FZ and the Underwoods) perform a live jam in Finland on 22 August 1973 (just before the Road Tapes, Venue #2 concerts) - here.
• Looks like Dweezil has offended someone. (FWIW I'm not convinced the red cap and 'don't tread on me' shirt signify Dweezil's support for Trump: if you remember, his cover of I'm Afraid Of Americans substituted 'Donny' for Johnny in the lyrics.)

Added week-ending 25 August 2024:

• Jean-Luc Ponty: "I am now 81 years old and I decided to stop touring and do a rare concert once in a while, work on album remastering/reissues (those which I own and control), doing master classes and perhaps a few more recording collaborations. These rare concerts, remasters/reissues, master classes and recordings will be announced when confirmed, first on my website."
• Mike Keneally will release a live album with Bryan Beller called Freaks In A Mellow Mood, Volume One on Bandcamp on 6 September. It consists of recordings from November 2003, when the pair were "rampaging from music store to music store, playing and singing and talking acoustically on behalf of Taylor Guitars."
• A third Apostrophe 50 teaser track: Penguin In Bondage (live in Colorado Springs).
• Phish's Trey Anastasio talks about how FZ blew his mind here.
• Moon has been back on Rocktails with Ahmet, talking about her new book. (At the time, AZ was only part-way through reading it.) Check it out here. Interesting choice of song to end with!
• The Miserable Husos' set from this year's Zappanale is now available to buy and download from Bandcamp. For those who might not know, the Husos add their own lyrics to FZ's songs - sometimes in German, sometimes Hessian, and oftentimes giving the songs a whole new meaning. Great fun, even if you don't speak German or Hessian.
• Dr Dot has made a video about how she met FZ and how he 'crowned' her.
• Moon has written this bespoke piece for Newsweek, of which she is "so proud".
• The official Zappa YouTube channel has posted a behind the scenes Father O'Blivion short. Hopefully this is a tease for a bigger chunk of unseen footage from the Bolic sessions to coincide with the Apostrophe box. In the meanwhile, I'll take this peek inside the new Vault.
• Lyndsey Parker (who completed Miss Mercy's autobiography after she passed) interviews Moon. This chat reveals where the original title of Moon's book (I Hope You Die...) came from and why the book was dedicated to FZ and not GZ. For those getting the audio version, it seems there's going to be a short delay in it's release.
• Whisky a Go Go 1968 ZappaCast here.
• Tony Levin is about to hit the road with Messrs Belew and Vai in BEAT, and his imminent solo album - Bringing It Down To The Bass - will feature Vinnie Colaiuta and L. Shankar, among many other luminaries.

Added week-ending 18 August 2024:

• Thanks to all those who have already bought a copy of my latest book, Frank Zappa FUQ. I had a 100 cheesy little home-made paperbacks printed - primarily to sell to friends at Zappanale - but still have a few left. And I am now working on a second volume!
• The Zappa Fun Night - with London Zappa Collective, MindFooD and The AMM All Stars feat. Mint Douche - at Springfield Acton Bowls Club has been moved to 19 October.
• Here's the live Washington Post chat with Moon. Shedloads of written pieces have appeared in daily newspapers about Moon's memoir, with The Guardian and the LA Times both publishing two different ones each. Tubular.
• There will a Zappa Night at Festspielhaus Baden-Baden on 7 June 2025, featuring Members of the SWR Symphony Orchestra conducted by Jonathan Stockhammer. Deets here.
• Not only will Ray White be playing with the Stinkfoot Orchestra at the Lodge Room Highland Park on 23 August, but they will once again be joined by Bruce Fowler, Arthur Barrow and Lisa Popeil.
• Frank Sidebottom's Little Box Of Bobbins - Frank's Fantastic Anthology 1985-1993, a recently released 3CD set, includes covers of Captain Beefheart's Mirror Man/Gimme That Harp Boy and Electricity.
• Sort of an update on the long-promised official Zappa biography by Alan Clayson: its title seems to have been slighty modified to Mother Superior: Frank Zappa In His Time, and it could be in the shops late next Spring. So let's keep everything crossed 🤞
• Don Preston: "When I turn 92 in September, I'm going to tour Europe with a 'Solo Piano Tour'." One date in the Diary already.
• Just an observation, but the news page at zappa.com has yet to mention the 50th anniversary edition of Apostrophe. Yes, there are links to pre-order it, but not the usual press release.
• Here's Moon on Marc Maron's WTF podcast. She enters after 18½ minutes.
• Some interesting comments have appeared on social media surrounding Dweezil's Rox(postroph)y tour. Firstly, Napoleon Murphy Brock said, "Just because you can afford to buy a Maserati, doesn't mean you know how to drive it! Where are the genes?" Oof. Then when asked if he had Scott on bass, Dweezil replied with, "No it is Kurt Morgan a fantastic bassist and human. I would never work with Scott Thunes again." Ouch.
• All this talk of Moon's imminent memoir ⬆️⬇️ makes me wonder if we'll ever see John Klein Sloatman III's unauthorised biography (Frankly Zappa), which promises to include stories about "Moon's constant starlet attitude".

Added week-ending 11 August 2024:

• In the Washington Post article mentioned below, Moon and Diva talk about a 'zine' they put together to confront Gail when she showed signs of becoming a hoarder. Moon has now posted some of its pages on Instagram.
• More Moon in The Sunday Times. This article includes a short excerpt from her book, regarding The GTOs.
• Dweezil posted this clip of his duel with Bon Jovi guitarist Phil X during a live performance of Apostrophe on his current Rox(postroph)y tour.
• In this article in The Washington Post, Dweezil's wife is quoted as saying her husband "isn’t interested in spending any time in the presence of his brother. Ever." It will be interesting to see if Moon's memoir goes any way to reconciling the family - here's hoping. Meantime, the Z kids should think twice before being hoodwinked by jokers like the WP again. (Article paywalled for you? Try here.)
• Arthur Barrow has unleashed a fun new ditty on Bandcamp, called To Live.
• Grauniad review of Moon's memoir here. Mine here. Compare and contrast.

