Frank Zappa Defends VH “Hot for Teacher” – 1986 Video Clip

[tomballin]

Frank Zappa Defends VH “Hot for Teacher” Video – 1986 Video Clip

This is a 3/28/1986 video of CNN Crossfire when all the government censorship and music rating hearings were going on. The legendary Frank Zappa (RIP) who testified at the hearings is the guest on Crossfire. I have always been a Frank Zappa fan and Frank is brilliant on the show.

3/4 into the video, (14:00 minute mark) the panel are talking about lyrics and videos that promote incest and indecency, and the Van Halen video "Hot For Teacher" is brought up by Crossfire's Bob Novak.

Novak and the conservative stiffs are objecting to the hot blond teacher on top of the desk ripping her clothes off to her bikini and dancing in front of the school children. (Hell I sure would have made class more often if I had those type of teachers!)

Frank’s reply and defense of the video is excellent.

This is a big video (31.3MB-20 minutes) that requires a high speed internet connection and Windows Media Player 9, but well worth the watch to see the great legend Frank Zappa in action against the conservative stiffs...Peace

* * Click to Watch or Right Click to Download * * (http://ifilm.wmod.llnwd.net/a65/o1/portal/2658805_200.asf)

[DrMaddVibe]

Him telling Tipper Gore that she was full of shit was the highlight of the entire PMRC hearings!

He put that bitch in her place and she didn't even know that she'd been told off!

Frank Zappa...GENIUS!

[Golden AWe]

One of the biggest and most common mistakes is when funny people are referred as "clowns" - this conversation alone stands against it. Frank Zappa was a very intelligent man.

[guwapo_rocker]

Millions Mr. Lofton, millions.

[Rikk]

Originally posted by Golden AWe
One of the biggest and most common mistakes is when funny people are referred as "clowns" - this conversation alone stands against it. Frank Zappa was a very intelligent man.

Zappa was indeed among the most intelligent people ever in the rock business.

[DavidLeeNatra]

just watched it...zappa owns them all...what a bunch of stupid motherfuckers he has to argue against...

[mewisemagic]

thanks man(cool shit!),,gonna record that and show the guys at work

[BITEYOASS]

This episode of "Crossfire" is right up there with John Stewart Verbally bitch slapping that dick with a bowtie! :D

[tomballin]

Originally posted by BITEYOASS
This episode of "Crossfire" is right up there with John Stewart Verbally bitch slapping that dick with a bowtie! :D


Stewart was great when he laid out those worthless pussies.

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Another great video is VH1 "Daughters of Rock Stars", when Frank's daughters are talking about him. That whole VH1 show is killer, if you haven't seen it.

[Cato]

moving this to main...

[house0paincakes]

Thanks for the clip! It's been years since I've seen that. Zappa is truly missed.

[DavidLeeNatra]

Originally posted by Cato
moving this to main...

where it belongs...thanx cato...this is somehow historical...

[degüello]

Thanks for the link. That was fucking great. Very entertaining.

[degüello]

When I try and right-click and save the thing, it isn't working. Has anybody else been able to get it?

[degüello]

I was laughing right out loud during the Hot for Teacher discussion. Zappa calling it "amusing" and the NY Times guy's reaction to that is fucking classic... just killed me. :D

[Nickdfresh]

It basically shows you what witless neanderthals pass for 'conservative' commentators these days.

[WACF]

That was pretty interesting.

Thanks for the link.

[tomballin]

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Note: this is very long, but excellent, imo. I saw Frank in concert twice, one time when Steve Vai, (who later joined Diamond Dave and his EEAS band in ‘86) was playing in Frank’s band. “Back in his day”, nobody could beat Frank in a gross out contest, not even Ozzy Osbourne….TB
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To Know Frank Zappa: – His Vita

Frank Vincent Zappa was born in the city of Baltimore, Maryland on December 21, 1941. He came from Greek, Arab, Sicilian and French decent, inheriting the Greek and Arab from his Father, and the Sicilian and French from his Mother (Zappa 15). Frank’s childhood home was in the town of Edgewood, Maryland in the Army housing facility (16) where his Dad worked as a meteorologist at the Edgewood Arsenal (19). Because Frank kept getting sick in Maryland, his parents decided to move down to Florida (22). Frank’s Mother got homesick so they moved back to Maryland. This time they moved into the city of Baltimore, but no one in the family particularly enjoyed it there so they packed up and headed west for California (23).

It was in California where Frank developed his interest in explosives, as he already had learned how to make gunpowder at the age of six (24). While Frank was reloading a used firework tube between his legs with some of his "secret formula" (which consisted mainly of filed Ping-Pong ball dust and single-shot caps), he accidentally pressed down too hard on the single shot caps, and they ignited, nearly rendering him unable to have children, as well as making a small crater in the floor and blowing the doors open (26).

Frank did not learn from this, however. It would not be until he and some friends managed to fill some paper cups with solid rocket fuel and stink bomb powder, and started fires all throughout the school on open house night that would make him stop. This ingenious act got him expelled, and brought an end to Frank’s "scientific career" (27).

Aside from exploding things, Frank also had an interest in music, when at the age of twelve he began to get interested in the drums. In 1956 he was playing the drums for a rhythm-and-blues band called the Ramblers, but he was eventually fired because the other members of the band complained that he "played the cymbals too much" (29-30)

Another musical interest of his was Edgard Varèse, a man who, according to Frank, looked like a mad scientist. His music contained sirens, snare drums, bass drums, and even a lion’s roar. Frank absolutely loved it (31-32). Aside from Varèse, Frank also liked Stravinsky, for he had bought The Rite of Spring performed by "The World-Wide Symphony Orchestra," and he loved that almost as much as he loved Varèse. One more composer that was an inspiration to Frank was Anton Webern, and although quite different from Varèse and Stravinsky, to him "it was all good music" (34).

After completing high school, in 1959 Frank went to Chaffey College and he studied music theory there for six months (The Sixties 805). The real reason for him going to college, however, was not for an education. He went to college to meet girls, and that he did. He met a young woman named Kay Sherman, and they soon dropped out of school (Zappa 39). They started living together, and not long after, the two were married (40).

Only a couple years later the marriage fell apart and Frank filed for divorce and then moved into Studio Z, in a deal he made with a friend who was in financial trouble (43). He made fourteen dollars a week playing a gig on weekends in a town eighty miles from where he lived. The money made went towards the purchase of peanut butter, bread and cigarettes (44).

[tomballin]

(cont – 2)

"In 1964, Zappa joined the Soul Giants, which, under his tutelage, would become the Muthers, then the Mothers, and, finally, the Mothers of Invention." Freak Out! was the group’s first album and was released in 1966. With songs such as "Go Cry on Someone Else’s Shoulder" and "Who Are the Brain Police?" it poked fun at pop songs and took a swing at politics. Although satirical and "musically impeccable," Freak Out! was not a commercial success. Three years after the release of Freak Out!, the Mothers of Invention released their second album, Absolutely Free. It contained a song called "Plastic People" "which illustrates Zappa’s philosophical perspective. Plasticity (or phoniness) applies to the establishment, counterculture, listeners, and even Zappa himself" (The Sixties 805).

Frank Zappa was a master of this kind of social satire, and no one was to be left out, for his "satire revolves through 360 degrees; there is no way to stay out of the line of fire" (Watson 81). Indeed, Frank Zappa’s music has probably offended many groups of people including men, women, gays, Jews, Catholics, televangelists, the list goes on and on. Although it can be disputed, his most offensive song is most likely "Bobby Brown Goes Down" from his 1979 album, Sheik Yerbouti on which he is dressed up as an Arabian Sheik on the front. "Bobby Brown" is a sexual satire poking fun at American men, jocks in particular.

The song was never widely played in the United States due to the amount of censorship it would need, but it was a hit in Europe, even reaching number one in Norway. Zappa claimed that the worldwide success of Sheik Yerbouti was due to the cover art, but there’s no doubt that "Bobby Brown Goes Down" was a major factor in making Sheik Yerbouti Zappa's most commercially viable album selling 1.6 million units worldwide (Watson 349-350). Another factor in Sheik Yerbouti's success was the disco smash "Dancin' Fool," Zappa's highest charting hit at the time, later to be surpassed by his 1982 "Valley Girl" which reached the top 40 (Talevsky 341).

It was songs like Frank Zappa's that would stir up controversy in the realm of politics in the mid 1980's, even thought Frank himself was not actually one of the targets. It all started when Tipper Gore "bought her eight-year-old daughter a copy of the soundtrack album to Prince's Purple Rain–an R-rated film which had already generated considerable controversy for its sexual content." Mrs. Gore was taken aback when her young daughter "pointed out a reference to masturbation in a song called ‘Darling Nikki.’" Tipper got together with some of "her Washington housewife friends," and created the Parents’ Music Resource Center, more commonly known as the PMRC (Zappa 261).

Frank Zappa, along with John Denver, and Dee Snider, the lead singer of Twisted Sister, testified in a September 1985 Senate Commerce Committee hearing "scheduled on the deleterious effects of rock music on its listeners." After the hearing Frank started a campaign across America to alert people of the fact that the PMRC was trying to violate the music industry's First Amendment Right of free speech, which included appearances on TV, at college campuses and on radio talk shows (Ward 619). When talking about Tipper and her friends,

Zappa once said, "These ladies want to get laws passed that will prohibit you from being able to buy whatever kind of music you like, especially if you have the bad luck to be a teenager." The Senate testimony and campaigning obviously worked, because the PMRC was only able to get the music industry to agree to put a "Parental Advisory" sticker on albums instead of a rating system, much like the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) rating system (620).

