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.