Zappagram #15
Jeff Beck & Johnny Depp released an album and it's (mostly) really good, Billy Corgan plays benefit concert for Highland Park, and I want to hear more from you
Hey friends,
I hope you’re all doing well and that you and yours are healthy and happy.
You’ve been hearing from me steadily for fifteen weeks now, but I really want to hear back from more of you! I’ve moved the Question of the Week to the top (just below this intro.) It can be a jumping off point from which great conversations can spring.
You can simply hit reply on this email and send me a private response, or click to leave a public comment. Let’s jump in and have a discussion.
What say you?
QUESTION OF THE WEEK
Inquiring minds want to know
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Are there any genres of music you don’t really enjoy? If so, which ones and why? Let me know in a private reply to this email or leave a comment and share with the rest of the class.
“If looks could kill, they would look like Frank Zappa.”
―Ted Gioia
RECENT ESSAYS
The latest essays by Chris Zappa
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America the Inexcusable
You can't make it great again if it never really was
How To Automatically Skip Music You Don't Like
A helpful tip for Mac users
HEAVY ROTATION
New weekly playlists highlighting great music
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WEEKLY PLAYLIST #15
Jeff Beck & Johnny Depp • Deau Eyes • The Ballroom Thieves & Ariel Posen • Novo Amor • Michael Kiwanuka • Slow Joy • Tom Waits • Emancipator • Billie Eilish • David Bowie
MASTER PLAYLIST (ALL WEEKS)
MUSIC NEWS
The latest happenings in the world of music
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Billy Corgan announces concert to benefit Highland Park shooting victims
The Smashing Pumpkins frontman and Chicago native will host the July 27 show—dubbed “Together and Together Again”—at his Madame Zuzu’s tea house in Highland Park, where he’s lived for 20 years. [via RollingStone]
Bruce Springsteen announces U.S. tour with The E Street Band
Bruce Springsteen just welcomed the arrival of his first grandchild and he’s set to embark on his first U.S. tour in six years. The run of concerts are taking place between February and April 2023. [via Conequence]
Japanese Breakfast cancels show at Rochester venue hosting far-right event
The venue is hosting a stop on the “Reawaken America” tour, a traveling far-right speaking engagement that provides a platform for those who believe in COVID-19 and 2020 presidential election conspiracies. [via Stereogum]
“Beastie Boys Square” approved for Paul’s Boutique street corner in NYC
The site of the famous album cover, at Ludlow and Rivington, will be officially named in honor of MCA, Mike D, and Ad-Rock. [via Pitchfork]
Cat Power recreating famed 1966 Bob Dylan show in November
Chan Marshall has confirmed a November 5 show at London’s Royal Albert Hall where she will recreate Bob Dylan’s famed May 17, 1966 concert in its entirety. [via Spin]
Eddie Vedder ejects fan from Pearl Jam gig for fighting: “No violence allowed!”
According to reports, a woman punched a fellow concertgoer at the band's Zurich show after growing frustrated with him filming the gig. {via NME]
Roger Waters offers his thoughts on Drake and The Weeknd: “I am far, far, far more important.”
The subject arose during a recent interview with Toronto’s The Globe and Mail, when a reporter told the former Pink Floyd rocker that he was assigned by the Canadian publication to review The Weeknd‘s show at the city’s Rogers Centre on July 8 (which was ultimately postponed) rather than Waters’ back-to-back concerts at the nearby Scotiabank Arena on July 8-9. [via Billboard]
Jello Biafra slams Dead Kennedys’ reissue: “I was deliberately locked out”
The former frontman for San Francisco punk icons Dead Kennedys, says the other band members did not inform him about their plans to reissue the group’s classic 1980 debut album “Fresh Fruit for Rotting Vegetables,” with a new remix by Green Day engineer Chris Lord-Alge. [via SF Chronicle]
Rock & Roll Hall of Fame curator charged with conspiracy after attempting to sell stolen Don Henley lyrics valued at $1m
Three men, including a Rock & Roll Hall of Fame curator, were charged with conspiracy for allegedly attempting to sell stolen handwritten Don Henley lyrics meant for the Eagles. The lyrics were initially stolen back in the 1970s by an unnamed biographer who was attempting to create a book on the band–though it never came to fruition–and included 100 pages of Henley’s penmanship from Hotel California valued at over $1 million. [via Relix]
Zack de la Rocha continues Rage Against the Machine tour despite injury
On just the second show of the tour that took literal years to start, vocalist Zack de la Rocha appeared to injure his leg during the fourth song of the band’s set, but the guys aren’t letting that stop them. [via FarOut]
NEW RELEASES
Dig on these recently dropped albums
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And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead
Bleed Here Now [listen]
Arp
New Pleasures [listen]
Interpol
The Other Side of Make-Believe [listen]
Jeff Beck & Johnny Depp
18 [listen]
The Ballroom Thieves
Clouds [listen]
UPCOMING RELEASES
These albums are coming soon
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JULY 22
