Zappanale Postcards

Meeting Roy Estrada, and re-meeting Chris Garcia, and my wife Sandy coming over to shush! us at the breakfast table like we were little kids that we are. SHHHHHHHHHH!

Talking shop with Chris Garcia, and learning a lot by just listening, as it should be

Ike Willis getting dropped off at the backstage tent, giving me a big grin/slap/hug, and having about an hour of "just catching up" time to chat... and seeing the sparkle. When Ike is on he is ON. "Zee girl... you know, we kill her tonight..."

Kawabata Makoto - When the fates give you a chance to talk music, and more, with the big cat, don't ask questions, just jump in. One of the truest and deepest cats I have ever had the pleasure of meeting. Nuf Said.

GAMMA!!! GAMMA!!! GAMMA!!! He knows Bob? Do you?

Discus finally making it to Zappanale, and the Gamelan master rocking the house.

Andre Cholmondeley and Cheri Jiosne, together at Zappanale, and with a white-hot P/O lineup no less. Andre was my inspiration for making the move to "tour manager" for this DOOT! one show tour. Just one of the ways that they are a huge inspiration to me.

The Seahag, breaking off a big hunk of Tone on the Zappanale crowd. Slammin' bass with P/O, and the (IMO) best guitar of the weekend with Grande Mothers. It just ain't fair!

More Roy... asking me about Dr. Dark, and then understanding completely, including relating that he and Art Tripp had the same problem of getting the band to rehearse, and telling me I did the right thing by moving on. Guh!

Geronimo Black! Good luck in St. Louie, Mo. Hopefully we can hook up.

Finally getting to the beach in Heiligendamm and finding out that the water is colder than the Maine coast in April! Daummmmmm! But a really nice swim anyhow.

Ziggy the "Taxi Mann" driver who seemed to keep popping up every time I needed a ride. Maybe being one of three cabbies in Bad Doberan had something to do with it. The ride home on Saturday was like being in the Millenium Falcon with Han Solo... the trees whizzing past on the road back to town.

more to come...

Six

Six: Post-Mortem

As for our Street Party performance, here it is:

My model/metaphor for this experiemnt was partially the Apollo rocket program. The concept was that the countdown starts on day one, testing each part, then each module, then each assembly, and when everything passed, "make rocket go now". We didn't have the mortality rish of the stage blowing up, or maybe we did, but that model served me well on this mission. Five pilots, no co-pilots. Nice.

The experiment was a success. Some of you know that I am a scientist, and in science we experiment to learn more than to prove. Experimentation opens doors, as opposed to providing any finality. This performance opened me up to a lot. It showed me that DOOT! really does have a sound, it is a unique thing, and that the lack of traditional preparation and the newness didn't take any of that away. It would have been a ballsy move here in Connecticut in front of our usual audience of "8 guys with beards" (as DOOT! keyboard guy Nate Trier puts it). It was still a calculated risk on a street party stage in Germany, where I also knew about half of the audience! Sometimes I need to try the hard thing before the easy thing. This was one of those.

One thing that seems to have been lost in much modern music is the audience. It is like an afterthought, or worse, taken for granted. In real music, my concept of real music, the audience is important. The audience is a band member. The audience understands and is supportive and opens up the potential for risky musical activity. Thank to the support of our Zappanale friends, The ARF Society, and the Zappateers, we had that kind of audience. We stuck more to arrangements in some areas, but we were able to have some fun and the crowd was "in on the joke" as it were.

Like most of the bands at Zappanale, it is where many of us play to our largest audiences. Ever. The scene for experimental music here in the States is brutal. It is at a gathering of freaks and motherfuckers like Zappanale that you get to play to some like-minded souls. We had a lot of fun. The crowd had a lot of fun. Much beer was consumed in celebration. Yep, Zappanale is like a family reunion, except you actually want to see the family at Zappanale.

Five

Five: Launch

The gig. We had a snack, had a chance to chill a bit, and then headed to the Kamp for the set. It was great to have the time to hang out with the band, cover some logistics and tech issues, and generally bond before we went off on this mission.

The setup went fairly smoothly. Jonahhes Zink and the Discorporate Records crew did a great job with the truckstage. We know that there will always be some kind of glitch. They kept them to a minimum. One thing we didn't count on was the slapback from the Kamptheater building, which put a 250ms (approximate) delay into everything coming from the stage. The crew was late getting the snare for the kit and when Steve hit it we immediately heard a rebound. I have to say that the adrenaline was pretty high so we charged ahead, but it was kinda weird.

I'll say that we had a rocky start to the set, didn't handle the soundcheck correctly, and I blew an opportunity to call "full stop" and get everyone on track. I got a little too amp'd and we charged into the set pretty hard. The set had some high points, and having Baz Langerais join us for a improvised 'Once Upon A Time" act was the big one in my mind. He had a plan, I had a plan, and we didn't tell each other too much. A really fun piece. I'll say that i haven't heard more than a few seconds of the audience recording of our set yet. I'm purposely doing this first. We had fun. After the gig the words I heard from the band and the audience were all I needed. Fun. Loved. Enjoyed. Words like that and more. That is all you can ask for.

