A Talk With Frank Zappa - Revision history

Jason.Kreitzer at 20:51, 13 September 2021

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Jason.Kreitzer at 14:30, 11 August 2021

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Jason.Kreitzer at 22:27, 21 July 2021

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Jason.Kreitzer at 22:12, 14 July 2021

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Spider of Destiny at 16:19, 17 December 2010

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Spider of Destiny at 17:09, 28 November 2010

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Propellerkuh at 14:24, 28 April 2007

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Propellerkuh at 14:23, 28 April 2007

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 [[Image:Scene 88-03.jpg|frame|Scene, 1988 March]]
-After an absence of a little over three years, Frank Zappa is returning to the concert stage in a major world tour. Dubbed "Broadway The Hard Way," it's an effort by Zappa to bring back the excitement of a real live band at a concert, as opposed to the numerous drum-and-computer wonders of the late '80s. The eleven-piece band consists of [[Ike Willis]], guitar and vocals, [[Bobby Martin]] on keyboards and vocals, [[Chad Wackerman]] on drums, [[Ed Mann]], percussion, [[Scott Thunes]] on bass, and new Zappa discovery [[Mike Keneally]] on "stunt guitar," vocals and keyboards. The horn section is comprised of [[Albert Wing]], tenor sax and flute, [[Paul Carman]], altosax, baritone sax and flute, [[Bruce Fowler]] on trombone, [[Walt Fowler]] on trumpet, flugelhorn and synthesizer, and [[Kurt McGettrick]] playing baritone sax, bass sax and E-flat contra-bass clarinet. In this interview, conducted by phone from Boston, I tried to cover many of the topics for which Frank is outspoken, popular, and continually interesting. All of the touring, including the Cleveland date this Saturday, March 5, will be recorded for a live album to be released in the fall. There is also a nationwide voter registration campaign going on at all the concerts, which prompted Ohio Secretary of State Sherrod Brown to name Zappa honorary Secretary of State last week.
+After an absence of a little over three years, Frank Zappa is returning to the concert stage in a major world tour. Dubbed "Broadway The Hard Way," it's an effort by Zappa to bring back the excitement of a real live band at a concert, as opposed to the numerous drum-and-computer wonders of the late '80s. The eleven-piece band consists of [[Ike Willis]], guitar and vocals, [[Bobby Martin]] on keyboards and vocals, [[Chad Wackerman]] on drums, [[Ed Mann]], percussion, [[Scott Thunes]] on bass, and new Zappa discovery [[Mike Keneally]] on "stunt guitar," vocals and keyboards. The horn section is comprised of [[Albert Wing]], tenor sax and flute, [[Paul Carman]], altosax, baritone sax and flute, [[The Fowler Brothers|Bruce Fowler]] on trombone, [[The Fowler Brothers|Walt Fowler]] on trumpet, flugelhorn and synthesizer, and [[Kurt McGettrick]] playing baritone sax, bass sax and E-flat contra-bass clarinet. In this interview, conducted by phone from Boston, I tried to cover many of the topics for which Frank is outspoken, popular, and continually interesting. All of the touring, including the Cleveland date this Saturday, March 5, will be recorded for a live album to be released in the fall. There is also a nationwide voter registration campaign going on at all the concerts, which prompted Ohio Secretary of State Sherrod Brown to name Zappa honorary Secretary of State last week.
 '''Hi, Frank. What's new?<br>

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 And it's a good sounding band ... It's like ... let's hear some music!
-'''I've heard that one of the many things you're doing on this tour is the first movement of Bartok's third [[Theme From "The Bartok Piano Concerto #3"|piano concerto]]. I'm having a hard time imagining what that'll sound like because I've been listening to that for a couple of days now and ...<br>
+'''I've heard that one of the many things you're doing on this tour is the first movement of Bartok's third [[Theme From "The Bartok Piano Concerto"|piano concerto]]. I'm having a hard time imagining what that'll sound like because I've been listening to that for a couple of days now and ...<br>
 ... isn't that one of the most beautiful melodies you ever heard in your life?

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 '''Since a lot of your back catalogue is resurfacing on Compact Disc, there's a lot of excitement among your fans that collect your music, and the new lease on life that CDs give to older recordings. Will there be any more releases this year, other than the 12-CD set [[You Can't Do That On Stage Anymore]]?<br>
-Well, there's the new album, called [[Guitar]] (The sequel to Shut Up 'n Play Yer Guitar (The Series)|The sequel to Shut Up 'n Play Yer Guitar). One of the next batch of old ones will be [[Absolutely Free]], and I think we're gonna do [[One Size Fits All]], but I don't know what the other ones are going to be.
+Well, there's the new album, called [[Frank Zappa: Guitar|Guitar]] (The sequel to Shut Up 'n Play Yer Guitar (The Series)|The sequel to Shut Up 'n Play Yer Guitar). One of the next batch of old ones will be [[Absolutely Free]], and I think we're gonna do [[One Size Fits All]], but I don't know what the other ones are going to be.
 '''You're playing guitar again on this tour. On at least, two occasions, you stopped playing guitar for a long period of time. Once was when you did nothing but orchestra stuff for two years, and the next time was when you were involved in all this PMRC stuff and the synclavier records. What makes you decide to stop playing the guitar, and what makes you decide to pick it up again?<br>

