#Save me Frank Zappa save me

[alexjcrowley]

Frank Zappa put liquid cocaine in One Size Fits All

[somethingvinyl]

Virgo Vinyl Challenge day 26: Evil Genius. This immediately made me think of the story about young Frank Zappa who saved up for an Edgard Varèse album because he looked like a mad scientist on the cover and Frank wanted to know what music made by a mad scientist sounded like. I think Frank himself wound up deserving a similar sort of reputation. Genius? Certainly. Evil? Not exactly, but I picture him as something like the devil on my shoulder 😈

[greensparty]

Talking with Pamela Des Barres

In the history of music there's quite a few Rock and Roll Zeligs who have intertwined and cross-pollinated with countless musicians and have so many stories to tell. One that comes to mind is Ms. Pamela Des Barres. She was a part of the L.A. rock scene in the 1960s: a member of The GTO's (Girls Together Outrageously), a famous rock groupie who had friendships and relationships with countless rockers, an actress, and more. She wrote about her experiences in several books notably I'm With the Band: Confessions of a Groupie. She is currently on a tour, which brings her to Boston's City Winery on Nov. 10 to tell her own stories in an intimate show. I caught up with her via phone recently. Funny enough just last year I spoke with Michael Des Barres, her husband from 1977 to 1991, at the MusicCon Collectibles Extravaganza, and he's another Rock and Roll Zelig with so many 6-degrees in pop culture. Pamela was super cool and I highly recommend checking out her current tour.

Pamela Des Barres modern-day

Me: Currently you're on this tour doing writing workshops and your intimate one-woman shows, including City Winery on November 10th. I have to ask, is this really your first appearance in Boston?

PDB: It's my first appearance, yes. I have been there once, I came there once a long time ago when one of my books came out on a book tour. But I really didn't get to see any of it. I haven't performed there. This is kind of a newish thing for me. I've done tons of readings, but this is more of a one-woman show where I play some of the music that inspired me, or my own music with The GTO's, boyfriend's music through the years, tons of photos are shown up there onstage behind me. So it's different than a reading. I'll go from a reading to just whatever story pops into my head. It's not at all rehearsed except for the readings themselves. I just go off on rock and roll tangents.

The GTO's with Frank Zappa in 1969 (Des Barres to the right of Zappa)

Me: You just mentioned being a member of The GTO's. What was it like working with the legendary Frank Zappa?

PDB: He was easy to work with. He's the one that encouraged us to be singer-songwriters because he just loved our take on life back in 1968 in Laurel Canyon. He just wanted to preserve our moments on vinyl. Preserve our cute teenage reality in 1968 in Hollywood. He knew what he was doing. He wanted to save history was one of his main goals in this world.

Jimmy Page and Des Barres

Me: You've sort of become this rock and roll zelig or sorts. You've performed music, you've supported musicians, you've acted, you've written books about music. Have you ever thought about returning to music at some point?

PDB: [laughs] Unfortunately, I'm not a great singer. It didn't matter in The GTO's. That wasn't work for me. But I'm very very supportive of musicians and have been my whole life. I have shows in my backyard, I have a really great patio, so I have shows in my backyard at least four times a year. I charge and I give all of the money to the bands. I've been doing that for years, since a favorite band of mine twenty-five years ago had a record label that was not going to give them any support at all. I said, well let me throw you a record release party. That's how it started and I just love being able to do that. I still go see music all the time. I'll travel anywhere. Recently I went from L.A. to New Jersey to see Springsteen. I'll go anywhere to see Dion. Dion DiMucci is one of my favorites singers, along with Elvis.

Me: Today you are very well-connected to your fans through social media, podcasts, Cameo, book signings and appearances. How does it feel to meet new writers inspired by your writing?

PBD: I feel like it's really my life's work, my writing workshops. I feel like I've found what I'm here to do. Seeing these women, just open their hearts and minds to themselves. They really figure out why things happened in their lives, how to change things for the better by writing it out. I give them props and they only write for twelve minutes and we read them in class. There's so much interaction. People make lifelong friends, because kindred spirits show up in my workshops. People who love music, open-hearted freak-flag-flying people show up. [laughs] All ages too. My recent one in Chicago I had an eighteen year-old and a eighty-eight year-old. And there's no separation between spirits and hearts.

Although, there's a fellow who came up to me and said "Thank God for you! Reading your book made me do what I wanted to do. I realized I didn't have to be stuck in a normal lifestyle. I could go be myself. He wrote a little poem about me." Stuff like that makes you realize - Wow! I'm doing my job here on this earth as this individual. So I'm having a pretty wonderful life actually.

