Fridays With Frank (Zappa) #15

Does that say "Turgid Flux States?"

I thought so.

Fridays With Frank (Zappa) #14

I'd love to browse in this place.

Fridays With Frank (Zappa) #13

Four dollars and fifty cents! And no "convenience charge."

Fridays With Frank (Zappa) #12

The Zappa/Mothers ad campaign for Hagstrom Guitars — created in 1967 by Zappa's ad agency, Nifty Tough & Bitchin'.

From the Hagstrom Guitars website:
Back in 1967, Frank Zappa created an advertising agency in New York City called "Nifty Tough & Bitchin'" as another creative outlet associated with, but not directly tied to his musical endeavors. This ad agency, in a very short amount of time, mounted various professional advertising campaigns for clients such as Hagstrom Guitars, Panther Combo Organs, and even Remington Razor Blades in addition to art direction for the Mother's of Invention album covers.

The Hagstrom campaign was one of the first campaigns launched by Nifty Tough & Bitchin'. It features 3 print ads: "Nifty", "Long and Slippery", and "Folk Rock is a Drag", and a radio spot: "Long and Slippery". Using himself as the subject matter of the ads, Frank does a masterful job crafting these ads showing that he is not only a musical genious, but also an astute business man, and savvy marketeer. Frank was responsible for art direction of the various ad campaigns, and he was also skilled in the technical aspects of ad creation handling layouts and creating the blue lines for print media.

Nifty indeed.

Fridays With Frank (Zappa) #11

As you may know, the first Mothers record, Freak Out!, was released as a two LP set in the States and a single LP throughout most of the rest of the world. Is this a great country or what?

If you're rich — or if you don't care if your children eat or have shoes — you can go here and bid on the actual master tapes of that international single-record version.

Will they help you meet girls? No. But would they be a really cool thing to have sitting on your mantle? Absolutely.

Fridays With Frank (Zappa) #10

Go here and you can check out Burt Ward's Batman cash-in 45 "Boy Wonder I Love You." The backing track was provided by Zappa and The Mothers back in June of 1966.

Thanks to Never Get Out Of The Boat.

Fridays With Frank (Zappa) #9

FZ (in Mike's Monkee chair) and Michael Nesmith (in FZ's nose and hair, giving the finger).

Nesmith: "I asked Frank Zappa if he would guest on the show. He said, 'I'll only come if I can have your part.' And I said, 'Well, that's fine. If you come on the show and be me, then I'll be you.' So I dressed him up in a shirt and gave him a wool hat so he'd look like me... He was very kind. When people hated us more than anything he said kind things about us. He was talking about the music, about how well it was produced... He offered to teach me to play lead guitar one time. It was an incredibly groovy thing to do. He worked with me for hours, but I never learned."
(From that Zappa book by Barry Miles)

By the way, if you've never heard the three LPs Nesmith made with the First National Band — Magnetic South, Loose Salute and Nevada Fighter — you're really missing out. They're out on CD now, so you have no excuse.

Fridays With Frank (Zappa) #8

Came across this on Jimmy Carl Black's website.

Jimmy passed away peacefully Saturday 11/01/08 at 11:00 o'clock pm.

He says hi to everybody and he doesn't want anybody to be sad.

That's him on the right.

Fridays With Frank (Zappa) #7

Outtake from Cal Schenkel's shoot for We're Only In It For The Money, often held up as the best Zappa/Mothers LP.

Sorry folks, I feel that distinction has to go to Freak Out!

Fridays With Frank (Zappa) #6

In observance of Mother's Day, here's a Mother with his mother.

Fridays With Frank (Zappa) #5

Someplace you shoulda been.