Four

Four: Cohesion

Negiotiation. A hard thing between two people, never mind five. In my mind I wanted to have everyone work separately, show up, and play the gig. A total no-net jump. In hindsight we probably came close enough. For a one hour set it helps to have some higher level of organization. I had been using internet tools like FTP and file sharing services to exchange data with Ivan and Ke, so I knew we would be OK with that. Stephen and Michel are not so technically inclined. It would suffice to get them some downloads of reference material. Since Steve was working with me in person, all he had to do was take a CD that I burned. I purposely kept the actual setlist for the last. Suggestions for songs/forms were collected and we established a manageable repertoire. Email and the occasional Skype chat helped cut down on the "communication breakdown" issues.

We expected to have at least a few hours of rehearsal, but no guarantees until the week before the festival. We wre prepared to play without the rehearsal, but we got a few hours in the ARF Society practice space around lunchtime before a 7pm set. Enough time in between for a snack and a coffee. The rehearsal went well. Too well, if you know that often a good rehearsal is a bad omen for the gig! Later we found out that the rehearsal was indeed a performance... for the visitors to the Jimmy Carl Black memorial exhibit on the floor above the rehearsal space. We heard a lot of feedback that it added a certain extra dimension to the exhibit. I love it when stuff like that happens...

Three

Three: Cast

The next matter was the cast of this threepenny opera. I had been collaborating with violinist Annemarieke Schoonderwaldt for a few years, and had recently done some bass parts and remixing for Norweigian guitarist Ivan Leirvik. The third was a longshot: Belgian guitarist Michel Delville. His name had been floated around as a potential collaborator back in 2006 by Peter Van laarhoven and Danny Mathys during a DOOT! trip to NL. I had heard his band Wrong/Object, and was about to hear more of them when I picked up Elton Dean & Wrong/Object - The Unbelievable Truth, which is a really great disc. The other wild card was Philly sax man Elliott Levin. I'm a fan, and he was game, but we couldn't make it happen. In the end it was Annemarieke, Ivan, and Michel joining Stephen Chillemi and I for an exercise in music bungee jumping.

Stephen met Michel at Z19, when his AAAB and the Wrong/Object were on the festival bill. I had never met him, but Steve had mentiond possibly playing together. Ivan plays with a Norwegian band, Shirley Wood, and we have been exchanging tracks and working on projects for a few years. We have had a lot of fun working together and unless I can make it to the uppe reaches of Norway, this was our best chance to play together live. Annemarieke (aka "Ke") has contributed to DOOT! projects, plays with the Foolz, and has worked with Sheik Yerbouti. I know that all of these folks like some kind of structure, and Ke likes to have a lot of specific orchestration. This was going to be a challenge for all of us, but with little/no real rehearsal it was going to be especially hard to deliver on the structure. Maybe next time, kids!

See a short interview about this project with Peter Van Laarhoven HERE

Two

Two: Concept and Reality

Thinking to do... What? Totally free? Covers? Space Rock? It was a question made harder by the fact that I had taken a year off from playing bass to focus on recording and production work, collaboration projects, and generally clearing the cobwebs. A large part of the decision was due to my desire to listen to music for pleasure again. That is something that had become alien to me. Almost all of my listening was part of some research, preparation, rehearsal, or technique development. I needed some space to really listen deeply to new material that was stacking up, old favorites, comfortable, uncomfortable, ... everything.

One thing about being in your forties, showing signs of arthritis, and being generally creaky all over is that you don't just hop back on the horse after a year. This became apparent as I started to get back into playing shape. What used to be 10 or 15 minutes of warmup was now taking over 45 minutes. Easy moves had become hard or impossible. That is a bad feeling for someone who has had an instrument in his hands for 35 years. I've never been a high skill player, but this was different. Eventually the flexibility and dexterity was coming back, teaching me to "never get out of the boat".

One

DOOT - Zappanale 20 Performance Blog Set

One: In the Beginning

In late 2008 I fielded a few questions, offline, about performing Zappa material and if/why it was important to me. The theme that kept coming up was my belief that a free/garage approach was just as valid as a tightly rehearsed approach. My background is in free and DIY live performance. In my opinion it deserves a place alongside tightly rehearsed performance. They both exist. They are both real. They both share space in the public sphere. The opinions of any individual, regardless of surname, can't change that fact. I have over 30 years of live performance and garage experience. I have no intention of flushing it to appease anyone. As an American I get to play live music. If you want control over that then you need to pay me, I am going to want to see a contract, and I need to accept (there needs to be an agreement). Very simple. No agreement? Get bent.

I have been lucky enough to have performed at the Zappanale festival twice (2005, 2006), and attendended a third as a member of the independent press (2007), and I also coordinated Stephen Chillemi's "Anti Agressive Action Band" performance at Z19 (2008). When the opportunity to play at Z20 started to become real I has some thinking to do.

Just a teaser from Stockholm. DOOT! Played a chaotic and energetic set at Zappanale 20. In the final analysis it was a success. The backstory and the logistics, as well as the outcome will the the subject of a multipart series here on the DOOT! Blog. It may morph into a full blown e-doc, but for now you can see it here.

For now I just want to thank: Wolfhard Kutz, Christian Kutz, Thomas Dippel, Claudia Bock and the staff at the Horizonte, the Zappateers, Bow Tie Daddy, Johannes Zink and the truckstage crew, and the ARF staff. Making a weird dream a reality. We couldn't do any of it without you.

Zappanale 20 Countdown

Created by OnePlusYou

DOOT! Z20 Countdown

One of the big influences on the way I do things is the Apollo program: The entire program was built around a countdown, and there was no "live test" for the rocket launch. They just built it, checked all systems at every step, and pressed the "Make Rocket Go Now" button. That is a ballsy way to launch a rocket.

