I can never forget the time that Frank was in town, must have been '79, Joe's Garage Tour, and some local band had won a "Best Garage Band" contest that was sponsored by the Rock n Roll station we all listened to, which was now announcing that the prize was that Frank Zappa himself would be dropping by to jam in their garage with them. No way! And this band called Cross-fire had won, and someone we knew knew someone who knew someone in the band, and it turned out that they still jammed in a house that was practically right down the street from me, and was about half-way between my buddy Mike's house and mine! No way! Mike and I listened to Joe's Garage almost every day after school! Wait -- Frank Zappa is coming to a garage nearby? No freakin' way! We jumped on the intel. I got my camera, grabbed some supplies, and...but, dang it, the street was jammed with cars and there were already lots of people milling about everywhere in everyone's front yards. Some neighbor was yelling that people were pissing in his juniper bushes. Another was furious about all the beer cans on his lawn. Then, even more people showed up. There was going to be no way we would ever get a view of anything at street-level, so I knew what I had to do. I climbed a tree, and made it onto a corner of the roof of THE holy garage. Mike followed, and we hunkered down into our primo spots, leaning over the eaves right above the garage door. We sat crouching and smoking half a bag between us, and downed a few brews by the time a big dark limo inched through the crowds and cars and pulled up close enough for Frank to get out, with a bald and burly bodyguard leading him up the driveway. What the --? Frank must have cut his hair, short, very recently, to everyone's surprise! He also had on a suit like a Sicilian mafia don. Was it really him? No way! He made his way up to the garage, signing autographs here and there, so surely, it must be him! and then he went inside, into the garage, going right under our dangling feet and waving hands, and he hashed out some instructions and must have gotten wired up, because suddenly, "Excentrifugal Forz" sprang forth at great volume just below us. I thought I heard, "There's always Culler Plankton. Him n me can play The Blues...n then I watch him buff that ruby that he use... Then he'll straighten up his turban, and inject a little ooze...along a one-celled Hammond Organ-izm, underneath my shoes... And then I'll call Pup Tentacle! and ask him how's his chin...n then I'll find out how The Future is...because that's where he's been..." and, damn, that was it, all he had time for, I guess, or all that the neighborhood was willing to endure, because, suddenly, then he was hustled down the driveway and whisked away in the limo in time to go play his show... It seems like the wildest dream, but I do have the photos to prove it really happened. The man was not only a freakin' one-of-a kind genius, but was weird, wild, and unpredictable enough to pull it off to the T and be loved for it. He made fun of everyone, including himself, and had the guts to call attention -- with a deep, wry and bulls-eye kind of humor -- to things that people should be taking more seriously, while at the same time, he was equally adept at conjuring a whimsical, absurd and shockingly talented silliness that could offer some refreshing alternatives for taking things too seriously. More Frank Zappa. please, and THANKS, RP!

Don’t go for help. No one will heed you. 

More Zappa please  :-)

 ginniet wrote:
A "news" agency that confesses that they knowingly broadcast lies?  You mean those guys?

 psg wrote:
Looks like we're seeing only a corner of the album cover.

Just too off the wall for me. Music fine voices nah!

 hayduke2 wrote:


I AGREE!!!    

BillG - more Frank pls. Dig deeper. Love FZ. (Pronounced ef Zed in Canada. Ha!)

Music to be admired, but no need to listen to it.  

"-- Now WHO you jivin' with that Cosmic Debris?  Don't ya know -- you could make more money as a butcher...  So don't you waste your time on me!" More ZAPPA! Antidote for another Trouble Every Day Era!

Is this the only Zappa song in the library?

I am gross and perverted!

more Zappa - may lead to more Happiness  : )

 Art_Carnage wrote: 
Oddly enough, something like 88% of all English-language knock-knock jokes were written by William "Shaky-Toes" Shakespeare.

 krich58 wrote: 
bumping=11

 Art_Carnage wrote: 

I couldn't agree more.

So sad that he wasted his tremendous talent on songs that are little more than novelties. Sort of like if Shakespeare spent his life writing knock-knock jokes.

Oh FRANK!!  I have been a loyal RP listener for over a year now, but gotta admit this is my first FZ song...  and you have made me so HAPPY!!  Thank you guys!  And God Bless you, Frank!  RIP....  you are missed...

