Don't ask me about... (Henri Cartier-Bresson) #30

"Behind Saint-Lazare Station, Paris, France, 1932"

Henri Cartier-Bresson

Does photography get much better than this?

Tags: Behind Saint-Lazare Station, Henri Cartier-Bresson

Just how sad is this...? - #1

OK, you're watching "North Country", Dylan's singing "Sweetheart like you" on the soundtrack and you know that that's Mick Taylor, playing guitar.

You know that it's Mick playing guitar, because you recognise Sly Dunbar's drumming as the same style as on "Jokerman" from "Infidels"which you've got as track 2 on a Mix and Match tape that you've digitised in the meantime.

Kicks off with"Allan wia Stan", Wolfgang Ambros' brilliant Austrian dialect reading of "Like a Rolling Stone", then goes into "Jokerman" (neat double link there and I really am quite proud of it - Bob wrote both, Mick was one and played on the other.

Which we of course know by now..

Then onto "Going home" from "Local Hero" (because Mark Knopfler did the film music and produced "Infidel") and on to "All night long" by the Eagles from "Urban Cowboy" (which played in Houston and which is where the last shot of "Local Hero" plays, with "Going Home" riding off into the sunset, as it were) And talking of nightime - here's Mick on "Long gone midnight" from John Mayall's "Blues from Laurel Canyon"

Then you've discovered - finally, finally! - that the Heads, Hands and Feet albums from the early 70s have been re-released (used, they used to fetch $150 on Amazon...) on CD.

And at some stage you stumble over a video clip of the band from the early 70s - Albert Lee was almost as good then as he is today, 35 years on, talk about FAST -



and you think " Hang on, that intro on "Warming up the band"sounds familiar



- heavy on the cowbell, sounds veeery much like "So Long" from Vinegar Joe.

(From whence hail Robert Palmer - "From a whisper to a scream" - and Elkie Brooks - "No more the fool")

Couldn't be the same drummer, could it...?

Quick check.

Yep.

Pete Gavin. Both bands.

I know all this stuff, but I still need to look up the formula for NPV.

Which I should really know by heart.

It's a bugger, innit....

(Just in case you're interested....)

Tags: Just how sad is this, Bob Dylan, Mick Taylor, Jokerman, Sweetheart like you, Infidels, Allan wia Stan, Wolfgang Ambros, Going home, Local Hero, Mark Knopfler, Urban Cowboy, Blues from Laurel Canyon, Head Hands and Feet, Albert Lee, Vinegar Joe, Robert Palmer, Elkie Brooks

It must be me.....#4

Ms. jb's in the Ralph Lauren Outlet store in Kittery, ME, getting all breathless over a sweater with 20% cashmere content.

"Oh, which 20% would you say is cashmere, then? One of the arms?" I asked. "Which one - left or right? Or perhaps the collar"

These things tend to get ignored around our place, but I really thought it was one of the better ones and definitely worth sharing with others.

Sprinkle a pinch of joy over their mundane lives.

"And don't go annoying those poor girls at the checkout with your stupid jokes." she said, reading my mind "They won't understand it"

They didn't, either.

Who would have thought.....?

Tags: It must be me, Kittery ME, Ralph Lauren

Don't ask me about...(New England life #3)

From the Portsmouth Herald's Police Log

3:57 a.m. A Court Street caller reported a screaming male in the portable toilet on her property. Officers were unable to locate the man.

4:23 p.m. A Lamarck Drive resident reported that a bat was sleeping in his basement. It was actually a black sock.

Tags: Portsmouth, New Hampshire, Portsmouth Herald, Police Log

And the number is......

.. 8000.

About half a million folks voted in the New Hampshire primaries.

The margin between Clinton and Obama was 2 percentage points.

8000 votes. Out of 287,000

In mediaspeak, this is an "amazing comeback"

The margin between McCain and Romney was 6 percentage points.

8000 votes. Out of 238,000.

In mediaspeak, this was a "Lazarus-like victory".

That both Clinton and McCain won is mathematically indisputable.

I just don't don't get the fact that the votes of New Hampshire - that's 0.017% of the US population - can result in some sort of "momentum" that's going to heavily influence the continuing political process.

That I just DON'T get.

And don't get me started about Iowa....

I think I'll listen to

The Magic Numbers - Don't give up the fight from The Magic Numbers

instead.

Tags: New Hampshire primary, Clinton, McCain, Obama, Romney

Hot gets cold....

