August 08, 2009 08:00 PM
C&L's Late Night Music Club With Frank Zappa
I recently had the pleasure of reuniting with one of my oldest, dearest friends. He was a mentor to me in many ways. He helped expand my mind and showed me new ways to look at life, politics, music, racial issues -- and he introduced me to Frank Zappa. This is one of his FZ favs, and it goes out to him.
If Frank were alive today, imagine the fun he would be having with the likes of Sarah Palin, George Bush and the astrobirthers...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fam5wRXcoQE
How prophetic!
If Palin had gotten into office, just think how much closer we'd be to Zappa's prediction.
Frank ZAPPA: Could I make a comment about National Defense: the biggest threat to America today is not communism. It's moving America toward a fascist theocracy. And everything that's happened under the Reagan Administration is steering us right down that pipe.
Robert NOVAK: Oh, mr Zappa...
ZAPPA: Yes, MISTER Zappa...
NOVAK: Do you really think...I mean...
ZAPPA: I really think!
NOVAK: All kidding aside. Is this country, with the permissiveness, that we are moving toward a fascist theocracy?
ZAPPA: You bet we are buddy.
For those who may not have seen that show (the quote starts at 10:18):
Frank Zappa on Crossfire 1986
My fave Zappa albums...
Hot Rats
Freak Out
Sheik Yerbouti
You Are What You Is (very underrated)
Joe's Garage
Special mention to The Yellow Shark and Weasels Ripped My Flesh.
Good list janeane. every fan should download franks discography. it is about ten gigs. I got it a year ago and still haven't heard everything on it.
Another good one is The Grand Wazoo.
And Joes Garage has all but come true.
and have to add to the list
Live at the Filmore East 1971.
Mudsharks at the Edgewater Inn.
I got to see Frank at live 5 times in Seattle. What shows.
My daughtere went to Zappa plays Zappa a few months ago here in Vegas. She was overwhelmed. Just Fantastic.
Also Just Another Band from LA with Billy the Mountain.
"Let's talk dirty to the animals"
Live at the Filmore East 1971(as follows)
.
1 The little house I used to live in.
2 The Mud Shark. muuu sh sh,,sshhhaaarrrrrrk
3 What kind of girl do think we are.
4 Bwanna Dik
5 Latex Solar Beef
6 Willie the pimp(part one)
7 Do you like my new car
8 Happy Together
9 Lonesome Electric Turkey.
10 Peaches en Regalia
11 Tears began to Fall.
What is your conceptual, continuity?
Thanks for adding the albums from the Flo and Edie years. That was my favorite of all Zappa's bands. BTW, there is also a version of Billy the Mountain on Playground Psychotics. They customized the song every time they played it to reference local locations and celebrities, its really interesting to hear the different version.
So many of the real great ones were taken from us, MUCH TOO EARLY. The list is so long that it's impossible to name them all. In addition to Frank Zappa, my list of ten includes John Lennon, Jim Morrison, Janis Joplin, Otis Redding, Jimi Hendrix, Ronnie Van Zant, George Harrison, Buddy Holly, Bob Marley, Rick Nelson.
It kills me that there are two Beatles on the list
"War is Peace, Freedom is Slavery, Ignorance is Strength" .. George Orwell
The Mothers live at the Filmore East 71
What is your conceptual, continuity?
Saw the Fugs at Filmore East in the 60's and actually managed to talk to Ed Sanders for a bit. There's some good music in this documentary:
Fugs 1968 part one
Fugs 1968 part two
I was more in to them than Mothers Of Invention but now I recognize where you got your moniker.
Frank ,Flo and Eddie.
Sorry about the quality. But it's worth listening to.
What is your conceptual, continuity?
Keep it Greasy.
What is your conceptual, continuity?
I like that there is now a tag for "Dinah-Moe Humm" on C&L. I wonder if another post will make it under that tag.
Cosmik Debris.
Give this one a little time. It starts off slow.
What is your conceptual, continuity?
"The price of meat has just gone up, and your old lady has just gone down".
