All language subtitles for Zappa.2020.720p.WEBRip.800MB.x264-GalaxyRG

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Would you like to inspect the original subtitles? These are the user uploaded subtitles that are being translated: 1 00:00:20,086 --> 00:00:24,088 (cheers and applause) 2 00:00:26,826 --> 00:00:30,396 Announcer: (speaking indistinctly) 3 00:00:31,397 --> 00:00:33,064 Uh, I'll just show you a chord. 4 00:00:33,200 --> 00:00:34,566 Man: Yes. 5 00:00:34,701 --> 00:00:36,179 And we just set up a rhythm on one chord 6 00:00:36,203 --> 00:00:39,436 and I'll start doing something. Make it up. 7 00:00:39,572 --> 00:00:40,771 Man: That's good. 8 00:00:40,908 --> 00:00:42,351 Tell me a little bit about the stage. 9 00:00:42,375 --> 00:00:44,020 Yeah. It's... look, it's not going to... 10 00:00:44,043 --> 00:00:46,712 It won't be professional. It'll just be music. 11 00:00:46,847 --> 00:00:47,878 Man: Okay. 12 00:00:48,014 --> 00:00:49,481 Homemade hoopla. 13 00:00:49,616 --> 00:00:51,015 Man: (laughs) 14 00:01:00,326 --> 00:01:04,695 (cheers and applause) 15 00:01:22,115 --> 00:01:25,950 Announcer: (speaking in Russian) 16 00:01:26,085 --> 00:01:28,420 (cheers and applause) 17 00:01:40,634 --> 00:01:43,769 This is the first time that I've had a reason 18 00:01:43,903 --> 00:01:47,072 to play my guitar in three years. So... 19 00:01:47,206 --> 00:01:50,641 (cheers and applause) 20 00:01:56,150 --> 00:02:00,084 I'm sure you already know it, 21 00:02:00,219 --> 00:02:01,953 but this is just the beginning 22 00:02:02,088 --> 00:02:04,555 of your new future in this country. 23 00:02:04,957 --> 00:02:09,727 (cheers and applause) 24 00:02:10,963 --> 00:02:15,265 And I hope that your new future will be very perfect. 25 00:02:15,401 --> 00:02:16,668 Very perfect. 26 00:02:16,802 --> 00:02:20,472 (cheers and applause) 27 00:02:23,610 --> 00:02:26,110 And as you confront the new changes 28 00:02:26,246 --> 00:02:27,612 that will take place, 29 00:02:27,747 --> 00:02:31,449 please try and keep your country unique. 30 00:02:31,585 --> 00:02:33,985 Don't change into something else. 31 00:02:34,120 --> 00:02:35,486 Keep it unique. 32 00:02:35,622 --> 00:02:39,790 (cheers and applause) 33 00:02:43,062 --> 00:02:46,364 And now, I will try and tune my guitar. 34 00:02:46,498 --> 00:02:48,400 Man: (speaks Russian) 35 00:02:54,942 --> 00:02:59,177 (tunes guitar) 36 00:03:02,949 --> 00:03:07,552 (cheers and applause) 37 00:03:17,163 --> 00:03:19,209 Lardner: Many have always considered Frank Zappa 38 00:03:19,233 --> 00:03:20,664 a rock legend. 39 00:03:20,800 --> 00:03:22,177 And one of his friends tonight told me 40 00:03:22,201 --> 00:03:24,081 that he wrote and composed music 41 00:03:24,137 --> 00:03:25,637 to the very end. 42 00:03:26,006 --> 00:03:27,683 He was known for elaborate, unconventional songs, 43 00:03:27,707 --> 00:03:29,106 often with raunchy lyrics. 44 00:03:29,241 --> 00:03:31,020 The social commentary in his songs 45 00:03:31,044 --> 00:03:32,443 targeted the music industry, 46 00:03:32,579 --> 00:03:34,712 the educational system, and politics. 