Today's "Remembering Frank Zappa Moment."

[Bush_Eats_Beef]

"The present day composer refuses to die"

...Edgar Varese, by way of Frank

:toast:

[rawtribe]

1. I saw the

San Francisco Symphony do Edgar Varese conducted by Frank Zappa..
His voice is missed.

[ClintonTyree]

2. I still have my vintage 1968..................

Phi Zappa Krappa poster, framed and hung over the toilet. I see Frank's inquisitive face every day.

He is greatly missed in a time when his voice would be a welcome commentary on the present state of affairs.

[DenverDem]

3. I was at the Bongo Fury shows at Armadillo World Headquarters, Austin '75.

Two of the most incredible performances I've ever had the luck to attend. Captain freaking Beefheart!!!

Frank was brilliant and gone far too soon.

[Bush_Eats_Beef]

6. I saw one shortly after that, Paramount Theater in Oakland CA

Beefheart was the "opening act" and unfortunately played NO songs with Zappa.

Beefheart's drummer John "Drumbo" French did a "solo" which consisted of him doing a silent soft-show dance across the stage. The audience booed mercilessly. Amazingly, it didn't seem that Zappa's audience "got" Beefheart that night. He did "Orange Claw Hammer" from "Trout Mask Replica" and people booed during THAT, too.

:shrug:

Then it was Zappa time. I've seen him 3 times...once, during the Flo & Eddie years in Boston. Also at the Circle Star Theater in San Carlos CA with his "Roxy & Elsewhere" band, and this Oakland show...which was basically the "Roxy" band with the addition of Denny Walley.

At one point, Frank grabbed his hair and twisted it into a ponytail, saying he was about to play some "serious" music. It was "Black Napkins"...a roaring, weeping, soaring, feedback laden performance that was every bit the equal of any live performance EVER played by Jimi Hendrix (and I say that as a consummate Hendrix fan).

Frank was one of my heroes. Every once in a while I fly his flag on DU and feel so good when his fans show up.

:toast:

[rawtribe]

4. Zappa Radio

http://streaming.televizion.com/high-band.html

[Kat45]

5. Man, I wish he was still with us.

He could add so much to the discussion in this country today.

[Squeech]

7. Me too

I almost mentioned him on the "Who's the most famous person you ever met?" thread. I did an interview with Frank for Trouser Press, 1976 or thereabouts. He was so on top of everything, it was scary: total mastery of the conversation and all its implications. Fortunately I didn't have to face him alone; there were two Italian journalists who obviously had way fewer clues than I did, so they got the brunt of his industrial-strength sarcasm.

The thing that came out of that conversation that Zappaphiles still talk about was something that I tossed out as an afterthought: I asked him why he grew and maintained that peculiar facial hair pattern, the big walrus mustache and little soul patch that became his logo. I was expecting an answer about how it would make his face really easy to watch even under difficult lighting conditions, so he could conduct the band more effectively, or something like that. But he just said "I thought it looked cool on bluesman Johnny Otis, so I did it too!"