Billy Mundi

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Billy Mundi (middle)

Billy Mundi (born Antonio Salas, 25 September 1942 - 29 March 2014) was a classically trained percussionist having majored in music at UCLA. Mundi worked as a timpanist in the Los Angeles Philharmonic and worked on various sessions, including the first Tim Buckley album, before joining The Mothers on 26 August 1966, during the recording of Freak Out!.

“He had been playing with Tim Buckley and, as we were in a rehearsal room over at the Lindy Theater, it was easy for him to join. After all, we both had the same manager. Billy was the first of the new guys to come into the band at the end of the summer. I think Billy was already in the band the last time that Elliot went to San Francisco with us. It was a six-piece band with two drummers.” - For Mother's Sake Jimmy Carl Black

Mundi can be heard on:

He can be seen in the Zappa movies Uncle Meat and Video From Hell.

Mundi left after the release of We're Only In It For The Money (to be replaced by Art Tripp) and joined Rhinoceros.

"He [Jac Holzman from Elektra Records] offered Billy Mundi a huge amount of money, a place to live, the whole package—we'll make you a star, you'll work with these top-grade musicians instead of those comedy guys, we'll make a supergroup and call it Rhinoceros. And where the fuck is Rhinoceros now? But I don't blame Billy for taking the job, because at that time we were so poor he was living in the Albert Hotel and he couldn't get enough to eat—he used to come in and tell us how he'd quell his appetite by drinking the hot water in the shower in the Albert Hotel, which could be a life endangering experience. When somebody comes up to you and says, you're going to get something to eat, and not only that, you'll be in a super-group called Rhinoceros, I couldn't even advise him to stick around.

— Frank Zappa, December 1989.

Wikipedia

Billy Mundi