Dear ZFT…

Need anything more be said? Tip of the hat to Birdman! Chirp, chirp.

About urbangraffito

I am a writer, editor, publisher, philosopher, and foole (not necessarily in that order). Cultural activist and self-described anarchist.
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17 Responses to Dear ZFT…

  1. OhTay says:

    I am a myspace user, and have FZ as a ‘friend’. I have just used the bulletin feature to post the below message. If you agree, please send a friend request with an enclosed message that just says KUR, I think maybe I can get through. My URL: http://www.myspace.com/flywithnowings
    Here’s my bulletin:
    Gail Zappa Loves Censorship

    This is in response to the fact that the forums at zappa dot com have been rendered useless. I find this absolutely hilarious, since this has all to do with Gail, or should I call her Adelaide, not wanting to hear the backlash of fans that don’t support her recent decisions. What are these decisions, you might ask? Well, the overwhelming example is the fact that she has begun suing blogs and personal websites of fans of Frank, as well as festivals that Frank endorsed while alive, and just basically crapping on Ike Willis after Frank told him to keep the music alive.

    You see, the forums at zappa dot com were the avenue that fans could take to possibly get a word into the family, and whether that word is kind or not shouldn’t matter, since Frank stood for FREE SPEECH NO MATTER WHAT!!!!!!!! For Adelaide to shut down the forums means she doesn’t at all believe or endorse what her own husband was about. Gail has crapped on the First Amendment, and expects us to just take it.

    Well, not me, friends. In keeping with Frank’s vision and policies/politics, I now encourage all of you to write the ZFT. If you are interested in where to send your well-thought out, carefully worded, non-hate filled message, please respond and I will give the pertinent information.

    Remember, this is NOT some hate campaign, it is simply the voice of the fans being heard.

    In reality, I would like to assemble a letter, that we could all sign, to send to the family. We should collaborate with each other to use the best possible language and dialogue, wording and so forth. NO HATE!! Just honesty from fans. Hey, maybe she’ll sue us for sending her an unsolicited letter! To which we would counter-sue on the grounds of open and fair dialogue.

    If you are as much of a fan of Frank as I am, please take a moment to, if nothing else, send a message of disappointment to the Zappa Myspace page.

    http://www. myspace. com/frankzappa

    Frank stood for free speech, and so should we.
    *****
    Barry, great respect for what you did and are doing. I fully support you over ZFT. I hope we can change this foolishness.

  2. Balint says:

    Hi OhTay!
    I understand most of your letter, but what do you mean by that:

    [quote post=”157″]For Adelaide to shut down the forums [/quote]

    Well, the zappa doc com’s forums ARE strange place, but they are not shut down… One might not like them, but they work – the way they always did. Hm?…
    (There was a time when the zpz forums disappeared, but they are back again.)

  3. OhTay says:

    I just left the website(z.com) and wasn’t able to access the forums at all. All of the other categories are clickable, but not that one. If you have a link to the forums, I would appreciate it.
    I would also like to know if anyone else out there is having the same problem.

  4. urbangraffito says:

    Being a BIG cheerleader for Kill Ugly Radio, let me say this: one thing that KUR has had over zap.com is consistency. While zap.com has constantly said one thing, then done another (heard F.Z’s words, then ignored them, for instance), KUR has always done what it aimed to do, and be what it aimed to be: a free-spirited community for fans…

    That Barry, what a guy!
    (And Sharleena, too!).

  5. OhTay says:

    Well, crap! I guess the link at the ‘other’ site just doesnt work for me. Hmmmm. Now I feel like an ass.
    Yeah, yeah, dont say it………..

  6. bernard says:

    Yes, Urb., as just another cheerleader, I would say: very tolerant blog, enabling opinions from various angles. Putting things together in a cosy, well made way. A both funny & serious way.

    As for the FZ jazz connection. Did you notice : Vinnie Colaiuta is now the drummer of the Herbie Hancock band. Together with other jazz music legends like Dave Holland & Chris Potter.
    And, yes, they will be performing in the Stravinsky Hall, Montreux Jazz Festival, on 14th July, it’s a tribute to Quincy Jones.
    That sort of bridge crossing things, overlooking genres, that’s what I truly like.

  7. Randy says:

    Not to go off topic or anything, but when did Chris Potter become a “Jazz legend?”

  8. bernard says:

    Another one, just as nobody is able to se the end of the FZ story?

    My guess is that FZ music will – in the future- be performed by- amongst others- choirs.
    Why not? People, youngsters, performing it while just singing together. The happy musical way.

    Over here in Be. there’s for instance the scalachoir.com . They’ve mixed it all. Right now they focus on the compositions of the choir leadrer, the Kolacny Brothers.

    However meanwhile in the US, an initiative announcing new times & understandings: choralcds.org/cc8.htm.

  9. bernard says:

    Randy, because he’s truly good. The humble way.
    I saw / heared him playing many times. He can play music. He’s a musician.
    A very good musician. Ok accordong to my humble opinion/ taste.
    According to critics wisdom Dave Holland , another great one, is more important. Happens to be the case, historically speaking. And, yes, they’re right .

    ” Legend” happens to be a label, a sort of diploma awarded by music critics.
    Who are those self declared geniuses? People like you & me, people who proved to be bad musicians , not that musical & thus : started writing ’bout music, isnt’ it?

  10. bernard says:

    By the way, Urban, C. Potter happens to be a Canadian.

  11. urbangraffito says:

    For general information, (Joseph) Chris Potter, tenor saxophonist, grew up in Columbia, South Carolina before moving on to New York. Not to be mistaken with Chris Potter, actor, who grew up in Toronto.

  12. xorg says:

    This started off as a post linking to Steve Vai playing Go F**k Yourself, Bernard.

  13. Birdman! says:

    Which reminds me, xorg, for a long time I used to go to bed early. Sometimes, when I had put out my candle, my eyes would close so quickly that I had not even time to say “I’m going to sleep.” And half an hour later the thought that it was time to go to sleep would awaken me; I would try to put away the book which, I imagined, was still in my hands, and to blow out the light; I had been thinking all the time, while I was asleep, of what I had just been reading, but my thoughts had run into a channel of their own, until I myself seemed actually to have become the subject of my book: a church, a quartet, the rivalry between FZ and the PMRC or Warner Brothers. This impression would persist for some moments after I was awake; it did not disturb my mind, but it lay like scales upon my eyes and prevented them from registering the fact that the candle was no longer burning. Then it would begin to seem unintelligible, as the thoughts of Frank Zappa must be to a discorporate spirit; the subject of my book would separate itself from me, leaving me free to choose whether I would form part of it or no; and at the same time my sight would return and I would be astonished to find myself in a state of darkness, pleasant and restful enough for the eyes, and even more, perhaps, for my mind, to which it appeared incomprehensible, without a cause, a matter dark indeed.

  14. AF Harrold says:

    Come out of the cork-lined room now, Birdman!, and put down the petit madeleine…

    😉

  15. Paul Sempschi says:

    hmm, the video is no longer available…

  16. urbangraffito says:

    [quote comment=”1460″]hmm, the video is no longer available…[/quote]

    Kind of proves the point that you’ve got to experience Kill Ugly Radio while the iron is still hot before a particular censor (we all know the name of) contacts the folks at YouTube to have said video removed…

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