The Mother Of All Interviews (Part 2) - Revision history

Jason.Kreitzer at 21:30, 8 December 2021

2021-12-08T21:30:24Z

Jason.Kreitzer at 21:16, 30 November 2021

2021-11-30T21:16:05Z

Jason.Kreitzer at 18:04, 21 October 2021

2021-10-21T18:04:11Z

Jason.Kreitzer: Google only comes up with results about Zappa.

2021-09-23T20:16:12Z

Google only comes up with results about Zappa.

Jason.Kreitzer at 13:24, 18 August 2021

2021-08-18T13:24:02Z

Jason.Kreitzer at 19:14, 13 August 2021

2021-08-13T19:14:26Z

Jason.Kreitzer at 19:06, 13 August 2021

2021-08-13T19:06:21Z

Jason.Kreitzer at 19:03, 13 August 2021

2021-08-13T19:03:46Z

Jason.Kreitzer at 14:48, 9 August 2021

2021-08-09T14:48:21Z

Jason.Kreitzer at 22:37, 21 July 2021

2021-07-21T22:37:36Z

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 Well, in Germany it's different. First of all, it's a very critical audience. Second, we've played there so much, and it seems like everybody in the country bootlegged the shows. They know what we played when we were there. We have some very dedicated fans in Germany, and I'm sure, without being malicious about it, they would listen to what I was doing and just know that it wasn't as good as what I used to be able to do and then, in the typical German fashion, would reject it.
-'''MG: You sang "[[Sofa]]" in German.<br>
+'''MG: You sang "[[Sofa No. 2|Sofa]]" in German.<br>
 We learned it phonetically. The translation was done by a girl who used to be our babysitter. She was from Munich, and apparently not a very good translator. People look at what it means in English, and then listen to the German words, and they've told me that the translation is laughable. And then they tell me what it really should be in German, and it's unsingable.

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 '''DM: What about some of the experimenters, like [[John Cage]] doing silence [a piece called ''4'33"'' in which the performer makes no intentional sounds]?<br>
-I think that's an acquired taste. When I first learned of Cage's work, it seemed like the concept of it was far more entertaining than the audio result, but that could have just been a matter of the performances that were available on record at that time. Because even if you're going to be performing – well, silence is a bad example, but somebody with more abstract notations that require a conscious participation of willingness on the part of musicians to do something constructive in the piece. It's not often that you find musicians who like that idea and who will do a good job with it. I'm pretty sure that early recordings of Cage did not have willing accomplices. [''Ed. Note: According to Barking Pumpkin, Frank performed Cage's'' 4'33" ''on the Cage tribute ''[[A Chance Operation]],'' on Koch International (1933).]
+I think that's an acquired taste. When I first learned of Cage's work, it seemed like the concept of it was far more entertaining than the audio result, but that could have just been a matter of the performances that were available on record at that time. Because even if you're going to be performing – well, silence is a bad example, but somebody with more abstract notations that require a conscious participation of willingness on the part of musicians to do something constructive in the piece. It's not often that you find musicians who like that idea and who will do a good job with it. I'm pretty sure that early recordings of Cage did not have willing accomplices. [''Ed. Note: According to Barking Pumpkin, Frank performed Cage's'' 4'33" ''on the Cage tribute ''[[A Chance Operation - The John Cage Tribute|A Chance Operation]],'' on Koch International (1933).]
 '''DM: You can have a lot of notes on paper but if it's not well performed, it's not good to listen to.<br>

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 '''MG: They ought to be appreciative. Did you ever sing in any other language?<br>
-Dutch. All we had to learn in Dutch was just about a paragraph's worth of this one song, and the audience was so amused that anybody would attempt to do it. That particular tour, I tried to convince [[Mark Volman|Mark]] and [[Howard Kaylan|Howard]] that it was a good idea to learn these things phonetically, because most American groups, if they go and play in another country, make no attempt to communicate in the native language, and I thought it would be a worthwhile gesture and probably a groundbreaking thing to do. In fact, in Germany, it was groundbreaking, because I had reports afterward that people in Germany who were musicians who wanted to do rock and roll had never considered that their language would work for rock. I didn't realize that they weren't doing rock stuff in German. If they did rock, they would be doing bad phonetic English rock lyrics.
+Dutch. All we had to learn in Dutch was just about a paragraph's worth of this one song, and the audience was so amused that anybody would attempt to do it. That particular tour, I tried to convince [[Flo & Eddie|Mark and Howard]] that it was a good idea to learn these things phonetically, because most American groups, if they go and play in another country, make no attempt to communicate in the native language, and I thought it would be a worthwhile gesture and probably a groundbreaking thing to do. In fact, in Germany, it was groundbreaking, because I had reports afterward that people in Germany who were musicians who wanted to do rock and roll had never considered that their language would work for rock. I didn't realize that they weren't doing rock stuff in German. If they did rock, they would be doing bad phonetic English rock lyrics.
 '''DM: In terms of future recordings is it going to be the German event and possibly [[Civilization Phaze III|Phaze III]]? Is that happening?<br>