Added week-ending 4 August 2024:

• A second preview track from the Apostrophe 50 set: a live version of Approximate.
• John Tabacco has been experimenting with AI: "Back in 1969 the Frog Hollow Gumbo Umbrellas were recording opposite Frank Zappa at Whitney Studios in Glendale, California. It was at the time FZ and Ian Underwood were working on the Hot Rats album. The Frog Hollow Gumbo Umbrellas over heard the music Zappa was making (albeit muffled sounding) and decided to interpret what they heard through the walls. This piece was the result. Due to legal reasons it wasn't until f/x Records purchased the masters in 2024 that it finally got it's audio due."
• An evening of Zappa fun is planned in West London for late September. It will be the first opportunity to see the new line-up of London Zappa Collective with a new bass player and with flute and a classical guitar added to the line-up. The AMM All Stars with Ben Watson and led by Graham Davis will be performing the entire Burnt Weeny Sandwich album. MindfooD will focus on the more rocky Zappa repertoire. Saturday 28 September. Don't miss it! (Deets in the Diary.)
• To celebrate the imminent arrival of her memoir (previewed here), Moon Unit has "made a special tea to honour the occasion. If you love the smell of a book, now you can taste and drink one! Order book & tea on my website moonunit.com yay yay yay!!!"
• Looks like Dweezil will have Chad Wackerman as his special guest at The Orpheum in LA this Saturday. Here's Chad practising The Black Page for the show. To celebrate Dweezil's return to the stage, I have posted this extract from my Frank Zappa FUQ book.
• This article about the Banned From Utopia includes a short interview with Scott Thunes. And talking of Scott, a new branch of the Paul Green Rock Academy will soon open in San Francisco, where Scott will serve as a tour director (so the PGRA can do multiple tours at once), and be head of music theory for the various schools.
• This month's UMe/Vault giveaways include stickers, a backstage pass, Grand Wazoo and Waka/Jawaka test pressings, and a Beat The Boots t-shirt. Enter here.

Added week-ending 28 July 2024:

• Zappa Galaxy, the AI generated movie by ZAPPATiKA's Emile Chill, is finally nearing completion. This new preview clip features a very special guest: Mr Malcolm McDowell (aka Mick Travis/Alex DeLarge). Real horrorshow!
• The European Guitar Quartet has just released its first single from upcoming album, Fourtune. It's a version of Father O'Blivion arranged for four guitars by Christian Buchmann and Thomas Fellow. Video by Javier Sobremazas here.
• While we wait to hear Dweezil's new track recorded using cardboard instruments (see ⤵️), he has produced a couple of Cardboard Sessions for Daru Jones. Here's the first: Stay Off The Streets Pt. 2.
• Just a reminder: Chris Lammiman's The History And Collected Improvisations Of Pygmy Twylyte book is still available in a variety of formats (soft, hard and more). This Idiot wrote the foreword and it's a fun read about a most excellent band. Go here.
• Vendetta2525 has created a snazzy Frank Zappa Art Fanzine, which you can download here. Includes 27 pages of artwork, stored in a nifty PDF - all for Absolutely Free!
• New interview with Dweezil about his Rox(postroph)y tour, which starts next week.
• Scott Parker is now taking pre-orders for his next book, The Big Note - Frank Zappa On Stage 1978, here.
• The Z.E.R.O. Alternatives CD has now been officially released by Cordelia Records. A limited edition were available at Zappanale, but now the band's seventh album can be grabbed by all and sundry. 17 FZ tunes encased in a digipak available from the record shop at Cordelia. Its 4 for 3 deal applies.

Added week-ending 21 July 2024:

• Moon Zappa will be 'in converstion' at the Beverly Hills Public Library on 22 August, promoting her long-awaited memoir. Tix and deets here.
• Former Mother Jim Pons is suing the New York Jets' for unspecified damages after the NFL team started re-using a logo he says he designed in the 1970s. He's asking a judge to order the cancellation of the Jets' trademark of his logo and wants a ruling that it can no longer be used on their uniforms and merch without his consent or compensation.

Added week-ending 14 July 2024:

• A few dates in the Diary for 2025 already!
• More info on the Apostrophe(') 50th Anniversary Edition: it contains seven tracks previously included on The Crux Of The Biscuit, which is now out-of-print; there are gold nugget and white splatter/glow in the dark vinyl variants; semantic scrutinizer Simon Prentis returns with a new essay (he previously provided notes for Läther and Crux, and an excerpt from his interview with Ringo can be heard on the 200 Motels 50th Anniversary set); the concert from Colorado Springs is 'patched' with material recorded a few days before in Salt Lake City (to mask reel changes); the concert from Dayton, Ohio was recorded right before Tom Fowler broke his hand; scheduled release date is 13 September.
• As The Idiot packs his bags to travel to Bad Doberan, his new Frank Zappa FUQ paperback book has been taken off sale at his online store. He'll have a few copies at Zappanale, so if you bump into him, be sure to ask about a copy! In the meanwhile, the eBook version remains readily available!
• First preview track for the next official release is here: Uncle Remus (Piano And Vocal Mix). So there are a few more Apostrophe alt.mixes, outtakes and whatnot than on the Crux and Roxy Performances! This follows the pattern set by ONS50 and Waka/Wazoo: some studio, some live 1974 and the Quad mix on Blu-Ray. Track list and more here.
• UMe and uDiscover Music are giving Zappa fans the chance to win exclusive items from The Vault, such as vintage merch and rare vinyl test pressings, that will be up for grabs each month. More info here.
• Chad Wackerman will again join The Furious Bongos for their run of shows in September. Dates in the Diary.

Added week-ending 7 July 2024:

• Arthur Barrow: "So sad to report another big loss in the Zappa community. Tom Fowler left us yesterday, July 2, 2024. He was a hero to me. The first time I heard Echidna's I almost fell over when he played the big 5/16 lick on the bass! I had no idea that a clumsy bass could do such a thing! He was an inspiration for me to buy a bass and start practicing. I have known him since about 1976. RIP old friend - missing you very much." This Idiot is gutted 😢 Here's our ZappaCast chat with the great man from 2015.
• Episode 4 of Joe and Pamela at the Whisky sees them on the spot where the Mothers first played the venue.
• The latest Arf Dossier includes my article about Napoleon Murphy Brock and Nolan Porter, taken from my new Frank Zappa FUQ book. I've decided to add it to my website too, on this here page, where I intend to post similar articles in future.
• Dweezil talks more about his work on the 50th anniversary edition of Deep Purple's Machine Head and his ATMOS mixing philosophy generally here.
• Wanna watch Steve Vai play in your living room, your back garden, Morrisons' car park, the local vape shop...wherever? You now can thanks to this Zeus In Chains app.
• As promised, Chato has now posted this outtakes video from the 'making of' his and Palina's recording of Dumb All Over for the ZappaRap album:

Added week-ending 30 June 2024:

• Live In Santa Clarita, CA - October 10, 1982 by Missing Persons has just been unleashed by Cleopatra Records. Recorded just after the release of Spring Session M, this concert showcases Missing Persons in peak form. The band of course comprises Dale Bozzio, Terry Bozzio and Warren Cuccurullo, and here's their 'vibrant and rousing' rendition of FZ fave Mental Hopscotch.
• A bunch more Beat (Belew-Vai-Levin-Carey) dates in the Diary.
• Alan Jenkins writes: "For the next couple of weeks Cordelia Records is giving away a copy of the 20 Extraordinary Renditions CD (20 versions of the song The Idiot Bastard Son by the world's top Frank Zappa covers bands) to anyone who buys another full price CD directly from www.cordeliarecords.co.uk. In order to be fair to people who already own this CD you may drop me a line (jimdpie@gamail.com) and ask for something else. (As long as it is light to post - postage rates are way higher than they used to be you know). Thank you."
• The ever wonderful IINK website already has details up on the Whisky a Go Go, 1968 release.
• Kevin Crosby of the Zappa Early Renaissance Orchestra tells me he will be taking 42 numbered, custom-made Z.E.R.O. Alternatives CDs - with bonus swag - to Zappanale, and then Cordelia Records will formally issue an edition - sans swag - later this year. Hotcha!
• Suddenly available: the Frank Zappa FUQ paperback book - "because people like to own stuff!" This book provides answers to those Frequently Unasked Questions about FZ, plus more that you didn't know you needed to know. For every copy ordered via my online store, the Idiot will donate one English pound to PSPA (a UK charity supporting people living with Progressive Supranuclear Palsy & Corticobasal Degeneration). Every book comes with a free Zappanews postcard/bookmark and is signed by the author 😊 The Zappa FUQ eBook is still available too.

