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Uh, I'll just show you a chord.
2
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Yes.
3
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And we just set up a rhythm on one chord
4
00:00:36,036 --> 00:00:39,414
and I'll start doing
something. Make it up.
5
00:00:39,581 --> 00:00:40,499
That's good.
6
00:00:40,666 --> 00:00:41,875
Tell me a little bit about the stage.
7
00:00:41,959 --> 00:00:43,909
Yeah. It's... look, it's not going to...
8
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It won't be professional.
It'll just be music.
9
00:00:46,838 --> 00:00:47,839
Okay.
10
00:00:48,006 --> 00:00:49,424
Homemade hoopla.
11
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This is the first time
that I've had a reason
12
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to play my guitar in three years. So...
13
00:01:56,158 --> 00:02:00,037
I'm sure you already know it,
14
00:02:00,203 --> 00:02:01,913
but this is just the beginning
15
00:02:02,080 --> 00:02:04,541
of your new future in this country.
16
00:02:10,964 --> 00:02:15,218
And I hope that your new
future will be very perfect.
17
00:02:15,385 --> 00:02:16,637
Very perfect.
18
00:02:23,602 --> 00:02:26,063
And as you confront the new changes
19
00:02:26,229 --> 00:02:27,439
that will take place,
20
00:02:27,606 --> 00:02:31,401
please try and keep your country unique.
21
00:02:31,568 --> 00:02:33,945
Don't change into something else.
22
00:02:34,112 --> 00:02:35,447
Keep it unique.
23
00:02:43,038 --> 00:02:46,333
And now, I will try and tune my guitar.
24
00:03:17,155 --> 00:03:19,105
Many have always considered Frank Zappa
25
00:03:19,241 --> 00:03:20,242
a rock legend.
26
00:03:20,409 --> 00:03:21,868
And one of his friends tonight told me
27
00:03:21,952 --> 00:03:23,954
that he wrote and composed music
28
00:03:24,121 --> 00:03:25,122
to the very end.
29
00:03:25,288 --> 00:03:27,624
He was known for elaborate,
unconventional songs,
30
00:03:27,708 --> 00:03:29,084
often with raunchy lyrics.
31
00:03:29,251 --> 00:03:30,951
The social commentary in his songs
32
00:03:31,044 --> 00:03:32,420
targeted the music industry,
33
00:03:32,504 --> 00:03:34,673
the educational system, and politics.
34
00:03:34,840 --> 00:03:37,092
In America, Zappa was
denounced by the Church,
35
00:03:37,259 --> 00:03:39,093
had his concerts broken up by the police,
36
00:03:39,177 --> 00:03:41,227
and his records banned by radio stations.
37
00:03:41,388 --> 00:03:43,306
His wife and all four
children were with him.
38
00:03:43,390 --> 00:03:44,683
They are together tonight
39
00:03:44,850 --> 00:03:47,310
at their Laurel Canyon
area home with friends.
40
00:03:47,477 --> 00:03:49,771
Frank Zappa, dead at 52.
41
00:03:49,938 --> 00:03:51,106
Back to you.
42
00:04:15,255 --> 00:04:16,506
Rolling?
43
00:04:16,673 --> 00:04:18,049
And... yes.
44
00:04:19,342 --> 00:04:21,720
Okay. This aisle here
45
00:04:21,887 --> 00:04:24,723
is where some of the
best-known titles lurk.
46
00:04:24,890 --> 00:04:27,017
Here's stuff from the Hot Rats.
47
00:04:28,643 --> 00:04:32,606
Here's the original 24-track
masters of "Dinah-Moe Humm,"
48
00:04:32,773 --> 00:04:37,194
"Dirty Love," "Montana,"
"Inca Roads," "RDNZL."
49
00:04:37,903 --> 00:04:40,655
Shut Up n' Play Yer Guitar, Joe's Garage.
50
00:04:42,282 --> 00:04:43,992
Here's Sheik Yerbouti.
51
00:04:46,203 --> 00:04:49,498
Tinsel Town Rebellion,
Drowning Witch, Utopia.
52
00:04:49,664 --> 00:04:51,291
♪ She's a valley girl ♪
53
00:04:51,458 --> 00:04:52,626
♪ Valley girl ♪
54
00:04:52,793 --> 00:04:53,876
♪ She's a valley girl ♪
55
00:04:53,960 --> 00:04:56,671
Oh, here's Eric Clapton when
he came over to my house.
56
00:05:00,008 --> 00:05:01,551
Wild Man Fischer.
57
00:05:02,135 --> 00:05:03,386
Captain Beef heart,
58
00:05:03,553 --> 00:05:05,722
a little jam in the basement.
59
00:05:07,891 --> 00:05:09,518
And around here,
60
00:05:10,519 --> 00:05:12,479
down this darkened aisle,
61
00:05:12,938 --> 00:05:15,482
is a collection of videotapes
62
00:05:15,649 --> 00:05:19,110
from when I borrowed
my father's 8mm camera
63
00:05:19,277 --> 00:05:20,862
and made a bunch of movies.
64
00:05:43,969 --> 00:05:46,805
I became obsessed with editing.
65
00:05:47,138 --> 00:05:50,308
And I would edit just
because I liked to edit.
66
00:05:51,768 --> 00:05:55,564
I would splice any 8mm
film that was in the house
67
00:05:55,856 --> 00:05:57,566
to anything else.
68
00:06:06,700 --> 00:06:08,368
When I was little...
69
00:06:08,869 --> 00:06:11,580
I didn't have too much
interest in music at all.
70
00:06:11,746 --> 00:06:14,457
When I was about,
say, five or six years old
71
00:06:14,624 --> 00:06:16,960
up until the time I was about 13,
72
00:06:17,127 --> 00:06:19,504
I was interested in chemistry
73
00:06:20,338 --> 00:06:22,424
and especially in explosives.
74
00:06:23,717 --> 00:06:26,595
I... I learned how to make
gunpowder when I was six.
75
00:06:28,305 --> 00:06:30,891
At that time, my father was working
76
00:06:31,057 --> 00:06:33,143
at a place on the East Coast
77
00:06:33,310 --> 00:06:35,312
called the Edgewood Arsenal.
78
00:06:35,687 --> 00:06:37,937
Edgewood Arsenal is
where they made poison gas
79
00:06:38,064 --> 00:06:39,441
during World War ll.
80
00:06:40,483 --> 00:06:42,235
At Edgewood Arsenal, Maryland,
81
00:06:42,402 --> 00:06:44,863
the Army Chemical Corp
developed the machinery
82
00:06:45,030 --> 00:06:46,907
for producing the nerve gas GB,
83
00:06:47,073 --> 00:06:49,242
which had been developed by Nazi Germany.
84
00:06:49,409 --> 00:06:53,496
And the nerve gas VX, which
was developed in England.
85
00:06:54,789 --> 00:06:58,460
There is enough gas there
and enough gas coming
86
00:06:58,627 --> 00:07:00,253
of the nerve gas variety
87
00:07:00,795 --> 00:07:06,551
to cause the death of
681,481, 000 persons.
88
00:07:09,596 --> 00:07:11,346
Everybody that lived in the project
89
00:07:11,431 --> 00:07:14,893
had to have gas masks in their house
90
00:07:15,060 --> 00:07:17,687
in case the tanks of mustard gas broke.
91
00:07:17,896 --> 00:07:20,690
So the... the toys that I
remember growing up with
92
00:07:20,857 --> 00:07:25,153
were the little chemical beakers
that my father would bring home
93
00:07:25,904 --> 00:07:29,157
and the gas masks that
were hanging in the hall closet.
94
00:07:29,407 --> 00:07:30,992
And I used to wear that out in the yard
95
00:07:31,076 --> 00:07:32,126
and run around in it.
96
00:07:32,243 --> 00:07:34,043
And I thought it was a space helmet.
97
00:07:36,247 --> 00:07:38,792
♪ Any way the wind blows ♪
98
00:07:39,960 --> 00:07:43,880
♪ ls-a fine with me ♪
99
00:07:44,047 --> 00:07:46,049
♪ Any way the wind blows ♪
100
00:07:47,592 --> 00:07:51,054
♪ It don't matter to me ♪
101
00:07:51,930 --> 00:07:53,880
♪ 'Cause I'm through with-a fussin'... ♪
102
00:07:54,307 --> 00:07:55,892
I had a lot of asthma.
103
00:07:56,518 --> 00:07:57,519
I was very ill.
104
00:07:57,686 --> 00:08:00,730
Almost cacked out a few times
from the climate back there.
105
00:08:01,106 --> 00:08:02,648
And so, he was looking for a place
106
00:08:02,732 --> 00:08:04,782
where I wouldn't be constantly folding up
107
00:08:04,943 --> 00:08:07,111
and a place where he
could earn a better income.
108
00:08:07,195 --> 00:08:10,095
And so, he took a position at
the Naval Postgraduate School
109
00:08:10,198 --> 00:08:13,034
in California, teaching metallurgy.
110
00:08:15,704 --> 00:08:18,540
The last experimentation
that I did with explosives
111
00:08:18,707 --> 00:08:20,583
was when I was about 15 years old.
112
00:08:21,418 --> 00:08:24,379
I'd mixed up this quantity of powder
113
00:08:24,879 --> 00:08:27,716
which consisted of,
uh, regular black powder
114
00:08:27,882 --> 00:08:30,093
and then flash powder,
115
00:08:30,260 --> 00:08:33,847
which is 50 percent zinc
and 50 percent sulfur,
116
00:08:34,014 --> 00:08:35,557
mixed with sugar,
117
00:08:35,724 --> 00:08:38,309
and attempted to set
fire to the high school
118
00:08:38,476 --> 00:08:39,644
that I was attending.
119
00:08:47,402 --> 00:08:50,196
It always seemed to me
that if you could get a laugh
120
00:08:50,363 --> 00:08:51,822
out of something, that was good.
121
00:08:51,906 --> 00:08:53,741
And if you could make life more colorful
122
00:08:53,825 --> 00:08:55,744
than it actually was, that was good.
123
00:08:55,910 --> 00:08:58,163
So, any artist or individual who worked
124
00:08:58,329 --> 00:09:01,207
in those two directions
was doing something good.
125
00:09:04,335 --> 00:09:06,713
My family was really poor.
126
00:09:07,338 --> 00:09:09,006
Not only that, they didn't
like music too much.
127
00:09:09,090 --> 00:09:11,551
So I didn't really come into contact
128
00:09:11,718 --> 00:09:15,764
with musical expression
until 14 or 15 years old.
129
00:09:16,056 --> 00:09:20,769
And my parents were opposed
to any involvement in music
130
00:09:20,935 --> 00:09:22,854
that I might be interested in.
131
00:09:23,146 --> 00:09:26,858
But I remember this magazine
article about Sam Goody.
132
00:09:27,025 --> 00:09:29,819
Was saying what a
wonderful merchandiser he was
133
00:09:29,986 --> 00:09:31,821
because he could even sell an album
134
00:09:31,988 --> 00:09:33,990
that had this ugly music on it.
135
00:09:34,157 --> 00:09:36,242
The writer described this as, like,
136
00:09:36,409 --> 00:09:38,209
literally the most frightening thing
137
00:09:38,328 --> 00:09:40,078
that a human being could listen to.
138
00:09:40,163 --> 00:09:43,249
This evil, vile album.
139
00:09:44,042 --> 00:09:46,127
The description was
something that stuck with me,
140
00:09:46,211 --> 00:09:47,586
and then a few months later,
141
00:09:47,670 --> 00:09:51,508
I actually saw the album
in a store and bought it.
142
00:09:53,426 --> 00:09:55,176
It was because of that Varèse album
143
00:09:55,261 --> 00:09:56,861
that I read about in a magazine.
144
00:09:56,971 --> 00:09:58,640
And hearing "ionisation,"
145
00:09:58,848 --> 00:10:01,309
that I... writing orchestra music.
146
00:10:04,854 --> 00:10:06,981
I had no interest in Beethoven, Mozart,
147
00:10:07,148 --> 00:10:08,232
or any of that kind of stuff.
148
00:10:08,316 --> 00:10:10,266
It just didn't sound interesting to me.
149
00:10:10,401 --> 00:10:11,945
I wanted to listen to the man
150
00:10:12,112 --> 00:10:15,240
who could make music
that was that strange.
151
00:10:15,824 --> 00:10:17,408
Because the role of the percussion
152
00:10:17,492 --> 00:10:20,036
in most classical music
is you wait a long time,
153
00:10:20,203 --> 00:10:22,497
and then somebody
goes ping with a triangle.
154
00:10:23,164 --> 00:10:25,667
To me, that was all boring.
155
00:10:26,209 --> 00:10:27,919
But in Varèse's music,
156
00:10:28,086 --> 00:10:31,297
the percussion was playing
an integrated melodic part.
157
00:10:31,464 --> 00:10:32,882
And it was in the foreground.
158
00:10:32,966 --> 00:10:34,551
And since I liked drums,
159
00:10:34,717 --> 00:10:36,886
it was a pleasure for me to listen to it.
160
00:10:39,889 --> 00:10:41,182
I thought it was fantastic.
161
00:10:41,266 --> 00:10:43,350
I couldn't understand why
people just didn't love it
162
00:10:43,434 --> 00:10:44,684
the minute they heard it.
163
00:10:50,066 --> 00:10:51,442
High school in Lancaster
164
00:10:51,609 --> 00:10:54,195
wouldn't be equivalent to
high school any place else
165
00:10:54,362 --> 00:10:56,447
because Lancaster was a small town,
166
00:10:56,614 --> 00:10:58,867
and very few people in the area
167
00:10:59,033 --> 00:11:00,869
liked rhythm and blues music.
168
00:11:03,955 --> 00:11:05,873
And the rest of 'em
were kind of white-bread,
169
00:11:05,957 --> 00:11:07,917
Elvis Presley fanatic types.
170
00:11:09,210 --> 00:11:11,629
And I don't even remember how I met Don.
171
00:11:11,796 --> 00:11:15,383
But he had dropped
out of school by that time
172
00:11:15,550 --> 00:11:18,011
and spent most of his
time staying at home
173
00:11:18,178 --> 00:11:20,263
listening to rhythm and blues records.
174
00:11:20,930 --> 00:11:23,766
So, I used to hang out
over there after school
175
00:11:24,100 --> 00:11:27,103
and listen to Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown
176
00:11:27,270 --> 00:11:29,731
and Guitar Slim,
177
00:11:30,440 --> 00:11:31,900
Elmore James,
178
00:11:32,901 --> 00:11:34,194
Lowell Fulson,
179
00:11:34,736 --> 00:11:37,655
and Johnny "Guitar" Watson R&B records
180
00:11:37,822 --> 00:11:39,657
till three o'clock in the morning.
181
00:11:41,492 --> 00:11:43,077
Went out of my way to get a hold
182
00:11:43,161 --> 00:11:44,703
of the rhythm and blues records.
183
00:11:44,787 --> 00:11:46,414
And it was very hard to obtain
184
00:11:46,748 --> 00:11:48,916
because most of the white
music stores didn't stock it.
185
00:11:49,000 --> 00:11:50,210
And, uh...
186
00:11:50,627 --> 00:11:52,527
I just heard that music and I liked it
187
00:11:52,670 --> 00:11:54,255
and couldn't understand
why other people didn't like it
188
00:11:54,339 --> 00:11:55,506
as much as I did.
189
00:11:58,551 --> 00:12:00,469
When I first picked
up the guitar, I said,
190
00:12:00,553 --> 00:12:04,265
"How in the world could anybody
get any sound out of this thing
191
00:12:04,432 --> 00:12:06,809
other than the open string sound?"
192
00:12:06,976 --> 00:12:08,686
I couldn't conceive of
what the frets were for.
193
00:12:08,770 --> 00:12:10,897
But when rhythm and blues came along
194
00:12:11,064 --> 00:12:13,399
and I heard examples
of blues guitar playing,
195
00:12:13,566 --> 00:12:15,734
I thought that it was
something I really wanted to do.
196
00:12:15,818 --> 00:12:17,737
So, I just taught myself how to do it.
197
00:12:17,904 --> 00:12:19,738
Once I figured out that the pitch changed
198
00:12:19,822 --> 00:12:21,407
when you put your
finger down on the fret,
199
00:12:21,491 --> 00:12:22,867
I was hell on wheels.
200
00:12:23,826 --> 00:12:26,913
♪ You're probably
wondering why I'm here ♪
201
00:12:27,121 --> 00:12:28,831
♪ And so am I ♪
202
00:12:28,998 --> 00:12:30,875
♪ So am I ♪
203
00:12:39,676 --> 00:12:41,886
♪ You're probably wondering ♪
204
00:12:42,136 --> 00:12:45,265
- ♪ Why I'm here ♪
- ♪ Not that it makes ♪
205
00:12:45,431 --> 00:12:47,381
♪ A heck of a lot of difference to ya! ♪
206
00:12:50,270 --> 00:12:53,231
I had my first group playing
other people's material
207
00:12:53,398 --> 00:12:55,817
when I was about 16 or 17.
208
00:12:55,984 --> 00:12:57,193
It was called The Blackouts.
209
00:12:57,277 --> 00:12:59,821
A racially mixed ensemble.
210
00:13:00,822 --> 00:13:04,575
Which did not go down
well with the, uh, cowboys
211
00:13:04,742 --> 00:13:06,742
and other bigots who lived in this area.
212
00:13:06,828 --> 00:13:09,872
And, uh, we managed to play several jobs,
213
00:13:10,039 --> 00:13:12,542
but the school and the city authorities
214
00:13:12,750 --> 00:13:15,085
were against having it
perform because it was regarded
215
00:13:15,169 --> 00:13:17,547
as a threat to the
decency of the community.
216
00:13:25,555 --> 00:13:27,432
I started writing orchestra music
217
00:13:27,598 --> 00:13:29,934
before I ever wrote a rock and roll song.
218
00:13:30,476 --> 00:13:33,229
And then didn't try
writing any rock and roll
219
00:13:33,396 --> 00:13:34,939
until I was in my 20s.
220
00:13:36,524 --> 00:13:39,444
And as long as a
person has to earn a living
221
00:13:39,610 --> 00:13:42,363
and if he happens to be a
person who makes music,
222
00:13:43,698 --> 00:13:46,498
he's going to have to do
something to generate an income.
223
00:13:48,578 --> 00:13:51,039
And the more humiliating the conditions
224
00:13:51,205 --> 00:13:53,916
under which the income is generated,
225
00:13:54,334 --> 00:13:56,294
the more the music suffers.
226
00:13:58,671 --> 00:14:00,422
I did earn my living
as a commercial artist
227
00:14:00,506 --> 00:14:02,967
for a little while. I did greeting cards.
228
00:14:03,134 --> 00:14:06,137
I wrote advertising copy for
the place I was working for,
229
00:14:06,304 --> 00:14:09,474
called the Nile Running
Greeting Card Studio.
230
00:14:10,433 --> 00:14:13,394
I talked 'em into letting me do
my own line of greeting cards
231
00:14:13,478 --> 00:14:14,979
on an experimental basis,
232
00:14:15,146 --> 00:14:17,565
and one of 'em was, uh,
233
00:14:17,732 --> 00:14:20,318
"Captured Russian photo shows evidence
234
00:14:20,485 --> 00:14:22,820
of Americans' presence on Moon first."
235
00:14:23,363 --> 00:14:24,863
And you open it up, and there's a picture
236
00:14:24,947 --> 00:14:26,991
of a lunar crater with "Jesus Saves"
237
00:14:27,158 --> 00:14:28,242
inscribed on it.
238
00:14:30,495 --> 00:14:32,955
You are to hang by the
neck until you are dead.
239
00:14:33,164 --> 00:14:35,208
I'll see you in hell.
240
00:14:37,835 --> 00:14:40,254
And they don't take
me seriously, do they?
241
00:14:40,421 --> 00:14:42,924
They're only reporters.
They're all the same, God.
242
00:14:43,091 --> 00:14:45,885
I had scored a couple
of films about that time.
243
00:14:46,052 --> 00:14:47,720
The one that I got paid for,
244
00:14:47,887 --> 00:14:50,472
I went out and bought a
good guitar and, uh, took over
245
00:14:50,556 --> 00:14:53,518
the debts and the assets
of a recording studio
246
00:14:53,684 --> 00:14:56,729
in a town called Cucamonga, California.
247
00:14:59,148 --> 00:15:00,691
I'm living in this studio.
248
00:15:00,858 --> 00:15:03,193
It doesn't have a bathtub.
It doesn't have a shower.
249
00:15:03,277 --> 00:15:04,529
Doesn't have hot water.
250
00:15:04,695 --> 00:15:07,114
I don't have anything to
eat except peanut butter,
251
00:15:07,198 --> 00:15:09,784
instant mashed potatoes, and coffee.
252
00:15:09,951 --> 00:15:11,751
I go around gathering up pop bottles
253
00:15:11,911 --> 00:15:13,454
so I can buy cigarettes.
254
00:15:13,704 --> 00:15:15,205
But I've got all the
electronic stuff I need
255
00:15:15,289 --> 00:15:16,999
to make recordings.
256
00:15:19,585 --> 00:15:21,045
Well, I've had long hair.
257
00:15:21,254 --> 00:15:23,047
It was shorter than Beatle hair.
258
00:15:23,840 --> 00:15:26,050
So, there was a certain
amount of resentment
259
00:15:26,217 --> 00:15:28,845
in the community for my
presence there at the studio.
260
00:15:29,303 --> 00:15:34,100
And this mysterious 13.50
an hour recording studio
261
00:15:34,267 --> 00:15:36,602
was, uh, bad for their community.
262
00:15:37,019 --> 00:15:40,356
So, they designed to,
uh, get me out of there.
263
00:15:41,983 --> 00:15:44,694
Eventually this guy came to me and said
264
00:15:44,861 --> 00:15:48,197
that he was a used car
salesman and that he and the boys
265
00:15:48,364 --> 00:15:50,491
were having a party next Wednesday
266
00:15:50,658 --> 00:15:53,369
and they would like to
have a stag film made.
267
00:15:53,536 --> 00:15:55,121
And I said, "Are you kidding?"
268
00:15:55,288 --> 00:15:57,623
He said, "Well, we
have about 100 dollars."
269
00:15:57,790 --> 00:15:59,541
And I said, "Well, I
can't make you a movie
270
00:15:59,625 --> 00:16:02,545
for 100 dollars, but how
would you like a nice tape?"
271
00:16:03,087 --> 00:16:06,174
So, that night, we manufactured a tape,
272
00:16:06,340 --> 00:16:09,343
which was supposed to be sex on tape,
273
00:16:09,510 --> 00:16:12,388
but there's absolutely no
sex involved in this thing.