Me: I do have to ask, I'm a lifelong Beatle fanatic, so I have to ask about your meeting with Ringo Starr?

PDB: Yes, I've met all The Beatles finally. [laughs] Took forever. But yeah, Ringo was in 200 Motels, the Frank Zappa film. He played Frank - it was hysterical. It was a two week shoot in England. We all just hung out, we rarely got sleep. We were always on a set together. We'd go out afterwards. I actually got to have dinner with Ringo and a couple of the people there. This was 1970. I've seen him many times since then. He lives in Los Angeles. And he always remembers my name. It's just always a thrill!

I'm With the Band book cover

Me: You've written written several books. Could there be another book coming sometime soon?

PDB: I have six books out. Most people think I have one book. People come up to me and say "I read your book" and what makes me really pleased is when they say "I've read your books" - that S makes all the difference. But yes, I've written six books and I'm writing two more right now. My third memoir, which is my spiritual life. It's called Blinded by the Light: Sex, God and Rock & Roll. I'm writing Cynthia Plaster Caster's memoir for her. [NOTE: I included a pic of Pamela Des Barres and Frank Zappa with Cynthia in my remembrance of her] She asked me to do that right before she passed.

So I have a lot of work ahead of me. I'm on the road all the time. I'm teaching my workshops everywhere. I do rock tours of Hollywood, Laurel Canyon, Sunset Strip. It's endless what I do. I'm so busy for my age group. One might imagine at my age, you'd be relaxed in your golden years. [laughs] Not me.

For info on Pamela Des Barres

For ticket and info on her City Winery appearance on 11/10/24

[neonradiation]

Album Review: 'Heart Engine' by Alpha Chrome Yayo

Key Quote: "For an ACY album, you have to expect the unexpected."

‘Heart Engine’ is the new 8 track album released on 10-Nov-23 by Belfast based artist Alpha Chrome Yayo. Par for the course for an ACY album, you have to expect the unexpected. So, I let the first listen wash over me then I inspected it a little closer…

1. All That Matters

Initially a little chaotic, this opener with freestyle organ does eventually find itself. For some reason I’m getting Frank Zappa vibes and then the humorous ‘Speak and Spell’ style vocals punctuate the music and I’m back in the present decade. It’s short and sweet. 

2. Heart Engine

This one is a different direction altogether - if it’s not an insult I’d describe it as chill or lounge music. It's a laid-back instrumental with a nice horn section, funky bass and even some pan-pipes for good measure. It’s also very melodic and has an old-fashioned fade out at the end - love it.

3. Dancing Is Love

So this one may split the listener's opinion - musically it’s very easy on the ear but the vocals are erm… not. Some kind of vocal changer is going on here I think but the lyrics do suffer because of it. I had to look them up and it was all about looking forward all week to dancing the weekend away. A good theme but not my favourite so far.

4. Stock Exxxchange

The market is open! Although the vocals have been manipulated here as well, we can hear the words this time around. This is a short essay about life in the financial City - I now feel qualified to buy high and sell low? It's an original sounding jaunty little number - what’s not to like?

5. Like A Mystery

Some wizard guitar playing on this one along with some beautiful electric piano and I’m already hooked. Although the lyrics are a little difficult to hear, this time it doesn’t seem to matter as much - it’s all about the vibe.

6. Snow Blossoms

That same vibe continues on this instrumental and I’m back in the lounge sipping an Old Fashioned cocktail.

7. Tuxedos And Tears

Out of all the vocal FX this one seems to work the best - somewhere between Daft Punk and a melodic Robbie The Robot. But what stands out on this track for me is the funky bass synth and piano riff which takes this track up a level. It’s one of my favourites on the album and it feels like we are just getting started.

8. I Wish I Was Watching X Files With You

ACY has saved the best ‘til last - I absolutely love this right from the very beginning. The house piano sounds sublime and the synth hooks are hooky. The vocals and lyrics add something special to the mix and the end result is one very catchy pop song. 

This is a mini-album really and I was disappointed when it came to end so soon (yes I know I can replay it forever). I just wanted to hear more new songs, especially in the vein of the last two. So I’ll be very interested to see which direction we go in next from Alpha Chrome Yayo - but I'm sure the humour will still flow...

Alpha Chrome Yayo Contact Details:

Twitter: https://twitter.com/alphachromeyayo

Bandcamp: https://alphachromeyayo.bandcamp.com

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/5zLis4yrXwIFGKX7ZKZd12?si=ey2eVv9AStOMKs3Gb2EMGg

[rpfofficial]

frank zappa save me

[sivavakkiyar]

saved me from most identity crises as a kid

[krispyweiss]

Roger McGuinn at Midland Theatre, Newark, Ohio, Aug. 22, 2023

There’s no need for Roger McGuinn to write a book. His Songs and Stories With … tour is his autobiography. And hearing the man speak and sing about his incredible life and career is much more enjoyable than reading about it anyway.

