Project/Object w Ike Willis & Ray White 2010 EU Tour “FIRST TOUR TOGETHER IN EUROPE SINCE 1984 for Ike & Ray !!!”

Tue 18: Milano IT    The Blue Note
Thu 20: Eindhoven NL Effenaar
Fri 21: Dresden DE Tante Ju
Sat 22: Dortmund DE Music Theater Piano
Mon 24: Aschaffenburg DE Colos-Saal
Tue 25: Berlin DE Fritz Club
Wed 26: Bremen DE Modernes

STAY TUNED/CHECK BACK FOR FALL 2010 DATES..!

Andre’ here — wrapping up a six-week tour with KEITH EMERSON & GREG LAKE. I’m in the stage crew, and bass & guitar tech for Greg Lake. It’s been an amazing experience to say the least…A fan since I was 14 or so, Keith has been my fave piano & Moog player for ages. I’m lucky to have worked with my overall favorite synthesist and keyboard player (and Zappa alumnus!) — Eddie Jobson as well. Folks, despite the difficult couple years I’ve had — it’s a charmed life and I am eternally thankful and humbled by that on a daily basis. To be able to make a living working in music, for some of the best in their field, truly amazing and a life’s work. Anyway — more late on the Emerson/Lake tour, and the ELP reunion in London in July. Check here and on my facebook – just search there for my name “Andre Cholmondeley” and friend me! We also have a Project/Object page there as well….Cheers!!

Dave Johnsen is working with his trio as well as the band GLINT

http://www.myspace.com/davejohnsen

Yours truly (Andre’)…I will soon be doing a short run with my trio HIDDEN AGENDA …we will open some dates for STRETCH, the legendary jazz/funk/rock/blues trio with Dave LaRue, Glenn Alexander and original drummer Bill Elder!! This is a kind of 25th year anniversary run for all of us — we used to go see these guys in the mid 80s in NJ, and opened for them a few times. Stand by for NY/CT/PA/NJ dates.

Eric Svalgard is doin’ his thing at www.schoolofrockde.com and playing some shows as well…

Jim Ruffi is doing a lot of gigs in NJ/PA etc — check him at www.jimruffi.com

This tour was great! Thanks so much for showing up — and making the shows memorable for us. We were so psyched so many people shared in the 25th Year Tour Reunion of Ike Willis and Ray White. Sadly, Ray had a real bad throat/bronchial infection for a couple days, we apologize if you were in one of those cities…and we’ll make it up to you! But generally — it was amazing to see and hear these two guys – this combination that Frank Zappa himself saw so many times as the combo he wanted… The historic albums they have done — so many vinyl copies of which we saw — it was an honor to perform some of those very songs with them, for all of you.

More later – but thanks again for supporting our venture to celebrate and salute the music and art of this most unique of American Composer/Guitarists — Frank Zappa. We are happy and proud that almost 15 years after we started touring, there are many bands now throughout the USA and the world touring and doing Zappa music as well. But we’re also very proud that we remain the band that is dedicated the most to presenting YOU the FAN with a chance to see the Actual Alumni , the genuine items, the people who played on Zappa’s records and toured with him. We appreciate you letting us know you enjoy that. And — despite the obstacles, we’ll continue to do so.

So far we have played live onstage or toured with a list of Zappa alumni including Ike Willis, Ray White, Ed Mann, Napoleon Murphy Brock, Denny Walley, Don Preston, Mike Keneally, Robert Martin, Bunk Gardner, Bob Harris, Thana Harris, Jimmy Carl Black, Arthur Barrow, Roy Estrada, Bruce Bickford.

We’ve performed with many people associated with Zappa or his bands – people like Al Malkin, Jerry Cuccurullo, Andrew Walley  (Denny’s grandson), Geronimo Black (JCB’s son). Performing a number of times with Frank’s sister Candy (Patrice) Zappa was a joy every time and we look forward to performing with her again, hopefully this year. We’ve shared the stage with too many incredible guests to list like Ed Palermo (Ed Palermo Big Band), Jon Fishman (Phish), Gary Lucas (Gods & Monsters, Capt Beefheart Magic Band) David Fiuczynski, Al Schnier, Chuck Garvey, and Jim Loughlin of moe. and so many more.

I say all this to simply review the last decade and a half and say THANK YOU — thanks for supporting what we do, even in lean times. Thanks you for sharing our love of this often off-the-wall music. We have a lot of great plans for the future and we will keep you posted thru all these new communication channels.

