December 21, 2010

Zappadan 18 The Final Day

So here we are at the end of our commemoration. Since Zappadan is celebrated in reverse, moving from death to birth I'll do this final post in the same order. So, to begin at the end here is a brief, heartbreaking excerpt of the final television interview that Frank did.



From the YouTube comment:
Frank Zappa's last television interview. He is talking about his friend Nicolas Slonimsky, 1993.

Sorry about the poor quality. Some of you have commented that you find it difficult to hear what is being said. Here's what Frank says:

"He's just a brilliant mind. And a very warm-hearted spirit. And these are qualities not often found linked together in human beings. And... I just liked him. One of the things I really liked about him was his wardrobe. I always was impressed with his wardrobe from the first time he came over, because he had that look. He had the look of a real guy from that era, you know what I mean? The right kind of shoes, the right kind of tweed, rumple, worn for a thousand years. Kinda... sport coat, pants too short. He was wonderful. He was a fully developed character."

Nicolas Slonimsky (1894-1995) was a musicologist, conductor, composer, author and much more. Check out his lectures on archive.org or simply do a google search. Zappa was right when he said that Slonimsky was a wonderful person.

And here, from Genova, June 9, 1988, is the last song from Frank's last show.



And here is the song that made me a Zappa fan. It couldn't be more appropriate because it reminds us to live as if we will die tomorrow because It Just Might Be A One-Shot Deal.



Thanks Brady, microdot, and everyone who has visited. Happy holiday of your choice. May the coming year bring you love and power.

December 20, 2010

Zappadan 17

Wow! Zappadan is almost over. This has been a fun experience and I know I've learned a lot. This is the first year I have participated but I'm already looking forward to next year. Thanks to all my readers, commenters, and fellow bloggers for sharing and enjoying. 


Please check back throughout the upcoming year. I'll be going back to mostly political content but the cartoons will make it worth your time.


Today I went to the unemployment office to file for my extension and there was an armed guard in there! Bet he's glad he's got a job. Here's hoping that we all stave off the Hot Plate Heaven.

Zappadan 16

Here's an amusing interview about Frank Zappa as a Satan worshipper.



The poster seems to think that this video won't be around for long so for future readers who may find this an empty post I'll include this version of Holiday In Berlin with lyrics.



This is based on a true story. Allegedly there is video of the concert in question. If so, I'd love to see it. 

December 19, 2010

Zappadan 15

From The Brain Police who is In France comes the best Zaappadan post of the year so far.

Broken Hearts Are for Assholes.
That's right, boys and girls! That's the message for tonight, the 12th night of Zappadan, the Eve of Unpleasant Realizations, where we are forced to confront uncomfortable realities and either collapse into a ball of quivering emotional crap or GET OVER IT and do something about it.
 I have been feeling extremely let down, disappointed and disillusioned by so much of what has been coming out of the Obama administration lately. It's not just a nagging feeling of ineffectual spinelessness...it's a feeling of a ship with out a compass. The rudder is not connected to the wheel...
 Get over there and read the rest. This guy is so right I wish I could steal his whole post and put it here. If I didn't hate facebook with a burning passion I would start a facebook fan page for this post. Broken Hearts Are for Assholes. Get out in the streets and put some fear in The Man.

December 17, 2010

Zappadan 14

Brady over at KIAV has posted some interesting information about Trouble Every Day and the George Thorogood cover I put up. Go check it out be be better informed. I know I am.

He mentioned that Trouble Every Day was known as The Watts Riot Song. That made my little ears perk up because it sounded familiar.

On the bootleg of the Denver Pop Festival from June 27th 1969, which I got with no titles, you can clearly hear Frank introduce the second song as "The Heat's Out Every Night. It's in the key of A and it's just like the Watts Riot Song with other words." I don't know enough about musical composition to tell if it's Trouble Every Day transposed to A or what, but it doesn't sound like Trouble Every Day to me.

