Pulse Interview - Revision history

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 "I never had any intention of writing rock music," says Zappa. "I always wanted to compose more serious music and have it be performed in concert halls, but I knew no one would play it. So I figured that if anyone was ever going to hear anything I composed, I'd have to get a band together and play rock music. That's how I got started."
-If ever a long-term plan paid off, it has to have been Zappa's – his list of official accolades and honors seems limitless: Renowned conductor [[Kent Nagano]] calls him a genius. Zappa won a Grammy in 1987 for his Synclavier-driven [[Jazz From Hell]] album, and he was chosen to play [[John Cage]]'s controversial and perhaps most famous piece 4'33" for the upcoming various-artists Cage tribute album, [[A Chance Operation - The John Cage Tribute|A Chance Operation]]. His works have been performed by a number of esteemed 20th century ensembles; [[Pierre Boulez]] commissioned him to score a symphonic work which resulted in [[Boulez Conducts Zappa: The Perfect Stranger]] album; the European contemporary music group [[Ensemble Modern]] commissioned him to put together a concert's worth of his orchestral works for the Frankfurt Festival last year; and in February, the prestigious [[Lincoln Center]] in [[New York]] City presented an evening of Zappa's serious music in its Great Performers series. Even [[The Simpsons]]' creator [[Matt Groening]] is on record as saying, "Frank is my Elvis."
+If ever a long-term plan paid off, it has to have been Zappa's – his list of official accolades and honors seems limitless: Renowned conductor [[Kent Nagano]] calls him a genius. Zappa won a Grammy in 1987 for his Synclavier-driven [[Jazz From Hell]] album, and he was chosen to play [[John Cage]]'s controversial and perhaps most famous piece 4'33" for the upcoming various-artists Cage tribute album, [[A Chance Operation - The John Cage Tribute|A Chance Operation]]. His works have been performed by a number of esteemed 20th century ensembles; [[Pierre Boulez]] commissioned him to score a symphonic work which resulted in [[Boulez Conducts Zappa: The Perfect Stranger]] album; the European contemporary music group [[Ensemble Modern]] commissioned him to put together a concert's worth of his orchestral works for the [[Frankfurt]] Festival last year; and in February, the prestigious [[Lincoln Center]] in [[New York]] City presented an evening of Zappa's serious music in its Great Performers series. Even [[The Simpsons]]' creator [[Matt Groening]] is on record as saying, "Frank is my Elvis."
 Not bad for a guy who began his musical career as a drummer in a [[San Diego]] R&B group called [[The Ramblers]] in 1956 ("I played one or two gigs with them, but I wasn't very good so they fired me"), recorded parody and instrumental doo-wop tunes in [[Cucamonga]], California and leased them to record companies like Original Sound in Los Angeles in the early '60s, and led the charge into the experimental and distinctly weird rock music of the late '60s with his seminal band of renegades and freaks, the inimitable [[The Mothers|Mothers of Invention]]. His formative years as a musician came during his high-school days at Antelope Valley High in Lancaster, a remote [[Mojave Desert]] town in California that he refers to as a cultural wasteland. A fan of r&ampb singles and composer [[Edgar Varèse]]'s innovative and dissonant early-20th-century classical music, Zappa was a drummer in the school band where he was even allowed to do a bit of composing and conducting. But that's also where he began to suspect that he was destined t o live a life deviating from the norms of Americana. "I had no outlet in music then to express my discontent. So my aggravation with the way things were festered throughout my high-school years. The only reason I got training as a musician was because the school needed a marching band at its football games. It was just another tool to support the sports program. I never did enjoy sports. So I looked at all that and thought that there certainly must be more worthwhile educational investments besides new helmets. That really got me thinking – how can you take any of this seriously?"