Added week-ending 23 June 2024:

• Taking a break from his daily comic skits on Instagram, Dweezil's '40 days left' tour countdown video informs us he is recording a new track called Man Your Stations in Dolby ATMOS, using cardboard instruments!
• MAXIMUM Booking is currently planning the next Banned From Utopia European tour, scheduled for October...2025!
• And here it is, the Whisky ZappaCast featuring the wondrous Art Tripp!
• Delusions Of Grandeur, Turbulator's debut album, is suddenly available for your lug 'oles. Says main man Geoff: "You will find inside, a movie for your ears, a phrase I borrowed from Frank Zappa, who was and still is my biggest musical influence. Stravinsky and Varèse are probably not far behind. This is an Opera in two acts, about delusions of grandeur. It is a single work with many parts. Listen to individual tracks in isolation by all means - I do - but please give some thought to appreciating it as a whole." Check it out here. You can listen to Turbulator's versions of Magic Fingers and No More Mr. Nice Girl here and here.
• Check out the Theremin-led Divine Hand Ensemble's rendition of Peaches En Regalia here. The ensemble includes Dave Hartl on accordion, who some might know for his Pianist Dementia: Music of Frank Zappa album.
• The newly synced 14 minute Vault footage of the Mothers at the Whisky A Go Go in 1968 will be shown on YouTube on midsummer night! Get notified here.
• Here's an unboxing of the Whisky 68 release.

Added week-ending 16 June 2024:

• The always excellent Black Page YouTube channel has just uploaded the 1984 world premiere of Sinister Footwear. I hope this great orchestral piece will get an official release one day.
• The Percussive Arts Society has posted a nice 'in memoriam' piece for Ed Mann, with quotes from Chad Wackerman and Ruth Underwood - here.
• Frank Zappa is the greatest Prog artist ever, according to Ben Watson. Find out why he believes this...on Tuesday!
• Also coming next week, a Whisky 68 ZappaCast with special guest, Art Tripp.
• Drummer Marc Atkinson will release Inside Joe's Garage, a comprehensive 'all digital content' drum transcription book featuring note-for-note transcriptions from the album. It will also include exclusive interviews with the original players, never before seen photos from the 1978/79 tours, recreated covers of select songs (featuring Arthur Barrow, plus guitar solos performed by Mike Keneally) and the stories behind each song. More details as and when.
• Chato Segerer has made this behind the scenes 'making of' video for his Dumb All Over track on the ZappaRap album. Palina, his partner on the track, will also post her own video shortly.
• Check out Stuart Penney's latest blog about Zappa shows in London and much more - here!
• One Shot Deal's very special guest at the Whisky release party at the Whisky A Go Go was Ian Underwood. Mike Keneally was also on hand to provide added wonderment. The 14 minutes filmed at the venue in 1968 were shown and an eye witness (The Poodle Bites) says it "was choppy and no song was complete as the cameraman would stop filming, reposition, and restart. But pretty cool nonetheless." Miss Pamela and Steve Vai were also in attendance. Earlier, the Zappa Day proclamation was presented to Moon and Diva by West Hollywood's Mayor, who Moon thanked for allowing her "to have this time with my sister." She also told reporters, “It's a thrill to have this wonderful opportunity to have my father recognized in a historical landmark space that was actually the location that really brought my parents together."

Added week-ending 9 June 2024:

• Palina & Chato are giving away a copy of the ZappaRap CD over on Instagram (visit @chato_prog for deets). They are both featured on the track Dumb All Over, which you can hear here.
• And the third IG track/preview 'single' thingy from Whisky 68 is Hungry Freaks, Daddy.
• The City Of West Hollywood will declare Monday 10 June 2024 'Frank Zappa Day'. Ahmet & Diva will accept the city’s proclamation honouring “the many valuable contributions the legendary musician, activist and counterculture icon has made to music and culture in West Hollywood and beyond” outside of the Whisky A Go Go. One Shot Deal (with a very special guest) will then take the stage to celebrate the Whisky 68 release.
• The Podcast with Tim Andrews features Dweezil talking about his upcoming tour.
• Earlier this year, Chris Lammiman followed Pygmy Twylyte across England on their biggest tour to date. With help from the band themselves - and some of Europe's finest crazy persons - he has been able to put together The History And Collected Improvisations Of Pygmy Twylyte. Order your copy here. (There's also Tour Survival Kit available from here!)
• The Idiot's spies tell me that Lisa Popeil, Arthur Barrow and Bruce Fowler may be sitting in with the Stinkfoot Orchestra (featuring Napoleon Murphy Brock) at their Venice Beach show on 20 June. There's also a good chance other stellar folk will be in attendance. Wish I could be there!
• Promo part three of Miss Pamela at the Whisky with Joe Travers is here.
• Here's a health update on Ike Willis from his family: "He has been going forward with his sobriety journey and made it through his first step. Although there is still a road ahead to conquer, we are so excited about his progress. He spent a short time in the hospital again at the beginning of May and the medical team took great care of him. He's now recovering and working on regaining his physical health. His prostate cancer is still present, but being managed. We are so very grateful for the true fans and supporters that are respectful of his privacy, send their love and warm words 💓 and are encouraging his journey to recovery physically and mentally. Thank you all so much!"
• To mark the passing of Ed Mann, I have dusted off my interview with him from 2004. Find it here.
• The Furious Bongos has just released Big Swifty + Shall We Take Ourselves Seriously? (Quickie Mix) from its recent Mother's Day tour. More vids and stuff to follow, but meantime they're lining up dates in NYC and Canada.
• As y'all should know, Banned From Utopia - featuring legendary Zappa alumni Ray White, Robert Martin and Scott Thunes - are touring North America with The Paul Green Rock Academy this summer, starting next month. The 'We ❤️ Zappa' tour celebrates the music of FZ from all eras. Completing the BFU line-up will be guitarists Robbie 'Seahag' Mangano (Project/Object, The Grandmothers) and Jamie Kime (ZPZ, The Zappa Band, One Shot Deal), plus drummer Joel Taylor (Al Di Meola, Allan Holdsworth). Dates in the Diary.