Zappy New Year,

Andre’

Since Frank Zappa died in 1993, his music has enjoyed a remarkable posthumous career. His albums are still in print and easily available on CD, but that’s true of John Lennon and Jerry Garcia, too. What makes Zappa unique among the rock stars of his generation is that his work is continually being rearranged, performed and recorded by musicians outside the rock sphere. A search of his name at Amazon.com turns up recent recordings by classical ensembles, big bands and even a Baroque chamber orchestra.

In other words, Zappa is not just an oldie, an object of ’60s nostalgia. He is on his way to becoming a classic in the mold of George Gershwin, another American composer whose music has been mined and adapted by generations of singers and instrumentalists.

Project/Object, which returns to Sellersville Theater 1894 this weekend, adheres more closely to the format Zappa established for his stage shows, particularly those from the late 1970s and early ’80s. André Cholmondeley, guitarist, Zappaphile and driving force behind the group, likes the sound of the stripped-down rock groups — guitars, bass and drums overlaid with some synthesizers and vibraphone — that Zappa employed after his mid-’70s flirtation with big, horn-laden orchestras…

For full article go here

- Andre

We welcome our regular bassist DAVID JOHNSEN back onstage, Dave has been incredibly busy this year with teaching and many projects, including GLINT. Check out Dave’s site for more info. This tour also re-connects us with an old friend, drummer Jim Ruffi. Jim returns to the Project/Object fold, having done some brief touring with Project/Object and Ike back in 1999. Our regular drummer, Eric Slick, is taking a sabbatical to recover from a very exhaustive year. Look out for his various musical projects in 2010 as well….

We are all very excited to get out there again — with one common goal — to celebrate and salute the timeless music of Frank Zappa. Project/Object celebrates this in a unique fashion and always has — we honor and highlight the PEOPLE WHO MADE THE ALBUMS. We also very much appreciate YOU, the fans, without whom we could nat have done this for all these years, It’s hard to believe that Frank Zappa died over 16 years ago (!!), but here we are, the first band to nationally tour this music after he died — and we are proud to look out and see the many great bands all around doing the same thing, here and in many countries on the globe.

This tour will kick off what we hope is a busy year for all of us — we are all involved in various projects – touring and recording, as well as myself , working for other artists like Adrian Belew and Eddie Jobson in the technical, stage crew and touring realms. We have some plans for some interesting Project/Object shows as well — so stay tuned. You can join our newsletter by entering your email on the right side of the page, and please connect up with us on the various social sites as well.

See you on tour!! Say hi!!

Thank You
André Cholmondeley

Hoping you are well and the holiday season isn’t too stressful… As many of you know I am struggling through a difficult year — and again I want to thank people for the outpouring of sympathy when I suddenly lost my Mom in July. It’s been a day by day process and this tour will be hard because it will be the first tour with which I’m involved in….. ages….. that she will not attend in this realm. Every time P/O was near her (MD/DC area)…or every time I was on tour working for Al DiMeola or Adrian Belew….she would be there. So — moving ahead has been tough, but I know she loved what I did and was so fully supportive of my musical career that – the show must go on, of course. Life is for the living, right? So– make sure you tell those you love that they mean everything to you — life is short and can change suddenly!

I also want to thank you for the very kind support many have provided towards my partner Cheri’s fight against breast cancer. She is doing well, still a ways to go until completely clear of this, and we are real-life statistics of the health-care debacle in this country. It comes down to PROFIT… all the debates rage on, and I don’t hear enough about THAT part of it — let me tell you — being in the trenches trying to pay medical bills– your head would spin if you saw the percent profit the pharma-giants are allowed to get. It makes no sense. But she is on a new protocol and doing well, I just wish Mr. Obama would send us a check….!

Thanks for the support when we did the PROJECT/OBJECT ACOUSTIC benefit show for Cheri in September — many of you have asked and YES we will plan another one for the late winter/early spring so stay tuned on that as well. Right now if you’d like to donate to the cause -THANK YOU – and we have two methods — direct to a paypal account –or send to a PO box. here’s more info:

You can go to paypal.com and make payments to projectobject (at) earthlink.net
You can send a check or money order written to CHERYL JIOSNE to:

Cheri Jiosne Cancer Fund
PO BOX 16672
Asheville NC
28801

- Andre