274
00:16:12,722 --> 00:16:15,308
But suddenly, the next day,
275
00:16:15,516 --> 00:16:18,686
the door swings open
and vice squad officers
276
00:16:18,853 --> 00:16:21,522
from the San Bernardino
Sheriff's Department
277
00:16:21,689 --> 00:16:22,839
come blasting in there.
278
00:16:23,065 --> 00:16:24,650
Pictures. Flash bulbs,
279
00:16:24,817 --> 00:16:26,652
and it was right out of a bad movie.
280
00:16:26,903 --> 00:16:28,738
They took every tape,
281
00:16:28,905 --> 00:16:32,825
every piece of film in
the studio as evidence.
282
00:16:33,618 --> 00:16:34,994
And I went to jail.
283
00:16:42,335 --> 00:16:44,545
They sentenced me to six months in jail
284
00:16:44,712 --> 00:16:46,631
with all but ten days suspended
285
00:16:46,797 --> 00:16:48,633
plus three years' probation.
286
00:16:51,093 --> 00:16:53,262
♪ It can't happen here ♪
287
00:16:53,429 --> 00:16:56,682
♪ Can't happen here,
can't happen here... ♪
288
00:17:10,863 --> 00:17:13,491
That's the kind of
stuff I had to put up with
289
00:17:13,658 --> 00:17:16,202
living in small-town environments.
290
00:17:17,787 --> 00:17:19,621
I don't have anything
against small towns.
291
00:17:19,705 --> 00:17:22,505
I think they're wonderful
if you like that kind of stuff.
292
00:17:23,042 --> 00:17:25,503
But it's very difficult
to do the kinds of things
293
00:17:25,670 --> 00:17:28,005
that I do in a small-town situation.
294
00:17:29,090 --> 00:17:33,219
And the only thing I wanted
to do was write music.
295
00:17:33,886 --> 00:17:37,014
And so, if I was ever
going to hear what I wrote,
296
00:17:37,265 --> 00:17:39,225
I would have to put a band together.
297
00:17:41,686 --> 00:17:43,563
♪ Motherly love ♪
298
00:17:45,398 --> 00:17:47,316
♪ Motherly love ♪
299
00:17:48,317 --> 00:17:51,654
♪ Forget about the
brotherly and other-ly love ♪
300
00:17:51,946 --> 00:17:55,074
♪ Motherly love is
just the thing for you ♪
301
00:17:55,241 --> 00:17:57,159
♪ You know your mother's gonna love ya ♪
302
00:17:57,243 --> 00:17:59,078
♪ Till ya don't know what to do ♪
303
00:18:03,249 --> 00:18:04,349
♪ Nature's been good ♪
304
00:18:04,500 --> 00:18:06,294
♪ To this here band ♪
305
00:18:06,711 --> 00:18:09,213
♪ Don't ever think we're shy ♪
306
00:18:10,214 --> 00:18:11,840
♪ Send us up some little groupies ♪
307
00:18:11,924 --> 00:18:13,593
♪ And we'll take their hands ♪
308
00:18:13,759 --> 00:18:16,554
♪ And rock 'em till they sweat and cry ♪
309
00:18:16,721 --> 00:18:18,222
♪ What you need is ♪
310
00:18:19,223 --> 00:18:20,641
♪ Motherly love ♪
311
00:18:20,891 --> 00:18:22,101
♪ Get it now ♪
312
00:18:22,768 --> 00:18:24,103
♪ Motherly love ♪
313
00:18:25,771 --> 00:18:28,621
♪ You know I've got a little
motherly love for ya, honey ♪
314
00:18:29,650 --> 00:18:30,943
♪ You know it doesn't bother me at all ♪
315
00:18:31,027 --> 00:18:32,361
♪ That you're only 18 years old ♪
316
00:18:32,445 --> 00:18:35,195
♪ 'Cause I've got a little
motherly love for you, baby ♪
317
00:18:45,041 --> 00:18:48,002
All right. This is a song that
we've been work... working on
318
00:18:48,169 --> 00:18:51,255
in secret for a... a while now.
319
00:18:51,422 --> 00:18:53,090
Going to make an attempt to record it.
320
00:18:53,174 --> 00:18:54,591
If we mess it up, we'll just stop
321
00:18:54,675 --> 00:18:55,725
and do it over again.
322
00:18:55,885 --> 00:18:57,470
It doesn't have a name yet.
323
00:18:57,887 --> 00:19:01,557
But, uh, doesn't really need one.
324
00:19:03,851 --> 00:19:05,435
He was a such a genius in his writing,
325
00:19:05,519 --> 00:19:07,669
and he knew so much
about all the old music.
326
00:19:07,980 --> 00:19:10,023
He was able to marry
all of that together, man.
327
00:19:10,107 --> 00:19:13,152
It was... I... I haven't
heard anything like it
328
00:19:13,694 --> 00:19:15,321
before or since.
329
00:19:17,365 --> 00:19:19,408
Whatever brought you to Hollywood?
330
00:19:20,409 --> 00:19:22,953
I came in search of Bob Dylan.
331
00:19:23,329 --> 00:19:26,499
And, uh, I came to
see the Lovin' Spoonful.
332
00:19:26,666 --> 00:19:29,460
And I came to get away
from my father, mainly.
333
00:19:29,627 --> 00:19:31,503
And then we started
living on the streets here
334
00:19:31,587 --> 00:19:34,340
because he wasn't too happy
about the overall situation.
335
00:19:43,974 --> 00:19:45,601
So, one night we came in there,
336
00:19:45,768 --> 00:19:47,185
expecting to see our favorites,
337
00:19:47,269 --> 00:19:48,919
the Grassroots and Billy Preston,
338
00:19:49,021 --> 00:19:50,230
and lo and behold, after two weeks,
339
00:19:50,314 --> 00:19:51,732
they changed the bill.
340
00:19:51,899 --> 00:19:54,099
And there was a group
called Mothers playing.
341
00:19:59,198 --> 00:20:00,533
The main thing I remember
342
00:20:00,700 --> 00:20:03,250
is that they played a song
that was 20 minutes long.
343
00:20:03,536 --> 00:20:07,456
And everybody was getting
tired dancing in the middle of it.
344
00:20:08,999 --> 00:20:11,585
And on the second set that you played,
345
00:20:11,752 --> 00:20:14,505
you played a song called
"How Could I Be Such a Fool?"
346
00:20:14,672 --> 00:20:16,298
And I remember listening to that song
347
00:20:16,382 --> 00:20:17,966
and thinking I'd never heard it before.
348
00:20:18,050 --> 00:20:19,468
And I was really surprised.
349
00:20:19,635 --> 00:20:22,596
I started thinking to myself,
"God, did he write that?"
350
00:20:22,763 --> 00:20:24,473
And when I figured out that you had,
351
00:20:24,557 --> 00:20:26,058
'cause I asked you
after you came off stage,
352
00:20:26,142 --> 00:20:27,143
I was going,
353
00:20:27,309 --> 00:20:29,353
"My god, he's got
talent. I don't believe it."
354
00:20:29,437 --> 00:20:31,564
♪ When I won your love ♪
355
00:20:31,856 --> 00:20:33,858
♪ I was very glad ♪
356
00:20:34,650 --> 00:20:35,860
♪ Every happiness... ♪
357
00:20:36,026 --> 00:20:37,736
Do you think that perhaps you might, uh,
358
00:20:37,820 --> 00:20:40,239
in a year or two be the
new musical messiah?
359
00:20:40,406 --> 00:20:42,241
As in the Beatles and Presley
360
00:20:42,408 --> 00:20:45,158
ten years ago and ten years
before that? Whoever it was.
361
00:20:45,244 --> 00:20:48,372
I can honestly say
that I do not think so.
362
00:20:52,793 --> 00:20:54,879
The Mothers of Invention.
363
00:21:06,348 --> 00:21:09,935
I... I don't remember, in
all the years with Frank,
364
00:21:10,144 --> 00:21:12,938
hearing too many bands that had horns.
365
00:21:13,606 --> 00:21:16,066
Guitar players, you
know, all over the place.
366
00:21:16,233 --> 00:21:19,403
Not too many, uh, bands had horns.
367
00:21:20,863 --> 00:21:22,698
But, you know, at the same time,
368
00:21:22,865 --> 00:21:25,284
I didn't hear any other bands
369
00:21:25,743 --> 00:21:29,038
playing Stravinsky or
classical music or anything.
370
00:21:29,205 --> 00:21:31,916
So, uh, that was fairly unique.
371
00:21:32,082 --> 00:21:33,959
And that made me feel good
372
00:21:34,126 --> 00:21:36,879
about what we were doing musically.
373
00:21:41,217 --> 00:21:44,595
I'm not a weirdo or any
of these other things.
374
00:21:44,804 --> 00:21:47,181
But when you get around other people
375
00:21:47,348 --> 00:21:51,644
that are just naturally
funny and do weird things,
376
00:21:52,186 --> 00:21:56,023
I ended up just feeling very comfortable.
377
00:21:56,398 --> 00:21:59,026
It was exciting in the beginning.
378
00:21:59,193 --> 00:22:00,486
It truly was.
379
00:22:00,986 --> 00:22:05,741
But of course, it was
musically difficult.
380
00:22:07,159 --> 00:22:09,578
Some nights, Frank
would jump up into the air
381
00:22:09,745 --> 00:22:12,706
and come down, and he would expect us
382
00:22:12,873 --> 00:22:15,543
to know what song he was gonna go into.
383
00:22:16,293 --> 00:22:18,343
You know, a perfectionist here, you know.
384
00:22:19,547 --> 00:22:22,800
That made an impression
that, jeez, well, you know...
385
00:22:22,967 --> 00:22:27,388
So, it became our duty...
386
00:22:28,055 --> 00:22:31,183
to engage in, uh, these kind of things
387
00:22:31,350 --> 00:22:33,811
that... that... that
would make him laugh.
388
00:22:36,146 --> 00:22:38,607
The band wasn't specifically
389
00:22:38,941 --> 00:22:42,111
anything other than Frank's ideas.
390
00:22:43,028 --> 00:22:46,615
And each show was like a composition.
391
00:22:47,449 --> 00:22:50,119
And they happened because the band
392
00:22:50,286 --> 00:22:52,746
is following his direction.
393
00:22:55,875 --> 00:22:57,167
You know, I used to think,
394
00:22:57,251 --> 00:22:58,543
"Okay, he's called me here,"
395
00:22:58,627 --> 00:22:59,795
and I don't mean in the early days,
396
00:22:59,879 --> 00:23:02,006
I mean in full flower
of playing with him.
397
00:23:02,298 --> 00:23:04,299
We'd talk for a minute,
and then there isn't even
398
00:23:04,383 --> 00:23:06,844
a "Thanks for coming by"
or "Okay, see you later."
399
00:23:07,011 --> 00:23:08,679
He would just turn the other way,
400
00:23:08,846 --> 00:23:10,847
and I would be waiting
for him to turn back to say,
401
00:23:10,931 --> 00:23:13,517
"Oh. "But if he turned back,
it would be, "You still here?"
402
00:23:13,601 --> 00:23:15,393
You know, it's like, I was dismissed
403
00:23:15,477 --> 00:23:17,146
without even being dismissed.
404
00:23:17,313 --> 00:23:19,564
And you could interpret
that as being, you know,
405
00:23:19,648 --> 00:23:22,359
what a fucking self-centered asshole.
406
00:23:22,693 --> 00:23:26,238
But I think that he was
just so single-mindedly
407
00:23:26,405 --> 00:23:28,782
needing to get his work done.
408
00:23:31,410 --> 00:23:33,829
In the four years I was with Frank,
409
00:23:33,996 --> 00:23:37,583
he shook my hand once
and said, "Good job."
410
00:23:39,543 --> 00:23:44,590
I don't ever remember
Frank embracing somebody.
411
00:23:46,342 --> 00:23:50,179
Maybe that was his environment
when he was growing up.
412
00:23:51,472 --> 00:23:55,976
So, I kind of accepted that as...
413
00:23:58,020 --> 00:24:00,940
"Don't get too close, okay?"
414
00:24:01,398 --> 00:24:03,233
And, uh, I didn't.
415
00:24:05,402 --> 00:24:08,614
I must say, this is a rather
unprecedented response
416
00:24:08,781 --> 00:24:10,448
for the bullshit that we do, so sit down
417
00:24:10,532 --> 00:24:12,432
and we'll do some more if you like it.
418
00:24:20,125 --> 00:24:22,795
So... so, it was in April of 1966.
419
00:24:23,420 --> 00:24:26,131
It was at Los Angeles Airport, actually.
420
00:24:26,507 --> 00:24:30,177
I was working as a
secretary at the Whisky,
421
00:24:30,344 --> 00:24:32,888
and there was another girl doing filing.
422
00:24:33,055 --> 00:24:34,848
And little did I know
423
00:24:35,015 --> 00:24:37,059
that she actually lived with Frank.
424
00:24:37,226 --> 00:24:38,626
She shared a house with him.
425
00:24:38,727 --> 00:24:40,562
And she got a phone call.
426
00:24:40,896 --> 00:24:42,272
And it was Frank.
427
00:24:42,439 --> 00:24:45,359
And he said, "Come pick me up."
428
00:24:46,193 --> 00:24:48,111
The night that I went to
pick you up at the airport,
429
00:24:48,195 --> 00:24:49,738
and when I told you that I was bringing
430
00:24:49,822 --> 00:24:51,031
this lovely young thing with me
431
00:24:51,115 --> 00:24:53,075
because she was a lovely young thing.
432
00:24:53,242 --> 00:24:54,534
And you needed to get some action.
433
00:24:54,618 --> 00:24:56,203
And you said, "No, come alone."
434
00:24:56,370 --> 00:24:57,788
And so, I said, "Okay."
435
00:24:57,955 --> 00:24:59,539
So, I took her with me to the airport.
436
00:24:59,623 --> 00:25:01,708
And then we brought you home.
We went and got those steaks,
437
00:25:01,792 --> 00:25:03,877
and I gave her my black slip to sleep in.
438
00:25:04,044 --> 00:25:05,128
And you guys slept in my room
439
00:25:05,212 --> 00:25:07,130
'cause I had the only
double bed in the house.
440
00:25:07,214 --> 00:25:08,924
- Mm.
- And I slept on the couch.
441
00:25:09,091 --> 00:25:10,467
And you waited and took
her to work at the Whisky
442
00:25:10,551 --> 00:25:11,802
in the morning.
443
00:25:12,386 --> 00:25:14,513
It was that weekend,
and... and she called
444
00:25:14,680 --> 00:25:15,764
on the phone. You said,
445
00:25:15,848 --> 00:25:17,557
"Tell her if she wants
to fuck to come over."
446
00:25:17,641 --> 00:25:19,392
And I said, "Huh, I
can't say that to her.
447
00:25:19,476 --> 00:25:21,145
You'll have to say it yourself."
448
00:25:21,311 --> 00:25:23,146
And so you did. And then she came over
449
00:25:23,230 --> 00:25:25,816
and you guys were on the couch fucking.
450
00:25:47,254 --> 00:25:49,840
One thing that I'm very clear about
451
00:25:50,007 --> 00:25:51,842
is I married a composer.
452
00:25:52,009 --> 00:25:54,260
I don't know about whatever
he is to anybody else,
453
00:25:54,344 --> 00:25:57,347
but to me he was a composer.
454
00:25:57,598 --> 00:26:01,018
And you have to be out of your mind
455
00:26:01,226 --> 00:26:04,730
to begin with to take it on.
456
00:26:05,439 --> 00:26:07,357
There's no guarantee
that you're ever going to be
457
00:26:07,441 --> 00:26:08,859
able to earn an income.
458
00:26:09,026 --> 00:26:11,820
No one cares about what composers do.
459
00:26:11,987 --> 00:26:14,364
And everything is against you.
460
00:26:14,531 --> 00:26:18,911
Absolutely everything is against you,
461
00:26:19,078 --> 00:26:21,747
which makes the odds pretty fantastic.
462
00:26:23,207 --> 00:26:25,709
The guy who came to see us, Tom Wilson,
463
00:26:25,876 --> 00:26:28,378
was having a good time with some girls.
464
00:26:28,754 --> 00:26:31,381
And he was dragged to the Whisky a Go Go
465
00:26:31,632 --> 00:26:33,175
to witness one of our songs,
466
00:26:33,342 --> 00:26:36,136
which happened to be
a blues kind of a number.
467
00:26:37,012 --> 00:26:40,057
He said, "Oh. White blues
band. Okay, we'll sign them,"
468
00:26:40,557 --> 00:26:42,392
and signed the group
469
00:26:42,559 --> 00:26:44,728
and then went right back to the girls.
470
00:26:46,355 --> 00:26:48,357
I don't think Wilson
471
00:26:48,524 --> 00:26:50,651
heard a lot of the other things
472
00:26:50,818 --> 00:26:54,071
because when we went into the studio,
473
00:26:54,238 --> 00:26:56,323
he was totally surprised.
474
00:26:56,490 --> 00:26:58,325
And I'm sure he wasn't sure
475
00:26:58,534 --> 00:27:01,120
whether this was going to sell or not.
476
00:27:01,703 --> 00:27:03,288
And we were out there.
477
00:27:11,839 --> 00:27:13,507
This is a number we always play
478
00:27:13,674 --> 00:27:15,717
when people ask us to play more.
479
00:27:15,884 --> 00:27:17,385
Because we know that after we play this,
480
00:27:17,469 --> 00:27:20,722
they couldn't possibly
ever want to hear us again.
481
00:27:25,269 --> 00:27:26,728
We're going to play a piece of music
482
00:27:26,812 --> 00:27:28,564
that was written by Edgar Varèse,
483
00:27:28,856 --> 00:27:30,482
called "Octandre."
484
00:27:43,662 --> 00:27:45,038
Do you consider that your group
485
00:27:45,122 --> 00:27:47,082
is just as talented
and as skilled as, say,
486
00:27:47,166 --> 00:27:48,750
men from a symphony orchestra?
487
00:27:48,917 --> 00:27:50,877
Oh, I... I think there
are definitely things
488
00:27:50,961 --> 00:27:53,380
that this group of
musicians can do that you...
489
00:27:53,672 --> 00:27:56,383
you wouldn't be able to find
symphony musicians to do.
490
00:27:56,550 --> 00:27:57,926
Because not only do they manipulate
491
00:27:58,010 --> 00:27:59,344
their instruments with great skill,
492
00:27:59,428 --> 00:28:01,137
but they have to do it all from memory.
493
00:28:01,221 --> 00:28:03,891
And they have to do it with choreography.
494
00:28:04,433 --> 00:28:05,809
You insist on very high
495
00:28:05,976 --> 00:28:07,519
and exacting standards.
496
00:28:07,978 --> 00:28:09,062
Yeah. I have to insist on them.
497
00:28:09,146 --> 00:28:11,064
I don't always get them,
but I have to insist on them.
498
00:28:11,148 --> 00:28:12,607
I think if you shoot any lower than that,
499
00:28:12,691 --> 00:28:14,526
you're going to wind up
with something sleazy.
500
00:28:14,610 --> 00:28:15,819
So, we try and... like,
501
00:28:15,986 --> 00:28:17,362
the parts are real complicated,
502
00:28:17,446 --> 00:28:18,696
so if you don't stay on it
503
00:28:18,780 --> 00:28:20,430
and make sure everything is right
504
00:28:20,699 --> 00:28:22,659
you don't get an accurate performance.
505
00:28:23,869 --> 00:28:25,412
Man, we would go in
506
00:28:25,579 --> 00:28:28,707
for a minimum eight, ten, twelve hours.
507
00:28:28,874 --> 00:28:31,084
I mean, you know, drinking black coffee.
508
00:28:31,251 --> 00:28:32,920
He wouldn't stop.
509
00:28:33,086 --> 00:28:35,756
I mean, it was, you
know, it's like, "God ."
510
00:28:36,381 --> 00:28:38,181
It didn't matter if it was Christmas
511
00:28:38,342 --> 00:28:39,676
or Thanksgiving or whatever, man.
512
00:28:39,760 --> 00:28:41,970
We were going to rehearse and, you know,
513
00:28:42,596 --> 00:28:45,224
make sure that we were
ready to... to play the music
514
00:28:45,390 --> 00:28:49,394
because he was just writing
all the time. All the time.
515
00:28:49,561 --> 00:28:52,439
So, we were always introducing stuff.
516
00:28:52,898 --> 00:28:54,358
It was, uh,
517
00:28:54,524 --> 00:28:57,319
a very unusual approach, I think.
518
00:28:58,153 --> 00:29:00,239
♪ Ooh, I remember ♪
519
00:29:00,739 --> 00:29:05,827
♪ Those wonderful dances in El Monte ♪
520
00:29:05,994 --> 00:29:09,498
♪ Ba-da-da-da Der-duh-duh-duh-duh ♪
521
00:29:10,791 --> 00:29:17,047
Interviewer:
522
00:29:32,521 --> 00:29:35,607
♪ It can't happen here ♪
523
00:29:44,283 --> 00:29:46,827
But we were never that
popular in Los Angeles.
524
00:29:47,119 --> 00:29:50,664
Our market really wasn't the
peace, love, hippie type people.
525
00:29:50,998 --> 00:29:52,416
That wasn't our market.
526
00:29:52,582 --> 00:29:55,335
Hippies did not like
us because we didn't do
527
00:29:55,502 --> 00:29:57,152
the things that they approved of.
528
00:29:59,381 --> 00:30:00,549
Compared to New York,
529
00:30:00,716 --> 00:30:03,135
Los Angeles is a very
conforming community.
530
00:30:04,469 --> 00:30:05,719
When we moved to New York
531
00:30:05,846 --> 00:30:07,347
there was virtually no scene at all.
532
00:30:07,431 --> 00:30:09,349
There was no long-haired anything there.
533
00:30:09,433 --> 00:30:11,685
People looked at us
like we were from Venus.
534
00:30:13,103 --> 00:30:15,063
♪ Freedom, freedom ♪
535
00:30:15,230 --> 00:30:17,065
♪ Kindly loving ♪
536
00:30:17,232 --> 00:30:21,236
♪ You'll be absolutely free ♪
537
00:30:21,403 --> 00:30:23,488
♪ Only if you want to be ♪
538
00:30:23,655 --> 00:30:25,991
A lot of people have associated you,
539
00:30:26,158 --> 00:30:28,327
rightly or wrongly, with the drug culture
540
00:30:28,493 --> 00:30:30,912
that came into being in
the '60s about the same time
541
00:30:30,996 --> 00:30:32,846
as your music first became prominent.
542
00:30:33,332 --> 00:30:35,625
First of all, I have nothing
to do with the drug culture.