Elsewhere this song is credited as Downtown Talent Scout; a song which was only played in 1966 and 1969 apparently. This would fit with Frank saying in Denver that the band hadn't played the song in 3 years. The lyrics to Downtown Talent Scout are the same as the lyrics to The Heat's Out Every Night. The 1966 version appears on You Can't Do That On Stage Anymore 5. Neither song is available to stream so I'll provide the two versions, the 1966 Downtown Talent Scout and the 1969 Heat's Out Every Night for comparison.

Here's the Watts Riot Demo from The MOFO Project/Object. It is recognizable as Trouble Every Day. This is the only recording I could find of anything called Watts Riot Song.

Here's the YCDTOSA5 1966 version of Downtown Talent Scout. I'm not sure but it sounds sort of like Trouble Every Day to me.


Here's the 1969 Denver Pop version of The Heat's Out Every Night (Downtown Talent Scout). It doesn't sound like Trouble Every Day at all to me but it does sound like the 1966 version.


Any musical geniuses know what's going on here?

Goodbye Captain Beefheart

Captain Beefheart died today after a long battle with Multiple Sclerosis. In 1982 he ended his music career to take up painting. His paintings were as strange and evocative as his music. At least he's done suffering now. Sympathy to his wife Janet.


Zappadan 13

I know I already did Trouble Every Day but this is to good to pass up. Maybe it can make up for crappiness of the cover on the Iran green revolution video.



This is my favorite non-Persuasions cover of a Zappa song.

December 16, 2010

Credit where it's due

I'd like to thank Brady over at Ketchup Is A Vegetable for the kindly hat tip not only on his Zappadan blogroll but also adding my post on the fire to his Best Of Zappadan list. If anybody reads this other than he and his readers I suggest you should go check out his site. He's got a fantastic Darryl Hall cover of WPLJ and a bunch of other great stuff. Go! Go!

Zappadan 12

Go easy on me here.  This post is based on this epic Alice's Resturant post from Metafilter. I did this all in one day so my photoshop work isn't the greatest but would you believe there are no pictures of Greggery Peccary on the internet? Well, there are now. 

If I left out anything egregious please let me know in the comments. I may add more after my eyes uncross but I really want to get this out there for you. Enjoy!

Narrator:
The adventures of GREGGERY PECCARY!

Greggery:
Oh, here comes GREGGERY,
Little GREGGERY PECCARY
The nocturnal gregarious
Wild swine . . .


Narrator:
A peccary is a little pig with a white collar that usually hangs around between Texas and Paraguay, sometimes ranging as far west as Catalina

Greggery:
Catalina, Catalina, Catalina!

Narrator:
This particular peccary is part of that bold . . .

Greggery:
Bold . . .

Narrator:
New . . .

Greggery:
New . . .

Narrator:
Breed . . .

Greggery:
Breeding . . .

Narrator:
That distinguishes itself by markings which resemble a WIDE TIE directly below the white collar

Greggery:
If it's wide enough
Everyone will know
That the tie I'm wearing
Is a symbol
Of how nimble my mind will know

Ooh-ooh!

Narrator:
(Swank suave!)

Greggery:
Hoon-hoon hoonna-han
Hoonna hoonna

Narrator:
Look out!
Here he comes again!

Greggery:
Oh here comes GREGGERY PECCARY
Yes it's cravy, cravy, yeah . . .
Hoonna-han
Hoonna-han

Narrator:
Every morning, GREGGERY drives his little red Volkswagen to the ugly part of town where they keep the Government Buildings.

Greggery:
Voodn, Voodn!
Boy it's so hard to find a place to park around here!
Voo-voo-voo-nya-hoon

Narrator:
GREGGERY PECCARY takes the elevator up to the eighty-third floor of a grim, gray, evil-looking building with a sign on the front reading: 'BIG SWIFTY & ASSOCIATES, TREND-MONGERS'.
And what, might you ask, is a TREND MONGER? Well, a TREND MONGER is a person who dreams up a TREND (like 'The Twist' ---or 'Flower Power'),and spreads it throughout the land, using all the frightening little skills that Science has made available!
And so it was, one fateful morning, GREGGERY PECCARY made his way through the Steno Pool . . .