Well DOOT! is doing something similar on a smaller scale, with less potential to blow up anything/anyone. A lot of advance planning and conceptual effort is being done, but there is a good chance that the performance at Z20 (Kamp Street Party, Bad Doberan, Thursday 13 August, 1900hr-2000hr) will be our first chance to play as an ensemble. We have a group of players that is soooo very professional that you may not ever be able to tell!

Speaking of group, Elliott Levin won't be able to make the trip (barring a cash grant and some plane tickets!), so our scrappy band of musical adventurers just got smaller by one. What we will have is some special guest appearances and possible some audience participation that is sure to blow your minds.

WOOT!

Zappanale 20 teaser

The reason it is a teaser is because we don't have a lot of information, but we do have a little. The big picture is that DOOT! will be performing at least once at Z20, it will most likely not be on the main stage (by our request) and it *will* be an international incident. The current lineup looks like:

Stephen Chillemi: perc, sax, vocals, synth, goatee
Annemarieke "Ke" Schoonderwaldt: violin
Michel Delville: guitar
Ivan Leirvik: guitar, vocals, haddock
Elliott Levin: sax (see update - Elliott won't be there)
Pete Brunelli: bass, noises

Be aware, this is mid-March and there is a lot of road between here and mid-August. As we get the details, we will share them. All I can think of is how I had half the lineup wrong when I made the early announcement for Stephen's presentation of Anti Aggressive Action Band at Z19! So bear with us. Thanks.

Weeeeeee're Baaaaaaaaack

Things are getting back to normal here at chollyhoss. The website is rebuilt, the odd URLs are gone, and we put up the entire 2007 Sampler CD as a download feature. Expect more info on our plans to perform at Zappanale 20 in August, and some info on collaborations that we are working on with DOOT!s across the globe.

New Website Happenings

We really needed a website rebuild, and were having some content management issues with the old site, so it is gone baby, gone. We will be moving the old RSS audio over to SoundCloud, and then making a new feed here. Yes, the iWeb editor is a little clunky and makes bloated code. The goal is to have less of it, so it won't be an issue. We make the leap from Web0.5 to Web1.5

Stephen and Pete

DOOT Live Set via Soundcloud

We are starting to give Soundcloud a whirl as a sharing mechanism, and we also want to use it for collaboration. Here is a set from September of 2007, recorded at the Rancho Frio Complex.

Live Performance - September 2007 by doot

Nate Trier on keys and tapes; Stephe Chillemi on percussion, sax, and synth; Pete Brunelli on bass and percussion

Some backup to my pal Andre Cholmondeley

This week brought news that Adelaide Gail Zappa, widow of Frank Zappa, has gone on another faux-legal spamming spree, attempting to intimidate club owners into canceling shows by bands who play Frank's music. Well, it worked on Bill's Bar in Boston, MA. See the details at The P/O website.

Andre,

I saw the news about the Bill's Bar cancellation, and aside from that sucking a lot, it really has inspired me to take another blog shot at AGZ. Yes, it is hypocritical of her. But more to the point, and in line with your observation, it is a course of action that only a non-musician and non-composer could make. Frank adopted themes and techniques liberally from Varese, Stravinsky, Webern, and my homeboy Ives to name a few. That is how music maintains relevance and that is how artistic advancement happens. Stripping the public of the ability to to see music of the past performed, interpreted, and recontextualized, is to deny the music its rightful place in the culture at large.

At the very least it creates a huge discontinuity in what I call the "Michael Jordan Effect". That is: the process of advancement by generational iterative education by example. Each generation has the benefit of the advancements of the previous generation. That example serves to flatten the learning curve, allowing the next next generation to progress faster, and further. Frank set a huge example excelling in musical composition and performance. AGZ is effectively demanding that his "teaching" be laid to waste because of a personal need to control the actions of others.

40 years of Frank disseminating his music to the public certainly can be lost to the collective "memory hole". Persistence and continuing relevance to listeners, composers, performers, and social critics is not a given. The music must be kept alive, and it cannot be left to a central scrutinizer to determine what is proper when it comes to individual expression. The rule of law is clear. AGZ has no right to control my actions. There is no real or implied contract between us in this matter.

On a more global front it should be noted that Frank played a central role in giving voice to the cultural backlash against the Reagan/Bush administration, and his influence was sorely missing from the criticism of George W. Bush. Some artists were conscious enough of Zappa's work to reapply it to the W administration. Frank's willingness to apply his considerable talents to social critique was part of what made him so special. All this time later, the core of his message is as pertinent today as it was 25 years ago. The influence of the religious right is no less egregious, and the cultural crusaders who would deny the public the fruits of free artistic expression are stronger and more entrenched than ever. AGZ has picked what could possibly be the worst time in the past 15 years to aggressively deny the public the opportunity to encounter her husband's music and ideas in as many places as possible. Frank led by example... but what now?

While my rant is not an attempt to dive into the arena of copyright law and intellectual property, the offenders that this self-appointer "police woman" cracks down on are in every way "regular Joe's". This is not about Chevy using his music in a commercial without paying, or McCain dropping balloons to Frank's music, or sampling technology (another kettle of fish). It is about live performance, and the public arena. AGZ has shown again and again that you can scare a lot of legitimate business owners if you send scary looking letters on legal firm letterhead. The mafia does it all the time, and sometimes has to do a little "face to face" business to get their point across. But the public should not be fooled into confusing a letter from a lawyer with what is legal. AGZ sends these letters because she has no legal precedent to stand on. The musicians she harasses are fully within their legal rights to perform any music in a live setting.

