Zappa and his band; Aaron Arntz (keyboard & trumpet), Scheila Gonzalez (saxophone, flute, keys & vocals), Pete Griffin (bass), Billy Hulting (percussion), Jamie Kime (guitar), Joe Travers (drums & vocals) and special guest Ray White (guitar, vocals & awesomeness that needs to be seen to be believed), took the stage as the sun was going down on day two of the Gathering of the Vibes. After a brief introduction they launched into a hellacious (yeah, you heard me hellacious) version of “I Am the Slime” and there would be no looking back. To my left one of the Aging Hippie Collective was holding on to the barrier at the front of the stage and closed his eyes. He began to follow the beat with, not headbanging exactly but a nod? Sure. After “Slime” ended I asked “How’s that sound to you?” His reply was simple and perfect, “Close your eyes and it is Frank…” Could Dweezil and band ever get a better compliment in this forum?
For the next song, “City of Tiny Lites” Ray White, a former member of The Mothers of Invention took over the vocal duties and, line by line, measure by measure a bridge from the late 60’s and early 70’s to the 21st century was being sonically fabricated by Zappa Plays Zappa. It barely took the 15 minutes or so between the first and third song for an entirely new generation of music fans to enter the world of Frank Zappa’s music. A world that stood a generation on its ear 40 years earlier and still defies category and comparison to this day.
As the show started I would guess that about 30% of the festival attendees were crowding the main stage area… by the time “Flakes” started, either word was spreading or the music was carrying across the park and the crowd had to nearly triple.
And we are the people who will make it all happen
This gave the crowd its first opportunity to be introduced to Scheila Gonzalez’s amazing talents. Sure anyone can do an Eric Cartman impression but purely on her stage presents and talent as a musician, she was in danger of stealing the show. A guy that I named “The Saint of the Gate” (more on him later), claimed to fall in love with her… I certainly saw what he meant. Personally I’ll harbor a crush on this amazing talent from hence fourth.
The sun was setting over the beautiful beaches of Bridgeport and night #2 of the GotV was being ushered in by a band that only found the pedal on the right and didn’t let up for a second. “Bamboozled By Love” was in the process of being nearly perfected by this superlative band, and in a nice bit of musical serendipity during the blazing guitar solo, the band broke into a few measures of the Yes classic “Owner of a Lonely Heart.” Flawless.
We could go around this May Pole a few dozen more times but I think you get the point. This is a show that any music fan needs to see. In particular, if you are not entirely familiar with Frank Zappa’s music Zappa Plays Zappa is a perfect introduction. Oh, and about Dweezil’s guitar influences and own musical identity I wrote about earlier? During “Cosmic Debris” he played a guitar solo that harkened back to his heavy metal-esque roots to the utter fascination of the thousands of fans eating out of the palm of ZPZ’s hands. Well done DZ. Your father would have been/is proud.
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