47 00:03:34,848 --> 00:03:37,207 Reporter: In America, Zappa was denounced by the Church, 48 00:03:37,283 --> 00:03:39,162 had his concerts broken up by the police, 49 00:03:39,186 --> 00:03:41,265 and his records banned by radio stations. 50 00:03:41,388 --> 00:03:43,366 Lardner: His wife and all four children were with him. 51 00:03:43,389 --> 00:03:45,056 They are together tonight 52 00:03:45,192 --> 00:03:47,391 at their Laurel Canyon area home with friends. 53 00:03:47,493 --> 00:03:49,794 Frank Zappa, dead at 52. 54 00:03:49,930 --> 00:03:51,096 Back to you. 55 00:03:55,534 --> 00:03:59,003 Children: (shouting indistinctly) 56 00:04:15,254 --> 00:04:16,555 Zappa: Rolling? 57 00:04:16,689 --> 00:04:18,055 Man: And... yes. 58 00:04:19,358 --> 00:04:21,759 Zappa: Okay. This aisle here 59 00:04:21,894 --> 00:04:24,762 is where some of the best-known titles lurk. 60 00:04:24,898 --> 00:04:26,964 Here's stuff from the Hot Rats. 61 00:04:28,668 --> 00:04:32,637 Here's the original 24-track masters of "Dinah-Moe Humm," 62 00:04:32,771 --> 00:04:37,175 "Dirty Love," "Montana," "Inca Roads," "RDNZL." 63 00:04:37,911 --> 00:04:40,646 Shut Up n' Play Yer Guitar, Joe's Garage. 64 00:04:42,281 --> 00:04:43,982 Here's Sheik Yerbouti. 65 00:04:46,218 --> 00:04:49,519 Tinsel Town Rebellion, Drowning Witch, Utopia. 66 00:04:49,656 --> 00:04:51,434 ("Valley Girl" playing) ♪ She's a valley girl ♪ 67 00:04:51,458 --> 00:04:52,656 ♪ Valley girl ♪ 68 00:04:52,793 --> 00:04:54,091 ♪ She's a valley girl ♪ 69 00:04:54,528 --> 00:04:56,848 Oh, here's Eric Clapton when he came over to my house. 70 00:04:59,999 --> 00:05:01,500 Wild Man Fischer. 71 00:05:02,134 --> 00:05:03,434 Captain Beefheart, 72 00:05:03,569 --> 00:05:05,704 a little jam in the basement. 73 00:05:07,906 --> 00:05:09,507 And around here, 74 00:05:10,576 --> 00:05:12,476 down this darkened aisle, 75 00:05:12,946 --> 00:05:15,512 is a collection of videotapes 76 00:05:15,648 --> 00:05:19,151 from when I borrowed my father's 8mm camera 77 00:05:19,286 --> 00:05:20,851 and made a bunch of movies. 78 00:05:21,822 --> 00:05:25,990 (growling) 79 00:05:43,976 --> 00:05:46,810 Zappa: I became obsessed with editing. 80 00:05:47,146 --> 00:05:50,314 And I would edit just because I liked to edit. 81 00:05:51,817 --> 00:05:55,552 I would splice any 8mm film that was in the house 82 00:05:55,855 --> 00:05:57,555 to anything else. 83 00:06:06,699 --> 00:06:08,333 When I was little... 84 00:06:08,869 --> 00:06:11,601 I didn't have too much interest in music at all. 85 00:06:11,737 --> 00:06:14,505 When I was about, say, five or six years old 86 00:06:14,641 --> 00:06:17,007 up until the time I was about 13, 87 00:06:17,144 --> 00:06:19,444 I was interested in chemistry 88 00:06:20,346 --> 00:06:22,379 and especially in explosives. 89 00:06:23,716 --> 00:06:26,584 I... I learned how to make gunpowder when I was six. 90 00:06:28,321 --> 00:06:30,922 At that time, my father was working 91 00:06:31,057 --> 00:06:33,190 at a place on the East Coast 92 00:06:33,326 --> 00:06:35,293 called the Edgewood Arsenal. 