543
00:30:35,709 --> 00:30:36,918
I don't use drugs,
544
00:30:37,169 --> 00:30:39,421
and I don't advise other
people to use drugs.
545
00:30:39,796 --> 00:30:41,798
And a lot of the things
that I think are wrong
546
00:30:41,882 --> 00:30:42,982
with the society today
547
00:30:43,091 --> 00:30:46,511
are a direct result of
people using drugs.
548
00:30:47,846 --> 00:30:50,096
It's so prevalent that
if you don't use drugs,
549
00:30:50,182 --> 00:30:51,600
people think you're weird.
550
00:30:55,562 --> 00:30:57,397
The Beatles played in Hamburg,
551
00:30:57,564 --> 00:30:59,816
and they had their way with this club
552
00:30:59,983 --> 00:31:01,318
for months on end.
553
00:31:01,485 --> 00:31:03,737
And in a similar way,
Frank had the Garrick.
554
00:31:03,904 --> 00:31:05,321
You get to work out what you want to do.
555
00:31:05,405 --> 00:31:07,405
You get to experiment with the audience.
556
00:31:07,532 --> 00:31:10,619
You get to really be
intimate with an audience.
557
00:31:12,204 --> 00:31:14,664
That really helped Frank to perfect
558
00:31:14,831 --> 00:31:17,709
what he could get away with on stage.
559
00:31:19,419 --> 00:31:21,755
The attention to the theatrical side grew
560
00:31:22,047 --> 00:31:23,172
when we moved to New York
561
00:31:23,256 --> 00:31:25,717
and had to do a show every night.
562
00:31:26,718 --> 00:31:29,012
The bulk of what could be classified
563
00:31:29,179 --> 00:31:31,681
as theater of cruelty took
place at the Garrick Theater
564
00:31:31,765 --> 00:31:33,016
in '67.
565
00:31:33,642 --> 00:31:37,646
And that was a unique situation
because it was the same people
566
00:31:37,813 --> 00:31:40,213
who kept coming back
to the theater all the time.
567
00:31:40,899 --> 00:31:43,527
It was part of, uh, this
little routine that we had
568
00:31:43,693 --> 00:31:45,194
with the two or three hundred people
569
00:31:45,278 --> 00:31:47,531
that made up the audience at the Garrick.
570
00:31:48,907 --> 00:31:50,158
We'd get out and play,
571
00:31:50,325 --> 00:31:53,036
and Frank would start
abusing people in the audience,
572
00:31:53,203 --> 00:31:55,122
you know, or calling people up.
573
00:31:55,288 --> 00:31:58,166
Or turning his back on
the audience, saying,
574
00:31:58,458 --> 00:32:01,420
"You know, let's run through
this," and ignoring them.
575
00:32:01,586 --> 00:32:02,921
And they... they loved it.
576
00:32:07,634 --> 00:32:11,471
For Frank, his measure of success
577
00:32:11,680 --> 00:32:15,058
is how close did you get
578
00:32:15,809 --> 00:32:17,561
to the realization
579
00:32:17,727 --> 00:32:23,358
of the idea that you first
heard the first time you heard it?
580
00:32:23,692 --> 00:32:27,404
If you get anywhere near
that, you can call it a success.
581
00:32:27,571 --> 00:32:29,781
But most of the time,
you never even get close.
582
00:32:29,865 --> 00:32:31,741
'Cause you have to rely
on all these other people
583
00:32:31,825 --> 00:32:33,618
to do all this other stuff.
584
00:32:34,578 --> 00:32:37,178
You know, people like
musicians and things like that.
585
00:32:40,375 --> 00:32:42,543
To do the kind of music
theater that we were doing,
586
00:32:42,627 --> 00:32:44,379
you needed people who weren't afraid
587
00:32:44,463 --> 00:32:47,632
to act up on a stage
and do ludicrous things.
588
00:32:48,383 --> 00:32:50,783
'Cause that was part of
what the music was saying
589
00:32:50,927 --> 00:32:52,720
that the whole world
was absolutely absurd,
590
00:32:52,804 --> 00:32:55,154
and so, here it is. We're
giving it back to you.
591
00:32:55,474 --> 00:32:58,310
In fact, if we hadn't left Los Angeles,
592
00:32:58,560 --> 00:33:01,188
we would have just
evaporated after the first album.
593
00:33:01,771 --> 00:33:03,440
One, two, three.
594
00:33:03,773 --> 00:33:06,735
♪ Oh no, I don't believe it ♪
595
00:33:06,902 --> 00:33:11,698
♪ You say that you think you
know the meaning of love ♪
596
00:33:14,534 --> 00:33:17,496
♪ You say love is all we need ♪
597
00:33:17,662 --> 00:33:21,082
♪ You say with your love you can change ♪
598
00:33:21,249 --> 00:33:24,252
♪ All of the fools, all of the hate ♪
599
00:33:24,419 --> 00:33:28,006
♪ I think you're probably out to lunch ♪
600
00:33:32,761 --> 00:33:35,430
I was a percussion major at Juilliard.
601
00:33:35,597 --> 00:33:37,147
I mean, this was back in the...
602
00:33:37,807 --> 00:33:40,435
the times of dynasties in music.
603
00:33:41,728 --> 00:33:43,522
I thought that I would love it,
604
00:33:43,980 --> 00:33:46,399
and all of that derailed for me,
605
00:33:46,566 --> 00:33:48,026
it just crashed and burned,
606
00:33:48,360 --> 00:33:51,238
when I heard my first
Frank Zappa concert.
607
00:33:51,780 --> 00:33:53,406
I just suddenly realized,
608
00:33:53,573 --> 00:33:55,973
"I don't want to be a
timpanist in an orchestra."
609
00:33:56,159 --> 00:33:57,994
And I don't want to be a triangle player
610
00:33:58,078 --> 00:33:58,978
"in an orchestra."
611
00:33:59,120 --> 00:34:01,498
To have to sit in the back row on stage
612
00:34:01,665 --> 00:34:03,625
to play my three triangle notes.
613
00:34:03,875 --> 00:34:06,002
That was not anything that appealed to me
614
00:34:06,169 --> 00:34:09,089
from the moment I heard Frank's music.
615
00:34:09,256 --> 00:34:12,050
And it's not that I was
inexperienced as a listener
616
00:34:12,592 --> 00:34:16,012
with other popular music or
music theater or any of that.
617
00:34:17,639 --> 00:34:19,641
Frank embodied everything.
618
00:34:19,808 --> 00:34:24,479
Everything that showed
me in that one concert
619
00:34:24,729 --> 00:34:26,565
that I wanted to do that.
620
00:34:28,900 --> 00:34:31,820
I would sit in my
orchestration classes at Juilliard
621
00:34:32,070 --> 00:34:33,863
in my baroque history.
622
00:34:34,030 --> 00:34:37,701
These classes taught by
the greatest people on Earth.
623
00:34:38,285 --> 00:34:40,996
One day, I was in one of
the piano practice rooms
624
00:34:41,162 --> 00:34:43,623
and I was absolutely not
even allowed to be there
625
00:34:43,832 --> 00:34:45,834
because "That's just for the pianists."
626
00:34:46,960 --> 00:34:50,338
And there I would be,
trying to recall the melody
627
00:34:50,505 --> 00:34:52,424
or the melodic shape of "Oh No."
628
00:34:53,508 --> 00:34:55,010
Nobody was there.
629
00:34:55,176 --> 00:34:57,596
And on this fabulous grand piano,
630
00:34:57,762 --> 00:35:00,974
I played that piece to
the best of my recollection.
631
00:35:01,141 --> 00:35:04,394
And I can't tell you,
probably within 30 seconds,
632
00:35:04,561 --> 00:35:07,272
an officer of the school came in.
633
00:35:07,439 --> 00:35:08,732
"What are you doing?"
634
00:35:09,024 --> 00:35:11,276
"I'm just playing this beautiful music."
635
00:35:11,568 --> 00:35:14,237
"Doesn't sound like any music
you're supposed to be playing here."
636
00:35:14,321 --> 00:35:16,239
"And I said," It's 20th-century music.
637
00:35:16,323 --> 00:35:18,824
What are you talking about?
It's by a living composer."
638
00:35:18,908 --> 00:35:19,909
"Get out."
639
00:35:22,829 --> 00:35:25,540
And if you were to hear
that piece on the piano,
640
00:35:25,707 --> 00:35:27,667
it could live in a concert hall.
641
00:35:27,834 --> 00:35:30,795
It was that type of music
that he could produce
642
00:35:30,962 --> 00:35:34,174
that was a product of
everything that was in him.
643
00:35:34,466 --> 00:35:36,426
But you couldn't really categorize it.
644
00:35:37,052 --> 00:35:39,303
You couldn't say, "Oh yeah,
that's rock and roll,"'cause it wasn't.
645
00:35:39,387 --> 00:35:41,037
"It's jazz." No. It really wasn't.
646
00:35:41,139 --> 00:35:42,739
"It's pop music." No. Not at all.
647
00:35:43,058 --> 00:35:44,476
Well, what the hell is it?
648
00:35:45,310 --> 00:35:46,478
It's Zappa.
649
00:35:52,651 --> 00:35:54,944
And I knew that it had changed my life.
650
00:35:55,111 --> 00:35:56,112
That's the thing.
651
00:35:56,279 --> 00:35:58,823
I didn't live my life and
then look back on it and go,
652
00:35:58,907 --> 00:36:01,451
"Yeah. That was the
life-changing moment."
653
00:36:01,618 --> 00:36:04,996
I walked out of that theater,
and I was actually disoriented.
654
00:36:05,163 --> 00:36:08,416
I... my whole world had been shaken up.
655
00:36:10,293 --> 00:36:13,546
And Frank recently came
back from a town near Brussels
656
00:36:13,713 --> 00:36:16,591
where they had a kind of
a European pop festival.
657
00:36:16,758 --> 00:36:18,968
How did you communicate with these kids
658
00:36:19,135 --> 00:36:21,471
who speak Walloon, who speak Flemish,
659
00:36:21,638 --> 00:36:23,932
who speak, uh, sort
of a dialect of French?
660
00:36:24,099 --> 00:36:26,768
- What did...
- I only talked to them once.
661
00:36:27,102 --> 00:36:28,269
What did you say?
662
00:36:28,436 --> 00:36:30,104
I said, "I'm really glad
that you... you guys
663
00:36:30,188 --> 00:36:32,899
had a pop festival in spite
of the French government."
664
00:36:33,817 --> 00:36:35,026
It's really very square.
665
00:36:35,193 --> 00:36:36,569
It's just very depressing, you know,
666
00:36:36,653 --> 00:36:39,030
to think of what Paris
used to be famous for...
667
00:36:43,660 --> 00:36:44,828
Go ahead, bleep it.
668
00:36:44,994 --> 00:36:46,621
Oh, Frank.
669
00:36:49,582 --> 00:36:51,876
Well, in the past Paris
was famous for its...
670
00:36:52,043 --> 00:36:53,294
But now it...
671
00:36:55,505 --> 00:36:57,381
Frank, you're going to
kill the tourist business
672
00:36:57,465 --> 00:36:59,050
as far as the French are concerned.
673
00:36:59,134 --> 00:37:00,176
I hope so.
674
00:37:00,343 --> 00:37:02,804
Fr... France ought
to get its... together.
675
00:37:05,890 --> 00:37:08,351
You know, when you look at stuff now,
676
00:37:08,518 --> 00:37:10,395
I mean, e... everything goes.
677
00:37:10,562 --> 00:37:12,021
And it also brings to mind,
678
00:37:12,188 --> 00:37:14,733
because we played with Lenny Bruce,
679
00:37:14,983 --> 00:37:20,405
you know, how difficult it was
in terms of your language, uh,
680
00:37:20,572 --> 00:37:22,949
that people would not accept.
681
00:37:23,908 --> 00:37:25,951
Lenny Bruce had a...
an incredible impact,
682
00:37:26,035 --> 00:37:27,328
an incredible influence.
683
00:37:28,079 --> 00:37:31,791
But, you know, Frank's
influence was really, really strong.
684
00:37:32,083 --> 00:37:35,962
And... and it instantly
just, like, made a beeline
685
00:37:36,129 --> 00:37:39,966
for the most influential
archetypes and figureheads
686
00:37:40,133 --> 00:37:43,928
in rock music. You know,
if you listen to Sgt. Pepper.
687
00:37:44,095 --> 00:37:45,721
It was obvious that the Beatles knew
688
00:37:45,805 --> 00:37:47,640
what... what was going on with Frank.
689
00:37:47,807 --> 00:37:51,352
They've explicitly said that
Sgt. Pepper was our attempt
690
00:37:51,519 --> 00:37:52,979
to make our own Freak Out!
691
00:37:54,606 --> 00:37:56,441
And the inner spread of the album,
692
00:37:56,608 --> 00:37:59,235
whether Frank liked it or
not, was powerful and iconic,
693
00:37:59,319 --> 00:38:01,320
and... and, you know,
the... the record company
694
00:38:01,404 --> 00:38:03,554
were not wrong in terms
of making an impact.
695
00:38:03,698 --> 00:38:04,990
It definitely made an impact.
696
00:38:05,074 --> 00:38:07,327
But Frank didn't think of it.
697
00:38:07,494 --> 00:38:09,704
So there's a part of
him that just bristled
698
00:38:09,871 --> 00:38:12,248
because it wasn't his baby, you know.
699
00:38:12,415 --> 00:38:15,084
And the second album,
he put his foot down.
700
00:38:15,251 --> 00:38:17,420
Not only was he in
charge of... of the artwork
701
00:38:17,504 --> 00:38:20,298
and he did his own
collage on the back cover,
702
00:38:20,632 --> 00:38:22,926
but if he had had the
time and inclination,
703
00:38:23,092 --> 00:38:26,554
he could have continued on
doing his own album artwork.
704
00:38:26,721 --> 00:38:28,771
And... and it would
have been fascinating.
705
00:38:29,474 --> 00:38:33,520
But I think when Cal
Schenkel crossed his path
706
00:38:33,853 --> 00:38:36,231
and he saw somebody
that got what he was doing
707
00:38:36,523 --> 00:38:39,234
and could capture it
and could also focus on it
708
00:38:39,400 --> 00:38:41,569
exclusively while, you
know, Frank would look
709
00:38:41,653 --> 00:38:44,103
over Cal's shoulder and
say, "Try that, try that."
710
00:38:44,280 --> 00:38:46,699
Frank just hands him his head,
and you get just amazing cover
711
00:38:46,783 --> 00:38:47,951
after amazing cover.
712
00:38:48,243 --> 00:38:49,786
And that... it's beautiful
713
00:38:49,994 --> 00:38:51,744
'cause they built a world together.
714
00:38:51,913 --> 00:38:55,583
Those album covers plays
into that thing of feeling
715
00:38:55,750 --> 00:38:58,211
like you're part of an
alternative movement.
716
00:39:12,267 --> 00:39:15,228
There had already been two
other Sgt. Pepper parodies
717
00:39:15,395 --> 00:39:18,273
by the time that our package was ready.
718
00:39:18,439 --> 00:39:22,110
And MGM was panic stricken
719
00:39:22,277 --> 00:39:24,571
that they would be sued by The Beatles
720
00:39:25,113 --> 00:39:26,656
and wanted legal assurance
721
00:39:26,823 --> 00:39:28,741
that The Beatles weren't
going to harm them
722
00:39:28,825 --> 00:39:30,275
for putting this package out.
723
00:39:30,535 --> 00:39:34,163
And all the legal gyrations
took about 13 months.
724
00:39:43,298 --> 00:39:44,716
I know I talked personally
725
00:39:44,883 --> 00:39:46,842
to McCartney at one time
and said that, you know,
726
00:39:46,926 --> 00:39:48,803
"The record company is
panic stricken over this,
727
00:39:48,887 --> 00:39:50,637
and can you do anything to help me?"
728
00:39:50,847 --> 00:39:53,599
And it was like he was on the other end
of the line, taking the phone and going,
729
00:39:53,683 --> 00:39:56,394
"You mean, you talk about business?"
730
00:39:57,687 --> 00:40:00,690
Like, "Oh, we have lawyers who do that."
731
00:40:01,274 --> 00:40:04,694
He just had no interest in
participating in a discussion
732
00:40:04,861 --> 00:40:06,321
of the legal ramifications
733
00:40:06,487 --> 00:40:08,448
of a parody of the Sgt. Pepper cover.
734
00:40:08,990 --> 00:40:11,659
That was at a time when it
was very, very unfashionable
735
00:40:11,743 --> 00:40:14,043
to be a businessman or
even to have any contact
736
00:40:14,162 --> 00:40:15,663
to the world of commerce.
737
00:40:16,205 --> 00:40:18,332
I mean, people were
living in a dream world.
738
00:40:18,416 --> 00:40:20,000
How did they expect to earn a living
739
00:40:20,084 --> 00:40:23,254
doing their music if they
didn't have some idea
740
00:40:23,421 --> 00:40:25,005
that the people who were distributing it
741
00:40:25,089 --> 00:40:26,925
were only there to steal from them?
742
00:40:28,259 --> 00:40:31,554
Most of the artists that I knew
were too busy getting ripped.
743
00:40:32,972 --> 00:40:34,641
If you just got high and went out
744
00:40:34,807 --> 00:40:38,102
and did your groovy music
and, you know, then there were
745
00:40:38,269 --> 00:40:40,772
business people who
took care of that other stuff.
746
00:40:47,737 --> 00:40:49,989
It's time for a revolution
but probably not in the terms
747
00:40:50,073 --> 00:40:51,532
that people imagine it.
748
00:40:53,284 --> 00:40:55,369
The thing that's wrong
today is that the... the people
749
00:40:55,453 --> 00:40:59,040
who are in control of the
media and the government
750
00:40:59,207 --> 00:41:01,876
and, you know, things
that... that run the lives
751
00:41:02,043 --> 00:41:04,212
of the average person in the street,
752
00:41:04,712 --> 00:41:06,046
they aren't doing a good job of it
753
00:41:06,130 --> 00:41:07,674
'cause they don't really care.
754
00:41:08,132 --> 00:41:09,801
Why don't you run for president?
755
00:41:09,968 --> 00:41:11,802
I thought about it a
number of times before.
756
00:41:11,886 --> 00:41:14,097
And then the thing that
always holds me back
757
00:41:14,305 --> 00:41:16,974
is that what would it feel like
to actually be the president,
758
00:41:17,058 --> 00:41:19,158
you know, and have to
stay in Washington DC
759
00:41:19,310 --> 00:41:22,397
in a house for four years?
That'd be pretty grim.
760
00:41:33,324 --> 00:41:37,870
A lot of what we do is
designed to annoy people
761
00:41:38,037 --> 00:41:40,437
to the point where they
might, just for a second,
762
00:41:40,581 --> 00:41:42,542
question enough of their environment
763
00:41:42,709 --> 00:41:44,085
to do something about it.
764
00:41:47,588 --> 00:41:49,340
As long as they don't
feel their environment,
765
00:41:49,424 --> 00:41:50,883
they don't worry about it.
766
00:41:51,050 --> 00:41:53,260
They're not going to
do anything to change it.
767
00:41:53,344 --> 00:41:54,844
And something's got to be done
768
00:41:54,971 --> 00:41:58,099
before America scarfs
up the world and shits on it.
769
00:41:58,349 --> 00:42:01,060
♪ We are the other people
We are the other people ♪
770
00:42:01,227 --> 00:42:04,230
♪ We are the other people
You're the other people too ♪
771
00:42:05,440 --> 00:42:07,025
♪ Found a way to get to you ♪
772
00:42:07,984 --> 00:42:10,695
♪ We are the other people
We are the other people ♪
773
00:42:10,862 --> 00:42:13,865
♪ We are the other people
You're the other people too ♪
774
00:42:15,199 --> 00:42:16,951
♪ Found a way to get to you ♪
775
00:42:18,327 --> 00:42:20,747
♪ Do you think that I love you... ♪
776
00:42:20,997 --> 00:42:22,665
I wasn't in the United States
777
00:42:22,832 --> 00:42:25,084
when Moon was born. I was on the road.
778
00:42:25,251 --> 00:42:26,877
As I walked out the
door to get on the bus,
779
00:42:26,961 --> 00:42:30,465
"I said," Well, if it's
a girl, name it Moon,
780
00:42:30,631 --> 00:42:32,481
and if it's a boy, name it Motorhead."
781
00:43:42,120 --> 00:43:44,080
In California, actor Ronald Reagan
782
00:43:44,247 --> 00:43:46,081
and Mrs. Reagan
arrive to cast their votes
783
00:43:46,165 --> 00:43:47,834
in the state's primary election.
784
00:43:48,209 --> 00:43:50,503
He's the Republican nominee for governor.
785
00:43:50,670 --> 00:43:52,880
It's his first political contest.
786
00:43:57,552 --> 00:44:00,179
Reagan was the governor of California.
787
00:44:01,013 --> 00:44:06,602
And there was a freak contingent
starting in LA at the time.
788
00:44:07,145 --> 00:44:11,566
And in those days, if you
had long hair in this town
789
00:44:11,899 --> 00:44:13,401
and you were driving a car,
790
00:44:13,568 --> 00:44:15,444
it was such an infrequent occurrence
791
00:44:16,028 --> 00:44:18,155
that people would
actually wave to each other.
792
00:44:18,239 --> 00:44:20,491
That's how... what a tigh... what a small
793
00:44:20,658 --> 00:44:22,618
and tight community it was.
794
00:44:23,870 --> 00:44:25,246
Well, Frank was considered
795
00:44:25,413 --> 00:44:28,207
by everyone on the strip
and all the people in the clubs
796
00:44:28,374 --> 00:44:31,794
to be sort of the... I
mean, the ersatz Pied Piper
797
00:44:31,961 --> 00:44:33,004
of Laurel Canyon.
798
00:44:33,171 --> 00:44:35,589
He was right in the
center of it in the log cabin,
799
00:44:35,673 --> 00:44:37,800
which was Tom Mix's old cabin
800
00:44:38,092 --> 00:44:40,344
with his horse buried
under the bowling alley.
801
00:44:40,511 --> 00:44:41,845
People can't believe
these kind of things.
802
00:44:41,929 --> 00:44:44,014
With Houdini's house
right across the street.
803
00:44:44,098 --> 00:44:47,476
And he... he was this centrifugal force
804
00:44:47,852 --> 00:44:49,228
of Laurel Canyon.
805
00:44:49,854 --> 00:44:51,230
Any kind of rock star,
806
00:44:51,397 --> 00:44:53,190
especially the British
guys who came to town,
807
00:44:53,274 --> 00:44:56,277
wanted to meet Frank. So, we would,
808
00:44:56,444 --> 00:44:58,154
you know, meet these rock stars,
809
00:44:58,321 --> 00:44:59,655
and they right away would say,
810
00:44:59,739 --> 00:45:01,449
"C... can we meet Zappa?"