[tomballin]

(cont – 3)

Frank was already one step ahead of the PMRC, though. In 1983, MCA agreed to distribute one of Frank's albums, Thing-Fish, on his own label, Barking Pumpkin Records, but backed out of the deal because a woman in quality control heard it and became offended. As a response to this, in 1984 he made his own sticker:

WARNING/GUARANTEE

This album contains material which a truly free society would neither fear nor suppress.

In some socially retarded areas, religious fanatics and ultra-conservative political organizations violate your First Amendment Rights by attempting to censor rock & roll albums. We feel that this is un-Constitutional and un-American.

As an alternative to these government-supported programs (designed to keep you docile and ignorant), Barking Pumpkin is pleased to provide stimulating digital audio for those of you who have outgrown the ordinary.

The language and concepts herein are GUARANTEED NOT TO CAUSE ETERNAL TORMENT IN THE PLACE WHERE THE GUY WITH THE HORNS AND THE POINTED STICK CONDUCTS HIS BUSINESS.

This guarantee is as real as the threats of the video fundamentalists who use attacks on rock music in their attempt to transform America into a nation of check-mailing nincompoops (in the name of Jesus Christ). If there is a hell, its fires wait for them, not us. (Zappa 279)

Frank Zappa's musical interest did not lie solely in rock music. Although he is mostly noted for his skills as a rock musician, the only Grammy he ever won was for his 1986 album called Jazz from Hell (Talevsky 341). Alongside jazz, Mr. Zappa, with his influences of Varèse, Stravinsky and Webern, was also a composer of contemporary classical music. The classical music industry, however, was not very kind to him.

"Information is not knowledge, knowledge is not wisdom, wisdom is not truth, truth is not beauty, beauty is not love, love is not music. Music is the best." This quote, off of the 1979 album Joe's Garage (Zappa 141) is one of Zappa's more famous, and for Frank, music was anything but love in the classical music arena. When he started out he "used to love putting little black dots on music paper." Nothing could wrench him from his chair besides the urge of hunger and the call of nature. The incentive to do so was lost, though, when he had to deal with symphony orchestras (142).

[tomballin]

(cont – 4)

For Frank Zappa, being a composer was not cheap. It might not have cost him a whole lot to produce his music, but he would have to pay a significant amount of money to hire a copyist, a person who copied verbatim each instrument's score. A result of five years' work, a closet full of orchestral scores cost Frank around $300,000 in copyist fees (145). The only way the scores would ever be heard was if an orchestra was hired to play, which costs an even greater sum of money (146).

On numerous occasions Frank got the raw deal when it came to getting his music performed. The first of these occasions was when the promoters of his Austrian rock concerts thought it would be a good idea for him to have some of his work played by the Vienna Symphony. Austrian TV had pledged $300,000 for rehearsal and equipment, but they backed out of the deal, as it still was not a written contract because the money was pledged by mistake, and was needed for other TV projects (146). Frank's manager went all around Europe in an last-ditch attempt to rake together 300,000 bucks, but was to no avail, and after money Frank spent on his manager to travel as well as the copyist fees, he was down $125,000 (147).

In another orchestral mishap, Frank lost another $250,000 after a cancellation of a concert in Amsterdam (150). Frank did not seem to learn his lesson, though, and he would eventually get to record the London Symphony Orchestra in a hall with such bad acoustics and players that the recording "was going to be the first multitrack digital recording of a symphony orchestra–ever" (152).

On reason for the music from the London Symphony was the fact that there was a bar for the exclusive use of the band members. This undoubtedly strengthened Frank's views against alcohol and drugs. To many people's surprise, he was anti-drug and only socially smoked marijuana on about ten occasions in the 1960's. Someone once asked him why he smoked cigarettes if he was so anti-drug, and he replied by saying, "to me, a cigarette is food." Frank was constantly asked about drug use because people would not believe that a person so weird was not on drugs (229).

Returning to the discussion of Frank's private life, Frank remarried in 1967 after the first tour with the Mothers of Invention. He married a "fascinating little vixen" named Adelaide Gail Sloatmen, who usually goes by her middle name Gail. Frank was due to go on tour in Europe a few days after the marriage, and had no time to get Gail a wedding ring, so he pinned a ball point pen on her wedding dress instead, because that's all he had at the time (81).

Not long after the marriage, the couple's first daughter was born in New York, and her name was Moon Unit Zappa (244), more commonly called just simply "Moon" by Frank. Their next child, a son, Dweezil was named after a funny-shaped toe of Gail’s that was nicknamed a "Dweezil."

The nurse in the delivery room did not approve of this name and did everything she could to persuade Mr. and Mrs. Zappa to choose a different name for the child, so to avoid complicating things, they did. Dweezil was actually born Ian Donald Calvin Euclid Zappa. When he was five years old, Mr. Zappa hired an attorney to get Ian Donald Calvin Euclid's name legally changed to Dweezil.

[tomballin]

(cont – 5)

Frank and Gail's next son was named Ahmet. He was premature and delivered by C-section. While the nurse was wheeling him out of the delivery room, Frank noticed that he was not breathing. Had it not been for his watchful eye, Ahmet would have died, as he had hyaline membrane disease, and one of his lungs had collapsed. His fourth and last child, and youngest daughter was named Diva, and "got her name because she was the loudest baby in the hospital" (246).

Life at the Zappa household was "like a dude ranch or something." Their house was occupied by Moon, Dweezil, Ahmet, and Diva, as well as their friends, who collectively ate all the food before Frank got the chance to get to it. He was left eating peanut butter with a spoon, for the bread was devoured before he had a chance to get to it as well. Of course there was other food in the house, but it had to be cooked, and no one, especially Frank had the time, or in his case, the ability to cook it (253).

In 1982 Frank and fourteen-year-old Moon Unit collaborated on the greatest hit that Frank ever released in the United States called "Valley Girl" from the album Ship Arriving Too Late to Save a Drowning Witch. "Valley Girl" showcases Moon on vocals imitating the pattern of speech used by teenage girls in California's San Fernando Valley. Moon had picked up some of the "Val-speak" she had heard in malls, at school, parties, and bar mitzvahs. Frank took her into a recording studio, and she did all the Val-speak while Frank sang an "Okay fine, fer sure, fer sure" chorus.

Newsweek magazine called the song "a word-perfect portrait of the ultimate Valley Girl." The song "introduced listeners to such Valley Girl words as ‘grody’ (disgusting, from grotesque) and ‘tubular’ (excellent, originally used to describe a great wave) and the typically verge-of-nausea expressions ‘gag me with a spoon’ and ‘barf me out’" (Stern 546).

Moon said she did the song for the purpose of the amusement of her family and friends, but they were not the only ones amused. "Valley Girls and the way they walked and talked became the pet fad of the summer of 1982," and by that fall, there was even a Valley Girl in a TV sitcom called "Square Pegs" (546-547).

Some of Frank's other songs were also influenced by the Californian way of life. The song "San Ber'dino" contains references to an occasion that he got thrown into jail when he was arrested for making an audio tape with a female acquaintance for an undercover detective disguised as a used car salesman looking for an erotic tape. The tape contained "bogus grunts and squeaky bedsprings," from which Frank spent all night editing out laughs.

Regardless of the fact that everything on the tape was manufactured, and "there was no actual sex involved", Frank was charged with "conspiracy to commit pornography." For this crime, he was eligible for twenty years behind bars, but luckily he only spent ten days in a holding tank with only one shower for forty-four men (Zappa 56-60).

[tomballin]

(cont – 6)

Frank Zappa met an untimely end when he died from prostate cancer on December 4, 1993. He was fifty-two years old.

Frank left behind a wife he very much adored, and four children who meant the world to him. Even Al and Tipper Gore gave the Zappa family their condolences. Alice Cooper, a protege of Frank said, "Everybody that was considered a genius, from the Beatles to Brian Wilson, looked to Zappa as the genius."

At the time of his death, Frank had a catalog of around sixty albums. He even once "framed his own legacy" when he said, "I don't do anything for applause. Everything I do is for laughs" (People 125). In 1995 Frank would be posthumously inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame located in Cleveland, Ohio (Talevsky 339).

Throughout his career as a musician and composer, Frank Zappa generated a considerable amount of criticism for his varied music styles, and in many cases raunchy lyrics. He was not afraid to go against mainstream society, and rebel against conformity. Frank Zappa was truly one of the great supporters of democracy of the twentieth century.

To further prove this point, after the fall of communism in Europe, the Czechoslovakian president Vaclav Havel invited Frank to come to his country and speak on the subjects of politics and social issues (Talevsky 341). Not only was he an advocator of free speech and expression, he took the musical limits to the extremes by crossing musical boundaries and mixing musical styles, while at the same time questioning the ethics of the people involved in American politics, and American society as a whole (The Sixties 806).