Added week-ending 2 June 2024:

• Tim Palmieri of the Z3 has posted on Facebook an obituary for Ed Mann. Very sad - the Idiot understands he had pancreatic cancer. Rest in peace, Ed.
• Out in August, George Duke: From Me To You - The Definitive Collection 1977-2000, a 5CD box set covering his Epic Records and Warner Brothers period (and therefore includes appearances by Napi).
• I am very excited that Zappa News has now had over 100k visitors in the fourteen months since it replaced my old Idiot Bastard site. Thanks to all who have checked it out - and especially those who keep coming back for more!
• Just because I can, I have added my old interview with the late Martin Lickert to my Interviews page.
• Check out Petr Dorůžka's How Frank Zappa and Electric Guitar Helped to Defeat Communism in Eastern Europe presentation from the screening of the Zappa In Prague documentary at the Consulate General of the Czech Republic in LA on 10 May. Includes a Q&A and brief appearances by Gerry Fialka.
• Here's a clip of The Magic Band on their 2017 UK Farewell Tour, with some former Muffin Men on horns: Nowadays A Woman's Gotta Hit A Man.
• Napoleon Murphy Brock is currently proof reading and editing his memoir and hopes to publish an extract about how he met FZ soon. Meantime, he has posted a couple of tracks from his This Is What Frank Zappa Heard CD (Theme From Shaft and People Make The World Go Round) - and here's my interview with him from 2002!
• Slovenia's Big Band GveriLLaz have snuck onto the line-up for this year's Zappanale. Check them out here.
• Looks like ProgJect featuring Mike Keneally are lining up some European gigs for September. A few dates in Germany now in the Diary.

Added week-ending 26 May 2024:

• Dweezil will host a live 'fly on the wall' stream at 18:00 BST today (Sunday 26 May). "It is free and will be easily accessed from my home page on dweezilzappa.com. You can view the multi-camera stream as I experiment with pedal combinations. There will also be an open forum where viewers can ask questions. At the end of the hour, I will take some time to answer some of your questions." [POST NOTE: You can now watch the stream at your leisure here.]
• I was lucky enough to get an advance copy of Moon Unit's memoir. You can find my review here.
• Promo part two of Miss Pamela at the Whisky with Joe Travers is here. And here's a little video I put together to also mark the forthcoming release of Whisky A Go Go, 1968:

Added week-ending 19 May 2024:

• There's to be a special Whisky 68 release party at the Whisky A Go Go on 10 June, where One Shot Deal will play. Meantime, here's the second teaser track from the album: America Drinks & Goes Home.
• Robert Martin: “I recently finished mixing and mastering a CD with my friends in Italy, X-Jam, a great band led by drummer Luca Giometti. The CD also features none other than my Zappa alumni friends and allies Ray White and Ike Willis, as well as our Brazilian friends from The Central Scrutinizer Band, Mano Bap and Hugo Hori. We're working on putting together a tour in Italy later in the year, dates to be announced. Stay tuned.”
• Good news: Sound Beat reported that Dweezil had filed for divorce from his wife Megan after 10 years of marriage in 2021. Happily, they seem to have resolved their 'irreconcilable differences' as Dweezil made a special Mother's Day breakfast for her in his latest tour countdown video.
• Read my review of Tony Trombo's Talking Zappa book here.
• Sad to hear of the passing of Roger Corman, who produced and directed It Conquered The World - as well as many other great low-budget cult films.

Added week-ending 12 May 2024:

• Adrian Belew has posted snaps of some long-lost items on his socials (well, Instagram and Facebook). He explains: "Something special happened this past week. Ahmet Zappa called to tell me they had located a piece of luggage from my days with Frank. The suitcase is old school but in reasonably good shape. I didn't take it on tour with me, I just brought my meager belongings with me. I was pretty poor at the time. The contents of the case tell the story of my life in the summer of 1977."
• Here's Vinnie and Artie's isolated parts from Gee, I Like Your Pants.
• Alex Dahl: "I've just finished completely rewriting the first six pages covering the original Mothers Of Invention live shows on zappalifeontheroad.com. My writing has changed a lot over the last two years, so when I went back to reference my earliest stuff I was really surprised by how little I wrote. Now there's like five times the amount of quotes, comparisons and descriptions for every 60s gig." Check it out!
• The first episode of the official Zappa Whisky a Go Go video series features  Joe Travers and Pamela Des Barres - here.
• Shake Your Duty - a homage to FZ by Valentina Ciardelli, Anais Drago and Riccardo Angelo Strano - is now available to stream wherever you do your streamy things (here it is on YouTube and elsewhere). For those wanting a hard copy, it could be in your hands by the end of May.

Added week-ending 5 May 2024:

• There will be a Zappa Day in Ljubljana on 19 August 2024 - details here.
• Second teaser track here from FIDOplaysZAPPA featuring Robert Martin - full live album out 17 May.
• Moon's memoir is now available to pre-order from Audible, as read by her good self. Not too long now before we find out what it was like to grow up in an "atheist, Wiccan, fame-laden, oversexed, teetotalling, drug-free, cloistered, chaotic, non-communicative, workaholic, feral-feeling house." Moon also dropped by to join her brother Ahmet interviewing Mama Cass's daughter on his Rocktails podcast last week - check out Moon impersonating Cher here.
• As promised by the Percussive Arts Society, it's Mallets Of Invention article (a listening guide to FZ's percussionists) is now available to all-comers here.
• Dweezil will be using his father's Shut Up 'N Play Yer Guitar Les Paul on his upcoming tour. Check this vid out.
• Mike Keneally + 10 just released Nonkertompf Live - Groningen, The Netherlands - October 19, 2001. Check it out on Bandcamp here.
• There's a special screening of the Zappa In Prague documentary at the Consulate General of the Czech Republic in Los Angeles on 10 May. It will feature a presentation titled How Frank Zappa and Electric Guitar Helped to Defeat Communism in Eastern Europe. More details here.
• Art Tripp on the cover photo for the next official release: "We often used the spoof exaggerated fake smiles for photographs. Unfortunately only a couple of us were using that smile in the picture that was used for the Whisky '68 release."