811
00:45:01,616 --> 00:45:03,700
So, of course, Jagger
was there, the Stones,
812
00:45:03,784 --> 00:45:05,620
and all the local bands too.
813
00:45:05,786 --> 00:45:06,829
But Jeff Beck, I mean.
814
00:45:06,913 --> 00:45:08,747
Any... anybody you
can think of at that time.
815
00:45:08,831 --> 00:45:13,044
It was the center of
the world at that point.
816
00:45:13,544 --> 00:45:15,296
♪ A brown felt top hat ♪
817
00:45:15,463 --> 00:45:17,006
♪ Wrapped with a bow ♪
818
00:45:17,173 --> 00:45:19,008
♪ Yellow wrap-around girl-watchers ♪
819
00:45:19,217 --> 00:45:20,551
♪ That never show ♪
820
00:45:20,718 --> 00:45:22,268
♪ His blue eyes, his blue eyes ♪
821
00:45:22,428 --> 00:45:24,138
♪ What a fantastic disguise ♪
822
00:45:24,305 --> 00:45:27,391
♪ He's so grand and
fantastic, so wonderful ♪
823
00:45:27,808 --> 00:45:31,062
Frank suggested, since he
had started a record label,
824
00:45:31,229 --> 00:45:35,066
that we actually become our own group.
825
00:45:35,399 --> 00:45:36,699
It was very ra... unusual.
826
00:45:36,817 --> 00:45:38,861
I mean, there were no
rock... Girl rock bands at all
827
00:45:38,945 --> 00:45:41,906
or rock groups. We
didn't play any instruments.
828
00:45:42,907 --> 00:45:46,369
And he wanted us just to
capture our lives in Laurel Canyon,
829
00:45:46,535 --> 00:45:47,453
on the Strip.
830
00:45:47,620 --> 00:45:49,538
He thought we had something to say.
831
00:45:50,164 --> 00:45:53,668
He always liked to
preserve moments in time.
832
00:45:54,669 --> 00:45:57,588
Uh, what kind of, uh,
girls are these groupies?
833
00:45:57,880 --> 00:45:59,923
Well, not all of 'em
are groupies, you know.
834
00:46:00,007 --> 00:46:02,426
Some girls that will readily
admit that they are groupies
835
00:46:02,510 --> 00:46:04,860
have a very special sort
of mentality, you know,
836
00:46:05,012 --> 00:46:07,598
and they... they aspire to that position.
837
00:46:07,765 --> 00:46:10,851
But there are other girls who would
never admit that they are groupies,
838
00:46:10,935 --> 00:46:13,271
but who function in that capacity anyway.
839
00:46:13,437 --> 00:46:15,439
And the... what about, uh, your wife?
840
00:46:15,606 --> 00:46:17,650
I mean, does she like it?
841
00:46:17,817 --> 00:46:19,567
Well, she's become accustomed to it
842
00:46:19,652 --> 00:46:21,112
over a period of years.
843
00:46:24,198 --> 00:46:25,533
Well, early, early days,
844
00:46:25,783 --> 00:46:28,577
I did not notice any messing around.
845
00:46:29,412 --> 00:46:31,163
When... when Moon was a little baby,
846
00:46:31,330 --> 00:46:32,831
and then she got pregnant with Dweezil,
847
00:46:32,915 --> 00:46:34,959
and she insisted they leave that scene.
848
00:46:35,126 --> 00:46:36,210
I remember that.
849
00:46:36,419 --> 00:46:37,420
Okay, that's it.
850
00:46:37,628 --> 00:46:39,422
She... she was having another kid.
851
00:46:39,630 --> 00:46:43,301
And, uh, you know, I
don't think she liked it.
852
00:46:43,884 --> 00:46:46,136
She didn't. In fact, I
know she didn't like it,
853
00:46:46,220 --> 00:46:48,014
but she knew about it.
854
00:46:48,597 --> 00:46:50,599
I'm a human being, you know.
855
00:46:51,142 --> 00:46:52,643
I like to get laid.
856
00:46:53,894 --> 00:46:56,647
I mean, is... you have to be
realistic about these things.
857
00:46:56,731 --> 00:46:59,381
You go out on the road,
you strap on a bunch of girls,
858
00:46:59,525 --> 00:47:00,776
you come back to the house,
859
00:47:00,860 --> 00:47:01,860
you find out you've got the clap.
860
00:47:01,944 --> 00:47:03,570
What, you're going to keep
it a secret from your wife?
861
00:47:03,654 --> 00:47:06,282
You know. So, I come back there, I said,
862
00:47:06,449 --> 00:47:08,575
"Look, I got the clap.
Go get a prescription ."
863
00:47:08,659 --> 00:47:11,203
So, she goes out and
gets some penicillin tablets.
864
00:47:11,370 --> 00:47:13,456
We both take them, and that's it.
865
00:47:14,749 --> 00:47:17,209
She grumbles every once
in a while, but, you know,
866
00:47:17,793 --> 00:47:19,170
she's my wife.
867
00:47:19,628 --> 00:47:23,507
And he did include her
in... in almost everything
868
00:47:23,674 --> 00:47:24,974
that... that he was doing.
869
00:47:25,176 --> 00:47:27,345
She was right there at all times.
870
00:47:27,511 --> 00:47:29,137
All right. Now what do
you want to do about...
871
00:47:29,221 --> 00:47:30,389
I'll tell you the secret
872
00:47:30,473 --> 00:47:32,308
to keep maintaining a relationship,
873
00:47:32,475 --> 00:47:36,479
apart from the hideous
uh, occupational hazards
874
00:47:36,645 --> 00:47:39,565
that in... that are
specific to rock and roll,
875
00:47:39,774 --> 00:47:43,527
um, which can throw
you for an... take you
876
00:47:43,694 --> 00:47:48,157
on an emotional rollercoaster
if you let it from time to time.
877
00:47:48,324 --> 00:47:49,367
But...
878
00:47:50,159 --> 00:47:52,995
the main thing is don't
have those conversations.
879
00:47:54,121 --> 00:47:57,041
So, Frank does what he
does, and I do what I do.
880
00:48:00,086 --> 00:48:03,286
You know, I used to... had an
expression in my own mind about it.
881
00:48:03,422 --> 00:48:05,174
A polarity of passions.
882
00:48:06,509 --> 00:48:08,010
Two different worlds there,
883
00:48:08,177 --> 00:48:10,304
and it's sometimes very uncomfortable
884
00:48:10,471 --> 00:48:13,265
because he couldn't fucking
wait to get out of the house
885
00:48:13,432 --> 00:48:14,683
and go on the road.
886
00:48:15,226 --> 00:48:17,853
But then, he was also
very happy to come home
887
00:48:18,020 --> 00:48:19,605
just to feel safe again.
888
00:48:24,652 --> 00:48:25,944
One of the reasons why I said,
889
00:48:26,028 --> 00:48:27,279
"Let's get the fuck out of here,"
890
00:48:27,363 --> 00:48:31,033
because Manson had set up
shop in the mountain behind us
891
00:48:31,200 --> 00:48:32,618
at the log cabin.
892
00:48:34,036 --> 00:48:36,914
There was this trail
that was maybe ten feet
893
00:48:37,081 --> 00:48:38,281
from the bedroom window,
894
00:48:38,624 --> 00:48:41,001
and every morning, I would see their feet
895
00:48:41,460 --> 00:48:43,110
cruising around the neighborhood.
896
00:48:43,796 --> 00:48:45,214
They were creepy.
897
00:48:47,216 --> 00:48:48,968
I mean, the thing about the '60s,
898
00:48:49,593 --> 00:48:51,720
you just know stuff.
899
00:48:52,221 --> 00:48:54,348
You don't know why you
know it, but you just know it.
900
00:48:54,432 --> 00:48:56,851
You feel it. It's...
it's just in the air.
901
00:48:57,017 --> 00:48:58,686
And I remember that.
902
00:48:58,978 --> 00:49:01,188
The family's leader, Charles Manson,
903
00:49:01,355 --> 00:49:03,482
denied that they were a violent group.
904
00:49:03,941 --> 00:49:06,735
I don't know if previous
generations felt that.
905
00:49:07,361 --> 00:49:09,029
But I know we did.
906
00:49:09,822 --> 00:49:11,991
Whoever was alive then did.
907
00:49:28,674 --> 00:49:30,824
The way we met was
that I met Miss Christine
908
00:49:30,968 --> 00:49:31,969
from the GTOs.
909
00:49:32,219 --> 00:49:34,179
And they knew we were
looking for a contract,
910
00:49:34,263 --> 00:49:37,163
and... and they knew Frank
was just starting his own label.
911
00:49:37,349 --> 00:49:41,103
And we were this little band
coming to LA to try to make it.
912
00:49:41,645 --> 00:49:44,273
Not knowing that he
was going to be our savior.
913
00:49:44,773 --> 00:49:47,026
Every record company turned us down
914
00:49:47,193 --> 00:49:48,611
except for Frank.
915
00:49:49,111 --> 00:49:50,237
It was weird.
916
00:49:50,488 --> 00:49:52,072
He had the freaks,
917
00:49:52,323 --> 00:49:54,950
and he had the very,
extremely intelligent
918
00:49:55,367 --> 00:49:57,912
and the very artsy people behind him.
919
00:49:58,162 --> 00:50:00,862
And then there was the
whole middle that didn't get it.
920
00:50:12,760 --> 00:50:17,765
You formally disbanded
the Mothers in 1969. Why?
921
00:50:19,183 --> 00:50:21,018
Because it was a disaster.
922
00:50:21,393 --> 00:50:22,561
We were doing a tour.
923
00:50:22,728 --> 00:50:24,772
The tour wasn't successful.
924
00:50:25,272 --> 00:50:28,817
At the beginning, I took 400
dollars out of my bank account
925
00:50:28,984 --> 00:50:30,152
so I could eat.
926
00:50:31,111 --> 00:50:32,811
And by the time the tour was over,
927
00:50:32,905 --> 00:50:34,489
after paying everybody and everything,
928
00:50:34,573 --> 00:50:36,742
I was 10, 000 dollars in debt.
929
00:50:37,034 --> 00:50:39,453
And it just seemed to
me that this was not the...
930
00:50:40,079 --> 00:50:42,206
A lifestyle I wished to continue.
931
00:50:42,831 --> 00:50:45,709
Hey. That sounds like shit.
932
00:50:48,420 --> 00:50:51,382
Want to get a level on this
before we actually make it?
933
00:50:53,926 --> 00:50:56,637
When we first went out
to play, after the concert,
934
00:50:56,804 --> 00:50:59,723
we wanted to know if we
were actually going to get paid.
935
00:51:00,891 --> 00:51:03,018
There was always that kind of,
936
00:51:03,185 --> 00:51:06,105
"Wow. What's going on financially?"
937
00:51:06,897 --> 00:51:09,942
So, we didn't even get a two-week notice.
938
00:51:10,109 --> 00:51:11,944
And... and I remember saying,
939
00:51:12,152 --> 00:51:14,196
"I just bought a new Chevy," whatever.
940
00:51:14,363 --> 00:51:15,864
You know. So, no.
941
00:51:16,031 --> 00:51:18,409
It was totally out of the blue.
942
00:51:19,076 --> 00:51:20,411
Totally.
943
00:51:23,330 --> 00:51:25,874
"I think that Frank realized," Wow.
944
00:51:26,041 --> 00:51:27,835
I just wanted to create something,
945
00:51:28,002 --> 00:51:29,836
"and I wanted to make
a statement artistically,"
946
00:51:29,920 --> 00:51:32,089
but there's people relying on you.
947
00:51:32,256 --> 00:51:34,300
There's people expecting paychecks.
948
00:51:34,466 --> 00:51:37,428
And then Frank is like, "This
isn't fun for me anymore."
949
00:51:37,595 --> 00:51:40,180
I don't want to feel as
though I'm responsible
950
00:51:40,347 --> 00:51:41,890
for the... the happiness and livelihood
951
00:51:41,974 --> 00:51:43,674
"of... of a bunch of other people."
952
00:51:45,311 --> 00:51:47,396
"All I want to do is...
is make statements
953
00:51:47,563 --> 00:51:50,107
and see how they sound."
954
00:51:52,067 --> 00:51:55,237
The new format that
I'm working with now is...
955
00:51:55,529 --> 00:51:57,739
that if I want to form a group
called The Mothers of Invention
956
00:51:57,823 --> 00:51:59,783
I'll stick anybody in it that I want to.
957
00:51:59,867 --> 00:52:03,287
It's just whoever happens
to be right for the type of work
958
00:52:03,454 --> 00:52:04,455
that we're doing.
959
00:52:04,622 --> 00:52:06,373
Like, for instance, if
I'm going to do a concert
960
00:52:06,457 --> 00:52:08,750
with a symphony orchestra
and I don't necessarily
961
00:52:08,834 --> 00:52:11,337
want to do a lot of
vocals with the orchestra,
962
00:52:11,503 --> 00:52:13,003
then I don't bring the vocals.
963
00:52:13,339 --> 00:52:16,091
Or I... I have, uh,
occasion to play a job
964
00:52:16,258 --> 00:52:18,009
with a small group,
like four or five pieces,
965
00:52:18,093 --> 00:52:19,594
where I'm just going to play the guitar,
966
00:52:19,678 --> 00:52:21,428
I'll bring along an instrumentation
967
00:52:21,513 --> 00:52:23,182
- like Hot Rats.
- Uh-hmm.
968
00:52:23,349 --> 00:52:25,434
So, I... it gives me a little bit more
969
00:52:25,601 --> 00:52:27,686
artistic flexibility, you might say.
970
00:52:28,270 --> 00:52:30,314
Most of what occurred after that,
971
00:52:30,564 --> 00:52:32,941
the groups were not as permanent.
972
00:52:33,776 --> 00:52:36,028
They didn't have the
same kind of personality
973
00:52:36,195 --> 00:52:37,245
as the early Mothers.
974
00:52:38,656 --> 00:52:42,117
The one that followed
on after that 1969 batch
975
00:52:42,284 --> 00:52:44,034
was the group with Mark and Howard.
976
00:52:44,161 --> 00:52:45,537
And it had an identity.
977
00:52:45,704 --> 00:52:48,248
- Oh, you're so professional.
- Oh, okay.
978
00:52:48,415 --> 00:52:51,794
The way you get to travel
to all those exotic places.
979
00:52:52,252 --> 00:52:56,048
Do you really have a hit single
on the charts with a bullet?
980
00:53:00,844 --> 00:53:03,514
♪ Imagine me and you, I do ♪
981
00:53:03,681 --> 00:53:07,184
♪ I think about you day
and night, it's only right ♪
982
00:53:07,351 --> 00:53:10,938
♪ To think about the girl
you love and hold her tight ♪
983
00:53:11,105 --> 00:53:14,775
♪ So happy together ♪
984
00:53:15,859 --> 00:53:19,738
♪ I can't see me lovin' nobody but you ♪
985
00:53:19,905 --> 00:53:22,741
♪ For all my life ♪
986
00:53:22,908 --> 00:53:26,829
♪ When you're with me,
baby, the skies'll be blue ♪
987
00:53:26,995 --> 00:53:30,374
♪ For all my life ♪
988
00:53:31,125 --> 00:53:33,001
They had been in a
group called The Turtles,
989
00:53:33,085 --> 00:53:34,985
but I guess The Turtles had broken up.
990
00:53:35,212 --> 00:53:36,672
And I had done a concert
991
00:53:36,839 --> 00:53:38,340
with the Los Angeles Philharmonic,
992
00:53:38,424 --> 00:53:40,300
and they came to the concert.
993
00:53:40,676 --> 00:53:42,385
And we decided that I would put together
994
00:53:42,469 --> 00:53:44,179
another touring band called the Mothers
995
00:53:44,263 --> 00:53:46,557
and go out and do amusing things.
996
00:53:50,310 --> 00:53:51,395
Hey!
997
00:53:58,235 --> 00:54:00,654
♪ Call any vegetable ♪
998
00:54:01,196 --> 00:54:02,948
♪ Call it by name ♪
999
00:54:05,743 --> 00:54:07,494
♪ Call one today ♪
1000
00:54:08,328 --> 00:54:10,581
♪ When you get off the train ♪
1001
00:54:13,500 --> 00:54:15,753
♪ Call any vegetable ♪
1002
00:54:15,919 --> 00:54:21,925
♪ And the chances are good! ♪
1003
00:54:24,970 --> 00:54:26,305
We were redefining
1004
00:54:26,472 --> 00:54:28,223
the expectations of entertainment.
1005
00:54:28,390 --> 00:54:29,974
But it seemed to me there was no reason
1006
00:54:30,058 --> 00:54:31,810
why that audience shouldn't experience
1007
00:54:31,894 --> 00:54:33,561
some of the things that
had already happened
1008
00:54:33,645 --> 00:54:36,273
since 1920 in musical development.
1009
00:54:36,440 --> 00:54:38,358
Things that they were
completely unaware of
1010
00:54:38,442 --> 00:54:41,278
just because they were a "rock audience"
1011
00:54:41,445 --> 00:54:44,114
and therefore deprived
of musical experience.
1012
00:54:44,281 --> 00:54:46,492
It wasn't being presented
to them in any kind
1013
00:54:46,658 --> 00:54:48,952
of music appreciation class in school.
1014
00:54:49,578 --> 00:54:51,789
Unfortunately, there were some people
1015
00:54:51,955 --> 00:54:55,709
who thought that it was bad
because nothing should change
1016
00:54:55,876 --> 00:54:57,419
real rock and roll.
1017
00:54:57,586 --> 00:55:00,756
And anybody who would
interfere with that kind of aesthetic
1018
00:55:00,923 --> 00:55:04,468
was viewed as a threat and
needed to be disposed of.
1019
00:55:05,135 --> 00:55:08,305
And basically, my career has been...
1020
00:55:09,389 --> 00:55:12,142
year after year, waiting
to be disposed of.
1021
00:55:41,338 --> 00:55:43,340
How do you know about success?
1022
00:55:43,966 --> 00:55:45,509
How do I know about success?
1023
00:55:45,676 --> 00:55:46,927
I don't know.
1024
00:55:48,637 --> 00:55:50,221
I watched The Beatles in the '60s.
1025
00:55:50,305 --> 00:55:51,682
I guess that's success.
1026
00:55:54,059 --> 00:55:56,144
Hey. Sit down and cool it for a minute
1027
00:55:56,311 --> 00:55:57,979
so I can hear what we're going to do.
1028
00:55:58,063 --> 00:56:00,690
And for... and for those of you
in the band who have no idea
1029
00:56:00,774 --> 00:56:03,527
what's about to
happen, this is in A minor.
1030
00:56:03,694 --> 00:56:04,778
And it's not standard...
1031
00:56:04,862 --> 00:56:06,321
You pretty much couldn't find
1032
00:56:06,530 --> 00:56:08,782
a... a more pristine example of somebody
1033
00:56:08,949 --> 00:56:10,784
at the absolute pinnacle
1034
00:56:10,951 --> 00:56:13,036
of mainstream musical success..-
1035
00:56:13,912 --> 00:56:16,665
who decides, "Wow. This is bullshit."
1036
00:56:17,457 --> 00:56:19,084
I'd just like to say hello.
1037
00:56:19,918 --> 00:56:24,965
And so, when Lennon and
Zappa finally crossed paths...
1038
00:56:27,593 --> 00:56:32,222
in some ways, it gave John
and Yoko's artistic expression
1039
00:56:32,389 --> 00:56:35,684
a framework that they
never really enjoyed
1040
00:56:35,976 --> 00:56:37,769
in any other context.
1041
00:56:37,936 --> 00:56:40,105
And in some ways, makes more sense
1042
00:56:40,272 --> 00:56:42,983
when the imprimatur of
Frank and the Mothers
1043
00:56:43,150 --> 00:56:44,359
are surrounding them.
1044
00:56:44,568 --> 00:56:45,819
♪ Stupid ♪
1045
00:56:46,904 --> 00:56:48,363
♪ Stupid ♪
1046
00:56:49,907 --> 00:56:51,408
♪ Stupid ♪
1047
00:56:52,993 --> 00:56:54,286
♪ Stupid ♪
1048
00:56:55,787 --> 00:56:57,372
♪ Stupid ♪
1049
00:56:58,665 --> 00:56:59,708
♪ Stupid ♪
1050
00:57:00,792 --> 00:57:04,963
I really think Frank was
afraid to have a hit record.
1051
00:57:06,173 --> 00:57:09,173
Because I think Frank could
have written hit records all day.
1052
00:57:09,843 --> 00:57:13,555
And he purposely
sabotaged a lot of his records.
1053
00:57:15,265 --> 00:57:16,599
It was interesting 'cause everybody
1054
00:57:16,683 --> 00:57:18,983
was going for the hit
record, and he never did.
1055
00:57:20,812 --> 00:57:23,523
That makes absolutely no sense to me.
1056
00:57:25,192 --> 00:57:28,820
But I don't disagree
with it because I... I think
1057
00:57:28,987 --> 00:57:31,239
that that's probably correct,
but I don't think Frank was...
1058
00:57:31,323 --> 00:57:36,620
Had any interest whatsoever
in writing an... any hit tunes.
1059
00:57:37,746 --> 00:57:40,207
That's not even on his radar.
1060
00:57:42,668 --> 00:57:43,835
This man...
1061
00:57:44,378 --> 00:57:47,297
was just a walking
mass of contradictions,
1062
00:57:47,547 --> 00:57:50,425
and yet... now I'm going
to contradict myself.
1063
00:57:50,592 --> 00:57:51,718
At the same time,
1064
00:57:51,885 --> 00:57:54,304
he was very consistent
with those contradictions.
1065
00:58:02,688 --> 00:58:05,232
Do you see any
commercial potential in it?
1066
00:58:05,482 --> 00:58:08,402
I sure as hell hope so.
1067
00:58:11,571 --> 00:58:14,366
From 200 Motels he
expects the worst reviews
1068
00:58:14,533 --> 00:58:16,618
of any movie ever put out.
1069
00:58:17,703 --> 00:58:21,999
His intention is to create
a piece of film so bizarre
1070
00:58:22,249 --> 00:58:25,877
and parts of it so full of bullshit
1071
00:58:26,795 --> 00:58:29,840
and other parts of it
so technically perfect
1072
00:58:30,007 --> 00:58:32,467
that the people are going
to leave the theater, going...
1073
00:58:32,551 --> 00:58:34,970
"I didn't understand it
at all. What's he doing?
1074
00:58:35,137 --> 00:58:37,513
What's... what's the message?
What's he trying to say?"
