This site was
originally intended to share
some of my experiences in the world of A&E.
Until I posted my first large back-piece in my
Human Canvas series (somewhere around 116 sessions
thus far). Boy did THAT get a lot of attention. Link to it HERE. After THAT kind of traffic I started posting more
and more of the Human Canvas sessions, and getting
anxious when I didn't have a new one to post.
Like now.
Anyway...
(ballpoint - 8.5" x 11" - circa 1998)
It's been three years today,
September 17th, since I put up my
first post. It was an EVER so quick mention about
a piece I heard on Here and Now. In 2010, Baltimore
declared September 19th would be Frank Zappa Day (September 19th, in 2010, marked the 25th anniversary
of Zappa, Dee Snyder and John Denver testifying at the
PMRC hearings). Another brief fact or two about what
Here and Now did NOT mention... but whatever.
My OWN post was itself as brief as brief could be.
I'm sticking a link to this one HERE, because
it's embedded with quite a few links about
some of the items mentioned above.
So...
Quickly and kinda from the hip...
A few memories of Zappa. And I'd REALLY
like to hear yours. There's an often un-used
comment section below any and
all of these posts.
I have to admit that
my first exposure and appreciation of
Zappa came from funny lyrics. It was a rather juvenile appreciation though. Much to young to be aware of his
social satire. It was around 8th or 9th grade...
Songs like Broken Hearts are for Assholes,
Flakes, Bobby Brown, Dancin' Fool coupled
with Jewish Princess...
The album was Sheik Yerbouti.
Also in 9th grade, when
I broken my elbow somethin' fierce,
my mom was in the waiting room reading
People or something. There was a brief mention of
Zappa and the words Antelope Valley High School
caught her eye. Turns out Frank had graduated
from the same high school as my Mom had
attended, and from which my Uncle Rusty
had graduated. Same year as Frank.
So - turns out
I have a couple of yearbooks with
Zappa in them. Didn't mean for it to be a
part of some collection by now, but I continued
to buy his albums, old and new. I have twenty-some on
vinyl and a few on cd, but that really represents less
than half the catalogue available
to the public.
Through all this,
a few things changed regarding
my appreciation for Zappa. While I do
still appreciate the humor in the lyrics, I enjoy
it today for different reasons. And going back to
Sheik Yerbouti, I started REALLY digging on the guitar.
And not just Frank. Through Zappa you could always
be introduced to other phenomenal musicians.
Think about George Duke. How about
Jean Luc Ponty? Or maybe Steve Vai.
Or Terry Bozzio.
Terry's on percussion and
the occasional vocal on Sheik Yerbouti.
Beyond Frank, Adrian Belew on guitar. I love
Belew in that he doesn't just play his guitar. He
makes sounds with it. Often - sounds ya may not expect
from a guitar. If you think you don't know Adrian Belew...
go back to some of the Modern Love era David Bowie.
You've got Belew on guitar right there. Right there
along side this other fella who played a fair guitar.
Some Stevie Ray Vaughn guy?
I don't know.
Sounds familiar.
Just about three months
before I went into the Navy,
I was CAPTIVATED in watching Zappa,
Snyder and Denver live at the PMRC hearings.
While in the Navy, I continued to READ more and
more about Zappa, and his speaking engagements
revolving around censorship of music. It's SO easy
today to go to Youtube, type in Frank Zappa, and stay
for the next several hours. You've got performances from various eras, interviews, Seve Vai's take on his audition
for Frank. SO much more. And one thing that's going
on NOW is Zappa Plays Zappa. This is Dweezil Zappa
having captured the style of Frank's playing, then
gathering some Zappa alumnus for performance.
Fan-tas-tic!
One fun thing to
watch on the Youtube front is
Zappa's appearance on the Steve Allen Show
in 1963. He demonstrates how to play a bicycle. Not
play ON a bicycle mind you, but play it - as a (mostly) percussion instrument. He was clearly brought on by Allen
to show some strange guy doing rather strange things.
And I'll tell ya. There were two words missing from
this particular (or peculiar, if you will) performance.
The words tonally pleasing... used right next to each
other - in the order I just used them in.
Go ahead and check it out with a click HERE.
But tonally pleasing wasn't what he was after, okay?
This was a simple demonstration that you can get
tones... a variety of tones from pretty much
anything. These tones are just bits of
information. And you take enough of
these little bits of information - you can
manipulate any of them into
anything. Perhaps even
something tonally
pleasing.
This is what Zappa was.
This is what he described himself as.
Not so much a musician, composer, conductor or
bandleader... all of which he was... but rather - he referred
to himself as an arranger of information. I'll never make
some blanket statement saying I like everything Zappa's
done, but as an arranger of information - I can really appreciate this. It's something I can relate to. At
work or when making art - this is what i do. Of
course it will and could NEVER be at the same
level or scope of Frank, but still...
I relate.
And again, I'm curious what - if anything - YOU'VE ever gotten from Frank Zappa.
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