93 00:06:35,696 --> 00:06:37,928 Edgewood Arsenal is where they made poison gas 94 00:06:38,064 --> 00:06:39,430 during World War II. 95 00:06:40,500 --> 00:06:42,377 Presenter: At Edgewood Arsenal, Maryland, 96 00:06:42,401 --> 00:06:44,903 the Army Chemical Corp developed the machinery 97 00:06:45,038 --> 00:06:46,937 for producing the nerve gas GB, 98 00:06:47,072 --> 00:06:49,274 which had been developed by Nazi Germany. 99 00:06:49,408 --> 00:06:53,444 And the nerve gas VX, which was developed in England. 100 00:06:54,781 --> 00:06:58,483 Man: There is enough gas there and enough gas coming 101 00:06:58,617 --> 00:07:00,250 of the nerve gas variety 102 00:07:00,786 --> 00:07:06,557 to cause the death of 681,481,000 persons. 103 00:07:09,596 --> 00:07:11,408 Everybody that lived in the project 104 00:07:11,432 --> 00:07:14,932 had to have gas masks in their house 105 00:07:15,067 --> 00:07:17,668 in case the tanks of mustard gas broke. 106 00:07:17,903 --> 00:07:20,737 So the... the toys that I remember growing up with 107 00:07:20,874 --> 00:07:25,110 were the little chemical beakers that my father would bring home 108 00:07:25,911 --> 00:07:29,146 and the gas masks that were hanging in the hall closet. 109 00:07:29,415 --> 00:07:31,060 And I used to wear that out in the yard 110 00:07:31,084 --> 00:07:32,350 and run around in it. 111 00:07:32,485 --> 00:07:33,896 And I thought it was a space helmet. 112 00:07:33,920 --> 00:07:35,720 (alarm blaring) 113 00:07:36,255 --> 00:07:38,790 ♪ Any way the wind blows ♪ 114 00:07:39,959 --> 00:07:43,927 ♪ Is-a fine with me ♪ 115 00:07:44,064 --> 00:07:46,064 ♪ Any way the wind blows ♪ 116 00:07:47,600 --> 00:07:51,069 ♪ It don't matter to me ♪ 117 00:07:51,939 --> 00:07:53,978 ♪ 'Cause I'm through with-a fussin'... ♪ 118 00:07:54,307 --> 00:07:55,841 Zappa: I had a lot of asthma. 119 00:07:56,509 --> 00:07:57,843 I was very ill. 120 00:07:58,411 --> 00:08:00,851 Almost cacked out a few times from the climate back there. 121 00:08:01,113 --> 00:08:02,791 And so, he was looking for a place 122 00:08:02,815 --> 00:08:04,927 where I wouldn't be constantly folding up 123 00:08:04,951 --> 00:08:07,163 and a place where he could earn a better income. 124 00:08:07,187 --> 00:08:10,086 And so, he took a position at the Naval Postgraduate School 125 00:08:10,223 --> 00:08:13,024 in California, teaching metallurgy. 126 00:08:15,694 --> 00:08:18,562 The last experimentation that I did with explosives 127 00:08:18,699 --> 00:08:20,619 was when I was about 15 years old. 128 00:08:21,434 --> 00:08:24,367 I'd mixed up this quantity of powder 129 00:08:24,903 --> 00:08:27,738 which consisted of, uh, regular black powder 130 00:08:27,874 --> 00:08:30,141 and then flash powder, 131 00:08:30,276 --> 00:08:33,878 which is 50 percent zinc and 50 percent sulfur, 132 00:08:34,013 --> 00:08:35,647 mixed with sugar, 133 00:08:35,782 --> 00:08:38,349 and attempted to set fire to the high school 134 00:08:38,485 --> 00:08:39,682 that I was attending. 