Zappa

[Kevin Jenness]

I got hold of the Mothers' first album Freakout when I was about 15, don't know why, maybe I liked the cover art. I liked the cynicism of the lyrics and the sendup of doowop but I didn't really understand how unique the work was and it has taken a long time to appreciate Frank's compositional style and musical perfectionism mixed with extreme zaniness. There's nothing else quite like his body of work in music, like it or not (and it's not for everyone). I always feel a bit deflated when someone like Elmore Leonard dies, because I know you can't get that stuff no more and I can only reread it once or twice before the juice runs dry. Zappa's different because of the volume of his recorded work and the fact that I can listen to a lot of it repeatedly and get more from what Steve Vai called his "high information music".

There are a lot of youtube interviews of Frank and band members like Ruth Underwood, Vai and Terry Bozzio along with videos of the band in concert. Here are a few links:
Inca Roads https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wqp71DOJ3aY
Whipping Post https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mu32TgPeXM8
Dupree's Paradise https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qr6mTloYJJs
Zappa Interview https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NwCthSsWk7Y
The Drummers of Frank Zappa https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xGeZGrJ1ICQ
Ruth Underwood https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e7Sq0chFjps
Steve Vai https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D7jM1mh0764
George Duke on Frank Zappa (youtube.com) (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ERFUbX648S4)

Anybody else into this music?

[Ron Citerone]

Not since I was younger.

We are the other people
You’re the other people too
Found a way to get to you

[Earl McLain]

Might have to revisit Zappa, didn't get it in my youth. Odd coincidence, but driving my wife home tonight we heard Smoke on the Water--so i told her about the origin of that song and how "Frank Zappa and the Mamas were at the best place around" was not a coincidental line. The amount of gear Zappa & the band had with them kept Deep Purple from unloading when they got into town--sparing their equipment from the casino fire. Great story song!!

[Jim Barkelew]

Don't remember the year or song, but I can't forget:

"Watch out where the huskies go
Don't you eat that yellow snow"
F. Zappa

[stephen thomas]

His story, activism, family, and background have fascinated me more than the music, but i have been delving into it a little bit more.

Do your links above include the 1963 Steve Allen show episode?
Not so much for "music" (He attempts to teach Allen how to play the bicycle) but for the sort of Dadaesque nature of the whole episode with FZ looking surreal as if he is the most clean-cut, polite, flat-top sporting jock on the allstar HS line up of those days.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y9P2V0_p6vE

[Mel Fulks]

I listened to Zappa , he was even better than Captain Beefheart . Died of prostate cancer . If I remember right ,he was telling Docs
he needed help and didn’t get any until it was too late.

[Kevin Jenness]

Zappa was like Miles in that he constantly changed up his band personnel and like Duke Ellington he wrote to the strengths of his musicians. He held open auditions and ran through scores of applicants before choosing who would join a tour. He would put them on salary and rehearse for two months, 6 days a week 8 -10 hours a day so they could memorize upwards of 80 complicated tunes and the subtle stage directions that would call out reggae or heavy metal or time changes in the middle of a song. Some people looked at his persona and assumed he was a druggie but he was straightedge (aside from cigarettes) and insisted his band stay straight on tour. I wonder what he would have come up with if he had not died untimely in 1993.

[Brian Runau]

Kind of before my time and off my radar, not a lot of air play in southern Indiana. First album I was allowed to purchase was L.A. Woman and it had the negative in the cover with a yellow sleeve. Most impactful artist, for me, was Jethro Tull. As a 13-15 year old kid, growing up in southern Indiana on the KY border, I attended church, but saw people saying things they weren't doing. Ian Anderson's lyrics about our relationship with the universe helped me feel like I wasn't alone and gave voice to what I was experiencing. Favorite guitarist is Tommy Bolin.

[roger wiegand]

I just watched the Steve Allen bicycle segment last night (unrelated to this thread) and thought it was beyond hilarious. "Q How long have you been playing the bicycle? A. Two weeks" My respect for Steve Allen as a comedian went up several notches-- I wonder how much was scripted and how much ad libbed. It certainly came across as mostly the latter. Zappa's earnest seriousness about playing the bicycle was perfect.

