TUPELO CHAIN SEX

So in 1969, Zappa recorded his classic solo record, Hot Rats with the piece, Willie The Pimp featuring Don Van Vliet on vocals, and the violin of Don "Sugarcane" Harris. Don went on to play with the Mothers and recorded the Weasels Ripped My Flesh record with them. Weasels has the track with Dons vocals and violin, the Richard Penniman (Little Richard) tune, Directly From My Heart To You. He is also on Burnt Weeny Sandwich and there is a cut called Lil Clanton Shuffle on The Lost Episodes....

Don was a pyrotechnic musician, a soloist whose ability mixed classical technique with the blues and the acute intelligence of jazz. He straddled the line between Little Richard and Bela Bartok....

Don had started out in pop music in the early 60's as part of the duo, Don and Dewey and had some hit 45's. There are rumored to be recordings of him playing with Little Richard when Jimi Hendrix was getting his road experience with the Upsetters. Frank said that he was an admirer of Dons work and tried to find him. The producer Johnny Otis told Frank that Don was in jail on a drug charge and Frank helped him get out and started to record with him. Don had a very troubled life and was plagued with addictions. This led to his departure from Zappa's touring lineup...Frank was a notoriously strict band leader.

Don recorded some classic forgotten solo jazz and blues records. One record I would love to have has Robert Wyatt on drums before his accident which left him paraplegic and one of my absolute all time favorite guitarists, the Norwegian (thanks, Svenn), Terje Rypdal.

I've only heard a few pieces from it.

Dons turbulent life found him in the late 70's and 80's playing with an incredble live band which hasn't much recorded legacy. They were a punk horn band with incredible energy and the secret weapon...Sugarcane Harris!

This is a live video from London, Ontario around 1984 of a piece called The revolution Will Be Televised.......He died in 1999 at the age of 61.

The Senators New Clothes

Back in September, godfather of global warming deniers Sen. James Inhofe (R-OK) announced that he would be going to the U.N.’s climate change summit in Copenhagen this week to present “another view.” “I think somebody has to be there — a one-man truth squad,” he said.

Inhofe traveled to Copenhagen however — with a single staffer and  his imaginary friends for an an “impromptu” press conference and spent a grand total of two hours in the Danish capital. But even during the press conference, few reporters showed up and the Oklahoma senator wasn’t very well received by the ones who did:

A reporter asked: “If there’s a hoax, then who’s putting on this hoax, and what’s the motive?”
“It started in the United Nations,” Inhofe said, “and the ones in the United States who really grab ahold of this is the Hollywood elite.”
One reporter asked Inhofe if he was referring to California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. Another reporter — this one from Der Spiegel — told the senator: “You’re ridiculous.”

        The Senator then said that he was "freezing his ass off" and left in a huff......

CENTERVILLE

Trudging across the tundra in my mucklucks, saving baby seals from furtrappers that are strictly commercial and while tryin to watch out where the huskies  go and' not to get blinded by the dreaded yellow snow, I see a dim light glowing in the distance...

Why, look, it's Centerville! I hope there's a rancid boutique still open this late!

Weekend Weather Update....

Well, I said I'd give you an update on the weather here...It's Saturday afternoon and you are looking in a northerly direction to La Sechere. It snowed all night and now we are enjoying the biggest snowfall in this region in at least 30 years! Normally, when it snows, a few measly centimeters, the temperature comes up during the day and it is all gone in a few short hours, but the temperature never rose above -3 Celsius and now, we are looking at another snow storm due to hit tonight!

The picture is from the tractor trail at the beginning of the forest. The house and barn in the foreground is my house, the last house in La Sechere. The only vehicle we heard or saw today was Monsieur Boudy's tractor coming down with a hail bale for his cows.

It's very dark and grey with a haze obscuring the distance across the valleys. Silence reigns supreme. In the house is a nice big fire in the fireplace. I think this is the only thing I really like about winter.

I grew up having to get up in the freezing cold. Wet your hair and comb it and go outside and it freezes into place. Walk to the bus at 7 am in the dark with the freezing air burning your lungs. Streets closed in by the wall of snow left by the snowplows and then the salty slush...

You can keep it... But, I like the silent peace of a newly fallen snow storm, being isolated and self sufficient. Yes, I even like long hikes in the snow with the dog. The dog loves the snow, but he's an idiot who would cavort mindlessly caked with ice, terrorizing and chasing the cows up one side of the hill and then down into the valley. I throw snowballs at him and he tries to catch them in mid air and eat them....

I'd rather be bike riding in shorts....

(click on the pictures to enlarge them and feel the freeze!)

Hey Rod....

This is dedicated to Rod Parsely...Hey, Rod, Smile! Jesus really does think you're a jerk! I cannot believe there are only 3 more fun filled days of Zappadan! How much cheese can we pack into each fun filled moment? I ask you.....

And While We're On The Subject....

In the last post, Frank Zappa used the term Fascist Theology to try to define the tactics that religious groups try to usurp the line between church and state. The moral impertinence of those who wish to impose their own personal repressive mnorality on all of us.

One Fascist Theologian who has really crossed that line as an activist is Pastor Rod Parsley. Parsley has manipulated and used religion to build a little empire in Ohio with his Pentacostal World Harvest Mega Church and broadcasting empire. He has been taking advantage of the marshmallow brained believers for years through his tele evangelist hucksterism.