.... but cool is forever.

Or.

My home is my Casulo

Take 2 design students with a brilliant idea, a box measuring 120*80*90 cm and 8 minutes and you've got everything you need for a nomadic existence.

A bed, a desk and stool, shelves, a wardrobe with drawers and a couple of stools for visitors.

All in a standardised (Euro pallet) format with stowage space for bits and pieces. Move it between any 2 points in Germany for about €80

Marcel Krings and Sebastian Mühlhäuser, students at the Cologne International School of Design, designed Casulo - Portugese for "cocoon" - as their dissertation project.

And promptly won the Abraham & David Roentgen Award 2007.

They were on SWR, our regional TV channel last night, haven't a clue what it's going to cost when it goes into production (because they're still looking for manufacturing and marketing partners) and don't realise how HUGE it's going to be.

The queue starts here.

Tags: casulo, Abraham & David Roentgen Preis, Köln International School of Design, Marcel Krings, Sebastian Mühlhäuser, SWR Fernsehen

Hillary

I have difficulty understanding how 2 absolutely non-representative and demographically diametrically opposed states (and has heard anyone mention "sample size" recently ..?) can have such leverage in the primaries.

I also have difficulty understanding the headlines - both in the States and in Europe - along the lines of "Hillary cries herself to the nomination"



If this is acting, I've just lost my faith in humanity...

Customers Who Bought Items Like This Also Bought....

The Fart Guys

The Little Stinkers

Completed Cracked Christmas

Herniated Jingle Balls

That's what Amazon reckoned anyway when I had a look at Wisely's eponymous album before its release.

I couldn't work it out at the time, but then it clicked .

No-one had actually BOUGHT the album, so Amazon's smart search machine looks at the tracks, sees "Cracked World View" and says

"Released early January, Christmas season - "Completely Cracked Christmas" sounds good to me".

A couple of tracks down - "Nothing but wind".

You can probably guess the rest....

Talking of flatulence - the Aussies reckon that - given that bovine methane makes up around 15% of their greenhouse gas emissions and the fact that kangaroo farts are methane-free - it'd be a good idea to cross a cow with a kangaroo.

Or something similar anyway

Jump for joy - The Campbell Brothers from Pass me not wouldn't be the worst fit...

Tags: wisely, cracked world view

Between "Wireless Stories" and "Jah Wobble"..

If you're lucky.

Not at Virgin in London.

Not at Bullmoose Music in Portsmouth, ME. (Which surprised be, to be honest)

Not at Newbury Comics in Cambridge, MA

And forget looking around in this part of the world...

This is Willie Wisely.

The ever excellent Jeff Giles - now at Popdose with a bunch of his mates - came up with Love is wrong from SHE" on one of his Friday (now Sunday) Mixtapes over at the legendary Jefitoblog.

And then Through Any Window from Parador

With Jenna Fischer - no less - in the video.



Just exquisite stuff.

As is Erase me, also from Parador.

I gave up looking in record stores, went to the website, bought pretty much his entire back catalogue and now I'm just waiting the new eponymously titled album - released today, you can buy it on Amazon - to appear there

That'll make my day.

For sure

Here's On My Way, as a taster.

It even LOOKS nice, for goodness sake

Just look at that wonderful sine wave on the intro.

Tags: Wisely, EVOCative POP, Parador, Jenna Fischer, The Office, Through any window, Erase me, On my way, Popdose, Jeff Giles, Jefito

I'm pretty happy to be shot of Microsoft....

... but to be honest, Apple isn't much better.

Not from a usability perspective - I wouldn't DREAM of going back to the Dark Side - but the personal interactive experience is a bit naff.

1.
Bought a PowerBook back in 2005 and just loved it.

Then figured that I'd take the plunge and move over entirely. No real problems, but there are 2 programs that Mac doesn't have an equivalent for:

• Money (and PLEASE don't suggest Quicken - they only support 2 currencies and I regularly work with 6 or 7)

• CD Trustee which has the best media databasing program around and there - believe me - IS no Mac equivalent.

I'd been running them under Virtual PC (which is as slow as a wet week) but I've heard rumours that the new MacMini is going to be Intel-based and the gurus reckon that I'll probably be able to run XP on it natively.

Call up the Apple Hotline:

"No, the new Intel MacMini won't be on the market for AT LEAST a year"

Order the PowerPC version and a week later - A WEEK LATER - they release the Intel machine.