As the jangle of an electric guitar playing the Byrds’ arrangement of “My Back Pages” filled the hall - “My ‘My Way,’” McGuinn called it - he walked on stage, stepped to a mic and began to sing. At 81, McGuinn’s voice betrayed some fragility at various points during his two-set, 110-minute performance inside Newark, Ohio’s, three-quarters-full Midland Theatre. But he still plays and sings like a Byrd.

After the opener, McGuinn, dressed in all black save for a red feather in his fedora, took a seat and, surrounded by a banjo, 12- and six-string acoustic guitars, his trusty electric Rickenbacker and tropical plants, proceeded to tell his life’s story. And the concert had the arc of a book, beginning with his childhood in Chicago where he first heard “Heartbreak Hotel” and “Be-Bop-A-Lula” - snippets of which he played - before he went to the Old Town School of Folk Music and got turned on to Bob Gibson and Lead Belly, leading McGuinn to offer full versions of “Daddy Roll ’Em” and “On Easter Morn’ He Rose.”

A teenaged McGuinn then met Pete Seeger, from whom he learned “Turn! Turn! Turn!,” played on electric, and “Rolling Down to Old Maui,” rendered acoustically. He was hired by the Limeliters, met David Crosby in California and Joan Baez (“Virgin Mary”) in New York. He traveled to South America and was inspired to write what would become the bridge of “Chestnut Mare” while sitting on a cliff and eventually went to work for Bobby Darin in Las Vegas - McGuinn was there when Darin discovered Wayne Newton. This was all before McGuinn met Peter Fonda, which prompted “The Ballad of Easy Rider.”

McGuinn wrapped the first set with “I Wasn’t Born to Follow” and “Mr. Spaceman.” He opened set two the way he’d opened the gig, with the sounds of “So You Want to be a Rock ’n’ Roll Star” announcing his arrival and “Lover of the Bayou” following. And despite any wear and tear on his vocal cords, the McGuinn of 2023 is smoother than the raspy McGuinn of 1970’s (Untitled).

From here, McGuinn’s storytelling turned nonlinear as he talked about his friendship with Tom Petty (“King of the Hill”); touring Europe with him and Bob Dylan (a singalong “Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door”); and the shenanigans of Dylan’s Rolling Thunder trek. It was here that McGuinn got permission to record Joni Mitchell’s “Dreamland,” also performed, and was inspired to write “Jolly Roger” by the pirate-like nature of the cross-country escapade in a retrofitted Greyhound bus borrowed from Frank Zappa

McGuinn plucked the banjo on “Old Blue” and recalled working in the Brill Building and nicking the Beach Boys to write and record “Beach Ball” with the the City Surfers, featuring the Bee Gees on background vocals. He then went on to explain how the Byrds ripped off the Beatles not only in their name but by taking the latter’s idea of using folk chords in rock music and - sampling “I Want to Hold Your Hand” to demonstrate - as inspiration for creating folk-rock with songs like “The Water is Wide” and “You Showed Me.”

The Byrd was as enthusiastic as a small child with a new toy when he talked about reconnecting with Crosby and joining forces with Gene Clark, Michael Clarke and Chris Hillman; meeting the Beatles and the Stones in England; and serving as the opening act for Hoyt Axton, whose mother wrote the aforementioned “Heartbreak Hotel,” thus bringing the story full circle.

The set proper closed with McGuinn showing off his substantial lead-guitar chops on a lengthy acoustic rendering of “Eight Miles High,” before he walked off without a word. He walked back on without a word, preceded again by the telltale jangle, and performed “I’ll Feel a Whole Lot Better,” “She Don’t Care about Time” and “May the Road Rise to Meet You” while standing at the off-center mic.

Including parts or all of 30 songs in total, the set and its stories left even the most knowledgable McGuinn fans even more so. And no one left a stranger.

Grade card: Roger McGuinn at Midland Theatre - 8/22/23 - A-

8/23/23

[the-firebird69]

Deep Purple – Smoke on the Water Lyrics | Genius Lyrics

I hear Frank Zappa might be zofo which is also Jimmy Page which is I believe Joe Watts and it means something and he's talking about here cuz his place and it burns to the ground it might be the white house that burned

Zues

yeah ok is

Hera

Wow this is weird but it's in led Zeppelin and they're talking about our ships and it makes sense now what the hell that's gigantic that's ridiculous don't you make that enough to make it out of those blocks so they had you making these little ones is it I say too it make people bigger they get mad about it

Zofo

And he's honoring me but really it's just because I'm some sort of living book

..