1075
00:58:37,597 --> 00:58:39,808
Well, that's the message.
1076
00:58:40,267 --> 00:58:41,810
Martin walks over in here.
1077
00:58:41,977 --> 00:58:44,270
You just come over and
stand near the side of the organ
1078
00:58:44,354 --> 00:58:45,730
and watch from the background.
1079
00:58:45,814 --> 00:58:47,864
Just the whole idea
that it is Frank Zappa
1080
00:58:47,983 --> 00:58:49,484
and The Mothers of Invention
1081
00:58:49,776 --> 00:58:51,486
has always given us
something to talk about.
1082
00:58:51,570 --> 00:58:55,824
You know, Frank is, you know,
our boss, and so there's always
1083
00:58:55,991 --> 00:59:00,037
that kind of
management/worker relationship.
1084
00:59:00,704 --> 00:59:02,706
It's all very temporary.
1085
00:59:02,914 --> 00:59:06,710
And, uh, that's the way it works.
1086
00:59:06,877 --> 00:59:09,296
And you just... you just never know.
1087
00:59:09,463 --> 00:59:11,798
I mean, like, it isn't the final stay
1088
00:59:11,965 --> 00:59:13,091
for any of us.
1089
00:59:13,258 --> 00:59:14,759
You know, like, this
isn't the final Mothers
1090
00:59:14,843 --> 00:59:16,219
Frank will have.
1091
00:59:16,511 --> 00:59:19,097
It's hard to say how
long we will be together.
1092
00:59:20,432 --> 00:59:22,976
So, they see that you're getting
Martin back there and everybody.
1093
00:59:23,060 --> 00:59:24,519
You're waking them all up.
1094
00:59:25,604 --> 00:59:29,357
My perspective of it has
changed through the years.
1095
00:59:30,067 --> 00:59:32,486
Because when I was in it,
1096
00:59:33,278 --> 00:59:36,031
I was a tool for the composer
1097
00:59:36,198 --> 00:59:38,366
and... and as... Is all of his musicians.
1098
00:59:38,575 --> 00:59:42,871
And he used his tools, uh, brilliantly.
1099
00:59:43,789 --> 00:59:46,833
It's like, whatever you can do
that's interesting and unique,
1100
00:59:47,000 --> 00:59:48,752
it's going to be exaggerated
1101
00:59:49,377 --> 00:59:54,257
and used as he deems fit for his music.
1102
00:59:57,094 --> 01:00:01,807
Frank would often
appear to be cold, aloof,
1103
01:00:01,973 --> 01:00:06,812
and not personally involved
with his trained monkeys
1104
01:00:06,978 --> 01:00:08,980
as once he joked about.
1105
01:00:09,147 --> 01:00:11,047
We're just all trained monkeys, right?
1106
01:00:11,191 --> 01:00:14,194
He's the circus ringleader or whatever.
1107
01:00:14,861 --> 01:00:21,118
But I want to tell you that
he had great feelings for us.
1108
01:00:21,827 --> 01:00:24,246
He was... he was human.
1109
01:00:24,412 --> 01:00:27,374
There were times when I didn't feel
1110
01:00:27,582 --> 01:00:28,917
that he was so much.
1111
01:00:29,084 --> 01:00:31,711
And I did feel he was cruel at times.
1112
01:00:31,878 --> 01:00:34,631
But he was a passionate man.
1113
01:00:34,798 --> 01:00:37,759
And he developed real love,
1114
01:00:37,926 --> 01:00:40,178
I'm not going to say
equally for everybody.
1115
01:00:40,345 --> 01:00:45,016
But the people that he
loved, he kept bringing back
1116
01:00:45,725 --> 01:00:48,979
over and through many of the bands.
1117
01:00:49,146 --> 01:00:50,856
Many of the tours.
1118
01:00:55,944 --> 01:00:57,863
Frank was very loyal to the people
1119
01:00:58,071 --> 01:00:59,906
that had helped him along the way
1120
01:01:00,073 --> 01:01:02,242
even if they were the
worst motherfuckers.
1121
01:01:02,742 --> 01:01:06,288
He would, um, go out
of his way to help them.
1122
01:01:07,164 --> 01:01:11,459
And I can count on one
hand the friends that he truly
1123
01:01:11,626 --> 01:01:13,503
would spend time with.
1124
01:01:14,629 --> 01:01:18,508
He was pretty forgiving
for someone that he knew,
1125
01:01:18,675 --> 01:01:20,677
but if he didn't know you,
1126
01:01:21,344 --> 01:01:22,762
one chance, that's it.
1127
01:01:22,929 --> 01:01:24,055
Done.
1128
01:01:24,431 --> 01:01:26,892
You know, so he could
be hardcore as well.
1129
01:01:36,234 --> 01:01:37,944
First of all, he was not injured.
1130
01:01:38,195 --> 01:01:40,071
He was attacked.
1131
01:01:43,867 --> 01:01:46,328
This myth about him
falling off the stage,
1132
01:01:46,494 --> 01:01:47,996
that didn't happen.
1133
01:01:48,163 --> 01:01:52,792
Some idiot attacked him
and threw him off the stage.
1134
01:02:00,926 --> 01:02:03,636
And I know a lot of people
know something happened to you,
1135
01:02:03,720 --> 01:02:05,180
and essentially, it was that
1136
01:02:05,347 --> 01:02:08,975
a person of somewhat
demented condition, apparently,
1137
01:02:09,142 --> 01:02:10,476
had pulled you off the stage
1138
01:02:10,560 --> 01:02:12,910
at a place called the
Rainbow Theatre in London.
1139
01:02:13,897 --> 01:02:16,232
And you were knocked unconscious
and pretty seriously injured.
1140
01:02:16,316 --> 01:02:17,650
And I know you were in a wheelchair
1141
01:02:17,734 --> 01:02:18,884
a long time after that.
1142
01:02:19,027 --> 01:02:21,696
Uh, there's been a lot of
talk about some of the things
1143
01:02:21,780 --> 01:02:24,630
that happened to the Mothers
as a result of that accident,
1144
01:02:24,741 --> 01:02:27,452
but I'm wondering what,
if anything, it did to you.
1145
01:02:27,619 --> 01:02:28,744
Did it affect your thinking?
1146
01:02:28,828 --> 01:02:30,789
Did it change any of your perspectives?
1147
01:02:30,956 --> 01:02:32,374
Oh, certainly. Of course.
1148
01:02:32,540 --> 01:02:34,790
It helps you to find out
who your friends are.
1149
01:02:36,253 --> 01:02:38,463
Try sitting in a wheelchair
for nine months.
1150
01:02:38,630 --> 01:02:40,480
You'll find out who your friends are.
1151
01:02:43,426 --> 01:02:45,094
The point that I was in the hospital,
1152
01:02:45,178 --> 01:02:46,095
you have a bunch of guys
1153
01:02:46,179 --> 01:02:47,597
who earn their living from touring.
1154
01:02:47,681 --> 01:02:50,181
And I was unable to tour
for the bulk of that year.
1155
01:02:50,600 --> 01:02:52,643
So, I'm used to being
active and traveling around
1156
01:02:52,727 --> 01:02:54,479
and having a good time.
1157
01:02:54,813 --> 01:02:57,463
And so, if you're sitting
there and you are an invalid
1158
01:02:57,691 --> 01:03:00,568
against your will, uh, it
does change your outlook
1159
01:03:00,735 --> 01:03:01,903
a little bit.
1160
01:03:32,267 --> 01:03:34,811
The nose is the important part
1161
01:03:35,895 --> 01:03:38,565
when you're making a Zappa head.
1162
01:03:39,816 --> 01:03:42,402
'Cause no one else has one like it.
1163
01:03:45,613 --> 01:03:49,159
It doesn't have ears, but that's because
1164
01:03:49,326 --> 01:03:52,245
they wouldn't be seen
once you get the hair on.
1165
01:03:54,914 --> 01:03:58,460
But the hair is actually
the... the simpler part
1166
01:03:58,626 --> 01:04:00,503
of this whole thing.
1167
01:04:01,129 --> 01:04:06,593
You can see here how
easily the hair goes on.
1168
01:04:11,014 --> 01:04:13,767
How did you find the
animator, Bruce Bickford?
1169
01:04:14,142 --> 01:04:16,478
I was sitting here with a broken leg,
1170
01:04:16,644 --> 01:04:18,396
and he climbed over my fence
1171
01:04:18,563 --> 01:04:20,732
with two reels of film under his arm.
1172
01:04:21,232 --> 01:04:22,650
Now, this is tough 'cause the fence
1173
01:04:22,734 --> 01:04:25,445
used to be pretty high, but he made it.
1174
01:04:28,156 --> 01:04:30,784
I hitchhiked up to Laurel Canyon
1175
01:04:30,950 --> 01:04:33,036
and then found his house.
1176
01:04:34,913 --> 01:04:38,458
We looked at the stuff,
and he was impressed
1177
01:04:38,625 --> 01:04:41,461
by the number of
figures that I could sustain
1178
01:04:41,628 --> 01:04:44,130
in animation in one shot.
1179
01:04:45,799 --> 01:04:48,927
As far as I can tell, he's the best ever.
1180
01:04:49,636 --> 01:04:51,554
And he wanted to
know if I could help him.
1181
01:04:51,638 --> 01:04:53,889
I was sitting in the
basement, and here's this guy
1182
01:04:53,973 --> 01:04:55,100
with this footage.
1183
01:04:55,892 --> 01:04:57,842
And he's been on my payroll ever since.
1184
01:05:00,772 --> 01:05:02,857
Motherfucker throws Frank off the stage,
1185
01:05:03,024 --> 01:05:04,724
and whether Frank likes it or not,
1186
01:05:04,859 --> 01:05:07,153
that's a huge marker for a new phase.
1187
01:05:07,320 --> 01:05:08,905
He's got to convalesce.
1188
01:05:09,072 --> 01:05:10,948
And what do you do if you're Frank Zappa
1189
01:05:11,032 --> 01:05:13,952
with that brain and you can't move?
1190
01:05:14,119 --> 01:05:15,453
And you can't get up?
1191
01:05:15,787 --> 01:05:17,664
He's got a restless, creative mind,
1192
01:05:17,831 --> 01:05:19,431
so he's going to start creating.
1193
01:05:19,958 --> 01:05:22,168
Ladies and gentlemen,
I suppose you've noticed
1194
01:05:22,252 --> 01:05:23,628
that this is a clay forest,
1195
01:05:23,795 --> 01:05:25,338
and the forest has been manufactured
1196
01:05:25,422 --> 01:05:26,589
for your edification
1197
01:05:26,756 --> 01:05:29,092
by none other than Bruce Bickford.
1198
01:05:29,259 --> 01:05:31,427
Bruce, would you please
tell us what's going on
1199
01:05:31,511 --> 01:05:32,887
on this table over here?
1200
01:05:33,138 --> 01:05:35,765
Well, all you have to do is just move it
1201
01:05:35,932 --> 01:05:37,559
a very slight amount.
1202
01:05:38,601 --> 01:05:40,311
And then you take the picture.
1203
01:05:40,520 --> 01:05:43,815
And you move it again.
And just keep going.
1204
01:05:43,982 --> 01:05:46,192
And you can pick up speed after a while.
1205
01:05:46,359 --> 01:05:49,529
On making sure each time
that you get your fingers out
1206
01:05:49,696 --> 01:05:53,241
from in front of the lens
before you take the picture.
1207
01:05:53,950 --> 01:05:56,244
That's all you got to know.
1208
01:05:58,788 --> 01:06:01,916
Uh, at times, he... he was stubborn.
1209
01:06:02,917 --> 01:06:04,335
We were gonna make a movie,
1210
01:06:04,502 --> 01:06:10,467
and all he could think about
was control. H is control.
1211
01:06:11,759 --> 01:06:15,847
He had some emotions that ran deep
1212
01:06:16,306 --> 01:06:18,600
that he wouldn't express.
1213
01:06:20,685 --> 01:06:25,690
I just accepted everything
rather than questioning
1214
01:06:25,899 --> 01:06:28,067
why are you like you are?
1215
01:06:28,234 --> 01:06:31,154
But I could see the workaholic,
1216
01:06:31,738 --> 01:06:35,658
and that was where
his joy was coming from.
1217
01:06:37,202 --> 01:06:40,288
I think that Frank didn't,
like, express himself
1218
01:06:40,497 --> 01:06:43,541
as directly in terms of his own emotions.
1219
01:06:44,751 --> 01:06:47,962
I don't think he saw that as his purpose.
1220
01:06:50,131 --> 01:06:52,467
He had so much talent.
1221
01:06:52,967 --> 01:06:55,678
It defied everything.
1222
01:07:00,558 --> 01:07:03,853
When something cataclysmic
happens in your life,
1223
01:07:04,729 --> 01:07:07,064
there's any number of
ways you can deal with it.
1224
01:07:07,148 --> 01:07:08,998
You can just go, "Oh, my god, why me?"
1225
01:07:09,108 --> 01:07:11,152
And be capsized.
1226
01:07:11,319 --> 01:07:14,781
"Or you can say," Well, I got
no choice in the matter here.
1227
01:07:14,948 --> 01:07:16,533
Something has changed."
1228
01:07:16,824 --> 01:07:18,974
He's not going to
continue employing a group
1229
01:07:19,118 --> 01:07:20,318
while he's convalescing,
1230
01:07:20,411 --> 01:07:23,623
so that version of the Mothers scatters,
1231
01:07:24,207 --> 01:07:25,666
starts doing their own things.
1232
01:07:25,750 --> 01:07:28,753
And as soon as he's able to write,
1233
01:07:29,504 --> 01:07:32,006
wheel to the rehearsal studio, get
some of the horn players in there,
1234
01:07:32,090 --> 01:07:34,800
put the charts in front of him,
hear what things sound like,
1235
01:07:34,884 --> 01:07:37,720
end up with a stack of new compositions,
1236
01:07:37,887 --> 01:07:41,015
go out on the road,
surprise people yet again.
1237
01:07:42,141 --> 01:07:44,727
Let me tell you something.
Do you like monster movies?
1238
01:07:44,811 --> 01:07:46,020
Anybody?
1239
01:07:46,604 --> 01:07:49,274
I love monster movies.
1240
01:07:50,400 --> 01:07:53,820
I simply adore monster
movies and the cheaper they are,
1241
01:07:54,028 --> 01:07:56,406
the better they are. All right?
1242
01:07:58,032 --> 01:07:59,784
And this is "Cheepnis" here.
1243
01:08:00,034 --> 01:08:01,744
One, two, three, four.
1244
01:08:09,627 --> 01:08:11,337
♪ I ate a hot dog ♪
1245
01:08:11,504 --> 01:08:13,256
♪ It tasted real good ♪
1246
01:08:16,301 --> 01:08:18,678
♪ Then I watched a movie from Hollywood ♪
1247
01:08:39,407 --> 01:08:41,701
I want to tell you one more time.
1248
01:08:42,243 --> 01:08:43,703
I want to thank you
1249
01:08:43,911 --> 01:08:45,830
because I really appreciate this.
1250
01:09:05,016 --> 01:09:08,519
Thank you, thank you. Thank you.
Thank you, thank you, thank you.
1251
01:09:08,686 --> 01:09:11,939
Thank every one of you. And good night.
1252
01:09:19,072 --> 01:09:22,367
I think at every point in his life,
1253
01:09:22,533 --> 01:09:24,577
he was trying to do the best thing
1254
01:09:24,911 --> 01:09:27,955
that he could to have no regrets.
1255
01:09:28,831 --> 01:09:35,254
But what was Frank honestly trying to do?
1256
01:09:35,797 --> 01:09:40,635
He didn't give a shit
about the immediate...
1257
01:09:40,968 --> 01:09:44,555
world of his... of his
attempting to function
1258
01:09:44,722 --> 01:09:46,682
in the way that he chose
to function, which was
1259
01:09:46,766 --> 01:09:49,143
"If I'm alive, I've got
to be in the studio.
1260
01:09:49,310 --> 01:09:52,146
I've got to be at the music paper."
1261
01:09:52,980 --> 01:09:54,107
My desires are simple.
1262
01:09:54,273 --> 01:09:55,899
All I want to do is get
a good performance
1263
01:09:55,983 --> 01:09:56,983
and a good recording
1264
01:09:57,110 --> 01:09:59,361
of everything that I ever
wrote so I can hear it.
1265
01:09:59,445 --> 01:10:00,863
And if anybody else wants to hear it,
1266
01:10:00,947 --> 01:10:02,198
then that's great too.
1267
01:10:03,741 --> 01:10:05,827
Sounds easy, but it's really hard to do.
1268
01:10:06,994 --> 01:10:09,914
Frank was a slave to his inner ear.
1269
01:10:10,123 --> 01:10:12,083
So, he heard things a particular way,
1270
01:10:12,250 --> 01:10:14,418
and then he tried to
manifest them in the world,
1271
01:10:14,502 --> 01:10:15,878
but there were limitations.
1272
01:10:16,045 --> 01:10:18,923
And... there's financial
limitations to a degree
1273
01:10:19,090 --> 01:10:21,592
when you're dealing
with orchestra pieces.
1274
01:10:21,759 --> 01:10:24,345
And there's performance
limitations, you know?
1275
01:10:24,512 --> 01:10:27,807
You can just write something
that somebody can't play, you know.
1276
01:10:28,224 --> 01:10:31,519
But the music needed to
resemble what he was hearing
1277
01:10:31,644 --> 01:10:32,520
in his head.
1278
01:10:33,187 --> 01:10:36,566
So, this led to a lot of... I
think suffering on his part
1279
01:10:36,733 --> 01:10:39,183
due to the inadequacies
and limitations of others,
1280
01:10:39,277 --> 01:10:41,571
you know. Sorry, Frank.
1281
01:10:44,282 --> 01:10:45,992
We rehearse all the time.
1282
01:10:46,826 --> 01:10:49,245
Every day before we play, we rehearse.
1283
01:10:49,454 --> 01:10:51,038
We'll... we'll rehearse, uh,
1284
01:10:51,205 --> 01:10:54,333
before this tour, we
rehearsed for three weeks
1285
01:10:54,917 --> 01:10:58,212
four days a week, five hours a day.
1286
01:10:58,838 --> 01:11:01,549
A lot of people think, "Oh,
he was very demanding."
1287
01:11:02,008 --> 01:11:03,760
No more demanding than anybody
1288
01:11:03,926 --> 01:11:06,095
that has a job that they need to do.
1289
01:11:06,262 --> 01:11:09,932
But it would be really difficult
for a musician in Frank's band
1290
01:11:10,099 --> 01:11:12,894
if he was asking you to do
things that you couldn't do.
1291
01:11:13,311 --> 01:11:15,188
But he always asked you to do things
1292
01:11:15,354 --> 01:11:18,441
that he believed you can
do, but maybe you didn't.
1293
01:11:21,068 --> 01:11:24,280
"Black Page" was a piece
of music that Frank wrote.
1294
01:11:25,323 --> 01:11:28,951
It's probably, um, at the foref...
1295
01:11:29,118 --> 01:11:30,536
forefront of innovation
1296
01:11:31,120 --> 01:11:34,457
in regard to rhythmic
polymetric notation.
1297
01:11:35,958 --> 01:11:39,128
No doubt. No doubt. Because
there's certain rhythmic
1298
01:11:39,295 --> 01:11:41,255
situations in that piece
1299
01:11:41,798 --> 01:11:44,842
that are extraordinarily complex,
1300
01:11:45,301 --> 01:11:46,594
but the important thing
1301
01:11:46,803 --> 01:11:49,003
is it sounds like a
beautiful piece of music.
1302
01:11:49,096 --> 01:11:50,139
It's unique.
1303
01:11:50,306 --> 01:11:51,974
It's a comp... and it's
nothing like anything else
1304
01:11:52,058 --> 01:11:54,769
in his catalog. This is Frank, you know.
1305
01:11:54,936 --> 01:11:58,689
And so, the "Black Page"
is this piece of music
1306
01:11:58,856 --> 01:12:00,441
that was like this, um,
1307
01:12:00,608 --> 01:12:03,277
phenomenon to me and to many others.
1308
01:12:19,085 --> 01:12:22,839
There was no doubt
that there was a person
1309
01:12:23,005 --> 01:12:26,801
who could write music, fantastic music,
1310
01:12:27,009 --> 01:12:29,387
who cared that it be played properly.
1311
01:12:31,347 --> 01:12:33,266
And what I'm hearing
1312
01:12:33,975 --> 01:12:36,227
was put on this earth for me.
1313
01:12:36,435 --> 01:12:37,603
It was for me.
1314
01:13:06,841 --> 01:13:08,426
That music is there
1315
01:13:09,844 --> 01:13:12,638
for as long as we have any kind of, uh,
1316
01:13:12,805 --> 01:13:14,557
appreciation for the arts.
1317
01:13:15,600 --> 01:13:17,935
The music that Frank
made I think will last.
1318
01:13:27,069 --> 01:13:28,519
You guys fucking nailed that.
1319
01:13:31,490 --> 01:13:33,242
Yeah. That was good.
1320
01:13:36,203 --> 01:13:38,706
Now that you are
becoming a successful man
1321
01:13:38,873 --> 01:13:42,084
on... in the music scene,
what consequences
1322
01:13:42,335 --> 01:13:44,003
could this probably have for you?
1323
01:13:44,170 --> 01:13:45,630
I don't think about it.
1324
01:13:45,796 --> 01:13:47,246
A lot of times, the people...
1325
01:13:47,924 --> 01:13:50,009
like what you do for the wrong reasons.
1326
01:13:51,427 --> 01:13:53,721
Live from New York, it's Saturday Night.
1327
01:13:57,391 --> 01:13:59,518
No, I don't do drugs.
1328
01:13:59,685 --> 01:14:03,522
I just don't like the effects
it has on some people.
1329
01:14:06,359 --> 01:14:07,568
What do you mean, man?
1330
01:14:07,777 --> 01:14:09,236
What do you mean you don't do drugs?
1331
01:14:09,320 --> 01:14:11,030
Frank Zappa doesn't do drugs?
1332
01:14:11,197 --> 01:14:12,365
I don't believe it.
1333
01:14:13,074 --> 01:14:14,366
Uh, well, that was their idea
1334
01:14:14,450 --> 01:14:15,701
of something funny.
1335
01:14:15,952 --> 01:14:17,995
I think they actually did
it just to make fun of me,
1336
01:14:18,079 --> 01:14:19,204
you know, because you know
1337
01:14:19,288 --> 01:14:21,123
what their orientation is all about.
1338
01:14:21,874 --> 01:14:24,168
You didn't get high with
the original Mothers?
1339
01:14:24,335 --> 01:14:26,087
- No.
- What about Freak Out!, man?