Will they take it back?
Of course they won't.

Even if they lied to me?
Even if they lied to me.

2.
The iSight disappears from the market just as I'm about to buy it.

Prices now run at $500 at Amazon so I talk to George in one of the Apple Stores in New England.
I've done a bit of research and I know that a webcam needs to be FireWire-enabled to work with iMovie (which is what I want to use it for)

George (not his real name) brings out a USB webcam that I KNOW doesn't work.

"Oh, but it'll DEFINITELY work with Leopard"
"Actually, I think you're wrong. Are you SURE it'll work with iMovie?
"Well, pretty sure..." and then we do some more talking and research and Fred finds out that it WON'T work after all and the conversation turns to the weather and how do I like it in New England

Go figure.

(Didn't want to say "I told you so" but I told him so...)

3
Decide to upgrade to Leopard and ask - a different store this time - one of their people if there are any known issues with Virtual PC or general constraints.

"None that I'm aware of"
Bullshit detectors go off the dial

I indicate that I'd like a bit more assurance than that, he looks at the packaging and says "Well, your G4 PowerBook's gonna work just fine, according to this..."
So I do some more research in-store on the Web, determine it looks OK and go to buy it.


4
"Can I please see a photo ID"
"Why's that"
"I can't sell you anything without a photo ID. That's our policy"

And here's me, having just spent a shit load of money on credit cards up and down the coast and never having been asked once for ID , and Apple wants ID for an $129 item?

"You can pay cash"
"I think I'll take the iPhone too, then"
"Ah, you can't pay cash for the iPhone...."

Tags: Apple Store, Mac, iSight, Burlington Mall, Northshore Mall, Leopard

Stop you in your tracks² - "Empty Pages"

"For me, a great rock song is a good tune, plus some inspired irritant - a shout, a noise, an enigmatic line, a raucous solo."

John Pareles - now the chief music critic of the Arts section of the New York Times - wrote that when he was a contributing editor at Rolling Stone in the 1980s.

I clipped it and it's stayed on my pinboard to this day.

There are songs that - when I hear them - I instantly know where I was when I first heard them. They're indelibly linked to the taste of the air or the person I was with or the taste of the coffee or the record store I subsequently bought the album from. Or. Or. Or

Tracks that literally stopped me in my tracks

My "Stop you in your tracks²

#4 in a series of n

January 1991

This was the first terrorist crisis. Flights were EMPTY. You have absolutely no idea.

Saddam Hussein had invaded Kuwait, the hot (air) war had started, Scuds were zapping Tel Aviv and the jihadists (although they weren't called that back then) were threatening to blow up commercial aircraft.

Passengers stayed away in droves.

Frank and I had a Revenue Management road show trip planned to Atlanta, Miami and Dallas to convince the regional sales organisation that it would be a Good Thing if they would have absolutely no say in future as to which traffic was accepted and that this BIG MACHINE with flashing lights and Artificial Intelligence and stuff that we were building in Frankfurt would be a LOT SMARTER than they were.

So we front up at the airport 3 hours before the flight for the "enhanced security procedures".(Sound familiar....?) 20 minutes later we're at the gate. And the place is deserted.

So we pretty much survived the stoning and lynch mobs in Atlanta, Miami and Dallas (mostly by lying and telling them "Of COURSE you'll still have control over your sales. That will NEVER change") and the excessive hospitality from people who were figuring "Shit, we'd better be NICE to these guys. They appear to be BIG SHOTS"

(This was the trip on which Diane told us what MARTA really stands for - Moving African-Americans Rapidly Through Atlanta, Feli told us what Pontiac really stands for - Poor Old N...... Thinks It's A Cadillac) - I've never claimed that this place was even VAGUELY politically correct - and some bird in the bar at the hotel in Dallas (who had Frank picked out as The Target For Tonight) came across with the lamest pick-up line ever:

"I always thought Germans were darker" she said

"No, that would be Africans...." I said " They're certainly dark. For sure"

Laughing was unkind, I know, but I'm pretty sure she didn't get it anyway.)

So we get to Dallas airport absolutely buggered - we've only been away for a few days, still jetlagged to hell, spent all the time in airplanes, hotels and offices, you're presenting and on edge all the time dodging the stones and lying to the lynch mobs, all that hospitality, and to top it off we've come straight to the airport from having been out with Feli and Jerry (which is ALWAYS too much fun than's good for you) at a Mexican restaurant - so all I REALLY want to do is get on the flight and fall asleep.

