Thing-Fish - Revision history

Maroual: /* Versions */

2022-11-09T00:04:40Z

Versions

Jason.Kreitzer: The correct title is "The Mammy Nuns."

2021-12-15T14:40:31Z

The correct title is "The Mammy Nuns."

Jason.Kreitzer at 14:39, 15 December 2021

2021-12-15T14:39:34Z

Duncan: /* Background Information */

2021-12-13T11:03:06Z

Background Information

Jason.Kreitzer at 15:44, 4 October 2021

2021-10-04T15:44:29Z

Jason.Kreitzer at 22:04, 30 September 2021

2021-09-30T22:04:42Z

Jason.Kreitzer at 14:20, 30 August 2021

2021-08-30T14:20:08Z

Jason.Kreitzer at 23:05, 29 August 2021

2021-08-29T23:05:24Z

Jason.Kreitzer at 15:58, 16 August 2021

2021-08-16T15:58:48Z

Jason.Kreitzer at 18:36, 6 August 2021

2021-08-06T18:36:23Z

@@ Line 156: / Line 156: @@
 | align="center" | 3
 | align="center" | [[wikipedia:Long playing record|LP]]
-| [[Barking Pumpkin Records]]
+| [[Barking Pumpkin Records|Barking Pumpkin]]<br>{{DiscogsPicLink|1850205|SKCO-74201}}
 | 1984-11-21
 | 0013347420110<br>(not printed)
@@ Line 196: / Line 196: @@
 | align="center" | 1
 | align="center" | [[wikipedia:Compact audio cassette|CS]]
-| Barking Pumpkin<br>4XCO-74201
+| Barking Pumpkin<br>{{DiscogsPicLink|5403973|4XCO-74201}}
 | 1984?
 | 0013347420141<br>(not printed)
@@ Line 204: / Line 204: @@
 | align="center" | 2
 | align="center" | [[wikipedia:Compact disc|CD]]
-| [[Rykodisc]]<br>RCD&nbsp;10020/1<ref name="Patio">According to the [[External Links#Tour/Trading Related|Zappa Patio]], the [[Matrix Numbers|matrix numbers]] might be the only way to visually distinguish the 2 versions of RCD&nbsp;10020/1.</ref>
+| [[Rykodisc]]<br>{{DiscogsPicLink|3424473|RCD&nbsp;10020/1}}<ref name="Patio">According to the [[External Links#Tour/Trading Related|Zappa Patio]], the [[Matrix Numbers|matrix numbers]] might be the only way to visually distinguish the 2 versions of RCD&nbsp;10020/1.</ref>
 | 1986
 | 0014431002021<br>(not printed)
@@ Line 213: / Line 213: @@
 | align="center" | 2
 | align="center" | CD
-| EMI<br>CDS&nbsp;7&nbsp;90081&nbsp;2
+| EMI<br>{{DiscogsPicLink|434066|CDS&nbsp;7&nbsp;90081&nbsp;2}}
 | 1988-04<ref name="MStrong"/>
 | 0077779008124
@@ Line 238: / Line 238: @@
 | align="center" | 2
 | align="center" | CD
-| [[VideoArts]]<br>VACK&nbsp;5047/8
+| [[VideoArts]]<br>{{DiscogsPicLink|14277086|VACK&nbsp;5047/8}}
 | 1994-11-25
 | 4988112405875
@@ Line 254: / Line 254: @@
 | align="center" | 2
 | align="center" | CD
-| VideoArts<br>VACK&nbsp;5132/3
+| VideoArts<br>{{DiscogsPicLink|9732435|VACK&nbsp;5132/3}}
 | 1995-10-25
 | 4988112407916
@@ Line 270: / Line 270: @@
 | align="center" | 2
 | align="center" | CD
-| VideoArts<br>VACK&nbsp;1256
+| VideoArts<br>{{DiscogsPicLink|5337782|VACK&nbsp;1256}}
 | 2002-10-23
 | 4988112413559
@@ Line 279: / Line 279: @@
 | align="center" | 1
 | align="center" | CD
-| Zappa/[[wikipedia:Universal Music Enterprises|UMe]]<br>ZR&nbsp;3871
+| Zappa/[[wikipedia:Universal Music Enterprises|UMe]]<br>{{DiscogsPicLink|5219751|ZR&nbsp;3871}}
 | 2012-09-25
 | 0824302387122
@@ Line 287: / Line 287: @@
 | align="center" | 1
 | align="center" | CD
-| Zappa/[[wikipedia:Universal Music Group|UMG&nbsp;Intl]]<br>0238712
+| Zappa/[[wikipedia:Universal Music Group|UMG&nbsp;Intl]]<br>{{DiscogsPicLink|4993197|0238712}}
 | 2012-09-25
 | 0824302387122

