A month ago my handsome prince [...] told me, "reserve the weekend of March 7th for a little road trip and pack your overnight bag." I thought maybe a trip on the 1, up or down the coast to a National Park, maybe Santa Cruz or some beach thing, who knows? Saturday came along (this past weekend) and we loaded up the car and drove over the Golden Gate bridge north north north to Santa Rosa where we checked into a hotel, ate an awesome dinner delivered to our room, and then got ready to drive a bit further north.
This time [UncleFluffy] drove and I'm glad he did, because if I was driving when I saw the yellow-illuminated letters outside the concert hall reading "ZAPPA PLAYS ZAPPA" I would have surged off the road. Holy ****. I'd heard about this show Dweezil Zappa puts on, playing a set of his Dad's music with a few of the original bandmates (some from Mothers of Invention, some from other tours), but never thought I'd be going to see them. I'm busy these days and don't get to see enuf shows.
Ladies and Gentlemen. I don't give a flying donkey **** if you don't know/like/respect the music of Frank Zappa. It doesn't matter because there is NO WAY you could go to this show and not leave without being in awe of the level of stamina, talent, and fun that was up on that stage. I am very confident about that and I know what you're thinking. Yeah, it always bugs me too when kids try to cash-in on their parents' fame, especially if the kids have no talent - sorry Kelly Osbourne/Wilson-Phillips/etc.. But, that's not the case with Dweezil. Looks like he seriously put in the time to play and conduct in the manner of his father - apparently requiring him to re-learn how to play guitar and learn the albums chronologically one-by-one...if you have no idea of how many songs that is, check Frank's discography.
Dweezil's got seven musicians with him (not including Scott Thunes who stepped on for 'Willy the Pimp' only - Frank's bassist from '81 to '88). One of them that did the whole set was Ray White, who played with Zappa from 1976 on, this dude had so much energy. I was most impressed with Shiela Gonzalez who played like 47 instruments and was obviously recruited to replace 47 other musicians she was that good. They played a 3 hour set list and remained totally amped and energetic the entire time - I was tired FOR THEM with the amount of work that set required, and I found myself just sitting there with my mouth wide open totally inspired by how good it all was. This goes in my top 5 shows ever and will most likely stay there. They played some of the regular hits like "Peaches en Regalia" and "Inca Roads", but then some randomly AWESOME stuff like "Billy the Mountain"...which may be better to see live than listen to on a recording and wonder what the hell is happening. The best thing about it was that it wasn't just a 'show' in the sense that people play music and peace out. These guys were all having fun, and it was obvious, and that made it so much better.
The only people who were not satisfied with the show were a couple of ******** parents (again, how I hate [self-righteous] parents and believe there should be a competency exam in order to get your reproductive system installed) who didn't realize that some of the lyrics would have PROFANITY in them. Whah? How could you BE SURPRISED that there is profanity at the concert of a guy whose music includes titles such as 'The Illinois Enema Bandit' and "Willie the Pimp"??? I laughed at the idea of explaining the phrase "ram it up your poop-shoot" to my kids after that...but then again knowing me, my kids would be front and center at that show, and already have a concept of what curses are, and when they are used - and already have developed the capacity to break those rules. Yeah, so those people stormed out like they thought Zappa would be a trip to the ****ing symphony or the ballet. Alas, it was obvious that the kids didn't want to go!
Beacuse it was that good. I was amazed, astounded, inspired, and all of those other words. After the show, the whole group just hung out on stage and talked to people. Put simply: "A mountain is something you don't want to **** with." IF YOU CAN, SEE THIS SHOW!
For those of you who know Zappa, they played the following set list:
Cletus Awreetus Awrightus, Inca Roads, Village Of The Sun, Echidna's Arf, Don't You Ever Wash That Thing?, Billy The Mountain, Flakes, Broken Hearts Are For ********, Bamboozled By Love, King Kong, Lumpy Gravy, G-Spot Tornado, Why Don'tcha Do Me Right?, Penguin In Bondage, Willy The Pimp* Outside Now, Peaches En Regalia, Illinois Enema Bandit, E: The Torture Never Stops (* = Scott Thunes: Bass)
