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Dweezil Brings The Zappa Joie De Vivre...
Zappa is the other end of virtuosity from toe. Or maybe that’s Yes I’m thinking of. Or maybe they form a triangulation. I don’t know.
From afar Dweezil and his band can fool you into thinking they’re just laconically going through the motions. But step into the sweet spot and you can feel the giant shit-eating smirk in every note they play and sing. Ben Thomas sings Frank’s ridonkulous lyrics with total dedication. Give him a line like “guacamole green”, which he had to repeat twice, slowly and clearly, during a lull in the music, and he’ll point at a general location in the audience (takes too much commitment to pick out one person) and give a wink and a nod like, “Yeah, I just said that. I did.”
Even the way drummer Joe Travers was hitting his toms made me laugh. Dweezil is doing exactly the right thing with his life right now: the spirit of Frank is present wherever they go, even if they couldn’t project his image on a screen at this show.
...And Ben Thomas The Smart-Assitude. Just look at the man's face.
In the middle of the set they called a Japanese guy from the crowd up on stage, just a fan they had met earlier. He had a recorder (the wind instrument, not the recording device) in hand and Dweezil asked him to play some of his favorite Zappa melodies. The guy had excellent timbre and breath–beautiful vibrato–and he nailed the (pretty complex) bits he played, even though he was clearly nervous.
There was little of the dancing I had seen at toe just a few minutes ago, though their compositions rival each other in complexity. Just a few freaks dotted here and there bopping their heads to some inner logic I’d like to think I understand, but probably don’t. Which is really as it should be. I think that was Frank’s message all along: even if you’re a cynic and a weirdo, life is still very very good.
-Kern