1340
01:14:26,295 --> 01:14:28,589
You mean, you were straight
when you wrote Freak Out!?
1341
01:14:28,673 --> 01:14:30,383
Oh my, God! Oh, my God!
1342
01:14:30,591 --> 01:14:35,179
Ah, wow, man, that's such a mind blower.
1343
01:14:35,554 --> 01:14:38,599
I thought the whole skit
sucked myself, and, uh,
1344
01:14:38,766 --> 01:14:40,351
I was just stuck doing it.
1345
01:14:40,518 --> 01:14:42,603
They wouldn't let me
write anything for the show.
1346
01:14:42,687 --> 01:14:44,438
What is your function on this planet?
1347
01:14:44,522 --> 01:14:46,565
I am a musician.
1348
01:14:46,857 --> 01:14:48,067
One, two, three, four.
1349
01:14:50,444 --> 01:14:54,281
Ladies and gentlemen. Frank Zappa.
1350
01:14:54,532 --> 01:14:56,232
♪ I don't know much about dancing ♪
1351
01:14:56,367 --> 01:14:57,826
♪ That's why I got this song ♪
1352
01:14:57,910 --> 01:14:59,745
♪ One of my legs is
shorter than the other ♪
1353
01:14:59,829 --> 01:15:01,288
♪ And both my feet's too long ♪
1354
01:15:01,372 --> 01:15:03,081
♪ Course now right along with them ♪
1355
01:15:03,165 --> 01:15:04,500
♪ Got no natural rhythm ♪
1356
01:15:04,667 --> 01:15:06,126
♪ But I go dancing every night ♪
1357
01:15:06,210 --> 01:15:08,170
♪ Hoping one day I might get it right ♪
1358
01:15:08,337 --> 01:15:11,549
♪ I'm a dancing fool ♪
1359
01:15:11,924 --> 01:15:15,052
♪ I'm a dancing fool ♪
1360
01:15:15,261 --> 01:15:18,556
♪ I'm a dancing fool ♪
1361
01:15:18,723 --> 01:15:21,017
♪ He's a dancing fool ♪
1362
01:15:21,308 --> 01:15:23,258
♪ I may be totally wrong, but I'm a... ♪
1363
01:15:25,021 --> 01:15:26,971
♪ I may be totally wrong, but I'm a... ♪
1364
01:15:28,774 --> 01:15:30,724
♪ I may be totally wrong, but I'm a... ♪
1365
01:15:32,236 --> 01:15:35,698
♪ I may be totally wrong,
but I'm a fool, yeah ♪
1366
01:15:36,323 --> 01:15:37,366
There was a part of him
1367
01:15:37,450 --> 01:15:39,368
that even though he had
a lot of people's attention,
1368
01:15:39,452 --> 01:15:41,787
of feeling cynical about the fact that,
1369
01:15:41,954 --> 01:15:43,497
yeah, all these people
are... are looking,
1370
01:15:43,581 --> 01:15:45,581
but they don't know what they're seeing.
1371
01:15:51,088 --> 01:15:53,257
Sometimes truth, when you put truth up,
1372
01:15:53,424 --> 01:15:55,676
really quickly, like "Here's the truth,"
1373
01:15:55,843 --> 01:15:59,180
uh, it's like, uh, uh, um,
daylight to a vampire.
1374
01:15:59,346 --> 01:16:00,430
You know what I'm saying?
1375
01:16:00,514 --> 01:16:02,641
Some people are used to avoiding truth.
1376
01:16:02,892 --> 01:16:05,394
When someone puts it right on the table,
1377
01:16:05,978 --> 01:16:07,854
don't bring that plate out here again.
1378
01:16:07,938 --> 01:16:10,148
And don't play the music
that the guy that eats off
1379
01:16:10,232 --> 01:16:11,609
that plate on the radio.
1380
01:16:12,610 --> 01:16:14,660
He don't... not only thinks, he discerns.
1381
01:16:15,362 --> 01:16:18,157
We got to keep this guy
under check, you know?
1382
01:16:18,324 --> 01:16:19,533
'Cause he can't be out there.
1383
01:16:19,617 --> 01:16:21,660
And that's just my eyes seeing it
1384
01:16:21,827 --> 01:16:23,704
as a Black man in America.
1385
01:16:23,996 --> 01:16:25,497
Anybody that comes from the outside,
1386
01:16:25,581 --> 01:16:29,668
or so-called outside, with
ideas and new thoughts,
1387
01:16:30,252 --> 01:16:33,214
and you see this unknown
hand just go like this
1388
01:16:33,422 --> 01:16:34,673
and brush you aside.
1389
01:16:36,592 --> 01:16:38,344
In those days, record companies
1390
01:16:38,511 --> 01:16:41,222
had a lot more control over artists.
1391
01:16:41,764 --> 01:16:44,850
Typically, what a record
company would do is like sort of,
1392
01:16:45,059 --> 01:16:46,727
they would get it...
They were getting closer
1393
01:16:46,811 --> 01:16:49,355
and closer to 360 deals,
which means they own
1394
01:16:49,563 --> 01:16:51,774
all the parts of you around your asshole
1395
01:16:52,024 --> 01:16:54,693
and everything else that goes with.
1396
01:16:55,152 --> 01:16:57,071
So, Frank wanted to do a box set.
1397
01:16:57,279 --> 01:17:00,116
They said, "No, nobody can
do box sets. That's insane."
1398
01:17:00,324 --> 01:17:02,409
So then he took the box set apart
1399
01:17:02,576 --> 01:17:04,370
and made four albums out of it.
1400
01:17:04,537 --> 01:17:06,496
He went over to Warner's,
and he just handed them over
1401
01:17:06,580 --> 01:17:08,541
and said, "Okay, we're... I'm done.
1402
01:17:08,749 --> 01:17:11,499
That's the end of my contract.
Here's your four albums."
1403
01:17:11,585 --> 01:17:16,340
And that changed
everything from that point on.
1404
01:17:16,549 --> 01:17:19,218
But more than that,
he's the first artist to go
1405
01:17:19,426 --> 01:17:20,803
completely independent.
1406
01:17:21,303 --> 01:17:23,003
You know, we set up our own label.
1407
01:17:23,681 --> 01:17:27,143
As Frank and Gail get into
the Zappa Records phase,
1408
01:17:27,309 --> 01:17:29,770
and you know, one of the
first albums that come out,
1409
01:17:29,854 --> 01:17:33,357
Sheik Yerbouti, which is
a very successful album.
1410
01:17:33,524 --> 01:17:36,360
And it's got crowd-pleasing,
really filthy shit on it.
1411
01:17:36,610 --> 01:17:39,321
But... you get into the
subject matter on that record,
1412
01:17:39,488 --> 01:17:42,283
and it's still dark. He's
still in that dark place.
1413
01:17:42,533 --> 01:17:44,034
Almost every song on that record
1414
01:17:44,118 --> 01:17:47,246
is just like attacking a
specific group of people.
1415
01:18:24,366 --> 01:18:28,829
You always were a renegade
against the music business. Why?
1416
01:18:29,038 --> 01:18:30,831
Because most of what
the music business does
1417
01:18:30,915 --> 01:18:31,957
is not musical.
1418
01:18:32,124 --> 01:18:33,917
How many lawsuits do
you have out now, Frank?
1419
01:18:34,001 --> 01:18:35,127
Probably about nine.
1420
01:18:35,336 --> 01:18:37,536
Nine lawsuits against
some of the most famous
1421
01:18:37,630 --> 01:18:39,298
record companies in Los Angeles.
1422
01:18:39,590 --> 01:18:40,716
That's true.
1423
01:18:41,050 --> 01:18:42,509
What do you think is the reason
1424
01:18:42,593 --> 01:18:44,393
that Warner Brothers didn't pay you?
1425
01:18:44,678 --> 01:18:46,628
They're a bunch of assholes, of course.
1426
01:18:49,725 --> 01:18:52,394
Besides the incredible freedom
1427
01:18:52,561 --> 01:18:54,980
of his creative perspectives,
1428
01:18:55,648 --> 01:18:58,817
his business perspectives
were very independent.
1429
01:18:59,151 --> 01:19:00,751
I mean, he started his own label
1430
01:19:01,362 --> 01:19:04,740
back in the day when
this was relatively new
1431
01:19:04,907 --> 01:19:06,908
and he was sort of at
the forefront in a sense,
1432
01:19:06,992 --> 01:19:09,161
and that was very
vital to their, you know,
1433
01:19:09,453 --> 01:19:11,038
organization and their income.
1434
01:19:12,498 --> 01:19:16,794
By 1982, we had started a
small mail-order company,
1435
01:19:17,002 --> 01:19:18,420
and we did, like,
1436
01:19:18,587 --> 01:19:20,287
a million dollars' worth of sales.
1437
01:19:20,798 --> 01:19:23,508
For us, that was good business
because you only had to sell
1438
01:19:23,592 --> 01:19:25,678
a quarter as many records really to make
1439
01:19:25,886 --> 01:19:27,346
the same amount of profit.
1440
01:19:27,554 --> 01:19:29,306
This is where all the fan mail comes in.
1441
01:19:29,390 --> 01:19:31,266
This is where I read it,
and if you don't believe me,
1442
01:19:31,350 --> 01:19:34,000
look around you. There's
boxes, and I read everything.
1443
01:19:36,230 --> 01:19:38,148
In retrospect, people
think you're a genius.
1444
01:19:38,232 --> 01:19:40,943
But while it's happening, you're just,
1445
01:19:41,527 --> 01:19:43,028
"Okay, now what?"
1446
01:19:43,487 --> 01:19:46,824
And it's just an... an idea comes to you,
1447
01:19:46,991 --> 01:19:48,492
and then you go for it.
1448
01:19:50,411 --> 01:19:51,328
Good evening.
1449
01:19:51,912 --> 01:19:54,540
I'm here tonight to announce my intention
1450
01:19:54,748 --> 01:19:56,417
to seek the Republican nomination
1451
01:19:56,583 --> 01:19:58,335
for President of the United States.
1452
01:19:58,544 --> 01:19:59,962
With the onset of Reaganism
1453
01:20:00,129 --> 01:20:02,005
and what was happening
in the country at that time,
1454
01:20:02,089 --> 01:20:04,300
in some ways, I think that drew Frank out
1455
01:20:04,466 --> 01:20:06,927
of the more solipsistic darkness
1456
01:20:07,136 --> 01:20:09,388
of what was happening in his career.
1457
01:20:10,055 --> 01:20:12,098
This is the dawning
of the dark ages again
1458
01:20:12,182 --> 01:20:13,475
as far as I'm concerned.
1459
01:20:13,976 --> 01:20:16,026
Never have the arts
been in such bad shape
1460
01:20:16,228 --> 01:20:17,479
in the United States.
1461
01:20:20,024 --> 01:20:25,070
This is the Central Scrutinizer.
1462
01:20:25,988 --> 01:20:27,656
As you can see,
1463
01:20:27,865 --> 01:20:32,036
music can get you pretty fucked up.
1464
01:20:33,829 --> 01:20:38,292
Take a tip from Joe, and get a good job.
1465
01:20:42,755 --> 01:20:46,550
The business of music
is all about this fake list
1466
01:20:46,717 --> 01:20:49,303
of who sold what.
1467
01:20:50,387 --> 01:20:53,932
The whole idea of selling
large numbers of items
1468
01:20:54,099 --> 01:20:56,268
in order to determine quality to it
1469
01:20:56,435 --> 01:20:58,520
is what's really repulsive about it.
1470
01:21:00,898 --> 01:21:03,067
MTV's Top 20 Video Countdown is sponsored
1471
01:21:03,233 --> 01:21:05,694
by Burger King and by Three Musketeers.
1472
01:21:09,323 --> 01:21:10,657
The record industry decided
1473
01:21:10,741 --> 01:21:12,576
this is the wave of the future.
1474
01:21:13,243 --> 01:21:16,455
And they started signing
only groups who look good.
1475
01:21:17,039 --> 01:21:21,126
And the whole idea was
making picture music.
1476
01:21:22,503 --> 01:21:25,714
When the music business
was still sort of about
1477
01:21:25,881 --> 01:21:27,466
recording songs,
1478
01:21:27,633 --> 01:21:29,343
you could have a hit record
1479
01:21:29,551 --> 01:21:33,138
if it caught on in one of 10, 000
1480
01:21:33,305 --> 01:21:35,307
different radio stations in America.
1481
01:21:36,225 --> 01:21:40,562
Now, instead of having 10,
000 chances to make a hit,
1482
01:21:41,563 --> 01:21:43,107
you got one.
1483
01:21:43,649 --> 01:21:45,984
That's one small step for man,
1484
01:21:47,569 --> 01:21:50,406
one giant leap for mankind.
1485
01:21:54,618 --> 01:21:57,579
♪ And may the Lord ♪
1486
01:21:57,830 --> 01:22:03,419
♪ Have mercy On the fate of this movie ♪
1487
01:22:03,627 --> 01:22:06,672
♪ And God bless the mind ♪
1488
01:22:06,922 --> 01:22:12,177
♪ Of the man in the street ♪
1489
01:22:12,553 --> 01:22:15,722
Even in the most ugliest
chord he ever wrote,
1490
01:22:16,432 --> 01:22:19,226
there's always a ray of
hope in there, you know.
1491
01:22:21,186 --> 01:22:24,857
As an entertainer, I'm
responsible for delivering
1492
01:22:25,023 --> 01:22:27,734
the best of what I can do to the audience
1493
01:22:27,901 --> 01:22:29,601
that has bought a ticket to see it
1494
01:22:29,736 --> 01:22:31,363
or buys a record to hear it.
1495
01:22:31,572 --> 01:22:32,822
And what about your friends?
1496
01:22:32,906 --> 01:22:34,616
Your neighbors? Your family?
1497
01:22:34,867 --> 01:22:36,417
Well, I don't have any friends.
1498
01:22:36,618 --> 01:22:39,079
I have a wonderful
wife and four children.
1499
01:22:39,288 --> 01:22:40,830
I like them. They're my friends.
1500
01:22:40,914 --> 01:22:42,123
So, your wife is your friend?
1501
01:22:42,207 --> 01:22:43,125
Right.
1502
01:22:43,625 --> 01:22:46,295
When you're not
working, do you just sort of
1503
01:22:46,795 --> 01:22:48,713
cut yourself off from
the rest of the world
1504
01:22:48,797 --> 01:22:51,008
and you're with your family?
1505
01:22:51,175 --> 01:22:52,926
Well, when I'm not touring, I'm at home.
1506
01:22:53,010 --> 01:22:55,553
I have a studio in my house.
I do my recording there.
1507
01:22:55,637 --> 01:22:57,837
And when I'm done
doing that part of my work,
1508
01:22:57,973 --> 01:22:59,975
I go off on the road and travel around
1509
01:23:00,142 --> 01:23:01,442
and do this kind of stuff.
1510
01:23:04,813 --> 01:23:06,398
They're here.
1511
01:23:06,607 --> 01:23:08,150
♪ And we need a new burden ♪
1512
01:23:11,862 --> 01:23:14,239
It's coming at you.
1513
01:23:47,564 --> 01:23:49,983
The kids didn't get to
see that much of him.
1514
01:23:50,901 --> 01:23:52,069
Just the way it goes.
1515
01:23:52,277 --> 01:23:55,447
He was on a mission, and
he was going to accomplish
1516
01:23:55,614 --> 01:23:57,074
that mission no matter what.
1517
01:23:58,033 --> 01:23:59,368
Well, the sweet thing about "Valley Girl"
1518
01:23:59,451 --> 01:24:01,411
is that it was Frank
and Moon in the studio.
1519
01:24:01,495 --> 01:24:02,871
Them, you know, connecting.
1520
01:24:03,038 --> 01:24:05,082
Undoubtedly having a good time
1521
01:24:05,290 --> 01:24:08,460
even though it was the
result of Moon, you know,
1522
01:24:08,627 --> 01:24:11,212
putting a note under, you
know, Frank's studio door, saying,
1523
01:24:11,296 --> 01:24:13,946
"Hi, my name's Moon. I live
in the same house as you."
1524
01:24:14,633 --> 01:24:17,010
Uh, j... just in case
you're... you're interested,
1525
01:24:17,094 --> 01:24:18,594
"I do this Valley Girl voice."
1526
01:24:22,224 --> 01:24:24,017
It was nearly 15 years ago
1527
01:24:24,184 --> 01:24:26,102
when the Beach Boys
brought national attention
1528
01:24:26,186 --> 01:24:27,688
to California girls.
1529
01:24:27,854 --> 01:24:30,065
These days, another
kind of California girl
1530
01:24:30,315 --> 01:24:32,317
is being immortalized on record.
1531
01:24:32,693 --> 01:24:34,235
There's a song getting heavy airplay
1532
01:24:34,319 --> 01:24:36,446
on Southern California rock stations
1533
01:24:36,613 --> 01:24:38,073
called "Valley Girl."
1534
01:24:38,448 --> 01:24:41,577
♪ Valley girl She's a valley girl ♪
1535
01:24:41,827 --> 01:24:45,372
♪ Valley girl She's a valley girl ♪
1536
01:24:45,664 --> 01:24:48,333
♪ Okay, fine, fer sure Fer sure ♪
1537
01:24:48,542 --> 01:24:50,961
♪ She's a valley girl
in a clothing store ♪
1538
01:24:51,169 --> 01:24:53,296
Hi. You're probably wondering
what we're doing right now.
1539
01:24:53,380 --> 01:24:55,507
Well, you see, we have this problem.
1540
01:24:55,674 --> 01:24:57,217
We have this record called "Valley Girl,"
1541
01:24:57,301 --> 01:24:58,843
and all these assholes keep calling up
1542
01:24:58,927 --> 01:25:00,845
and asking for interviews
and photographs.
1543
01:25:00,929 --> 01:25:02,138
So, in the middle of the night,
1544
01:25:02,222 --> 01:25:05,392
we have to sit on the
roof and stand out here
1545
01:25:05,559 --> 01:25:07,101
and move around and do dumb things
1546
01:25:07,185 --> 01:25:10,230
so that the world's most
famous photographer,
1547
01:25:10,397 --> 01:25:14,026
Norman Seeff, can take pictures
of this crap for Life magazine.
1548
01:25:14,192 --> 01:25:15,610
That's what we're doing here.
1549
01:25:15,694 --> 01:25:18,655
♪ Valley girl She's a valley girl ♪
1550
01:25:18,822 --> 01:25:20,282
♪ Okay, fine ♪
1551
01:25:20,657 --> 01:25:22,743
"Valley Girl" was a very unusual accident
1552
01:25:22,909 --> 01:25:24,119
in the US.
1553
01:25:24,494 --> 01:25:27,706
We were a small label
distributed through CBS.
1554
01:25:27,956 --> 01:25:29,416
Nobody at CBS had any idea
1555
01:25:29,583 --> 01:25:32,085
that that thing would
catch on the way it did.
1556
01:25:32,711 --> 01:25:35,339
The way it happened was my daughter took
1557
01:25:35,505 --> 01:25:38,007
an acetate of "Valley Girl"
to a station in Pasadena
1558
01:25:38,091 --> 01:25:40,385
called KROQ, and as
soon as they played it,
1559
01:25:40,552 --> 01:25:43,096
the phone started ringing,
and it became an instant hit.
1560
01:25:43,180 --> 01:25:44,530
People loved it right away.
1561
01:25:44,765 --> 01:25:46,433
Like, oh, my God.
1562
01:25:47,017 --> 01:25:48,894
Meanwhile, I'm in Europe on a tour.
1563
01:25:49,061 --> 01:25:51,355
I don't even know I've got a hit record.
1564
01:25:51,772 --> 01:25:54,941
In 1982, you couldn't walk
around in the United States
1565
01:25:55,108 --> 01:25:57,358
without hearing something
about "Valley Girl."
1566
01:25:57,653 --> 01:25:59,320
Next on Channel Five, it's awesome
1567
01:25:59,404 --> 01:26:00,488
'cause we're going to, like,
1568
01:26:00,572 --> 01:26:01,739
crank with the whole Zappa family.
1569
01:26:01,823 --> 01:26:03,283
For sure. Totally on evening news...
1570
01:26:03,367 --> 01:26:04,917
And that was his first big hit.
1571
01:26:05,243 --> 01:26:06,620
His only big hit.
1572
01:26:08,038 --> 01:26:11,792
But it really came out of Moon
1573
01:26:12,250 --> 01:26:14,086
wanting to spend time with her dad.
1574
01:26:16,838 --> 01:26:18,381
What's happening in the future now?
1575
01:26:18,465 --> 01:26:20,216
Have you... Are you
planning a follow-up right away
1576
01:26:20,300 --> 01:26:21,968
to cash in on the, uh,
1577
01:26:22,177 --> 01:26:23,636
the audience's receptivity, or...
1578
01:26:23,720 --> 01:26:25,346
No. As a matter of fact, the next thing
1579
01:26:25,430 --> 01:26:28,517
that I'm going to do is go
out to, um, Cal-Arts tonight
1580
01:26:28,725 --> 01:26:31,144
and hear a couple of piano
players give a performance
1581
01:26:31,228 --> 01:26:33,939
of some of my orchestra music.
1582
01:26:40,737 --> 01:26:44,533
So, there's "Valley Girl." A
success, mainstream success.
1583
01:26:44,700 --> 01:26:47,619
But to Frank, it's like,
"Okay, what can I do now?
1584
01:26:47,786 --> 01:26:49,203
I've got people's attention."
1585
01:26:49,287 --> 01:26:51,998
One. Two. Three.
1586
01:26:56,712 --> 01:26:58,588
From everything I'd heard,
1587
01:26:58,755 --> 01:27:00,966
and heard about Zappa,
1588
01:27:01,800 --> 01:27:05,595
it just seemed like he
should write for Kronos.
1589
01:27:05,846 --> 01:27:07,931
Yeah. So, if we can play those longer,
1590
01:27:08,098 --> 01:27:09,682
I think that will be more effective.
1591
01:27:09,766 --> 01:27:11,435
How I... uh, what length?
1592
01:27:11,601 --> 01:27:13,895
I have a quarter note tie into...
1593
01:27:14,062 --> 01:27:16,481
- Oh, I see.
- It's very strange sheet music.
1594
01:27:16,648 --> 01:27:18,984
I think the first time we spoke
1595
01:27:19,151 --> 01:27:20,736
was after a concert.
1596
01:27:21,278 --> 01:27:25,157
I'm thinking '82, '83.
1597
01:27:25,490 --> 01:27:28,368
Shortly after that is
when he began to write,
1598
01:27:29,578 --> 01:27:31,496
uh, the new piece for us.
1599
01:28:04,154 --> 01:28:08,450
I always appreciated the
fact that he taught himself.
