…because I seem to have missed the Los Angeles stop of the “Zappa Plays Zappa” tour, dammit! Not sure how I didn’t hear about this in time, but… argh! And as if having one of my students say in passing, “That was a good show,” wasn’t bad enough, now I get this report from Rich Roesberg of an event I very much would have liked to see:

My son Justin treated me to a concert tonight, Dweezil Zappa playing his late father’s music, appropriately called ZAPPA PLAYS ZAPPA. It was at the House of Blues inside the Showboat Casino. We got there and Justin asked me if someone he saw was ‘that friend of yours’. Sure enough it was my pal Micky, who is one of the heads of security at the HOB. He asked us if we had general admission tickets and, when we admitted that was all we had, he took us upstairs in the private elevator and put us in the preferable balcony area. Comfortable seats plus great view and acoustics.

The band came on promptly at eight. There were eight players, including vocalist/guitarist Ray White, who had played with Frank Zappa. The group jumped into an early FZ tune. Justin and I had the same thought. Were they only going to play the more accessible songs? Nope. They were soon displaying amazing musicianship on complex FZ pieces like Zoot Allures and G-Spot Tornado. Before performing Dupree’s Paradise, Dweezil explained that it involved a lot of improvisation. He also got a pair of audience members to contribute one word each, to be used later in the number. The words were ‘fabulous’ and ‘time’. Each member of the band got to take a solo, all of which were excellent. Then Dweezil announced that he had decided the contributed words were to be used in an improvised story about a school bully. Ray White made up a song concerning the bully, who had a ‘fabulous time’ beating him up. It became perversely suggestive.

There were video screens above the stage. For three songs they showed footage of FZ. In two of them there were audio tracks of FZ’s guitar playing, and on the other his vocal. The band backed up these recorded performances and, in one case, Dweezil played responses to his father’s guitar work. The entire show was very well paced, with vocal selections balanced against longer instrumentals. The elder Zappa’s humor was intact. Dweezil performed his own version of FZ’s technique of ‘conducting’ the band with hand signals. Best of all, the younger Zappa has developed his guitar skills until they compare favorably to his father’s. Except for plenty of noisy drunks in the audience, fueled by the drinks available inside the club, it was a fine two-and-a-half hour performance. Anybody who appreciates FZ’s music should definitely try to catch this concert if it plays anywhere near you.

Zoot allures! Given that Dweezil is famously a valley guy, this has got to be coming back to my neck of the woods. Let’s hope so.

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