Obviously, Frank Zappa would never be as influential a person such as the Greek Philosophers, nor would he have been as much of a step forward in democracy as our Founding Fathers. He would, however, become recognized as a man who pushed the envelope of democracy, simultaneously defending the Constitution of the United States of America against people's personal interests and ideas of how society should be. Frank Zappa held a mirror up to society and showed society how it really was.

[tomballin]

(cont – 7)

Timeline:
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1941 - Frank Vincent Zappa is born. (December 21)
1952 - The Zappa family moves to California.
1956 - Frank plays drums for a band called the Ramblers.
1959 - Frank enters attends college for the express purpose of meeting girls.
1962 - Frank spends ten days in jail for "conspiring to commit pornography."
1964 - Frank joins a band called the Soul Giants which evolves into the Mothers of Invention.
1966 - The Mothers of Invention’s first album, Freak Out! is released.
1967 - Frank marries Adelaide Gail Sloatman.
1969 - The Mothers of Invention release Absolutely Free featuring the song "Plastic People."
1976 - Frank’s promoter of Austrian rock concerts talks about a concert with the Vienna Symphony ending up in financial loss for Mr. Zappa.
1979 - Sheik Yerbouti released featuring songs "Bobby Brown Goes Down" and "Dancin’ Fool."
1982 - Ship Arriving Too Late to Save a Drowning Witch released featuring the highest charting Zappa song, Valley Girl, with his daughter Moon Unit on vocals.
1984 - Frank makes his own warning sticker for his album Thing-Fish.
1985 - Tipper Gore founds the Parents’ Music Research Center, Frank testifies in front of a Senate Commerce Committee Hearing on the matter of offensive lyrics in rock albums.
1993 - Frank Zappa dies of prostate cancer. (December 4)
1995 - Frank Zappa gets inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Works Cited:
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The Sixties In America Vol. III. Pasadena: Salem Press. 1999. 805-806
Stern, Jane and Michael. Encyclopedia of Pop Culture. New York:
HarperPerennial, 1992.
Talevski, Nick. Talevsky Encyclopedia of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. West Port: Greenwood Press, 1998.
"Tribute: Father of Invention" People 20 December 1993: 125
Ward, Ed, Geoffrey Stokes and Ken Tucker. Rock of Ages. New York: Rolling Stone Press, 1986.
Watson, Ben. Frank Zappa: The Negative Dialects of Poodle Play. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1993.
Zappa, Frank and Peter Occhiogrosso. The Real Frank Zappa Book. New York: Poseidon Press, 1989.

---END---

[tomballin]

Originally posted by degüello
When I try and right-click and save the thing, it isn't working. Has anybody else been able to get it?

I didn't have any problem just trying it, but if you are, just right click, and then "properties" always has the URL to download. Here's the download link, best to use a download accelerator...Peace

http://ifilm.wmod.llnwd.net/a65/o1/portal/2658805_200.asf

[tomballin]

Here’s an interesting writeup and interview with Steve Vai on his days with Frank Zappa

-------------------------
Note: Joe Satriani taught Steve Vai how to play a guitar. Joe said in an interview years ago that Steve showed up at his house one day with an unstrung guitar in one hand, and some used strings in the other hand and asked Joe how to string the guitar and then wanted Joe to show him how to play it. Rest is history……
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Steve Vai started working for Frank Zappa as a music transcriber in September 1979. Some of Steve's transcriptions were published in 'The Frank Zappa Guitar Book' (Munchkin Music, 1982). Shortly after Steve joined as a transcriber, '[Frank] asked me if I'd do some overdubs for 'You Are What You Is'. So I ended up redoing about 80% of the guitars on the album. He had me down to rehearsal, and I got the gig.'

'Going on the road with Frank Zappa at such a young age [20] was a bit traumatic...', remembers Steve. Tommy Mars recalled a particularly traumatic incident for Radio 1's 'Air Sculpture', the first part of a two part Frank Zappa documentary broadcast on 20 November 1994. Tommy: 'I remember one time that we were finishing up rehearsal; it was the second or last day of rehearsal when everything had to be memorized and it was a particularly difficult body of material that we were doing.

And the show 'Entertainment Tonight' was filming us at the same time and Steve Vai was in the band and this was his first tour [the autumn 1980 US tour, from October to December]. I forget the tune we were doing but it was [an] incredibly difficult tune and we all had to have our music memorized. Well, they were up on Steve's hands and, you know, with the camera, and I don't think he had ever had the film crew next to him before. And it's - if you haven't had it - it's a little bit unnerving sometime[s] and rather violating. Let alone the fact that this was his like first or second time he'd ever done it straight from memory and we're going out on the road in three days and we have this Halloween show that we're going to be doing live on MTV and so... Steve started to like forget some parts and he made a few clams.

'And Frank got really pissed at him and, like, devastated him and said, you know, "I don't even know if you're roadable" and, you know, "If you clam up on this little thing imagine what you're gonna do on 'Saturday Night Live'." And poor Steve revered Frank so intensely... And he didn't really screw up, he just made a couple of little clams. And I think maybe Frank was just feeling weird about something and he lashed out. And, I mean, it really was terrible on Steve. He, like, lost it and he said, "Frank, I'm sorry, I didn't want to disappoint you." And Frank, his retort to that was, "You know, I don't know if you're roadable." And this is like the kiss of death to Steve. To me, it was just like, "Well, paps [sic] isn't in a very good mood, Steve." So, you know, I talked to Frank after that. I says, "What were you doing? Do you want this kid to have a nervous breakdown tonight?" He says, "Why? Do you think he took it that hard?"'

Steve toured with Zappa and played on several albums including 'Shut Up 'N' Play Yer Guitar' (1981), 'Tinsel Town Rebellion' (1981), 'You Are What You Is' (1981), Ship Arriving Too Late To Save A Drowning Witch' (1982) and 'The Man From Utopia' (1983). Shortly after leaving Zappa Steve released two eclectic solo albums, 'Flex-Able' (1984) and 'Flex-Able Leftovers' (1984). Steve then replaced Yngwie Malmsteen in Alcatrazz, recording an album entitled 'Disturbing The Peace' (1985), then made his infamous appearance in the film 'Crossroads' (1986).

After leaving Alcatrazz Steve recorded two albums with ex-Van Halen frontman David Lee Roth, 'Eat 'Em And Smile' (1986) and 'Skyscraper' (1988) .

He then joined Whitesnake for the 'Slip Of The Tongue' (1989) album. Steve then released his solo instrumental album 'Passion And Warfare' (1990) and formed his own band, Vai, who released one album, 'Sex And Religion' (1993), before disbanding. Steve's latest release is a solo instrumental EP called 'Alien Love Secrets' (1995).

[tomballin]

(cont – 2)

Steve made a guest appearance on the first night of the 'Zappa's Universe' concerts on 7 November 1991 which led to another concert of Zappa compositions in April 1995. 'Conductor Joel Thome had originally put 'Zappa's Universe' together in New York, and those shows were the basis for the record. I played several pieces on that, and received a Grammy for playing on 'Sofa'. Anyway, Joel has been trying to put it together again, and we have been working on five or six pieces of my own. When he arranged to do the Zappa music with the Seattle Symphony, I was really excited to do it.'

Interview with Steve Vai (SV)
--------------------------------------
DJN: Do you think your technique is at its peak now [shortly after the release of 'Alien Love Secrets'] or were your chops sharpest when you were playing with Zappa? SV: Well, my technique with Frank was not nearly as good as it is now. Although I may have had more chops, you know... I mean they were sloppy chops. Maybe back with David Lee Roth during 'Eat 'Em and Smile' (1986) my chops were maybe at their height but right now my taste factor is so much better.

My maturity as a musician and a guitar player are at their peak. DJN: There's a rumour that you transcribed the solo in 'Inca Roads' from memory while you were on the tour bus. SV: Oh, huh, huh. Where did you hear that? DJN: It was in a guitar magazine - 'Guitar World' from last year [April 1994, page 54]. SV: Oh, that's funny! I thought I only mentioned [it] to somebody once. But yeah, I did. I love that solo so much. DJN: Would you say it was your favourite Frank Zappa guitar solo then? SV: I'd say that's probably my favourite. It's between that, 'Watermelon In Easter Hay', 'Zoot Allures' or 'Black Napkins'.

DJN: What are your favourite musical memories of playing with Zappa? SV: We were doing 'Zoot Allures'... We were playing in New York and it was the soundcheck and we were doing it in the soundcheck and Frank did one of the most incredible solos I've ever seen him do, ever. He was just... He was just on and he was connected and he went for it and it was the most incredible solo I ever saw him perform. And believe me, I've seen and heard more than probably anyone else, you know. DJN: Was it recorded? SV: No. No. And I remember I had a dream once that it was recorded and we listened back to it. But it was just a dream [laughs].

DJN: What was the most challenging guitar playing that you did with Zappa? SV: Oh boy - I could write a book about that... Just songs that were really hard to play on the guitar execution-wise. You know - they weren't made for the guitar. Songs like, um, 'Moggio', and 'Envelopes' and 'Drowning Witch', umm, 'Sinister Footwear', uh, 'The Black Page'... Stuff like that was just like - woah! Stuff I really loved too like 'RDNZL' - we have this incredible version of 'RDNZL' [Steve plays on 'RDNZL' from 'You Can't Do That Onstage Anymore Vol 5' (1992)] and 'Sofa' - he used to let me really, really play.