This is gross as hell that's too big he said a while ago hey you know that looks like and if you don't want to know mine we don't want to know about it

Dan

Feel a lot of work to do with these people are starting to panic and they're probably should that's terrible

Olympus

Okay what gets here cuz I don't know you're not supporting me you never running around figuring stuff out that makes sense supporting me a little but this is a nightmare this is yeah it really is that's too big get those guys out of there is a good save today it's a nightmare

Kamila

This is good work and it's going on right now and there is a symbol in a band other than Tommy F and his new band he keeps on talking about it a little during the day

Thor Freya

[rofilm1]

Sound design – Close Encounters of a Special Kind – Part 5

Gaia Came to Visit Me

Even famous sound designers can tell you that electronic music and sound design are not always that closely and strongly linked to each other.

Most of us rather think of computers, hardware effect tools and electronic circuitry of all kind when it´s about sound design. Rather than thinking of dog food, microwave ovens or refrigerators. But that´s a big mistake. Frank Zappa told us once: “The mystery man came over me / And he said, “I´m out of site” / He said, for a nominal service charge / I could reach nirvana tonight”

Well, it was not the mystery man, it was Gaia. Gaia herself honoured me with her visit in my humble sound design laboratory (normal people call it a flat). Perhaps it´s a good idea to listen to what she made me doing, before reading ahead in this article (it´s exclusively made with sounds from my flat): https://www.dropbox.com/s/v7x2h57jqw3e8qy/Gaias%20dream.wav?dl=0

At first she entered my premises – unnoticed, silently, like a thief in the night – sat down on the sofa next to me and looked around. Then her gaze focussed on the curtain rod and the wooden rings on top of the curtain. She touched my hand, and at once I felt the urge to jump up from the sofa, run to the window, take the curtain and violently push it here and there, from left to right, from right to left and make the wood rings crash against the metal hooks the rod was fixed to the wall with. I rushed for my field recorder, started the recording and fell into a frenzy working with the curtain, until my wife came back from her shopping tour. She saved me from getting a part of Gaia. Who had somewhat vanished when my wife had entered the laboratory – I mean the flat.

Unfortunately she – my wife, not Gaia – had agreed to take care of our grandchildren, and had to leave quite soon, “Behave !!!!” was everything she said instead of a heartly “good bye”. As soon as the door banged close Gaia reappeared again. This time she (or is Gaia an “it”?) was extremely interested in our refrigerator, especially when it´s door stand wide open for a longer time. Gaia made me use some contact mics inside the fridge, glued to the back (inside as well as outside) and placed between slices of cheese and of top of bottles of milk. I got some fantastic recordings there.

After a while Gaia turned around (I think she was holding my hand all the time) and noticed the toaster. She pulled me over to the kitchenette and I suddenly felt the irresistible drive to make the toaster work, again with some contact microphones fixed to the outside and an additional Zoom H5 recorder watching the whole process from outside. Pushing the toaster´s slider down, waiting for it to come up again, pushing it down, come up, pushing it down, come up ….

Fortunately the laundry rack caught Gaia´s attention after a while, and so our Toaster survived. The laundry rack had been lurking behind the door to the living room, and there seemed a silent communication was going on between the device and Gaia, because she hesitated for some seconds before she trasported me into the living room, where I could help to unfold the laundry rack and start hitting it with several tools like hammers, cups, little cushions (you know these hard little things that hinder you to have a nice rest on the sofa). Then I ran for my fiddle stick and bowed the laundry rack at its different parts. Gaia made my think of even something else. So I hurried into the kitchen again, took the empty water kettle (some people use it to boil water, when they want to have a tea or coffee – what a nonsense), and started walloping the laundry rack with the kettle – everything nicely and cautiously recording of course.

I was just battering the rack and sweating like, well you know what I mean, when suddenly – out of the blue – my wife stood behind me. Gaia had vanished again – somehow. “Don´t try to explain! Don´t even try!” was all my wife said to me, before she vanished as well – into the bedroom, where I supposed she had a serious talk with Gaia.

I was wrong, because Gaia came back after some minutes – silently, cautiously and slowly. Then she pointed back to the kitchen, where she looked at the egg timer. It was a long and longing look! But before I started recording the surprisingly different sounds such devices can produce when treated right Gaia made me close the door to the kitchen, so that my wife wouldn´t be disturbed in her silent meditation about what wonderful husband she has luckily got. The precaution worked. Well, it worked until the egg timer went off for, hm, I think for the 20th time or so, when Gaia was recklessly driven out of our flat by my helpful and caring wife.

