Dialogue: Frank Zappa - Revision history

Spider of Destiny at 20:57, 1 August 2026

2026-08-01T20:57:05Z

Jason.Kreitzer at 15:42, 21 October 2021

2021-10-21T15:42:12Z

Jason.Kreitzer at 13:27, 4 October 2021

2021-10-04T13:27:06Z

Jason.Kreitzer at 18:29, 22 September 2021

2021-09-22T18:29:02Z

Jason.Kreitzer at 16:07, 14 September 2021

2021-09-14T16:07:18Z

Jason.Kreitzer at 02:49, 22 July 2021

2021-07-22T02:49:35Z

Spider of Destiny at 19:53, 15 November 2020

2020-11-15T19:53:29Z

Propellerkuh at 14:15, 2 February 2007

2007-02-02T14:15:52Z

Propellerkuh at 14:09, 2 February 2007

2007-02-02T14:09:52Z

Propellerkuh at 14:08, 2 February 2007

2007-02-02T14:08:06Z

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 '''What about the Marine atrocities?<br>
-A Marine had been stabbed in Greenwich Village and there was a rumor going around that all the Marines were going to come into the Village and stomp all the hippies in sight. We were rehearsing one afternoon and three Marines in uniform came in and sat down. I said hi to them and told them that they could stay and watch a rehearsal, and they did. So when it was over, I went down and talked with them. The rest of the guys in the band were going, O man! are they coming down here to get us? They turned out to be real nice guys. and they asked for autographs. I asked if they would like to sit in with us that night. They said sure. I asked if they could sing. They said yes, ''House of the Rising Sun'' and ''Everybody Must Get Stoned'' were the two songs that they knew. So I told them to go across the street to the ''T Angel'' and get drunk and then come back and sit in with us. They came back and got up onstage in full-dress uniform. So the United States Marines started singing ''Everybody Must Get Stoned'' and ''House of the Rising Sun,'' and everybody loved it.
+A Marine had been stabbed in [[Greenwich Village]] and there was a rumor going around that all the Marines were going to come into the Village and stomp all the hippies in sight. We were rehearsing one afternoon and three Marines in uniform came in and sat down. I said hi to them and told them that they could stay and watch a rehearsal, and they did. So when it was over, I went down and talked with them. The rest of the guys in the band were going, O man! are they coming down here to get us? They turned out to be real nice guys. and they asked for autographs. I asked if they would like to sit in with us that night. They said sure. I asked if they could sing. They said yes, ''[[House Of The Rising Sun]]'' and ''[[Everybody Must Get Stoned]]'' were the two songs that they knew. So I told them to go across the street to the ''T Angel'' and get drunk and then come back and sit in with us. They came back and got up onstage in full-dress uniform. So the United States Marines started singing ''Everybody Must Get Stoned'' and ''House of the Rising Sun,'' and everybody loved it.
 So asked them if they would be interested in demonstrating some of their combat techniques onstage. They thought that would be fun. I send someone around the corner to my apartment to procure a large doll that was about four and a half feet tall. When the Marines came back on stage for the second show I handed them the doll and told them to pretend that it was a gook baby and do whatever you do to people in Vietnam. They tore the doll apart, completely wasted it, with musical accompaniment. And then when they finished doing it, I picked up the doll and I think I said, "Let's hear it for the United States Marines." I held up the dismembered doll. There we played weird, quiet music. People were crying. It was pretty heavy. And then after that was over, everybody clapped and I introduced the guys to let them take a bow. The first guy walked up to the microphone and said, "Eat the apple, fuck the core," and the second guy said, "Eat the apple, fuck the core." And the third guy said, "Eat the apple, fuck the core, some of us love our mothers more." I saw one of those guys again when we played Philadelphia. He was out of uniform by then.

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 I think it was successful from a number of standpoints and then a musical flop in some ways. It is virtually impossible to make any kind of music in a basketball arena, and if you're trying to stick a symphony orchestra in a basketball arena that holds 14.000 people and put an electric band alongside of it, any mixer in the world is going to have trouble trying to make it sound like it should. So we just had to struggle with those problems. It drew about 14,000 people: there was a big audience that wanted to see the event. There was no place available that had that seating capacity and better acoustics. That was just the only place we could have don.e it.
-'''Right after that some of the Mothers and some of the [[The Turtles|Turtles]] joined forces. What new musical concepts did you get into with that group?<br>
+'''Right after that some of the Mothers and some of the [[Flo & Eddie|Turtles]] joined forces. What new musical concepts did you get into with that group?<br>
 They were very strong on the vaudeville. It was more rustic bumpkin. If they did choreography or anything onstage it wasn't controlled. It was spur of the moment random weirdness. It was OK for working in a 300-seat theater. but little actions with dolls and things like that are invisible when you start working 4000 or 3000-seat auditoriums. You just can't get it across. So you need larger gestures, and Mark and Howard of the Turtles were good at large gestures.

