#experience hendrix

"RAINBOW BRIDGE VIBRATORY COLOR/SOUND EXPERIMENT, Haleakala Crater, Maui, HI, July 30, 1970"

Ana Popović, playing with Experience Hendrix -The Grove; Anaheim, CA (10-9-19). @JimiHendrix @anapopovic

Great Googly Moogly: The Dweez Turns 50

Dweezil Zappa, the guitarist-son of Frank who began playing Dad’s music after his own work failed to catch fire, turns 50 today.

Born Sept. 5, 1969, Dweezil is now only two years younger than Frank was when he died of cancer in 1993.

Great googly moogly. Isn’t that amazing?

Say what you want about cover bands - and most of what Sound Bites has to say is negative - but Dweezil’s Zappa Plays Zappa is outstanding. After first seeing the act in 2007, Sound Bites decided it was one of the best things he’d witnessed since seeing Frank in 1988 and proceeded to drive two-and-a-half hours to catch the next out-of-town gig as well.

He’s never missed a ZPZ show in his hometown since. And Dweezil tore it up on this year’s Experience Hendrix tour as well.

Sound Bites first heard the Dweeze “play the guitar solo on a song from the Them Or Us album called ‘Sharleena’” on one of Frank’s You Can’t Do That on Stage Anymore LPs and first saw him perform with brother Ahmet in the short-lived Z just after Frank died.

He’s come a long way, baby.

Just before that so-so show, Sound Bites - then known as Kristopher Weiss - interviewed the young Zappa for his college newspaper and quickly figured out he was speaking to someone who inherited his dad’s intellect and attitude. It was a rough, but enlightening, conversation, kind of like a verbal sparring match.

After releasing solo albums and doing a reality show with then-main squeeze Lisa Loeb, Dweezil turned to woodshedding Pops’ material. When he emerged, he emerged as a musically eloquent and appropriately deferential keeper of the flame.

If you love Zappa but hate cover bands, do yourself a favor and see Dweezil’s act. It ain’t Frank, but it ain’t simply a tribute either.

And it sure as hell isn’t a hologram.

Joe Satriani (playing with Experience Hendrix) - The Grove; Anaheim, CA (10-9-19). @chickenfootjoe @hendrixvibe @JimiHendrix

Joe Satriani (playing with Experience Hendrix) - The Grove; Anaheim, CA (10-9-19). @chickenfootjoe @hendrixvibe @JimiHendrix

Taj Mahal, playing as part of Experience Hendrix - The Grove; Anaheim, CA (10-9-19). @JimiHendrix @tajmahalblues @hendrixvibe