Sunday 28 February 2010

Dweezil Workshop

I received an e-mail from Dweezil Zappa t'other day advertising his 'boot camp' this summer in the Catskills. The idea is that putative musicians go along and join in workshops with Dweezil and his  ZPZ  band and thereby improve their musicianly skills. I dunno if I would benefit from this or not, but it is outwith my budgetary capability in any case so, whatever, maaan. Dweezil has been touring with his Frank Zappa tribute band for a few years now and has come in for some criticism for being too meticulous in his reproduction of Frank's music; he seems to have missed the point that Frank would more often than not change stuff around for the hell of it. Dweezil has excellent, almost obsessive, technique but he doesn't have the magic (which is not his fault). Besides that, the Zappa Family Trust has alienated a lot of people by its litigious approach to other tribute bands who do mess around a bit, and to fan websites. So it's good to see Dweezil branching out and trying a new business model.
Meanwhile, if you go to zappa.com there's an amusing flash animation for the most recent posthumous CD release 'Philly 76' which is kind of an official bootleg live album. If you are new to Frank Zappa this would not be the best place to start - contact the Xorg Collective for advice. To purchase Zappa product, we recommend G & S Music rather than buying from the ZFT in America where you'll get cobbered for shipping and import taxes etc.
* Note that you could attend a similar event hosted by Medeski, Martin & Wood, a trio of adventurous jazzers who achieved fame via being in John Scofield's band.  We recommend A Go Go.

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