Greggery:
Hi Mildred!
Hello Gladys!
WANDA!


Narrator:
Yes, from the moment they laid eyes on him, all the girls in the BIG SWIFTY Steno Pool KNEW . . . here was a nocturnal, gregarious wild swine ON HIS WAY UP . . . a PECCARY of Destiny, Adventure and ROMANCE . . .

Greggery:
Is there any mail for me?

Stenographers:
SWIFTY'S!
THIS IS BIG SWIFTY'S!
AT BIG SWIFTY'S WE ALL KNOW-OW-OW
(WO-WO)
YOU'LL GO
FOR ANY GIMMICK OR GIZMO!

Greggery:
WOULDN'T YOU RATHER BE INVOLVED
IN A SERIES OF COLORFUL
TIME-WASTING TRENDS
?

Narrator:
AIR HOCKEY . . . biff . . . dush-h-h!

Stenographers:
LA-LA-LA-LA-LA-LA-LA-LA
YOUP YOUP YOUP YOUP

Greggery:
IS YOUR WIFE SNORING BY THE SINK?

Stenographers:
LA-LA-LA-LA-LA-LA-LA-LA
YOUP YOUP YOUP YOUP

Greggery:
AIN'T YOUR LIFE BORING, DON'TCHA THINK?

Stenographers:
YOUP YOUP YOUP-YOUP-YOUP YOUP YOUP

Greggery:
LIFE IS SO MUCH BETTER
WHEN THERE'S SOME LITTLE SOMETHING
TO DO!

Narrator:
Does it matter that this waste of time is what makes a LIFE for you? Hmmmmm?

Greggery:
I must plummet boldly forward to my ultra-avant laminated, simulated replica-mahogany desk, with the strategically-placed, imported, very hip water pipe, and the latest edition of the WHOLE EARTH CATALOG, and rack my agile mind for a spectacular new TREND, thereby rejuvenating our limping economy, and providing for bored & miserable people everywhere some great new 'THING' to identify with!

Stenographers:
WE HAVE GOT THE LITTLE ANSWERS
TO THE THINGS
THAT MIGHT BE BOTHERING YOU!

Greggery:
WE HAVE GOT YOUR LITTLE TOYS!

Stenographers:
(WE'RE BUSY MAKIN' 'EM!)
BUSY MAKIN' 'EM,
WE'RE BUSY MAKIN' 'EM

Greggery:
BUSY MAKIN' EM

Stenographers:
JUST FOR YOU!
Yoo-hoo-hoo!

Greggery:
Highly efficient, Miss Snodgrass!

Narrator:
And with that, GREGGERY turned and strode nonchalantly into his dinky little office with the desk and the catalog and the very hip water pipe, and proceeded, with a vigor and determination known only to piglets of a similarly diminutive proportion, to single-handedly invent THE CALENDAR!
With his eyes rolled heaven-ward, and his little shiny pig-hoofs on the desk, GREGGERY ponders the question of ETERNITY (and fractional divisions thereof), as mysterious ANGELIC VOICES sing to him from a great distance, providing the necessary clues for the construction of this thrilling new TREND!

Angelic Voices:
SUNDAY

Greggery:
Sunday?
WOW!
SUNDAY, SATURDAY . . . TUESDAY THROUGH
'MONDAY - MONDAY'!
SUNDAY, SATURDAY

Narrator:
And thus THE CALENDAR, in all of its colorful disguises was presented to the bored & miserable people everywhere!
GREGGERY issued a memo on it, whereupon the entire contents of the Steno Pool identified with it STRENUOUSLY, and WORSHIPPED IT as a WAY OF LIFE, and took their little pills by it, and went back 'n forth from work by it, and paid their rent by it, and before long they were even having BIRTHDAY PARTIES IN THE OFFICE by it, because NOW, AT LAST, GREGGERY PECCARY's exciting new invention had made it possible for everyone to find out HOW OLD THEY WERE!

