Frank Zappa, 1992-10-01 - Revision history

Spider of Destiny at 21:43, 1 July 2026

2026-07-01T21:43:14Z

Jason.Kreitzer at 23:16, 30 November 2021

2021-11-30T23:16:17Z

Duncan: BC > WP

2021-07-24T11:07:04Z

BC > WP

Jason.Kreitzer at 01:23, 24 July 2021

2021-07-24T01:23:33Z

Jason.Kreitzer at 02:53, 22 July 2021

2021-07-22T02:53:35Z

Jason.Kreitzer at 22:26, 21 July 2021

2021-07-21T22:26:02Z

Jason.Kreitzer at 21:45, 20 July 2021

2021-07-20T21:45:18Z

Spider of Destiny at 06:49, 14 November 2020

2020-11-14T06:49:57Z

Spider of Destiny at 20:50, 25 August 2014

2014-08-25T20:50:19Z

Propellerkuh at 07:12, 24 July 2007

2007-07-24T07:12:59Z

@@ Line 67: / Line 67: @@
 No Frank Zappa interview would be complete without [[politics]]. Zappa, who was seriously exploring the idea of running for President when his health sidetracked him, follows the scene avidly via CNN and C-SPAN. Did the man who took on [[Tipper Gore]] and the [[Parents Music Resource Center]] on the issue of censoring pop music watch the conventions? You bet!
-"I was so irate at the carryings-on at the Republican convention," he said. "I thought that if I can do anything to make sure that [[George H.W. Bush|George Bush]] doesn't get elected again – up to and including shaking hands with [[Tipper Gore]] – I'll do it. I mean, it's that bad ... I take back every bad thing I ever said about [[wikipedia:Bill Clinton|Clinton]] and [[Al Gore|Gore]] ... Whoever or whatever George Bush is, if you look at his friends, or his fellow travelers, I don't want to see those fellow travelers anywhere near Washington, D.C. Enough already with [[Pat Robertson]] and these guys! So I even considered calling the Clinton campaign and say I'd be happy to give them an endorsement if they thought it would be beneficial to them. They might want to run screaming in the other direction.
+"I was so irate at the carryings-on at the [[Republican Party|Republican]] convention," he said. "I thought that if I can do anything to make sure that [[George H.W. Bush|George Bush]] doesn't get elected again – up to and including shaking hands with [[Tipper Gore]] – I'll do it. I mean, it's that bad ... I take back every bad thing I ever said about [[wikipedia:Bill Clinton|Clinton]] and [[Al Gore|Gore]] ... Whoever or whatever George Bush is, if you look at his friends, or his fellow travelers, I don't want to see those fellow travelers anywhere near Washington, D.C. Enough already with [[Pat Robertson]] and these guys! So I even considered calling the Clinton campaign and say I'd be happy to give them an endorsement if they thought it would be beneficial to them. They might want to run screaming in the other direction.
 A final question was posed. How does the new music – specifically, "[[The Yellow Shark]]" project – fit into an overall historical context in the long, highly colorful career of Frank Zappa?

@@ Line 37: / Line 37: @@
 Zappa does not discuss his illnes or treatments in any detail, saying merely, "I feel pretty good. I have mostly good days. I have some bad days, but they're not too often." He looks healthy – if anything, he looks comfortably middle-aged, with a well articulated paunch and professorial tortise-shell glasses. As one person close to him put it: "He's just not going to be bothered by something stupid as cancer."
-In terms of sheer new material, Zappa has never been more productive. In addition to "The Yellow Shark" project, he has produced, edited and released a total of five double-CD packages of concert material since 1990 (six if you include "[[Playground Psychotics]]," an earthy assembly of "Flo and Eddie"-period [[The Mothers|Mothers of Invention]] music, circa 1971–72, due this month) on both Ryko and his own [[Barking Pumpkin Records]]. Three of the packages finish off the six twin-CD set, "[[You Can't Do That On Stage Anymore Vols. 1 Thru 6|You Can't Do That On Stage Anymore]]," a sweeping compendium of live Zappa material dating from the late '60s to 1988. He also arranged with [[Rhino Records]] to issue the recent "[[Beat The Boots]]" series, the legal release of 15 (so far) "best" Zappa bootlegs.
+In terms of sheer new material, Zappa has never been more productive. In addition to "The Yellow Shark" project, he has produced, edited and released a total of five double-CD packages of concert material since 1990 (six if you include "[[Playground Psychotics]]," an earthy assembly of "Flo and Eddie"-period [[The Mothers|Mothers of Invention]] music, circa 1971–72, due this month) on both Ryko and his own [[Barking Pumpkin Records]]. Three of the packages finish off the six twin-CD set, "[[You Can't Do That On Stage Anymore Vols. 1 Thru 6|You Can't Do That On Stage Anymore]]," a sweeping compendium of live Zappa material dating from the late '60s to 1988. He also arranged with [[Rhino Records]] to issue the recent "[[:Category:Beat The Boots|Beat The Boots]]" series, the legal release of 15 (so far) "best" Zappa bootlegs.
 And, in the coming months, he will release a double CD of "The Yellow Shark" concerts, plus a follow-up to his first recorded symphonic venture, the 1967 avant-garde ballet "[[Lumpy Gravy]]." Titled "[[Civilization Phaze III|Civilization: Phase III]]," it will feature a piece of music he has labored over intermittently for 10-years titled "[[N-Lite]]."