@@ Line 81: / Line 81: @@
 '''Disc One'''
 #[[Prologue]] (2:56)
-#[[The Mammy Anthem|The Mammy Nuns]] (3:31)
+#[[The Mammy Nuns]] (3:31)
 #[[Harry & Rhonda]] (3:37)
 #[[Galoot Up-Date]] (5:27)
@@ Line 108: / Line 108: @@
 '''Disc One'''
 #[[Prologue]] (2:56)
-#[[The Mammy Anthem|The Mammy Nuns]] (3:31)
+#[[The Mammy Nuns]] (3:31)
 #[[Harry & Rhonda]] (3:37)
 #[[Galoot Up-Date]] (5:27)

@@ Line 46: / Line 46: @@
 '''Side One'''
 #[[Prologue]] (2:56)
-#[[The Mammy Anthem|The Mammy Nuns]] (3:50)
+#[[The Mammy Nuns]] (3:50)
 #[[Harry & Rhonda]] (3:36)
 #[[Galoot Up-Date]] (5:29)

← Older revision		Revision as of 11:03, 13 December 2021
Line 140:		Line 140:
	==Background Information==		==Background Information==

−	In April 1984, [[Biography\|Zappa]] published a 21-page text extract (plus photos) of the musical comedy "[[Thing-Fish]]" in the pornographic magazine ''[[Hustler]]''. Seven months later, the soundtrack was released but the staging of this work never took place. The title character's name was derived from "Kingfish", a stereotypically black character from the 1952 TV show ''[[Amos & Andy]]''. [[Thing-Fish]] speaks in a similar accent, and narrates the story of a young couple who desperately try to fit in and go to any lengths to accomplish their impossible goals.
−
−	In the plot, [[Thing-Fish]] has been deformed by the government's biochemical warfare against gays and minorities as part of the right-wing plan to cry "divine retribution" (à la [[Biography\|Frank]]'s theory about how Republicans started AIDS via religious missionaries' vaccinating of overseas primitives). The resulting "fear of God" helps value-preaching conservatives get elected, and also allows them to return favors to religious groups and televangelists who've donated campaign funds (cf. "[[Heavenly Bank Account]]" on ''[[You Are What You Is]]'').
−
−	<blockquote>"Of all of [[Biography\|Frank Zappa]]'s [[:Category:Discography\|discography]], [[Thing-Fish]] must be his most controversial, misunderstood, overlooked album. Obviously, it is not a masterpiece, but reducing it to a compilation album with a racist plot distorts the reality. First released as a three-[[wikipedia:Long playing record\|LP]] set (and reissued on two [[wikipedia:Compact Disc\|CDs]]), this album is the 'original cast recording' of a never-produced [[Broadway]] show. Working-class joes have been mutated into potato-headed, duck-mouthed creatures by a government experiment gone wrong. They put up a Broadway musical in which reality and fiction become one for two members of the audience. The main character, [[Thing-Fish]], is played by [[Ike Willis]]. His thick caricatured Negro accent is directly taken from Amos 'n' Andy's ''King Fish'' character. [[Biography\|Zappa]]'s intention was not to mock African Americans, but to ridicule the way they are depicted on Broadway, mainly a white male-dominated milieu. Harry and Rhonda, the two audience members drawn into the story by force, are played by [[Terry Bozzio]] and [[Dale Bozzio]]. Harry will realize he is gay, Rhonda will turn into a briefcase fetishist. [[Biography\|Zappa]] exaggerates the yuppie trends of the mid-'80s (Harry is gay for 'career purposes'; Rhonda embodies the ultra-feminist) and slips into the plot concerns about the spread of AIDS being the result of governmental scientific experiments. It's crazy, offensive, barely holding together, but it sure is entertaining. To accommodate the plot, Zappa wrote a couple of new songs and re-recorded a handful of tracks from [[Zoot Allures]], [[You Are What You Is]], [[Tinseltown Rebellion\|Tinsel-Town Rebellion]], and [[Ship Arriving Too Late To Save A Drowning Witch\|Ship Arriving Too Late to Save a Drowning Witch]] with new lyrics. It is definitely for the seasoned fan (the [[:Category:Conceptual Continuity\|conceptual continuity]] clues make an integral part of the experience), but more than rehashed material."</blockquote>
−	~~<div align=right>— '''AMG''' review, François Couture.</div>~~
−
−	<blockquote>"We at STAGECRAFT ENTERTAINMENT have worked for four years to actually bring this project to the stage. The only 'musical' [[Biography\|Frank Zappa]] has ever written has been something we just had to do. It started out as an idea way back in 1999, when Tommi was listening to the studio recording of '[[Thing-Fish]]', the 'original cast recording'. It was a recording put together from already existing material and newly recorded studio material. This piece in it's entirety has never been perfomed on stage, it has never been performed as a theatrical production. It took a year until Tommi and his little crew received permission from [[Gail Zappa]] (the late composers wife and head of [[Zappa Family Trust\|the Zappa Family Trust]]) to perform two scenes. Having tasted blood, the 'triumvirate' Daniel Knapp, Wolf E. Rahlfs and Tommi Brem moved the project forward, until they received permission to perform their own adaptation in a London theatre. 'An authorized adaptation of [[Biography\|Frank Zappa]]'s [[Thing-Fish]]' opened the Opera Season at the [[Wikipedia:Battersea Arts Centre\|Battersea Arts Centre]]. The help of an international cast and crew of 32, a handful of sponsors and the private bank accounts of Knapp, Rahlfs and Brem made this production happen. Four sold out shows and an international audience as well as extensive media coverage made up for the effort and the money spent."</blockquote>
−	~~<div align=right>— [[Stagecraft Entertainment]].</div>~~