1600
01:28:09,326 --> 01:28:10,952
He went to the library as a kid,
1601
01:28:11,119 --> 01:28:14,122
and he just checked out books
and stayed there and learned.
1602
01:28:14,289 --> 01:28:16,875
For me, that's been a big inspiration.
1603
01:28:17,793 --> 01:28:19,628
When I think of Zappa's life's work,
1604
01:28:20,003 --> 01:28:22,964
I'm reminded of Charles Ives,
1605
01:28:23,131 --> 01:28:25,550
Harry Partch, Sun Ra.
1606
01:28:26,092 --> 01:28:28,887
These are American experimentalists
1607
01:28:29,054 --> 01:28:32,057
that totally reimagined the way music
1608
01:28:32,224 --> 01:28:34,893
might be heard, might be composed.
1609
01:28:36,228 --> 01:28:38,897
And Zappa belongs in that tradition.
1610
01:29:37,581 --> 01:29:38,998
I still write orchestra music.
1611
01:29:39,082 --> 01:29:41,082
But, you know, nobody will ever hear it.
1612
01:29:41,960 --> 01:29:42,961
You sure?
1613
01:29:43,128 --> 01:29:45,171
Well, I don't wanna say never,
1614
01:29:45,338 --> 01:29:47,588
but, uh, the chances of
the music being played
1615
01:29:47,716 --> 01:29:50,969
are not very good because
every time we start negotiating
1616
01:29:51,136 --> 01:29:53,054
with somebody about
having a performance of it,
1617
01:29:53,138 --> 01:29:55,389
all these problems arise,
and it always comes down
1618
01:29:55,473 --> 01:29:58,017
to how much money they're
willing to spend to do it.
1619
01:29:58,101 --> 01:30:00,895
Because it... we've had some
offers from orchestras who say,
1620
01:30:00,979 --> 01:30:02,313
"Yeah, we'd love to play it,
1621
01:30:02,397 --> 01:30:03,898
but we'll give you two rehearsals."
1622
01:30:03,982 --> 01:30:05,900
And it's impossible to
play it in two rehearsals.
1623
01:30:05,984 --> 01:30:07,152
You just can't do it.
1624
01:30:07,319 --> 01:30:08,945
And I would rather not have it played
1625
01:30:09,029 --> 01:30:11,364
than to have somebody play it wrong.
1626
01:30:11,573 --> 01:30:13,773
Tomorrow night, the
London Symphony Orchestra
1627
01:30:13,867 --> 01:30:16,717
are giving a concert at their
home at the Barbican Centre.
1628
01:30:17,078 --> 01:30:19,121
The program of orchestral
music they'll be playing
1629
01:30:19,205 --> 01:30:21,166
is music written by the celebrated
1630
01:30:21,333 --> 01:30:23,084
American rock star Frank Zappa.
1631
01:30:23,543 --> 01:30:25,878
Robin Denselow has been
looking at the least known
1632
01:30:25,962 --> 01:30:28,632
and the least commercial
side of Zappa's art.
1633
01:30:29,174 --> 01:30:31,676
Frank Zappa has been
quietly writing pieces
1634
01:30:31,843 --> 01:30:35,263
for a full orchestra alongside
his rock work for years.
1635
01:30:35,513 --> 01:30:37,163
For their first ever performance,
1636
01:30:37,265 --> 01:30:39,351
he's using the London Symphony Orchestra.
1637
01:30:39,517 --> 01:30:43,021
The conductor, Kent
Nagano, was chosen by Zappa.
1638
01:30:43,188 --> 01:30:45,607
Do you expect to actually make any money
1639
01:30:45,774 --> 01:30:47,608
out of the concert and the recordings
1640
01:30:47,692 --> 01:30:48,985
that you've come here to make
1641
01:30:49,069 --> 01:30:50,487
- with the ISO?
- No. No.
1642
01:30:50,654 --> 01:30:51,947
Why then do you do it?
1643
01:30:52,113 --> 01:30:55,408
Well, I think that any artistic
decision that is based on
1644
01:30:55,575 --> 01:30:57,743
whether or not you're going
to make money is not really
1645
01:30:57,827 --> 01:31:00,956
an artistic decision.
It's a business decision.
1646
01:31:01,539 --> 01:31:03,708
And there are a lot
of things that I can do
1647
01:31:03,875 --> 01:31:05,126
to earn a living
1648
01:31:05,293 --> 01:31:07,044
and a lot of things
that I have already done
1649
01:31:07,128 --> 01:31:09,338
to earn a living, which
have produced the amount
1650
01:31:09,422 --> 01:31:11,883
of, uh, capital needed
to do this project.
1651
01:31:12,050 --> 01:31:15,303
I came here to spend
money on an English orchestra
1652
01:31:15,470 --> 01:31:18,014
to record my music so I can take it home
1653
01:31:18,181 --> 01:31:19,766
and I can listen to it.
1654
01:31:19,933 --> 01:31:22,852
And if somebody else
likes that kind of stuff,
1655
01:31:23,019 --> 01:31:24,812
I will make it available on a record
1656
01:31:24,896 --> 01:31:26,439
so that they can hear it.
1657
01:31:26,606 --> 01:31:29,506
That is my part of the public
service of spending the money
1658
01:31:29,609 --> 01:31:31,319
to make this event happen.
1659
01:31:31,486 --> 01:31:33,113
No foundation grant,
1660
01:31:33,279 --> 01:31:34,948
no government assistance,
1661
01:31:35,115 --> 01:31:36,533
no corporation,
1662
01:31:36,700 --> 01:31:37,867
no committee.
1663
01:31:38,034 --> 01:31:41,121
Just a crazy guy who spent the money
1664
01:31:41,287 --> 01:31:45,291
to hire English musicians to
do a concert at the Barbican
1665
01:31:45,458 --> 01:31:48,712
and make an album for
Barking Pumpkin Records.
1666
01:31:49,087 --> 01:31:52,215
How do you get the
London Symphony Orchestra
1667
01:31:52,382 --> 01:31:53,299
to do your stuff?
1668
01:31:53,466 --> 01:31:55,719
- You pay them.
- Yeah.
1669
01:31:56,052 --> 01:31:58,513
But isn't this a really
prestigious organization?
1670
01:31:58,680 --> 01:31:59,681
Of course.
1671
01:31:59,889 --> 01:32:01,349
So, you pay them a lot of money.
1672
01:32:01,433 --> 01:32:02,892
Yeah.
1673
01:32:03,059 --> 01:32:06,354
It's just as serious to write
a song like "Valley Girl"
1674
01:32:07,105 --> 01:32:10,358
as it is to write the ballet
called Mo 'N Herb's Vacation.
1675
01:32:10,525 --> 01:32:13,570
To me, they're equally
serious problems in music.
1676
01:32:15,864 --> 01:32:18,214
Unless they have
sufficient time to rehearse it,
1677
01:32:18,324 --> 01:32:20,326
the chances of an
absolutely perfect performance
1678
01:32:20,410 --> 01:32:21,411
are not good.
1679
01:32:21,578 --> 01:32:23,128
Now, uh, how close did you get?
1680
01:32:23,288 --> 01:32:26,458
I would say that we're up
to about 75% on this record.
1681
01:32:26,624 --> 01:32:29,794
So, you could you take
a look, please, at 159?
1682
01:32:31,504 --> 01:32:34,924
The inhabitants here do
not have the intelligence
1683
01:32:35,091 --> 01:32:37,177
to be utilized anymore.
1684
01:32:37,761 --> 01:32:39,763
So, man built me.
1685
01:32:40,847 --> 01:32:42,682
Human beings are expensive.
1686
01:32:43,308 --> 01:32:46,686
If given the choice between
not making music at all
1687
01:32:46,853 --> 01:32:49,689
or making music in a medium
that a person can afford,
1688
01:32:49,856 --> 01:32:52,400
I will make music in
a medium I can afford.
1689
01:32:53,068 --> 01:32:55,070
Ergo, the machine.
1690
01:32:57,197 --> 01:33:00,283
I had bought the
Synclavier and started doing
1691
01:33:00,450 --> 01:33:02,535
all the composition in that medium
1692
01:33:02,702 --> 01:33:04,752
because you can write
it the way you want,
1693
01:33:04,913 --> 01:33:06,748
and you get to conduct it also.
1694
01:33:06,915 --> 01:33:10,126
Even have it executed at
any speed or any amplitude.
1695
01:33:10,293 --> 01:33:13,004
You can control all the
nuances of the performance.
1696
01:33:13,797 --> 01:33:15,423
I would rather do it myself
1697
01:33:15,590 --> 01:33:17,801
than give it to somebody else to do.
1698
01:33:33,399 --> 01:33:34,692
Okay, Ahmet.
1699
01:33:35,819 --> 01:33:38,988
Stop the game, and I want
to... And have him get some
1700
01:33:39,155 --> 01:33:40,655
pictures of you with the clay.
1701
01:33:41,199 --> 01:33:43,451
I don't have any clay. Thanks.
1702
01:33:43,618 --> 01:33:45,536
There's 1,000 pounds of
it around here some place.
1703
01:33:45,620 --> 01:33:47,705
There's 1,000 pounds
right behind you, Ahmet.
1704
01:33:47,789 --> 01:33:49,082
Don't lie.
1705
01:33:58,049 --> 01:33:59,341
What do you want me to build?
1706
01:33:59,425 --> 01:34:00,552
Whatever you want.
1707
01:34:19,195 --> 01:34:21,823
It's not easy to keep converting capital
1708
01:34:21,990 --> 01:34:24,784
from doing other things
and to reinvesting in it
1709
01:34:24,951 --> 01:34:26,911
to doing that kind of stuff
because there's no way
1710
01:34:26,995 --> 01:34:28,788
that the music that I'm working on
1711
01:34:28,955 --> 01:34:30,748
is gonna pay its own way.
1712
01:34:33,501 --> 01:34:35,711
But I would rather do it
this way than to rely on
1713
01:34:35,795 --> 01:34:39,215
a government or to rely on, uh, you know,
1714
01:34:39,382 --> 01:34:41,482
a king or a duke or
somebody who, you know,
1715
01:34:41,634 --> 01:34:43,803
wants to take drastic
action if he doesn't approve
1716
01:34:43,887 --> 01:34:45,138
of your work of art.
1717
01:34:45,471 --> 01:34:46,848
You know, forget that.
1718
01:34:47,891 --> 01:34:50,768
Do you still think that
music students in universities
1719
01:34:50,935 --> 01:34:53,385
are studying a dead
language in a dead institution
1720
01:34:53,479 --> 01:34:56,274
by dead professors, and
would you explain why?
1721
01:34:57,817 --> 01:34:59,360
Well, yes.
1722
01:35:02,363 --> 01:35:05,533
Because a lot of times, uh,
composers will come to me,
1723
01:35:05,700 --> 01:35:07,744
and they'll say, "Well, what do I do?"
1724
01:35:07,911 --> 01:35:09,703
And I tell them, "Get
a real estate license
1725
01:35:09,787 --> 01:35:12,790
because if you expect to
write music in the United States,
1726
01:35:12,957 --> 01:35:14,834
what are you gonna do for a living?"
1727
01:35:15,376 --> 01:35:17,826
If you want to be a
composer in the United States,
1728
01:35:17,962 --> 01:35:20,089
you must write for the media.
1729
01:35:20,256 --> 01:35:22,258
You can't just write music
because you're writing music.
1730
01:35:22,342 --> 01:35:24,392
You have to have some other kind of a job
1731
01:35:24,510 --> 01:35:25,762
to support your habit.
1732
01:35:25,929 --> 01:35:29,557
And, uh, it's a sad story, but it's true.
1733
01:35:35,188 --> 01:35:37,732
♪ Your mouth ♪
1734
01:35:37,899 --> 01:35:40,401
♪ ls your religion ♪
1735
01:35:41,986 --> 01:35:46,616
♪ 'Cause what they do in Washington ♪
1736
01:35:46,991 --> 01:35:49,535
♪ They just takes care ♪
1737
01:35:50,036 --> 01:35:52,747
♪ Of number one ♪
1738
01:35:53,081 --> 01:35:57,252
♪ And number one ain't you ♪
1739
01:35:59,587 --> 01:36:02,257
♪ You ain't even ♪
1740
01:36:02,423 --> 01:36:04,550
♪ Number two ♪
1741
01:36:14,519 --> 01:36:17,188
This is ABC News Nightline.
1742
01:36:17,563 --> 01:36:20,316
Reporting from Washington, Ted Koppel.
1743
01:36:20,483 --> 01:36:22,193
A lot of people, and they are becoming
1744
01:36:22,277 --> 01:36:23,569
increasingly vocal,
1745
01:36:23,736 --> 01:36:26,155
find the songs and the
rock video performances
1746
01:36:26,322 --> 01:36:28,074
that go with them offensive.
1747
01:36:28,241 --> 01:36:30,451
One group of parents has
heard more than enough.
1748
01:36:30,535 --> 01:36:32,119
The Parents Music Resource Center
1749
01:36:32,203 --> 01:36:34,413
wants a labelling system
for albums and tapes,
1750
01:36:34,497 --> 01:36:36,332
much like movies are rated today.
1751
01:36:36,499 --> 01:36:38,167
Later this month, a Senate committee
1752
01:36:38,251 --> 01:36:39,543
will hold hearings on the question.
1753
01:36:39,627 --> 01:36:41,477
A tribute to the clout of the center,
1754
01:36:41,629 --> 01:36:43,423
whose members include Susan Baker,
1755
01:36:43,589 --> 01:36:45,539
wife of Treasury Secretary James Baker.
1756
01:36:45,675 --> 01:36:47,635
"Guess you could say she was a sex fiend.
1757
01:36:47,719 --> 01:36:50,596
I met her in a hotel lobby,
masturbating with a magazine."
1758
01:36:50,930 --> 01:36:52,765
Frank Zappa is one
of the few rock artists
1759
01:36:52,849 --> 01:36:55,017
to come out openly
against the labeling effort.
1760
01:36:55,101 --> 01:36:56,978
I mean, if it looks like censorship
1761
01:36:57,145 --> 01:36:59,230
and it smells like
censorship, it is censorship
1762
01:36:59,314 --> 01:37:01,148
no matter whose wife is talking about it.
1763
01:37:01,232 --> 01:37:02,233
It's censorship.
1764
01:37:02,442 --> 01:37:03,734
The analogy you draw is a...
1765
01:37:03,818 --> 01:37:07,113
Frank was being called
upon by Ted Koppel and CNN
1766
01:37:07,280 --> 01:37:08,614
and Larry King
1767
01:37:08,781 --> 01:37:10,581
and a lot of mainstream news outlets
1768
01:37:10,742 --> 01:37:12,618
to come on and talk about this stuff.
1769
01:37:13,077 --> 01:37:15,577
Well, he had cleaned up
his act sartorially so much
1770
01:37:15,705 --> 01:37:18,583
that he was no longer
visually the freak from the '60s.
1771
01:37:18,750 --> 01:37:21,627
"He was somebody that
understood that "If I'm gonna do battle
1772
01:37:21,711 --> 01:37:23,462
with these people, I need to like, uh,
1773
01:37:23,546 --> 01:37:25,006
"come to them on their turf."
1774
01:37:25,173 --> 01:37:26,507
And they're taking a right away from him.
1775
01:37:26,591 --> 01:37:30,053
Frank became the go-to
person for comments
1776
01:37:30,219 --> 01:37:32,429
to deal with record rating
because nobody else
1777
01:37:32,513 --> 01:37:34,265
in the record industry showed up.
1778
01:37:34,766 --> 01:37:36,642
I think that they're probably
concerned about airplay,
1779
01:37:36,726 --> 01:37:38,519
and they're probably
concerned about their careers,
1780
01:37:38,603 --> 01:37:40,604
and they're probably
concerned about, uh, you know,
1781
01:37:40,688 --> 01:37:42,189
taking a chance and opening their mouth.
1782
01:37:42,273 --> 01:37:43,983
But I don't speak for them.
1783
01:37:44,150 --> 01:37:46,110
I don't speak for the
rest of the record industry.
1784
01:37:46,194 --> 01:37:48,404
I speak as a private citizen,
1785
01:37:48,571 --> 01:37:52,450
as a middle-aged Italian father of four.
1786
01:37:52,617 --> 01:37:55,370
I got concerns here
about what's gonna happen
1787
01:37:55,536 --> 01:37:58,498
to the right to have free
speech and right to assemble
1788
01:37:58,664 --> 01:38:00,833
and the right to have
somebody use your own words
1789
01:38:00,917 --> 01:38:03,336
against you in a legal situation.
1790
01:38:03,711 --> 01:38:05,861
And nobody is sticking
their neck out to say
1791
01:38:06,005 --> 01:38:07,590
that it's all a bunch of crap.
1792
01:38:09,133 --> 01:38:11,552
Mr. Zappa, thank you
very much for being with us.
1793
01:38:11,928 --> 01:38:13,137
Please proceed.
1794
01:38:13,971 --> 01:38:17,558
I've got an idea for a
way to stop all this stuff
1795
01:38:17,725 --> 01:38:20,978
and a way to give parents
what they really want,
1796
01:38:21,145 --> 01:38:23,606
which is information,
accurate information,
1797
01:38:23,773 --> 01:38:25,817
as to what is inside the album.
1798
01:38:26,484 --> 01:38:30,113
I have no objection to
having all of the lyrics
1799
01:38:30,780 --> 01:38:35,034
placed on the album
routinely all the time.
1800
01:38:35,618 --> 01:38:38,204
I think your suggestion
is, uh, is an intriguing one
1801
01:38:38,371 --> 01:38:39,921
and might really be a solution.
1802
01:38:40,123 --> 01:38:42,083
I think your suggestion is a good one
1803
01:38:42,250 --> 01:38:43,709
that they print those words.
1804
01:38:44,127 --> 01:38:45,461
That would go a long way
1805
01:38:45,628 --> 01:38:47,422
to satisfying everyone's objection.
1806
01:38:47,588 --> 01:38:49,588
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Senator Hawkins.
1807
01:38:50,383 --> 01:38:51,983
Frank would say it was a failure
1808
01:38:52,135 --> 01:38:54,136
because it still ended up with
the Parental Advisory sticker
1809
01:38:54,220 --> 01:38:55,346
on the thing.
1810
01:38:55,513 --> 01:38:57,682
But I think he made a difference there.
1811
01:38:57,932 --> 01:39:00,309
There were times that
I wished that he could
1812
01:39:00,476 --> 01:39:02,311
modulate his approach a little bit
1813
01:39:02,478 --> 01:39:04,021
with a little bit less anger.
1814
01:39:04,188 --> 01:39:05,982
Sex equals sin.
1815
01:39:06,149 --> 01:39:09,152
But that anger resulted in
some wonderful moments
1816
01:39:09,318 --> 01:39:11,320
like the Crossfire with James Lofton.
1817
01:39:11,487 --> 01:39:13,072
Do you think the founding fathers
1818
01:39:13,156 --> 01:39:15,324
really had the First
Amendment, that they gave us
1819
01:39:15,408 --> 01:39:18,286
the First Amendment to defend
songs that glorify Satanism
1820
01:39:18,453 --> 01:39:20,204
and incest and suicide?
Do you really believe that?
1821
01:39:20,288 --> 01:39:21,622
- Absolutely.
- You really believe that?
1822
01:39:21,706 --> 01:39:23,248
- Yeah, I believe it.
- You're an idiot then.
1823
01:39:23,332 --> 01:39:24,375
- Yeah?
- You're an idiot.
1824
01:39:24,459 --> 01:39:25,710
- Well, I'll tell you what.
- Kiss my...
1825
01:39:25,793 --> 01:39:26,835
How do you like that, buddy?
1826
01:39:26,919 --> 01:39:28,087
Well, take your teeth out.
1827
01:39:28,171 --> 01:39:31,132
I was surprised to see
you heading the protest.
1828
01:39:31,549 --> 01:39:33,259
Why wasn't someone like Prince
1829
01:39:33,426 --> 01:39:35,052
involved with you in that? I mean...
1830
01:39:35,136 --> 01:39:36,762
He should have been involved in it,
1831
01:39:36,846 --> 01:39:39,306
but I think that it's his
right to keep his mouth shut.
1832
01:39:39,390 --> 01:39:41,140
It's also Bruce Springsteen's right
1833
01:39:41,267 --> 01:39:43,519
to keep his mouth shut and anybody else
1834
01:39:43,686 --> 01:39:45,646
that they went after. They
never attacked my lyrics.
1835
01:39:45,730 --> 01:39:47,022
They attacked those people.
1836
01:39:47,106 --> 01:39:48,440
They even went after Michael Jackson.
1837
01:39:48,524 --> 01:39:50,109
But you fought real
hard for these people,
1838
01:39:50,193 --> 01:39:51,527
and it was never your music involved.
1839
01:39:51,611 --> 01:39:52,778
That's the thing that shocked me.
1840
01:39:52,862 --> 01:39:54,071
It's the principle of the thing.
1841
01:39:54,155 --> 01:39:56,198
We live in a country where
we're supposed to be free.
1842
01:39:56,282 --> 01:39:57,866
Take a look at what happened in China.
1843
01:39:57,950 --> 01:39:59,743
You got a bunch of kids
there who want democracy.
1844
01:39:59,827 --> 01:40:01,203
They don't even know what it is.
1845
01:40:01,287 --> 01:40:03,498
We supposedly have
it here, what do we do?
1846
01:40:04,165 --> 01:40:06,334
Sit around and go, hmm, hmm.
1847
01:40:06,501 --> 01:40:08,669
"Let somebody else
take care of it for me."
1848
01:40:29,232 --> 01:40:30,775
From the very beginning,
1849
01:40:31,108 --> 01:40:33,277
there wasn't literally anything like it.
1850
01:40:33,819 --> 01:40:37,323
As musicians, that was the
way that we spoke to each other.
1851
01:40:37,490 --> 01:40:40,326
Like, instead of quoting
movies, we quoted Zappa.
1852
01:40:40,493 --> 01:40:41,744
♪ It's about truth ♪
1853
01:40:41,911 --> 01:40:43,037
♪ Truth ♪
1854
01:40:43,204 --> 01:40:45,414
And it wasn't until I
started playing with him
1855
01:40:45,498 --> 01:40:49,877
that I realized that he
was fucking with America
1856
01:40:50,044 --> 01:40:51,795
as much as he was
fucking around with music.
1857
01:40:51,879 --> 01:40:54,840
Like, America was just another canvas
1858
01:40:55,007 --> 01:40:56,307
for him to do his shit on.
1859
01:40:56,467 --> 01:40:59,428
This is working here.
Hello, which one's working?
1860
01:40:59,679 --> 01:41:00,680
None.