@@ Line 67: / Line 67: @@
 No Frank Zappa interview would be complete without [[politics]]. Zappa, who was seriously exploring the idea of running for President when his health sidetracked him, follows the scene avidly via CNN and C-SPAN. Did the man who took on [[Tipper Gore]] and the [[Parents Music Resource Center]] on the issue of censoring pop music watch the conventions? You bet!
-"I was so irate at the carryings-on at the Republican convention," he said. "I thought that if I can do anything to make sure that [[George H.W. Bush|George Bush]] doesn't get elected again – up to and including shaking hands with [[Tipper Gore]] – I'll do it. I mean, it's that bad ... I take back every bad thing I ever said about [[Bill Clinton|Clinton]] and [[Al Gore|Gore]] ... Whoever or whatever George Bush is, if you look at his friends, or his fellow travelers, I don't want to see those fellow travelers anywhere near Washington, D.C. Enough already with [[Pat Robertson]] and these guys! So I even considered calling the Clinton campaign and say I'd be happy to give them an endorsement if they thought it would be beneficial to them. They might want to run screaming in the other direction.
+"I was so irate at the carryings-on at the Republican convention," he said. "I thought that if I can do anything to make sure that [[George H.W. Bush|George Bush]] doesn't get elected again – up to and including shaking hands with [[Tipper Gore]] – I'll do it. I mean, it's that bad ... I take back every bad thing I ever said about [[wikipedia:Bill Clinton|Clinton]] and [[Al Gore|Gore]] ... Whoever or whatever George Bush is, if you look at his friends, or his fellow travelers, I don't want to see those fellow travelers anywhere near Washington, D.C. Enough already with [[Pat Robertson]] and these guys! So I even considered calling the Clinton campaign and say I'd be happy to give them an endorsement if they thought it would be beneficial to them. They might want to run screaming in the other direction.
 A final question was posed. How does the new music – specifically, "[[The Yellow Shark]]" project – fit into an overall historical context in the long, highly colorful career of Frank Zappa?

@@ Line 67: / Line 67: @@
 No Frank Zappa interview would be complete without [[politics]]. Zappa, who was seriously exploring the idea of running for President when his health sidetracked him, follows the scene avidly via CNN and C-SPAN. Did the man who took on [[Tipper Gore]] and the [[Parents Music Resource Center]] on the issue of censoring pop music watch the conventions? You bet!
-"I was so irate at the carryings-on at the Republican convention," he said. "I thought that if I can do anything to make sure that [[George Bush]] doesn't get elected again – up to and including shaking hands with [[Tipper Gore]] – I'll do it. I mean, it's that bad ... I take back every bad thing I ever said about [[Bill Clinton|Clinton]] and [[Al Gore|Gore]] ... Whoever or whatever George Bush is, if you look at his friends, or his fellow travelers, I don't want to see those fellow travelers anywhere near Washington, D.C. Enough already with [[Pat Robertson]] and these guys! So I even considered calling the Clinton campaign and say I'd be happy to give them an endorsement if they thought it would be beneficial to them. They might want to run screaming in the other direction.
+"I was so irate at the carryings-on at the Republican convention," he said. "I thought that if I can do anything to make sure that [[George H.W. Bush|George Bush]] doesn't get elected again – up to and including shaking hands with [[Tipper Gore]] – I'll do it. I mean, it's that bad ... I take back every bad thing I ever said about [[Bill Clinton|Clinton]] and [[Al Gore|Gore]] ... Whoever or whatever George Bush is, if you look at his friends, or his fellow travelers, I don't want to see those fellow travelers anywhere near Washington, D.C. Enough already with [[Pat Robertson]] and these guys! So I even considered calling the Clinton campaign and say I'd be happy to give them an endorsement if they thought it would be beneficial to them. They might want to run screaming in the other direction.
 A final question was posed. How does the new music – specifically, "[[The Yellow Shark]]" project – fit into an overall historical context in the long, highly colorful career of Frank Zappa?