DJN: You've said that you've had some of your most profound musical experiences playing with Zappa. Could you explain what you meant by that? SV: Well, with Frank, I mean...[sighs] I didn't realize it until afterwards when I saw how difficult it is to create and come up with inspiring things. I would flashback on Frank and like soundchecks and stuff where he would just sit there or stand there in front of the band with a smile on his face or breaking into laughter... He would just compose the wildest stuff right there on the spot. Really beautiful stuff and then throw these weird twists and turns in it. And the way that he manipulated the forces of music to do his bidding was quite a spectacle. There's your quote [laughs]!

[tomballin]

(cont -3)

DJN: The title of your 'Alien Love Secrets' album (1995) is almost the same as your widely misunderstood Guitar Player column from a few years ago ['Martian Love Secrets']. SV: Yeah [laughs]. Widely misunderstood, yeah. DJN: Is that where the title comes from? SV: Pretty much. I always liked 'Martian Love Secrets' and I wanted to use it some place else with more significance. But the word 'Martian' sounds so confining. You know, 'Alien' sort of gives it a bigger picture. But the actual phrase came from... It was written on the wall... 'Martian Love Secrets' - it was written on the wall of a toilet in the men's bathroom at the Record Plant in 1970 that Frank Zappa read. So there you have it!

An edited version of this interview was originally published in the Frank Zappa fanzine ''T'Mershi Duween', issue 46. Details about ''T'Mershi Duween' can obtained from:

''T'Mershi Duween' PO Box 86 SHEFFIELD S11 8XN England
© Douglas J Noble 1995

~~~

Steve Vai’s Body of Work with Frank Zappa
------------------------------------------------------
Frank Zappa Tinsel Town Rebellion (1981) Guitare
Frank Zappa & The Mothers You Are What You Is (1981) Guitare
Frank Zappa Ship Arriving Too Late to Save a... (1982) Guitare
Frank Zappa Man from Utopia (1983) Guitare
Frank Zappa & The Mothers Them or Us (1984) Guitare
Frank Zappa & The Mothers Thing-Fish (1984) Guitare
Frank Zappa & The Mothers True Glove (1984) Guitare
Frank Zappa Shut Up 'N Play Yer Guitar (1986) Guitare
Frank Zappa & The Mothers Jazz from Hell (1986) Guitare
Frank Zappa & The Mothers Guitar (1988) Guitare
Frank Zappa You Can't Do That on Stage Anymore... (1989) Guitare
Frank Zappa & The Mothers Frank Zappa Meets the Mothers of... (1990) Guitare
Frank Zappa & The Mothers Supplement Tape (1990) Guitare
Frank Zappa As an Am Zappa (1991) Guitare
Frank Zappa You Can't Do That on Stage Anymore... (1991) Guitare

[tomballin]

I met a chick many years ago that grew up with Steve Vai. The first question out of my mouth to her, was has Steve always been so weird, or did Frank Zappa warp him. She said, like Frank, and also Joe Walsh, Steve has always been weird, but brilliant.

[Coyote]

That link don't work for me...

[Coyote]

correction... works now...

[tomballin]

Originally posted by Coyote
correction... works now...

My bad, forget to post earlier that the server on that link can be real slow and that is why sometimes it doesn't work properly.

[Coyote]

Originally posted by tomballin
My bad, forget to post earlier that the server on that link can be real slow and that is why sometimes it doesn't work properly.

No problemo...

Man, Zappa was a smart guy. R.i.P, Frank...

[tomballin]

Ok, Frank's Legend Deserves Some Tribute Pics here at R.A.

Sorted through around 100 pics, these are the 10 for presentation...Peace

[spmusicplyr]

this vid is awesome. really shows us that those musicians werent stupid.

just like frank zappa made an ass out of the crossfire team in '86, props to john stuart for fucking the crossfire team in '04 and getting tucker carlson fired!!!!

fuck the fcc too!

[tomballin]

More2

[tomballin]

Frank played with John Lennon at the Filmore East 1971.

[tomballin]

More Lennon/Zappa Filmore East pics off the tape. I like Frank being Frank with the double Fingers, in the lower right frame while John was singing. Zappa was always doing shit like that just to shock people.

[tomballin]

More309845

[tomballin]

30495dsew5

[tomballin]

203498sser

[tomballin]

wer238547stu

[tomballin]

304985gj45730

[tomballin]

sk3203294hw4057

[tomballin]

ldw458xzmawe87325

[tomballin]

Last one. All the selected photos were digitized and reworked before posting.

Frank’s Final Resting Place: Westwood Memorial Park, Hollywood, California, in an unmarked grave at the request of his Family.

[Nickdfresh]

Originally posted by tomballin
wer238547stu

Great pic! I stole the shot of Uncle Frank!

[kentuckyklira]

Originally posted by DavidLeeNatra
just watched it...zappa owns them all...what a bunch of stupid motherfuckers he has to argue against... I still remember when the PMRC started!

What a pile of fucking bullshit!

[tomballin]

Frank Zappa Discography
60 Albums
-----------------------

01 - Freak Out! 1966
02 - Absolutely Free 1967
03 - Lumpy Gravy 1967
04 - We're Only In It For The Money 1968
05 - Cruising With Ruben And The Jets 1968
06 - Uncle Meat 1969
07 - Mothermania (Best Of) 1969
08 - Hot Rats 1969
09 - Burnt Weeny Sandwich 1969
10 - Weasels Ripped My Flesh 1970
11 - Chunga's Revenge 1970
12 - Fillmore East, June 1971 1971
13 - 200 Motels 1971
14 - Just Another Band From L.A. 1972
15 - Waka/Jawaka 1972
16 - The Grand Wazoo 1972
17 - Over-Nite Sensation 1973
18 - Apostrophe(') 1974
19 - Roxy And Elsewhere 1974
20 - One Size Fits All 1975
21 - Bongo Fury (W. Captain Beefheart) 1975
22 - Zoot Allures 1976
23 - Zappa In New York 1978
24 - Studio Tan 1978
25 - Sleep Dirt 1979
26 - Sheik Yerbouti 1979
27 - Orchestral Favorites 1979
28 - Joe's Garage, Act 1 1979
29 - Joe's Garage, Acts 2 & 3 1979
30 - Tinseltown Rebellion 1981
31 - Shut Up 'N' Play Yer Guitar 1981
32 - You Are What You Is 1981
33 - Ship Arriving Too Late To Save A Drowning Witch 1982
34 - The Man From Utopia 1983
35 - Baby Snakes 1983
36 - London Symphony Orchestra, Vol 1 1983
37 - The Perfect Stranger 1984
38 - Them Or Us 1984
39 - Thing-Fish 1984
40 - Francesco Zappa 1984
41a - Fz Meets The Mothers Of Prevention 1985
41b - Fz Meets The Mothers Of Prevention (European Version) 1985
42 - Does Humor Belong In Music? 1986
43 - Jazz From Hell 1986
44 - London Symphony Orchestra, Vol. 2 1987
45 - Guitar 1988
46 - You Can't Do That On Stage Anymore, Vol. 1 1988
47 - You Can't Do That On Stage Anymore, Vol. 2 1988
48 - Broadway The Hard Way 1988
49 - You Can't Do That On Stage Anymore, Vol. 3 1989
50 - The Best Band You Never Heard In Your Life 1991
51 - You Can't Do That On Stage Anymore, Vol. 4 1991
52 - Make A Jazz Noise Here 1991
53 - You Can't Do That On Stage Anymore, Vol. 5 1992
54 - You Can't Do That On Stage Anymore, Vol. 6 1992
55 - Playground Psychotics 1992
56 - Ahead Of Their Time 1993
57 - The Yellow Shark 1993
58 - Civilization, Phaze Iii 1994

[tomballin]

Here’s a few more digitized and reworked pics.

[tomballin]

203948234yr

[tomballin]

203948yrw3aa

[tomballin]

Frank cookin up the next album

[scorpioboy33]

could some one tell me if they are also having trouble saving this ?

[Nickdfresh]

I just heard "CNN's Crossfire" is dying. They are taking it off the air as it's own show, and will run it as a segment during other news programs once "dick" Tucker Carlson leaves.

[LadyTudor2711]

Greetings,

Thanks for posting this video link. I remember the hearings and how ridiculous they were. Frank Zappa made the point that the issue is words. People need to understand that it is impossible to debate taste, or that having bad taste is a crime. Who is to decide? The fact that a group of individuals got together and highlighted seven words that are obscene, boggles my mind.

My four favorite foul words are , fuck, cocksucker, cunt and asshole. When I use them, I make my point. Sometimes I scream them at the top of my lungs, even in public when prompted. Can you imagine getting fined or arrested for calling the cab driver that almost ran you over a cocksucker or a prick? Simply because some up-tight individual finds it offensive?

What about words like "murder" or "rape". Each word represents something that society abhors, but they are not considered vulgar words, but what they represent is crimes that are repugnant to most of the world, but these words are not obscene? The last time I checked being an asshole is not a crime it is just a character flaw.

Tipper Gore is a CUNT. I am so glad her ramrod, uptight human statue of a husband did not become our president. He is a prick, so they are a perfect match.

That moron from the Wash Post kept mentioning what the founding fathers had in mind. He claims to know? WTF? His argument was weak and he was clearly dwarfed by Zappa and his responses.

I have always thought of Frank Zappa as an intellectual and a person who was in complete control of himself and knew the kind of music he wanted to create, play, promote and represent. The bottom line is that self-expression is absolute.

If you don't like something don't support it, life is about choices, make your own and let others make theirs. Certain words are vulgar, necessary and wildly expressive, can you imagine telling someone to go and "frick themselves" and you are a "bottomhole". It is just too ridiculous.

There are many things that I see and hear that I don't like or I find disgusting, or tasteless, so I just stop listening or I choose not to support it. For example I find Marilyn Manson do be vulgar and moderately talented, but there are others who idolize him and love his music. Take way his Satanic association and his creepy costumes and he is just another American making a living. Again it is a matter of taste. I just don't buy his records. He is just another person trying to get what they want, it is his manner of doing it that annoys me. However, I still defend his right to express himself.

That is it, the most that any of us can do. Just don't participate. Taste is impossible to litigate and therefore pointless to debate. Just because a group of hypocritical, self-serving individuals think that they are qualified to think and decide for others is the ultimate expression of the ego and a veiled attempt to tout the vote of the moral majority.

Censorship can be seen everyday, just turn on the news, all we hear is the War in Iraq, what about the rest of the world? All you need to do to see this for yourself is watch the bbc or to read an international newspaper and you will read about what the rest of the world thinks. You will find out what is really happening and that a large number of people do not like American's because they really can't figure out what we are about.

The fact that they/media are ramming the war down our throats is an attempt to legitimize it, and tell us there was no other way. We only get to see what certain individuals deem appropriate. Mark my words that sadly the war in Iraq will go on for many years. More people will die and terrorism and the fanatical fringe will only continue to gain power and recognition. Like if we catch Osama, it will make a difference?. There will be another lunatic ready to fill his sandals and continue the hijacking of religion for personal gain. . The media here in America is so limited and designed to rally public opinion, and even form it.

The government needs to stay out of the bedroom, off my television, out of my record collection, out of libraries, schools and out of my uterus. My life is mine and the choices I make are mine regardless if they are the right or wrong choices.

Thanks for the vent.

P.s. Do you really want to know how I feel?

Best,

LT

[Nickdfresh]

"I love it when you froth (at the mouth)."

"Why you don't kiss my ass!" --To the idiot columnist from The Washington (Moonie) Times.

Zappa in action! He was so fucking intelligent he makes these guys look like clowns! Not that they needed much help.

[Rikk]

Originally posted by tomballin
203948yrw3aa

Who's the girl in the picture?

[Nickdfresh]

Originally posted by Rikk
Who's the girl in the picture?

I'm not sure, but I believe it's his daughter Moonunit.:cool:

[tomballin]

Originally posted by Nickdfresh
I'm not sure, but I believe it's his daughter Moonunit.:cool:

Yelp, it is.

Hey Nickdfresh, speaking of CNN dick reporters, you seen this Diceman video?

Video - Andrew Dice Clay rips apart a CNN interviewer, then walks off the set.

This is just part of the clip, but the CNN-fn prick news clown really deserved what the Diceman gave him. He kept asking Dice stupid questions, questioning Dice's comeback, blah, blah, until Dice finally had enough. Another worthless fuckin news stiff!

Left Click to Play/Right Click to Download (http://media.big-boys.com/files01/diceclay.wmv)

Requirements:
Windows Media Player 9 Series
Most connections and PC’s can handle clip, no problem
Vid Res/File Size/Format: 100Kbps/0.8 MB/wmv 8