Just another band from LA
Shut up and play yer guitar
Probably one of the finest guitarists in a generation of fine guitarists. He had a style all his own.
I was working at the New York Press, listening to the radio, having a conversation with a woman with way too much makeup on.
Then I heard Zappa died, and I just felt something sink in the pit of my stomach.
Understand, I was not a 'rabid zappa fan' but sometimes you just don't know how much a person can have an effect upon you until you hear they're gone forever.
I remember saying, "man, that really, really sucks".
Someone who I grew up with (his music, anyway) had died. I would never hear a new song by him.
I listened to my Thing Fish album as soon as I got home, and slowly let it sink in that we are not immortal.
Here's to you Frank. Here's to your music. Thank you for existing.
I wish you could have stayed around longer.
I was in a record store and had just bought the Yellow Shark album. When I got home, I had heard that he had died. It made the picture on the album cover all that much more sad.
Any fan can rattle off Zappa favorites; but my personal criteria is how often a title comes up in rotation through the Zappa CD Library. I have had The Grand Wazoo on my MP3 player through three successive MP3 players. Others that come on board frequently are Hot Rats, Jazz From Hell, and Trance Fusion. I make an effort to play through the entire set during the annual Zappadan celebration. I am a little embarrassed to say I have all the physical CDs. I am hoping to get a card from Gail some day.
Proud DFH, emeritus!
My best friend, who I met because he was wearing a Zappa tee shirt, bought two vinyl copies of all the original albums... one copy to play, the other to keep. He's moved to CDs now, but those albums are his pride and joy.
"War is Peace, Freedom is Slavery, Ignorance is Strength" .. George Orwell
I heard on NPR that Gail is becoming a sue happy b***ch with regards to the Zappa cover bands.
A true original and I've often thought what Frank would of had to say living through the Bush years. An unyeilding critic of the American radical religious right, we could of used him.
Gail has released some fantastic gems from the vault (Wazoo, 40th Anniversary Freak Out, Lumpy Money)and the Zappa Plays Zappa ensemble is a thoroughly enjoyable tribute. It's not Frank, but they play the music superbly.
I've been listening to Zappa since I first heard him on the Dr Demento show back in the 70's. I even own this video (baby snakes) on DVD (along with 3 other FZ dvd's and Dwezal's Zappa Playing Zappa) I can never get enough Frank!
I worked with Frank Zappa during the recording of the London Symphony Orchestra albums providing him with the Pressure Zone Mics he used to record it. I got to hang out for a couple of days with him at the Utility Muffin Research Kitchen which is what he called the recording studio in his home in the Hollywood Hills. This was during the time when James Watt was cancelling the "un-American" Beach Boys and hiring Vegas lounge singer Wayne Newton for the 4th of July celebration. Frank would show up in the studio after catching the evening news or reading the paper and would just go off on these beautiful rants about the Reagan Administration Follies. It was amazing to watch Frank in full disgusted mode. It's a shame there was no one there to pick up the cause under W's crime ridden years. Frank would have ripped Bush II a new A$$hole on a weekly basis. I miss Frank's music but his politics could have made a real difference over the past 8 years.
Let's see how far to the right they go before they fall off of the edge of this flat world.
Adrian Belew on guitar?
Yeah Frank discovered him in band a Holiday Inn and invited him to audition a short while later.
Let's see how far to the right they go before they fall off of the edge of this flat world.
Steve Vai with Dweezil.
Frank would have been spitting fire at the atrocities of the Dubya Bush.
I'm certain he would have been one of the most active speakers during that time.
If Frank were alive to witness and comment on what has happened to Amerika under the right?
Or Bill Hicks?
Or Kurt Vonnegut?
Or Hunter S. Thompson?
Their voices are sorely missed.
And one day Zappa will be universally recognized as one of America's greatest composers. Fact.
Zappa on Crossfire is so right on and his bands were always the best. A real effort to deliver his complex compositions...
Any cooties in there?
Zappa was a Libertarian. He would have spoken out about Reagan, Bushes, and the 'Bamster.
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