MARTIN'S DIARY
"My experience in playing Frank Zappa's music with Ike Willis"
di Martin Bellavia
April 17 2000
This morning at school I realized it was really happening: my father and my brother Ruben were going to the airport to pick up Ike. When I got home Ike was sleeping, trying to get over the jet lag. He woke up around 9 pm and when I saw him he was a BIG MAN with a very familiar voice. Over supper we talked a lot about his relationship with Zappa, then he went back to sleep.
April 18
This morning, while I was going to school, I was listening to "You can't do that on stage anymore Vol. 3" and I couldn't believe that the voice I was listening to belonged to the same person I talked to last night and I am going to rehearse with this afternoon. The Ossi Duri were ready at 2.30 pm for the 4 hour rehearsal with Ike. At 3 o'clock everything was ready and Ike said "Let's play Judy". We started playing and ....... goddamit what a mothefucker he was during his guitar solos. We were all nervous and excited, especially when Ike said: "Ok Boys, let me hear…" and we didnt' know if he would like our performance. Then came the crucial moment for us : "Outside Now". When Ike started playing the guitar I finally saw the right position of the fingers on the bar. He taught me and the sound was brilliant.When he started singing our excitement grew...just listening to his voice while we were playing Outside Now!! Then he let me play some solos ... and they sounded just great. In the end Ike seemed to be very satisfied.
April 19
This afternoon we started rehearsals at about 4 p.m. and Ike seemed more rested. We played the songs we hadn't yet practised including Why Does It Hurt... and Lucille. At the end of our rehearsal Ike said he wanted to link all the tunes together and play them segue, like Frank would have done. This wasn't a problem for us, because we had always played like that, but we didn't know how Ike would have gone from one song to the next. But Ike seemed relaxed, and kept saying: "Great job boys". Well, if he wasn't worried we certainly wouldn't be.
April 20
Tonight we went to a club called Sacra Birra, near S. Ambrogio di Susa, not so far from our place, for our first concert with Ike. We started at about 11 p.m. and we were all very nervous, including Ike. The show was one thrill after another and I was very happy because Ike was giving me a lot of space, and he was saying my name before every solo!!! The audience was enthusiastic, especially when we did Outside Now. The best part was when we and Ike said the secret word together: HANSON. That was great fun and we all laughed. At the end of our performance Ike was very satisfied with us and we had really enjoyed the concert because he has a great way of conducting.
April 21
Today we got to know Ike a bit better; this afternoon we went to buy his "food", i.e. books. He gobbled them up at an incredible speed!! While we were walking around Turin he met a man from New York who had recognized him and they got to talking. We had a fish dinner at a restaurant and Ike turned out to be great fun. We laughed all night! (That's why Ike says "fish" or "ronf" occasionally during our concerts).
April 22
This afternoon at 5 p.m. we left for Cassinasco, near Asti, to play in a club called "Il Maltese". At 6 p.m. the place was already full of Zappa fans from all over Italy to speak with Ike and ask fo an autograph. During the soundcheck we tried doing "Filthy Habits" just for fun, and Ike decided right then and there to play it that evening. We quickly taught Alex and Tizzo their parts and... it turned out to be a great performance. During the concert Ike decided to sing one of our original songs "La Toma di Ruben", which he really liked.
April 23
Today we woke up at 5 p.m. and we had a delicious Easter dinner with Ike's barbeque.
April 24
This morning Ruben, my father, Ike and I went to Milan because Ike had to prepare a show with Elio that would take place on Wednesday in Milan. You should have seen Elio's face when he saw Ike. He was both enthusiastic and excited. It was very intersting to see Elio e le Storie Tese rehearse with Ike. We had supper with Elio and Claudio, his producer.
April 25
After a six hour trip here we are in Rome. The "social centre" Brancaleone is very well organized and an excellent place for a concert like ours. The concert went well , even if we improvised a lot, and the people seemed satisfied.
April 26
This morning Ike took a plane to Lugano, Switzerland to play with Elio e le Storie Tese and we drove home.
April 27
On his return from Lugano, Ike seemed very happy about the experience. Tonight we did our last concert of the tour, in a "social centre" called Gabrio, in Turin. We started very late and didn't play the whole repertoire, but the concert was ok.
April 28
This morning Ike left to fly back to the States, hoping to come back as soon as possible.
Needless to say, this experience was more than fantastic for me. We all learned a lot from Ike an we really had great fun. At times I find myself singing Zappa tunes trying to imitate Ike's voice and I can't remember if the variations he did were with us or with Frank.
I let you in on some of the "backstage secrets" of our tour with Ike. I really hope that those who came to hear us enjoyed the music; we simply had fun, great fun.
Martin Bellavia
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