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 '''DM: Anything that was often out there?<br>
-Some of the greeting cards were often out there. I convinced the guy that I was working for – this place in Claremont, California, called the [[Nile Running Greeting Card]] studio, that specialized in silk-screen, that cards of a floral nature would likely be considered entertaining by elderly Midwestern women.
+Some of the greeting cards were often out there. I convinced the guy that I was working for – this place in Claremont, California, called the Nile Running Greeting Card studio, that specialized in silk-screen, that cards of a floral nature would likely be considered entertaining by elderly Midwestern women.
 '''MG: Very focused on the graphics!<br>

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 '''DM: [[Arnold Schoenberg|Schoenberg]]?<br>
-I've only heard four or five pieces by Schoenberg that I can enjoy listening to. There's the ''Septet,'' and then there's the suite of pieces for orchestra, the one that has "Summer Morning by the Lake" as one of the movements. I think that's really nice. And ''Begleitungsmusik:'' is a parody of motion picture music. I like that. But there's very little else by Schoenberg that I appreciate. And Berg – I like the "Lyric Suite," I like the – there's a piano solo piece, I think it's called ''Piano Sonata'' – it's an early piece. I like that. But, I tried to listen to ''Lulu.'' I couldn't do it. I had the album of Wozzeck. I could not get through it.
+I've only heard four or five pieces by Schoenberg that I can enjoy listening to. There's the ''Septet,'' and then there's the suite of pieces for orchestra, the one that has "Summer Morning by the Lake" as one of the movements. I think that's really nice. And ''Begleitungsmusik:'' is a parody of motion picture music. I like that. But there's very little else by Schoenberg that I appreciate. And [[Alban Berg|Berg]] – I like the "Lyric Suite," I like the – there's a piano solo piece, I think it's called ''Piano Sonata'' – it's an early piece. I like that. But, I tried to listen to ''Lulu.'' I couldn't do it. I had the album of Wozzeck. I could not get through it.
 I like [[Olivier Messiaen|Messiaen]]. Took me a while, but I like that music. He's colorful. But I must admit that the first Messiaen album that I ever got was an Angel recording of ''[[Wikipedia:Chronocromie|Chronochromie]],'' and it baffled the snot out of me. I didn't know what to do with it. I could stay interested for about the first three minutes. I was going, "Whoa, a lot of percussion; that's interesting, but what is this?" It took me years before I could listen to that whole side of the album straight through.

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 I just like the way it sounds. The same reason I like Varese. I like the way it sounds. But I wouldn't go out of my way to attend a Bach concert or buy an album of that kind of music. To me, of that period, that is the most tolerable of the material to listen to. I don't start getting interested in so-called classical music until the early 20th Century.
-'''MG: [[Gustav Mahler|Mahler]]?<br>
+'''MG: [[Wikipedia:Gustav Mahler|Mahler]]?<br>
 No. I actually like [[Richard Wagner|Wagner]]. I think Wagner was interesting. It's too long, but it's interesting. I have very few Wagner albums, but the things that I've heard, if you look at the time at which it was written, and what he's doing with the material, it's challenging. That's the thing that depresses me about most of the music of that period. It's just not challenging, because it was written to spec. There was a king or a duke or a church or somebody who said, "Hey. You need to write something. We have a festival coming up, and it must be something I will like." So everything was written to suit the taste buds of some joker with a towel on his head.

