Pipco
Pipco is the name printed on Zappa's green T-shirt on the cover of his album Lumpy Gravy (1967), which intrigued some Zappa fans for years. Interviewed by Den Simms and Rob Samler for Society Pages (The Magazine), issue #7, September 1991, Simms asked Zappa what Pipco was. Zappa replied: "It baffled me for a long time. Turns out to be a little league shirt from Santa Barbara, a Santa Barbara pipe company, I believe." Simms suggested: "So maybe, it was "Pipe-co."[1] [2]
In full, Pipco stood for Plastic Irrigation Products Company, who sponsored a softball league team in Santa Barbara, California.[3]
Contents
Pipco (merchandising)
In 1995, to promote Rykodisc's re-release of Lumpy Gravy, recreations of the Pipco shirt were produced. [4]
Pipco (the Italian band)
Between 1996 and 2002, an Italian Zappa tribute band also named themselves Pipco. They consisted of Joele Asioli (vocals, tenor sax, harmonica), Giuliano Gavagna (vocals, tenor sax), Gianluca Zangheri (vocals), Paio Guiducci (guitar), Roberto Dust (guitar), Luca Silvestri (bass), Marco Zoffoli (drums, vocals). They performed at the Zappa Day festival in Sarteano, Italy (1996-1997) and released their covers of Zappa's songs also on various albums. [5]
Other occurrences of Pipco in popular culture
To promote Alex Winter's documentary Zappa (movie) (2020), Matt Groening made a portrait of Zappa in his Pipco shirt, as part of the kickstarter. [6]
Sources
- ↑ https://www.afka.net/Articles/1991-09_Society_Pages.htm
- ↑ https://www.donlope.net/fz/notes/Lumpy_Gravy.html
- ↑ Charles Ulrich - The Big Note. A Guide To The Recordings of Frank Zappa, page 308.
- ↑ https://inkkitchen.com/throwback-thursday-the-first-distressed-shirt/
- ↑ https://www.united-mutations.com/p/pipco.htm/
- ↑ https://www.united-mutations.com/g/matt_groening.htm/
