Greenwich Village
Greenwich Village is a neighborhood in Manhattan, New York City between Broadway, Houston Street and Hudson River. It is notable for the Cafe Au Go Go and the Garrick Theater, where various music and comedy venues have been held., and the Electric Lady Studios.
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Frank Zappa
In 1958, when Frank Zappa phoned Edgar Varèse, he reached his wife, Louise Varèse, in Sullivan Street, Greenwich Village. Since Varèse himself wasn't home, he later called Zappa back.
Between 1967 and 1968, Zappa lived in Greenwich Village, at Sullivan Street. He described it as: "We had this miserable fucking apartment on Thompson Street, but it was a block away from Varèse's house. He was already dead by that time, but I used to walk by there and see that little red door and just try to imagine what it would be like to be trapped in that apartment not writing music for 25 years." (The Mother of All Interviews (Part 1), 1994). In 1968, Zappa moved to Los Angeles, living in The Log Cabin.
References to Greenwich Village in Frank Zappa's work
- We're Turning Again: "They walked around in Greenwich Village"
Frank Zappa about Greenwich Village
"A Marine had been stabbed in Greenwich Village and there was a rumor going around that all the Marines were going to come into the Village and stomp all the hippies in sight. We were rehearsing one afternoon and three Marines in uniform came in and sat down. I said hi to them and told them that they could stay and watch a rehearsal, and they did. So when it was over, I went down and talked with them. The rest of the guys in the band were going, O man! are they coming down here to get us? They turned out to be real nice guys. and they asked for autographs. I asked if they would like to sit in with us that night. They said sure. I asked if they could sing. They said yes, House Of The Rising Sun and Everybody Must Get Stoned were the two songs that they knew. So I told them to go across the street to the T Angel and get drunk and then come back and sit in with us. They came back and got up onstage in full-dress uniform. So the United States Marines started singing 'Everybody Must Get Stoned' and 'House of the Rising Sun,' and everybody loved it. So asked them if they would be interested in demonstrating some of their combat techniques onstage. They thought that would be fun. I send someone around the corner to my apartment to procure a large doll that was about four and a half feet tall. When the Marines came back on stage for the second show I handed them the doll and told them to pretend that it was a gook baby and do whatever you do to people in Vietnam. They tore the doll apart, completely wasted it, with musical accompaniment. And then when they finished doing it, I picked up the doll and I think I said, "Let's hear it for the United States Marines." I held up the dismembered doll. There we played weird, quiet music. People were crying. It was pretty heavy. And then after that was over, everybody clapped and I introduced the guys to let them take a bow. The first guy walked up to the microphone and said, "Eat the apple, fuck the core," and the second guy said, "Eat the apple, fuck the core." And the third guy said, "Eat the apple, fuck the core, some of us love our mothers more." I saw one of those guys again when we played Philadelphia. He was out of uniform by then." - Dialogue: Frank Zappa, C0Q, February 1974.
Genesis: You've been known to invite fans to come onstage and sing along or whatever. How did that start?"
Frank Zappa: "Oh, I started doing that in 1967 at the Garrick [a club in Greenwich Village, now demolished]." - Interview: Frank Zappa, interview by Charlene Keel, Genesis, April 1979.
"Have you ever heard of an artist named David Blue? ... Well, he used to work in Greenwich Village in the early '60s when we were working there. And he had an old amplifier, it was a Standel, about the same size of a Fender Deluxe and he donated it to our cause when we were short of equipment. And that's the amplifier that turned out to be Electric Aunt Jemima." - Frank Zappa interview, October 20, 1980 on KPFT-FM Houston Texas from the Frank Zappa GSW Project Vol. 22 1980, disc 2 track 4.
"Edgar Varèse told me that he was working on a new piece called "Déserts" which thrilled me since Lancaster, California, was in the desert. When you're fifteen and living in the Mojave Desert, and you find out that the World's Greatest Composer (who also looks like a mad scientist) is working in a secret Greenwich Village laboratory on a 'song about your hometown' (so to speak), you can get pretty excited. I still think "Déserts" is about Lancaster, even if the liner notes on the Columbia LP insist that it is something more philosophical." - Frank Zappa in The Real Frank Zappa Book.
See also
- Bleecker Bob
- Cafe Au Go Go
- Does This Mother Know Best? (about Zappa's apartment in Greenwich Village in 1968)
- Electric Lady Studios
- Garrick Theater
