A couple weeks ago, I got a request from Ron Cianciaruso to play some Zappa on the show. John Campbell is not a Zappa fan so I've always had to try to sneak a Zappa song in at the end of a show when he wasn't paying attention. I've been able to do that twice. But for this week, he told me we should play three Zappa songs. The Zappa request I received all came from his 1974 album Apostrophe, so I limited myself to that album.
While trying to figure out what else I wanted to play, I kept going back to "comedy music" or at least songs that will make you smile. That made it a whole lot easier to narrow things down but still difficult to pick songs. I ended up choosing 3-song "mini suites" from Zappa, Moxy Fruvous and The Rutles. In addition to that, I chose individual songs from several acts. Then, in the middle of the show, John decided to play a song by the new band Third Of Never. It wasn't a "comedy song" but it was a damn good cover of Pete Townshend's Let My Love Open The Door. Here is what we played:
Frank Zappa - Saint Alfonzo's Pancake Breakfast
Frank Zappa - Father O'Blivion
Frank Zappa - Cosmik Debris
Moxy Fruvous - Kick In The Ass
Moxy Fruvous - The Greatest Man In America
Moxy Fruvous - I Love My Boss
The Rutles - Hold My Hand
The Rutles - Ouch!
The Rutles - Cheese And Onions
Third Of Never - Let My Love Open The Door
The Beat Farmers - Big Rock Candy Mountain
Guadalcanal Diary - Vista
The Dead Milkmen - Brat In The Frat
King Missile - Cheesecake Truck
Fountains Of Wayne - Laser Show
The one song that I wanted to play that didn't make it was Ducks On The Wall, from the 1974 Kinks album, A Soap Opera. When I saw Ray Davies last month, he teased the crowd by saying that he would be doing that song. Unfortunately, he didn't play it and neither did I.
From the feedback we received both during and after the show, it seemed like people enjoyed the comedy aspect of my segment. Third Of Never even posted on their facebook page that they were being played between Zappa and Guadalcanal. Cool stuff!
Next week is our last show of the year. We will be going out in style by completing the Psychodots trifecta. Rob Fetters will be the guest next week and practically the entire show will be devoted to Rob's music. After that show, we will be taking a few weeks off and won't return until January 11, 2010. Next week promises to be a great show and I'm looking forward to it.
You should of played Duck on the Wall...The 1974 KinKs Soap Opera was one of the best shows I ever saw!
ReplyDeleteI meant Ducks on the Wall, btw I was at the show last month that you were at...
ReplyDeleteWonderboy - I didn't get to play Ducks because I ran out of time. But I definitely plan to play it on our 1st show of 2010 on January 11th. Since you seem to be a huge Kinks fan, did you check out my previous blog (November 16th)? My entire segment on that show was devoted to Kinks covers.
ReplyDeleteOne last thing. I don't know if you saw it, but a few years ago, the Garage Theater Group in Teaneck, NJ put on a perfomance of a play called More Than A Soap Opera by Michael Bias, which was Soap Opera and Schoolboys In Disgrace. Two separate one act plays using all the music and major plotlines. The schoolboys part was decent but I thought Soap Opera was very good! Michael Bias is also the founder of the theater group. http://www.garagetheatre.org/history.html