Zappa.com

From Adrian Belew's Facebook page:

"multi-tasking on the plane by writing liner notes for a new Zappa release.
oh, I should have mentioned it a new box set all 6 shows from halloween at the palladium in new york, 1978. 18 hours worth!
it's the shows the Baby Snakes movie was made from."

My goodness, 18 hours!

Holy crap! I better start saving up.

I think he meant '77.

Yep, '77.

Of course, '77.

Holy fuck?! I just shot my load!

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"...I'm absolutely a Libertarian on MANY issues..." ~ Frank Zappa, Rochester, NY, March 11, 1988

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This is great news!

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I can't tell when you're telling the truth.
>I'm not.
How do I know anything you've said to me is...
>You don't.

Ordered (an appointment with my bank manager)

I have a mixed reaction to the news of this. On one hand it's great, the idea of a complete box set of a series of live shows from one venue/run. There should be many one-time improvs(great or mediocre), multiple Black Napkins & other instrumentals, + proto-versions of well know songs(Conehead).
On the other hand, there will likely be 6 versions of Disco Boy, Bobby Brown & Dinah Moe Hum, + a whole CD worth of Poodle Raps.

How does Adrian know that it's actually 18 hrs worth of material? Could he be exaggerating? 4 nights -10/28 thru 10/31. Did FZ actually play 2 shows per night that run? There's no need to have every note of these shows. I'd rather have the repeated hits/filler edited out to make it about a 6 CD set.

This is what I was afraid of with Ahmet in charge. He's gonna go total overkill with live FZ releases, ala Grateful Dead, and I hate to say it, Fripp, with the 3 massive '70s box sets.

IMO there's a handful of 2 disc live sets from different eras(as Vaulternative or Road Tapes) that should take precedence over this '77 box set like: a Bongo Fury show, anything from '88, '79, the early '74 Anniversary shows, Ritz '81 to name a few. Plus if you're gonna go full on with a box set of a Halloween run, why not '78 since the Halloween DVD-A, as great as it is, was just a teaser.

They played two shows on the 28th and 29th, and single shows running over 3 hours on the 30th and 31st.

You can not fit more than 18 hours on a 14 cd box

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You have just destroyed one model XQJ-37 Nuclear Powered Pan-Sexual Roto-Plooker
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Maybe it's 18 hours of music to edit down into one manageable box set.

If you're going to do another complete venue run, please let it be the Yellow Shark performances from Germany...rehearsals included!

A few quotes...

"speaking of nasty: I devoted a few more hours today to the writing of the zappa liner notes and I'm now having second thoughts.
already I am reading divisive and somewhat nasty remarks from the hard core zappa types.
maybe I should just cater to my fans, who by comparison are a much friendlier bunch.
it seems like an ugly time to be involved in frank's universe.
I only agreed to write something because of my love and respect for the man himself and what he means to my life.
damned if you do, damned if you don't."

"...another tenet I have always held: once you commit there is no choice to be made. at some point soon I will finish the liner notes just as I committed to do.
but I want it publicly known it's only out of respect for Frank and the rest of us who made those performances happen. I have nothing to do with the current Zappa universe. my loyalty is only to the memory of Frank. I owe him a debt but I owe no one else."

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You're probably wondering why I'm here
(not that it makes a heck of a lot of a difference to ya)

From the audience recordings it seems the shows total around 14-15 hours. In a past interview Belew said Zappa had them record during the day so maybe some soundcheck recordings exist too.

Those quotes are Belew's?

Yes, from his facebook page.

Hahahaha, beat me to it.....

What the fuck is he talking about ? The only critique on this thread is Fred's and it's a critique for god sakes! Are opinions to be banned in the new Trump era ?

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"Welcome to the Frank Zappa Memorial Country Club & BBQ" at wgt.com 75 members and counting.

What makes you think he's talking about this thread?

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The way I see it Barry, this should be a very dynamite show.

Point taken ! Where is he seeing all this "Negativity" then? Is it in reference to the family situation or are there lots people pissing on the idea of a halloween box set ?

not that it makes a hell a of lot of difference to me.

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"Welcome to the Frank Zappa Memorial Country Club & BBQ" at wgt.com 75 members and counting.

I really like Adrian and his music in all it's manifestations but judging by his comments on facebook he seems to be an overly sensitive soul (maybe that's what makes him a great artist). He's still whining about getting kicked out of NIN and being passed over for the new edition of King Crimson and that stuff happened four years ago!

Was October 31 the only night on film? I thought I read that somewhere once. Or were other nights filmed? I would love to see some additional footage from any of these shows.

^^^And rehearsal footage too!

I'm looking forward to see what comes out of these shows. I love the '77 band but I hope it's a tight production and edited so there isn't too many duplicates. I don't mind a few Black Napkins though.
As for the liner notes. I'm looking forward to reading them.