Zappa Plays Zappa Recording Upcoming Shows For Spring DVD

Although he's been dead for more than a decade now, the music of Frank Zappa lives on. And it will continue to live on into 2007 thanks to a new DVD release.

Zappa Plays Zappa, the ambitious project created by the legend's son Dweezil Zappa, have spent most of 2006 on the road and will record two upcoming gigs.

"We are preparing ourselves for the days ahead," Dweezil wrote in a posting on the Zappa Plays Zappa site. "I am very pleased to announce that we will be filming and recording in Seattle (Dec. 22) and Portland (Dec. 21) for a DVD release in Spring '07. I'll give you all of the details later."

The tour, which started in Europe earlier this year, has seen the younger Zappa recreate some of Frank Zappa's biggest hits and obscure gems. The tour, which touched down at Toronto's Hummingbird Centre in June, also includes guest appearances from guitarist Steve Vai and drummer Terry Bozzio, two musicians who performed with the late Zappa. Most of the shows have closed in on the three-hour mark and have included such songs as "The Black Page #1," "Don't Eat The Yellow Snow" and "Peaches En Regalia."

In a lengthy posting, Zappa says he's impressed by the response to the tour.

"The immediate feedback of the performances fuel the band but I want you all to know that you are making a tremendous difference in the way my father's music will be remembered. I think many people mistakenly got the wrong impression of him by casual exposure to those songs ('Valley Girl' and 'Dancin' Fool'). They seem to have perceived him as a 'Weird Al' type of character with a penchant for silliness when it came to naming his songs and his children.

"I think it's really important for people to get a sense of the big picture when it comes to Frank's music," he adds. "There is so much depth and variety in all of his albums it's hard to believe it's possible for one person to have created all of it."The tour hits Vancouver's Queen Elizabeth Theatre on Dec. 20.