Frank Zappa

[EricV]

^Most people might not know this about me, but one of my favorite musicians of all time is Frank Zappa...
Now, there´s this great site featuring a whole lot of interviews with him, right HERE

Lots of great stuff to read up on. I recommend to pay special attention to the "Mother Of All Interviews", which is a very interesting thing to read... it has two parts, part one is HERE
Quite interesting, very entertaining, a whole lot to read... some of this is particulary interesting, like when he talks about composition etc.


Check it out
Eric

[szulc]

"Arrogantly twisting the sterile canvas snoot of a fully charged icing anointment utensil, he poots forth a sparkling qurter ounce green rosette, near the summit of a dense but radiant muffin, of his own design..........Girl you thought it was a man but it was a Muffin, arm around till you found that it didn't know nothin'"

[EricV]

"Most rock journalism is people who can't write interviewing people who can't talk for people who can't read." FZ

"Music in performance, is a type of sculpture. The air in the performance is sculpted into something." FZ

"Want to get a record contract ? Get a good wardrobe, get a good barber, don´t even worry about how you play. Make sure you look good" Frank Zappa

"Where ever you're going, don't walk the first.
If you do, people will think you know where you're going." FZ

"Without music to decorate it, time is just a bunch of boring production deadlines or dates by which bills must be paid." FZ

A composer is a guy who goes around forcing his will on
unsuspecting air molecules,often with the assistence of
unsuspecting musicians.-FZ

``Conducting'' is when you draw ``designs'' in the nowhere -- with your stick, or with your hands -- which are interpreted as
``instructional messages'' by guys wearing bow ties who wish they were fishing.-FZ

Information is not knowledge, Knowledge is not wisdom,
Wisdom is not truth, Truth is not beauty, Beauty is not
love, Love is not music and Music is THE BEST (FZ)


Some of my favorites...
Eric

[B A Stone]

Zappa on why he likes the accordian:

"It's not so much the sound of the instrument, as it is the smell of the air coming out of it."

I'm sure I paraphrased that, but you get the idea.

[Bongo Boy]

Loosely paraphrased:

"The government is now saying AIDS comes from monkeys. But people pass it to one another by plooking each other. But who's plooking the monkeys? That's what I wanna know." FZ

TV Interview

[doctorvetsill]

Ever heard his solo on "Muffin Man?" That song alone puts him up there with the other greats! I was an intern at Rykodisc many moons ago and discovered many, many great recordings that he left behind.

[Bongo Boy]

I think it was either Zappa or someone from Rykodisc who said that tons of analog tape, some of the recordings 10 years old, were just waiting to be digitized, but that "the world isn't ready for most of this stuff".

I read many years ago that Ryko was putting some of Zappa's stuff on gold/quartz CDs, rather than the usual aluminum/plastic. Could have been BS, I suppose.

[doctorvetsill]

Originally posted by Bongo Boy
I think it was either Zappa or someone from Rykodisc who said that tons of analog tape, some of the recordings 10 years old, were just waiting to be digitized, but that "the world isn't ready for most of this stuff".

I read many years ago that Ryko was putting some of Zappa's stuff on gold/quartz CDs, rather than the usual aluminum/plastic. Could have been BS, I suppose.

I thought I heard some rumor about that during my intership in 1996. Don't know what ever happened to it.

I heard about a "Beat The Boots" boxed set that had the actual recording of the day that "Smoke On The Water" happened (didja know that Deep Purple song was a true story?). I heard it on a Boston radio station (WZLX) about 12 years ago. Very creepy. I inquired about the recording when I was at Ryko but never got a straight answer.

[EricV]

Hey there,

yes, I knew that SOTW was based on an actual event... as far as I remember, the guys from Purple went to see Frank Zappa live at the casino at Montreux, and during the performance, someone in the crowd played with some fireworks and accidentially set the place on fire...
The Purple-guys later went back to the hotel, and when they saw the smoke from the fire move over the Lake Geneva, they got the inspiration for "Smoke On The Water"

Anyway, regarding "Beat The Boots"... according to Ben Watson´s "The Negative Dialectics Of Poodle Play", Beat The Boots #1 was released in July of 1991, and featured the following recordings:
- As An Am Zappa ( Oct 81 )
- The Ark: Mothers Of Invention ( Jul 68 )
- Freaks & Motherf&$%$& ( Nov 70 )
- Unmitigated Audacity ( May 74 )
- Anyway The Wind Blows ( Feb 79 )
- Tis The Season To Be Jelly ( Sep 67 )
- Saarbrucken 79 ( Sep 78 ... HUH ? )
- Piquantique

Beat The Boots 2 was released 1992 and featured:
- Disconnected Synapses ( 70 )
- Tengo Na Minchia Tanta ( Jun 71 )
- Electric Aunt Jemima ( 68 )
- At The Circus ( 78 / 70 )
- Swiss Cheese / Fire ! ( April 12, 71... I guess that´s the Montreux show )
- Our Man In Nirvana ( Nov. 68 )
- Conceptual Continuity ( Nov. 77 )

According to the book, those recordings should be available from Rykodisc.
A short quote about Beat The Boots: "...the release of two boxes of "Beat The Boots", a selection of Zappa´s vast bootleg legacy issued by Rhino Records with Zappa´s blessing ( but not his involvement )..." Ben Watson´s TNDOPP, Page 473 )
Hope this helps
Eric

[Bongo Boy]

Originally posted by EricV
yes, I knew that SOTW was based on an actual event... as far as I remember, the guys from Purple went to see Frank Zappa live at the casino at Montreux, and during the performance, someone in the crowd played with some fireworks and accidentially set the place on fire

"...some stupid with a flare gun" as I remember the lyrics.

Here's part of the story from Variety:

Fire swept The Casino at Montreux, Switzerland, Dec. 4, reportedly costing Frank Zappa & The Mothers Of Invention much of their musical gear. They had been skedded for a consert at the spot. The blaze also erased plans of the Deep Purple popsters to record there. They were to move in for three weeks of taping, leasing the Rolling Stones mobile recording van.

The Casino is also the site for the annual Golden Rose tv program competition sponsored by The European Broadcasting Union. Not immediately known whether the big hall could be back in shape in time for the next fest in April.

From Variety, December 15, 1971

I'm happy to say think Deep Purple was actually the last live rock show I ever went to (until this millenium). It was either at Olympia Stadium or Cobo Hall..I can't remember exactly--seems about 8 oz of 'organic material' found its way into the brownies, and I'm not sure anymore where the show was at. But I DO remember the seats were stadium seats, and I remember that the bass was so intense that I could swear the concrete under my butt was vibrating. It was the loudest show I ever saw--before or since. Yeah, those were the good ol' days.

Also, does anyone remember Franks Public Service Announcements done during '67 or so. "don't do powders"? US television, at least. Quite impressive to me as a young kid--we only had black and white--but it was Frank.

Finally, don't hesitate to visit the following compendium of Zappa shows:

http://home.rochester.rr.com/preming1/fzshows.htm