Who the F*@% is Frank Zappa?

fronobulax · Mar 9, 2016

I'm not endorsing this but there are several folks who I suspect would be interested.

The Zappa estate has given filmmaker Alex Winter unprecedented access to the Zappa archives. There is a Kickstarter project to make a Zappa documentary and catalog and digital capture/preserve the archives.

See https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/alexwinter/frank-zappa

Backers at $7500 have the opportunity to record in Zappa's studio and play "Zappa's guitar". Given the length of his career this leads to the question - which one of his guitars?

drc · Mar 9, 2016

Interesting. Always been a Zappa fan from a distance. He never really was part of my generation. I will have to research some before I can figure out which guitar...

wileypickett · Mar 9, 2016

I'd go for one of those Hagstroms he was the spokesperson for myself!

adorshki · Mar 9, 2016

fronobulax said:
which one of his guitars?

That's a no-brainer:

With that one you get to play Jimi Hendrix's guitar too.
(Actually yes I'm aware the provenance of that guitar is uncertain, but that's for a different thread.)

adorshki · Mar 9, 2016

Further googling yields this overview of selected gems of Frank's:
http://www.celebrityrockstarguitars.com/rock/Zappa_Frank.htm
And a definitive overview of the "Hendrix Guitar"'s provenance (it may surprise some of you to discover that Jimi is known to have burned at least 2 and possibly3 guitars on stage):
http://www.zappa.com/messageboard/v...&sid=1f53c8438051fb0becbc962b44767d86&start=0

silverfox103 · Mar 9, 2016

Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention. He definitely wasn't a mainstream musician. He was part of the San Francisco sound. Remember "Country Joe and the Fish?

Tom

adorshki · Mar 9, 2016

silverfox103 said:
Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention. He definitely wasn't a mainstream musician. He was part of the San Francisco sound. Remember "Country Joe and the Fish?
Tom

Ahhh, no, technically Frank would have been part of the "LA sound", like the Doors, although I'm sure he would have rejected being categorized at all.
But by his early teens he was raised, began his career, and made his home base in southern California.
Somewhat ironically perhaps, the best known of the "San Francisco sound" bands, the Grateful Dead and the Jefferson Airplane, made their first albums in Los Angeles, that was where the big labels had their recording studios.

rampside · Mar 9, 2016

fronobulax said:
Backers at $7500 have the opportunity to record in Zappa's studio and play "Zappa's guitar". Given the length of his career this leads to the question - which one of his guitars?

He's Dweezil Zappa's father. Gibson SG "Roxy"?

Bill Ashton · Mar 9, 2016

I'd just like to sit in the audience and hear Dweezil play "Peaches and Regalia" :love-struck:

NoPicks · Mar 10, 2016

"Who the F*@% is Frank Zappa?"

IMHO the greatest philosopher and social critic of the entire 20th Century, with a notable sideline making music the likes of which we shall never hear again

Suffice it to say, I'm a huge fan, not only of his music but also his entire attitude towards life in general. Even if he accomplished nothing else in life, he surely deserves the heartfelt gratitude of the entire United States for his deservedly brutal dismantling and public shaming of the PMRC, right there in what that pathetic collection of Bible-pounding busybodies had (unjustifiably) thought was "safe" territory

Lots of people talk about "speaking Truth to Power". Frank was one of the few I'm aware of who actually put his money where his mouth was and Did So. Repeatedly. In the most Public manner possible. And without the slightest hint of compromise or weasel-wording. He did it with his music (conceptual continuity: Big Swifty and many more examples too numerous to count), he did it in publicly televised testimony before a group that was masquerading as a Congressional Committee (when they were actually nothing of the kind), and he did it right in the face of quite a few 'high powered commentators' on television - the vast majority of whom made their living shilling for the most pernicious and subversive elements of American society

adorshki · Mar 10, 2016

NoPicks said:
IMHO the greatest philosopher and social critic of the entire 20th Century, with a notable sideline making music the likes of which we shall never hear again
Suffice it to say, I'm a huge fan, not only of his music but also his entire attitude towards life in general.

Your'e among friend here NoPicks, you don't have to hold back.
And yes, btw, Big Swifty has always been one of my personal faves too.

Rayk · Mar 14, 2016

NoPicks said:
"Who the F*@% is Frank Zappa?"

IMHO the greatest philosopher and social critic of the entire 20th Century, with a notable sideline making music the likes of which we shall never hear again

Suffice it to say, I'm a huge fan, not only of his music but also his entire attitude towards life in general. Even if he accomplished nothing else in life, he surely deserves the heartfelt gratitude of the entire United States for his deservedly brutal dismantling and public shaming of the PMRC, right there in what that pathetic collection of Bible-pounding busybodies had (unjustifiably) thought was "safe" territory

Lots of people talk about "speaking Truth to Power". Frank was one of the few I'm aware of who actually put his money where his mouth was and Did So. Repeatedly. In the most Public manner possible. And without the slightest hint of compromise or weasel-wording. He did it with his music (conceptual continuity: Big Swifty and many more examples too numerous to count), he did it in publicly televised testimony before a group that was masquerading as a Congressional Committee (when they were actually nothing of the kind), and he did it right in the face of quite a few 'high powered commentators' on television - the vast majority of whom made their living shilling for the most pernicious and subversive elements of American society

+1 nopicks

. Zappa ruled ! Brilliant writer , player , performer and Sh - tons more . Spoke up for mucians and freedom of speech at government levels to protect everyone's rights where many just wanted to sit back with bowed heads and ride the feed bags of there contract masters and or the music guild masters .

adorshki · Mar 14, 2016

NoPicks said:
And without the slightest hint of compromise or weasel-wording.

Speaking of which, another one of my faves:

rwmct · Mar 25, 2016

Saw Zappa a couple times, once from the front row at the Hartford Civic Center. Loved to hear him play. Was not a fan of his sitting in a chair doing nothing while the band played around him, though.

Who the F*@% is Frank Zappa?

fronobulax

Bassist, GAD and the Hot Mess Mods

drc

Senior Member

wileypickett

Senior Member

adorshki

Reverential Member

adorshki

Reverential Member

silverfox103

Senior Member

adorshki

Reverential Member

rampside

Senior Member

Bill Ashton

Senior Member

NoPicks

Junior Member

adorshki

Reverential Member

Rayk

Enlightened Member

adorshki

Reverential Member

rwmct

Member