--------------
(If I can find it Ted Turner, who started and owned CNN before he sold it, ripped up one of their reporters once, and then walked off the set.)

[LadyTudor2711]

Originally posted by Nickdfresh
I just heard "CNN's Crossfire" is dying. They are taking it off the air as it's own show, and will run it as a segment during other news programs once "dick" Tucker Carlson leaves.

Glad to hear that, now can we get Fox to shit can that Bill O'Riley, arrogant prick.

LT

[Coyote]

Let's try this link (the "Crossfire" show): http://www.ifilm.com/viralvideo?ifilmid=2658805


In quicktime, but no download... sorry.

[tomballin]

Originally posted by Coyote
Let's try this link (the "Crossfire" show): http://www.ifilm.com/viralvideo?ifilmid=2658805

In quicktime, but no download... sorry.

--------------

Frank Zappa Link

I made a custom link to that site, and ported it. Works no problem and much faster:

Windows Media Player 9 Series
200-Kpbs/asf file format/same file size.

Left Click to Play/Right Click to Download (http://69.28.146.167:80/a65/o1/portal/2658805_200.asf)

Note: That site appears clean as to adware/malware crap, etc. from closely checking it, just lots of ad garbage. However, if you are running a ad/pop-up blocker, have your cookies privacy setting too high, or firewall/TCP-IP HOSTS blocking RealOne Players ad network, it will screw-up/stop you from getting a connection or download. Maybe this is your problem, because I am still having no problems with the previous links working, if I don’t have the web protection set too high. Hope this helps…Peace

[tomballin]

Originally posted by LadyTudor2711
Greetings,

Thanks for posting this video link. I remember the hearings and how ridiculous they were. Frank Zappa made the point that the issue is words. People need to understand that it is impossible to debate taste, or that having bad taste is a crime. Who is to decide? The fact that a group of individuals got together and highlighted seven words that are obscene, boggles my mind.

My four favorite foul words are , fuck, cocksucker, cunt and asshole. When I use them, I make my point. Sometimes I scream them at the top of my lungs, even in public when prompted. Can you imagine getting fined or arrested for calling the cab driver that almost ran you over a cocksucker or a prick? Simply because some up-tight individual finds it offensive?

What about words like "murder" or "rape". Each word represents something that society abhors, but they are not considered vulgar words, but what they represent is crimes that are repugnant to most of the world, but these words are not obscene? The last time I checked being an asshole is not a crime it is just a character flaw.

Tipper Gore is a CUNT. I am so glad her ramrod, uptight human statue of a husband did not become our president. He is a prick, so they are a perfect match.

That moron from the Wash Post kept mentioning what the founding fathers had in mind. He claims to know? WTF? His argument was weak and he was clearly dwarfed by Zappa and his responses.

I have always thought of Frank Zappa as an intellectual and a person who was in complete control of himself and knew the kind of music he wanted to create, play, promote and represent. The bottom line is that self-expression is absolute.

If you don't like something don't support it, life is about choices, make your own and let others make theirs. Certain words are vulgar, necessary and wildly expressive, can you imagine telling someone to go and "frick themselves" and you are a "bottomhole". It is just too ridiculous.

There are many things that I see and hear that I don't like or I find disgusting, or tasteless, so I just stop listening or I choose not to support it. For example I find Marilyn Manson do be vulgar and moderately talented, but there are others who idolize him and love his music. Take way his Satanic association and his creepy costumes and he is just another American making a living. Again it is a matter of taste. I just don't buy his records. He is just another person trying to get what they want, it is his manner of doing it that annoys me. However, I still defend his right to express himself.

That is it, the most that any of us can do. Just don't participate. Taste is impossible to litigate and therefore pointless to debate. Just because a group of hypocritical, self-serving individuals think that they are qualified to think and decide for others is the ultimate expression of the ego and a veiled attempt to tout the vote of the moral majority.

Censorship can be seen everyday, just turn on the news, all we hear is the War in Iraq, what about the rest of the world? All you need to do to see this for yourself is watch the bbc or to read an international newspaper and you will read about what the rest of the world thinks. You will find out what is really happening and that a large number of people do not like American's because they really can't figure out what we are about.

The fact that they/media are ramming the war down our throats is an attempt to legitimize it, and tell us there was no other way. We only get to see what certain individuals deem appropriate. Mark my words that sadly the war in Iraq will go on for many years. More people will die and terrorism and the fanatical fringe will only continue to gain power and recognition. Like if we catch Osama, it will make a difference?. There will be another lunatic ready to fill his sandals and continue the hijacking of religion for personal gain. . The media here in America is so limited and designed to rally public opinion, and even form it.

The government needs to stay out of the bedroom, off my television, out of my record collection, out of libraries, schools and out of my uterus. My life is mine and the choices I make are mine regardless if they are the right or wrong choices.

Thanks for the vent.

P.s. Do you really want to know how I feel?

Best,

LT


Excellent, post!! I like people that are not afraid to speak their mind.

>>>P.s. Do you really want to know how I feel?

Yes :-)


Here you go - - --

The American public has no idea the massive mistake the U.S. has made in the Middle East, which is something that I am quite knowledgable. We played right into the terrorists hands and started a 25 - 50 year Holy War, by invading a Holy Mecca Country. WTC 9/11 was a wake up call, over our Middle East policies and the Bush/Saudia Cartel, and Washington didn't get the message.

The longest war in U.S. history was Vietnam/Souteast Asia which killed/injured estimated 8 million+ people, and ripped this Country apart. That war is peanuts compared to what we have gotten into now in the Middle East. Nuff said.

[Denny]

Frank Zappa "OWNED" alot of people in his career in the Music Business. He is the greatest Musician of all time. His Music will live well into the age of slack and beyond.

[secrets]

I loved that clip thanks for posting it.

[secrets]

"I’m writing songs about various tribes that exist in my country and their behaviour, their folklore. I don’t advise anybody to try it. But I’ll tell you this is what they do. This is how they are. It’s anthropology pure and simple."
-Frank Zappa

[tomballin]

Originally posted by secrets
"I’m writing songs about various tribes that exist in my country and their behaviour, their folklore. I don’t advise anybody to try it. But I’ll tell you this is what they do. This is how they are. It’s anthropology pure and simple." -Frank Zappa

God broke the mold when he made Frank. The guy was just on another planet. I had forgotten some of the titles to his albums until I posted the list to this thread. Awesome!

Well off to have a burnt weeny sandwich with lumpy gravy on it and talk about life with Uncle Meat. Smell everyone later.

[generalroth]

Man, i miss Frank Zappa! why do the good one die young?

[flappo]

politicians are all power crazed , lying , fucking hypocrites

[Bill Lumbergh]

Awesome clip and thread. Zappa was truly one of a kind......RIP.

[tomballin]

Originally posted by generalroth
Man, i miss Frank Zappa! why do the good one die young?


Hendrix, Rhodes, Vaughan, Zappa, ....seems like God only puts the greats one on Earth for a short period of time. Something to learn there for sure.

[tomballin]

Originally posted by flappo
politicians are all power crazed , lying , fucking hypocrites

Man, you hit it on the head dude. Be sure and add STUPID to the list, I don't give a shite where they got their formal education that mommy and daddy bought them!

[tomballin]

What's everyones opinion of Sonny Zappa, Dweezil?

[tomballin]

24357w

[tomballin]

Some of Dweezils axes, he also has two Kramer custom EVH Frankenstrats

[tomballin]

46346se

[tomballin]

I have a good video clip (Windows Media Player - wmv format) of Dweezil and Steve Vai trading solos together on stage if anyone is interested. Sonny Zappa is no match for Vai, and looks lost trying to figure out what Steve is doing.

[Nickdfresh]

I saw one of Dweezil's cheesy 80's era video on VH1 Classic the other week. It was kind of amusing, but also kinda' forgettable!

[FORD]

Zappa's statement about America moving towards a fascist theocracy was certainly proven prophetic. 18 years later and we're pretty much there. Wonder what Frank would say about Junior? :(

[4771eddievan]

frank told it like it is. I never got all his music but the man rocked in his won way

[tomballin]

Originally posted by FORD
Zappa's statement about America moving towards a fascist theocracy was certainly proven prophetic. 18 years later and we're pretty much there. Wonder what Frank would say about Junior? :(

I think Frank would kick Junior's ass for being such a slacker and non-producer. Dweezil doesn't do shit compared to what Frank did, yet he clearly has talent.

Not only did Frank put out 60 albums, he produced a number of albums for other major bands, and also played on their albums.

[Denny]

Originally posted by FORD
Zappa's statement about America moving towards a fascist theocracy was certainly proven prophetic. 18 years later and we're pretty much there. Wonder what Frank would say about Junior? :(

Frank Zappa would have TORE APART Jnr. and the whole 9/11 FRAUD.

That's a guaranteed envioroment.

[tomballin]

Dude, don't get me started on that 9/11 shite, and why we got hit, or I will be typing all night.

Yeah, we need people like Frank and some of those ultra smart 60's type radicals, to help bang heads in Washington over what the Bush Family Texas Mafia got this great Country into in the Middle East.

We will spend 30 years digging out of that disaster and invading a Holy Mecca County, and it will make the longest War in U.S. history, being Vietnam/Southeast Asia, look like peanuts.

[Big Troubles]

Originally posted by tomballin
Some of Dweezils axes, he also has two Kramer custom EVH Frankenstrats

pretty sure he plays the EVH Ernie Ball as well.

[tomballin]

Originally posted by Big Troubles
pretty sure he plays the EVH Ernie Ball as well.

Yeah Dwez seems to be really into EVH. Probably like everyone else, I guess I should say WAS............

[tomballin]

You're either real old, or a "student" of music hisory to appreciate this awesome "from the vaults" post.

--------------------