... to be continued.

More about it on https://dev.rofilm-media.net

or what about visiting our Facebook group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/rofilmmedia

[mickgaydolenz]

highlights from MICKY'S <3 commentary on the frodis caper/mijacogeo:

MICKY FUCKING OPENS WITH THE BUDALUM HERE WE COME MONKEES GAG KILL MEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

"WAIT FOR IT......IT'S THE BEATLES!!!!! THIS WAS A BIG MOMENT!!!!" -> talking about how they got permission to include good morning good morning in the episode. he does actually explain that he had someone contact apple studios and the beatles gave the go ahead

micky fucking jokes about not remembering who the monkees are (girl i love you). when the opening credits play and there is the same gag he's like see they can't even remember!!!!

"LOOK AT THAT PERM I HAVE!!!!! THAT MUST HAVE TAKEN HOURS AND HOURS AND HOURS"

"they let me direct the very last episode! i don't know what that says about them or me!"

"yeah i ate my cereal with orange juice if you can believe that"

"THERE HE IS!!!! RIP TAYLOR!!!! MY GOOD BUDDY RIP TAYLOR!!!! he's a whacko"

"BOY IS THAT STUPID" -> talking about the two headed org

points out bruce barbour -> "hey that's mike's ex brother in law! i still hang out with him!" -> bruce is also apparently a BIG stunt man

micky says he used the two camera technique a lot in the episode which made editing easier and apparently peter really liked it because they could wrap faster 😂

"those are rip taylor's REAL eyebrows by the way, believe it or not"

micky can't remember where exactly the term frodis came from, but he's pretty sure it was from frodo baggins

micky is the voice of the frodis plant!!!! he also says it looks like a philodendron 😂

zor and zam is one of micky's favourite songs they did!

"HERE COMES THE FOOTBALL!"

"the monkees save the world from the evil machinations of the media! i guess it didn't work....."

micky met tim buckley at the troubadour one night and thought he'd be really cool to come on the show. he also says he has been considering doing an album of buckley songs for awhile

micky also talks about frank zappa and charlie smalls! he says that he was actually at davy's when charlie came over and showed them the songs he had been working on which would eventually become the whiz!

[somethingvinyl]

Next up is an oddball in Zappa’s catalog. Fifteen years into his career, FZ had his second accidental hit single—first it was Yellow Snow, then it was Valley Girl. Both novelty songs appreciated on the radio more for their jokey basis than their musical content. It drove him a little crazy, but he didn’t complain about the money. He plowed the proceeds from this hit into his dream, getting a symphony orchestra to play his serious compositions (the result, by the London Symphony Orchestra, was yet another bitter disappointment, one that made him basically give up this dream). Because of Valley Girl, this is another of FZ’s most ubiquitous albums in used record bins. If your record shop has one Zappa record, it’s Zoot Allures. If they have two, the second is Over-Nite Sensation. But if they have three, the third is Ship Arriving Too Late to Save a Drowning Witch.

Valley Girl is a collaboration between Zappa and his 14-year-old daughter, the infamously named Moon Unit. Frank loved his children, but there’s also no doubt that he was an absent father, spending all the time he wasn’t touring holed up in his home studio—apparently he invited Moon in when she slipped a note under the door begging to spend some time with him. (I don’t remember which of the many Zappa bios I’ve read had that detail.) He was amused by her imitation of the vapid way her classmates talked, so he recorded her improvising dialogue and gave the type the name of “valley girl” after the San Fernando Valley. The song caught on in a big way, and Moon fully deserves her co-artist credit on this—the song’s success is 90% about how funny this 14-year-old is. The song was an immediate hit and provoked a national fascination with the new valley girl stereotype, so all that stuff in our culture (“gag me with a spoon” and all that) can be traced back to Frank and Moon.

The rest of the album is alright; not his best, not his worst. Drowning Witch and No Not Now are good, I Come from Nowhere is irritating. Steve Vai is good on it, original Mother of Invention Roy Estrada pops back up to offer some falsetto vocals. But if it wasn’t for Valley Girl, this would be among Zappa’s most negligible records. It’s also followed by a bunch of records that I have purposefully left out of my collection: The Man from Utopia, which is just annoying to me; Baby Snakes, which is an ok live album but not worth hunting down; London Symphony Orchestra, which is unsuccessful… I do want to own the Boulez Perfect Stranger album, but I’ve never seen one in person yet, and it’s not a high priority. We’re in the Zappa doldrums here in the ‘80s.