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 No film, and anyway the tape that was made was no worse than side four of the Freak Out album. So that's what's so hilarious about it. This was '64 and the Freak Out album was '65.
-'''In November 1966 you moved to New York and took up residency at the [[Garrick Theater]]. [[The Fugs|The New York Fugs]] were around the block at the Players Theater. It must have been a hairy scene back then.<br>
+'''In November 1966 you moved to New York and took up residency at the [[Garrick Theatre|Garrick Theater]]. [[The Fugs|The New York Fugs]] were around the block at the Players Theater. It must have been a hairy scene back then.<br>
 It was quite amusing in those days. Our show ran longer than theirs, I think. We just kept on going. I have films of a lot of the activities that went on there.

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 '''Who is in your group now?<br>
-[[Ian Underwood]] from the Garrick Theater. [[Ruth Underwood]] on marimba and percussion. [[George Duke]] on piano. [[Jean-Luc Ponty]] on violin. [[Ralph Humphrey]] on drums, [[The Fowler Brothers|Bruce Fowler]] on trombone. [[The Fowler Brothers|Tom Fowler]] on bass. and we're trying out a harmonica player named [[Craig Stewart]].
+[[Ian Underwood]] from the Garrick Theater. [[Ruth Underwood]] on marimba and percussion. [[George Duke]] on piano. [[Jean-Luc Ponty]] on violin. [[Ralph Humphrey]] on drums, [[The Fowler Brothers|Bruce Fowler]] on trombone. [[The Fowler Brothers|Tom Fowler]] on bass. and we're trying out a harmonica player named [[Craig "Twister" Steward|Craig Stewart]].
 '''Do they understand?<br>

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 '''Who is in your group now?<br>
-[[Ian Underwood]] from the Garrick Theater. [[Ruth Underwood]] on marimba and percussion. [[George Duke]] on piano. [[Jean-Luc Ponty]] on violin. [[Ralph Humphrey]] on drums, [[Bruce Fowler]] on trombone. [[Tom Fowler]] on bass. and we're trying out a harmonica player named [[Craig Stewart]].
+[[Ian Underwood]] from the Garrick Theater. [[Ruth Underwood]] on marimba and percussion. [[George Duke]] on piano. [[Jean-Luc Ponty]] on violin. [[Ralph Humphrey]] on drums, [[The Fowler Brothers|Bruce Fowler]] on trombone. [[The Fowler Brothers|Tom Fowler]] on bass. and we're trying out a harmonica player named [[Craig Stewart]].
 '''Do they understand?<br>

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-After a brief bout with death when he was pushed off a London stage during a tumultuous encore by the [[The Mothers|Mothers of Invention]], Mother of Mothers [[Frank Zappa]], purveyor of classical rock and dirty blues filtered through smudged crystal spectacles, is at it again. Two or three new albums are in the can, several new films are in the offing, and Zappa's latest band is on tour.
+After a brief bout with death when he was pushed off a London stage during a tumultuous encore by the [[The Mothers|Mothers of Invention]], Mother of Mothers [[Biography|Frank Zappa]], purveyor of classical rock and dirty blues filtered through smudged crystal spectacles, is at it again. Two or three new albums are in the can, several new films are in the offing, and Zappa's latest band is on tour.
-Francis Vincent Zappa, Jr., was born of Sicilian-Greek parents 33 years ago. He was the weirdo on the block, the freaked-out genius who dabbled with test tubes and chemistry sets and grew up with dada-wheel drive. His avant-garde sensibility comprises cultural artifacts that range from music of [[Edgar Varèse|Varèse]], [[Igor Stravinsky|Stravinsky]], and the Coasters to realized figments of the imagination such as the [[Fillmore East, June 1971|Fillmore East]], [[Suzy Creamcheese]], and a number of memorable motels (200 to be exact). Zappa's vision has caused groupies to grope, musicologists to mortify, and stoned-out audiences to stare, stupefied. After releasing 16 albums, directing one film, and letting several million dollars slip through his musically dexterous fingers, Zappa finally admits that he's not in it "only for the money " or for the music and the fame or even the "cheesy sex." Like his fans, Zappa says he's "curious."
+Francis Vincent Zappa, Jr., was born of Sicilian-Greek parents 33 years ago. He was the weirdo on the block, the freaked-out genius who dabbled with test tubes and chemistry sets and grew up with dada-wheel drive. His avant-garde sensibility comprises cultural artifacts that range from music of [[Edgard Varèse|Varèse]], [[Igor Stravinsky|Stravinsky]], and the Coasters to realized figments of the imagination such as the [[Fillmore East, June 1971|Fillmore East]], [[Suzy Creamcheese]], and a number of memorable motels (200 to be exact). Zappa's vision has caused groupies to grope, musicologists to mortify, and stoned-out audiences to stare, stupefied. After releasing 16 albums, directing one film, and letting several million dollars slip through his musically dexterous fingers, Zappa finally admits that he's not in it "only for the money " or for the music and the fame or even the "cheesy sex." Like his fans, Zappa says he's "curious."
 COQ began this interview, which was conducted in Los Angeles, by asking about the accident that nearly stilled permanently one of the most irreverent, energetic, and essential creative voices in pop music history.

