Category Archives: Zappa Articles

FZShows v. 7.1

Under the highly competent maintainance of Oscar Bianco, the document has undergone some Massive Improve’lence, and FZShows v. 7.1 is now to be found [in a new place, under zappateers]. Make sure to update your links and bookmarks! FZShows v. … Continue reading

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Zappa University

Every summer for the last seven years, Arthur Barrow has served as a valuable resource in Joseph Klein’s classroom, where Klein immerses UNT students in the world of Frank Zappa — from the music of The Mothers of Invention to … Continue reading

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Touring Can Make You Crazy

Adrian Belew continues to publish amazing anecdotes on his Elephant Blog. Take anecdote #37 which he dubs The Fourth Day Of My Professional Touring Life. In it, he tells the tale of FZ’s “then-new” tour manager Ron Nehoda: the morning … Continue reading

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Mad Scientists

Any article that starts off by stating that “Every artform, and every genre within a given artform, needs its Frank Zappa” is sure to provide an interesting read. Another quote: Even when attempting to encompass the whole world in a … Continue reading

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Elektronikus Don Quijote

Major kudos to Our Man In The East, Balint, for having contributed to the Hungarian translation of Neil Slaven’s Electric Don Quixote — on sale now!

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Anecdote #464 (Scene One)

it begins in late 1977 in the basement of frank zappa’s hollywood home. it’s a saturday and as usual I’m learning the material for next week’s rehearsals. being the only “non-reader” in the band this was a common way for … Continue reading

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Zappa In The Netherlands

Paul Berkholst was asked to start a Zappa weblog on the Dutch Radio 6 channel’s website. He just dropped me a note requesting a little plug on KUR, and I’m more than happy to oblige. Head on over to zappa.radio6.nl … Continue reading

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Smart Diva

Just read a nice little article over at the wiki. A quote: One day Diva refused to go to school. In fact, she refused to leave her room. Gail spent quite some time trying to persuade the obstinate child to … Continue reading

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A Lesson For Zappa

What would happen if FZ had a lecture from Edgar Varèse? EV: I must confess that my favorite rock song you did was “What’s the ugliest part of your body? [Here Edgard stands up, grabs an imaginary microphone, adapts a … Continue reading

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Reviewing A To Z

Disclaimer: this page is not written by from the point of view of a Frank Zappa fanatic and is not generally intended for narrow-perspective Frank Zappa fanatics. If you are deeply offended by criticism, non-worshipping approach to your favourite artist, … Continue reading

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Margarita Fridays

Rip Rense wrote an interesting account of the “salon evenings” that were held at Zappa’s house near the end of his life, and of how they came to be: At Gail Zappa’s behest, the blenders roared every Friday evening about … Continue reading

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Meeting Zappa

Two college kids get to interview FZ. Exciting! All goes moderately well, and then… Frank held the album with both hands and glared at it with his beady, black eyes. Clouds of what looked like dry ice vapor seemed to … Continue reading

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Mo ‘n Herb’s Vacation

I was listening with my girlfriend to a recording of Frank Zappa’s orchestral piece Mo ‘n Herb’s Vacation when she suddenly asked a very interesting question: “Why did he write this?”

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Halloween Bound

Experts to unmask spooky goings-on: ECCENTRIC rock legend Frank Zappa, zombies and the spookiest day of the year will be explored at an international conference. Among the topics to be discussed will be the Halloween Zappa concerts, which took place … Continue reading

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The Preston-Disney Connection

An interview with Don Preston, who just turned 74. On how his love for dissonance came to be: “When I was a kid, I saw Fantasia. Like 25 times. My favorite part was the dinosaurs, and behind them was Stravinsky’s … Continue reading

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