This latest bout of uncivil behavior by AGZ will not be the last. That should not make it any less disturbing, or more importantly, less instructive. There are many ways to make it known to AGZ and the ZFT that their actions are inappropriate. It seems to me that the best way to do it is for each person to do their best to inform themselves, share that information, and make their voice heard. If my experience with Zappa fans is any indication then AGZ has no idea what kind of misstep she is making with her litigious approach to "protecting" Frank's legacy. As it stands, his legacy is hanging by a thread, with a public face of childish legal ploys and wasted effort.

Go forth and Crank Some Frank,

Pete

No Forbidden Music

Hi Folks,

We at ChollyHoss Productions typically keep the emails to a minimum, and the tone very light. But today we ask that you take a minute to think seriously.

If you have been under a rock you might not know that the Zappa Family Trust has been getting litigious in extremus lately, sicking their grey attorneys on folks that had the unmitigated audacity to express their appreciation of the late Frank Vincent Zappa. They may have played some Zappa music in a club, at a festival, put together a website in their spare time, or even made a festival possible. For these crimes they have been threatened with financial penalties and even incarceration. We at CHP recognize that there are real issues over the use of someone's image or work, but we also know a little about fair use and satire. We also know the difference between damaging someone's reputation or image, and honoring it.

We ask that you maybe google up on the available information, as to be self-informed, and then check out this online petition

http://www.petitiononline.com/ZFT/

Also, if you you know someone who might be like-minded, send them a copy.

What we at CHP really fear is having cultural gatekeepers preventing free expression. We learned a lot about that from Frank's words and music. He was self-published and that stands out and his most under-rated accomplishment. What that means for a performer is that the performance and reproduction rights are not covered under blanket ASCAP/BMI agreements and financing. The copyright holder has to set up their own system to recover fees (we aren't lawyers, but this is how we understand U.S. copyright rules). What we believe it does not mean is that the rights holders can make the performance of the music *forbidden*, except as it pleases them. i.e. The Who might not like your cover version of Sea and Sand, but they can't stop you from performing it, or even recording it. They can't set a financial bar that is prohibitive. They have to play ball. The Zappas are Americans, and in many of our eyes Frank Zappa was THE GREATEST AMERICAN - EVER*. To be told by fellow Americans that our rights are abridged because of an individuals lack of a sense of humor is what Zappa worked to prevent, not to enforce. Frank Zappa's music should not be restrained. It should not be left to a single individual to determine who gets to hear it, and when, and how, and for what fee.

So think about this a bit, and we hope that the new year brings some kind of understanding between the parties involved.

Sincerely,
Pete Brunelli and Stephen Chillemi

*Short list: Zappa exposed fake hippie culture and government infiltration in his earliest recorded works; wrote anti-drug anthems; anti-censorship anthems; anti-sheeple anthems; exposed destructors of freedom like Bush and Cheney, et al, when they were mere functionaries; exposed the anti-constitutional infiltration of government by the religious right; gave testimony to the US Congress over free speech rights... and in the meanwhile composed some of the most advanced and beautiful music of the 20th or any other century (that last one is our opinion). If that isn't being a great American, then we don't know what is.

Don Preston Video

I shot this video of Don Preston's Akashic Ensemble performing at Zappanale 18. Andre Cholmondeley and Cheri Jiosne are the other two heads of the Akashic.

More on this soon.. it is also me testing some YouTube embedding code! I'll edit this asap.

Some Zo Zo Zo Ztuff

I'll be stoking this with sone Zappanale 18-related links.


Pete's Zappanale 18 Photo Galleries


Pete's Youtube Vids, with Z18 Exclusives!!


United Mutations' Special Zappanale 18 Coverage


Bazbo's Z18 Retrospective


The Idiot's Z18 Rundown

Zappanale 18 - Wrap-up

I could get all sappy with tales of the long night of comraderie, the tales, the critiques, the singing, dancing, playing.... But I'll leave it at this: We sure did have a hell of a weekend.

Having all day Monday to recover meant that I could be in the last group to leave the campsite, then stay to see everyone off at the house on Monday morning, then be there to help and witness the last of the campsite being dismantled, have a last coffee at the festival grounds with Jelle and Daan and Dennis, then supervise Jelle getting his caravan jump-started, and then linger around Bad Doberan for the rest of the day. By all accounts I should have dropped from exhaustion... but... I had a nice lunch, rode the Molli, walked around town, generally tried to work out some of the Pilsner without passing out in the street in the process. Later that evening I ran into Zappateers at the cafe, and we had a nice chat about the festival. Finaly, back to the hotel for some pseudo-sleep, up at 0500, off to the train at 0600, and on my way back to Berlin Tegel.

Wow... Another 20 hours later and I would be home. Trains worked great, Delta proved again to be a shitty excuse for an airline, and after a week of mass transit and short car rides it was a bit of a letdown to have 3 hours of NYC traffic to contend with to get back to the house. I had the traffic-gods working for me I guess because it wasn't as bad as all that. Once home I could assess my laryngitis (lost my voice on day 2 of Z18), unlearn my pattern-based expectation that everyone would have a cool refreshing Pilsner for me (everywhere!), and the fulfill a need to listen to some really different music to wash the "song in my head" of Zappa's Montana out of there. I think that over half the bands played it! Yikes!