Added week-ending 28 April 2024:

• Dweezil is now posting his behind the scenes countdown to Rox(postroph)y videos on his website here. 
• Shake Your Duty, a tribute to FZ by Ciardelli/Drago/Strano, will be released by Parco della Musica Records on 8 May.
• Hear Dweezil talk to The Vinyl Guide about his father's approach to being “in the moment” in a guitar solo; working with his dad and musicians that were around the house; his involvement in Zappa Trust releases; his thoughts on the Roxy box set; future international tour dates; the unreleased What The Hell Was I Thinking? track; remixing projects for ATMOS; special guests on the Rox(postroph)y tour...and more!
• In October, after Rox(postroph)y, Dweezil will again join the Experience Hendrix tour. Details here.
• Reading new book Talking Zappa and I see that Ike Willis told Tony Trombo that, after briefly going into remission in the summer of 1993, FZ planned to celebrate the 25th anniversary of 200 Motels with a big reunion tour featuring Ike, Flo & Eddie, the London Philharmonic and more. Of course this never came to pass, but it spookily echoes the fantasy article I wrote in 1993 for the British fanzine T'Mershi Duween (Issue #30) on Frank's six month 'greatest hits' world tour of 2000. In it, FZ had reunited with the Grandmothers after 15 years of lawsuits and bolstered the line-up with the Fowler Brothers, Ed Mann, Ray White, Dweezil and Mike Keneally. I wrote that the latter acted as tour Clonemeister, and he was apparently amused by the article. The same set-list of smash/flops was rigidly adhered to throughout the tour, which ended in December at a 60th birthday party at the Royal Albert Hall, where the LSO (conducted by Simon Rattle) additionally performed four of Zappa's orchestral pieces.
• The Road To Halloween 2023 Vol. 2 by The Furious Bongos featuring Chad Wackerman - now available from Bandcamp. Pay what you like!
• With Napoleon Murphy Brock playing every day at Zappanale with three different bands this year, I thought it might be good to dust off my interview with the man from way back in 2002. Dig in while listening to this specially curated Spotify playlist.
• With the splendid news about the Whisky 68 release, just a reminder that I also have interviews here with OG Muthas Jimmy Carl Black, Don Preston, Bunk Gardner and Art Tripp, plus road manager Dick Barber. And here's another Spotify playlist, featuring MOI 'hits' sans vocals.

Added week-ending 21 April 2024:

• Great news: Bradley Morgan's book, Frank Zappa’s America: Music, Satire, Politics & The Fight Against Christian Fascism, will be published by Louisiana State University Press in Spring 2025. Having seen an early draft, I can advise it's an absorbing book that successfully contradicts FZ's dismissal of his own lyrics as simply a device to get people to listen to his music.
• Watch FIDOplaysZAPPA featuring Robert Martin perform Sinister Footwear. This is the first single from their live album together, due out on 17 May.
• Podcaster Tony Trombo has a new book out, collecting together his interviews with FZ band members+, called Talking Zappa. Includes his chats with Ike Willis, Cal Schenkel, Mike Keneally, Arthur Barrow, Howard Kaylan and more.
• Dark Horse Records has released new album Dreamers In The Field, a collaboration between Huun-Huur-Tu, Carmen Rizzo & Dhani Harrison. Check it out on SoundCloud.
• FZ & The Mothers live at the Whisky A Go Go, 1968 - a three disc set with just under three hours of music - will be the next official Zappa release. The Duke (Take 2) is the first preview track. You can read about it (and buy merch) here. There's also a more detailed breakdown of the album here. Cal Schenkel commented on Facebook, "I thought this was a bootleg because of the art: the graphics really SUCK!" When told that Miss Pamela had written the liner notes, he added "They should have had her design the cover too!"
• Official Zappa merch (t-shirts, hoodies, mugs, caps) now available in Debenhams!
• On Instagram, Dweezil has posted a few behind the scenes clips of preparations for his upcoming tour. He will be filming all of the rehearsals and in May will create a subscription based mini-series of events leading up to the first concert - at dweezilzappa.com.
• The Percussive Arts Society has assured me that it will be making its recent Zappa article available for public browsing when it launches its new website on 1 May. As noted last week, it's a listening guide to FZ's percussionists, written with the participation of Art Tripp, Ruth Underwood and Ed Mann, as well as additional insights from Chris Garcia and Joe Travers.

Added week-ending 14 April 2024:

• The latest edition of Percussive Notes, the official journal of the Percussive Arts Society, includes an article entitled The Mallets of Invention: A listening guide to Frank Zappa’s percussionists. It includes insights from Ruth Underwood, Art Tripp & Ed Mann, but doesn't appear to be readily available for all to view (your intrepid reporter has written to PAS querying this but in the meantime, members can view it here). The Society has curated this Spotify playlist containing all of the tracks discussed in the article.
• There is a GoFundMe page for Lady Bianca, who has suddenly become unwell and could use a little help.
• Moon Unit on her upcoming memoir: "I used to say having Frank for a father was a bit like having Jesus as a dad – only I viewed his fervent flock keeping our lights on as my competition, and was outraged by the ones filling our earthly father’s coffers with unlimited blow-jobs. Some of the surprises for me in writing the book were empathy for the villains in my life and for myself, along with the mortifying exposure and dismantling of faulty understandings and outdated beliefs. Personally and professionally, this was the most difficult and ambitious thing I have done so far.” Earth To Moon will be published in the UK by White Rabbit on 22 August 2024, in hardback, ebook and audio digital download. Anyone wanting a signed copy (plus as an original illustration by Moon Unit), go here.
• Those who watched the interview with Geoff Wills about his Zappa And Jazz book ⬇️ will have noted that he has a new tome coming out, titled Reed Rapture: The Saxophone on Movie Soundtracks. 

Added week-ending 7 April 2024:

• In the latest Rocktails podcast with Ahmet Zappa, session guitarist Tim Pierce explores FZ's Baby Snakes SG.
• Two very different posts about Robert Fripp appeared on Facebook  this week - by Scott Thunes and Steve Vai, with one describing him as a marvel and t'other as crankypants. See if you can guess who said which.
• For those still cogitating about going to Zappanale, I have posted my handy guide to getting there. Although focussed on travelling from the UK, for those who might fly in to Hamburg or Berlin from elsewhere, it's hopefully still handy.
• When the Universal Music Group acquisition of the Zappa estate was announced, I wondered about what might become of the Zappa Team - specifically, Melanie Starks, Holland Greco, Michael Mesker and Joe Travers. Happily it has been business as usual as regards the latter two gents (still artistic director and Vaultmeister respectively). Meanwhile, both of the ladies became employees of UMe in 2022, where Holland continues in her full-time role as a director of art & media. Melanie (who worked for the Zappa's for 20 years and was Gail's right hand wo-man) though ceased her consultancy role with UMe in January 2024, having acted as production manager on all FZ album releases during her two years with the company. Here's wishing her well as she focusses on her career as a producer, writer and actor.
• Montana-based musician/composer David Frick (no, not the editor of Rolling Stone) recently released his version of Watermelon In Easter Hay on Bandcamp (as did Ohio band Bad Deal).
• Beat (Belew-Vai-Levin-Carey) dates now in the Diary. And here the band talk to Rick Beato.
• Former Magic Band guitarist Moris Tepper will have a new album, Building A Nest, available from all streaming services on 5 April.

