OFF: Zappa Live

[Brian Halligan]

Project/Object with Ike Willis
Milestones
Rochester, NY
Time: approx 2.5 hrs. (not counting between sets)

Wow. That was probably the closest I'll ever come to hearing what an actual
Frank Zappa show was like. Unless the next Project/Object show I see is
even better. :-) The band had 6 members onstage playing various instruments
(2 percussionists/keyboardists, a guy named "Sea Hag" who played the Steve
Vai role, a Zappa-style guitarist who seemed to be the band's normal leader
when Ike isn't around, a regular ol' keyboardist, and, of course, Ike Willis!)

I'd give a set list, but they played so many tunes over both of their sets
and I only knew about 70% of them. They played almost all of the One Size
Fits All album, and a few tunes from Joe's Garage. (Stick It Out, Keep it
Greasy, Outside Now, 'T-shirt', and On the Bus.) They also reached back to
We're Only In It For the Money. (What's the Ugliest Part of Your Body, Take
Your Clothes Off When You Dance (? don't have the album with me to check),
and Let's Make the Water Turn Black.)

Ike was amazing. His voice really added a lot to each of the tunes (no
surprise!), but his guitar was what really did me in. I never knew he was
such a guitar god. ;-) His leads sounded very Zappa-esque but I don't know
if that's his real style or if it was just because he was playing Zappa's
tunes. He also did some impressive shreding and rhythm work. When he wasn't
playing or singing, he conducted the band (not that the band seemed to need
much conducting).

The rest of the band had the finger exercises and complex rhythms down
cold. And their sense of humor really got me laughing. Ike and the band
razzed each other for most of the show. And of course there was a sheep
prop with the kazoo stuck up its butt that had various things done to it
throughout the show....

So, check out http://www.projectobject.com and go see them if they play
near you. Or not. But at least I had a great time. ;-)

Brian

obHawkwind> Andre, the Zappa-style guitarist, pointed out a guy in the
crowd for his cool HW t-shirt. The guy apparently said that he used to be a
roadie for HW. He was probably joking, but who knows? Anyway, was it anyone
from BOC-L?

obBOC> During the heavy bit in one of the instrumentals, Ike yelled
"Godzilla" into the mic. :-)

-----
Brian Halligan
mailto:brian at bhalligan.com
http://www.bhalligan.com/
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