@@ Line 45: / Line 45: @@
 The "Yellow Shark" music is dense, elaborate sound sculpture, with complex rythmic and tonal demands on the players.
-Zappa's major influences – avant-garde composer [[Edgar Varèse]], Boulez and [[Igor Stravinsky|Stravinsky]] – are subliminally in evidence, but this is not derivative music. There's also a touch of [[Spike Jones]] at work; Zappa makes use of whatever absurdities he happens across.
+Zappa's major influences – avant-garde composer [[Edgard Varèse|Edgar Varèse]], Boulez and [[Igor Stravinsky|Stravinsky]] – are subliminally in evidence, but this is not derivative music. There's also a touch of [[Spike Jones]] at work; Zappa makes use of whatever absurdities he happens across.
 At an early "Yellow Shark" rehearsal, a grotesque letter to the editor of PFIQ, a body-piercing magazine, was recited by one of the musicians from inside a piano, while the Ensemble bleated and groaned according to Zappa's directions. In one "Yellow Shark" segment, an Ensemble member recites bits of "Struwwelpeter," a series of grim German children's tales designed to discourage unhealthy habits (translated to English by Mark Twain).

@@ Line 65: / Line 65: @@
 It may surprise some that Zappa is writing for humans again (outside a rock'n'roll context). He has long been frustrated by the slightest human error during performance. His ear is uncompromisingly keen; he routinely hears glitches others don't. Like his friend Boulez, he is mainly concerned with precise execution of tone and rhythm and sonic exploration. With his increasing involvement with the Synclavier, evidenced by his Grammy-winning LP, "[[Jazz From Hell]]", in 1986, it seemed that Zappa had finally abandoned human musicians for an ideal "orchestra" – a computer that could produce any sound he could imagine.
-No Frank Zappa interview would be complete without [[politics]]. Zappa, who was seriously exploring the idea of running for President when his health sidetracked him, follows the scene avidly via CNN and C-SPAN. Did the man who took on [[Tipper Gore]] and the [[PMRC|Parents Music Resource Center]] on the issue of censoring pop music watch the conventions? You bet!
+No Frank Zappa interview would be complete without [[politics]]. Zappa, who was seriously exploring the idea of running for President when his health sidetracked him, follows the scene avidly via CNN and C-SPAN. Did the man who took on [[Tipper Gore]] and the [[Parents Music Resource Center]] on the issue of censoring pop music watch the conventions? You bet!
 "I was so irate at the carryings-on at the Republican convention," he said. "I thought that if I can do anything to make sure that [[George Bush]] doesn't get elected again – up to and including shaking hands with [[Tipper Gore]] – I'll do it. I mean, it's that bad ... I take back every bad thing I ever said about [[Bill Clinton|Clinton]] and [[Al Gore|Gore]] ... Whoever or whatever George Bush is, if you look at his friends, or his fellow travelers, I don't want to see those fellow travelers anywhere near Washington, D.C. Enough already with [[Pat Robertson]] and these guys! So I even considered calling the Clinton campaign and say I'd be happy to give them an endorsement if they thought it would be beneficial to them. They might want to run screaming in the other direction.

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-[[Frank Zappa]]<br>
+[[Biography|Frank Zappa]]<br>
 Interview in the [[Los Angeles Times]]<br>
 October 1992<br>