Added week-ending 31 March 2024:

• Asked about how Dweezil ended up remixing Machine Head, Deep Purple's Roger Glover said, "It wasn't our choice. The record company wanted Dweezil because of his father's connection. I'd already mixed the album for the 25th anniversary, so I said, 'Well, why do you need another remix?' But they said they wanted Dweezil. I think it's probably a marketing thing. They thought it was a cool idea."
• To cover the start-up costs of his upcoming Rox(postroph)y tour, Dweezil is flogging some of his gear - including the "Hot Rats" World Tour Gibson Custom Replica and Jackson Custom Guitar signed by Madonna. Says Dweezil, "Inflation has wreaked havoc in every sector of our lives the last four years, including the touring industry. I wanted to create a win-win situation by offering some of my favourite guitars for sale as a way to support the tour. There's a lot of variety in the items on auction, guitars, amps, pedals, speakers, studio outboard gear, cases and more." Check it out here. Most of the items for sale have a bespoke demo vid with DZ, and here's one giving an overview of the auction.
• New interview with Zappa And Jazz author Geoff Wills about Frank and, er, jazz here. If you haven't yet read Geoff's great little book, maybe this will encourage you to correct that. 
• The promotional video for the new Joe Satriani/Steve Vai single The Sea Of Emotion, Pt.1 features a guy cross-dressed as FZ on the cover of We're Only In It For The Money.
• Bill Pitts (aka Dr Mumbai) has followed up his first album (The Adventures Of Dr. Mumbai, which featured Bryan Beller, Marco Minnemann, Arthur Barrow, Dweezil, Pete Griffin, Scheila Gonzalez, Aaron Arntz) with Hangar 63. This too features Marco Minnemann, alongside Billy Sheehan and (organ rising music) Mr Ike Willis! Check it out here.
• The line-up for Zappanale has finally been announced. It includes: Ensemble Fuse & Napoleon Murphy Brock, Pygmy Twylyte, Jeff Hollie Quartet, The Wrong Object, David Cross Band, Gong, Inventionis Mater Trio and Frank Out! Full details at www.zappanale.de
• This website is one year old! Since 28 March last year, 82,597 visitors have viewed it 133,637 times. Not bad for an old HTML site, eh? As regards social media, over 17,000 Zappa fans were reached through my Zappa The Hard Way Facebook page during the same period (a 285.7% increase over the previous 12 months), and more than 262,000 of the @idiotbastard's Tweets have been seen on X. Thanks to you all; it's encouraging that there remains so much interest in someone who passed away over 30 years ago. Frank Zappa music is the best!
• Pretend you attended Birmingham Symphony Hall to watch the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra perform Bob In Dacron and Sad Jane on 27 March by downloading the programme here and listening to it here (the FZ portion starts at 23:50). Sorted!!

Added week-ending 24 March 2024:

• After last year's Zappanale lost €150k, the Arf Society has revealed the seriousness of its current predicament, saying "If we do not manage to generate the necessary income, the Zappanale can no longer take place." This year is safe and happening, but it could be the last if regular attendees decide not to go. And if you've always been meaning to make the trip, please do it this year: we can't allow this amazing festival to end!
• Péter Eötvös - who conducted The Rage And The Fury, was musical director of Ensemble InterContemporain for The Perfect Stranger, and composed Psalm 151, In Memoriam Of Frank Zappa - sadly passed away at the weekend. May he rest in peace.
• Here's Scott Thunes on Reddit talking about working with Chad Wackerman again in Banned From Utopia: "I was a little apprehensive, but the second I saw him last year at his house for rehearsals, I just had to give him a hug. For the record, there was never any official bad blood between us. He just never spoke to me during the 88 tour, never said anything to anybody about anything (or defended me) during the past decades." Those who have read Zappa The Hard Way will know that, despite my constant badgering, Chad has indeed maintained a dignified silence about the tour.
• The Official Grandmothers Fan Club Talk Album is now available on streaming services. It features Elliot Ingber, Bunk Gardner, Don Preston, Motorhead, Buzz Gardner and Jimmy Carl Black. Here it is on YouTube.
• Talking of Don Preston, he is Pamela Des Barres' special guest on her latest Pajama Party podcast - here! During their chat, Miss Pamela reveals that she has just finished writing liner notes for a future Mothers 1968 Whisky A Go Go release.
• Watch Dweezil talk about remixing Deep Purple's Machine Head here.
• Magic Band drummer Robert Williams has a GoFundMe campaign, due to medical issues that have rendered him unable to generate an income and he is at risk of homelessness. If you can help, go here.
• According to Joel Selvin's Drums & Demons: The Tragic Journey of Jim Gordon, when Gordon was summoned to Trident Studios to play drums on Carly Simon’s You’re So Vain, he arrived with FZ who stayed and watched him do 60 takes before producer Richard Perry was happy. Apparently Perry did countless takes with other drummers and brought Gordon in as a last resort.
• One Shot Deal's recent show at Campus Jax (with special guest Mike Keneally) can now be viewed at your leisure here.
• Inventionis Mater, the duo who celebrated 13 years together at the weekend, will play at the exhibition hall at Zappanale this year. Their latest album, featuring Napoleon Murphy Brock, is now readily available here.
• Last week, I provided a link to an EP by Dweezil's new singer/guitarist Zach Tabori, which features artwork by Cal Schenkel and Tommy Mars on two tracks. If you don't want to listen to the whole thing, you should at least check out the track Buy My Shirt, which has Tommy all over it.
• Just a reminder that next week sees the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra tackle Bob In Dacron and Sad Jane. The concert will be broadcast on BBC Radio Three.
• Not only is the new Beat-era King Crimson supergroup endorsed by Robert Fripp, but he also says that, "Steve Vai is the only guitarist who could play my parts."

Added week-ending 17 March 2024:

• Joe Satriani and Steve Vai will release their first ever collaborative song, titled The Sea Of Emotion, Pt. 1, on 29 March.
• New Fripp-endorsed supergroup Beat - comprising Adrian Belew, Steve Vai, Tony Levin and Tool's Danny Carey - will play 80s King Crimson at Humphreys in San Diego on 17 September. Hopefully not a one-off!
• Here FZ discusses the impact of the poorly educated on the decline of American democracy.
• Dweezil US Rox(postroph)y tour dates now in the Diary. (As regards a UK tour, DZ sez "hopefully next year".) His band will again include Kurt Morgan (bass), Ryan Brown (drums) and Scheila Gonzalez (sax/keys), plus these two new guys (the chap on guitar is Zach Tabori, who recorded an EP called Ensemble which features Tommy Mars with artwork by Cal Schenkel, while the keyboard dude is Bobby Victor of Pizza Bees - DZ has now confirmed all this here). And here's a video of George Duke telling us what he thought of the Dweez. To celebrate all of this, the Idiot has curated a Spotify playlist of rock classics featuring DZ!
• Suddenly available again on CD: Frankful by Mats Öberg!
• As well as Deep Purple, Dweezil has apparently also been working on ATMOS mixes for Experience Hendrix, and possibly on some Van Halen material too.
• Anyone receiving a basic German pension (or those dependent on social assistance) can now get a reduced price 'social' ticket to attend Zappanale this year.
• Universal's plans for "efficiencies" (that is, reduce its staff headcount by 17%) has impacted on its release schedule. As things stand, the next 'new' Zappa release remains FZ For President on vinyl.