Finally, seriously I can now say I hate a musical artist.  "Hated" -oh yea he's dead.  What ever.

 buddy wrote: 
Or how about Dynamo Hum?

Hmmm.

Great googly moogly!

Was it on Saturday Night Live that he did this and there was actual slime dripping from the monitors?  Anyway, more Frank!!  Something from Sheik Yerbouti, please, or Joe's Garage . . . .

 Alpine wrote: 

Oh, I would guess that FOX "News" should be in there!

16 again.

Remember when he sang this on Saturday Night Live?  "Take it away, Don Pardo."  Hilarious.

Timeless. And as true today as then . . .

not enough frank,but i know why

 psg wrote: 
You are correct. The offending cob has been removed in this version. The corn police strike again.

Its not that bad, wish I could Skip Though.

Seems to be a "censored" album cover pictured. IIRC, my copy had at least one corn cob on it. Am I thinking of another Zappa album cover?

 NickDanger wrote: 
Maybe so, but that still doesn't make it any good.

 Alpine wrote: 
All of them, but not Fox... who here has been brainwashed?!?

 steventylersqa wrote: 

By design.

Wow! Have not heard this on ages!!! Man do I feel old, ha!

So needed, so missed. His Wazoo, with zoot alluring.
First Zappa for me on RP, so please Bill: line 'em up (wax 'em down).

Yuck, I can hear the spit in his mouth snapping and cracking with every word. Get a drink of water!

So nice to catch a Zappa tune on RP!  Keep 'em coming!

Way to go Bill, love the commentary that you added to this song (RE internet viewing). So very true.

Let's hear it for FZ!

 steventylersqa wrote: 
Well you just have to like Zappa...kinda like phish fans...

Just plain awful, creepy voice and chorus.

 Alpine wrote: 

Fox, actually.

yuck. horrible

YES!

 pope183 wrote: 
I counted one in his post. Well within the lifetime limit.

Way to go Bill

He must be singing about MSNBC, CNN, CBS & ABC.

Nice! I vote for more Zappa on RP!

 pope183 wrote: 
Hah!! You make me laugh!

How about something from One Size Fits All...

 holborne wrote: 

what a sacastic snobbish twat.
Your dazzling sarcasm sure has me convinced !  
Your put downs sure show your true colors as well !!!!! these are for you —> !!!!!  you seem to like them! 
     "there are lots of decent musicians they could be paying attention to instead" ? 
really?   are you sure ?

thanks for letting us know..  because you see perhaps there is some place on the web to locate perhaps even listen to these "lots of" as you put it - decent musicians...  a place perhaps that is like a radio station ,  only on the web... and perhaps these Zappa fans might be there already..... it would be someplace that plays eclectic music on the web and it would be like paradise....  I would tell you where it is but i don't want to envite you to the party ..  You sound like too much fun !!!!!!!! 
I'm nobody, who are you? Are you nobody too?
(I wrote that myself.)  (did you really?)  (how dazzling!) ( dhurrrr )

Does anyone remember the interview he did on Peaches & Herb's daytime show? Middle of the whole disco thing, in enemy territory, and Frank's immediately lobbing intellectual grenades all over the place. It took him all of 5 minutes to dismantle both of them, plus the audience. I don't think I've ever witnessed such complete public carnage before or since. It was beautiful.

 viva Zappa

 holborne wrote: 
"Jewish Princess" came from the brilliant but uneven Sheik Yerbouti in 1978 or so.  That album also features "Dancin' Fool," which cannot be seen in anything but a satirical light.  Zappa's satirical prowess was well-known, but it probably reached its height on You Are What You Is. 

Songs like "Teen-Age Wind," "Harder Than Your Husband," "Society Pages," "I'm a Beautiful Guy," "Drafted Again," "Suicide Chump," "Goblin Girl," and "Jumbo Go Away" all skewered some group in a politically incorrect sense.  Its balance doesn't really single out any one group, and in general it comes across as a full-out assault on self-identification. 

Many of the songs segue into each other, so the satire shifts from one group to another seamlessly.  Remember, in this context (1981), people were just beginning to find a voice of political correctitude, and not always to accepted results.  Zappa may have been over the top in criticising the dispossessed and the minorities, but the point that we're all in this game together was clear: accept who you are, don't try to pretend, and move on.

