Herb Cohen

Herb Cohen

Herb Cohen (born December 30, 1932, died March 16, 2010) is name-checked on the cover of "Freak Out!" (1966) under the heading "These People Have Contributed Materially In Many Ways To Make Our Music What It Is. Please Do Not Hold It Against Them". He is pictured in the collage on the "We're Only In It For The Money" (1968) cover (his daughter Lisa Cohen is also pictured in the collage). He is also referenced in "The Real Frank Zappa Book" (1989).

Cohen is attributed the quote "What the h--- you gonna do with all those drums at 1:00 in the morning?"on the cover of "Freak Out!" under the heading "More Relevant Quotes".

Herb Cohen ran coffee bars and folk clubs such as The Unicorn and Cosmo Alley during the late 1950's and early 1960's. He managed a number of folk acts but is best known as the manager of Frank Zappa and the Mothers Of Invention, as well as Screamin' Jay Hawkins, George Duke, Alice Cooper, Tim Buckley, Lenny Bruce, & Theodore Bikel. He co-owned the Bizarre/Straight & DiscReet record labels with Zappa.

After a ten year association Zappa dismissed him as manager in May 1976.

He provided "cash register noises" for Absolutely Free.

He was married with his wife Dee and had a daughter, Lisa Cohen, who appeared on the cover of We're Only In It For The Money.

Conceptual Continuity:

• Uncle Meat Film Excerpt Part I ("Herbie wouldn't give us an advance?")
• Does This Kind Of Life Look Interesting To You? ("Night after night, dinners with Herb Cohen")
• The Be-Bop Tango (Of The Old Jazzmen's Church) ("Herb Cohen, ladies and gentlemen!")
• Dupree's Paradise ("And it won't do you any good to call Herb, either")
• Carolina Hard-Core Ecstasy ("It might seem strange to Herb and Dee")
• Mo 'n Herb's Vacation