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 Zappa also exercises strict control over performances of his orchestral material. "You'd be surprised at how many orchestras and chamber groups all over the world play my music every year. I get requests for scores all the time. But I won't grant a permission if I feel there's not enough money budgeted for proper rehearsal time. I'd rather not have the music played that have it performed in a sloppy way." Any unusual requests? Zappa laughs and says it happens all the time. "The most recent was from the President's own US. Marine Corps Band in Fairfax, [[Virginia]]. They want to play '[[Dog Breath|Dog Breath Variations]].' It seems a couple of gunnery sergeants in the ensemble are fans. So we sent them the music. Then there's one from a young filmmaker in upstate New York who wants to use "[[Elvis Has Just Left The Building]]" from the [[Broadway The Hard Way]] album to conclude a mock documentary he's making of current Elvis sightings.
-As for future projects, Zappa's slate is full. He continues to dig into his audio archives to issue old material. Just released as the [[Ahead Of Their Time]] CD of a 1968 Mothers concert in London, where 14 members of the BBC Symphony joined the group to provide the Zappa-composed musical accompaniment to a play the band members acted out. Next year Zappa promises another CD of unreleased studio cuts called [[The Lost Episodes]]. Then there's a CD of music for modern dance called [[Dance Me This]] that he's working on. But what Zappa is most excited about are a couple of projects [[Andreas Mölich-Zebhauser]], business manager for [[Ensemble Modern]], talked about during a visit just a couple of days earlier. "Andreas told me about an interview [[Edgard Varèse|Edgar Varèse]] gave once where he envisioned a film to accompany his piece '[[Déserts|Desert]].' I had never heard of that before. Varese said that the images didn't need to relate to the music. Well, the Ensemble is booked for a concert in Cologne, Germany on May 27, 1994. Andreas thought of the extensive data bank of video images I've collected and got the idea to commission me to do a 22-minute film. The other project we discussed was for May 1995 when the Ensemble would perform an evening dedicated to my theatrical works like "[[Billy The Mountain]]" and "[[Brown Shoes Don't Make It]]" arranged for classical ensemble. I think it will make for an entertaining evening and an entertaining CD." After talking for 90 minutes, Zappa answers a final question: Given that his music over the span of nearly 30 years has remained fresh, relevant, challenging and on-the-fringe, to what does he owe his career longevity? Opinionated on so many other subjects, Zappa displays a rare moment of humility. "I don't know how it's happened. How have I survived? I guess by word of mouth, but I don't know. I got lucky."
+As for future projects, Zappa's slate is full. He continues to dig into his audio archives to issue old material. Just released as the [[Ahead Of Their Time]] CD of a 1968 Mothers concert in London, where 14 members of the BBC Symphony joined the group to provide the Zappa-composed musical accompaniment to a play the band members acted out. Next year Zappa promises another CD of unreleased studio cuts called [[The Lost Episodes]]. Then there's a CD of music for modern dance called [[Dance Me This]] that he's working on. But what Zappa is most excited about are a couple of projects [[Andreas Mölich-Zebhauser]], business manager for [[Ensemble Modern]], talked about during a visit just a couple of days earlier. "Andreas told me about an interview [[Edgard Varèse|Edgar Varèse]] gave once where he envisioned a film to accompany his piece '[[Déserts|Desert]].' I had never heard of that before. Varese said that the images didn't need to relate to the music. Well, the Ensemble is booked for a concert in [[Cologne]], Germany on May 27, 1994. Andreas thought of the extensive data bank of video images I've collected and got the idea to commission me to do a 22-minute film. The other project we discussed was for May 1995 when the Ensemble would perform an evening dedicated to my theatrical works like "[[Billy The Mountain]]" and "[[Brown Shoes Don't Make It]]" arranged for classical ensemble. I think it will make for an entertaining evening and an entertaining CD." After talking for 90 minutes, Zappa answers a final question: Given that his music over the span of nearly 30 years has remained fresh, relevant, challenging and on-the-fringe, to what does he owe his career longevity? Opinionated on so many other subjects, Zappa displays a rare moment of humility. "I don't know how it's happened. How have I survived? I guess by word of mouth, but I don't know. I got lucky."