[smilesession]

things i did while in the throes of extreme ocd

1. go home from college every weekend and each time bring home possessions (of which i didn’t even bring many to begin with) out of dire shameful nervousness that id make moving out a hassle if i saved it all for the end. got to the point that i spent 3 months with just the desk and bookshelf and bed that are part of a dorm, my laptop, my schoolwork and things related to my schoolwork, a few books, a few outfits, one blanket, no decor, one bottle of lotion, an eyeliner and mascara, my vitamin supplements, my cell phone, and my phenibut

2. every day when i would just sit there at my desk endlessly (often not even making it to class or out to get anything to eat) i would be spending 8 to 12 hours just writing detailed notes - none of my classes were particularly difficult, i knew a lot of the subject matter already and didn’t need to be doing this, i would write detailed and then rewrite a curated version of notes on every single part of every single assigned textbook whether it was required information or not

3. A lot of my notes were just lists of albums i needed to listen to. I had a whole legal pad under the theme of “discographies to finish”. Alphabetical order by artist name. It started like The 13th Floor Elevators: (their two albums i hadn’t heard) and ended like Frank Zappa: (his dozens of albums i hadn’t heard). I didn’t actually finish a single discography

4. I spent a week listening to Gary Numan - The Pleasure Principle, hating every minute of it, because the first time I listened to it it didn’t really hook me so I spent the rest of the week listening to nothing but that album over and over trying to force myself to “understand it fully”. I did this with more albums subsequently and still continue to do this kind of thing to this very day

There’s more but I gtg bye

[mashymilkiesinc]

Here’s a mess of items I am unearthing from the three seasons I directed on Duckman.  They are presented in no particular order.  And there will be more dumps in the future   (”Future Dumps” should be the name of my memoirs).

Some items of note:

2nd down from top:  A sample month of the post-production schedule for Duckman, or for any other animated TV series (then done on film). Each number (17, 18, etc.) represents an individual episode.  Each episode would arrive from the Korean animation studio as a “1-light” print (meaning is wasn’t color timed yet, just printed at one exposure.  The director would call his retakes from the 1-light and then sit with the film editor at a flat-bed editing console and edit the show by hand.  This was painfully time-consuming, especially if the note was something like speeding up animation from “twos” to “on ones”  which meant the editor had to hand-cut every other frame out and tape splice the remaining frames back together.  Film retakes would slowly trickle in from the Korean studio and edited in over time.  Once all the retakes and notes were addressed the film would be declared “LOCKED” (and you didn’t dare make changes afterwards or you’d screw up all the following processes).  Subsequently, a myriad of steps could proceed at once, activating a legion of technicians. 

The negative was cut and put through TELECINE (transferring it to video) and then ON-LINE (color correction, effects and credits added to build the final video product (all pre-digital, mind you).  These are processes that are nearly extinct now, due to digital media. 

Meanwhile, FOLEY (recording footsteps and such), sound effects (culled from the amassed libraries of post sound facilities ) and dialog tracks  are cleaned up in preparation for the mix.   Music cues were spotted with the composers and they went off to compose and record music (We also briefly had carte-blanche from the Zappa family to use “needle-drops” from any Frank Zappa tune we desired, because he was such a fan of Klasky-Csupo). 

Once all the audio elements were ready, we did a final mix which would last 4 DAYS FOR ONLY A 21 MINUTE SHOW!  That was a tense time when the Executive Producers would lay down the law on any of my fancy plans and wishes, damn them!  Finally all elements were reunited in the LAYBACK (the mating of final picture and final mix) onto videotape and sent to the network (in this case, USA); again, a pre-digital dinosaur process. 

Sometimes we delivered the layback to the network same day; hours away from airtime.

4rd down from top:  A full page color ad in Rolling Stone, April 6, 1995.

5th down from top:  A friend working on The Sacramento Bee sent me TV guide listing that renames the show in an inciteful way, March 26-April 1, 1995.

6th down from top:  A storyboard sketch for an unknown Duckman episode.  I think the artist is Director, Paul Demeyer.  But I’m not sure.

7th, 8th & 9th down from top: Items saved from my first Emmy Nomination for my Duckman Episode “TV or Not To Be.”  This was an eye-opening experience for me in more ways then one.  Animation does not get to be part of the actual, Prime-Time Emmys ceremony.  Those took place upstairs in the palatial theater of the Pasadena Civic on a different day.  Ours is a separate  “Technical Arts Emmys” ceremony carried on downstairs in the basement (I’m not kidding).  Duckman lost to a one-off PBS special called “The Roman City” that only had a few talky, static animated segments in an otherwise live-action documentary;  technically not even eligible for the category it won in.  My takeaway was that the winner, Bob Kurtz, a decent and talented animation veteran, was being honored for his career; a hidden calculus that determines the winner, rather than the actual nominated shows in competition.  So goes my education in show-business politics. 

