A token of their extreme

Hard-core Frank Zappa fans will be heading to Bad Doberan, Germany, next week for Zappanale, the annual gathering of bands, fans and assorted luminaries, this year including Bruce Bickford, the tripped-out stop-motion animator who made signature contributions to Zappa's music videos and his film Baby Snakes. But you don't have to go to northern Germany to join in the fun. One of the better American tribute bands will warming up with a set in Prague this weekend.

Project Object is the creation of André Cholmondeley, a guitarist who did not play with Zappa but has served as a gathering point for many musicians who did, most notably vocalist and guitarist Ike Willis and keyboard player Don Preston. They will both be with Cholmondeley on this tour, along with Robbie "Seahag" Mangano on bass, Eric Svalgard on keyboards and Eric Slick on drums. (When they move on to Zappanale, Preston will be playing with both Project Object and his own tribute band, the Grandmothers.)

This will be Project Object's first visit to Prague, though many of the players have been here before - including Cholmondeley, who was in Preston's band Akashic when the group performed at Lucerna in 2007.

"Project Object is unique because we have played with more alumni onstage than any group except Frank himself," Cholmondeley claims. "I have now toured with Ike Willis for longer than he toured with Frank."

As for what to expect, Cholmondeley says, "We try to mix the very popular stuff with the very obscure and odd choices. Also, because it's our first time touring in Europe, we want to show a wide variety." Likely, though not definitely on the set list, which was still being finalized at press time: "I'm the Slime," "RDNZL," "Big Swifty," "Echidna's Arf," "T'Mershi Duween," "Wet T-shirt Night," "Zomby Woof" and "Cosmik Debris."

Cholmondeley has a music career as a solo guitar player (his latest release, Enigma With Attitude, is available on iTunes) and a tech support manager for touring guitar heroes Al di Meola and Adrian Belew (the latter also a Zappa band alumni). But at heart he's a fan, and, like fans everywhere, he has favorite stories of Zappa encounters to share.

One of his most memorable came in 1988, when Zappa was heavily into a political activist phase that started with his 1985 Congressional testimony against the Parents Music Resource Center (PMRC), a group of do-gooder Washington wives that included Tipper Gore and Susan Baker, who wanted to censor rock music. (Zappa later immortalized the encounter on his CD Frank Zappa Meets the Mothers of Prevention.)  

Cholmondeley says he saw Zappa prior to a Washington, D.C., show in 1988, and promised to bring a sign about the PMRC to the concert. "Make it a big one," he says Zappa told him. Cholmondeley did, listing a number of other interpretations for the acronym PMRC, such as "Pathetic Moron Record Censors" and "Plook Meese's Rotting Cornhole."

"You can hear him reading the whole thing and cracking up uncontrollably on one of the concert tapes," Cholmondeley says. "I am so lucky, proud and happy about that moment as a fan."

Carrying on Zappa's music and memory can be a touchy business, as Frank's wife Gail has been protective of her husband's work and legacy, and quick to take legal action if she feels they're being violated or infringed upon. There's a particular antipathy toward Cholmondeley on some of the Zappa family blogs, but he doesn't let it bother him.

"My philosophy has always followed Frank's last message: 'Play my music,' " Cholmondeley says. "I also believe music is a collective cultural artifact and was invented by no one, expect perhaps the birds. It's unlike other arts - it has to be performed, listened to and heard. Therefore, it's our duty to perform, learn, expand upon and experiment with all music, be it Zappa or Miles Davis, John McLaughlin, DEVO, the Beatles, Bach, Penderecki or Prince."

In this part of the world, where Zappa was a cult hero and enjoyed a brief stint as Czechoslovakia's "Special Ambassador to the West on Trade, Culture and Tourism," the music is welcome no matter who's playing it. Dweezil's Zappa Plays Zappa band nailed it at Archa in June. Let's see what Project Object can do.

Frank Kuznik can be reached at
fkuznik@praguepost.com