Except someone knows someone and - all of a sudden - we're in First Class (which is all very nice, but they just don't leave you alone) and the crew's all over us with "Can-I-get-you-some-champagne-and-what-would-you-like-for-dinner-we-have-the-usual-7-course-menu-with-caviar-to-start" and we're saying "Look, it's not that we don't appreciate it, but we're just so bloody tired. Can we please just sleep?"

I honestly thought that they were going to cry.

They'd been away from base for going on for a week, this was their 4th flight and we were their VERY FIRST passengers.

So what do you do?

Settle back with a glass of champagne and some caviar, slip on the Sennheiser headphones and ... BANG....

Empty Pages by Traffic - John Barleycorn Must Die

I'd had it as a vinyl since it came out, but I'd forgotten how truly great it is.

Stop you in your tracks² - "All day and all of the night"

"For me, a great rock song is a good tune, plus some inspired irritant - a shout, a noise, an enigmatic line, a raucous solo."

John Pareles - now the chief music critic of the Arts section of the New York Times - wrote that when he was a contributing editor at Rolling Stone in the 1980s.

I clipped it and it's stayed on my pinboard to this day.

There are songs that - when I hear them - I instantly know where I was when I first heard them. They're indelibly linked to the taste of the air or the person I was with or the taste of the coffee or the record store I subsequently bought the album from. Or. Or. Or

Tracks that literally stopped me in my tracks

My "Stop you in your tracks²

#3 in a series of n

The Kinks - All Day And All Of The Night

This song to this day brings tears to my eyes. Takes my breath away, too.

I grew up in Northcote, a suburb of Auckland, New Zealand,

I lived right next door - literally - to Northcote College, the local co-ed secondary school. My parents (for all the wrong reasons, but -as it turned out - with the right results) sent me to Westlake Boys High School, 5 km away.
There was a bus service of sorts, but - this being New Zealand in the 1960s - the unions determined randomly that the bus drivers couldn't pick up passengers in Onewa Road, so you'd (correction - I'd) be stuck there at 8 in the morning with assembly at 8:45 and the only bus that would get you me on time disappearing into the distance.

So it was the bicycle. 3 speed Sturmey Archer gears.

Between the ages of 13 and 18, I'd ride 10 km a day in all weathers.

Along the yellow line.

Out of the gate, then a left into Onewa Road, past the Catholic church with all the convent girls (lust, lust), then coast down to the primary school and as fast as you could go around the hairpin bend (foot down, like cinder track speedway rider) and then pedal like crazy to get as much momentum as you could to take you up the other side of the dip on Lake Road. Partly, anyway. Get on the pedals for the rest of the climb.
Over the top, down past Northcote Internediate and then it's pretty flat past Ocean View onto Northcote Road where a couple of other guys would join the trek and down past the golf course, left onto Wairau Road, past Westlake Girls - as cool as you could manage, given the hormonal levels -, past Jock Bleakley's garage and then onto the pedals for the climb up Forrest Hill.

Quite a bunch of us by this time - all the guys from Taka and Milford - and we'd be singing what we'd heard on the radio.

1964. I'd be 16 and in my University Entrance year.

"All day and all of the night" was controversial. And thus a favourite.

WE knew what it meant, and the New Zealand Broadcasting Corporation THOUGHT they did but weren't QUITE sure, so they hadn't banned it yet (Banning songs? These things happened all the time in New Zealand in the 60s and 70s....).

So there's about 10 of us heading up the hill, on the pedals, racing each other and chorusing

Girl I want to be with you all of the time
All day and all of the night
All day and all of the night
All day and all of the night

Then one of the cotter pins that fix the pedals to the chain ring broke.

Gravity proceeded to propel me unimpeded at increasing speed from a great height until my balls hit the crossbar, followed closely by the rest of me in rapid deceleration mode.

Everything went blank. I had no idea anything could hurt that much.

Falling off a ladder and breaking ribs comes close.

But only close.

Talk about breathless.

And bringing tears to your eyes.....

Tags: Kinks, All day and all of the night, Northcote, Westlake, Jock Bleakley

Weihnachtsoratorium

Some events stay with you forever.

Bach's Christmas Oratorio in the Mainzer Dom just before Christmas is one of them.