Call any vegetable and the chances are good...

[Jim Becker]

I consider Frank Zappa a "musical savant" when it comes to both composition and performance. It was a sad day when the world lost him.

[Maurice Mcmurry]

One of the employees at a former shop is a jazz drummer and accomplished artist. He had Zappa's Black Page stapled to the wall above his work station. When shop dynamics were at an un energetic, hum drum, low ebb he would practice a few bars with various sticks, scraps of wood, a trash can and some paint cans. It always interjected some liveliness and a hilarious on going argument about Hank Willams's superiority over all other musicians in the world.

[roger wiegand]

I trust that was Hank Sr.!


It always interjected some liveliness and a hilarious on going argument about Hank Willams's superiority over all other musicians in the world.

[Maurice Mcmurry]

I trust that was Hank Sr.!

Yes Hank Sr.

[Jim Koepke]

I got hold of the Mothers' first album Freakout when I was about 15

Same here, a friend of mine is more into Zappa than I am. There are a few stations doing weekly online playings of his music.

I'll ask him for the links and post them here.

jtk

-Just another one of the "Hungry Freaks, Daddy."

Don't forget Suzzie Creamcheese.

[Bruce Page]

I grew up a fan of Zappa & the Mothers. Two of his albums, Sheik Yerbouti and Joe’s garage were a couple of my favorites. I saw him live in LA ~1975. Lyrically not for everybody but there’s no denying his musical genius.

[Jim Koepke]

My friend sent me this link > https://www.norbert.de/index.php?id=10 < It is a 24/7 broadcast of various recordings people have sent in. He said the quality varies widely & wildly from near unlistenable to something straight out of the soundboard.

He also mentioned he is going to a Dweezil concert in August. (for those who may not know, Dweezil is Frank's son and does covers of his father's music)

jtk

[Jay Bryant]

Got lucky and saw Frank Zappa in Arlington, Tx 1971 or 72. He had about 10 or 12 musicians with him including some of the Mothers along with a few people he had been touring with in Europe. It was one of the most amazing live concerts I have seen to this day. About 20 minutes in he asked the audience if we wanted him to continue with the scripted show or deviate. It sounded unanimous, so they jammed and deviated for the rest of the show. They played a few minutes of some hot jazzy number and suddenly stopped, everyone put down their instrument and rotated to another instrument. Without a word they continued where they left off and after a few minutes they did it again. This kept up until it appeared to me that everyone had played each instrument. Just a few songs with lyrics that night, mostly just terrific music. It put me on the road to jazz appreciation.

[Andrew Joiner]

I just watched the Steve Allen bicycle segment last night (unrelated to this thread) and thought it was beyond hilarious. "Q How long have you been playing the bicycle? A. Two weeks" My respect for Steve Allen as a comedian went up several notches-- I wonder how much was scripted and how much ad libbed. It certainly came across as mostly the latter. Zappa's earnest seriousness about playing the bicycle was perfect.

Call any vegetable and the chances are good...

Wow, that's incredible insight in to Zappa's roots. Steve Allen was in tune to new "off-beat" stuff. Thank's Roger!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QF0PYQ8IOL4

[Rob Luter]

Frank was the whole package. I would have liked to have a few minutes to talk with him about music and society. I still have the Apostrophe album. I've seen many interviews with studio and touring musicians that played with him. To a person they praised his musicianship and attention to detail. Those that thought he ran a clown show were often humbled when asked to play some of the most demanding music they'd ever encountered.

[Kent A Bathurst]

The thing I like best about Zappa was him booting Lowell George. Can’t conceive of a world without Little Feat, the bright lights of Memphis, and the Commodore Hotel.

[Pat Germain]

I recall reading that somehow Zappa became very popular in Communist Czechoslovakia. They worked hard to smuggle his music into the Eastern Bloc. Vaclav Havel invited Zappa to visit Praque in 1990.