 [[Category:Interviews with Zappa]]
 [[Category:1993]]

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 "Although I resent government," Zappa says, "I can't imagine an effectively functioning society without some machinery to make it work, even if it's incompetent machinery – because the species hasn't evolved to the point where it can take care of itself. So I'm what I call a practical conservative, which means smaller government and lower taxes. What do you call a system that seeks a bigger government and more taxes? Insanity."In many ways Zappa could be a model figure for the rugged individualist of American myth. "... It's not completely true," says Zappa. "I have lots of people helping me to call the shots." Yet in his pre-Mothers' days, he owned his own recording studio, [[Studio Z]], which was where the surf hit "[[Wipe Out]]" was recorded. In 1989, his biography, authorized to be written by [[Peter Occhiogrosso]], was transformed into the compelling and hilarious autobiography [[The Real Frank Zappa Book]] after the subject found Occhiogrosso's style flat and lacking Zappaesque flair. Today, Zappa, who has released well over 50 albums, maintains his own publishing rights, records on his own [[Barking Pumpkin Records|Barking Pumpkin]] label, runs a mail order and merchandising company called Barfko-Swill and operates the [[Honker Home Video]] arm of the Zappa empire. He has a CD re-release deal with [[Rykodisc]], as well as the six-volume series [[You Can't Do That On Stage Anymore|You Can't Do That on Stage Anymore]] (double CDs) for Ryko, and has thwarted the efforts of bootleggers by authorizing [[Rhino Records]] to release two series of Zappa-approved bootlegs. he maintains his own hotline message, 818-PUMPKIN, to keep his fans up to date.
-Zappa also exercises strict control over performances of his orchestral material. "You'd be surprised at how many orchestras and chamber groups all over the world play my music every year. I get requests for scores all the time. But I won't grant a permission if I feel there's not enough money budgeted for proper rehearsal time. I'd rather not have the music played that have it performed in a sloppy way." Any unusual requests? Zappa laughs and says it happens all the time. "The most recent was from the President's own US. Marine Corps Band in Fairfax, Virginia. They want to play '[[Dog Breath|Dog Breath Variations]].' It seems a couple of gunnery sergeants in the ensemble are fans. So we sent them the music. Then there's one from a young filmmaker in upstate New York who wants to use "[[Elvis Has Just Left The Building]]" from the [[Broadway The Hard Way]] album to conclude a mock documentary he's making of current Elvis sightings.
+Zappa also exercises strict control over performances of his orchestral material. "You'd be surprised at how many orchestras and chamber groups all over the world play my music every year. I get requests for scores all the time. But I won't grant a permission if I feel there's not enough money budgeted for proper rehearsal time. I'd rather not have the music played that have it performed in a sloppy way." Any unusual requests? Zappa laughs and says it happens all the time. "The most recent was from the President's own US. Marine Corps Band in Fairfax, [[Virginia]]. They want to play '[[Dog Breath|Dog Breath Variations]].' It seems a couple of gunnery sergeants in the ensemble are fans. So we sent them the music. Then there's one from a young filmmaker in upstate New York who wants to use "[[Elvis Has Just Left The Building]]" from the [[Broadway The Hard Way]] album to conclude a mock documentary he's making of current Elvis sightings.