Satire is never an easy form, as some members of the audience will always take it in a literal sense.  Zappa himself could be prickly, so it's no surprise he had scorn for those who demanded an accounting or a recantation.  By the way, he did write a black-person counterpart to "Jewish Princess," and it appears as the title track on You Are What You Is.

Have you ever seen sheet music for Frank Zappa's music?... BWAHAHAHA! What Total Maniacal Genius! :D

I'm not a huge Zappa fan, but this song has a lot to say that I relate to!  (Worked in TV for many years.)  Nice guitar work, as well.

*edit* I'm with BillG...it would be nice to have him around 15 years after his death to get his take on the world today.  I wonder how surprised he would be to find out he was pretty darned accurate?

Pretty prescient, wasn't he?

Loved this then, and even more now.

Well, I am the slime from your video
Oozin along on your livinroom floor

Classic FZ stuff.
Dude was way ahead of his time, love him.

I'm just having total flashbacks here. Tampa 1984, Frank live,and just totally blown away by the talent of this man.

Shame he didn't write anything that normal people could appreciate.

Total genius.

I'm gonna' play the music that I hear in my head and I don't give a crap if any of you people EVER gets it.

 

I know folks said Zappa was ahead of his time, but they didn't know the half of it.

Looks like he saw Tivo coming down Broadway with the band, the balloons, and the clowns!

 horstman wrote: 

Well, your dazzling rhetorical jabs, such as "such a load" and "his music was so underground" sure have me convinced!

And no, I'm not taking it personally at all, although it does irk me when people insist on worshipping a tin god like Zappa even though there are lots of decent musicians they could be paying attention to instead. Sorry, but since Zappa died, his stock has done nothing but fall, for good reason. It will continue to fall, and soon enough he'll be on the scrap heap with all the other overrated, self-proclaimed geniuses. Lucky for him he had a family who continue to pimp his reputation, because otherwise no one would remember him as anything other than the guy whose weirdly-named daughter sang the novelty song "Valley Girl."

 holborne wrote: 
You're still taking this personally. You have to understand that Frank picked on everyone equally. I'm sure he had just as much bad things to say about caucasian men like me as he did about Jewish American Princesses, Blacks, whomever.

And like several others have said, he will remain famous long after his death. Your take on the Zappa spin machine is such a load. His music was so underground and still is. He has many loyal fans after his death and his music is truly brilliant.

 holborne wrote:  Frank dull?? You have to be kidding. You don't like him? Fine, get in line, lots never cared for his music but then again Frank wasn't playing to the majority. When Freak-Out was issued majority of people in high school were red-neck, beer swilling, pro-war, paranoid, narrow minded J Edgar lovin' idiots that certainly didn't care for him. Hmmmm wonder why? So Mr. America walk on by did just that........at first, then a Few Hungry Freaks Daddy grew into more than a few as they understood what all Frank was knocking and The Brain Police didn't care for that but suprise the Counter-Culture was up and running and we knew what got into Sussie Creamcheese and relished in that nothing was sacred and as far as Frank taking himself seriously thats why You're Probably Wondering Why I'm Her and so am I ........not that it makes a heck of alot of difference to ya, was crucial. I do understand how alot of people didn't care for his lyrics and thought they were offensive, I loved playin' them for my parents, this was no Bob Dylan, Frank smacked ya with a 2X4 in Freak Out but the music was above average.  Enuff of that album as he went on to record many albums that were and are still considered great musical accomplishments so please don't hold your breath while you are waiting for everybody to "wake up" at such a "minor figure", they will still be talking about him after you and I are dust. Thankfully I still have alot of his vinyl and cherish things like Shut Up N Play Yer Guitar or Son of Shut Up etc. Thanks Frank for leaving over 50 albums for us to throw rocks at, you overrated clown lol and of course Remember We Are Only In It For The Money but if ya don't like him hey thats fine I'm not trying to change your mind but "dull" nahhhh he wasn't dull and if he was a biggot he was a "equal opportunity bigot" Oh and if ya don't like my english well you know what Kris said "if ya don't like Hank".............       

 dangoebel wrote: 
Of course he would have — he was such a fucking narcissist that he obviously would have taken the position that anyone who criticized him was necessarily a lesser human than he was.

