Gozortenplat is a Frank Zappa tribute band hailing from Milwaukee, WI. For over 15 years, they have been performing as the headlining act for the longest running annual Frank Zappa tribute concert in America known as Milwaukee Zappafest. With almost 100 Frank Zappa songs in their catalogue, they deliver a unique setlist every show as well as an ever changing cast in their ensemble. The band embraces the high octane antics and comedy that permeated Frank Zappa’s live shows, and bring their own style of it to the stage. They were invited to play at the mighty Zappanale in Germany in 2023, solidifying their presence in the Zappa universe. The band has also played with Zappa alumni, The Thing-Fish Ike Willis on multiple occasions. They make their return to Reggie’s to perform along with another Zappa alumni legend, the one and only RAY WHITE!
Jack Salamander coalesced out of rehearsals held at James Cornolo’s Apartment in Chicago back in 1991.
James, Bruce Mak, Tony DiMartino, and Dave Ramey had met a few times before Dave invited Lem Roby to come out and jam. James and Lem had met on a riverboat in New Orleans a few years before. Dave and Lem had attended Webster University together. As Lem and Bruce had attended the Academy high school for the performing arts together, the spectre of Frank Dawson gave the fledgling project the wings of destiny.
The band debuted at the venerable Woodlawn Tap (Jimmy’s) in Hyde Park that year.(Immortalized on the JackBoot DVD “Spank down the Whammy Bar and Lick it Off”-Out of Print). Jack continued gigging around Chicago until Lem took the guitar chair in New Crime Theatre’s production of Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. Working sometimes as Trombone Dave and the Lawn Clippings, the band carried on while Lem underwent a self-imposed exile to Minneapolis.
Returning to Chicago to mark Muddy Water’s birthday with a trip to his grave (the 6 beers in 6 cities road trip), Lem first encountered the seminal Root Boy Slim CD “Root 6,” opting not to buy it because “it’ll be in the cutout bin soon enough.” That same day, the group met at Dress Rehearsals Studios in Chicago to record the eponymous “Green tape,” finding a kindred spirit and engineering genius in Don Grayless