135 00:08:39,818 --> 00:08:44,556 (dramatic music playing) 136 00:08:47,427 --> 00:08:50,227 Zappa: It always seemed to me that if you could get a laugh 137 00:08:50,363 --> 00:08:51,941 out of something, that was good. 138 00:08:51,965 --> 00:08:53,808 And if you could make life more colorful 139 00:08:53,832 --> 00:08:55,832 than it actually was, that was good. 140 00:08:55,934 --> 00:08:58,201 So, any artist or individual who worked 141 00:08:58,337 --> 00:09:01,206 in those two directions was doing something good. 142 00:09:04,344 --> 00:09:06,677 My family was really poor. 143 00:09:07,346 --> 00:09:09,057 Not only that, they didn't like music too much. 144 00:09:09,081 --> 00:09:11,581 So I didn't really come into contact 145 00:09:11,717 --> 00:09:15,753 with musical expression until 14 or 15 years old. 146 00:09:16,054 --> 00:09:20,823 And my parents were opposed to any involvement in music 147 00:09:20,960 --> 00:09:22,860 that I might be interested in. 148 00:09:23,163 --> 00:09:26,897 But I remember this magazine article about Sam Goody. 149 00:09:27,033 --> 00:09:29,866 Was saying what a wonderful merchandiser he was 150 00:09:30,001 --> 00:09:31,961 because he could even sell an album 151 00:09:32,004 --> 00:09:34,038 that had this ugly music on it. 152 00:09:34,173 --> 00:09:36,273 The writer described this as, like, 153 00:09:36,408 --> 00:09:38,320 literally the most frightening thing 154 00:09:38,344 --> 00:09:40,154 that a human being could listen to. 155 00:09:40,178 --> 00:09:43,214 This evil, vile album. 156 00:09:44,049 --> 00:09:46,195 The description was something that stuck with me, 157 00:09:46,219 --> 00:09:47,717 and then a few months later, 158 00:09:48,020 --> 00:09:51,523 I actually saw the album in a store and bought it. 159 00:09:53,426 --> 00:09:55,236 It was because of that Var♪se album 160 00:09:55,260 --> 00:09:56,972 that I read about in a magazine. 161 00:09:56,996 --> 00:09:58,629 And hearing "Ionisation," 162 00:09:58,865 --> 00:10:01,298 that I... Writing orchestra music. 163 00:10:04,870 --> 00:10:07,037 I had no interest in Beethoven, Mozart, 164 00:10:07,173 --> 00:10:08,572 or any of that kind of stuff. 165 00:10:08,774 --> 00:10:10,385 It just didn't sound interesting to me. 166 00:10:10,409 --> 00:10:11,975 I wanted to listen to the man 167 00:10:12,110 --> 00:10:15,179 who could make music that was that strange. 168 00:10:15,816 --> 00:10:17,625 Because the role of the percussion 169 00:10:17,649 --> 00:10:20,083 in most classical music is you wait a long time, 170 00:10:20,219 --> 00:10:22,452 and then somebody goes ping with a triangle. 171 00:10:23,188 --> 00:10:25,657 To me, that was all boring. 172 00:10:26,225 --> 00:10:28,058 But in Var♪se's music, 173 00:10:28,193 --> 00:10:31,327 the percussion was playing an integrated melodic part. 174 00:10:31,464 --> 00:10:32,830 And it was in the foreground. 175 00:10:32,965 --> 00:10:34,599 And since I liked drums, 176 00:10:34,734 --> 00:10:36,900 it was a pleasure for me to listen to it. 177 00:10:37,102 --> 00:10:39,537 (drums playing, cymbal crashes) 178 00:10:39,905 --> 00:10:41,616 Zappa: I thought it was fantastic. 179 00:10:41,640 --> 00:10:43,418 I couldn't understand why people just didn't love it 180 00:10:43,442 --> 00:10:44,643 the minute they heard it. 181 00:10:50,081 --> 00:10:51,782 High school in Lancaster 182 00:10:51,918 --> 00:10:54,250 wouldn't be equivalent to high school any place else 183 00:10:54,386 --> 00:10:56,488 because Lancaster was a small town, 184 00:10:56,623 --> 00:10:58,922 and very few people in the area 185 00:10:59,057 --> 00:11:00,924 liked rhythm and blues music. 