	===Articles===		===Articles===

@@ Line 165: / Line 165: @@
 | align="center" | 3
 | align="center" | [[wikipedia:Long playing record|LP]]
-| [[Barking Pumpkin Records]]<br>{{SUTCLink|pictures/thingfish_SKCO-74201_US.jpg|SKCO-74201}}
+| [[Barking Pumpkin Records]]
 | 1984-11-21
 | 0013347420110<br>(not printed)

@@ Line 144: / Line 144: @@
 In the plot, [[Thing-Fish]] has been deformed by the government's biochemical warfare against gays and minorities as part of the right-wing plan to cry "divine retribution" (à la [[Biography|Frank]]'s theory about how Republicans started AIDS via religious missionaries' vaccinating of overseas primitives). The resulting "fear of God" helps value-preaching conservatives get elected, and also allows them to return favors to religious groups and televangelists who've donated campaign funds (cf. "[[Heavenly Bank Account]]" on ''[[You Are What You Is]]'').
-<blockquote>"Of all of [[Biography|Frank Zappa]]'s [[:Category:Discography|discography]], [[Thing-Fish]] must be his most controversial, misunderstood, overlooked album. Obviously, it is not a masterpiece, but reducing it to a compilation album with a racist plot distorts the reality. First released as a three-[[wikipedia:Long playing record|LP]] set (and reissued on two [[wikipedia:Compact Disc|CDs]]), this album is the 'original cast recording' of a never-produced Broadway show. Working-class joes have been mutated into potato-headed, duck-mouthed creatures by a government experiment gone wrong. They put up a Broadway musical in which reality and fiction become one for two members of the audience. The main character, [[Thing-Fish]], is played by [[Ike Willis]]. His thick caricatured Negro accent is directly taken from Amos 'n' Andy's ''King Fish'' character. [[Biography|Zappa]]'s intention was not to mock African Americans, but to ridicule the way they are depicted on Broadway, mainly a white male-dominated milieu. Harry and Rhonda, the two audience members drawn into the story by force, are played by [[Terry Bozzio]] and [[Dale Bozzio]]. Harry will realize he is gay, Rhonda will turn into a briefcase fetishist. [[Biography|Zappa]] exaggerates the yuppie trends of the mid-'80s (Harry is gay for 'career purposes'; Rhonda embodies the ultra-feminist) and slips into the plot concerns about the spread of AIDS being the result of governmental scientific experiments. It's crazy, offensive, barely holding together, but it sure is entertaining. To accommodate the plot, Zappa wrote a couple of new songs and re-recorded a handful of tracks from [[Zoot Allures]], [[You Are What You Is]], [[Tinseltown Rebellion|Tinsel-Town Rebellion]], and [[Ship Arriving Too Late To Save A Drowning Witch|Ship Arriving Too Late to Save a Drowning Witch]] with new lyrics. It is definitely for the seasoned fan (the [[:Category:Conceptual Continuity|conceptual continuity]] clues make an integral part of the experience), but more than rehashed material."</blockquote>
+<blockquote>"Of all of [[Biography|Frank Zappa]]'s [[:Category:Discography|discography]], [[Thing-Fish]] must be his most controversial, misunderstood, overlooked album. Obviously, it is not a masterpiece, but reducing it to a compilation album with a racist plot distorts the reality. First released as a three-[[wikipedia:Long playing record|LP]] set (and reissued on two [[wikipedia:Compact Disc|CDs]]), this album is the 'original cast recording' of a never-produced [[Broadway]] show. Working-class joes have been mutated into potato-headed, duck-mouthed creatures by a government experiment gone wrong. They put up a Broadway musical in which reality and fiction become one for two members of the audience. The main character, [[Thing-Fish]], is played by [[Ike Willis]]. His thick caricatured Negro accent is directly taken from Amos 'n' Andy's ''King Fish'' character. [[Biography|Zappa]]'s intention was not to mock African Americans, but to ridicule the way they are depicted on Broadway, mainly a white male-dominated milieu. Harry and Rhonda, the two audience members drawn into the story by force, are played by [[Terry Bozzio]] and [[Dale Bozzio]]. Harry will realize he is gay, Rhonda will turn into a briefcase fetishist. [[Biography|Zappa]] exaggerates the yuppie trends of the mid-'80s (Harry is gay for 'career purposes'; Rhonda embodies the ultra-feminist) and slips into the plot concerns about the spread of AIDS being the result of governmental scientific experiments. It's crazy, offensive, barely holding together, but it sure is entertaining. To accommodate the plot, Zappa wrote a couple of new songs and re-recorded a handful of tracks from [[Zoot Allures]], [[You Are What You Is]], [[Tinseltown Rebellion|Tinsel-Town Rebellion]], and [[Ship Arriving Too Late To Save A Drowning Witch|Ship Arriving Too Late to Save a Drowning Witch]] with new lyrics. It is definitely for the seasoned fan (the [[:Category:Conceptual Continuity|conceptual continuity]] clues make an integral part of the experience), but more than rehashed material."</blockquote>
 <div align=right>— '''AMG''' review, François Couture.</div>