The members of super-group Grand Funk Railroad, with album producer and guitar instrumental contributor (on one song), Frank Zappa, during a "Good Singin’- Good Playin" album session. - February 1976

-------------------------
Good Singin' Good Playin'
(Grand Funk Railroad, LP, MCA 2216, August 9, 1976)

Just Couldn't Wait (Mark Farner)
Can You Do It (Richard Street/Thelma Gordy)
Pass It Around (Mark Farner/Don Brewer)
Don't Let 'Em Take Your Gun (Mark Farner)
Miss My Baby (Mark Farner)
Big Buns (Mark Farner)
Out To Get You (Don Brewer/Craig Frost)
Crossfire (Mark Farner)
1976 (Mark Farner)
Release Your Love (Mark Farner)
Goin' For The Pastor (Mark Farner)
+
Rubberneck (Don Brewer) [CD bonus track]

Produced by Frank Zappa

Basic tracks recorded at The Swamp; engineered by Frank Zappa
Vocals recorded at The Record Plant, L.A.; engineered by Michael Braunstein & Davy Moire
Re-mix at The Record Plant, L.A.; engineered by Frank Zappa

Photography: Gary Heery/Norman Seeff
Design: Norman Seeff

Mark Farner vocals, guitar, piano on "Don't Let 'Em Take Your Gun"
Don Brewer vocals, drums, percussion
Mel Schacher bass, background vocals
Craig Frost keyboards, background vocals
Frank Zappa guitar on "Out To Get You," background vocals on "Rubberneck"

[Big Troubles]

my brother used to listen to Frank Z. all the time. I never was into him much.

[tomballin]

Originally posted by Big Troubles
my brother used to listen to Frank Z. all the time. I never was into him much.

Frank was very much an "acquired taste" to say the least.

[Big Troubles]

First thought when I heard it was "this is fucking weird man". then again I was a youngin'. Maybe 12. Maybe a re-listen will do the trick?

[tomballin]

another very rare photo from 1976, of Zappa working with two GFR members on a trac for the new album.

[Denny]

Originally posted by tomballin
Dude, don't get me started on that 9/11 shite, and why we got hit, or I will be typing all night.

Yeah, we need people like Frank and some of those ultra smart 60's type radicals, to help bang heads in Washington over what the Bush Family Texas Mafia got this great Country into in the Middle East.

We will spend 30 years digging out of that disaster and invading a Holy Mecca County, and it will make the longest War in U.S. history, being Vietnam/Southeast Asia, look like peanuts.

When The Lies So Big - Frank Zappa.

They got lies so big
They don't make a noise
They tell 'em so well
Like a secret disease
That makes you go numb


With a big ol' lie
And a flag and a pie
And a mom and a bible
Most folks are just liable
To buy any line
Any place, any time


When the lie's so big
As in Robertson's case,
(That sinister face
Behind all the Jesus hurrah)


Could result in the end
To a worrisome trend
In which every American
Not "born again"
Could be punished in cruel and unusual ways
By this treacherous cretin
Who tells everyone
That he's Jesus' best friend


When the lie's so big
And the fog gets so thick
And the facts disappear
The Republican Trick
Can be played out again
People, please tell me when
We'll be rid of these men!


Just who do they really
Suppose that they are?
And how did they manage to travel as far
As they seem to have come?
Were we really that dumb?


People, wake up
Figure it out
Religious fanatics
Around and about
The Court House, The State House,
The Congress, The White House


Criminal saints
With a "Heavenly Mission" --
A nation enraptured
By pure superstition


When the lie's so big
And the fog gets so thick
And the facts disappear
The Republican Trick
Can be played out again
People, please tell me when
We'll be rid of these men!

[tomballin]

Wooo, I missed this. Great post!!!....Thanks, TB



Originally posted by Denny
When The Lies So Big - Frank Zappa.

They got lies so big
They don't make a noise
They tell 'em so well
Like a secret disease
That makes you go numb


With a big ol' lie
And a flag and a pie
And a mom and a bible
Most folks are just liable
To buy any line
Any place, any time


When the lie's so big
As in Robertson's case,
(That sinister face
Behind all the Jesus hurrah)


Could result in the end
To a worrisome trend
In which every American
Not "born again"
Could be punished in cruel and unusual ways
By this treacherous cretin
Who tells everyone
That he's Jesus' best friend


When the lie's so big
And the fog gets so thick
And the facts disappear
The Republican Trick
Can be played out again
People, please tell me when
We'll be rid of these men!


Just who do they really
Suppose that they are?
And how did they manage to travel as far
As they seem to have come?
Were we really that dumb?


People, wake up
Figure it out
Religious fanatics
Around and about
The Court House, The State House,
The Congress, The White House


Criminal saints
With a "Heavenly Mission" --
A nation enraptured
By pure superstition


When the lie's so big
And the fog gets so thick
And the facts disappear
The Republican Trick
Can be played out again
People, please tell me when
We'll be rid of these men!

[tomballin]

1987 Guitar World Interview with Frank Zappa

This is another great interview with Frank. It’s very long so I will only post this interesting part.

Full Article Here (http://home.online.no/~corneliu/gw487.htm)

(Part regarding: - Frank off doing other music production things, not playing guitar in two years, and his take on the 80’s market and Eddie Van Halen)


What is all that activity doing to your guitar playing per se---
Haven't touched it in two years.
[There is a brief pause as the interviewers collect what's left of their minds from the floor.]

[You haven't?
[Zappa sits back in his chair, letting this one sink in.]

You don't miss it at all?
Every once in a while... but I don't play a style that is contemporary, you know? I don't do all the 1980s guitar noises. Unfortunately, the audience for guitar playing has a real narrow interest span. If you don't sound like Eddie Van Halen, then apparently you don't actually play guitar any more.

I have no intention of ever sounding like Eddie Van Halen, and, uh, it makes you wonder why you would even bother to play the guitar, because the current audience would listen to it and go, "That's not a guitar. It doesn't go 'wee wee wee wee, wee wee wee wee.'" So why do it?

Dweezil would probably rebut that, what with his own infatuation for Ed Van Halen.

I'm not saying anything against Eddie because I think what he's done for the guitar is wonderful. But the thing that's tragic about the marketplace is that everybody decided that they were all going to do that, and then the competition is not musical. It's gymnastic.

Okay, they say, "I want to sound like Eddie, but in order to be better than Eddie I have to be faster than Eddie." That seems to be the aesthetic operating procedure in the marketplace. Meanwhile, Edward probably sits back and goes, "These guys are really stupid." Because I don't think that's what he had in mind when he developed the style.

It's just like with MTV. MTV has a certain look, because it has a limited pictorial vocabulary. All the videos are made up of certain icons. If you don't work in that vocabulary, then the MTV audience doesn't perceive it as a real video, know what I mean? It's gotta have certain things in it. So, take your pick. You can write hooks and go in there and do that shit, or you can do something else. I decided to do something else.

I'm looking for whatever else is out there. I'm looking for different structures, different sounds, different types of harmonic combinations. Different rhythms.

The guitar ... aside from being busy with other stuff, the reason you put it down two years ago or whatever ... does it not give you that anymore? Because I personally--and a lot of our readers--love your guitar sound. To me that always meant your personal voice within whatever music we were hearing. If you had the band going precision and precise ... but when you hit the guitar solo, it was not precise at all. It was something transcendent, something out.

It's another vegetable. The problem is, most of the best stuff that I will physically be able to do on the guitar is already on tape. You just haven't heard it yet. I mean, I don't have much incentive to play it. I don't have any callouses anymore. I can still think guitar. But to physically manipulate it, I would have to go back in and woodshed for months on end just to be able to do it.

For what? There's really no audience for it. Which is not to say that there's a great audience for this new digital stuff either, but I have more incentive to work on this, because it leads to other more interesting things than to sit in there and practice the guitar.

Because even when I was playing the guitar I didn't practice. You know? When I was on the road I would do an hour a day before the show, but, I've never been one of those guys ... Dweezil practices non-stop, day in, day out.

[tomballin]

Awesome Master Library Of Frank Zappa Articles.

You want to know and study Frank Zappa, this is the place for great articles.

“Here” (http://home.online.no/~corneliu/interviews.htm)

Here’s the list of Frank Zappa articles:
The New York Times: December 25, 1966
Frank Zappa interview by Frank Kofsky: 1967
Zappa and the Mothers "Ugly Can Be Beautiful": 1968
In Person: The Mothers of Invention: 1968
Rolling Stone: April 27, 1968
Hit Parader: June 1968
Life Magazine: June 28, 1968
Rolling Stone: October 18, 1969
Hit Parader: April 1970
German TV: June 19, 1970
Rolling Stone: July 9, 1970
Stereo Review article by Frank Zappa: June 1971
Frank Zappa's 200 Motels Q&A: 1971
Life Magazine: September 24, 1971
Interview with Martin Perlich: 1972
Down Beat Magazine: September 13, 1973
Melody Maker: January 4, 1974
COQ - Dialogue Frank Zappa: February 1974
Hustler - Frank Zappa's Got Brand New Shoes: August 1974
Frank Zappa: 'Frenk! Frenk! Ees Aynsley playeeng?': October 5, 1974
"Suosikki" Magazine: August 1976
Guitar Player Article: January 1977
Guitar Player Interview: January 1977
Primo Times: December 1977
Interview with Jerry Kay: 1978
Down Beat Magazine: May 18, 1978
Stereo Review: April 1979
Relix Magazine: November 1979
Trouser Press: February 1980
High Times: March 1980
Keyboard Magazine: 1980
Down Beat Magazine November 21, 1981
Guitar World: March 1982
Interview with Co de Kloet: May 16, 1982
Guitar Player Magazine: November 1982
Guitar Player Magazine: February, 1983
Hustler Magazine: January 1984
Interview #1 from The Frank Zappa Interview Picture Disk: Summer 1984
Interview #2 from The Frank Zappa Interview Picture Disk: Summer 1984
Digital Audio: October/November 1984
RockBill Magazine: November 1984
WRIF radio interview: October 28, 1985
Guitar Player: June 1986
Rolling Stone: November 6, 1986
Frank Zappa in Progressive Magazine: November 1986
New Perspectives Quarterly: 1987
Guitar Player, "Zappa & Son": January 1987
Option Magazine: January/February 1987
Keyboard Magazine: February 1987
Guitar World, 'Zappa's Inferno': April 1987
Los Angeles Times: June 12, 1987
The Howard Stern Show: Summer 1987
Music Magazine: July 2, 1987
Rolling Stone: 1988
Society Pages: August 1988
Bob Marshall: October 22, 1988
Goldmine: January 27, 1989
Fresh Air with Terry Gross: June 6,1989
The Today Show: June 7, 1989
Q Interview: December 1989
Continental Profiles: 1990
The Nation: March 19, 1990
Billboard Magazine: May 19, 1990