More soon, I hope. But enjoy the pics and text that I have assembled so far.

Zappanale 18 - Day 3

OK, so it all sounds very hyped, doesn't it. An international confabulation of Zappa hardcores meet in a sunny field outside of sleepy little Bad Doberan, ride the Molli (steam train), party hard, rock harder, sleep little, drink much, and generally get blissed out on music and companionship. Sounds like a fantasy? Well, it's real.

Back to the the action! Last year DOOT! had the honor of playing the first slot on Sunday. 1100 AM and it follows up the big party night. Everyone is hung over, or having breakfast, or whatever... so this year I made a point of being there to see Polytoxicomane Philharmonie, the Sunday opener.

They were trippy but rock solid, and I was stoked to be there for their set. Again, even the "non-Zappa" bands were on a roll this year.

Next: The Great Googly Moogly, from the furthest northern reaches of Sweden!

These guys were very sharp, very tight, and the first band where I can say that the sound system let them down. Jenny, their outstanding bassist, was playing things all over the fingerboard and doubling a lot of hard melodies and leads. All I could hear in front was *whomp whomp whomp*.

I wanted to head back by the mixer to hear better but i was having too much fun up front. These guys were all highly skilled, and showed great technical stuff while not sounding dry.

I got a little rest during Jazzprojekt Hundehagen. They just keep getting better, but I had to seek shade and cold beer while they played. Sunday turned out to be the hottest day of the weekend. I had rushed off to the festival early and was feeling pretty nasty after sleeping in my plastic bunk.

To me, the harmonia Ensemble was the highlight of the festival. I can't tell you how many people described being affected so emotionally by their set. Some were blissed, some were crying, some were hugging. They delivered on the promise of Frank's music and influence being channeled through world-class musicians. I can't explain exactly what it was, but I'll try. Melodies and harmonies and arrangements that spoke to the Zappa listener, without beating them over the head with it. It was like floating in a mineral spring of pure Zappa essence.

Headliner: Chad Wackerman.

His bass player was Doug Lunn, and his guitarist was Mike Miller. I think very highly of all three of them. They played a nice tight set, and there were a few sections that got really hot.

They were good, maybe even excellent, but I am a big believer in playing to an audience, not over it. One short version of Peaches would have sent the place off the edge. Personally, I think that a tiny bit o FZ would have been a nice way to be more "of" the festival. But he's Chad, I'm not. I love these guys any way they choose to lay it down. Nuff Said.

Sometime DOOT!ster Andre Cholmondeley ran the Encore/Jam and it sounded hellacious. I was able to hang at the back of the stage for the second half of it and it was a great time as usual. With that done.. the last party begins. Hotcha!

Zappanale 18 - Day 2

OK, so the first thing was sleep... I had to do some math in my head, while sleep deprived and such, but I think that I was up for about 40 hours straight before finally getting some sleep. Peter Vanlaarhoven, the genius behind United Mutations, and the benefactor behind my press pass, was heading into Bad Doberan to see Jim Cohen's "Depth Music" lecture. I had seen his "Call Any Vegetable" lecture, and I like his approach. It can get a little convoluted, but it is interesting to see some historical perspective on Zappa's imagery and lyrics. He also did a short interview with Dr. Dot which answered a lot of questions about how she became associated with Frank Zappa.

Back at the festival things were getting rolling early. The campground and the festival were more crowded on Friday than it had been at any time during Z17. Sure enough, Saturday turned out a big crowd. I heard Chen Unst from afar, and it sounded like a longer version of what they did on Thursday night. Then came Team Zappa... and they got the place rockin' in a hurry. JeyJey, the lead singer, has a huge set of pipes and really delivered... like a burly Ray White!

They were super tight and I don't think that they expected the kind of big reaction that they got. Their set was populated with a lot of the power-rock numbers, and they did a great job with them.

Next up, Octafish. I don't know what they have been doing since the last time I heard them, but they should do more of it. They were *jaw droppingly* good. Their version of G-Spot Tornado, at a more relaxed tempo than the original, really let the melody stand out. There was a lot of amazement backstage during their set. I'd say that it was the Zappa Connoisseur's set. If you know your FZ, this was the one not to miss... so far!

After the Ben Watson quiz segment came my hometown crew: Kimono Draggin. They have been on a european mini-tour, and are really tight. First off, KD isn't going to go toe-to-toe on precision and subtlety with anyone. They are three hard rocking motherfuckers from Naugatuck...

While the crowd was unsure of when to applaud, the did applaud. part of it is that there is some stop/start in the songs, also the crowd doesn't know thei songs, and Joe Nolan doesn't "sell" song endings. The set was very hot, however.

And that only got hotter when Papa DOOT!, Stephen Chillemi, joined them for a freaked out version of Beefheart's "Electricty". Stephen went APE on it... and you can see it captured on YouTube if you don't believe me. Once he started blowing on the soprano sax the place went wild. Way to carry the DOOT! flag, brother! Congrats to KD as well, for making a homeboy proud of powerhouse rock.

Sex without nails Bro's has played Zappanale before and they were tight and clean and Napi was up there for a lot of it. i won't drag it out. I was backstage hangin' with the Kimono's so I missed a lot of it. I hope i get to hear a tape of them so I can see what I missed.

