The Z3 1/14/23 Spaceland Ballroom

 Z3 is a trio of Tim Palmieri on guitar, Beau Sasser on keys, and Bill Carbone on drums playing “funky takes on Frank”, Zappa that is. All three have a pedigree of the regional jam band scene playing in Kung Fu, Lotus, and The Breakfast. East Havenite Palmieri has been playing guitar in New Haven since the 90s playing all of the Gathering of the Vibes Festivals, so you can imagine our paths have crossed. For me, his most memorable stint was that of the solo axe-wielding troubadour residency at the front room of Bar. In that capacity, he was called upon to take requests from the pizza munching masses. The wide range of patrons asked him to play anything from New York New York to the Black-Eyed Peas, and he happily obliged. On one occasion, an obnoxious listener, me, asked him to mash Cindy Lauper’s Girls Just Wanna Have Fun, with John Coltrane’s A Love Supreme to which he did an admirable job. He literally came to those gigs with a huge book, a Funk and Wagnalls bible of songs, on the rare chance he got stumped. So, what do you do when you can play anything, even layering multiple tunes? Dive headfirst into the maelstrom known as the Frank Zappa catalog. Guitar pyrotechnics, sophomoric lyrics, impossible chord changes and time signature jumps create a springboard to further his craft, without breaking a sweat. I’m a little rusty, and certainly missed some references, but here goes a stab at the setlist. Peaches En Regalia, Joe’s Garage ( with forays into Tequila and Louie Louie), Baby Snakes, an excellent lengthy bluesy Willie The Pimp, Muffin Man (reimagined with a crab cake),  Excentrifugal Forz, Apostrophe, an excellent take on Titties and Beer (complete with Carbone donning a devil mask for the deal with the devil sequence). They even sang a tune in German, Frank was much beloved in Eastern Europe. Some sequences just seemed to run off a Zappa riff, noodling their way through a cavern of organ fueled krautrock at one point. The teases were also plentiful, I heard Blackbird and While MyGuitar Gently Weeps, and a beautiful take on Blue Wind (RIP Jeff Beck). The packed house was glad to welcome Tim home as he recently relocated to the Florida Keys. Encored with Zombie Woof and then Montana from the Overnight Sensation record, Tim closed out the evening with a strict reading of the surf chestnut Apache, which must have some Zappafied significance. If the Z3 come to your town, don’t be a naughty Eskimo, get out and see them.