In the last few years, PROJECT/OBJECT has been touring predominantly on the East Coast and Midwest, but as of the spring 2001 tour, began to reach cities from coast to coast. In every new market that they visit, they convert the curious into dedicated fans.

PROJECT/OBJECT wants to remind old Zappa fans of the way it used to be and let younger fans, who never experienced a Zappa show, see and hear the way it was. They intend to perpetuate his music and spirit for as long as they are
physically capable. I can't speak for any of this - haven't seen the show - and a Zappa show without Zappa kind of reminds me of the post-Garcia Dead. However for the enthusiasts, how can the concert not spark a memory or two?

Here is a discussion of Zappa's life and career by David John Farinella and me:

At sometime during his incredibly prolific and polymath life as guitarist, songwriter, composer, conductor, satirist, producer, free speech activist, and all-around social gadfly, Frank Zappa said: "Without deviation (from the norm), 'progress' is not possible. In order for one to deviate successfully, one has to have at least a passing acquaintance with whatever norm one expects to deviate from."

Throughout his career Zappa not only mastered musical genres as varied as jazz, modern classical, rock, doowop, R&B, and pop, he created whole new subsets of music as a solo artist and in various configurations of the Mothers of Invention. And if his goal hadn't been to deviate from the norm, music would have been cheated of one of the richest bodies of work of the last 30 years, highlighted by popular favorites such as the gold Over-nite Sensation and Apostrophe (No. 10), One Size Fits All, Sheik Yerbouti, and the extremely soulful Hot Rats with Captain Beefheart, Jean-Luc Ponty and Sugar Cane Harris; but also by the difficult and challenging Orchestral Favorites, London Symphony Orchestra Vol. 1 & 2, and The Yellow Shark, as performed by the Ensemble Modern.

Beginning with the third Mothers album, We're Only In It For the Money, Zappa produced dozens of albums of his own music, and still found time to produce artists as varied as Captain Beefheart, Lenny Bruce, Wild Man Fischer, The GTO's, and Grand Funk.

Born December 21, 1940 in Baltimore, Maryland, Zappa's family eventually settled down in the semi-desert of Southern California in '50. His first interests in music were R&B, and throughout the early-60s Zappa played with a number of club R&B bands with names like the Masters, and the Soul Giants. After scoring a low budget film in 1963, he purchased the Pal Recording Studio in Cucamonga from Paul Buff, who had built his own recording console and a five track, half-inch tape recorder. Zappa changed the name to Studio Z and started what he's called "the beginning of a life of obsessive overdubbage - nonstop 12 hours a day."

page 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7