I heard the Space Debris set from the campground, and that Hammond organ sounded SWEEEEEEET! One thing about Zappanale... the sound is really great as you get away from the stage. in fact, standing by the fence near the bike-rest stop on the trail is one of the best sounding places at the festival. So it isn't like I heard burbly garbage. It was excellent sound (windy conditions will mess this up, but it wasn't windy this weekend). What I was doing in the campground was sitting in on harmonica with members of the Foolz and Ossi Duri. That was a hoot, and I have some audio of it somewhere. I think that the whole thing is recorded somewhere (Angelo?)

Another great day of Zappanale came to a close with the walk back to the house, and a feeling that maybe sleep and food are over rated. More to come!

Pete

Zappanale 18 - Day 1

Friday an often be a tough day at Zappanale. The big crowd doesn't usually hit until Saturday, and sometimes the bands are a bit sleepy from the travel. This year proved that what I just said is BUNK. Don Preston opened the show with his Akashic Ensemble. It was Don's idea to play early, and his set is not a "rock" set. I'm a big fan of Don's and I thought it was a great set.

Some folks wanted rock. Well, they got it with the heavy-on-the-testosterone stylings of the UK's Monty and the Butchers. Huge amount of energy with these guys. DOOT! gladly gives it up for a band showing that Frank's music can be just as well served by a party band as a string quintet.

Then up came the aforementioned Christophe Godin, pushing the rock energy higher. His skills are in another realm, really. Next up was a band that I had on my "must see" list from the day I saw the lineup: i Virtuose dal Pianeta Talento. This band from Italy was extremely tight, and to my surprise it featured composer/harmonica-whiz Angelo Adamo.

Napoleon Murphy Brock sat in with them, giving their set a boost and their singer a rest, The audience reaction was great and reinforced my feeling that their set was excellent. The pattern was becoming clear that this was shaping up to be an amazing weekend of music.

Project/Object followed. In my humble opinion: The Ike no-show, combined with following the ultra-tight Godin/Moreglbl and Pianeta sets, and the huge amount of pride that P/O has in their work, all combined to set the stage for what I think is the best P/O set I have ever heard. Don Preston sitting in on keys was an amazing experience, no less so because Eric Svalgard was having keyboard issues so Don covered a LOT of ground.

The core rhythm section of Eric Slick, Dave Johnsen, Eric Svalgard and Andre Cholmondeley have been together for a few years now and it showed. Napoleon Murphy Brock fronted more songs that he had planned on, which really helped take the burden off of Andre... who was the only guitarist on stage, by the way. As if that weren't enough, Dr. Dot (1988 FZ tour masseuse and all around eye-popper) guested on Wet T-Shirt Night as Mary.. from the bus. When she got the pitcher of water across that white, ugly, man-kinda T-shirt.. well the place went OFF.

Googly Moogly!

It is at this point that some of the Zappanale euphoria starts to set in. I'm referring to that dangerous mixture of jet lag, sausage, beer, and adrenaline, topped off with the endorphin rush of live music overload. It can make one giddy beyond belief. Those club-kids downing extasy are just lazy. Do the hard work and get ecstatic the old fashioned way.

I was floating between backstage and the campground during Trigon's set. But again, they sounded fantastic. The reports are that I fell asleep, but not after a late night photo-review session and some delicious Dutch Graanjenever back at the house.

Zappanale 18 - it rocked our balls clean off

OK, We stole that from the Kimono Draggin' T-Shirt...

It was an amazing testament to the ability of Frank's music to inspire a very wide range of musicians. Stephen and MaryJayne went over to "the continent" early and were able to attend the Frank Zappa Strase dedication ceremony in Berlin, Germany. That was reported to have been an amazing event, and they confirmed as much. The weather was a little damp, but the spirits were warm enough to compensate. Appearances by Napoleon Murphy Brock, Dr. Dot, and Sheik Yerbouti were the highlights.

Zappanale took place on the folowing weekend and kicked off with the usual Kamp Theatre pre-party

We were treated to a pair of live performances. Chen Unst performed a stream-of-consciousness Beefheart set, with a lot of interesting backing tracks. Then we got some amazing heavy guitar action from Christophe Godin of Moerglbl. I can't pronounce that band name, but Christophe brings a musicality to "shred guitar" that I have not heard before. I found it to be very inspirational.

It was at the pre-party that the word started circulating: "Ike Missed His Flight"... and that started a chain reaction of sorts.

Steve Chillemi does "The Ike"

Project/Object had some heavy duty contingency planning to do, a lot of fans were upset, a lot of other's were, ummm... unsurprised, maybe. Either way, it was a great evening of food, beer, music, beer, friends, beer, and some beer on the side. That pretty much sums up the whole festival! We'll have blog posts for each day, and somehow we will have a nice collection of photos for you as well.

DOOT!

You always knew we were idiots....

but we now have incontrovertible proof, in the form of our contribution to Andrew "Disco Boy" Greenaway's 20 Extrordinary Renditions compilation. It will be very interesting to hear the variety in the finished product. I expect that it will be WIDE.

DOOT! set some basic parameters regarding length and approach, and we really took a different road for this one. Nuff Sed for the moment. When we can hook you up with the finished product you will see a nice shiny link here, or on Andrew's site.

DOOT!