Greggery:
What hath GOD wrought?

Narrator:
Unfortunately, there were some people who simply DID NOT WISH TO KNOW, and that's why, on his way home from the office one night, GREGGERY was attacked by a RAGE OF HUNCHMEN!
Making his way through the evening traffic, GREGGERY notices that the other vehicles which crowd and bump his little red car are all inhabited by slowly-aging 'VERY HIP YOUNG PEOPLE.'
They appear to be casting sinister glances toward him through their glinting acid burn-out eyeballs, trying to run him off the road, or make him bump into something . . . giving strong evidence of HOSTILE AGGRESSION!
To elude them, GREGGERY takes the SHORT FOREST EXIT off the expressway. They zoom after him in all manner of cars, trucks, garishly-painted buses, and motorcycles.
GREGGERY takes a bumpy trail off the main SHORT FOREST ROAD, which leads him up the side of a FAMOUS (and conveniently placed) MOUNTAIN, and into a strange cave on the edge of a cliff, not far from a LITTLE TWISTED TREE . . . with eyes on it.
Meanwhile, the enraged HUNCHMEN (and HUNCH-WOMEN) rumble through the SHORT FOREST until (realizing the little swine has escaped), they decide to park their steaming vehicles in a circular pseudo-Wagon Train formation . . . and have a LOVE-IN!
Under the influence of a fantastic amount of TRENDY CHEMICAL AMUSEMENT AID, they proceed to perform lewd acts, rip each other off for small personal possessions, and dance with depraved abandon in the vicinity of a six-foot pile of transistor radios (each one tuned to a different station).

Greggery:
WHAT?

Narrator:
The HUNCHMEN finally expire from exhaustion, and GREGGERY, who has viewed the proceedings from a safe distance, breathes a sigh of relief . . .

Greggery:
Phew!

Narrator:
Only to be terrified once again by a roar of immense laughter . . .

Billy:
HO! HO! HO!

Narrator:
Which seems to be rumbling up from the very depths of the cave in which he has hidden his car!

Greggery:
Good Lord! What was that?

Narrator:
GREGGERY doesn't realize he has concealed himself inside the very mouth of

Billy:
HO! HO! HO!

Narrator:
BILLY THE MOUNTAIN!

Billy:
HO! HO! HO!

Narrator:
And, as you all know, whenever BILLY laughs, rocks and boulders hack up, and the air for miles around is filled with tons of dust, forming a series of huge BROWN CLOUDS!

Greggery:
WHO IS MAKING THOSE NEW BROWN CLOUDS?
WHO IS MAKING THOSE CLOUDS THESE DAYS?
WHO IS MAKING THOSE NEW BROWN CLOUDS?
BETTER ASK A PHILOSTOPHER 'N SEE WHAT HE SAYS!

Narrator:
GREGGERY stops at a gas station and makes a mysterious phone call . . .

Greggery:
IS THIS THE OLD LOFT
WITH THE PAINT PEELIN' OFF IT
BY THE CHINESE POLICE
WHERE THE DOGS ROLL BY?
IS THIS WHERE THEY KEEP
THE PHILOSTOPHERS NOW,
WITH THE RUGS & THE DUST,
WHERE THE BOOKS GO TO DIE?
HOW MANY YEZ GOT?
SAY YEZ GOT QUITE A FEW,
JUST SITTIN' AROUND THERE
WITH NOTHIN' TO DO?
WELL I JUST CALLED YEZ UP
'CAUSE I WANTED TO SEE
A PHILOSTOPHER BE
OF ASSISTANCE TO ME!

