Mystery Zappa Album Poster

9illustrations wants to know:

The original uploader Farbror Sid is not sure what Zappa album this poster, by Dave McMacken, came with. Anybody? I’ve been looking around on the web for a while and I can’t find this poster or any references to it. Maybe it’s very rare in real life too. I seems it’s a Mothers (of Invention?) jubilee and I’m counting six candles.

Here’s the poster in question (click to enlarge see the full poster):

Zappa poster - click for full image

Heh, well I was about to ask you guys, but one visit to the wiki identified the above as… a 1974 Christmas card. All hail The Mighty Wiki! The folding creases in the image however do suggest that this illustration was also printed in a poster format… and possibly shipped with an album?

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20 Responses to Mystery Zappa Album Poster

  1. Virgil Proudfoot says:

    I believe it was a 1974 tour poster, not associated with any particular album.

  2. Roscoe Bledsoe says:

    Ah, my favorite year for live Zappa!
    I like the “I Quit” blurb from Ruth.
    Nice candles burning on top of Chester’s and Bruce Fowler’s heads.
    (This must have been around the time of the ’10th Anniversary Tour’, since there’s still two drummers and Ruth did sit out this short tour.)

  3. Propellerkuh says:

    Hey, BTW: I am still looking for a decent (best) resolution picture of Frank with You-know-her-all Claudia Cardinale. There are two versions of pics from that shooting, some reproductions of them as paintings on a wall in some cafe in CZ or Hungary but that’s it. Has someone a fine scan of that picture?
    Thanx for a help

  4. SOFA - Philostopher/Chef says:

    I believe you refer to an old KUR Logo… But I could be wrong.
    I’ve got the jpeg somewhere – just don’t know where right now and I’m not sure of the res…

  5. freddy says:

    My guess is that it came with the Roxy and Elsewhere LP judging from the inclusion on Jeff Simmons on the poster

  6. Rob says:

    Can’t make out the speech bubble shown on the lower left side of the poster, & it’s not in the Wiki picture…what does it say?

  7. Paul Sempschi says:

    hmm, cant tell but it is Jean Luc Ponty… dig the ghostly images of exMothers in the background. See how Don Preston is filled in? I’m thinking Roxy tour too. Also, 7 candles by my count.

  8. [quote comment=”2651″]Hey, BTW: I am still looking for a decent (best) resolution picture of Frank with You-know-her-all Claudia Cardinale.[/quote]

    [quote comment=”2652″]I believe you refer to an old KUR Logo… But I could be wrong.
    I’ve got the jpeg somewhere – just don’t know where right now and I’m not sure of the res…[/quote]

    Aah, you mean this. I used to have a pretty decent jpg of that image – not anymore though. Your best bet would be searching Google Images. (BTW, here’s some more KUR nostalgia for the ol’ folk…)

  9. Roscoe Bledsoe says:

    Sorry, you guys are wrong. The candles represent the ’10th Anniversary’ designation/celebration. That’s why Zappa is saying “established in 1964”. Pictured from left are: Chester, Tom Fowler, Bruce Fowler (just a little bit of little Bruce at the bottom lower left with the candle on his head), Ruth (with “two big teeth” saying “I Quit”), FZ, Napoleon, George Duke, and Ralphie “little feet” Humphrey at the lower bottom right.
    SHEEESH!!!
    (no wonder you guys like the 80’s material…ugh)

  10. Roscoe Bledsoe says:

    oops, i didn’t enlarge it, but you get the idea–if you do you see Simmons and Don Preston–all part of the short 10th anniversary tour.
    (JLP is not pictured.)