New Old News

The Artwalk thing went well, and that band played another set at the Ken Safety Open Mike Show, over at CJ Sparrow in Cheshire, CT. The CJ show also featured trumpeter Tim Kane (who sat in at the Artwalk gig too), and Trombone Larry (Ken Safety Fabulous Houseband House Trombonist). We had a lot of fun doing that one too, and the goal is to work a few actual gigs in the upcoming months. The organ-trio/soul band is decidedly NOT DOOT!, so we needed a name and billed ourselves as the "Soul Cryptographers"... yes, we know that it is hard to spell. Expect something more concise in the near future.

In between that there was a New Haven Improviser's Collective gig in New Haven, CT (June 16, 2007), with pete on bass and Nate on keys. The lineup was very lean/mean: Bob Gorry on guitar, Johnny O on bass, John Venter on bari Sax, Paul on soprano sax, and the drummer who's name I always forget! I'll edit this asap. Yep, you read right... 2 basses, and it went swimmingly. We'll have some audio of it available soon.

As for DOOT!, we are working hard on our cover of Zappa's "Idiot Bastard Son" for the Andrew Greenaway compilation project. We'll have links and clips very soon.

DOOT! is also working on a new project for late 2007. That is in the development phase, but expect collaborations with some of the faces and names that you have come to know and love.

More Soon!

i asked for the news, not the weather....

OK, so here is the news:

The lineup for the Westville Artwalk gig is:

Nate Teier, keys
Mike Paolucci, skins
Pete Brunelli, bass
Kenny Mack, reeds

The time is 1pm at the Kehler Lidell Gallery, 873 Whalley Ave, New Haven. That's right... the DOOT! Super Soul Spectacular has exactly one hour to achieve world domination. Wish us luck.

Westville, uh huh. Westville is the little villagey section of town up near Edgewood Park and Blake Street. Come on down and do the ArtWalk, woncha?

Website Wonderland

Please check out the updates to the DOOT! website, where we have put in a fair amount of work adding photos, sounds, and fresh updates. The sounds part is the best. You can dig the new audio blog, or keep up to date with it as a xml2.0 feed, or have it delivered straight to your iPod/whtevermajig as a podcast.

You may have figured it out, but DOOT! isn't exactly gripped with a desire for consistency. We really do love to play the field, digging in to whatever music is tickling our musical funnybone at any given time. If you like one type of thing that we do, just pretend that it is the famous New England weather... you will get something you like sooner rather than later.

Also, feel free to drop us an email and let us know what you dug.

winter is ending, sorta....

Yep, winter refuses to go away in any significant way, but DOOT! is proceeding unabated. We had a nice gig at Brass City Records on March 31, and aside from a few technical glitches, it was a classic BCR event. Again, I can't mention the gig without thanking Walt. Thanks Walt!

Expect to hear some audio from this show in the near future. We ran a live multitrack recording setup and used that as the driver for the PA/monitors. Aside from the mountain of gear that we needed to bring in there to get it done it went off with only a few small problems. We split the bill with greylyng, and they were very badass. They have a recording of the show as well, so bug them for it! It was a blast having two similar trios play back to back sets, and how we didn't sound like two similar trios. DOOT! has that feeling like the wheels either might be coming off, or came off and we didn't notice. greylyng packs a lot of power, make no mistake, but they have a more studied sound... and that is not a knock. If they make any of the tracks available on their site i will post a notice here.

More soon... DOOT! has some blogging to catch up on, so check in when you can.

Next show: Westville Artwalk, May 12, 2007

WOOT!

Akashic Ensemble

We had the honor of opening for Don Preston's Akashic Ensemble (Don Preston, Andre Cholmondeley, Cheri Jiosne) at the Space in Hamden, CT. Andre joined us for our set, maybe excorcising the demons of Z17? The board tape sounds like ass, but I'm going to wash it through the audiocrypto box and see if I can make it listenable.

Don's set was outstanding, opening with a solo piano version of Uncle Meat and closing with a solo piano version of Pound for a Brown (on the bus). In between it was electronic waves of sound. These guys always inspire me. This show was no different.

You can see some pic that I took of the show By Clicking HERE

more Belew

DOOT! (Pete and Stephen) took a ride out to Piermont, NY to catch Adrian's power trio at the Turning Point. Eric and Julie Slick are jelling nicely and we got to hear Adrian with his full assortment of gear. At Zappanale his gear never made it (his guitars did), but we were treated to a thrilling performance with Adrian knocking out his set through a Marshall Half Stack. That was an outdoor festival. The Turning Point is a 75 seater in a little village on the Hudson. In short, an amazing place to see a player like Adrian Belew.

This show was a real thrill, and I'll be sgaring some pics very soon.

crushed...

I heard ths morning that Ken Latchney, engineer (Kengineer) for Adrian Belew among others, passed away on Thursday, July 27. The news comes from Digital Global Mobile http://www.dgmlive.com/

DOOT! extends their sincerest condolences to Ken's family and friends, and a prayer for Ken, a truly special person.

We will have more later but I would like to say that Andre and I got a chance to hang out with Ken at Zappanale 17, just over a week ago, and he impressed me as a curious, vigorous, and kind soul.

We're Back...

OK, so there was little to be had for free internet,and at 8 Euro per hour for T-mobile I wasn't burning up the WIFI. Reineier and Cucurullo Brillo Brullo, with special thanks to Derk, showed us some amazing hospitality. We watched the World Cup final with some great beer and asian take out. I still think that the red card on Zidane was too much, and I was rooting for the Azzurri! Then we made the pilgrimage to Amsterdam, saw the sights, the smells, the funk, and got scorched by some brutal heat and sun. We ended up staying an extra day in Delft just to get to see the good stuff and enjoy the nice weather. A fantastic Indionesion dinner was had, and we topped it off with some great Belgian ale at the Comodour.

