''The Dub Room Special'' is a film produced by

Frank Zappa Frank Vincent Zappa (December 21, 1940 – December 4, 1993) was an American musician, composer, and bandleader. His work is characterized by wikt:nonconformity, nonconformity, Free improvisation, free-form improvisation, sound experimen ...

for

direct-to-video Direct-to-video or straight-to-video refers to the release of a film, TV series, short or special to the public immediately on home video formats rather than an initial theatrical release or television premiere. This distribution strategy was p ...

release in October, 1982. The video combines footage from a performance at the KCET studios in Los Angeles on August 27, 1974, a concert performed at The Palladium,

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

on October 31, 1981, some

clay animation Clay animation or claymation, sometimes plasticine animation, is one of many forms of stop-motion animation. Each animated piece, either character or background, is "deformable"—made of a malleable substance, usually plasticine clay. Tra ...

segments by Bruce Bickford, and interviews. The 1974 footage was originally conceived as part of the

TV special A television special (often TV special, or rarely television spectacular) is a standalone television show which may also temporarily interrupt episodic programming normally scheduled for a given time slot. Some specials provide a full range of ent ...

''A Token of His Extreme''. The entire production was edited in the "Dub Room" at

Compact Video Four Star Television, also called Four Star International, was an American television production company. Founded in 1952 as Four Star Productions by prominent Hollywood actors Dick Powell, David Niven, Charles Boyer, and Joel McCrea, it was in ...

, a

post-production Post-production is part of the process of filmmaking, video production, audio production, and photography. Post-production includes all stages of production occurring after principal photography or recording individual program segments. The ...

facility in

Burbank, California Burbank is a city in the southeastern end of the San Fernando Valley in Los Angeles County, California, United States. Located northwest of downtown Los Angeles, Burbank has a population of 107,337. The city was named after David Burbank, w ...

. A few of the Compact Video staff members have brief appearances. The videocassette was released in 1982 and was available only through Zappa's mail-order company, which was known by its phone number "818-PUMPKIN". This was produced in small quantities with a plain black and white typed label. Though it had a $49.98 price tag it quickly sold out. The videocassette was sold in both VHS and

Beta Beta (, ; uppercase , lowercase , or cursive ; grc, βῆτα, bē̂ta or ell, βήτα, víta) is the second letter of the Greek alphabet. In the system of Greek numerals, it has a value of 2. In Modern Greek, it represents the voiced labiod ...

formats. The Beta version contained a stereo Hi-Fi soundtrack, but not the VHS copy, as the format did not yet have the capability. The video was reissued on

DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for Digital Video Disc or Digital Versatile Disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any kin ...

on October 17, 2005 with some interview sections trimmed. In 2007 a soundtrack with the same name was released. In 2013 the original 1974 "A Token Of His Extreme" video was released on DVD.

Track listing

# "Kim?"/The Dog Breath Variations/Uncle Meat # Room Service #Nig Biz # Approximate #

Cosmik Debris "Cosmik Debris" is a song by American composer Frank Zappa, from his 1974 album ''Apostrophe (')''. It concerns the Mystery Man, a typical guru or psychic, offering to help the narrator reach Nervanna icfor a "nominal service charge," and the ...

Cocaine Decisions "Cocaine Decisions" is a 1983 single by American musician Frank Zappa, from the album ''The Man from Utopia''. A live version was on the album ''You Can't Do That on Stage Anymore, Vol. 3''. It was played in concert from 1981 to 1984. Meaning Z ...

# "The Massimo Bassoli Instant Italian Lesson"/

Montana Montana () is a state in the Mountain West division of the Western United States. It is bordered by Idaho to the west, North Dakota and South Dakota to the east, Wyoming to the south, and the Canadian provinces of Alberta, British Columbi ...