He has used his teleministry to influence elections. McCain called Parsley his "spiritual guide" and begged for his endorsement until Parsley came under intense scrutiny for his extreme hate speech against Islam. Parsley had stated that "America was founded, in part, with the intention of seeing this False Religion (Muslim) destroyed."

Religion is big business in America and it takes a lot of money to keep up his 5,200 seat church and college and 132 acre grounds. You can't have the flash if you ain't got the cash.

Rod owns a private jet and 2 mansions and a fleet of personal cars.

The ministry has been having tax problems since 2006 and now Pastor Parsely claims that donations are way down because of the recession. In the video, you can see the huckster at work, the paraniac manipulation referring to the nameless "adversary" who it turns out is Satan who is really at the root of his financial problems.

He seems to need about 3 million dollars to tide him over til' next Tuesday...

Funny, that's about the amount his ministry had to pay out recently to the Faletta family for the abuse to their 2 year old son in The World Harvest Ministry Daycare Center.

The two year old was covered with cuts and abrasions after a punishment session...

Yeah, the devil made them abuse that child. You know, Rod could sell one of the two private mansions on his personal 21 acre private compound, or sell his private jet and fly coach instead.

Maybe if you opened up your closed books to your congregation. which you have refused to do, maye some of the more financially creative memers could find a way to trim lots of fat off the budget.....

It's All Relative #2 (define fascism, define theocracy)

On Crossfire, with Tom Braden, Bob Novak, and some guy named John Lofton, Frank Zappa coins a new term. Just the right mixture of cynicism, intelligence and disdain to smack down any outraged conservative in his python skinned boots!

It's All Relative

It's all relative. I woke up this morning to this idyllic wintry landscape. Being of hardy Michigander stock, I went out for a morning hike with the dog, who loves snow though he's seen it only a few times in his 4 years.

This was a mere inch or so, yet, on the news today, France was paralyzed! People in shelters, truckers forced off the road outside of Limoges...let's see they got a historic 10 cm (That's about 4 death defying inches) of snow....The pathetically sad thing is that it will probabaly be slush by 2 pm this afternoon.....

It's all relative...I remember a morning in New York in the early 90's when we were hit by a 26 inch blizzard overnight, okay, the city shut down for a few hours and I walked to work in a path cleared by a snow plow down the middle of 14th Street.

Then there was the great blizzard in the mid 70's in Ohio, when I was stuck at my job as a raliroad drawbridge operator on the Maumee River for 30 hours...

That was grand, the storm his just after dawn, a wall of super cold wind roared down the river pushing a veritable wall of steam and snow in front of it. When the wind hit the bridge, the screen door of the bridgehouse blew off and the propane tanks flew into the river....Unfortunate, because the toilet was a "propane" powered facility...

The trains were halted for a few hours, but the river traffic kept right on through the storm...I did shut down the bridge once after informing the Coast Guard that I was walking to the mainland to get breakfast at the Mickey D on Superior Street...they never closed!

I just heard that there might be more snow this afternoon...I'll keep you updated on this disaster...it's almost as important as Johnny Halliday cancelling his Route 66 Tour!

ENUFFZNUFF!

Support Moveon's campaign to recall Joe Lieberman. Enough is enough, do I have to list his backstabbing self serving history of masquerading as a real politician?

He collects a salary to serve the people of his state. He enjoys free health care and he is getting paid off by the pharmecutical companies and insurance to screw you!

Michael Moore thinks we should hold the entire State of Connecticut responsible for re electing the weasel. You can click here to donate to Moveon's campaign to demand his recall. Why reward his unethical two faced hypocrisy any longer?

ENUFFZNUFF!

Another Word From The Sponsors....

Did you know that Pfizer onced owned Ludens Cough Drops...invented in the late 1880's in Reading, PA? I guitilly confess that I was addicted to the Wild Cherry flavor for years. The mentholated flavor...mmmmmmmmmm......

So Pfizer sold the company to Johnson & Johnson who still market the basic unchanged recipe.

In 1967, Ludens commissioned an ad agency to do a hip commercial and the animator hired a relatively unknown avant garde composer to compose a sound track.

Frank Zappa did the Clio Award winning soundtrack using nasal snorkss emmitted by his Road Manager, Dick Barber.

The film maker, Ed Seeman, entered into a long term working relationship with Frank that culminated in the Movie, 200 MOTELS.

And Now A Word From His Sponsor.....

Hello, I'm Joe Lieberman, here for Pfizer, the makers of Viagra. Now, if you would all bend over, I'd be happy to give a little demonstration.

Feelin Gettin Stronger!

A picture snapped just a few hours ago on the way back from gettting the dog vaccinated in the neighboring village of Cherveix-Cubas on the 704...I pass this house all the time and the fellow who lives there has a constantly changing assemblage of stuff artfully arranged in some kind of ritualistic fashion....

But Christmas always brings out the best in him. I stopped and started to snap pics and he came out, introduced himself and I asked if he would pose. He went in the house and got on his 1969 white leather fringed vest...

There is a really funky side to the rural Dordogne where I live. Lots of real unique individuals. The house was spotless inside and he invited me in to find a tiny piece of paper to write his address on.

Really nice little guy who rebuilds bicycles.  I promised I would send him some prints....

Random Association #655732113.4

Oh No I Don't Believe It

Oh No I Don't Believe It is already the 11th day of The Zappadelic Zappanalian Festivities of Zappadan and I haven't Ritually Invoked A Young Pumpkin! I haven't Called Any Vegetables by name!

