"All he tweets about lately is being on airplanes and in airline lounges"

Hmmm, I wonder if now would be a good time to go ahead and snatch up Hearts Of Oak and Shake The Sheets on vinyl.

Is Alternative Tentacles still active aside from Jello's releases? I know Nomeansno bought their catalog back after the whole Jello/DK fallout.

It certainly wasn't good, but it definitely wasn't the worst in SNL history. You'll always have Marianne Faithful to fill that title.

For a while there, I think Queens of the Stone Age kind of filled the position of good mainstream-ish rock that doesn't suck, but their popularity seems to have faded a bit since 2002.

Ha! I was hoping someone would mention Zoogz Rift. At some point in high school, I wound up with about a dozen of his records.

Yeah, it really is a great performance. It's part of what made me realize what a great album Quebec is.

White Pepper is your least favorite? That's just plain nutty.

Hard living hasn't done him well. I remember buying the 2004 Live in Chicago DVD and being really taken aback by how unhealthy he looked, and that was 8 years ago. Dean, on the other hand, looks exactly the same as he did in 1994.

@SteelSky:disqus Yeah, I kind of assumed it must have been some kind of falling out involving their pilot. That really is a shame. I hope they can work things out.

@SteelSky:disqus Okay, now I'm curious. What happened between Tom and PFT?

It's my favorite too. What a fantastic album to end a career on.

I'm just annoyed that I have no choice but to buy this from the Zappa family's over-priced Barfko Swill web site. $20 for a single disc plus probably another $6 for UPS delivery. Eh. It doesn't help that I've also become increasingly disenchanted with Gail Zappa's snarky attitude toward fans.

I never got around to hearing any of the bootlegs of this, but back in my naughty Kazaa-using days, I downloaded a rip of Shiny Beast. Years later, I bought a legit copy on vinyl and was surprised to hear a completely different (and inferior IMO) version of the song "Bat Chain Puller" from the one I was used to. I…

Yeah, I heard that yesterday. Really worth checking out.

It's true that the networks probably helped boost his exposure over the years, but it's still nice that he's using his status to deliver material in a manner that's really cheap for his fans. It's way better than me having to go, "Cool, Louie has a new special coming out. Too bad I don't have HBO."

Yeah, I think It's Not Funny is the best thing he's done. Shut Up is great in spots, but the drunken rambling doesn't play well in repeated listens for me.

I don't know. I'm my experience, Zappa fans are worse. God knows I was probably thoroughly insufferable in any music discussion in high school.

I think part of Pollard's problem (well, it's always been there) is the over-saturation of material. Sure, I'll buy everything he puts out, but I'm crazy. There's still no excuse for the Boston Spaceships albums not getting way more attention though.

I wish I could give a shit… just a little bit!