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 '''MG: Did anybody ever ask for "[[Caravan]], with the drum solo?<br>
-That actually happened when we worked at a gig in El Monte. Some drunken buffoon in the audience requested it. [Slurs like a drunk:] "I wanna hear 'Caravan' with a drum sola!" [''[[Wikipedia:Sic|sic]]''] There are certain things you remember from your career, like that line. When we worked at this music fair out in Long Island, we were the opening act for [[The Vanilla Fudge]]. 1968, I think it was. I remember this one guy out in the audience – it was the Weatbury Music Fair- and the quote was [loud and belligerent] "Youse guys stink! Bring on the Fudge!"
+That actually happened when we worked at a gig in El Monte. Some drunken buffoon in the audience requested it. [Slurs like a drunk:] "I wanna hear 'Caravan' with a drum sola!" [''[[Wikipedia:Sic|sic]]''] There are certain things you remember from your career, like that line. When we worked at this music fair out in Long Island, we were the opening act for [[Vanilla Fudge|the Vanilla Fudge]]. 1968, I think it was. I remember this one guy out in the audience – it was the Weatbury Music Fair- and the quote was [loud and belligerent] "Youse guys stink! Bring on the Fudge!"
 '''MG: You were [[Captain Beefheart]]'s road manager for a short time.<br>

@@ Line 357: / Line 357: @@
 I have an appreciation for the skill of putting it together, but the sound of it is not something that I enjoy, so ...
-'''DM: [[Johannes Brahms|Brahms]]? [[Johann Sebastian Bach|Bach]]?<br>
+'''DM: [[Wikipedia:Johannes Brahms|Brahms]]? [[Johann Sebastian Bach|Bach]]?<br>
 Bach is more interesting.

@@ Line 375: / Line 375: @@
 I've only heard four or five pieces by Schoenberg that I can enjoy listening to. There's the ''Septet,'' and then there's the suite of pieces for orchestra, the one that has "Summer Morning by the Lake" as one of the movements. I think that's really nice. And ''Begleitungsmusik:'' is a parody of motion picture music. I like that. But there's very little else by Schoenberg that I appreciate. And Berg – I like the "Lyric Suite," I like the – there's a piano solo piece, I think it's called ''Piano Sonata'' – it's an early piece. I like that. But, I tried to listen to ''Lulu.'' I couldn't do it. I had the album of Wozzeck. I could not get through it.
-I like [[Olivier Messiaen|Messiaen]]. Took me a while, but I like that music. He's colorful. But I must admit that the first Messiaen album that I ever got was an Angel recording of ''[[Chronochromie]],'' and it baffled the snot out of me. I didn't know what to do with it. I could stay interested for about the first three minutes. I was going, "Whoa, a lot of percussion; that's interesting, but what is this?" It took me years before I could listen to that whole side of the album straight through.
+I like [[Olivier Messiaen|Messiaen]]. Took me a while, but I like that music. He's colorful. But I must admit that the first Messiaen album that I ever got was an Angel recording of ''[[Wikipedia:Chronocromie|Chronochromie]],'' and it baffled the snot out of me. I didn't know what to do with it. I could stay interested for about the first three minutes. I was going, "Whoa, a lot of percussion; that's interesting, but what is this?" It took me years before I could listen to that whole side of the album straight through.
 '''DM: What finally clicked? Just repetition?<br>

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 '''DM: Did they?<br>
-Well, the audience did. They kept telling the audience to shut up. The atmosphere there was really very strange, because the hearing itself was such a mongrelization. It took place in the Science, Commerce, and Transportation Committee – the least likely place in all of the U.S. government you'd think that the matter of rock lyrics should be brought up. The reason it was there was that five of the members of the committee had wives who had signed the original [[PMRC]] letter, and they were using it as a photo op, and it was wildly attended. There were 50 still photographers and something like 30 video teams. It was a big media event. And one of the senators said, "I've been on committees dealing with the MX, the budget, this thing that thing and I have never seen anything like this in my life." It was the hot ticket of 1985.
+Well, the audience did. They kept telling the audience to shut up. The atmosphere there was really very strange, because the hearing itself was such a mongrelization. It took place in the Science, Commerce, and Transportation Committee – the least likely place in all of the U.S. government you'd think that the matter of rock lyrics should be brought up. The reason it was there was that five of the members of the committee had wives who had signed the original [[Parents Music Resource Center|PMRC]] letter, and they were using it as a photo op, and it was wildly attended. There were 50 still photographers and something like 30 video teams. It was a big media event. And one of the senators said, "I've been on committees dealing with the MX, the budget, this thing that thing and I have never seen anything like this in my life." It was the hot ticket of 1985.
 '''DM: What do you mean, he'd never seen anything like it?<br>