He don't look White

I had  a chance to see the Frank Zappa cover band Project/Object again this week,  this time at Annapolis's RamsHead On Stage.  I went with Eric and MJ and we had a nice dinner at the venue before hand.

I was looking forward to this show because not only did it feature Ike Willis but it had the added attraction of including former Zappa vocalist Ray White too!  Anyone familiar with Zappa's work will recognize Ray as the lead vocal from "The Illinois Enema Bandit" off the Zappa Live In New York album.  He's got a rich soulful voice that just brings the enema bandit story to life.

I was not disappointed because they did do the Bandit suite but aside from a couple other numbers as lead singer and a few brief guitar solos he was under utilized.  The main thing he seemed to do was provide comic relief as he and Ike had fun on stage (just like the old days).

Ike was in fine form both playing and singing and of course the rest of the band with it's ever changing line up, save for Andre Cholmondeley, were as tight as ever.  The latest drummer and bass player proved to be a powerful combo and I hope to see them with this band again.

All in all it was a good but not great show.  The music was a little too loud and it over powered the vocals more often than not. Between sets I did get Andre to sign one of his solo project disks for me and I got myself another handsome FZ t-shirt.  I will see them again if I get the chance but MJ said he's seen them enough (this was his second time).  It would be great if they could come back around for the 1st anniversary of the Zappa statue unveiling and do an outdoor show, but I believe there's some bad blood between them and the ZFT so maybe not.

I've still got the Ed Palermo Big Band plays Zappa show in New York to look forward to this spring!