Please forgive me, for starters, you should check out ZENCOMIX where you can find real hand drawn comix fresh daily!

Then there is the earthy Toledoesque musings of Sepp at UNCOMMON SQUALOR...

Then the person who initiated me into the mysteries of the wonders of Zappadan, Mark Hoback at FRIED GREEN AL-QAEDAS where reality is healthily transformed into USDA approved servings chock full of the surreal vitamins and minerals children need to get ever so slightly bent everyday!

MIKEB32000 creating nervous disorders among the gunowners of America...he had a great interview of Zappa with a Pennsyvania State Cop?????

Then there is DARKBLACK the guy who makes me want to throw my photoshop program in the trash.....Trouble Comin' Everyday....

And then there is the guy, Mr. Brady Bonk at KETCHUP IS A VEGETABLE who has been kind of coordinating the linkage of the festivities...and is responsible for the Nifty

Zappa Radio Widget which I was able, even in my technically demented reality, able to  install on this page!
(The video is a live 1974 appearance on Soundstage)
Cue the Applause Sign!

Catchin' The Spirit!

Dang! Now I feels all Christmassy!

It took a little while, but somehow this picture touched me in a place

where I have never been "touched" before!

OUCH!

IL DUCO GETS PUNKED

Dang, all that expensive cosmetic surgery down the tubes!

It's not like those were his real teeth, anyway....

If you really wanted to punk the little guy, you could super glue the cap on his Vaigra Bottle or you could steal the little wheels on the little walker he uses for his weiner........

Perhaps they will build a statue of the statue that hit him....

Oh, perhaps I'm being too nasty to the little fascist pederastic dictator, you know sometimes rotten things happen even to the rottenest of people...maybe I could suggest a good doctor?
Like Dr. Stephane Delajoux, surgeon of the stars?

DENTAL HYGIENE DILEMMA

Why, why, why is always the ninth night of Zappadan on which the dreaded DENTAL HYGIENE DILEMMA rears its ugly head? Why? We might well never comprehend the unfathomable mysteries of Zappadan and one might as well take the wheat with the chaff. I'M STEALING THE ROOM!

Meilleurs Voeux de Notre Président

Ce soir, le président de Groland diffuser son message annuel de Noel à une nation soulagée. Il n'avait pas été vu ces dernières semaines et son apparence dissipé les rumeurs qui avaient causé tout de Groland à spéculer ....

La nation entière de Groland repose tranquille ce soir!

LORD MONKTONS FLYING CIRCUS

The part of the Grand Lord High Inquisitor was played by Lord Monkton.

Calling the young people from SustainUS who attended the Copenhagen Talks, Hitler Youth as a way to sell your argument is a sure sign things are.... well...going quite Twanky on the Climate Change Denial Front. In his recurring role as Grand High Inquisitor, in 1987, Lord Monkton issued this proclamation calling for the internement of HIV+ Europeans in special camps.

(click on document to read)

Crossing Borders

I have crossed a lot of borders in my life. I visit European Countries and usually go through Germany, England or Spain, depending on what kind of deal I can get twice a year to fly to the USA. I have evolved a mind set that I lapse into when ever I am dealing with custom officials, border security and immigration personnel, passport control, etc...I am always polite, butmost important, I have found that for me, I just go "away". I am literally "not there". It's hard to explain, but I have a well stamped passport and I have never had a problem.

When I was younger, I lived in Detroit and had many Canadian friends and relatives. Crossing the border was routine though my father used to make a big deal out of "smuggling" cartons of American cigarettes to my Uncle in Windsor.

Many times I walked across the border with a backpack and virtually no money.

That is why the story of the arrest and beating of Dr Peter Watts, the Canadian Science Fiction author and Hugo Award Nominee, this last Wednesday is so disturbing. Watts is a mild mannered writer who was in the United States to help a friend with a move. He tried to cross back to Canada in Port Huron at the Bluewater Bridge Crossing. He claims that he was beaten and arrested without any apparent reason and held for 24 hours.

He was released without his car and had to walk to Canada over the bridge in a freezing snowstorm. If you have ever crossed at Port Huron, you will understand what that entailed.

Needless to say, he faces a trial, a possible jail sentence and a lifetime ban on entry into the USA as he is charged with assaulting American border guards.

To read his entire story and learn how to donate to his defense fund check out the link, HERE.

The video is of the Ensemble Modern performing "Welcome To The United States" written, arranged and conducted by Frank Zappa during the Yellow Shark Concert Series in Frankfurt, Germany in 1992.

The Pressure Pays Off!

Here is a bit of good news! In my earlier post last week, How Not To Celebrate World AIDS Day, I wrote about the proposed legislation in Uganda that would enforce the death penalty on homosexuals who were HIV+.

This has generated a lot of outrage and put some very intense focus on the American Christian fundamentalist lobbyists, politicians and theologans who have been involved in the internal affairs of Uganda. This pressure paid off today.

Rick Warren has officially come out against the proposed laws in Uganda that would make homosexuality a crime, punishable by death in some cases. In an open letter to the pastors of Uganda (with whom Warren has a great deal of influence from his missionary work) the American mega-pastor says,

As an American pastor, it is not my role to interfere with the politics of other nations, but it IS my role to speak out on moral issues ... the potential law is unjust, extreme and un-Christian toward homosexuals, requiring the death penalty in some cases. If I am reading the proposed bill correctly, this law would also imprison anyone convicted of homosexual practice ... I urge you, the pastors of Uganda, to speak out against the proposed law.

