Rare Photo of the Casino Burning Courtesy of Montreux Music Juxtaposed With a Shot of 1,721 Guitarists All Playing “Smoke on the Water” In Unison
On This Date, December 3rd in 1971: During a concert by Frank Zappa and The Mothers of Invention at a casino in Montreux, Switzerland, a fire started after an audience member shot a flare gun at the ceiling. The building burned down but there were no fatalities. Deep Purple were in Montreux at the time to record their album Machine Head and watched the fire burn from their hotel window. Continue reading Smoke On The Water: Fire In The Sky→
On This Date, December 4th, in 1993: Frank Zappa died of prostate cancer at his home in Los Angeles with his wife Gail and children, Moon Unit, Dweezil, Ahmet and Diva, at his side. He was 52 years old. In the image above, Zappa poses with his parents in the living room of his Los Angeles home. On the wall directly behind him is the Ed Beardsley painting Pretties For You, which was eventually used as the cover art and title for the first album by the band Alice Cooper.
For the past few weeks I have been telling everyone I know about my new favorite band, The Advantage, a rock quartet from Sacramento that plays only covers of Nintendo Game Theme Songs. Oh my god, they are so way beyond genius. I’ve never played video games in my life, but these songs’ bizarre sonic amalgam of Yes, Frank Zappa and Oingo Boingo thrill me completely. I just can’t stop playing their new CD, Elf Titled, which comes out on January 24, 2006. The Advantage fucking rule, and you need to get your geek on and check them out.