Added week-ending 10 March 2024:

• Dweezil on his Rox(postroph)y tour: "After 4 long years, I'm pleased to announce that next Tuesday I will be able to share pre-sale ticket links for a 30 show US tour! I have a new Rocking Teen-Age Combo and we are going to play a curated list of fan favorites in ways they've never been played. 1974 yielded Apostrophe and Roxy & Elsewhere so of course we will celebrate 50 years of fun and explore uncharted territory within those records. 2 drummers on stage? Don't threaten me with a good time!" One date in Diary already.
• Dates for Banned From Utopia's US summer tour (Joel Taylor replacing Chad Wackerman on drums) with the Paul Green Rock Academy are now in the Diary. Meanwhile, Morgan Ågren and Mats Öberg made a guest appearance at the BFU show in Stockholm on 9 March.
• The Furious Bongos Mother's Day tour dates are also in the Diary.

Added week-ending 3 March 2024:

• In this second recent vlog, John "Drumbo" French appeals to Jack White and the Zappa Trust regarding unpaid royalties for Trout Mask Replica.
• The Road To Halloween 2023 Vol. 1 by The Furious Bongos (feat. Chad Wackerman) is now available to download at Bandcamp - name your price! I am reliably informed that Vol. 2 will be "a batch of other songs, plus alternate versions of the big jam tunes."
• Also on Bandcamp is a third album by Mike Keneally and Marcelo Radulovich, called Tuesday. Keneally's excellent You Must Be This Tall album from 2013 has also been added, with bonus shiz.
• Pygmy Twylyte superfan Chris Lammiman saw every gig on the band's recent tour and is writing a book about it. Why? Says Chris, "I have a terrible memory, so the tour diary aspect came from my desire to have something of a reminder and memento...to have an excuse for talking to people and collecting stories along the way...[and] because I can, and because I want to." He has set up a Facebook page for it: The History And Collected Improvisations Of Pygmy Twylyte.
• Chad Wackerman has shared this great picture of Scott Thunes, Robert Martin, Ray White, Steve Vai and himself together at last weekend's Banned From Utopia shows at the Baked Potato.
• ZappaRap is now available from Bandcamp is currently Rock Radio's CD of the week. I was interviewed about the album, Festival MOO-AH and our dear departed friend, Dave Owen, on Thursday 29th February. If you missed it, you can listen again (without the music) here.

Added week-ending 25 February 2024:

• Moon Zappa's long-awaited memoir (Earth To Moon) now has a UK publisher - with new cover art. Check out the White Rabbit website.
• Conductor score for Bob In Dacron & Sad Jane and musical problems: a video by Chanan Hanspal. A timely reminder that the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra will be playing these two piece next month - see Diary for deets.
• Here's an update on the provisional bands lined-up for Zappanale #33.
• The ZappaRap album is now available to stream on Spotify, YouTube and Amazon Music. It has also been added to Discogs and the rockradio.de music archive.
• Episode 2 of the Over-Nite Sensation 50th Anniversary Super Deluxe Edition ZappaCast is here.
• ZERO's flower-power trio instrumental mix of Who Needs the Peace Corps? is available exclusively as a download when you buy the band's Six Of One CD from Bandcamp.
• New vlog from John 'Drumbo' French covering issues with his book royalties plus upcoming releases, happenings and other cool stuff.
• Lisa Popeil will be 'virtually' in the UK in March. Details here. (And over here also.)
• Guitarist Mike Miller will replace Jamie Kime as he returns to play for Banned From Utopia on their brief tour of Scandinavia in March. All dates in the Diary, plus some of the summer ones (with Joel Taylor on drums).
• As per David Logeman's hopes, the clip of him performing Pick Me, I'm Clean with The Zappa Band has now been put up on YouTube. The link to it has been added to our interview!
• Here's a new video interview with Chester Thompson, talking about his new solo album plus the Zappa years. And here he lists the 10 albums that have defined his career.
• Pygmy Twylyte were on fire last week for their short tour of England. If you missed them, get your arse over to Zappanale in July! They will also be playing two more shows in the North of England later in the year - see the Diary for details.
• Suddenly back in the Idiot's webshop, copies of the AMM All-Stars Play Lumpy Gravy CD. For reasons I can understand, this disc sells better than any of the others in my store! Here's a playlist of some Zappa tracks that All-Stars members have contributed to my CDs for Cordelia over the last 16 years.

Added week-ending 18 February 2024:

• Waiting to hear about the next FZ release - The Mothers 1969 or Zappa '74? - but it looks like it's Zappa For President on coloured vinyl for Record Store Day 😴
• Also on Record Store Day comes a deluxe edition of The Spotlight Kid by Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band.
• What do we know about Dweezil's summer US tour so far? It will kick-off in August and last about five weeks. The band will be billed as The Dweezil Zappa Band and is likely to include Scheila Gonzalez, Kurt Morgan and Ryan Brown. They will play the music of FZ, plus whatever the f@%k they want. It will visit Los Angeles (either The Wiltern or The Orpheum Theatre).
• You may recall a young fangirl called Flake wrote a Zappa zine (Zappa Every Day) some months back. Well, there are now just 28 copies left, and once they're gone, they're gone. Flake writes, "For the uninitiated, it's my reactions and reviews of 30 Zappa albums in 30 days and four films. Quite an adventure for someone who had never heard his shit before!" The Idiot says it's a fun read, after all of the more studious Zee tomes out there. Grab one (or more!)  of the remaining copies here.
• Update on Ike Willis' health from Dr. Dot: "Ike is done with the detox and now officially in the rehab centre to complete his journey to sobriety and health. Cross your fingers and toes he makes it through and heals. We love Ike Willis ❤️." Amen to that.
• What the hell was he thinking?! A charity recording of Going Home (Theme from Local Hero) by Mark Knopfler’s Guitar Heroes will be released on 15 March. It features (among many, many others) Steve Vai, Eric Clapton, Ringo Starr and Mr Sting. Net proceeds will go to Teen Cancer America and the Teenage Cancer Trust. Read more about it here.
• Vai is also part of another all-star cast of musicians on the song Some Assembly Required by Jason Becker & Friends, hoping to raise money for the ailing Becker. Read all about it here.
• Here’s a video to accompany ZERO (featuring Robert Martin)’s rendition of Teen-Age Wind from the new ZappaRap album. The album is now available to stream in Spotify.

Added week-ending 11 February 2024:

• Just added to Bandcamp is an album of radio ads by The Firesign Theatre, called Jack Poet Loves You. It includes three ads for Hot Rats, two of which can be found on The Hot Rats Sessions box set (Heavy On Your Head and Remain Anonymous as Hot Rats Vintage Promotion Ads #3 & #4), and one that doesn't (track 38, Nifty New Teenage Album).
• Suddenly available: ZappaRap, a new compilation album of Eff-Z covers in a hip-hop stylee, featuring the legendary Robert Martin! More here.
• The Poodle Bites wishes us a Zappy Valentine's Day ♥️
• Just added to the Zappanale line-up for 2024: Inventionis Mater and The Jeff Hollie Quartet (comprising Jeff, Fred Händl, Armin Beck & Kevin Crosby).
• Deep Purple will unleash Machine Head: Super Deluxe Edition at the end of March, featuring new stereo and Dolby Atmos mixes by Dweezil Zappa. His remix of Smoke On The Water can be heard here. There's a rumour Dweezil might also be involved in ATMOS remixes of Van Halen's back catalogue. What next?