 As for future projects, Zappa's slate is full. He continues to dig into his audio archives to issue old material. Just released as the [[Ahead Of Their Time]] CD of a 1968 Mothers concert in London, where 14 members of the BBC Symphony joined the group to provide the Zappa-composed musical accompaniment to a play the band members acted out. Next year Zappa promises another CD of unreleased studio cuts called [[The Lost Episodes]]. Then there's a CD of music for modern dance called [[Dance Me This]] that he's working on. But what Zappa is most excited about are a couple of projects [[Andreas Mölich-Zebhauser]], business manager for [[Ensemble Modern]], talked about during a visit just a couple of days earlier. "Andreas told me about an interview [[Edgard Varèse|Edgar Varèse]] gave once where he envisioned a film to accompany his piece '[[Déserts|Desert]].' I had never heard of that before. Varese said that the images didn't need to relate to the music. Well, the Ensemble is booked for a concert in Cologne, Germany on May 27, 1994. Andreas thought of the extensive data bank of video images I've collected and got the idea to commission me to do a 22-minute film. The other project we discussed was for May 1995 when the Ensemble would perform an evening dedicated to my theatrical works like "[[Billy The Mountain]]" and "[[Brown Shoes Don't Make It]]" arranged for classical ensemble. I think it will make for an entertaining evening and an entertaining CD." After talking for 90 minutes, Zappa answers a final question: Given that his music over the span of nearly 30 years has remained fresh, relevant, challenging and on-the-fringe, to what does he owe his career longevity? Opinionated on so many other subjects, Zappa displays a rare moment of humility. "I don't know how it's happened. How have I survived? I guess by word of mouth, but I don't know. I got lucky."

@@ Line 25: / Line 25: @@
 "I never had any intention of writing rock music," says Zappa. "I always wanted to compose more serious music and have it be performed in concert halls, but I knew no one would play it. So I figured that if anyone was ever going to hear anything I composed, I'd have to get a band together and play rock music. That's how I got started."
-If ever a long-term plan paid off, it has to have been Zappa's – his list of official accolades and honors seems limitless: Renowned conductor [[Kent Nagano]] calls him a genius. Zappa won a Grammy in 1987 for his Synclavier-driven [[Jazz From Hell]] album, and he was chosen to play [[John Cage]]'s controversial and perhaps most famous piece 4'33" for the upcoming various-artists Cage tribute album, [[A Chance Operation - The John Cage Tribute|A Chance Operation]]. His works have been performed by a number of esteemed 20th century ensembles; [[Pierre Boulez]] commissioned him to score a symphonic work which resulted in [[Boulez Conducts Zappa: The Perfect Stranger]] album; the European contemporary music group [[Ensemble Modern]] commissioned him to put together a concert's worth of his orchestral works for the Frankfurt Festival last year; and in February, the prestigious Lincoln Center in New York City presented an evening of Zappa's serious music in its Great Performers series. Even [[The Simpsons]]' creator [[Matt Groening]] is on record as saying, "Frank is my Elvis."
+If ever a long-term plan paid off, it has to have been Zappa's – his list of official accolades and honors seems limitless: Renowned conductor [[Kent Nagano]] calls him a genius. Zappa won a Grammy in 1987 for his Synclavier-driven [[Jazz From Hell]] album, and he was chosen to play [[John Cage]]'s controversial and perhaps most famous piece 4'33" for the upcoming various-artists Cage tribute album, [[A Chance Operation - The John Cage Tribute|A Chance Operation]]. His works have been performed by a number of esteemed 20th century ensembles; [[Pierre Boulez]] commissioned him to score a symphonic work which resulted in [[Boulez Conducts Zappa: The Perfect Stranger]] album; the European contemporary music group [[Ensemble Modern]] commissioned him to put together a concert's worth of his orchestral works for the Frankfurt Festival last year; and in February, the prestigious [[Lincoln Center]] in [[New York]] City presented an evening of Zappa's serious music in its Great Performers series. Even [[The Simpsons]]' creator [[Matt Groening]] is on record as saying, "Frank is my Elvis."
-Not bad for a guy who began his musical career as a drummer in a San Diego r&b group called the Ramblers in 1956 ("I played one or two gigs with them, but I wasn't very good so they fired me"), recorded parody and instrumental doo-wop tunes in Cucamonga, California and leased them to record companies like Original Sound in Los Angeles in the early '60s, and led the charge into the experimental and distinctly weird rock music of the late '60s with his seminal band of renegades and freaks, the inimitable [[The Mothers|Mothers of Invention]]. His formative years as a musician came during his high-school days at Antelope Valley High in Lancaster, a remote Mohave Desert town in California that he refers to as a cultural wasteland. A fan of r&ampb singles and composer Edgar Varèse's innovative and dissonant early-20th-century classical music, Zappa was a drummer in the school band where he was even allowed to do a bit of composing and conducting. But that's also where he began to suspect that he was destined t o live a life deviating from the norms of Americana. "I had no outlet in music then to express my discontent. So my aggravation with the way things were festered throughout my high-school years. The only reason I got training as a musician was because the school needed a marching band at its football games. It was just another tool to support the sports program. I never did enjoy sports. So I looked at all that and thought that there certainly must be more worthwhile educational investments besides new helmets. That really got me thinking – how can you take any of this seriously?"