  11. [quote comment=”2662″]oops, i didn’t enlarge it, but you get the idea–if you do you see Simmons and Don Preston–all part of the short 10th anniversary tour.
    (JLP is not pictured.)[/quote]
    Roscoe: Jean-Luc Ponty is pictured (if not prominently) — top left of the “RZZZ” blurb, right underneath the speech bubble which is itself unfortunately unreadable. Take a closer look…

    Thanks for your responses so far guys! 🙂

  12. Roscoe Bledsoe says:

    Ah, thanks Barry–now i see, my apologies! (can’t hardly see his blurb, but judging from his “ghostly” pained expression, he must be saying something like I can’t work with Zappa, I quit, he won’t give me any writing credits, etc..)

    still feel that this was definitely a poster that came with the 10th Anniversary tour book

    (don’t worry no more posts from me on this one!)

  13. [quote comment=”2666″]Ah, thanks Barry–now i see, my apologies![/quote]
    Hey no need to apologize 🙂

    [quote comment=”2666″]still feel that this was definitely a poster that came with the 10th Anniversary tour book[/quote]
    Out of curiousity (I was three years old back in ’74, pardon my ignorance): how was this “Anniversary tour book” issued/released? Was it one of those “had to be at the concert” sales — much the way a lot of stuff is sold exclusively at ZPZ venues?

    [quote comment=”2666″](don’t worry no more posts from me on this one!)[/quote]
    Oh but I, for one, am interested! Post away.

  14. Propellerkuh says:

    [quote post=”543″]Aah, you mean this. I used to have a pretty decent jpg of that image – not anymore though.[/quote]
    Thanks, yes Barry, thats it, the one on the top right. And here a scaled-down version (www.quertzkuh.org/herman/daten/fz_und_CCardinale.jpg) I too have a decent res pic but it could be better and mine is third gen at least.
    As for the Christmas Poster: I remember it being shown in a window in a record shop in Vienna at a time when some Zappa records were especially rare; Lumpy Gravy eg was nowhere to get. And this guy I asked about the poster was a friend of someone who was involved in managing the concerts for the Zappa tours in Vienna. Yummy!

  15. Propellerkuh says:

    [quote post=”543″](www.quertzkuh.org/herman/daten/fz_und_CCardinale.jpg)[/quote]
    Sorry, should be http://www.quertzkuh.org/hermann/daten/fz_und_CCardinale.jpg

  16. Roscoe Bledsoe says:

    Barry’s Imaginary Publisher says:

    [quote post=”543″]Out of curiousity (I was three years old back in ‘74, pardon my ignorance): how was this “Anniversary tour book” issued/released? Was it one of those “had to be at the concert” sales — much the way a lot of stuff is sold exclusively at ZPZ venues?[/quote]

    actually, i meant program, not book, yes i would assume it was part of the ‘souvenir’ type stuff sold at the actual concerts. Now, i haven’t seen this particular program so i could be wrong about all this, but it was very common for the souvenir programs from this time to include a page or section (or the whole thing) that could be folded out into a mini-poster that the attendee could hang on his or her “lonely teenage wall”. (I do remember a few myself that i bought from concerts in the late seventies.)
    Plus i believe Walt Fowler is pictured also, so this doesn’t have anything to do with the Roxy & Elsewhere record/tour. It had to be created during the 10th anniversary tour time–maybe for that tour program, or maybe something to be used at a later date(?)

  17. Farbror Sid says:

    The speech bubble shown on the lower left are made by me only for the blogimage and it’s in swedish, the bubble are not on the original poster… thank you for trying to solve my “problem”
    http://farbror-sid.se/b/posts/view/491/

    /Uncle Sid

  18. Rob says:

    OK, but I’d still like to know what it says!

  19. xorg says:

    The poster appears as one of the photos on Napoleon Murphy Brock’s website. He could probably supply the information you’re looking for…

  20. I AM THE ILLUSTRATOR…IT IS A POSTER, PROMOTING FRANK’S 10TH ANNIVERSARY. I DON’T KNOW OF ANY OTHER USAGE., SHOWING THE PRESENT AND PAST MOTHERS. FRANK WANTED IT DONE…SO IT WAS.

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