Jack White: Entering Heaven Alive • She & Him: Melt Away: A Tribute to Brian Wilson • The Heavy Heavy: Life and Life Only EP
JULY 29
Amanda Shires: Take It Like a Man • Chat Pile: God’s Country • King Princess: Hold On Baby • Maggie Rogers: Surrender • Of Montreal: Freewave Lucifer F<ck F^ck F>ck
AUGUST 5
Glass Animals: Dreamland: Real Life Edition • Heavy Gus (feat. members of The Lumineers and Blind Pilot): Notions • Neil Young + Promise Of The Real: Noise & Flowers • Pussy Riot: Matriarchy Now
AUGUST 12
Alicia Keys: KEYS II • Danny Elfman: Bigger. Messier. • Erasure: Day-Glo (Based on a True Story) • Goo Goo Dolls: Chaos In Bloom • Hollywood Undead: Hotel Kalifornia
VIDEO SPOTLIGHT
See it to believe it
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Rick Beato: A Warning on the Future of Music (w/ Ted Gioia)
Watch this fascinating conversation between musician/producer Rick Beato and American music critic and historian Ted Gioia as they discuss the current state and the future of popular music. [via YouTube]
ON THIS DATE
Musical happenings of historical significance
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JULY 18
Birthdays: Screamin' Jay Hawkins (1929) • Lonnie Mack (1941) • The first ever Lollapalooza tour was held at Compton Terrace, Phoenix, featuring Living Colour, Siouxsie and the Banshees, Jane's Addiction, Nine Inch Nails, Henry Rollins Band, and Butthole Surfers. (1991)
JULY 19
Birthdays: Bernie Leadon & Brian May (1947) • Ellie Rowsell of Wolf Alice (1992) • Residents of Washington, Connecticut formed a “Roll the Stones Out of Town” action group after they were unhappy with The Rolling Stones and their entourage setting up in the town for rehearsals for their forthcoming tour. (1989)
JULY 20
Birthdays: Carlos Santana (1947) • Chris Cornell (1964) • Stone Gossard (1966) • Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band played the opening night on their Born To Run Tour at The Palace Theatre, Providence, Rhode Island. (1975) • Jackson Browne settled his lawsuit against US Senator John McCain and the Republican Party after his 1977 hit 'Running On Empty' was used without permission in a 2008 McCain presidential campaign ad. (2009)
JULY 21
Birthday: Cat Stevens (1948) • Jim Martin of Faith No More (1961) • Guns n’ Roses released their debut album Appetite For Destruction. (1987) • A performance of Roger Waters' The Wall took place at the Berlin Wall to commemorate the fall of the wall eight months earlier. (1990)
JULY 22
Birthdays: George Clinton (1941) • Rick Davies of Supertramp (1944) • Don Henley (1947) • Emily Saliers of Indigo Girls (1963) • Rufus Wainwright (1973) • John Lennon and Yoko Ono spent the second day filming the Imagine promotional film at their home in Tittenhurst Park, Ascot, England. The day’s footage included the morning walk on the grounds though the mist and Lennon singing “Imagine” in the white room on his white piano. (1971)
JULY 23
Birthdays: Martin Gore of Depeche Mode (1961) • Slash (1965) • Alison Krauss (1971) • Fran Healy of Scottish rock band Travis (1973) • The International Astronomical Union named an asteroid orbiting between Mars and Jupiter after Frank Zappa who died the previous December. (1994) • Amy Winehouse was found dead at her north London home at the age of 27. (2011)
JULY 24
All four Beatles and their manager Brian Epstein signed a petition printed in The Times newspaper calling for the legalization of marijuana. (1967)
OFF TOPIC
May or may not be music-related
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American metalhead creates electric guitar out of dead uncle’s skeleton
A heavy metal fanatic has used his late uncle's bones to create his very own electric guitar - yes, you read the correctly. Either that’s the most rock ‘n’ roll thing we’ve ever heard or the start of a Stephen King novel. [via LAD Bible]
Build your own Dunder Mifflin Paper Company with new Office LEGO set
The set includes Michael Scott’s office, Jim and Dwight's desk island, the reception area, and conference room. The 1,164-piece set begins shipping on Oct. 1. [via Consequence]
Beavis & Butthead return with new show, release date and trailer out now
Following the release of their latest feature film, a fresh season of the raunchy buddy comedy will hit Paramount+ in August. [via Pitchfork]
Watch the trailer for Rob Zombie’s first PG movie, The Munsters
Zombie has directed the movie adaptation of The Munsters. It’ll be his first-ever PG-rated film and the trailer is out now. [via YouTube]
Descendents disavowed Oath Keepers after January 6 hearing
The punk band has some of the most iconic merch in the game, but when a former spokesperson for the white nationalist militia The Oath Keepers wore a Descendents shirt during the Jan 6 hearings, the band issued a statement that they “completely disavow groups like the Oath Keepers and in no way condone their hateful ideology.” [via AV Club]
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Love, peace, and harmony.
CZ 🤘🏻
Love that Screamin Jay's birthday is today!!! I cannot listen to Contemporary Christian music, Death metal, or gangsta rap. there, I said it.
Anymore the only thing I absolutely /cannot/ listen to is any ASMR. I know that's not exactly music-related, but it makes me reflexively angry.
Stuff, I'd be cool never hearing again? Probably that strain of metal where the singing is just guttural screaming/groaning.