# "In Case You Didn't Know"/Tengo Na Minchia Tanta # Florentine Pogen # Stevie's Spanking # Stink-Foot # Flakes #

Inca Roads The Inca road system (also spelled Inka road system and known as ''Qhapaq Ñan''Qhapaq=rich, powerful, opulent, wealthy, privileged; ñan=road, way, path, route. Source "Diccionario quechua - español - quechua" Gobierno Regional Cusco - Cusco ...

# Easy Meat # "Huh-Huh-Huh" The following interview sections on the original videocassette version were cut from the DVD re-issue: *Zappa talking about Compact Video (originally preceded Room Service) *Intermission (after Florentine Pogen) with title cards and Zappa talking about bad continuity

Musicians

August 1974 band

- Guitar, vocals and percussion *

George Duke George M. Duke (January 12, 1946 – August 5, 2013) was an American keyboardist, composer, singer-songwriter and record producer. He worked with numerous artists as arranger, music director, writer and co-writer, record producer and as a pr ...

- Keyboards and vocals *

Ruth Underwood Ruth Underwood (born Ruth Komanoff; May 23, 1946) is an American musician best known for playing xylophone, marimba, vibraphone, and other percussion instruments in Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention. She collaborated with the Mothers of In ...

- Percussion *

Chester Thompson Chester Cortez Thompson (born December 11, 1948) is an American drummer best known for his tenures with Frank Zappa and The Mothers of Invention, Weather Report, Santana, the progressive rock band Genesis and Phil Collins as a solo artist. Thomp ...

- Drums * Tom Fowler - Bass *

Napoleon Murphy Brock Napoleon Murphy Brock (born June 7, 1945) is an American singer, saxophonist and flute player who is best known for his work with Frank Zappa in the 1970s, including the albums '' Apostrophe (')'', ''Roxy & Elsewhere'', ''One Size Fits All'', a ...

- Flute, saxophone and vocals

October 1981 band

- Lead guitar and vocals *

Ray White Ray White (full name Ray Shirley White Sr) is an American soul vocalist and rock and blues guitarist, best known as a member of Frank Zappa's touring ensembles. He was drafted into Zappa's band in late 1976, being featured on rhythm guit ...

- Guitar and vocals *

Steve Vai Steven Siro Vai (; born June 6, 1960) is an American guitarist, composer, songwriter, and producer. A three-time Grammy Award winner and fifteen-time nominee, Vai started his music career in 1978 at the age of eighteen as a transcriptionist for ...

- Guitar and vocals *

Tommy Mars Tommy Mars (born Thomas Mariano on October 26, 1951) is an American keyboard player known for his work with Frank Zappa. Mars began piano lessons at age eight, and later his instrument range expanded to various keyboards and synthesizers. Mars g ...

- Keyboards and vocals *Bobby Martin - Keyboards, saxophone and vocals *

Ed Mann Ed Mann is a musician who has been "a drummer and piano dabbler since childhood." He is best known for his mallet percussion performances onstage with Frank Zappa's ensemble from 1977 to 1988, and his appearances on over 30 of Zappa's albums, ...

- Percussion and vocals *

Scott Thunes Scott Thunes (pronounced "TOO-nis") (born January 20, 1960) is a bass player, formerly with Frank Zappa, Wayne Kramer, Steve Vai, Andy Prieboy, Mike Keneally, Fear, The Waterboys, Big Bang Beat, and others. Thunes was raised in San Anselmo, ...

- Bass and vocals *

Chad Wackerman Chad Wackerman (born March 25, 1960) is an American jazz, jazz fusion and rock drummer, who has played with Frank Zappa and Allan Holdsworth. He has worked as a band member, session musician, sideman, and leader of his own ensembles. He is th ...

- Drums

External links

* *
Info at globalia.net
1982 video albums 1982 direct-to-video films 1982 films 1982 animated films American films with live action and animation Films directed by Frank Zappa 1980s musical films Films scored by Frank Zappa Films set in 1974 Films set in 1981 Films shot in Los Angeles Films shot in New York City Clay animation films Films using stop-motion animation 1980s stop-motion animated films 1980s English-language films {{musical-film-stub