This morning I've been listening to Frank Zappa's 1984 album 'Francesco Zappa' in which he plays Synclavier arrangements of pieces by the 18th Century Italian composer, Francesco Zappa.

I have to admit that I always assumed that the whole thing was a spoof and the pieces were composed by Zappa himself but, no, it turns out that there was really a Francesco Zappa working in Milan.

I've learned something new today :-)

What is the significance of this sequence?

Columbia Records
RCA-Victor
Philips
Ford Motor Company & RCA-Victor
Sony & Philips
Sony
Sae Han Information Systems

Guys... what's with the cover of issue 90? Where's the class? Where's the quirky illustration? Where's the style?

Disappointed chaps. You don't look 'special' this month :-(

Last night, I was discussing the line up of the forthcoming Monmouth festival (http://www.monmouthfestival.co.uk/index.htm) and there's a Welsh Latin/Cuban combo playing called Buena Risca* Social Clwb.

No reason for sharing this other than it made me snigger into my pint and I thought ver Massive would get the joke.

*Risca is a small town in South Wales

I've just finished reading this intriguing and infuriating book; an analysis of and discussion about the meaning of John Cage's 4'33".

Although 4'33" has been widely accepted as some sort of joke or satire, author Gann makes a strong case for it being as valid a musical work as any other of Cage's oeuvre. He has played the piece in many concerts and has, evidently, made a great study of what he believes to be the meaning of the piece.

Cage's aim was to prove that by "putting a frame around silence", it becomes as rewarding as any other form of music. It seems he made a study of what is meant by silence, even spending time in an anechoic chamber (although I'm not altogether convinced that he could hear the sound of his own nervous system whilst in there)

He produced several versions of the manuscript score with varying levels of instructions to the player but all, of course, ensured that the audience was concentrating on listening to the environment in which the piece was performed.

Personally, I think Cage did a wonderful thing - reminding people that even (supposed) silence has a sound - but I remain to be convinced that dressing it up as a 'proper' musical piece with all the trappings of a score, playing instructions and the like was anything more than window-dressing which, in itself, starts to turn the piece into the joke it is so often believed to be.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/No-Such-Thing-Silence-America/dp/0300136994/ref=... (other online bookstores are available)

...and it's started! I'll be slouching on the sofa every afternoon in July watching the great soap opera unfold.

For me, summer isn't here until Le Tour starts.

Just been watching Stewart Copeland's 'home made' tour movie The Police Inside Out. Very good it was too.

From day 1 of the band, he recorded day to day life, first in photographs then, when cash allowed, on Super 8. His film consists only of his images with his (recently recorded) commentary. He focussed on the day-to-day mundanities of touring - radio stations, record shops, schmoozing the record company reps, endless miles, one Best Western after another, with occasional onstage footage from his camera propped on an amp. One man's vision - Copeland filmed it, edited it and voiced it; a sort of glorified home video really :-)

My first reaction is that it's the best 'on the road' movie I've ever seen - certainly quite unlike any other as it's seen from one mans personal perspective. A sort of movie equivalent of Bruce Thomas' 'The Big Wheel' book.

Definitely gets the Stimpy Seal Of Approval

Dr J's recent post about the Live 8 Floyd reunion prompted me to wonder if anyone knows who's playing on Waters' forthcoming Wall shows.

Does it include the old Waters/Floyd mafia - Snowy White, Wille Wilson, Andy Bown - or has he gone the LA sessioneer route?

For the first time in a long time this morning I had what my daughters would call "an OMG moment".

A few weeks ago I finally got round to reading Mezz Mezzrow's autobiography 'Really The Blues' and throughout it, he raves about Sidney Bechet. In Mezzrow's pantheon of artists with whom he played, I get the impression Bechet was second only to Louis Armstrong.

I wasn't familiar with Bechet's work, other than en passant but a friend dropped around last night with his own 'best of Bechet' compilation and I've been listening to it all morning.

Bechet is all over Spotify but take 4 minutes to listen to THIS. It's the most wonderful thing I've heard in ages.

Following a recommendation elsewhere on this site, I acquired the Joni Mitchell 'Demos Of Summer Lawns' set.

Niiiiiiiiiiiiice... All played on solo guitar or piano with Joni doing the string/horn parts as vocals. after a couple of listens I'm beginning to think they're actually better than the 'properly' recorded versions.

Definitely gets the Stimpy Seal Of Approval.

Does any have a definitive pronounciation for vuvuzela?

Voovoo-Zella or Voo-Voozla seem to be the favourites.

Any Zulu speakers amongst us?

I suspect this should really be a 'My Night In With...' rather than a blog post but it's more an enthusiastic rant than a considered review so a blog post it is.

Over the weekend I read Antony Beevor's D-Day. I'm not really that interested in military history but was intrigued by the rave reviews that this book recieved.

What an incredible book - it swings seamlessly from the international politics down to the stories of the men on the ground then back up to the tactical military view. One paragraph the reader is with Churchill and de Gaulle, the next he's in a landing ship with a squaddie/GI.

It gives equal time to the men of both sides and from all nationalities - US, British, German but also Polish, Canadian, Russians and the German brigades of captured prisoners from the East and, of course, the French civilians caught up in the whole event.

A remarkable book....

There's an interesting discussion over on The Lefsetz Letter about the latest venue scam in the US. Venues are now taking a 30% (or thereabouts) 'commission' on artist merch sales.

In my days on the road, merch was the cream for the artist - a sack of cash every night that covered the per diem and incidentals ('fruit & flowers' ;-)).

It seems that, over the pond, this little bonus is now being regarded as part of the deal and rolled up into the contract and settlement. The choice for the artist is to either stick 30% on the merch prices, take a loss, or don't sell merchandise.

We've all known for sometime that the record companies are panicking, now it seems the venues are as well.

For a small but significant part of the population, the first weekend of the World Cup is overshadowed by the running of the 24 Heures du Mans which started a couple of hours ago.

By the miracle of Interwebs, it's possible to see live in-car footage of (I gather) the entire race at http://www.lemans.org/wpphpFichiers/1/1/ressources/File/live-tv/live-tv-....

We've had the up-arrow for a fair old time now, anyone* care to work out what comment has generated the most 'ups'?

(*not that this is targetted at any particular individual with access to the blog database, nosireebob)