Interview from Society Pages #7: January 1991
Spin Magazine: July 1991
Telos Magazine: Spring 1991
Musician: 'Poetic Justice': November 1991
Music Express Magazine: January 1992
Frank Zappa interview by Jon Winokur:1992
The Mother of All Interviews (part 1 of 2)-1992
The Mother of All Interviews (part 2 of 2)-1992
Los Angeles Times: October 1, 1992
BBC Television Tribute: 1993
Interview by Nigel Leigh: 1993
Playboy: May 2, 1993
The Guardian Weekend: May 15, 1993
Guitarist Magazine: June 1993
Cutting Edge Interview: August 1993
Pulse! Magazine by Dan Ouellette: August, 1993
Interview by Ben Watson: October 1993
FZ Obituary from the L.A. Times: December 7, 1993
The Irish Times: December 10, 1993
EQ magazine: March 1994
Guitar Player: March 1994
FZ Obituary from "Q": April 1994
Guitar Player: October 1995
The Aquarian: October/November 1995
Guitar Hernia (bootleg liner notes) by Frank Zappa

[freak]

Originally posted by Big Troubles
First thought when I heard it was "this is fucking weird man". then again I was a youngin'. Maybe 12. Maybe a re-listen will do the trick?

Yes, it will. There's some real genius in that stuff. He was a brilliant musician.

[Denny]

Originally posted by tomballin
Awesome Master Library Of Frank Zappa Articles.

You want to know and study Frank Zappa, this is the place for great articles.

“Here” (http://home.online.no/~corneliu/interviews.htm)

Here’s the list of Frank Zappa articles:
The New York Times: December 25, 1966
Frank Zappa interview by Frank Kofsky: 1967
Zappa and the Mothers "Ugly Can Be Beautiful": 1968
In Person: The Mothers of Invention: 1968
Rolling Stone: April 27, 1968
Hit Parader: June 1968
Life Magazine: June 28, 1968
Rolling Stone: October 18, 1969
Hit Parader: April 1970
German TV: June 19, 1970
Rolling Stone: July 9, 1970
Stereo Review article by Frank Zappa: June 1971
Frank Zappa's 200 Motels Q&A: 1971
Life Magazine: September 24, 1971
Interview with Martin Perlich: 1972
Down Beat Magazine: September 13, 1973
Melody Maker: January 4, 1974
COQ - Dialogue Frank Zappa: February 1974
Hustler - Frank Zappa's Got Brand New Shoes: August 1974
Frank Zappa: 'Frenk! Frenk! Ees Aynsley playeeng?': October 5, 1974
"Suosikki" Magazine: August 1976
Guitar Player Article: January 1977
Guitar Player Interview: January 1977
Primo Times: December 1977
Interview with Jerry Kay: 1978
Down Beat Magazine: May 18, 1978
Stereo Review: April 1979
Relix Magazine: November 1979
Trouser Press: February 1980
High Times: March 1980
Keyboard Magazine: 1980
Down Beat Magazine November 21, 1981
Guitar World: March 1982
Interview with Co de Kloet: May 16, 1982
Guitar Player Magazine: November 1982
Guitar Player Magazine: February, 1983
Hustler Magazine: January 1984
Interview #1 from The Frank Zappa Interview Picture Disk: Summer 1984
Interview #2 from The Frank Zappa Interview Picture Disk: Summer 1984
Digital Audio: October/November 1984
RockBill Magazine: November 1984
WRIF radio interview: October 28, 1985
Guitar Player: June 1986
Rolling Stone: November 6, 1986
Frank Zappa in Progressive Magazine: November 1986
New Perspectives Quarterly: 1987
Guitar Player, "Zappa & Son": January 1987
Option Magazine: January/February 1987
Keyboard Magazine: February 1987
Guitar World, 'Zappa's Inferno': April 1987
Los Angeles Times: June 12, 1987
The Howard Stern Show: Summer 1987
Music Magazine: July 2, 1987
Rolling Stone: 1988
Society Pages: August 1988
Bob Marshall: October 22, 1988
Goldmine: January 27, 1989
Fresh Air with Terry Gross: June 6,1989
The Today Show: June 7, 1989
Q Interview: December 1989
Continental Profiles: 1990
The Nation: March 19, 1990
Billboard Magazine: May 19, 1990
Interview from Society Pages #7: January 1991
Spin Magazine: July 1991
Telos Magazine: Spring 1991
Musician: 'Poetic Justice': November 1991
Music Express Magazine: January 1992
Frank Zappa interview by Jon Winokur:1992
The Mother of All Interviews (part 1 of 2)-1992
The Mother of All Interviews (part 2 of 2)-1992
Los Angeles Times: October 1, 1992
BBC Television Tribute: 1993
Interview by Nigel Leigh: 1993
Playboy: May 2, 1993
The Guardian Weekend: May 15, 1993
Guitarist Magazine: June 1993
Cutting Edge Interview: August 1993
Pulse! Magazine by Dan Ouellette: August, 1993
Interview by Ben Watson: October 1993
FZ Obituary from the L.A. Times: December 7, 1993
The Irish Times: December 10, 1993
EQ magazine: March 1994
Guitar Player: March 1994
FZ Obituary from "Q": April 1994
Guitar Player: October 1995
The Aquarian: October/November 1995
Guitar Hernia (bootleg liner notes) by Frank Zappa

The Bob Marshall Interview from 1988 is Zappa's greatest Interview.

[Denny]

Everybody should own "The Real Frank Zappa Book"

[tomballin]

Originally posted by Denny
Everybody should own "The Real Frank Zappa Book"

Yelp

[tomballin]

Frank Zappa's Bands
------------------------
The Mothers Of Invention - Frank Zappa (g), Motorhead Sherwood (s), Bunk Gardner (w,s), Art Tripp (d), Jimmy Carl Black (d), Jim Sherwood (w,s)

Frank Zappa 1974 - Frank Zappa (g), Napoleon Murphy Brock (w,s), Ruth Underwood (p), Chester Thompson (d), Ralph Humphrey (d), Tom Fowler (b), Bruce Fowler (t)

Frank Zappa 1979 - Frank Zappa (g), Adrian Belew (g), Peter Wolfe (k), Tommy Mars (k), Patrick O'Hearn (b), Ed Mann (p), Terry Bozzio (d)

Frank Zappa 1982 - Frank Zappa (g), Ray White (g), Steve Vai (g), Scott Thunes (b), Ed Mann (p), Chad Wackerman (d), Bobby Martin (k), Allan Zavod (k)

[diamond den™]

Originally posted by tomballin
Frank Zappa's Bands
------------------------
The Mothers Of Invention - Frank Zappa (g), Motorhead Sherwood (s), Bunk Gardner (w,s), Art Tripp (d), Jimmy Carl Black (d), Jim Sherwood (w,s)

Frank Zappa 1974 - Frank Zappa (g), Napoleon Murphy Brock (w,s), Ruth Underwood (p), Chester Thompson (d), Ralph Humphrey (d), Tom Fowler (b), Bruce Fowler (t)

Frank Zappa 1979 - Frank Zappa (g), Adrian Belew (g), Peter Wolfe (k), Tommy Mars (k), Patrick O'Hearn (b), Ed Mann (p), Terry Bozzio (d)

Frank Zappa 1982 - Frank Zappa (g), Ray White (g), Steve Vai (g), Scott Thunes (b), Ed Mann (p), Chad Wackerman (d), Bobby Martin (k), Allan Zavod (k)

FRANK ZAPPA was, is and always will be the GREATEST Musician of all time.

http://www.science.uva.nl/~robbert/zappa/files/jpg/200_Motels.jpg

:)

[Full Bug]

ITS ABOUT WORDS!
The video clip was very interesting, Zappa came across very well informed in this, very cool....

[tomballin]

Here's one for any members with extra dough after their R.A. donations.

This guitar was given to Frank Zappa by Jimi Hendrix... and was played by both of them.

http://www.zappa.com/dweezil/

Hey Deez is only asking a cool million for this burnt gtar.

[tomballin]

234wr

[tomballin]

I screwed up that Hendrix/Zappa Guitar Link:

Here's the Direct Link & Pics (http://www.zappa.com/dweezil/hendrix_gtr.html)


Tell ya, the more I read about Dweezil, the more I think the guy is worthless.

[Denny]

Originally posted by tomballin
Here's one for any members with extra dough after their R.A. donations.

This guitar was given to Frank Zappa by Jimi Hendrix... and was played by both of them.

http://www.zappa.com/dweezil/

Hey Deez is only asking a cool million for this burnt gtar.

What do you think of the 200 Motels Movie?????

[tomballin]

Thought I would cross post this here in the Zappa thread, from my AC/DC thread in the Download Forum:

Video: AC/DC's Frontman Brian Johnson calls Tipper Gore a Twit -1986
Same PMRC hearings that I posted in the Frank Zappa thread
AC/DC was also a censorship target by this bitch and her committee.

Here (http://acdcfrance1973.free.fr/ACDC-BrianCallsTipperGoreaTwit.mpg)

[tomballin]

1/30/05 - I am a big Johnny Carson (RIP) fan, and with his passing one week ago people have been sending me cool videos and stuff.

I received this 1986 video of Carson interviewing Frank Zappa. Like the Crossfire video, Frank is making the talk show rounds, (for the first time in his life) following his Senate PMRC hearing testimony.

This is an awesome video, imo, to watch these two legends together. One it shows you why Carson was so great in his interviewing style, and again Frank was brilliant.

Frank Zappa, Guest
The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson
April 3rd, 1986

Left Click to Watch/Right Click to Download (http://www.ericnp.net/carson_zappa.mov)

Requires QuickTime Player / *.mov file
File: 10.0 MB / 8.31 minutes
Quality: Good / Res: 325 Kbps

[Hardrock69]

I watched the Crossfire with Frank Zappa last night.

That fucking fat asshole that kept hammering him about :incest" ought to be shot!!!

FUCK THAT MOTHERFUCKER!!!
:mad:

I laughed like hell when Frank told him "KISS MY ASS!!!"

:D

[tomballin]

Both videos Frank is the Man!

Here ya go: - Steve Vai

Before playing with David Lee Roth, which Steve has always said Dave really put “on the map” and launched his mainstream career, Steve played with the legendary Frank Zappa. (RIP)

Here is a couple of exclusive Roth Army very rare pics of young Vai playing with Frank. Steve was the youngest member to ever be asked to join the Zappa ranks, personally by Frank, at the age of nineteen. Steve’s got some great stories of his Zappa days.

The first year with Frank, Vai said he was scared to death, and that first year was not easy plowing for young Steve, working and learning under Frank. Zappa really leaned all over Vai, almost not taking him on the road their first Tour together.

I remembering reading that an associate got really mad at Frank for leaning on Steve too hard. Zappa felt really bad, cause he didn’t realize he was being such an ahole. Frank was such a musical genius and perfectionist, he would get lost in his own self-driven warp many times.

[tomballin]

Steve Vai - 19 yo playing with the legend Frank Zappa

Look at that fret tappin, go lil' Stevie, go

[tomballin]

Production and Live Vids

(Also see Bootleg Corner for more vids in both the Zappa and Steve Vai thread)

Windows Media Player / wmv / High Quality - 450Kbps
(I also have 1000 Kbps res for all these)

Left Click to Play/Right Click to Download

Thing Fish
He's So Gay (Live)- 2:42 Min (mms://213.132.96.108/Archive/01GV023930_450.wmv)

Them or Us
Be In My Video (Live) - 3:41 min (mms://213.132.96.108/Archive/01GV023100_450.wmv)

Zappa Picks, By Larry LaLonde of Primus
You Are What You Is - 4:20 min (mms://213.132.96.108/Archive/01GV023500_450.wmv)

The Zappa Album
G-spot Tornado - 3:12 (mms://213.132.96.108/Archive/01GV022730_450.wmv)

Peaches En Regalia
Threesome No. 2 - 3:37 min (mms://213.132.96.108/Archive/01GV024230_450.wmv)

[BITEYOASS]

Originally posted by tomballin
another very rare photo from 1976, of Zappa working with two GFR members on a trac for the new album.

"Good singin, good playin" That was GFR's last album and requested to have Frank Zappa produce it. The album didn't receive much airplay but for the first time, GFR receive good reviews from the critics. And this was from a band who's reviews were so low, that they made KISS look like Bob Dylan. But who really gives a rats ass what the dicks at Rolling Stone think.

[ANDYVANHATCHER]

FRANK ZAPPA WAS COOL, STRANGE MUSICAL INTERVALS AND OPERATIC VISUALS.

CHECK OUT PACIFIC HEIGHTS THE BAND TOURING SOON

http://www.webspawner.com/users/andyhatcherher/index.html

[spmusicplyr]

this thread is golden