Laurel Fishman

In The Real Frank Zappa Book Zappa relates a story of his introduction to Fishman in1971. Fishman won a competition to win back stage access at the show, put on by a local promoter and radio station, to tell in twenty-five words or less how the Mothers of Invention had saved your life. Fishman won the contest by saying since hearing the song Call Any Vegetable she had gotten in touch with her friends in the vegetable kingdom and, as a result of this, her body functions had been more regular.

We are told that Fishman showed up to meet Zappa with a perfectly spherical ball of her own shit in a mason jar, and presented it to Zappa, who had not known about the contest or the meeting in advance. Bassist Jim Pons, was fascinated with the article and opened it to smell it while waiting for the elevator at the hotel. He said "OOOhhhh my God!" and then dumped the jar with the shit in the trash can outside the elevator.

In 1980, on one of Steve Vai's early tours, playing at Notre Dame University, Laurel Fishman showed up. The song Stevie's Spanking is a detailed report of an evening Vai spent in a motel room with Fishman, as reported to Zappa at the following morning's breakfast. Specifically, Zappa refers to Fishman making Vai "drool on his own dork" before "giving it a wanking".

Fishman remains friends with Vai and has provided vocals for his solo recordings and contributes to his web site having briefly been his manager.