Obviously, Warren holds (and reiterates in the letter) beliefs about sex and about queer men and women with which I thoroughly disagree. But I want to thank him for doing the right thing here, for putting his influence and power to use to save the lives of innocent people. Hopefully, Warren's letter will make a difference.

SLIMEDAY

Ain't that the way it always is...the fabled evening of the 6th day of Zappadan...Slimenacht...be careful where you step. The fastidious keep a pocketful of tissues for any unforseen catastrophes. Of course in this age of hightened concern for hygiene in general and the attention one pays to any dental hygiene dilemmas, it would only be prudent to buy stock in the Swiffer Line of fine personal cleanliness products...

You can't be too careful...Slimenacht always is followed by the dawn, a sleazy sunrise greets the joyous 11th Day of Zappadan...SLIMEDAY!

TAKE IT AWAY, DON PARDO!

First Black President

A few weeks ago, I posted a video of Richard Pryor from 1964 doing stand up on the kraft Music Hall. At the time, I said that I regretted not being able to post the video of his sketch from his very controversial, so controversial that it only ran 3 episodes on NBC, The Richard Pryor Show from 1977. It was on YouTube, but the embedding was disabled...well, here's a version that isn't disabled....

In honor of Barack Obamas Nobel Peace Prize acceptance speech in Oslo today, here it is, Richard Pryor as the First Black President of the United States.

For the record, I think Obama gave a very good speech that proved he has the most difficult job in the world...perhaps.........

War Is Over

Forty years ago, John Lennon and Yoko Ono rented billboards all over the world to post the message,

WAR IS OVER IF YOU WANT IT!

People mocked it, people loved it, people were heartbroken, people ignored it and some people took it to heart.....

It was a grand piece of art no matter how you look at it. It was a gesture that echoed through our life times.

Today, December 9 is the 29th anniversary of John Lennons assasination and the Lennon Peace Project has a flicker page with posters you can print in many languages of the message.

They ask that if you don't find a langiage you know on the page, please give them a translation and they put it up for access.............

Le Grand Debat Sur Identitie National

Pardon us in France while we have a little discussion regarding National Identity. This could get a little ugly, but pardon us, after all we are French. It's not as if we were Germans, Heaven Forbid, having this discussion...I mean it's not like we were in Africa and we were Tutsis and Hutus or anything like that After all we are French!....By the way, could I see your papers?

Chorus

Quand Sarkozy dit qu'on est de race des seigneurs

Nous heil heil droite en face der Sarko

Ne pas aimer Der Sarko est une grande honte

Nous avons donc droit heil heil dans Sarkozy's Face

Lorsque M. Besson affirme que nous possédons dans le monde et dans l'espace

Nous heil heil droite en face Besson

Quand Hortefeux dit qu'ils ne pourront jamais bombe dis place

Nous heil heil droite en face Herr Hortefeux

N'est-on pas qu'il surhommes aryens pur surhommes

Oui nous sommes les surhommes (des surhommes super duper)

Est-ce si bon terres Nutsy

Souhaitez-vous en sortir si vous pouviez

Ja Nutsy cette terre est bonne

Nous aimerions laisser si nous pouvions

Nous apportons le monde à l'ordre

Monde Heil Sarko à l'ordre

Toute personne de race étrangère

L'amour Sarkozy's Face

The Consequences Of Global Warming — From A To Z

This was posted on ThinkProgress, today Dec. 9, 2009..........

As the nations of the world gather in Copenhagen, the Wonk Room has prepared this alphabetical journey of the impacts of climate change around the globe.

A

East Antarctica, long stable, is now losing ice.

B

Bolivia needs $1 billion over the next seven years to build reservoirs, as the glaciers that hold the nation’s water supply are shrinking rapidly.

C

Leatherback sea turtles that spawn on the beaches of Costa Rica are threatened with extinction by warmer temperatures and rising seas.

D

Denmark joined United States, Norway, Canada, and Russia in identifying climate change as “the most important long-term threat” to future existence of polar bears.

E

The rapidly warming highlands of Ethiopia are becoming too hot for its elite athletes, such as local-born Haile Gebrselassie, to train there.

F

Noting the unprecedented floods this year in Fiji, Prime Minister Commodore Voreqe Bainimarama recently warned that rising sea levels affect not just the islands’ economies, but put into doubt the very existence of his nation.

G

Greece suffered through another storm of extreme wildfires this summer as heat waves and drier conditions increase.

H

Global warming-fueled hurricanes, intense poverty, and widespread deforestation combine to form a gathering storm of disasters for Haiti.

I

The deforested peatlands of Indonesia are drying, disintegrating, and burning.

J

The increasingly early arrival of cherry blossoms in Japan reflects rising global temperatures.

K

The more frequent and severe droughts that are killing off the elephants will likely trigger more conflicts in the arid lands of northeast Kenya.

L

The incidence of wildfires in the cedar forests of Lebanon has increased tremendously over recent years.

M

“If things go business-as-usual, we will not live, we will die,” Maldives President Mohammad Nasheed told the UN General Assembly. “Our country will not exist.”

N

The ministers of Nepal have held the world’s highest cabinet meeting on Mount Everest, as rapidly rising temperatures have reduced snowfall over the mountains and caused glaciers to melt.