+Not bad for a guy who began his musical career as a drummer in a [[San Diego]] R&B group called [[The Ramblers]] in 1956 ("I played one or two gigs with them, but I wasn't very good so they fired me"), recorded parody and instrumental doo-wop tunes in [[Cucamonga]], California and leased them to record companies like Original Sound in Los Angeles in the early '60s, and led the charge into the experimental and distinctly weird rock music of the late '60s with his seminal band of renegades and freaks, the inimitable [[The Mothers|Mothers of Invention]]. His formative years as a musician came during his high-school days at Antelope Valley High in Lancaster, a remote [[Mojave Desert]] town in California that he refers to as a cultural wasteland. A fan of r&ampb singles and composer [[Edgar Varèse]]'s innovative and dissonant early-20th-century classical music, Zappa was a drummer in the school band where he was even allowed to do a bit of composing and conducting. But that's also where he began to suspect that he was destined t o live a life deviating from the norms of Americana. "I had no outlet in music then to express my discontent. So my aggravation with the way things were festered throughout my high-school years. The only reason I got training as a musician was because the school needed a marching band at its football games. It was just another tool to support the sports program. I never did enjoy sports. So I looked at all that and thought that there certainly must be more worthwhile educational investments besides new helmets. That really got me thinking – how can you take any of this seriously?"
 Fortunately for Zappa, his tenure with the band didn't last long. "I was thrown out for smoking in uniform," he says while taking a drag from one of many Marlboros he would smoke that afternoon. "We had to sit in the freezing cold and wear these dorky maroon-and-grey uniforms and play every time our team scored a touchdown. So, during a break, I went under the bleachers for a smoke. I got caught and I was out of there. Not just for smoking, but for smoking in uniform."
-When did Zappa realize the potential for satire in his music? He recalls, "Even before I had this wonderful band called the Mothers [original MOI member] [[Ray Collins]] and I used to piddle around in Pomona doing gigs where the two of us would do parodies of folk songs. We sang 'Puff the Magic Dragon' as 'Joe the Puny Greaser,' and we played a perverted version of 'The Streets of Laredo' called 'The Streets of Fontana.' We weren't setting out to make any kind of impact on people. We were just doing it for a laugh, to have fun. If it amused someone else, good. If it didn't, who gives a fuck. Nothing I've ever written has been motivated by trying to impact or influence anybody." Little did Zappa realize how influential his music would become in shaping opinions both at home and abroad. Case in point: the first two Mothers of Invention albums, [[Freak Out!]] and [[Absolutely Free]]. The former, the first rock double-album and the collection which purportedly inspired Paul McCartney to begin work on Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, helped spawn an American subculture of long-haired, irreverent, authority questioning freaks. Behind the Iron Curtain, Absolutely Free proved to effect an even deeper and more profound response. The lead-off number of the album, "[[Plastic People]]," became an underground hit and potent rallying cry for freedom in the now-divided republic of Czechoslovakia.
