The man at the right there
with the guitar and the cigarette is Frank
Vincent Zappa (December 21, 1940-December 4, 1993). He was
an original composer whose work spanned from jazz to classical to rock
and in general defies categorization. He ignored the distinctions
between high-brow and popular music and left behind a legacy of over 60
albums (most available on Rykodisc).
As a musician, he made a name for himself as an incendiary guitarist and
tireless performer. He was also a satirist for whom no cow was sacred
and no ox to be left un-gored.
I first encountered his music at the tender and
impressionable age of 16. At that point in my life something in me
resonated with the work of this extraordinary artist. Over the next
30 years, I have continued to listen and resonate until I reached my current
level of maturity and sheer perversity!
In the popular mind, he is perhaps best known for
music that is bawdy, even obscene, and thoroughly incomprehensible.
Well, what do you expect from the 'popular mind?' The neat thing
about the 'popular mind' is that it gets made up without the intervention
of intellect! Isn't that cool? It means that most peoples'
minds are made up for them. Now that's a real labor saving device,
eh?
Frank died in his home on December 4, 1993 after
a long illness. Tyrants, religious fundamentalists, politicians and
small minded individuals of every race, creed, nationality, species
and planet of origin rejoiced. I don't mind admitting that I wept
and that even though I doubt he would welcome it, I pray for his soul every
night.
All humanity has been palpably impoverished by
the loss of this singular, creative, and original mind. |
 Check
out some of these links dealing with the life and work of Frank Zappa:
Loathsome Frank Zappa World
Wide Web Links
Zappa Lyrics
Come to the Zappa Chat Room!
1972 Interview
Guitar World interview
1982
FRANK ZAPPA on Everything
Here is a very long 1987 interview
with Frank conducted by some Canadian sycophants that covers a broad range
of subjects from politics to art to time travel to sex to MUSIC and just
about everything in between. Plan to spend some time with this. It's worth
reading.
Frank Zappa Interview
in Playboy, May 5, 1993.
Want to know what Frank said to Congress
about the Parent's Music Resource Center, censorship, and rating of records?
How about some REVIEWS?
Articles
and Interviews with FRANK up the grand wazoo! (courtesy of St.
Alpnozo's Pancake Breakfast)
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