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 COQ February 1974
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 Well, a lot of people could say the same thing about [[wikipedia:Lawrence Welk|Lawrence Welk]], or they could say the same thing about any other music that they didn't like, you know. But we do enjoy it, and the people who have negative opinions about it can use any adjective they want to describe it.
-'''[[Grace Slick|Gracie Slick]] of the [[Jefferson Airplane]] once called you the most intelligent asshole she's ever met. What do you think she meant by that?<br>
+'''[[Grace Slick|Gracie Slick]] of the [[Jefferson Airplane]] once called you the most intelligent [[asshole]] she's ever met. What do you think she meant by that?<br>
-I don't know. Would you presume that "asshole" has a negative connotation? Maybe she likes assholes. Hitler was an asshole. He just had a good p.r. department. Also a good tailor.
+I don't know. Would you presume that "asshole" has a negative connotation? Maybe she likes assholes. [[Adolf Hitler|Hitler]] was an asshole. He just had a good p.r. department. Also a good tailor.
 '''A lot of critics admit that you are a pretty neat musician, but there are a couple of blue meanies out there who accuse you of stealing certain classical composers' music. They claim you are a good arranger but not a great composer. Would you like to set the books straight on that?<br>
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 '''Is it a freak show to them?<br>
 To some, yeah. I just do what I do. and I'll take my chances as to who gets off on it.
 [[Category:Interviews with Zappa]]

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 '''Is Frank Zappa music still freaked out?<br>
-How can you go back? Some of the titles are [[Zomby Woof]] a song about a guy who takes a nap and wakes up and finds out that he's someplace other than what he thought he was. He winds up raiding a dormitory, hitching up a nude maiden, and doing it to her on the roof. Then there's [[Camarillo Brillo]], which is a song about a girl with a certain kind of frizz hairdo that is popular among teen maidens who practice witchcraft in their spare time. There is a song called [[Fifty-Fifty]], which has extremely absurd solos in it, one of which is a raging solo on a pipe organ. The LP certainly has a lot of good stuff in it. I think it will be the most popular album since [[We're Only In It For The Money]] because it has a lot of very funny lyrics in it. All the musical performances are good, and the cover is unbelievable. It's a still life that was painted by a guy named [[David B. McMacken|Dave McMacken]]. It's a surrealistic scene that takes place in a motel room and has all these weird souvenirs from various tours that we have done.
+How can you go back? Some of the titles are [[Zomby Woof]] a song about a guy who takes a nap and wakes up and finds out that he's someplace other than what he thought he was. He winds up raiding a dormitory, hitching up a nude maiden, and doing it to her on the roof. Then there's [[Camarillo Brillo]], which is a song about a girl with a certain kind of frizz hairdo that is popular among teen maidens who practice witchcraft in their spare time. There is a song called [[Fifty-Fifty]], which has extremely absurd solos in it, one of which is a raging solo on a pipe organ. The LP certainly has a lot of good stuff in it. I think it will be the most popular album since [[We're Only In It For The Money]] because it has a lot of very funny lyrics in it. All the musical performances are good, and the cover is unbelievable. It's a still life that was painted by a guy named [[David McMacken|Dave McMacken]]. It's a surrealistic scene that takes place in a motel room and has all these weird souvenirs from various tours that we have done.
 '''Your film [[200 Motels]] was your view of life on those tours. How did that project get started?<br>