186 00:11:01,059 --> 00:11:03,827 (blues guitar playing) 187 00:11:03,964 --> 00:11:05,941 Zappa: And the rest of 'em were kind of white-bread, 188 00:11:05,965 --> 00:11:07,865 Elvis Presley fanatic types. 189 00:11:09,235 --> 00:11:11,668 And I don't even remember how I met Don. 190 00:11:11,804 --> 00:11:15,438 But he had dropped out of school by that time 191 00:11:15,575 --> 00:11:18,042 and spent most of his time staying at home 192 00:11:18,177 --> 00:11:20,256 listening to rhythm and blues records. 193 00:11:20,947 --> 00:11:23,780 So, I used to hang out over there after school 194 00:11:24,116 --> 00:11:27,150 and listen to Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown 195 00:11:27,287 --> 00:11:29,721 and Guitar Slim, 196 00:11:30,456 --> 00:11:31,889 Elmore James, 197 00:11:32,926 --> 00:11:34,158 Lowell Fulson, 198 00:11:34,726 --> 00:11:37,695 and Johnny "Guitar" Watson R&B records 199 00:11:37,830 --> 00:11:39,750 till three o'clock in the morning. 200 00:11:41,500 --> 00:11:43,144 Went out of my way to get ahold 201 00:11:43,168 --> 00:11:44,779 of the rhythm and blues records. 202 00:11:44,803 --> 00:11:46,403 And it was very hard to obtain 203 00:11:46,772 --> 00:11:48,985 because most of the white music stores didn't stock it. 204 00:11:49,009 --> 00:11:50,206 And, uh... 205 00:11:50,643 --> 00:11:52,602 I just heard that music and I liked it 206 00:11:52,677 --> 00:11:54,322 and couldn't understand why other people didn't like it 207 00:11:54,346 --> 00:11:55,546 as much as I did. 208 00:11:55,682 --> 00:11:58,414 (rhythm and blues playing) 209 00:11:58,551 --> 00:12:00,528 Zappa: When I first picked up the guitar, I said, 210 00:12:00,552 --> 00:12:04,321 "How in the world could anybody get any sound out of this thing 211 00:12:04,456 --> 00:12:06,856 other than the open string sound?" 212 00:12:06,993 --> 00:12:08,770 I couldn't conceive of what the frets were for. 213 00:12:08,794 --> 00:12:10,928 But when rhythm and blues came along 214 00:12:11,063 --> 00:12:13,431 and I heard examples of blues guitar playing, 215 00:12:13,567 --> 00:12:15,811 I thought that it was something I really wanted to do. 216 00:12:15,835 --> 00:12:17,835 So, I just taught myself how to do it. 217 00:12:17,903 --> 00:12:19,815 Once I figured out that the pitch changed 218 00:12:19,839 --> 00:12:21,484 when you put your finger down on the fret, 219 00:12:21,508 --> 00:12:22,874 I was hell on wheels. 220 00:12:23,842 --> 00:12:26,876 ♪ You're probably wondering why I'm here ♪ 221 00:12:27,145 --> 00:12:28,879 ♪ And so am I ♪ 222 00:12:29,014 --> 00:12:30,881 ♪ So am I ♪ 223 00:12:39,692 --> 00:12:41,892 ♪ You're probably wondering ♪ 224 00:12:42,160 --> 00:12:45,296 - ♪ Why I'm here ♪ - ♪ Not that it makes ♪ 225 00:12:45,432 --> 00:12:47,471 ♪ A heck of a lot of difference to ya! ♪ 226 00:12:50,269 --> 00:12:53,269 Zappa: I had my first group playing other people's material 227 00:12:53,405 --> 00:12:55,874 when I was about 16 or 17. 