There's a reason you don't hear his music all that often anymore: once he died, there was no one to engage in the great self-promotion machine that was Frank Zappa, and no one cares anymore.

And horstmann, when your comments aren't simply proving my point (uh, the fact that he's talking about so-called "Jewish American Princesses" means that that song *isn't* anti-semitic? Buh?), they're so full of straw men that they're not worth responding to.

Bill

You mentioned how you'd like FZ's take on what has happened in the past 15 years since his passing.  I'm very certain that he'd say something to the effect of "Same sh*t, different flies".  FZ is still way ahead of his time and relevant.

DG

 holborne wrote: 

Okay, How about you're so full of sh^t. Are you happy now that we can rate your comment in proper English?

Zappa picked on lots of people and those that take it personally (like I'm assuming you do) should just get over it. Freedom of expression is what is the benchmark of American society.

He was a musical genius and like others have posted before me, a lot of his music is difficult for the average person to listen to. But you and I are not average, because if we were, why would we be here at Radio Paradise?

And if you think Jewish American Princess is a slam against the Jewish state, it's more a slam against the materialism of certain East Coast Jewish women, their hairstyles, clothes, their whole makeup. I went to SUNY Binghamton in the early eighties and never knew the expression JAP until I got there. What an eye opener. That's were I was introduced to all the music of Mr. Z. Most of my friends there were Jewish and none of them expressed Frank as a bigot. Like Westslope Frank was a lot of things to a lot of people but I don't think he was a bigot.

Not a fan. 

 parrothead wrote: 

I'd pay a lot more attention to what you had to say if you didn't have a fourth-grade level error in the very first word of your (not you're) post. Thanks anyway, though!

 westslope wrote: 
Check out the lyrics to "Jewish Princess."

And just to spare us both a lot of pointless arguing: I don't accept that the lyrics were just satire, and I don't know that Zappa himself ever said they were. If he wrote a similar song about black people, he would have been ostracized from the music industry and people would have publicly burned his albums.

 holborne wrote: 

Your so full of it! Zappa was a musical genius and was doing stuff way before many people like you were ready for it. He was playing Eddie Van Halen guitar when Eddie was in primary school! Thank you RP for playing some Zappa. I will say that there is alot of Zappa stuff out there that is unlistenable, but that should take nothing away from the man's talent.

genius, pure and simple.
(ok, maybe not so simple, but pure.) 

this song is pretty wacked.  Genius maybe.  I can't tell.  Wacked for certain.

Turn UP the genius!

This reminds me of an interview on NPR. A woman who longed to go to Washington DC after watching all the gushing about the Obama inauguration on the telley. Frank is still a "living genius." 

God, how I detest Frank Zappa. Self-satisfied, dull, pretentious, and a bigot. (And if you think his music was bad, have a look at a couple of his interviews — you'll find them on YouTube.) I can't wait until he's recognized to be the minor figure he was.

I do have to give him credit for writing an accurate song title, though.

When Zappa performed this on Saturday Night Live, he had announcer Don Pardo do the second verse ("Take it away, Don Pardo!"). 

Saw him on Mother's Day in like, 1979, in Baltimore - his mother was in the crowd.  Holy cow, I was alot younger then!

 woozurbuddy wrote: 
Yup! Saw them at Detroit's Grande Ballroom in '68, thinking I was going to get the usual We're Only In It For the Money and Freak Out! fare. Instead, it was a jazz fusion show. Outstanding!

 + Fran ZAppa
much more Less David Byrne

 woozurbuddy wrote: 
Yes, Indeed! how about some more Zappa, Bill?

 woozurbuddy wrote: 
I Agree. A Zappa show was the most music you could see all at once.

yep godlike

Frank is, I think the ultimate Boy artist. I have just never gotten the appeal.

Yeah Frank ! I would not be opposed to more from the genius of our modern age ...

Thank you Bill!

More Frank.  Less of the corporate pop.  Thanks Bill!

Brilliant!
I tuned in half way through the song, and was instantly 'Zapped' back to  1969 and Hot rats.