Zappanale was next on the itinerary, and we got into Bad Doberan late Thursday night to close the Kamp Theatre with the hardcore Zappa freaks. Met with Baz, Evelyn and Heidi, along with the usual crew of madmen. This year the beer supplier was Lubzer Pils, which was nice enough... but by Sunday it was oozing out of my pores. We were looking for anything to wash that stuff out of our system. Luckily there is some great Schwarzbier local to Bad Doberan.

We will have a blow by blow with photos in the Photo section, but the highloghts were: Corrie van Binsbergen, who had at least as crappy a slot as we did and still KILLED. Egon Kracht and the Troupe, Soft Machine, Zappatistas, Pikantik, the Paul Green School, FZLE... OK there waasn't a weak act in the bunch. We came awfully close to seeing every band (Stephen went back to town for a nap but I toughed it out and saw the full Sunday program. Adrian Belew melted my face. When his gear was not arriving for his set he plugged that Parker Fly into a Marshall half-stack and blew my mind. Eric and Julie Slick are the sibling rhythm section of the future. HOLY SHIT! They are really good.

Our set was the opener to Sunday's lineup and we basically woke up a lot of campers and had a really good set to boot. Expect to see some audio from it soon. Andre was off the hook and I think that his needs and the Steve/Pete axis of loose timing managed to meet halfway and really gel for the bulk of the set. The combined grunt of heavy sounds during pink/black napkins was the thing that stuck in my head after the set was over. Baz lent his rubber chicken to help us round out the act. It became the "majestic and superior cackiling hen" during "third stone from the sun".

More asap,
Pete

we are them...

Marathon 48-hour travel day concludes with a gig at the beautiful Flora Theatre in Delft. Cucurullo Brillo Brullo was fantastic. Actually, the kind of fantastic that made me think "holy crap, we have to follow THAT??!!" But we did, and DOOT! was well received on their first gig in "Yurrip". Thanks to everyone who supported us in getting this thing rolling, and to the great folks who showed up at the Flora. It was a Saturday with perfect weather, which would mean a total washout for a gig at home. But here it is not so bad.

DOOT! will have more bloggin and hopefully sone good pics to share. Until then...

countdown...

"Yurrip"! The mini-tour and all around holiday extravaganza is coming up in a hurry. Aside from the usual madness that go hand-in-hand with this kind of thing, we have figured out that "W" is going to be in the neighborhood during Zappanale. Sure, travel halfway around the globe maybe hoping for a break from the constant barrage of disinformation and.... I hope Angela Merkel is smart enough to realize that the "coalition of the willing" is W-speak for "willing to put their fingerprints on the gun and provide some cover against war crimes".

All that aside, we are planning to play some DOOT music, watch some futbol, catch up with the Zappa crazies, make some new friends, catch up with some old friends, and consume a lot of beer and sausage!

Keep an eye on the website because we have a new CD, assembled specially for Zappanale. All the tracks were recorded live over the past year, and all of the great folks who were brave/gullible enough to join us on stage are represented.

Also, DOOT! T-shirts are now available in XL and XXL, with other sized expected to be available this fall. Look for pics on the soon-to-be-added MERCH page.

Peace!

We have a gig coming up next week at the New Haven Library (April 12th, 7-9pm). It will be in the "Program Room", which is where the Jazz Haven project was holding their monthly gigs. Over the last three months DOOT! has been casing the joint. We saw Chicago-based free jazz sax guy Ken Vandermark, then jazz cellist Daniel Levin, then Joe Morris' "OtherTet". Jazz Haven kicks butt! The shows were the 2nd Wednesday of the month. So DOOT! is stepping in and keeping that spot warm for a bit. If this month's show goes well we may be bringing another show in next month, and seeing how that looks for the future. No guarantees, but that is the plan.

Hello from Nate, the latest Doot!dooD (the latest and greatest? Well, definitely the latest and Natest...). Saturday's gig was a lot of firsts for me - it was my first performance with Doot!, my first 100% improv performance, and my first time playing with Andre.

And let me tell you, it was absolutely terrifying.

No, just kidding. It was a blast! The jams were intense but free-flowing - as I look back on it now I remember it as feeling like I was part of a river. There were tons of great musical ideas being tossed around, too - Andre and I had a fun syncopated guitar/tambourine conversation during an especially intense part. I'm very thrilled to be playing with musicians who can give and take like that!

Our April 12th gig is a trio, with Pete, Steve and me, so I'm just as eager as everyone else to see what shape things take.

a little more sumthin' sumthin'

If you saw a DOOT! show, heard the clips, or have other comments or questions, drop us an email at info@chollyhoss.com and DOOT! will do their best to answer back, but don't be shocked if your post ends up on the blog.

blog blog blog blog

I just love the sound of the word "blog". It rhymes with "smog"! and almost with "dog", and almost with "trog". In fact, if you are from far enough up in New England, then it does rhyme with "dog". Maybe it will get to the point where we get an unhealthy internet-air-quality alert due to excessive "blog levels". DOOT!, for one, welcomes our new blogging overlords.

Testing... 1... 2....

This is a test to see if the DOOT! blog is working.