zappa

Kill Ugly Radio | Frank Zappa & Elsewhere » Petition: Aggressive Action by the ZFT

First, read it:

We the undersigned petition the Zappa Family Trust (ZFT) to cease and desist from making threats of legal action against FZ tribute bands, FZ fan sites, Zappa music festivals and other related activities that are designed first and foremost to honour and promote Frank’s music, despite not being ‘approved’ by the ZFT.
While we applaud the work that the ZFT has done – especially in recent years, with the Zappa Plays Zappa tours and the release of CDs & DVDs such as Buffalo, Wazoo and Baby Snakes – we do not see those threatened by the ZFT as being in any way detrimental to Frank’s legacy. Indeed, while recognising that there truly can be no real substitute, we perceive any attempt to curb such alternative activities will be more likely to have a detrimental impact on the legacy.

We consider that the ZFT would be better targeting those who produce and sell Zappa bootleg recordings and pirate memorabilia – of which there are a numerous examples on the Internet. If the ZFT are to unleash the lawyers, they should be aimed at them and not us – the truly devoted fans.

Next: sign it!

Some strangeness afoot. Police apparently came in the house while I was in the tub and looked around looking for some dude (Ryan Reynolds?). They didn’t bug me.

Also, my Windows 2003 and my iTunes and my old 1GB iPod Shuffle are not playing well. Jerks.

Yuck!

I tried the iPod Reset Utility, I tried the instructions which included making a .BAT file, and I tried the normal process of allowing iTunes to reset the firmware. No dice and Windows would hang—complete freeze, and I was unable to quit iTunes as an application or as a process. UGLY. I also tried going into Hardware Manager, but the iPod would not be read there.

I was able to get it working on my older Mac G4. It’s slower, but with the Mac iPod Reset Utility things worked.

So I’m giving up syncing my podcasts from Windows and moving to the Mac. Really I need to get a new Mac—for work and for things like this, but that’s not in the budget yet, and if I can’t pay cash, I can’t do it.

Meanwhile, in the interwebs, where things are funny and do not require you to look at Windows Event Logs, check out this: Gabe and Max’s How to Get the Dreamlife of Your Dreams Using the Internet Thing

That made me laugh.

Elsewhere, this post by Adrian Belew about Frank Zappa made me cry.

I suggest you watch the funny video before you read the crying-making thing.

Onward!

Lyric of the day:

I’m gonna find me a horse
Just about this big,
And ride him all along the border line

With a
Pair of heavy-duty
Zircon-encrusted tweezers in my hand
Every other wrangler would say
I was mighty grand

But by myself I wouldn’t
Have no boss,
But I’d be raisin’ my lonely
Dental Floss

Raisin’ my lonely—Dental Floss
Raisin’ my lonely—Dental Floss

Well I might
Ride along the border
With my tweezers gleamin’
In the moon-lighty night

And then I’d
Get a cup ‘a coffee
and give my foot a push,
Just me-and-the-pygmy-pony
Over by the Dental Floss Bush

Zappa Documentary on YouTube, Pointed to by Kill Ugly Radio:

10 Zen Monkeys asks writers Is The Net Good For Writers? My favorite is Clay Shirky’s.

My current musical obsessions: Gerry Rafferty’s Baker Street, Foo Fighter’s Baker Street, Toy Doll’s Nellie the Elephant, Siouxsee & the Banshees Dear Prudence, Christine, and The Passenger, and most of all Burning Sensations’ Belly of the Whale.

One of my favorite independent comics artists of the 1980s has a blog! Larry Marder of Beanworld.

Adam Bosworth, officially formerly of Google now, is up to something new, and double-blogging about it. I found his talk at thr 2005 MySQL Users Conference inspirational. It’s one of a few talks I return to every so often because it’s so packed full of ideas.

Don MacAskill of SmugMug points out that Amazon S3 now has a Service Level Agreement. This is good news. Leah and I have been talking about using S3 for hosting some of the larger files we serve off our various sites. Particularly podcasts, which she’s started doing, by the way.

Speaking of which, Leah is indeed podcasting. I think it’s great! Have you ever subscribed to a podcast? Well, it’s pretty easy, if you have iTunes, go to Advanced … Subscribe to Podcast… and enter http://leahpeah.com/podcast/. Then sit back and listen. How often will she be podcasting? I have no idea.

The day commenceth!

via Kill Ugly Radio

• How To End Up Wearing A Dress On Stage In A Concert Film With Frank Zappa
• How To End Up Imitating Bob Dylan In Concert With Frank Zappa

Every good morning should begin with a little Frank.

Lyric of the Day, From Mr. Zappa, 1973 or so.

I’m gross and perverted
I’m obsessed ‘n deranged
I have existed for years
But very little has changed
I am the tool of the Government
And industry too
For I am destined to rule
And regulate you

I may be vile and pernicious
But you can’t look away
I make you think I’m delicious
With the stuff that I say
I am the best you can get
Have you guessed me yet?
Well, I’m the slime oozin’ out
From your TV set

You will obey me while I lead you
And eat the garbage that I feed you
Until the day that we don’t need you
Don’t go for help…no one will heed you
Your mind is totally controlled
It has been stuffed into my mold
And you will do as you are told
Until the rights to you are sold

Joe’s Comment: media must serve us, not the other way around. And oh yeah, I like that Zappa fellow.