Narrator:
GREGGERY receives information that 'The Greatest Living PHILOSTOPHER Known to Mankind' is currently in possession of the very information in question, and, furthermore, this information could be HIS, if only GREGGERY would attend a 'SPECIAL THERAPEUTIC GROUP ASSEMBLY' (Classes now forming), and available at a special low low introductory fee . . . and now, here he is, 'The Greatest Living PHILOSTOPHER Known to Mankind', QUENTIN ROBERT DeNAMELAND! Take it away!

Quentin:
Folks, as you can see for yourself, the way this clock over here is behaving, TIME IS OF AFFLICTION!'THE EONS ARE CLOSING'! Now this might be cause for alarm among a portion of you, as, from a certain experience, I TEND TO PROCLAIM:

Narrator:
Make your checks payable to 'QUENTIN ROBERT DeNAMELAND, Greatest Living Philostopher Known to Mankind'!

Greggery:
WHO IS MAKING THOSE NEW BROWN CLOUDS?
WHO IS MAKING THOSE CLOUDS THESE DAYS?
WHO IS MAKING THOSE NEW BROWN CLOUDS?
IF YOU ASK A PHILOSTOPHER, HE'LL SEE
THAT YOU PAYS!

December 15, 2010

Zappadan 11

Have you ever had a really bad week? The kind where you total your car and lose your job and your house gets robbed? That was the kind of week Frank was having in early December 1971. First, on the 4th The Mothers were playing a show at Montreaux Casino that ended in a Deep Purple song. You may have heard it; it's called Smoke On The Water.



This show was heavily bootlegged and appears as part of Beat The Boots II.




In the first video you can see the equipment that was lost in the fire. Everything was lost, instruments, amps, props, everything. The only thing that survived was a cowbell. No one was killed. That was the only good news.

Frank wanted to cancel the remainder of the tour but the band convinced him to rent instruments and equipment and attempt to carry on. Three shows were cancelled but on the 10th at London's Rainbow Theater the Mothers went back out.

The early part of the show was plagued with technical problems but things settled down into a performance that was good enough to be heavily excerpted in Playground Psychotics. Everything was going well until the encore when Frank was pushed into the orchestra pit suffering serious fractures, head trauma and injuries to his back, leg, and neck, as well as a crushed larynx, which ultimately caused his voice to drop a third after healing.

Needless to say, the tour was over and the band left to fend for themselves. The brief but spectacular Flo and Eddie period was over.

Frank recovered but he was never the same. Who can blame him.

December 14, 2010

Zappadan 10

Was Frank Zappa homophobic?

This is a serious question that Zappa fans must face if we want to be honest with ourselves. And not just homophobic, was Frank a racist? A misogynist? Just plain hateful? Very serious questions all. Even he knew how he was perceived. He released a compilation called Have I Offended Someone? in case anyone had missed it. In later posts I intend to talk about some of this but for now lets stick with the gay question.

Frank always made fun of conformity so when. in the 70's he began to see "gay culture" appearing in the clubs he treated it like he had the hippies. He saw it as a cultural choice that otherwise straight men might adopt to fit in and seem cool. Bobby Brown is an example of this.



In the song Bobby is always popular and thinks he's so cute that no girl is good enough for him. His gayness is less about attraction to men and more about narcissism and being part of the scene. The outward trappings of his sexual preference are important to him because they announce to the world that he is a member of an "in" group.

Now, obviously Frank didn't know anything about the real lives of the gay scenesters. He generally supported people who rejected conformity so his attacks on homosexuality seem out of character. He either didn't know any gay people who weren't part of the scene or he simply didn't write about them and their experiences. It was much easier and funnier to write about extremely hip homos like Bald Headed John in Dong Work For Yuda.




