The Dub Room Special!

The Dub Room Special!
The Dub Room Special!
	Cover of original video release
Cinematography	Thomas Nordegg
Edited by	Terry W. Greene; Tim Clark (Dub Room editor);
Music by	Frank Zappa
Distributed by	Barfko-Swill (U.S. videocassette release); Eagle Vision (U.S. DVD release)
Release date	1982;
Running time	90 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English

The Dub Room Special! is a direct-to-video production by American musician Frank Zappa made for release in October 1982. The video combines a performance at the KCET studios in Los Angeles on August 27, 1974 and two concerts performed at The Palladium, New York City on October 31, 1981 with clay animation by Bruce Bickford, interviews, and footage from the "Dub Room" at Compact Video.

Background

The 1974 footage was originally conceived as part of the TV special A Token of His Extreme. The entire production was edited in the "Dub Room" at Compact Video, a post-production facility in Burbank, California. A few of the Compact Video staff members have brief appearances.

The initial videocassette edition was released in 1982 and was available only through Zappa's mail-order company, Barfko-Swill, which was also known by its Los Angeles phone number "818-PUMPKIN" (818-786-7546). The tape 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 formats. Only the Beta version contained a stereo Hi-Fi soundtrack. The VHS version had a lower quality mono soundtrack because improved audio capability had not yet been introduced to the VHS tape format.

Reissues and related releases

The video was reissued on DVD on October 17, 2005 with some interview sections trimmed. In 2007 a soundtrack with the same name was released. A video of the 1981 concerts, The Torture Never Stops, was released on DVD in 2008, and the original 1976 A Token of His Extreme video was released on DVD in 2013.

DVD track listing

"Kim?" / The Dog Breath Variations / Uncle Meat
Room Service
Nig Biz
Approximate
Cosmik Debris
Cocaine Decisions
"The Massimo Bassoli Instant Italian Lesson" / Montana
"In Case You Didn't Know..." / Tengo na minchia tanta
Florentine Pogen
Stevie's Spanking
Stink-Foot
Flakes
Inca Roads
E.Z. Meat
"Huh-Huh-Huh"

The following interview sections on the original videocassette version were cut from the DVD reissue:

Zappa talking about Compact Video (originally preceded "Room Service")
Intermission (after "Florentine Pogen") with title cards and Zappa talking about bad continuity

Personnel

Note: all credits for The Torture Never Stops and A Token of His Extreme also apply here.

Cast

Everybody from Compact Video and many other exciting persons

Including but not limited to...

in legendary performances recorded August 1974

Other musical entertainment by...

Along with...

Massimo Bassoli (and his rubber chicken)

And, as if that weren't enough...

The amazing clay animation of Bruce Bickford

Production

Terry W. Greene – editor
Tim Clark – Dub Room editor
Thomas Haigh – assistant editor
Thomas Nordegg – camera & Velcro
Gary Barron – telecine
Craig Latta – the guy who plugged it all in & made it work...
Kim Thompson – post-production scheduling
Dave Register – fixing things
Jaime Vellve – layer-backer
Bob "Lightning" Washburn – video stuff
Charles "Smitty" Schmidt – stained glass
Ron Menzies – handshake deal
Kevin Buck – guy who doesn't like Zappa's music
Bruce Ochnanek – cheap V.O.'s

DVD credits

The Program:

Frank Zappa – producer, director, writer; music conductor, composer, arranger & performer

The Very Idea:

Gail Zappa – DVD executive producer
Joe Travers – vaultmeisterment & profound aggrandizement
Ahmet Zappa – excitement & enthusiasm for this project and especially the ensuing soundtrack on CD
Dweezil Zappa – thumbs up by guitar player
Melanie Starks – Department of Completion
Eric White – painting
FZ – titles & apostrophe
Joe Travers – screengrabs
Diva Zappa – photos
Tracy Veal, Creative Portal – package layout design

The Disc:

Booey Kober, Kober Post – Digibeta transfers, color correction of Baby Snakes trailer, general charmingness
Joe Travers – transport
Steve Durgin – "Valley Girl Documentary"
- Featuring FZ & Moon with appearances by Ahmet, Dweezil (& Steve Vai's strat), GZ and some fine pianists at Cal Arts, thankyou.
- Richard Hart – host
- Paul Colardo – camera
- I.W. Harper – sound
Brian Brodeur, New York DVD – DVD development
Gizmo Enterprises – DVD mastering
Sean McCauliffe – DVD menu design
David Glaser – DVD encoding & authoring

External links

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