O

More than 50 per cent of the population of Oman lives on coastlines vulnerable to rising seas, but its supplies of peridotite may help sequester carbon dioxide emissions.

P

The massive floods that killed hundreds in the Philippines this summer are becoming the norm.

Q

Petroleum-soaked Qatar emits 60 tons of carbon dioxide per person, the most of any nation on earth.

R

Increased floods and malaria outbreaks from global warming, deforestation, and unsanitary conditions have hit Rwanda hard in the past decade.

S

The inhabitants of the Alpine villages of Fieschertal and Fiesch in Switzerland have asked for the Pope to bless their prayers for the restoration of their nation’s glaciers, which shrank by 12 percent over the past decade.

T

Newly discovered, exotic species like the fanged frog of Thailand are especially vulnerable as climate change will further shrink their already restricted habitats.

U

Agriculture in the United States has been ravaged this year by catastrophic droughts in Texas and California, heat waves in Louisiana and Nebraska, storms across the High Plains and the Midwest, floods in North Dakota and Minnesota, and torrential rains in Illinois and Georgia.

V

Speaking from Vatican City on the eve of the Copenhagen conference, Pope Benedict XVI counseled “all people of good will to respect the laws laid down by God in nature and to rediscover the moral dimension of human life.”

W

Warming oceans and sea level rise threaten the coral reefs of the remote Polynesian islands of Wallis and Futuna.

X

The nomadic descendents of Kublai Khan in Inner Mongolia, where Xanadu once stood, are being driven from the grasslands as the Chinese government attempts to fight the region’s desertification.

Y

Sanaa, the capital of Yemen, may be the first capital city in the world to run out of water, as drought and overuse diminish its supply.

Z

On the border of Zambia and Zimbabwe, the flow of Victoria Falls is far below average, as drought and high temperatures reduce the Zambezi.

Cross-posted on The Wonk Room and Thinkprogress.....

Dawn Of the Black Napkins

I am posting this particular version of The Black Napkins because I was in the audience at this 1981 Performance at The Palladium in New York City.....

What a powerhouse band...Stevie Vai and Frank on guitar!
Steve Vai origianally approached Frank Zappa as a fan and aspiring musician
and impressed Frank with his ability to transcribe his guitar solos.
He had in fact transcribed many of Franks recorded solo work.
When Frank heard Steve play, he hired him immediately and Vai was billed as
The Stund Guitarist during his stint in the band.
Steve Vai went on to become one of the most technically influential instrumentalists
of the 80's and 90's recording many solo records.

$200,000 REWARD!

This is real.....$200,000 can be yours if you can furnish information that leads to the arrest and conviction of Tom Donahue, CEO of the United States Chamber of Commerce.
The Velvet Revolution

This isn't. Do the math.

I Don't Believe In Global Warming, Come And Sing with Me, Oooooo!

I don't believe in Global Warming, come and sing with me, Oooooo!

Yesterday, EPA Administrator, Lisa Jackson announced the revised position on Greenhouse emission gasses. They are now declared as a health hazard, harmful to humans. This gives the Obama Administration the authority to declare CO2 emission levels without the interaction of Congress. This is a historic step and timed to coincide with the Copenhagen Conference.

On the same day, the latest CNN Poll showed that for the first time in 2 years, Americans who do believe in Global arming are in the minority.

This shift comes after weeks of hyped erroneous reportage of the so called "Climate Gate" theft of emails from East Anglica University by the Russian Secret Service.

As far as Western countries go, America is in the minority as far as the polling goes.

Yesterday, we saw the Email issue touted by the Saudi Arabians as a reason to doubt the veracity of Climate Change Research. they made a big noise claiming that there had to be an International Commission to Investigate, but not The UN, because the UN is too compromised by Global Warming Researchers....They think someone unbiased like Exxon-Mobil should take charge of the investigation.

On a day that should have been devoted to factual reportage of this problem, CNN spent most of their airtime on this subject hyping the controversy of the Emails.

The manipulators know that the American public has a very limited attention span and is attracted by big noises and flashy lights...as P.T. Barnum said "There's a sucker born every minute!"

UH, UH, UHHHH...DON'T TOUCH THAT DIAL!

What? Here it is the fabled Third Night of Zappadan...The night of the Little Black Napkins and you thought I was going to let you get away with out a Zappa Post?

Here we are back in 1969, live from the 23rd of May 1969 at The Lawrence University Chapel, Appleton, Winsconsin USA. This is the basic original line up of the Mothers of Invention performing the piece. Help, I'm A Rock, which niftliy segues into Hungry Freaks Daddy....

Which just goes to show, even 16 years after his death, Franks Creativity still has the power to hurt us! HELP! I'M A ROCK!

NO BERLUSCONI DAY EVERY DAY!

Publish Post

Here's more news you probably didn't see insids the American information bubble.

Latest estimates are of 2.5 million protestors in Rome this last Saturday, December 5, 2009. A very heavily promoted World No Berlusconi Day took place in European capitals such as Brussels and Amsterdam. The event was promoted on the internet with some great music recorded by Italian artists.

The video in this post was posted only hours ago (5:30 pm Central European Time) It is one of hundreds that are being posted as I write on YouTube by Italians who participated in this event. This was a grand protest, the art, the expression, the emotion in full display as only the Italians are capable of!

You aren't going to see Berlusconi in Copenhagen much. He is on trial, the first of many trials pn criminal charges that he will face in the next year. Last month an Italian law was ruled unconstitional that had shielded him for years.