Everything changed in the 80's with the arrival of AIDS. A lot of people didn't know what to make of so many gays and Haitians getting sick with some "mystery disease". In 1984's Thingfish Frank speculates that the government might create something to kill "all unwanted highly-rhythmic individj'lls an' sissy-boys". He refers to former experiments in which the government used poor black men for experiments involving syphilis. He wasn't the only person to think so, either.

By setting Thingfish on Broadway Frank was able to tie the two kinds of victims together as a dual threat to "beige-blandish citizens". "Fairies and faggots and queers are 'CREATIVE'; All the best music on Broadway is 'NATIVE' he tells us. That's why they must go.

Strangely enough, Thingfish also has a speculation about the roots of homosexuality (in men at least). His character Harry says "I lost all desire for intercourse with females when they started carrying those briefcases and wearing suits 'n ties" ... "that would be like fucking a slightly more voluptuous version of somebody's father!" It's obvious that Frank agrees but he still doesn't respect anyone who tries to live a "lifestyle".





So in the end it seems like Frank is not really homophobic. He sort-of understands why some men might not be attracted to women. He just can't stand seeing someone who's "got a role he wants to play". His advice would probably be "you are what you is" or just be yourself.

December 13, 2010

Zappadan 9

I wanted to do today's post about Frank's love of cheesy monster movies but YouTube doesn't have Cheepnis or Spider Of Destiny so no go. The third song I was going to use is called The Radio Is Broken. It's about cheesy sci-fi movies.

I like it pretty well and the album it's on has another track that I really like so I guess you'll be getting a Man From Utopia post instead of a giant spider post. Sad, I know, but we must soldier on.




December 12, 2010

Zappadan 8

Today I won't be featuring any music at all because I'm featuring an audacious concept instead.

Frank's career was plagued by bootlegging and piracy. His international audience made it easy for anyone who could press a record (or later copy a tape) could sell Zappa shows and sometimes even albums. There's a reference on Just Another Band From LA to the Live at The Fillmore East album being heavily pirated. Frank recorded some of his shows and Jimmy Carl Black is widely thought to have stolen and sold some of those as well as studio bootleg material. Apparently, if you lived in Europe or New York City there was a huge array of Zappa's work available on the black market.

Now, Frank was never rich because it was expensive to tour with the large bands he preferred. According to his book transcription costs nearly broke him more than once and hiring orchestras was fraught with peril. The idea of other people making money off of his work really pissed him off. He prosecuted some and trash talked on others but it took until 1991 before he finally got his revenge.

That's when Rhino released Beat The Boots 1, a career spanning retrospective of several popular bootlegs. The discs were available individually and as an LP or cassette box set. The project was successful enough that another box set was released the following year. In most cases the released versions of these official versions were just straight copies of the bootlegs but the fans seemed happy enough to buy them. Later, to reiterate the point in the digital age the Zappa Family Trust put out Beat The Boots III on iTunes last year.

Now Frank didn't really want the bootlegs out there at all. He was a perfectionist who was very rarely satisfied with the final recorded albums so the idea of people wanting a bunch of crappy bootlegs was kind of insulting, but not as insulting as someone else profiting from them.

It is worth noting that the Zappa Family Trust has released 18 albums, many of them professionally recorded live material or extensive studio experiments that Frank recorded but never used. If you're looking for a Zappa album you've never heard there's probably one out now.

Zappa Radio from Zappa.com

December 11, 2010

Zappadan 7

I'm in the middle of several things right now and don't really have the fortitude to spend an hour on YouTube searching for a bunch of videos so you'll just have to make do with the greatest song in the entire Frank Zappa catalog.

One of the best rock and roll songs in history.

As good as the Rolling Stones Sympathy For The Devil.

The massive... Willie The Pimp! Enjoy.

December 09, 2010

Zappadan 6

I think yesterday's post went well so I'll try that format again, this time with Frank's very first album with the other nifty Mothers.