@@ Line 147: / Line 147: @@
 <div align=right>— '''AMG''' review, François Couture.</div>
-<blockquote>"We at STAGECRAFT ENTERTAINMENT have worked for four years to actually bring this project to the stage. The only 'musical' [[Biography|Frank Zappa]] has ever written has been something we just had to do. It started out as an idea way back in 1999, when Tommi was listening to the studio recording of '[[Thing-Fish]]', the 'original cast recording'. It was a recording put together from already existing material and newly recorded studio material. This piece in it's entirety has never been perfomed on stage, it has never been performed as a theatrical production. It took a year until Tommi and his little crew received permission from [[Gail Zappa]] (the late composers wife and head of [[Zappa Family Trust|the Zappa Family Trust]]) to perform two scenes. Having tasted blood, the 'triumvirate' Daniel Knapp, Wolf E. Rahlfs and Tommi Brem moved the project forward, until they received permission to perform their own adaptation in a London theatre. 'An authorized adaptation of [[Biography|Frank Zappa]]'s [[Thing-Fish]]' opened the Opera Season at the [[Battersea Arts Centre]]. The help of an international cast and crew of 32, a handful of sponsors and the private bank accounts of Knapp, Rahlfs and Brem made this production happen. Four sold out shows and an international audience as well as extensive media coverage made up for the effort and the money spent."</blockquote>
+<blockquote>"We at STAGECRAFT ENTERTAINMENT have worked for four years to actually bring this project to the stage. The only 'musical' [[Biography|Frank Zappa]] has ever written has been something we just had to do. It started out as an idea way back in 1999, when Tommi was listening to the studio recording of '[[Thing-Fish]]', the 'original cast recording'. It was a recording put together from already existing material and newly recorded studio material. This piece in it's entirety has never been perfomed on stage, it has never been performed as a theatrical production. It took a year until Tommi and his little crew received permission from [[Gail Zappa]] (the late composers wife and head of [[Zappa Family Trust|the Zappa Family Trust]]) to perform two scenes. Having tasted blood, the 'triumvirate' Daniel Knapp, Wolf E. Rahlfs and Tommi Brem moved the project forward, until they received permission to perform their own adaptation in a London theatre. 'An authorized adaptation of [[Biography|Frank Zappa]]'s [[Thing-Fish]]' opened the Opera Season at the [[Wikipedia:Battersea Arts Centre|Battersea Arts Centre]]. The help of an international cast and crew of 32, a handful of sponsors and the private bank accounts of Knapp, Rahlfs and Brem made this production happen. Four sold out shows and an international audience as well as extensive media coverage made up for the effort and the money spent."</blockquote>
 <div align=right>— [[Stagecraft Entertainment]].</div>

@@ Line 152: / Line 152: @@
 ===Articles===
-*[[Thing-Fish: The Return of Frank Zappa]], [[Philip Fisher]], 2003, [[The British Theatre Guide]]
+*[[Thing-Fish: The Return of Frank Zappa]], [https://www.britishtheatreguide.info/users/3 Philip Fisher], 2003, [https://www.britishtheatreguide.info/ The British Theatre Guide]
 *[[Them Or Us (The Book)]]

@@ Line 188: / Line 188: @@
 | align="center" | 3
 | align="center" | LP
-| [[EMI Records|EMI]]<br>{{DiscogsPicLink|1794928|EX&nbsp;2402943}}
+| [[EMI]]<br>{{DiscogsPicLink|1794928|EX&nbsp;2402943}}
 | 1985-03<ref name="MStrong">Martin C. Strong, 2004, ''The Great Rock Discography'', p. 1723.</ref>
 | &nbsp;