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Look here, brother; who you jivin’ with that Cosmik Debris?

Frank’s lyrics are always fantastical and (usually) give me a good little giggle. My favorite is stuff like Montana, Stink-Foot, or Drowning Witch; the silly stories with such particular, eccentrically worded phrases to describe even more eccentric things. The more real satire is kinda hit or miss. Bobby Brown Goes Down puts me on my ass, but SEX is just a chore to listen to. Catholic Girls is a great song, Dinah-Moe Humm is… kinda funky I guess…

Anyway, great pic here, it’s from the same concert we see a review of on the back of Mothermania; which, despite being just a compilation, I actually really love. I love the different mixes and adore the uncensored Mother People.

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Picture from the liner notes of Halloween 73.

Frank’s my favorite guitar player. If I had to pay the ZFT every time I nicked a lick from one of his solos, or physically took notes from a solo I was listening to in order to use later, I would be broke, and we would receive a lot more releases. Sometimes he’s sloppy, yeah. But from ‘73-‘82, he was the best guitar player on the planet to me. Even as his style changed, his guitar playing was always fucking fierce. Whether it’s in a little section like Penguin In Bondage or Carolina Hard-Core Ecstasy, or a larger jam like Inca Roads or Advance Romance, or in a straight solo vehicle like The Deathless Horsie or Treacherous Cretins; it is ALWAYS awesome.

This is your sign to listen to a little Shut Up ‘n Play Yer Guitar or Guitar today.

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This was a good day.

This is for sure my favorite posthumous release. The early ‘80 band is my favorite band Zappa ever had, containing all the great parts of the ‘80s bands, but still with the atmosphere and structure of the ‘70s bands. And on top of all that; I think is the absolute peak of his guitar playing.

If you haven’t check out the Mudd Club/Munich release. Specifically the Munich Show.

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Awesome little ad in April 19th, 1969’s issue of Rolling Stone magazine for my favorite Mothers album.

The abundance of writing, different numbers, and weird little beads indicate that this was another attempt at the skull on the back of the sleeve by Cal Shenkel, an artist and longtime collaborator of Zappa’s. It’s also cool to see (who I assume to be) Cal holding the card of Zappa in the process of making the back.

Uncle Meat is such a blend of sounds, words, and experiences, it’s hard for someone like me to not love it. It’s most definitely the Mothers at their peak skill level, and unfortunately would be the last album released before Zappa disbanded the OG Mothers.

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I like this picture, it’s great to see him smile, especially in the OG Mothers days.

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“Zappa In New York” is an album recorded in 1976, and released in 1978, in the midst of Zappa’s lawsuit with Warner Bros. Records. But that’s for another post.

The album was heavily censored. A couple of minutes were sliced from “Titties & Beer” and “Punky’s Whips” was removed entirely, out of fear of offending the song’s subject, guitarist Punky Meadows of Angel, who, in fact, loved the song.

The album follows Zappa’s stints in New York around Halloween and Christmas. He had the SNL studio band at his disposal, and he used them to their fullest. Just compare the vamp the horns play during Zappa’s solo on “I’m The Slime” that appeared on the CD re-release to the Over-Nite Sensation version.

Zappa in the modern world is very strange. I remember when UMG first bought out the ZFT, they announced they were gonna do Zappa NFTs and I was pissed. How could they do something so fucking stupid to the most genius composer of the 20th-21st centuries? But thankfully, those dumb little pictures died out before that happened. But then all the Valley Girl stuff launched, and then came the visualizers. It’s just odd. I’d like to go back to 1964 and tell the starving Zappa, “You’re music’s gonna get a cult following, you’ll have a 30 year career, and there’ll be visualizers of your songs on YouTube in 50 years.”

I dunno, but this ZINY visualizer is actually pretty nice.

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Why did he have to smoke?

I find it so interesting how Frank is such an intelligent person, someone so ahead of and blazing right through the bullshit of the drug culture as it morphed his whole life, but couldn’t see through the bullshit of tobacco and smoking?

And ultimately, those disgusting little rolls of death are what took this genius from us far too soon.

Anyway, this photo is from The Mothers’ stint at the Garrick Theatre in New York in 1967. This is where huge developments in The Mothers style and music occurred, as they developed their theatrical comedy and on-stage antics, rehearse endlessly, and is where Ian Underwood and Ruth Komanoff (soon to be Ruth Underwood) would first see Zappa play, and soon thereafter play with the maestro. Both were enamored by the uniqueness and beauty of Zappa’s music. You can hear the story of how Ian joined shortly after on the track, “Ian Underwood Whips It Out (Live On Stage In Copenhagen)” from 1969’s “Uncle Meat”.

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This is from September of ‘74, in Sweden.

These shoes are the very same funky little numbers you can see him wear and operate his wah pedal with in “ROXY - The Movie,” and the jacket is the very same one from his photoshoot with Gail, his wife, which a photo from ended up being used in the cover and liner art for 1967’s “Absolutely Free,” when he still released album solely under the name of The Mothers Of Invention.

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When I downloaded this app, I noticed a disturbing lack of Frank Zappa content. I am going to fix this. I am here to answer any questions I can about the man, engage in discussions with fellow Poodles, and post many pictures.