Also included is a crib sheet one of the Executive Producers, Ron Osborn had ready just in case we won.  I think he started to tear it up and I took it from him.  Little did I know in 1994 that I could post it online in 2021!

Bottom image:  Something I drew, I assume for one of my shows, but it is very typical of the subversive imagery I loved to indulge in back then.

[hearts-hunger]

thanks for tagging me @llightmyllovee 🖤

put your music on shuffle and list the first ten songs that come up!

1. “real love baby” by father john misty

2. “this old guitar” by john denver

3. “hard luck woman” by kiss

4. “althea” by the grateful dead

5. “killing the blues” by john prine

6. “wonderful wino” by frank zappa

7. “boogieman sam” by king gizzard and the lizard wizard

8. “tears of rain” by greta van fleet

9. “don't go breaking my heart” by elton john

10. “star of bethlehem” by neil young

i'm tagging @punkgeekcryptid @tv-saved-the-teenage-girl @amourleger @permanentmess and @j3rboa if you want to! 🖤

[natromanxoff]

Queen live at Purley Tiffany’s in London, UK - December 17, 1979

(x)

A young George Michael attended this Queen show at a small London club (he had also attended one of the two shows at Earls Court in 1977). Thanks to djcamper for the info.

A fan recalls a review of the show stating how "It was so loud that the band almost brought the ceiling down, a noise akin to an aircraft taking off."

Parts of the promo video for Save Me were filmed before the show, but the operation was aborted after the director, Keith McMillan, fell into the orchestra pit as Frank Zappa had in 1971. Filming would continue a few days later at the Alexandra Palace show.

[kyotakumrau]

2020.09.27 Rolling Stone Japan - interview with SUGIZO - translation (selection)

SUGIZO talkes about how he met his friends and why was it important to him now to release a live album

Original text: Joe Yokomizo

Photos by Keiko Tanabe

Translation: kyotaku

SUGIZO is releasing the first live album in his solo career, 'LIVE IN TOKYO', on September 30th. This work delivers the two day birthday performance 'SUGIZO 聖誕半世紀祭～HALF CENTURY ANNIVERSARY FES.～' that was held last year on July 7th and August 2nd at Nakano Sunplaza, giving you a chance to not only enjoy the live atmosphere but also the magnificent collaboration with his sworn musician friends.

It's a masterpiece I'd love many people to listen to, but it might be surprising to people who only know SUGIZO from LUNA SEA and X JAPAN and not his solo work.

In this interview we will get to the bottom of it, discussing the live album, the foundations of SUGIZO's solo work and his music, and the history with the artists who joined the project.

ー It's the first time in your career you're releasing a live album, which is very unusual now that the video releases are so common. You were that happy with how those 2 days turned out?

I was planning to release a live album from before. I heard from my staff they wanted to release the material from this half century celebration, but because I've released live video works so many times I thought it's time to change my approach.

I feel that young people nowadays are not really familiar with live albums. These times we can easily watch live videos everywhere including YouTube. But back in our childhood the live album from the artist we were indulging in was a real prize. For me it was YMO, JAPAN and PiL. Miles Davids or Frank Zappa also had quite a few live releases. And, Deep Purple or Peter Framptom also had famous live albums, even as I wasn't influenced by them. With such artists, live albums in 70s and 80s were treated as extremely valuable. I have a lot of admiration for those times, so I was hoping to eventually be able do it myself.

－ I see. Before we talk about the content, I wanted to ask you when did you encounter the so called psychodelic trance music that is the foundation of your solo music?

In the mid 90s. First, I was really into hardcore techno or minimal techno in early 90s, speaking of the ambient world like The Orb or 808 STATE, I really love the scene of that time. And few years later, at the same time when I started my solo activity, European drum n bass or abstract hip hop were very popular, I was quite influenced by the club culture and music around then, and then naturally I gave myself to trance.

The first rave I went to see was Vision Quest in 2001, and from then I got even more into it. The feeling of life in the perfectly linked music and the flow of universe, like dancing with the rising sun and chilling in the afternoon, my instincts were telling me that people had a connection with this kind of music from the ancient times. Not the music from the cities, the music with roots in nature. Kind of primitive music. I found great value for music there.

◆Then they discuss JUNO REACTOR, learning what kind of rhythm feels good, how working with a South African percussion team Amampondo helped them grow spiritually, especially thanks to the drummer Mabi, SUGIZO's chase of the 'black groove' to finally understand East has its own good points; he can be proud as Japanese and SUGIZO's solo activity reflects everything he's learnt.