At the time of its release Freak Out was considered too weird to sell. Nonetheless a few people bought it and it made its way to Europe where it influenced many freaky things like a little record called Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. I refuse to speculate which song Ringo liked best.

The album contains a number of fine examples of doo-wop and early rock and roll. If that's all it contained it might have sold better but it also had a different kind of music. Music that could barely be called music. Music like this.



And like this.



See how that's hard to listen to. How it attacks everything you know about how music is supposed to sound. And the words. They reject the suburban American way of life and encourage the listener to imagine a different America. One where anything is possible and you don't need to go to college or wear brown shoes to get there.



The album also contains one of the best songs that Frank ever wrote. He was 21 years old and living in LA when the Watts riots happened and inspired him to write Trouble Every Day.



The song is just as relevant today as it was back in 1966.



cover by KC and The Moonlight Band

Zappadan 5

Tonight, in honor of the first non-spam comment to this blog in years, I am featuring a couple tracks from Ray Collins. Ray was the original high tenor for the Mothers Of Invention. According to Brady (and Wikipedia but who cares about them, they didn't comment on my blog) Ray was on his way to a real career in doo-wop before Frank hijacked him and he started singing even cheesier music.

I was going to get around to Cruising With Reuben & The Jets at some point but Brady has me inspired to do it now. First, a very sincere song about teen love.



Gosh, that sure is sweet. Not all teenage relationships are that great though. Here's an example of teen angst. The cruelest cut of all.



When your true love doesn't try to call you after saying they would the logical question is always How Could I Be Such A Fool.



If this should ever happen to you, don't be like Ray. Don't Stuff Up The Cracks and turn on the gas.



There's always someone else. Just be patient and you'll find your Deseri

December 07, 2010

Zappadan 4

This evening I will be featuring an entire album. Frank did many mocking, sarcastic albums and also many which could be considered 'concept' albums but this might be his first that is both.

A pointed attack on the 60's and all that he felt it stood for, We're Only In It For The Money pulls no punches. I'm presenting it in its entirety so that the listener will have Lonely Little Girl together with Mom & Dad, and Flower Punk with Concentration Moon. There are nuanced positions here but mostly there is blame. He blames everyone for the misery in the world.

In the evocatively named What's The Ugliest Part Of Your Body Frank concludes that "it must be your mind." In Take Your Clothes Off When You Dance he tells us "there will come a time when you won't even be ashamed if you are fat." Now that's Revolution. Can you dig it?

Zappadan 3

I love the short-lived Flo and Eddie band from 1970-71. This song from 200 Motels is a fine example of how Frank used their great voices to create some fantastic arrangements. He always loved having a high tenor in the band and here he has two.



I wanted to show why Frank loved those high tenors but YouTube let me down so here, for a limited time is one of the doo-wop masterpieces Luigi and The Wiseguys for your listening or downloading pleasure. This song has the best lyrics EVER!

December 05, 2010

Zappadan: day 2

Today I'm posting one of my favorite tracks from the 1979 album Joe's Garage. This three disc concept album contains many great tracks, most notably the title track and the beautiful instrumental Watermelon In Easter Hay.

Today's featured track is called Outside Now, a somewhat disturbing mantra from Joe, who is losing his mind in prison. He hopes that he will soon be released and that the would outside will be better than the terrible experiences he has suffered inside.

He's wrong but without hope how can he go on?

Zappadan!

I know that I don't post here often and when I do it's usually a political rant but tonight I'm going back to the very foundations of this blog. Frank Zappa.

Saturday marked the 17th anniversary of his passing and I was just informed that the internet has declared the next 17 days until the 70th anniversary of his birth on the 21st to be a holiday called Zappadan. It will be a time of remembrance and music and snark. This blog is named after one of his songs so the least I can do is try to post something for each day. Kinda like an advent calendar, but not.

If you're on Twitter you can add your two cents @zappadan.



A lesson for our times. "There's a big difference between kneeling down and bending over."