The first trial already has burst open the wall that he has hidden behind to obscure his mafia connections. He was linked to a very notorious murder of an Italian anti mob prosecuting judge.

Berlusconi at Copenhagen would be an insult in any event. His governments collusion with criminal and industrial interests that have run rampant polluting Italy, the Mediterrenean and the Somali Coast is being exposed.

Italy can and must be forced by the rest of the world to do better than Silvio Berlusconi.

NO BERLUSCONI DAY EVERY DAY!

uhhh...Climate Gate...Yeah, Sure...That's The Ticket!

The book cover on the left is of A fascinating essay about how big business, working alongside Hill & Knowlton, among others, manufactured fake doubt about the link between tobacco and cancer, the danger of CFCs to the ozone lawyer, and now climate change. It's long, comprehensive, and very good.

In the days and months leading up to the Copenhagen Climate Conferece, the incidents of break ins and attempted infiltrations occurring in the offices and facilities of leading Climate Change Researchers reached a fever pitch.

You can read about the reported incidents in Canada, here. In recent days, it has beciome apparent that the Canadians are hedging on their commitment to firm action on Climate Issues. Canada has a lot invested in the production of oil from their great Middle Western eserve of Oil Sands, unfortunately, this prioduction technique is one of the most polluting and ecologicall destructive ways to obtain oil. The alliance of the Canadian Government and the Oil Companies involved have a lot to lose if they are not allowed to contine to exploit this resource.

Climate Gate? Let's look at where those "leaked" emails were disseminated from. First, the very statement that they were leaked is patently false. They were stolen, high jacked private email conversations between researchers. The material was then combed through for any statement that could be reinterpreteted out of context to appear as if the Climate Change researchers were fudging and hyping data.

Today in The UK Independant comes the story that the emails were highjacked by the Russian Secret Service and the hackers who stole them were located in the once closed city of Tomsk, in Siberia.

Why would the Russians hack the emails and release them? The same reason the Canadian Climate Change researchers facilities are being compromised. The Petro chemical industry stands to lose billions if the status quo regarding the use of oil and gas are questioned at this time. The links between this activity and Exxon -Mobil are becoming more and more documented as the action heats up.

Call it Climate Gate? Yeah...sure...Climate Gate...that's the ticket.......

The Perfect Sponsor

Here's Mr. Glenn Beck shamelessly huckstering his latest marketing scheme which is guaranteed to make a few bucks by exploiting the voyeuristic fascination that America is addicted to with reality television and having their publicly guarded emotions shamelessl manipulated in ahhh, err, "private".

Yes, indeed, Mr. Beck is hawking his latest product, something greasy, something queasy called The Christmas Sweater....but after watching a few trailers for the fim and his own pandering performance, I am beginning to realize that the "Sweater" in question is not an article of apparel, but Mr. Glenn, himself. Have you ever seen a human rely on sweat so much, shed so many tears and who knows what other bodily fluids to pull at your tender little heartstrings? I won't mention the incremetal amount of the afore mentioned "bodily fluids" now being excreted by Mr. Beck after the reviews from Wednesdays gala muti city premier started to "Pour In".

Well, thanks to reader Steve, from Toledo, Ohio, I have found the perfect marketing match.

A product pairing made in heaven or something like that...Pittsburgh? Findlay...Des Moines?  The promo for Handerpants is real and you should consider buying a pair or two today!

You Say Awreetus And I Say Awrightus....

Scholars are pondering the meaning of this bas-relief panel found in the recently discovered tomb of the Emperor Cleetus Awreetus-Awrightus. The tomb also contained a massive megaphone like device which might actually be the legendary Grand Wazoo...

Be Bop Tango

The thrill of Zappadan passes so quickly, like cream cheese left on a radiator, like black coffee through a weak bladder...each moment must be savoured, each experience relished to the fullest...

I lay prostrate on my properly oriented burgundy plush artificial acrylic fiber deep shag prayer rug eagerly awaiting the first miracle of Zappadan....

Here is a miracle for you, Frank Conducting The Ensemble Modern in Frankfurt, Germany in 1992, during the Yellow Shark Concerts performing, Be Bop Tango.

HOOPLA

While we are anxiously awaiting the trailer for Glenn Becks Movie, the massive corndog soon to be EPIC FLOP, The Chrismas Sweater, which premiered last night in a few theaters across America, let's watch the trailer for The Teabag Movie...I kid you not, this is real...what's more pathetic than a bunch of deranged losers angrily pissing on their own shoes?

By the way, the box office nubers for Beck's movie premier were 17 paid admissions in Manhattan, 30 or so in Boston and not too many more in Washington, DC. The Harlem Boys Choir was scheduled to perform at the gala Manhattan Premier, but called at the last minute and cancelled when they realized who had booked them...........

hoopla!

REDUNZL

It's 12:07 am here in La Sechere and the dawning of the first day of Zappadan. Let me be the first one to wish you a joyous and cheese filled holiday experience....

What better way to start it off than with this 1973 performance of REDUNZL, live in Stockholm by the incredible line up Frank Zappa, George Duke, Ian and Ruth Underwood, Tom and Bruce Fowler, Ralph Humphrey and Jean-Luc Ponty....

If You Care Enough To Be Charitable...Then Care Enough To Be Fair....

It's a part of the tradition of Christmas in America. The bell ringers on the sidewalk with the pot emblazoned with the logo of the Salvation Army. The nostalgia of the sound of a Salvation Army Band playing a hymn....