Next, Joe asks SUGIZO for a primer of his solo work, SUGIZO lists 'Misogi', 'FATIMA', 'DO-FUNK DANCE' and 'Lux Aeterna'◆

meeting Kyo（DIR EN GREY/sukekiyo)

－ Remarkably for each of two days you invited guest vocalists. All of them are musicians you're very familiar with, could you tell us first about how you got to know Kyo (from DIR EN GREY/sukekiyo)?

From the start I was close with some people they know and their staff members. So I went to see their show and we were introduced. It was surprisingly recently, like around 2005 or 2006.

－ What was your impression when you saw DIR EN GREY for the first time?

It was the first time I felt threatened by a younger band. I'm sorry for saying this, but I haven't felt threatened or impacted by any of the younger artists, within this genre. That's why I was quite surprised with how great they are. What they're expressing, their worldview are incredible. At that time I could feel that their performance or sound are not there yet, but I could already feel the intensity of what was pouring out of them, the endless possibilities.

I was especially looking at Kyo thinking 'he's a genius'. There's no theory or detailed reasoning with him. He's just doing things by instinct. But he's good with words, good at drawing, as an artist he can express himself in so many different ways. Then, when I met him in person he was just so pure and innocent, doesn't it seem like he's not greedy at all? So it was a shock of 'a genius like this exists?'.

－ It was Kyo who wrote the lyrics for your collaboration song 'Zessai', was it a request from you?

Yes. Thinking to sing the best it'd be better if that person writes the lyrics, and when I asked [Kyo] he happily did. When I sent him a 2nd stage Mix demo asking 'it will be like this, what do you think?', he already had the singing (melody) put in. And the lyrics have been done too, when I asked 'woah, that's the actual thing?', he replied 'yup, I've done them'. It's the same with DIR. Thus, he's a genius. When an image comes to his mind he cannot wait. It all felt so fast. He's really a phenomenal creator.

－ How was the performance at the Half Century Anniversary?

I felt he definitely is someone who follows his instincts. When you stand on the stage and things get serious it totally doesn't matter if you're younger or older (as in how long you've been working in a music business). Of course there was no stage fright, I felt as a performer he's just huge, and at the same time it felt like there was mutual respect. It felt like it would be a waste to let it just finish like that. That's why I'm very happy that we can release the collaboration from the stage [on the live album].

◆Next, they talk about TERU and TAKURO (from GLAY), followed by Kiyoharu (I'm skipping here a lot)◆

－Kiyoharu said 'I've performed on various stages so I can't imagine myself losing, but when playing together with SUGIZO the pressure is very different'. Often when two different performers stand on stage together sparks will fly.

The same thing can be said about RYUICHI and SUGIZO, the spark/heat of the collision of a guitarist and a vocalist is often very attractive. In a way there's also the aesthetics of traditional rock, that the combination of Kiyoharu and SUGIZO might be able to embody this spark's attractiveness. That's why the collision on the stage makes me shudder, but also it's possible to blend together. With [the combination of] Kyo and SUGIZO there's no blending together, it feels different. And with TAKURO・TERU we're different type of people. When Kiyoharu is on stage I feel he's the same species as me.

－ It's interesting that the character of all those three groups of musicians is totally different.

That's true. I think it's amazing I could have a line-up like that, it's really by chance that they are my good friends coming from the same genre.

◆they finish the interview talking about the sound and working with Dub Master X, sound mixing for the album, SUGIZO wants the live sound to have intimate, close feeling◆

一 So how was it to complete a live album without compromising on anything?

It's a live album, but it it makes me feel like I was able to create a 'SUGIZO's Best Album'. 2 years I go I released what was meant to be my biggest compilation, but obviously the sound from the studio and from the concert have totally different types of energy. As someone who's been performing on the stage for a very long time, I'm really glad to able to pack that energy for the first time officially on an album. Of course live performance has less precision than the studio album, but performance has way more energy.

Another thing is that as you know it is difficult now to perform due to the pandemic. I haven't played live for half a year, when thinking about it, it's the first time in my music career to not play any shows for this long. That's why I'm really yearning for the stage performance, the live show. When I was still doing them it was something obvious, but now that I can't, making this album made me keenly aware how important concerts are in my life and how much I need them; and to tell the truth working on this live album was like saving myself in a way. Obviously a live album can't rival the real thing. Not even a live dvd nor a live stream can match the excitement of being there [at the show], but I worked on this album hoping to let you feel at least some percent of that feeling. At any rate, I'm really grateful to be able to create a work like a live album that inspired me so much as a child.

Btw 絶彩 feat. 京 [LIVE IN TOKYO] available here