It's a cycle of 6 cantatas, each characterised by a related key structure and different orchestral resources and intended to be heard on a different day - 25 December, 26 December, 27 December, New Year's Day, the first Sunday in the New Year and the Feast of Epiphany

Given that the last two events this year fall on the same day, i.e. today :

here's the 1977 recording (96KHz/24bit) in the St. Emmeran church in Augsburg in the authentic scoring and on period instruments.

Enjoy and be uplifted

Part 5

Ehre Sei Dir, Gott Gesungen
Da Jesus Geboren War Zu Bethlehem
Wo Ist Der Neugeborene König, Sucht Ihn In meiner Brust
Dein Glanz All Finsternis Verzehrt
Erleucht Auch Meine Finstre Sinnen
Da Das Der König Herodes Hörte
Warum Wollt Ihr Erschrecken
Und Ließ Versammeln Alle Hohepriester
Ach, Wenn Wird Die Zeit Erscheinen
Mein Liebster Herrschet Schon
Zwar Ist Solche Herzensstube

Part 6

Herr, Wenn Die Stolzen Feinde Schnauben
Da Berief Herodes Die Weisen Heimlich, Ziehet Hin Und Forschet Fleißig
Du, Falscher, Suche Nur Den Herrn Zu Fällen
Nur Ein Wink Von Seinen Händen
Als Sie Nun Den König Gehöret Hatten
Ich Steh An Deiner Krippen Hier
Und Gott Befahl Ihnen Im Traum
So Geht ! Genug, Mein Schatz
Nun Mögt Ihr Stolzen Feinde Schrecken
Was Will Der Hölle Schrecken Nun
Nun Seid Ihr Wohl Gerochen

Tags: Bach, Weihnachtsoratorium, Mainz, Christmas Oratorio

Stop you in your tracks² - "All right now"

"For me, a great rock song is a good tune, plus some inspired irritant - a shout, a noise, an enigmatic line, a raucous solo."

John Pareles - now the chief music critic of the Arts section of the New York Times - wrote that when he was a contributing editor at Rolling Stone in the 1980s.

I clipped it and it's stayed on my pinboard to this day.

There are songs that - when I hear them - I instantly know where I was when I first heard them. They're indelibly linked to the taste of the air or the person I was with or the taste of the coffee or the record store I subsequently bought the album from. Or. Or. Or

Tracks that literally stopped me in my tracks

My "Stop you in your tracks²"
#2 in a series of n

I walked into the living room at the Station Road Post Office that Uncle Frank, Dad's older brother, ran together with Aunt Margaret in Horsforth in 1970

Free was on Top of the Pops.

"Epiphanal" is an overused word, but not in this context. I just stopped, watched and listened.

This song smells like the smoke from coal fires on a damp Yorkshire evening and tastes like Tetley's bitter. That, and blackberry and apple pie.
There was always one of those in the freezer, just in case I visited.

There still is at my cousin Ruth's.

All right now - Free [Listen] [Buy]

This what I saw. I'm to this day blown away by Paul Rodgers' stage presence.

That, and his broken tooth.

Tags: Stop you in your tracks², free, all right now, top of the pops

Now, if I've understood this correctly.. - The Iowa Caucuses

Now, if I've understood this correctly, the votes of around 9% of Iowans (that would be 0.008% of the entire US population...) serve as an early indication of which candidates for President might win the nomination of their party.

That's what Tim Russert said on NBC on New Year's Day, anyway.

And he reckons that the vote in Iowa (traditionally and this year especially) will give HUGE momentum to the candidates winning there going into the New Hampshire primary and from there onto the other primaries to be held in the next few weeks.
(If you're expected to win but don't, you'd appear to be pretty much stuffed, according to Tim)

So if I've got this right (and you have to believe me that I've researched this - I'm not making it up - honest), a tiny, non-representative group of voters (those with both time on their hands - you have to physically turn up and spend a couple of hours in discussions - and an interest in party politics - you have to be registered with a party, but you CAN switch on the day...) decide in a non-secret ballot, the votes of which don't necessarily carry the same sway due to the weighting process based on the precinct's previous voting record, on who's going to possibly be the party's candidate for the presidential election?

Okaaay......

Tags: US Primaries, Iowa, Tim Russert

Don't ask me about....(Chreaster decorations) #29

Or would that be "Eastmas"....?

