Laurel Fishman
Laurel Fishman was a fan of Frank Zappa who got acquainted with his guitarist Steve Vai.
In The Real Frank Zappa Book Zappa relates a story of his introduction to Fishman in 1971. Fishman won a competition to win back stage access at the show, put on by a local promoter and radio station, to tell in twenty-five words or less how the Mothers of Invention had saved your life. Fishman won the contest by saying since hearing the song Call Any Vegetable she had gotten in touch with her friends in the vegetable kingdom and, as a result of this, her body functions had been more regular.
Zappa wrote that Fishman once showed up to meet Zappa with a perfectly spherical ball of her own shit in a mason jar, and presented it to him, who had not known about the contest or the meeting in advance. Bassist Jim Pons, was fascinated with the article and opened it to smell it, while waiting for the elevator at the hotel. He said: "OOOhhhh my God!" and then dumped everything in the trash can outside the elevator.
During one of Steve Vai's early tours, playing at Notre Dame University (14 November 1980), Laurel Fishman showed up. The song Stevie's Spanking is a detailed report of an sexual encounter between Vai and Fishman in a motel room, involving a hairbrush and a banana, as reported to Zappa at the following morning's breakfast. Zappa named both Laurel and Stevie Vai directly in the lyrics.
On 23 May 1989, Fishman was one of several associates of Zappa who attended a panel discussion between Pierre Boulez and Frank Zappa at the UCLA, moderated by David Raksin (see An Evening With Pierre Boulez And Frank Zappa). [1] [2][3]
Fishman remains friends with Vai and has provided vocals for his solo recordings and contributes to his web site having briefly been his manager.