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 The sell out performances, which were painstakingly rehearsed with Zappa's guidance over a period of months in both L.A. and Frankfurt, were critically and popularly hailed (and broadcast live on German pay-per-view television). Although Zappa's orchestral music has been recorded and performed by [[Kent Nagano]] and the London Symphony as well as by [[Pierre Boulez]] and the [[Ensemble Intercontemporain]] (Boulez, in fact, commissioned Zappa's "[[The Perfect Stranger]]"), "The Yellow Shark" is a milestone in Zappa's career as a composer of "serious" music.
-The first night in Frankfurt, which ended with Zappa conducting "G-Spot Tornado" as the [[La La La Human Steps]] dance ensemble swirled about him, was hailed with a 20-minute ovation.
+The first night in Frankfurt, which ended with Zappa conducting "[[G-Spot Tornado]]" as the [[La La La Human Steps]] dance ensemble swirled about him, was hailed with a 20-minute ovation.
 "Well, by modern music standards, this would be an astonishing maybe even historic, success," said Zappa, whose famous mustache and "lip-T" arrangement are mostly gray now, "because of the audience response to it, and the type of audience that attended. And the audience was probably 50–50 'suits' versus young people. We even had a bunch of 70-year-olds out there getting off on it.
@@ Line 65: / Line 65: @@
 It may surprise some that Zappa is writing for humans again (outside a rock'n'roll context). He has long been frustrated by the slightest human error during performance. His ear is uncompromisingly keen; he routinely hears glitches others don't. Like his friend Boulez, he is mainly concerned with precise execution of tone and rhythm and sonic exploration. With his increasing involvement with the Synclavier, evidenced by his Grammy-winning LP, "[[Jazz From Hell]]", in 1986, it seemed that Zappa had finally abandoned human musicians for an ideal "orchestra" – a computer that could produce any sound he could imagine.
-No Frank Zappa interview would be complete without politics. Zappa, who was seriously exploring the idea of running for President when his health sidetracked him, follows the scene avidly via CNN and C-SPAN. Did the man who took on [[Tipper Gore]] and the [[PMRC|Parents Music Resource Center]] on the issue of censoring pop music watch the conventions? You bet!
+No Frank Zappa interview would be complete without [[politics]]. Zappa, who was seriously exploring the idea of running for President when his health sidetracked him, follows the scene avidly via CNN and C-SPAN. Did the man who took on [[Tipper Gore]] and the [[PMRC|Parents Music Resource Center]] on the issue of censoring pop music watch the conventions? You bet!
-"I was so irate at the carryings-on at the Republican convention," he said. "I thought that if I can do anything to make sure that [[George Bush]] doesn't get elected again – up to and including shaking hands with Tipper Gore – I'll do it. I mean, it's that bad ... I take back every bad thing I ever said about [[Bill Clinton|Clinton]] and [[Al Gore|Gore]] ... Whoever or whatever George Bush is, if you look at his friends, or his fellow travelers, I don't want to see those fellow travelers anywhere near Washington, D.C. Enough already with [[Pat Robertson]] and these guys! So I even considered calling the Clinton campaign and say I'd be happy to give them an endorsement if they thought it would be beneficial to them. They might want to run screaming in the other direction.
+"I was so irate at the carryings-on at the Republican convention," he said. "I thought that if I can do anything to make sure that [[George Bush]] doesn't get elected again – up to and including shaking hands with [[Tipper Gore]] – I'll do it. I mean, it's that bad ... I take back every bad thing I ever said about [[Bill Clinton|Clinton]] and [[Al Gore|Gore]] ... Whoever or whatever George Bush is, if you look at his friends, or his fellow travelers, I don't want to see those fellow travelers anywhere near Washington, D.C. Enough already with [[Pat Robertson]] and these guys! So I even considered calling the Clinton campaign and say I'd be happy to give them an endorsement if they thought it would be beneficial to them. They might want to run screaming in the other direction.
-A final question was posed. How does the new music – specifically, "The Yellow Shark" project – fit into an overall historical context in the long, highly colorful career of Frank Zappa?
+A final question was posed. How does the new music – specifically, "[[The Yellow Shark]]" project – fit into an overall historical context in the long, highly colorful career of Frank Zappa?
 He paused longer than usual as he considered the question. "Aside from the fact that it's been a lot of fun to work on it," he said, his voice suddenly dropping, "I think that it's helped my health. It's pretty important to me."
 [[Category:Articles about Zappa]]

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 At an early "Yellow Shark" rehearsal, a grotesque letter to the editor of PFIQ, a body-piercing magazine, was recited by one of the musicians from inside a piano, while the Ensemble bleated and groaned according to Zappa's directions. In one "Yellow Shark" segment, an Ensemble member recites bits of "Struwwelpeter," a series of grim German children's tales designed to discourage unhealthy habits (translated to English by Mark Twain).
-"I went to dinner at Andreas' house [Andreas Molich-Zebhauser, Ensemble Modern general manager]," said Zappa, taking a drag on a cigarette, "and his children demanded that I look at their book, 'Struwwelpeter.' ... They were pointing out this part with the tailor chopping the thumbs off [a thumb-sucker]. I went, 'What is this?' I mean, his children are growing up with this. Imagine the psychosis! I said, well, it's music. Better be in the show."
+"I went to dinner at Andreas' house ([[Andreas Mölich-Zebhauser]], [[Ensemble Modern]] general manager)," said Zappa, taking a drag on a cigarette, "and his children demanded that I look at their book, 'Struwwelpeter.' ... They were pointing out this part with the tailor chopping the thumbs off [a thumb-sucker]. I went, 'What is this?' I mean, his children are growing up with this. Imagine the psychosis! I said, well, it's music. Better be in the show."
 For years, Molich-Zebhauser admired the fiberglass creature in Zappa's home, so much so that the composer finally gave it away to him – writing a little deed to get it through customs that said, "This is Andreas' own personal yellow shark."