+When did Zappa realize the potential for satire in his music? He recalls, "Even before I had this wonderful band called the Mothers [original MOI member] [[Ray Collins]] and I used to piddle around in [[Pomona]] doing gigs where the two of us would do parodies of folk songs. We sang 'Puff the Magic Dragon' as 'Joe the Puny Greaser,' and we played a perverted version of 'The Streets of Laredo' called 'The Streets of Fontana.' We weren't setting out to make any kind of impact on people. We were just doing it for a laugh, to have fun. If it amused someone else, good. If it didn't, who gives a fuck. Nothing I've ever written has been motivated by trying to impact or influence anybody." Little did Zappa realize how influential his music would become in shaping opinions both at home and abroad. Case in point: the first two Mothers of Invention albums, [[Freak Out!]] and [[Absolutely Free]]. The former, the first rock double-album and the collection which purportedly inspired [[Paul McCartney]] to begin work on [[Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band]], helped spawn an American subculture of long-haired, irreverent, authority questioning freaks. Behind the Iron Curtain, Absolutely Free proved to effect an even deeper and more profound response. The lead-off number of the album, "[[Plastic People]]," became an underground hit and potent rallying cry for freedom in the now-divided republic of [[Czechoslovakia]].
-Zappa is still surprised by it all. "I had no idea that song made the impact it did there. The album was smuggled into the country within a year of its 1967 release. I found out 10 years later how powerful the song had become. We were touring heavily in Europe at the time, and a few Czechs had come across the Austrian border to hear our concert in Vienna. I talked with them after the show, and they told me that 'Plastic People' was responsible for a whole movement of dissidents within Czechoslovakia. It came as a shock to me to find out that there was a group called the ''Plastic People'' there and that a cult of followers had grown up around them. [That song's] especially relevant today in the United States," he says, in reference to a poster on the wall portraying a Hitler-like [[Ronald Reagan]] with the words, "He has the right to do anything they want" written underneath. Zappa then recites a few lines from the song:
+Zappa is still surprised by it all. "I had no idea that song made the impact it did there. The album was smuggled into the country within a year of its 1967 release. I found out 10 years later how powerful the song had become. We were touring heavily in Europe at the time, and a few Czechs had come across the Austrian border to hear our concert in [[Vienna]]. I talked with them after the show, and they told me that 'Plastic People' was responsible for a whole movement of dissidents within Czechoslovakia. It came as a shock to me to find out that there was [[The Plastic People Of The Universe|a group called the ''Plastic People'' there and that a cult of followers had grown up around them]]. [That song's] especially relevant today in the United States," he says, in reference to a poster on the wall portraying a Hitler-like [[Ronald Reagan]] with the words, "He has the right to do anything they want" written underneath. Zappa then recites a few lines from the song:
 <blockquote>Take a day and walk around<br>
 Watch the Nazis run your town<br>

@@ Line 38: / Line 38: @@
 Then go home and check yourself<br>
 You think we're singing 'bout someone else?</blockquote>
-He pauses to let the effect take hold, shakes his head slowly in disgust, then comments, "There's been an incredible rise in racist and fascist attitudes here, most of them being helped along by the Republican Party. That Republican National Party Convention last summer was just unbelievable. Even the set decor looked like a Nuremberg rally. Hatemongers like Pat Buchanan and [[Pat Robertson]] and the rest of the featured speakers were convinced they were going to win again.
+He pauses to let the effect take hold, shakes his head slowly in disgust, then comments, "There's been an incredible rise in racist and fascist attitudes here, most of them being helped along by the [[Republican Party]]. That Republican National Party Convention last summer was just unbelievable. Even the set decor looked like a Nuremberg rally. Hatemongers like Pat Buchanan and [[Pat Robertson]] and the rest of the featured speakers were convinced they were going to win again.
 "Even if Clinton and his people just stood still for the next four years it would be better than what we had the four previous years under President Nero, which is what Dennis Miller calls Bush". But Zappa goes on to express an early dissatisfaction with the new President. "What's upset me the most since Clinton has taken office is this banning of smoking in the White House. What kind of symbolism is this? It's a social-engineering program by the Health Nazis in the White House against people who like tobacco. I'd wish people would get off this I'm-gonna-live-forever kick and dispel the myth perpetrated by Reagan's evil Surgeon General [[C. Everett Koop]], who said that second-hand smoke is the most dangerous thing Americans confront in their everyday lives. This is from the same guy who told us that green monkeys gave us AIDS.