Tags: Easter, Christmas, Portsmouth NH

Dumbing down

"The throwaway-Kleenex TV programs and magazines, the junk thought, the affirmations of the unbelievable, the garish music, the suffocating ignorance, the language unrooted in lived human experience -- this is the muck we swim in, and even though we despise it, some of it sticks."

One could add - the pride in unenlightenment.

I thought I'd seen it all, until the "Today" show on NBC on New Year's Day.

Here are 3 mature, educated and urbane media professionals pretending that they can't properly pronounce a French word for fear of being accused of elitism by Middle America.

The word was "bourguignon", as in Beef Bourguignon - the recipe being cooked by the studio chef - and there they were - Matt Lauer, Ann Curry and Al Roker - joking at each other's attempts at ignorance.

OF COURSE they know how the word's pronounced.

They're people who eat in good restaurants, who have travelled and - perhaps - even had a good education.

If they'd been taking the educational role of their jobs as journalists seriously, they'd have said something like:
"You could actually call it Beef Burgundy - "Burgundy"'s the English name for the Bourgogne region of France where the wine used in the dish comes from and Bourguignon is the adjective"

But no - just ham it up and act like you're a fucking rube.

It's not that they SHOULD know better - they DO know better.

That's what really pisses me off....

Tags: matt lauer, nbc, junk thought. the culture of ignorance

It must be me...#3

It must be me

Retail therapy at Timberland in Freeport, Maine.

Go through the usual "Where are you from? New Zealand. Oh, how exciting I know someone who once went to Ireland" and when I go to pay, the cash register tape has started running out and there's a fat green double stripe down the middle.

So I say " Oh, that's cool - foreigners get specially coloured receipts. Canadians too"

Blank look, as if I'm trying to explain quantum physics by yodelling, then confusion tinged with fear.

Backs away towards the panic button.

As I say - it must be me.

Tags: timberland, freeport, it must be me

This I need... "Watch out where the huskies go"

So I'm in Stonewall Kitchens in York, Maine.

End of the holiday season and they're selling of all SORTS of festive (and non-festive) crap that - surprisingly - doesn't appear to be flying out of the door at any great speed.

All sorts of ESSENTIAL thingies, actually, like a vegetable peeler that you clip over your finger and then attack a carrot as if you were stroking the dog.

Or rubber bands out of silicone for tying up beans (that's what the label says, anyway) to stop them swimming around the cooking pot at random.

Or flexible tennis racquet-like thingies that peel and slice avocados in one go.

Yeah, right.

But they DID have something that appeared to be quite popular if the almost empty jars were anything to go by

Yellow snow.

With a picture of a peeing dog on the packet.

Just like Steve Fullmer's.

They're actually citrus flayoured crystals, but the resemblance to the real life item is quite stunning.

"This is cute" said the lady at the checkout "It's very popular"

"Yeah, I bet it's dirty minded old men like me who also dig Frank Zappa" I said

Blank look.

(As in "This person is talking on tongues" blank look.)

"Watch out where the huskies go..?"

She backs away perceptibly and looks around nervously, so I leave it at that.

But she was MY age!

Haven't they heard of Zappa up here?

For the musically challenged

Yellow snow.mp3

And the lyrics
Dreamed I was an eskimo Frozen wind began to blow Under my boots and around my toes The frost that bit the ground below It was a hundred degrees below zero... And my mama cried And my mama cried Nanook, a-no-no Nanook, a-no-no Dont be a naughty eskimo Save your money, don't go to the show Well I turned around and I said oh, oh oh Well I turned around and I said oh, oh oh Well I turned around and I said ho, ho And the northern lights commenced to glow And she said, with a tear in her eye Watch out where the huskies go, and dont you eat that yellow snow Watch out where the huskies go, and dont you eat that yellow snow

And just LOOK at that bloody session band!

Jim gordon (drums) John guerin (drums) Aynsley dunbar (drums) Ralph humphrey (drums) Jack bruce (bass) Erroneous (bass) Tom fowler (bass) Frank zappa (bass, lead vocals, guitar) George duke (keyboards, background vocals) Don sugar cane harris (violin) Jean-luc ponty (violin) Ruth underwood (percussion) Ian underwood (saxophone) Napoleon murphy brock (saxophone, background vocals) Sal marquez (trumpet) Bruce fowler (trombone) Ray collins (background vocals) Kerry mcnabb (background vocals) Susie glower (background vocals) Debbie (background vocals) Lynn (background vocals) Ruben ladron de guevara (background vocals) Robert camarena (background vocals)