1861
01:41:05,726 --> 01:41:07,103
This is censorship.
1862
01:41:09,981 --> 01:41:12,525
How did he see himself in a world
1863
01:41:12,692 --> 01:41:14,735
that was literally going mad?
1864
01:41:15,069 --> 01:41:16,696
He saw the big picture.
1865
01:41:17,321 --> 01:41:20,074
I cannot imagine in any way
1866
01:41:20,241 --> 01:41:22,952
it could keep a man like him down.
1867
01:41:23,119 --> 01:41:25,871
If anything, he would battle up
1868
01:41:26,038 --> 01:41:29,625
until the last drop of
his blood was shed.
1869
01:41:30,001 --> 01:41:32,044
Overrun by orcs, he doesn't give a shit.
1870
01:41:33,087 --> 01:41:36,090
You cannot live your life as if you are
1871
01:41:36,257 --> 01:41:39,385
about to not be able
to do your life anymore.
1872
01:41:39,635 --> 01:41:40,511
You know?
1873
01:41:40,761 --> 01:41:43,806
Protesters:
1874
01:41:46,767 --> 01:41:48,602
Czechoslovakia today became the latest
1875
01:41:48,686 --> 01:41:50,729
of the countries of
Eastern Europe once held
1876
01:41:50,813 --> 01:41:53,149
so tightly in the
Soviet grip to throw off
1877
01:41:53,316 --> 01:41:55,234
its hardline Communist yoke.
1878
01:42:01,240 --> 01:42:02,491
I guess it was about a year before
1879
01:42:02,575 --> 01:42:04,952
the Velvet Revolution,
when I was visited here
1880
01:42:05,119 --> 01:42:07,121
by a Czech composer.
1881
01:42:07,663 --> 01:42:09,290
And through the interpreter,
1882
01:42:09,457 --> 01:42:13,544
he indicated that he wanted
to play some of my music
1883
01:42:13,711 --> 01:42:16,589
and wanted me to come
to Prague for the concert,
1884
01:42:16,756 --> 01:42:19,300
and I thought, well, the
chances of me doing that
1885
01:42:19,467 --> 01:42:22,637
were pretty unlikely because
Czechoslovakia was pretty grim.
1886
01:42:22,928 --> 01:42:25,478
And the next thing I knew,
they had this revolution,
1887
01:42:25,973 --> 01:42:28,225
and this composer was
a member of parliament.
1888
01:42:29,268 --> 01:42:31,896
And I'd already made four
trips to the Soviet Union
1889
01:42:32,063 --> 01:42:34,523
and had been trying to
develop some East-West
1890
01:42:34,732 --> 01:42:35,858
international trade.
1891
01:42:36,025 --> 01:42:37,568
Boy, is it cold here.
1892
01:42:37,735 --> 01:42:41,614
And I arranged to come
to Prague on my way
1893
01:42:42,156 --> 01:42:44,533
back to the United States from Moscow.
1894
01:42:44,784 --> 01:42:47,119
And it was during my Prague visit,
1895
01:42:47,286 --> 01:42:49,186
I proposed to them that if they needed
1896
01:42:49,330 --> 01:42:51,280
some sort of representation in the West
1897
01:42:51,415 --> 01:42:55,920
to help them get investment
or whatever they needed to do,
1898
01:42:56,087 --> 01:42:58,255
that I would be interested in doing that.
1899
01:43:01,133 --> 01:43:03,135
So, when I got off the plane,
there was 5, 000 people
1900
01:43:03,219 --> 01:43:05,304
waving at me. And, uh, you know,
1901
01:43:05,471 --> 01:43:08,121
never before in my life
had I seen anything like that.
1902
01:43:08,224 --> 01:43:10,726
Get off the plane,
1903
01:43:10,893 --> 01:43:12,311
and, you know, there's a lot of people,
1904
01:43:12,395 --> 01:43:14,646
but there's no police,
and there's no bodyguards.
1905
01:43:14,730 --> 01:43:16,732
There's no nothing. Just
people waving at you.
1906
01:43:16,816 --> 01:43:19,568
That's nice until you
go through the airport
1907
01:43:19,819 --> 01:43:21,320
and they start piling on you.
1908
01:43:21,696 --> 01:43:24,281
And to get from the door
of the airport to the minibus
1909
01:43:24,365 --> 01:43:26,325
that was going to take us to the hotel
1910
01:43:26,492 --> 01:43:28,285
took about 40 minutes.
1911
01:43:30,329 --> 01:43:32,479
When Frank was there,
it was like, Frank was
1912
01:43:32,748 --> 01:43:34,124
the President of the United States
1913
01:43:34,208 --> 01:43:35,334
coming to visit.
1914
01:43:36,961 --> 01:43:39,338
And Frank was trying to figure out
1915
01:43:39,505 --> 01:43:41,882
why was everyone there
so happy to see him?
1916
01:43:43,008 --> 01:43:46,929
And evidently, in Czechoslovakia,
1917
01:43:47,096 --> 01:43:49,765
when young kids played rock music,
1918
01:43:49,932 --> 01:43:51,183
the police would tell them,
1919
01:43:51,267 --> 01:43:52,977
"Turn off that Frank Zappa music."
1920
01:43:54,562 --> 01:43:56,562
And all of a sudden, here's Frank Zappa.
1921
01:43:58,274 --> 01:44:01,110
He was symbol of this freedom,
1922
01:44:02,445 --> 01:44:04,595
which is incredible
when you think about it.
1923
01:44:05,072 --> 01:44:06,657
He had that kind of effect.
1924
01:44:08,617 --> 01:44:11,579
It was like the king of
freedom had showed up.
1925
01:44:11,787 --> 01:44:14,123
I mean, Frank was shocked.
1926
01:44:19,712 --> 01:44:21,714
♪ Freedom, freedom ♪
1927
01:44:21,881 --> 01:44:23,466
♪ Kindly, loving ♪
1928
01:44:23,674 --> 01:44:25,092
Rock musician Frank Zappa,
1929
01:44:25,259 --> 01:44:26,802
who's always been
something of a maverick,
1930
01:44:26,886 --> 01:44:29,012
has just returned from a
trip to the Soviet U nion
1931
01:44:29,096 --> 01:44:31,807
and Czechoslovakia. And in Prague,
1932
01:44:31,974 --> 01:44:33,476
he met with Václav Havel,
1933
01:44:33,642 --> 01:44:35,686
now the President of Czechoslovakia.
1934
01:44:35,853 --> 01:44:37,688
He also visited the Czech parliament
1935
01:44:37,855 --> 01:44:40,316
and was named the Czech Cultural
1936
01:44:40,483 --> 01:44:42,733
and Trade Representative
to the United States.
1937
01:44:42,985 --> 01:44:44,319
And Frank Zappa joins us this morning.
1938
01:44:44,403 --> 01:44:45,779
- Good morning.
- Good morning.
1939
01:44:45,863 --> 01:44:47,656
Twenty years ago, did you think that
1940
01:44:47,740 --> 01:44:49,617
- this would be your occupation?
- No.
1941
01:44:49,784 --> 01:44:51,660
What are the job specifications?
1942
01:44:51,827 --> 01:44:54,497
I'm supposed to represent them for trade,
1943
01:44:54,663 --> 01:44:58,125
for tourism, and for cultural matters.
1944
01:44:58,918 --> 01:44:59,919
Only rock business?
1945
01:45:00,085 --> 01:45:02,535
No, no, it's got nothing
to do with rock and roll.
1946
01:45:02,922 --> 01:45:04,464
So, is this Frank Zappa the businessman
1947
01:45:04,548 --> 01:45:06,675
who's coming to the
fore and not the rocker?
1948
01:45:06,759 --> 01:45:08,427
Well, let's say that
Frank Zappa the rocker
1949
01:45:08,511 --> 01:45:11,889
has been pretty much
excluded from US broadcasting.
1950
01:45:12,056 --> 01:45:14,850
So, Frank Zappa the rocker
will now do something else.
1951
01:45:15,893 --> 01:45:18,813
It turns out that, uh,
when he had testified
1952
01:45:19,021 --> 01:45:20,397
before Congress, uh,
1953
01:45:20,564 --> 01:45:22,816
our fine Secretary of State
at the time, James Baker,
1954
01:45:22,900 --> 01:45:24,985
his wife had been involved in the, uh,
1955
01:45:25,152 --> 01:45:28,489
little Washington clubs
going to save the world.
1956
01:45:28,781 --> 01:45:31,534
And James Baker went to Czechoslovakia,
1957
01:45:31,700 --> 01:45:33,452
and he had told the Czech government
1958
01:45:33,536 --> 01:45:34,995
that if they wanted anything to do
1959
01:45:35,079 --> 01:45:36,580
with the United States
government anymore,
1960
01:45:36,664 --> 01:45:38,791
if they wanted aid or help or anything
1961
01:45:39,416 --> 01:45:41,376
that they would have to
get rid of this association
1962
01:45:41,460 --> 01:45:42,711
with Frank Zappa.
1963
01:45:47,591 --> 01:45:51,262
Our primary purpose is to
educate and inform parents
1964
01:45:51,428 --> 01:45:53,138
about this alarming trend, as well as
1965
01:45:53,222 --> 01:45:56,100
to ask the industry to
exercise self-restraint.
1966
01:45:56,433 --> 01:45:59,019
Some say there's no cause for concern.
1967
01:45:59,186 --> 01:46:00,729
We believe there is.
1968
01:46:04,191 --> 01:46:05,192
Thank you.
1969
01:46:05,359 --> 01:46:06,959
When we were on the road in '88,
1970
01:46:07,069 --> 01:46:08,654
he was already feeling poorly.
1971
01:46:08,821 --> 01:46:11,948
But, you know, he had been
told it was various other conditions,
1972
01:46:12,032 --> 01:46:13,868
various and he was... he was trying
1973
01:46:14,034 --> 01:46:15,577
different ways to deal with it.
1974
01:46:15,661 --> 01:46:18,111
But, you know, he was
getting sicker all the time.
1975
01:46:18,539 --> 01:46:21,709
He retired from the concert stage
1976
01:46:22,042 --> 01:46:25,129
at the same time that
his illness was coming on.
1977
01:46:27,006 --> 01:46:28,799
We sat in the... in the control room,
1978
01:46:28,883 --> 01:46:29,967
and he...
1979
01:46:31,385 --> 01:46:32,261
he said, uh,
1980
01:46:32,428 --> 01:46:34,095
"Well, like, you know, I've
got some news for you ."
1981
01:46:34,179 --> 01:46:35,555
And I said, "What?" And he said,
1982
01:46:35,639 --> 01:46:37,599
"I've just been diagnosed
with prostate cancer."
1983
01:46:37,683 --> 01:46:39,852
And he sat back and took a huge drag off
1984
01:46:40,060 --> 01:46:42,396
his cigarette and looked resolute
1985
01:46:42,563 --> 01:46:45,190
and, you know, and somewhat, you know,
1986
01:46:45,357 --> 01:46:48,319
like, you know, "Fuck
that." You know, like it's,
1987
01:46:48,485 --> 01:46:49,945
uh, you know, "I've just been diagnosed"
1988
01:46:50,029 --> 01:46:51,780
with prostate cancer." He knew the...
1989
01:46:51,864 --> 01:46:53,990
What the effect of those
words were going to be,
1990
01:46:54,074 --> 01:46:56,744
but he also gave off this attitude of...
1991
01:46:56,911 --> 01:46:59,561
"It's not gonna stop me
from doing what I have to do."
1992
01:47:17,306 --> 01:47:20,309
And politically, I am
in the process of, uh,
1993
01:47:20,476 --> 01:47:24,563
doing what we call a
feasibility study to see,
1994
01:47:25,105 --> 01:47:27,455
uh, if it's possible for
me to run for President
1995
01:47:27,566 --> 01:47:29,818
of the United States against George Bush.
1996
01:47:31,654 --> 01:47:33,781
That's quite a comment.
1997
01:47:34,823 --> 01:47:36,123
You feel there's a chance?
1998
01:47:36,450 --> 01:47:39,244
Uh, yes. Not a good one
1999
01:47:39,411 --> 01:47:41,663
because, you know, he
has more balloons than I do.
2000
01:47:41,747 --> 01:47:43,540
Makes a lot of sense.
2001
01:47:43,707 --> 01:47:46,752
The next time I interview
you, I may be calling you
2002
01:47:46,919 --> 01:47:49,463
Mr. President instead of Mr. Zappa.
2003
01:47:51,256 --> 01:47:52,424
Maybe.
2004
01:47:54,677 --> 01:47:56,136
Do any of these things work?
2005
01:48:00,766 --> 01:48:02,392
Uh, we're here to make a statement
2006
01:48:02,476 --> 01:48:03,978
on behalf of our family.
2007
01:48:05,229 --> 01:48:07,731
Although Frank was
looking forward to being here
2008
01:48:07,898 --> 01:48:09,858
and really intended to be here,
2009
01:48:10,109 --> 01:48:12,486
unfortunately, he's not here.
2010
01:48:13,404 --> 01:48:15,781
As many of you know, he's been diagnosed
2011
01:48:15,948 --> 01:48:18,200
by journalists as having cancer.
2012
01:48:19,201 --> 01:48:22,121
We'd like you to know
his doctors have diagnosed
2013
01:48:22,287 --> 01:48:26,458
prostate cancer, which he's
been fighting successfully,
2014
01:48:27,084 --> 01:48:30,421
and he has been feeling
well and working too hard
2015
01:48:30,587 --> 01:48:32,089
and planned to attend...
2016
01:48:34,383 --> 01:48:35,968
You're a legendary workaholic.
2017
01:48:36,135 --> 01:48:37,594
- Are you able to work?
- Not anymore.
2018
01:48:37,678 --> 01:48:39,888
Not anymore. Tell me.
2019
01:48:40,305 --> 01:48:43,767
Uh, basically on a good
day, I can go 9:30 to 6:30.
2020
01:48:45,102 --> 01:48:46,502
It's really slowed you down.
2021
01:48:46,603 --> 01:48:49,565
- Yeah.
- Has being sick affected
2022
01:48:49,732 --> 01:48:51,858
your music, what kind
of music you're writing?
2023
01:48:51,942 --> 01:48:52,943
No.
2024
01:48:54,111 --> 01:48:57,614
Can you tell me a little bit
about how you've been doing?
2025
01:48:58,365 --> 01:49:00,200
- Uh, fair.
- Fair?
2026
01:49:00,367 --> 01:49:01,994
Yeah. Good days, bad days.
2027
01:49:02,161 --> 01:49:04,163
More bad days than good days?
2028
01:49:06,123 --> 01:49:07,124
Yeah.
2029
01:49:12,087 --> 01:49:14,214
Let's do it. Tell her to hurry.
2030
01:49:16,633 --> 01:49:18,426
Yeah, she's got to cover up the results
2031
01:49:18,510 --> 01:49:20,637
of my botched transfusion here.
2032
01:49:26,435 --> 01:49:27,394
Ready?
2033
01:49:38,822 --> 01:49:41,325
He is diagnosed, and he really,
2034
01:49:41,492 --> 01:49:43,494
uh, started working in earnest.
2035
01:49:44,036 --> 01:49:47,498
And that in some ways,
I think, was intentionally
2036
01:49:47,664 --> 01:49:50,918
a summing up while he was
ill in the last couple years.
2037
01:50:33,961 --> 01:50:36,338
One of the things that Frank loved
2038
01:50:36,755 --> 01:50:40,300
was musicians that really
loved what they were doing,
2039
01:50:40,467 --> 01:50:44,805
and enjoyed playing
2040
01:50:44,972 --> 01:50:48,058
to the best of their
ability and took great pride
2041
01:50:48,350 --> 01:50:50,978
in the composer's music.
2042
01:50:51,770 --> 01:50:54,189
There was not enough through the years.
2043
01:50:54,398 --> 01:50:56,748
You know, Frank dealt
with orchestras that were,
2044
01:50:56,859 --> 01:51:00,028
you know, basically paid and came in
2045
01:51:00,195 --> 01:51:03,031
and did their job just by,
"Okay, here's another chart."
2046
01:51:03,198 --> 01:51:05,659
But then through the
years, the... his music
2047
01:51:05,826 --> 01:51:08,036
as it started touching
more younger people
2048
01:51:08,203 --> 01:51:10,539
who were growing up
and taking up instruments,
2049
01:51:11,331 --> 01:51:13,584
some of them had a deep desire
2050
01:51:13,959 --> 01:51:17,462
to play Frank's music that way.
2051
01:51:18,505 --> 01:51:21,800
So, when Frank discovered
the Ensemble Modern,
2052
01:51:22,467 --> 01:51:26,930
this is a group of musicians
that wanted to play his music
2053
01:51:27,806 --> 01:51:30,434
on a level that was yet to be achieved.
2054
01:51:33,937 --> 01:51:36,732
When the final event is put together,
2055
01:51:37,065 --> 01:51:40,235
I will make some
structure out of what worked
2056
01:51:40,402 --> 01:51:41,653
during the rehearsal.
2057
01:51:43,530 --> 01:51:45,830
At the end of the day,
you'll have it on paper.
2058
01:51:45,949 --> 01:51:47,408
And you'll be able to read it.
2059
01:51:47,492 --> 01:51:48,410
Okay?
2060
01:51:51,079 --> 01:51:54,791
Okay, so watch, and I'll just
move the pitch around the room.
2061
01:52:13,268 --> 01:52:15,520
And instead of just playing
your note, style the note.
2062
01:52:15,604 --> 01:52:18,189
Put some sort of different
vibrato rates on it, you know,
2063
01:52:18,273 --> 01:52:20,233
your... that's the one
note you have in life.
2064
01:52:20,317 --> 01:52:22,467
You're really gonna
play the shit out of it.
2065
01:52:22,569 --> 01:52:25,322
And your big chance to
be a star with one note.
2066
01:52:25,489 --> 01:52:26,573
Here we go.
2067
01:52:41,922 --> 01:52:43,966
He worked lots of different
2068
01:52:44,132 --> 01:52:45,717
projects simultaneously.
2069
01:52:46,093 --> 01:52:49,429
But that shifted when it
was becoming more obvious
2070
01:52:49,596 --> 01:52:51,931
that he wasn't gonna have
the time that he needed.
2071
01:52:52,015 --> 01:52:55,352
And then I think he
set up priorities himself.
2072
01:52:55,894 --> 01:52:58,563
Went too fast. Da-da, da-da.
2073
01:53:03,277 --> 01:53:05,654
There's nothing weird
about the tempo relations.
2074
01:53:05,821 --> 01:53:08,657
There's nothing science
fiction about this tempo.
2075
01:53:11,827 --> 01:53:12,828
Yeah.
2076
01:53:13,036 --> 01:53:15,414
You make decisions
about what you can finish,
2077
01:53:16,039 --> 01:53:17,874
what's really important to finish,
2078
01:53:18,500 --> 01:53:21,086
which, you know,
2079
01:53:21,920 --> 01:53:24,089
is another kind of composition.
2080
01:53:28,552 --> 01:53:29,970
I see what it is.
2081
01:56:11,548 --> 01:56:13,883
I had written a letter
that I had hand-delivered
2082
01:56:13,967 --> 01:56:15,051
to the house
2083
01:56:15,802 --> 01:56:18,502
when I really thought I was
not going to see him again.
2084
01:56:19,931 --> 01:56:21,683
It was essentially...
2085
01:56:22,267 --> 01:56:25,770
a letter of love and gratitude...
2086
01:56:31,067 --> 01:56:33,278
for everything he had done in the world.
2087
01:56:33,904 --> 01:56:35,822
And not just the world of music
2088
01:56:36,573 --> 01:56:38,492
and not just my little life
2089
01:56:39,201 --> 01:56:40,785
but the world.
2090
01:56:42,329 --> 01:56:43,288
And so...
2091
01:56:44,331 --> 01:56:47,459
I asked him to read
it after I would leave.
2092
01:56:47,626 --> 01:56:49,976
Of course, he opened
it right while I was there.
2093
01:56:50,754 --> 01:56:54,174
He read it, and he said, um,
2094
01:56:54,841 --> 01:56:56,426
he was not effusive.
2095
01:56:56,593 --> 01:56:58,219
I didn't expect him to be, but he said,
2096
01:56:58,303 --> 01:57:00,847
"That is really, really nice."
2097
01:57:01,556 --> 01:57:03,099
And he hugged me.
2098
01:57:03,266 --> 01:57:05,727
And he looked like he
was in so much pain,
2099
01:57:05,894 --> 01:57:07,187
and he hugged me.
2100
01:57:20,450 --> 01:57:22,619
But nothing. It fucking sucked.
2101
01:57:27,332 --> 01:57:29,251
Before Frank died, he said,
2102
01:57:29,417 --> 01:57:31,085
"Sell everything, and
get out of this business.
2103
01:57:31,169 --> 01:57:33,129
It's hateful, and take, you know,
2104
01:57:33,296 --> 01:57:35,796
go get a house at the
beach, and have a good time."
2105
01:57:37,384 --> 01:57:40,762
So, there you have it in a nutshell.
2106
01:58:04,369 --> 01:58:05,537
Thank you.
2107
01:59:32,040 --> 01:59:34,501
You got an extraordinary reaction.
2108
01:59:34,668 --> 01:59:37,671
I mean, 20-minute standing ovation.
2109
01:59:38,672 --> 01:59:40,799
How do you feel about that?
2110
01:59:40,965 --> 01:59:42,967
Well, uh, there's no
accounting for taste.
2111
01:59:43,051 --> 01:59:44,511
Oh, come on.
2112
01:59:44,678 --> 01:59:46,179
You must have been thrilled.
2113
01:59:46,554 --> 01:59:49,766
I was. I was happier that they did that
2114
01:59:49,933 --> 01:59:51,833
rather than throw things at the stage.
2115
02:01:36,873 --> 02:01:37,999
We were loud.
2116
02:01:39,209 --> 02:01:40,376
We were coarse.
2117
02:01:41,920 --> 02:01:43,463
And we were strange.
2118
02:01:44,923 --> 02:01:48,218
And if anybody in the audience
ever gave us any trouble,
2119
02:01:48,885 --> 02:01:50,386
we'd tell them to fuck off.
2120
02:07:17,797 --> 02:07:21,968
This is the Central Scrutinizer.
2121
02:07:22,510 --> 02:07:25,346
Joe has just worked himself
2122
02:07:25,596 --> 02:07:28,141
into an imaginary frenzy
2123
02:07:28,307 --> 02:07:30,059
during the fade-out
2124
02:07:30,226 --> 02:07:32,562
of his imaginary song.
2125
02:07:33,479 --> 02:07:36,649
He begins to feel depressed now.
2126
02:07:36,816 --> 02:07:40,695
He knows the end is near.
174413
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