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 Of all the collaborations and bizarre tours he went on, which performances from his huge catalog is he most proud of? "I enjoy listening to some recordings more than I do others," he says. "I can't stand to hear some of my classic albums because I remember the horrible conditions under which they were recorded. It hurts to listen to them. But what I like the best doesn't depend so much on the quality of the composition as it does on the memories of how much fun they were to record. I'm especially thinking of some of the live shows with the 1984 band that were recorded in the [[You Can't Do That On Stage Anymore Sampler|You Can't Do That On Stage Anymore]] series. We had a lot of laughs. For example, one night in Seattle, in the middle of the show (guitarist) [[Ike Willis]] started to do an imitation of the Lone Ranger, blurting out, '[[Hi-ho, Silver! Away!|Hi, ho, Silver!]]" I still don't know why it happened, but I cracked up every time he did it. It must have been road fatigue. He'd keep yelling in the most inappropriate places. The whole show was riddled with bad Lone Ranger jokes and me not being able to sing the right words. I enjoyed that night.
-"Zappa continued touring until 1988, when his road band self-destructed before the tour reached most of the planned U.S. dates. The tour, captured on the excellent [[The Best Band You Never Heard In Your Life]] double CD, could have been the last time Zappa played guitar in concert. Nowadays, Zappa hardly plays his guitars (he cites lack of motivation), which is surprising given his prowess on the instrument and the fact that he released several impressive guitar albums, including the twin-CD [[Shut Up 'N Play Yer Guitar]]. A guitar hero who rarely if ever recorded a cliched riff, he learned to play as a kid by swiping blues licks from r&b greats like [[Guitar Slim]], [[Johnny "Guitar" Watson]] (who worked with Zappa in the mid '70s) and [[Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown]].
+"Zappa continued touring until 1988, when his road band self-destructed before the tour reached most of the planned U.S. dates. The tour, captured on the excellent [[The Best Band You Never Heard In Your Life]] double CD, could have been the last time Zappa played guitar in concert. Nowadays, Zappa hardly plays his guitars (he cites lack of motivation), which is surprising given his prowess on the instrument and the fact that he released several impressive guitar albums, including the twin-CD [[Shut Up 'n Play Yer Guitar|Shut Up 'N Play Yer Guitar]]. A guitar hero who rarely if ever recorded a cliched riff, he learned to play as a kid by swiping blues licks from r&b greats like [[Guitar Slim]], [[Johnny "Guitar" Watson]] (who worked with Zappa in the mid '70s) and [[Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown]].
 But Zappa – who has been fascinated with and influenced by such classical composers as [[Igor Stravinsky]], [[Edgard Varèse|Varèse]], [[Pierre Boulez|Boulez]] and [[John Cage]], in addition to having his bands perform arrangements of pieces by [[Béla Bartók|Bartok]], [[Maurice Ravel|Ravel]], [[Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky|Tchaikovsky]] and [[Igor Stravinsky|Stravinsky]] – hastens to note that these days he mostly writes orchestral compositions on his [[Synclavier]] 9600, the high-tech digital keyboard and sampling computer that's plugged into his home studio, the [[Utility Muffin Research Kitchen]]. That's where Zappa's newest soon-to-be-released gem of an album of his dissonant, whimsical and haunting orchestral works, [[The Yellow Shark]], was conceived. Performed in concert by the 25-member European contemporary classical music group [[Ensemble Modern]], The Yellow Shark is a suite-like collection of new arrangements of such classic Zappa pieces as "[[Dog Breath|Dog Breath Variations]]" and "[[Be-Bop Tango]]" and such new works commissioned for the project as "[[Get Whitey]]" and "[[None Of The Above]]." EM and its conductor [[Peter Rundel]] spent two week s in 1991 in Los Angeles at Zappa's Joe's Garage studio rehearsing the difficult pieces and then spent another two weeks supervised by the perfectionist composer last summer in preparation for the series of eight concerts in Frankfurt, Berlin and Vienna. The album represents the best performances of each piece from the different concert venues.