Fridays With Frank (Zappa) #4

The New Rock
by Frank Zappa in Life
June 28, 1968

"...I remember going to see Blackboard Jungle. When the titles flashed up there on the screen Bill Haley and his Comets started blurching "One Two Three O'Clock, Four O'Clock Rock...." It was the loudest sound kids had ever heard at that time. I remember being inspired with awe. In cruddy little teen-age rooms across America, kids had been huddling around old radios and cheap record players listening to the "dirty music" of their life style. ("Go in your room if you wanna listen to that crap... and turn the volume all the way down.") But in the theatre, watching Blackboard Jungle, they couldn't tell you to turn it down. I didn't care if Bill Haley was white or sincere... he was playing the Teen-Age National Anthem and it was so LOUD I was jumping up and down. Blackboard Jungle, not even considering the story line (which had the old people winning in the end) represented a strange sort of "endorsement" of the teen-age cause: "They have made a movie about us, therefore, we exist..."

Fridays With Frank (Zappa) #3

Here's a little fact-y thing that signifies that there's a tiny micro-speck of hope for the record-buying American: We're Only In It For The Money actually hit #30 on the Billboard charts back in 1968.

Heard the Lumpy Money thing yet?

Fridays With Frank (Zappa) #3

Neon Park's cover to The Mothers' mighty Weasels Ripped My Flesh.


And in case you were wondering, where Zappa got the title came from.

Fridays With Frank (Zappa) #2

The Mothers Of Invention at The Whiskey A Go-Go (on the fabulous Sunset Strip) in 1966. Note the copy of Freak Out! on the table.

What could they be twisting and frug-ing to? "Help, I'm A Rock?"

As you ponder such questions, dig this interview with Frank from 1968.

Fridays With Frank (Zappa) #1

I've been on a Frank Zappa binge lately, focused mainly around the Verve/Mothers years.

He is certainly missed. So I thought I'd dedicate every Friday for a while to Mr. Zappa.

Since I've recently figured out how to stick videos on this thing, here's a clip from one of the last episodes of The Monkees. Frank appears in this pre-credits segment only. The "You're a popular musician, I'm dirty, gross and ugly" line cracks me up every time.

The tune you hear, as Frank hits the car with a sledgehammer, is "Mother People."

Cleans & Thrills You!

I don't know why this strikes me as funny, or as brilliant, but I love the fact that some of the greatest Rock N Roll albums of all time were sold through comic books!

Imagine scooping a couple bucks out of your piggy bank, handing it your mom and asking her to write a check to United Mutations for something called Freak Out! by Frank Zappa and The Mothers.

It's stuff like this that makes me proud to be a Capitalist Swine.

"Plastic boots and plastic hat—and you think you know where it's at?"

Had dinner with some good friends last night, some guys I used to work with. And as often happens when my kooky friends get together, the conversation turned to music. (To be honest, that's about the only thing any of us can speak even remotely intelligently about.)

Somewhere along the way, somebody brought up "Freak Out" by The Mothers Of Invention. Now we're talking! This, as you may know, was Frank Zappa and the Mothers' first album. It's also considered the first double-album set in Rock N Roll history. Some say it's Rock's first concept album. Others, like me, just say it's great. Like really great.

How many records contain lyrics like these?

"Mister America
Walk on by
Your schools that do not teach
Mister America
Walk on by
The minds that won't be reached
Mister America
Try to hide
The emptiness that's you inside
When once you find that the way you lied
And all the corny tricks you tried
Will not forestall the rising tide of
Hungry freaks, Daddy"
(that's from "Hungry Freaks, Daddy")

I could go on and on, especially where "Trouble Every Day" is concerned.

It's hard to believe this thing was released 40 years ago (and recently commemorated by Lagunistas Brewing with Freak Out Ale). Zappa blasts stuff we're still dealing with: race, bigotry, our liberties, etc. Issues that should be relics, but seem to be hanging around here in 2006. Sure wish Frank was here to help straighten 'em out.

I was surprised at how many of the lyrics our gaggle of idiots had logged into our long-term memories. A sign of misspent youths or a testament to the power of Zappa firing on all cylinders?

"Mom, I tore a big hole in the convertible."