Added week-ending 4 February 2024:

• I have just conducted a short interview with GTO Miss Sparkie Parker!
• For years, I'd always assumed FZ got a thank you on Stevie Wonder's Songs In The Key Of Life for loaning him some gear. Turns out Frank recorded a guitar solo for the song All Day Sucker. Engineer Gary Adante recalls Frank "Was amazing, but it just really wasn’t as great as we’d hoped it to be." Snuffy Walden recorded the version eventually used on the album.
• The countdown to the release of Part I of Frankly Zappa: An Unauthorized Biography by John Klein Sloatman III has ended, and...nothing yet!
• Name that Zappa tune - Round 4!
• Universal Music Group pulled its music from TikTok on 1 February, meaning all of FZ's official releases can no longer be added to posts (and have also been removed from old ones).
• On Bandcamp Friday, a new Mike Keneally/Beer For Dolphins release became available here. Live at Lynagh’s – Lexington, KY  May 18. 2001 is a live audience recording of the seven-piece BFD that toured in support of the Dancing album. Yes please! Mike will be One Shot Deal's special guest at the next couple of gigs - see Diary.
• Some further clarity re. Dweezil's announcement of a new tour in August. It will be a month long US jaunt and previous band members Scheila Gonzalez (keys, sax), Kurt Morgan (bass) and Ryan Brown (drums) appear to be back onboard. Unfortunately Adam Minkoff is not available so expect one or two new bods.
• The Paul Green Rock Academy will open for Banned From Utopia on their US East Coast tour this summer. Joel Taylor will be returning to the BFU drum stool for these gigs.
• New ZappaCast looking at the recent Over-Nite Sensation box set here - part one of three! 
• The U-M Contemporary Directions Ensemble concert this coming Saturday (3  February), where they will play selections from The Yellow Shark, will be live-streamed. Here's the link.

Added week-ending 28 January 2024:

• Very sadly, there will be no Muffin Men nor Denny Walley at this year's Zappanale. 
• Dweezil is special guest on the latest Guess That Record podcast - here. Recorded before his comment about a new tour in August (see ⬇️), here he hasn't booked anything yet, but talks about wanting to celebrate the 1974 albums, Apostrophe(') and Roxy & Elsewhere. Woo-hoo! 
• Name that Zappa tune - Round Three!!! 
• Dweezil has been responding to questions on his website, which he says will see a lot more stuff added this year: "I spent most of last year going through concerts. I will also be starting a bunch of video content: series, interviews, filmed podcasts, guitar lessons, etc. Also there will be a new tour in AUGUST."
• Watch Marc Atkinson recreate Vinnie Colaiuta's Deathless Horsie drum performance here. (Marc can be heard playing Mo's Vacation with Arthur Barrow and Ed Mann on Cordelia's Rare Episodes CD.)

Added week-ending 21 January 2024:

• When the Sloatman family moved to London in 1959, Gail attended Marymount International School in Surrey until 1962. She later modelled for photographers David Bailey and Terence Donovan, and had brief dalliances with Return Of The Saint actor, Ian Ogilvy, and the co-founder of Track Records, Chris Stamp. On her return to LA, she met producer Kim Fowley and recorded this single.
• Is Big Eyed Beans From Venus the greatest love song ever recorded, asks Brian Neavyn.
• Here you can hear short excerpts from 200 Motels: The Suites as performed by the Strasbourg Philharmonic Orchestra at the Zénith in Strasbourg on 21 September 2018, and the Choir of the Nice Opera and the Nice Philharmonic Orchestra at the Nice Opera on 1 December 2023.
• The always watchable Chanan Hanspal learns us how analyse FZ's 'ugly' melodies.
• 'Name That Zappa Tune', Round 2!
• Andy Edwards asks, was FZ really any good on guitar - here. (Seems he was!)
• Alex Dahl has added another new page to his Life On The Road website about the early 1977 band and their month-long tour of Europe - which takes in my first ever Zappa concert! He's also added reviews for the 1973 shows that were unearthed for the Over-Nite Sensation 50th anniversary release. Tuck in!
• 200 Motels is available to buy on DVD for the first time ever in Japan. Hopefully this signals an imminent worldwide reissue - or not? 
• Apparently after the Universal takeover of all things FZ, Barfko-Swill received a big bunch of old product. As a result, they are currently selling the original Barking Pumpkin Sleep Dirt CD (with Thana Harris' vox) and more. Someone tell Jenna Ortega!
• Mike Keneally appears on a cover of Hall & Oates' Don't Blame It On Love by the Powhida​/​Perdomo Hotline. Check her out here.

Added week-ending 14 January 2024:

• New book, available to purchase now: Not Just Happy Together: The Turtles From A-Z (AM Radio to Zappa) by Mark Arnold & Charles F Rosenay!!! More info here.
• Here's a bit of fun: name that Zappa tune with The Poodle Bites.
• Last month the Zappa Team announced via their socials that A Token Of His Extreme was available for streaming. This caused some confusion as no links were provided and very few people were able to locate it on the various services outside of North America - plus it seemed to be for one day only. They have now announced that Does Humor Belong In Music? is on streaming sites and I can see it on Amazon Prime here in the UK. It's not free, like, but good for those who don't own it on DVD. Earlier this week (on Discord), the Vaultmeister™ inferred that Universal felt nobody buys DVDs anymore (hence no hard copy of the Classic Album Freak Out! thing presumably), but hopefully they will get around to putting things that haven't been released on DVD like Video From Hell, The True Story of 200 Motels, Uncle Meat and The Amazing Mr. Bickford on streaming sites too one day.
• Steve Vai tells Chanan Hanspal how he made Flex-Able and Passion And Warfare - watch.
• Banned From Utopia guitarist Robbie 'Seahag' Mangano has teamed up with former Dweezil side-people Adam Minkoff and David Luther for a third wacky Frankie Valli murder single: I'm So Mad is available on Bandcamp now.
• Chad Wackerman will be playing with It Bites on their short UK tour next week.
• The final Lovers Of Invention track live from Brixton is here, while The Furious Bongos with Chad Wackerman's Find Her Finer can be found here.
• During the Zappa festival at Bozar last month, the Ryelandt Trio played a concert that was broadcast on Belgian Radio Klara on 2 January. You can now 'listen again' here. (Jump to the start of their programme at 09:45 and hear Inca Roads / The Black Page #2 / Penis Dimension / Five-Five-Five / Sofa / The Uncle Meat Theme / I'm Stealing The Towels / Naval Aviation In Art / Florentine Pogen / Sad Jane / Strictly Genteel performed on violin, cello and piano!)