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 When Czech playwright/former president [[Václav Havel]] wanted to make Zappa Czechoslovakia's special ambassador to the West on trade, culture and tourism, the composer reluctantly yielded to Bush administration pressure to ditch the idea.
-"Although I resent government," Zappa says, "I can't imagine an effectively functioning society without some machinery to make it work, even if it's incompetent machinery – because the species hasn't evolved to the point where it can take care of itself. So I'm what I call a practical conservative, which means smaller government and lower taxes. What do you call a system that seeks a bigger government and more taxes? Insanity."In many ways Zappa could be a model figure for the rugged individualist of American myth. "... It's not completely true," says Zappa. "I have lots of people helping me to call the shots." Yet in his pre-Mothers' days, he owned his own recording studio, [[Studio Z]], which was where the surf hit "[[Wipe Out]]" was recorded. In 1989, his biography, authorized to be written by [[Peter Occhiogrosso]], was transformed into the compelling and hilarious autobiography [[The Real Frank Zappa Book]] after the subject found Occhiogrosso's style flat and lacking Zappaesque flair. Today, Zappa, who has released well over 50 albums, maintains his own publishing rights, records on his own [[Barking Pumpkin Records|Barking Pumpkin]] label, runs a mail order and merchandising company called Barfko-Swill and operates the [[Honker Home Video]] arm of the Zappa empire. He has a CD re-release deal with [[Rykodisc]], as well as the six-volume series [[You Can't Do That on Stage Anymore]] (double CDs) for Ryko, and has thwarted the efforts of bootleggers by authorizing [[Rhino Records]] to release two series of Zappa-approved bootlegs. he maintains his own hotline message, 818-PUMPKIN, to keep his fans up to date.
+"Although I resent government," Zappa says, "I can't imagine an effectively functioning society without some machinery to make it work, even if it's incompetent machinery – because the species hasn't evolved to the point where it can take care of itself. So I'm what I call a practical conservative, which means smaller government and lower taxes. What do you call a system that seeks a bigger government and more taxes? Insanity."In many ways Zappa could be a model figure for the rugged individualist of American myth. "... It's not completely true," says Zappa. "I have lots of people helping me to call the shots." Yet in his pre-Mothers' days, he owned his own recording studio, [[Studio Z]], which was where the surf hit "[[Wipe Out]]" was recorded. In 1989, his biography, authorized to be written by [[Peter Occhiogrosso]], was transformed into the compelling and hilarious autobiography [[The Real Frank Zappa Book]] after the subject found Occhiogrosso's style flat and lacking Zappaesque flair. Today, Zappa, who has released well over 50 albums, maintains his own publishing rights, records on his own [[Barking Pumpkin Records|Barking Pumpkin]] label, runs a mail order and merchandising company called Barfko-Swill and operates the [[Honker Home Video]] arm of the Zappa empire. He has a CD re-release deal with [[Rykodisc]], as well as the six-volume series [[You Can't Do That On Stage Anymore|You Can't Do That on Stage Anymore]] (double CDs) for Ryko, and has thwarted the efforts of bootleggers by authorizing [[Rhino Records]] to release two series of Zappa-approved bootlegs. he maintains his own hotline message, 818-PUMPKIN, to keep his fans up to date.
 Zappa also exercises strict control over performances of his orchestral material. "You'd be surprised at how many orchestras and chamber groups all over the world play my music every year. I get requests for scores all the time. But I won't grant a permission if I feel there's not enough money budgeted for proper rehearsal time. I'd rather not have the music played that have it performed in a sloppy way." Any unusual requests? Zappa laughs and says it happens all the time. "The most recent was from the President's own US. Marine Corps Band in Fairfax, Virginia. They want to play '[[Dog Breath|Dog Breath Variations]].' It seems a couple of gunnery sergeants in the ensemble are fans. So we sent them the music. Then there's one from a young filmmaker in upstate New York who wants to use "[[Elvis Has Just Left The Building]]" from the [[Broadway The Hard Way]] album to conclude a mock documentary he's making of current Elvis sightings.