Great Googly Moogly

Well, the Christmas season has started and I rang it in by seeing Dweezil Zappa at the Pageant on the current version of the Zappa Plays Zappa tour. Okay, so it's not exactly Christmassy but the band did play "Yellow Snow" and that's close enough for rock and roll, right?

I enjoyed the show quite a lot. I went in with no real expectations, just hoping that it wouldn't be "Dweezil exploits his dead father" for two and a half hours. Fortunately this wasn't the case. The music was treated with respect (and it does deserve respect), played faithfully yet playfully with room left for a little spontaneity here and there.

Frank Zappa is known for being weird, and writing songs with goofy lyrics which can be pure silliness, vicious satire, or pure filth. This is only scratching the surface. Musically, Frank was a genius. His instrumentals are quite complex, often giving each musician the chance to shine and yet still having memorable melodies, despite the turn on a dime nature of his compositions. They combine avant-garde jazz, blues and rock and roll in a way that no one before or since has managed. These songs were plentiful in the show (mostly second half) and emphasized not only the quality of the music but also Dweezil and the band.

As for the other stuff, y'know, with words, the entire "Apostrophe (') album was played which includes the aforementioned "Yellow Snow", a trip to "St. Alphonso's Pancake Breakfast" and a dissertation on that dreaded condition of "Stinkfoot". Also played was an off the cuff and (like totally) perfect version of "Valley Girl", an audience participation dance party to the tune of "Keep It Greasy", and of course, "Titties And Beer". Therein lies the secret of Frank Zappa's music. Silly, sophomoric humor mixed with high art. Brilliant, but an acquired taste...and not for the easily offended or anyone under 18.

The coolest part of the show however were the times when they played a video of Frank singing a vocal or playing his guitar and piped it through the P.A, so father and son could play together. Could have been cheesy but it was kind of sweet in its own way.

So, all in all a good time. Kinda hard to get into the Christmas music after that though.