It's hard to resist...

But, if you care what is done with your money, if you care enough to consider the way this organization, which is an active right wing evangelical organization that actively lobbies in this country against immigrant rights and engages in the persecution of homosexuals world wide...if you care what they do with your charity dime...think of another, better place to put it than in a Salvation Army Pot!

They actually run a program in the United States which requires parents to present valid birth certificates and immigration papers before they will give children toys.

In a year when more families than ever have asked for help, several programs providing Christmas gifts for needy children require at least one member of the household to be a U.S. citizen. Others ask for proof of income or rely on churches and schools to suggest recipients. The Salvation Army and a charity affiliated with the Houston Fire Department are among those that consider immigration status, asking for birth certificates or Social Security cards for the children...
The Outreach Program requires parents to show photo identification and birth certificates or Social Security cards for the children. They say they will make an exception if parents can show they have applied for legal status or that a child is enrolled in school.

 Some toy drives check immigration status (via Making Light)

 not only that......

The Salvation Army is anti-gay and actively lobbies against pro-gay legislation in the US and abroad . The money you put in that red can is going to anti-gay evangelical Christian lobbyists. They believe that since they're a "church" they have the right to not hire gay people because they're sinners.

And don't be fooled by the Salvation Army's crafty public relations
spin on this issue. They like to trick folks by saying "we don't
discriminate in the provision of our services." True enough, you can shop at a Salvation Army store to your heart's content. But they DO reserve the right to discriminate in hiring, promoting, and firing gay people, and in the benefits they provide their employees. And they come right out and admit that "practicing homosexuals" are not welcome in the "church."

SALVATION ARMY TRIED TO OVERRULE LOCAL GAY RIGHTS LAWS

A Washington Post front-page expose two years ago revealed that the Salvation Army tried to broker a backroom deal with the Bush Administration to overrule state and local laws banning anti-gay discrimination in the workplace. Here's an excerpt from the Post article:

"The Bush administration is working with the nation's largest charity, the Salvation Army, to make it easier for government-funded religious groups to practice hiring discrimination against gay people, according to an internal Salvation Army document.... George Hood, a senior official with the Salvation Army, said the group never discriminates in delivering its services, but on the question of hiring gay employees, 'it really begins to chew away at he theological fabric of who we are.'"- Washington Post, 7/10/2001. You can read the entire Wash Post story here.

And here are a few beauts from the Salvation Army's various Web sites around the world:

"Christians whose sexual orientation is primarily or exclusively same-sex are called upon to embrace celibacy as a way of life. There is no scriptural support for same-sex unions as equal to, or as an alternative to, heterosexual marriage." - Salvation Army USA Web site, Dec. 2003

"[Homosexual activity is] as rebellion against God's plan for the created order.... Homosexual practice, however, is, in the light of Scripture, clearly unacceptable. Such activity is chosen behaviour and is thus a matter of the will. It is therefore able to be directed or restrained in the same way heterosexual urges are controlled. Homosexual practice would render any person ineligible for full membership (soldiership) in the [Salvation] Army." - Salvation Army Australia Web site (emphasis added)

And did you know that Salvation Army in Scotland actively fought against the repeal of anti-gay laws in that country?

Ten Reasons To Oppose The Escalation Of The War In Afghanistan

This was published yesterday by revere on his blog EffectMeasure, which, though, I am not a real doctor, I just portray one on this blog, highly recommend............

Category: Anti-war • Iraq/Afghanistan • Priorities

From a reader in Western Massachusetts:

10 Reasons to Oppose the Escalation of War in Afghanistan

• Human cost of war: Soldier and civilian deaths and injuries have been escalating each year since 2001. Nearly 1000 U.S. soldiers have been killed while 32,000 Afghan civilians have died as a result of the war.
• Economic cost of war: Each soldier in Afghanistan costs U.S. taxpayers $1 million per year. Private military contractors, known to de-fraud the Pentagon, exceed the number of soldiers in the war. No matter the war’s outcome, the defense industry wins with windfall profits.
• U.S. economy in recession: We have reached 10.2 % unemployment, with many more who are underemployed or given up job hunting, accompanied by large cuts in human and social services. Put to peacetime uses, the 2009 cost of the war paid by Massachusetts citizen taxes would fund 600,000 Head Start positions, provide health care for 1.5 million people, and fund renewable electricity for 7.5 million citizens.
• Corrupt Afghan government with warlords in power: Despite the U.S. rhetoric to bring democracy and rights for women in Afghanistan, there are no signs of democracy or improved status of women since the war began. In fact, women report increased male violence in the chaos of war.
• Spread of war to Pakistan: Pakistan is a highly militarized country with nuclear weapons and an unstable government - a very risky situation within which to expand the war.
• Drone attacks by U.S. and NATO: Drone attacks have resulted in a large percent of civilian casualties and have increased anger toward the U.S., thus ensuring new recruits to terrorist organizations.
• War aid misdirected: 10% of the war budget is spent on “humanitarian” aid which mainly supports war objectives, such as road building for military trucks, not the lives of Afghan people.
• War funding contradiction: Taliban are paid by U.S. military contractors to protect military supply routes. Tens to hundreds of millions of U.S. war dollars are funding the Taliban whom the U.S is fighting in Afghanistan and Pakistan.
• Public opinion: More than half of Americans oppose the war in Afghanistan.