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 '''Well, how do you feel about copycode and recording prevention legislation?<br>
-What one should remember about the copycode controversy is this: The copyright on the copycode chip belongs to CBS. In order to copycode anything, the chip must be bought from CBS and/or a royalty must be paid to CBS for the use of the code. So they have a vested interest. And if the United States passes into law the thing stating that things must be copycoded, that is legislation in the service of commerce, and it's one of the reasons why the record industry is allowing itself to play footsie with groups like the [[PMRC]]. This way their husbands can decide on things like copycode chips and provide millions of dollars in found money for major corporations.
+What one should remember about the copycode controversy is this: The copyright on the copycode chip belongs to CBS. In order to copycode anything, the chip must be bought from CBS and/or a royalty must be paid to CBS for the use of the code. So they have a vested interest. And if the United States passes into law the thing stating that things must be copycoded, that is legislation in the service of commerce, and it's one of the reasons why the record industry is allowing itself to play footsie with groups like the PMRC. This way their husbands can decide on things like copycode chips and provide millions of dollars in found money for major corporations.
 '''Do you think that copycode legislation will pass?<br>

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 '''Well, let's get back to music and video. [[Video From Hell]] has a scene that had menu options like "sex," "violence," "drugs" etc. What is that program, and what does it do?<br>
-That was a joke program the engineer put together called "666 Youth Modification." It was a big [[PMRC]] joke about the record industry corrupting the youth of America. So we thought we would manifest it right there on the screen. Pick one classification: drugs, sex, violence etc. You hit a key, and it says, "Corrupt or enhance." As if you could really do that.
+That was a joke program the engineer put together called "666 Youth Modification." It was a big [[Parents Music Resource Center|PMRC]] joke about the record industry corrupting the youth of America. So we thought we would manifest it right there on the screen. Pick one classification: drugs, sex, violence etc. You hit a key, and it says, "Corrupt or enhance." As if you could really do that.
 '''Have you played around with any DAT (Digital Audio Tape) machines at all?<br>

← Older revision		Revision as of 22:12, 14 July 2021
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	By not doing that. If I were to compete with the other people, who are doing freeze-dried formats, I'd be dead by now. I provide, as it says on the label, the "World's Finest Optional Entertainment."		By not doing that. If I were to compete with the other people, who are doing freeze-dried formats, I'd be dead by now. I provide, as it says on the label, the "World's Finest Optional Entertainment."

−	[[Category:Interviews with Zappa]]	+	[[Category:Interviews with Zappa\|Talk With Frank Zappa]]

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 '''Yes, and I'm hoping you do it in Cleveland.<br>
-Well, you know, where we put it? That, and [[Igor Stravinsky|Stravinsky]]'s "Royal March" (from "L'Histoire Du Soldat") are in the middle of "[[Packard Goose]]" (from [[Joe's Garage]]). Instead of a guitar solo we put those two pieces in there.
+Well, you know, where we put it? That, and [[Igor Stravinsky|Stravinsky]]'s "Royal March" (from "L'Histoire Du Soldat") are in the middle of "[[Packard Goose]]" (from [[Joe's Garage Acts I, II & III|Joe's Garage]]). Instead of a guitar solo we put those two pieces in there.
 '''You have a new home video label, [[Honker Home Video]], which has two releases so far. How's it doing?<br>
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 '''You stress that you are a businessman. I know that you are very successful (USA Today reported that in 1986 Zappa grossed over $1 million in mail order alone). How do you remain so successful in the world of pre-packaged, rigid formatted and marketed entertainment?<br>
 By not doing that. If I were to compete with the other people, who are doing freeze-dried formats, I'd be dead by now. I provide, as it says on the label, the "World's Finest Optional Entertainment."
 [[Category:Interviews with Zappa]]

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 '''Not when you consider who the president is.<br>
-We know who talks to us on television once in a while, but we don't know who the president is, and that's the real problem! Because it used to be Bill Casey, but he's dead, and then it was kind of Oliver North, but now he's unemployed, so who the f**k is doin' it? We know that the guy we see on TV is doin' nothing except taking a nap in the middle of the afternoon. Maybe it's Ed Meese. That would explain some of the ignorant policy decisions that are comin' out of there. That's right there in line with his average of brilliant decisions. In the news, when they were talking about Ronald Reagan and Ed Meese, the line was "almost brothers." Remember that one?
+We know who talks to us on television once in a while, but we don't know who the president is, and that's the real problem! Because it used to be [[William J. Casey|Bill Casey]], but he's dead, and then it was kind of [[Oliver North]], but now he's unemployed, so who the f**k is doin' it? We know that the guy we see on TV is doin' nothing except taking a nap in the middle of the afternoon. Maybe it's [[Ed Meese]]. That would explain some of the ignorant policy decisions that are comin' out of there. That's right there in line with his average of brilliant decisions. In the news, when they were talking about [[Ronald Reagan]] and [[Ed Meese]], the line was "almost brothers." Remember that one?
 '''Well, let's get back to music and video. [[Video From Hell]] has a scene that had menu options like "sex," "violence," "drugs" etc. What is that program, and what does it do?<br>