Work with your community to find more ways to oppose the war, support wounded veterans, and create non-militarized solutions.

H. Patricia Hynes, board member of Traprock Center for Peace and Justice

MY RESPONSE

This is my immediate, if not very intelligent, response ot Barack Obama's speech for the "Temporary Surge" which includes sending an additional 30,000 troops to Afghanistan.

War Pigs by Black Sabbath, Live in Paris, 1970.

MY HUMAN GIVES ME THE BLUES....

It's almost that time of the year again...that's right...We are just days away from the 3rd annual Zappadan Festival! I sneaks up on ya...December 4th through the 22nd and this year promises to be a veritable heap of creamcheese, prunes, rutabagas and chrome plated mahogany elbows...

In anticipation, I am posting this little non Zappa tidbit, well actually it is a sort of Zappa tidbit, an amazing live performance from a 1968 Amnougles, Belgium Music festival by Captain Beefheart and The Magic Band. The songs are Too Much For My Mirror and My Human Gives Me The Blues from the indescribable masterpiece recording, Trout Mask Replica which was produced by Frank Zappa.

Frank was the MC for the show and introduced Beefheart....I am checking out the veracity of this rumor, but there are supposed to be a few pieces from the set by the post Syd Barrett 1968 version Pink Floyd that have Frank playing guitar. I have much research to do....and so little time...

How Not To Celebrate Worlds Aids Day

Today, December 1st, is the 11th annual World Aids Day, with world wide events that are focused on raising awareness to this deadly disease and the struggle to overcome it.

Started on 1st December 1988, World AIDS Day is about raising money, increasing awareness, fighting prejudice and improving education. The World AIDS Day theme for 2009 is 'Universal Access and Human Rights'. World AIDS Day is important in reminding people that HIV has not gone away, and that there are many things still to be done.

According to UNAIDS estimates, there are now 33.4 million people living with HIV, including 2.1 million children. During 2008 some 2.7 million people became newly infected with the virus and an estimated 2 million people died from AIDS. Around half of all people who become infected with HIV do so before they are 25 and are killed by AIDS before they are 35.

The vast majority of people with HIV and AIDS live in lower- and middle-income countries. But HIV today is a threat to men, women and children on all continents around the world.

With the theme this year, Universal Access and Human Rights, it is absolutely obscene that the news out of Africa today is from Uganda, where there is proposed legislation in the government that would actually call for the execution of HIV infected gay men if enacted.

Now, Uganda has been one of the tentative success stories in Africa as far as the fight against AIDS goes. After The tragic civil war had ended,  a relatively stable goverment of President Musenvi was installed in 1986. This government is still in power 13 years later.

During that period, starting in 1988, Uganda began to effectively fight AIDS through education and free drugs. Things now have stabilized with around 1,000,000 cases on record and over 1.5 million orphaned children.

Things were not helped by the interventionist policies of The Bush Administration which put its emphasis on medical aid tied to treaching religious inspired sexual abstinence as a precondition. this policy in fact, led to a scarcity of condoms at a time that they could have done the most good.

Enter the American Religious Entrepreneur whose statement about homosexuals caused such a furor last year before he was chosen to deliver the oath of office at Barack Obama's Inaugaration, Fundamentalist Pastor Rick Warren of the Saddleback Church.

Warren has been very active in Africa as promoter of a project called "The Purpose Driven Nation". He and a group of Fundamentalist leaders have made it their project to create Africa as the first "Purpose Driven Continent".

They have met with leaders and Warren has had many meeting with Ugandan Government officials. He is very connected with the rabidly anti homosexual Ugandan Arch-Bishop Henry Orombi.

The ugly results are the proposed anti homosexual witch hunt they are trying to ignite.

Last week, Newsweeks Lisa Miller referred to this proposed legislation as another holocaust and said for a person who calls abortion "another holocaust" and tries to stop it all over the world, this action by Warren is extremely hypocritical.

When she put the question to the self proclaimed moral leader, Warren deferred and said that,"As a pastor, my job is to encourage and support. I never take sides."

I think that as an entrepreneur and exploitive opportunistic religious snake oil salesman, who is on the verge of making millions more off his investments and university in Africa, he is more interested in not upsetting his little applecart with inconvenient moral questions.

UPDATE........

The latest information revealed that the group of Ugandan Fundamentalist Christians lawmakers advocating this policy which is bald faced murder are actually members of the

secretive group of religious right law makers that control a powwrful K-Street Lobby in The United States: The Family. The link was made on Rachel Maddows  CNBC show yesterday
UPDATE....

Rick Warren wonders why there’s so much fuss over the rights of gays.

In recent days, Pastor Rick Warren has come under fire for refusing to condemn an Anti-Homosexuality Bill in Uganda that would make some homosexual acts punishable by death. “[I]t is not my personal calling as a pastor in America to comment or interfere in the political process of other nations,” said Warren. On his Twitter feed, Warren is now trying to change the subject, claiming that “no one” cared when 146,000 Christians died last year (so why should he now care about gay men and women in Africa?):

The Ugandan legislation — supported by a pastor whom Warren has welcomed into his church — would mandate that any person “convicted of gay sex is liable to life imprisonment.” If that person is HIV positive or has sex with a minor or a person with a disability, he or she would be guilty of “aggravated homosexuality” and face the death penalty. The bill also proposes up to three years of imprisonment for anyone who “fails to report within 24 hours the identities of everyone they know who is lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender, or who supports human rights for people who are.”