228 00:12:56,009 --> 00:12:57,208 It was called The Blackouts. 229 00:12:57,277 --> 00:12:59,809 A racially mixed ensemble. 230 00:13:00,812 --> 00:13:04,615 Which did not go down well with the, uh, cowboys 231 00:13:04,750 --> 00:13:06,828 and other bigots who lived in this area. 232 00:13:06,852 --> 00:13:09,921 And, uh, we managed to play several jobs, 233 00:13:10,056 --> 00:13:12,557 but the school and the city authorities 234 00:13:12,759 --> 00:13:15,136 were against having it performd because it was regarded 235 00:13:15,160 --> 00:13:17,528 as a threat to the decency of the community. 236 00:13:17,797 --> 00:13:22,000 (rock and roll music playing) 237 00:13:25,571 --> 00:13:27,582 Zappa: I started writing orchestra music 238 00:13:27,606 --> 00:13:29,907 before I ever wrote a rock and roll song. 239 00:13:30,476 --> 00:13:33,277 And then didn't try writing any rock and roll 240 00:13:33,412 --> 00:13:34,946 until I was in my 20s. 241 00:13:36,548 --> 00:13:39,482 And as long as a person has to earn a living 242 00:13:39,619 --> 00:13:42,352 and if he happens to be a person who makes music, 243 00:13:43,722 --> 00:13:46,722 he's going to have to do something to generate an income. 244 00:13:48,594 --> 00:13:51,095 And the more humiliating the conditions 245 00:13:51,230 --> 00:13:53,897 under which the income is generated, 246 00:13:54,332 --> 00:13:56,301 the more the music suffers. 247 00:13:58,671 --> 00:14:00,482 I did earn my living as a commercial artist 248 00:14:00,506 --> 00:14:03,006 for a little while. I did greeting cards. 249 00:14:03,142 --> 00:14:06,176 I wrote advertising copy for the place I was working for, 250 00:14:06,312 --> 00:14:09,480 called the Nile Running Greeting Card Studio. 251 00:14:10,450 --> 00:14:13,350 I talked 'em into letting me do my own line of greeting cards 252 00:14:13,485 --> 00:14:15,019 on an experimental basis, 253 00:14:15,154 --> 00:14:17,587 and one of 'em was, uh, 254 00:14:17,724 --> 00:14:20,357 "Captured Russian photo shows evidence 255 00:14:20,493 --> 00:14:22,793 of Americans' presence on Moon first." 256 00:14:23,363 --> 00:14:24,940 And you open it up, and there's a picture 257 00:14:24,964 --> 00:14:27,029 of a lunar crater with "Jesus Saves" 258 00:14:27,166 --> 00:14:28,264 inscribed on it. 259 00:14:28,400 --> 00:14:29,500 (laughs) 260 00:14:30,503 --> 00:14:32,937 Man: You are to hang by the neck until you are dead. 261 00:14:33,172 --> 00:14:35,206 I'll see you in hell. 262 00:14:37,842 --> 00:14:40,311 God: And they don't take me seriously, do they? 263 00:14:40,446 --> 00:14:42,947 They're only reporters. They're all the same, God. 264 00:14:43,081 --> 00:14:45,917 Zappa: I had scored a couple of films about that time. 265 00:14:46,052 --> 00:14:48,152 The one that I got paid for, 266 00:14:48,287 --> 00:14:50,533 I went out and bought a good guitar and, uh, took over 267 00:14:50,557 --> 00:14:53,557 the debts and the assets of a recording studio 268 00:14:53,692 --> 00:14:56,727 in a town called Cucamonga, California. 269 00:14:59,164 --> 00:15:01,043 Zappa: I'm living in this studio. 270 00:15:01,067 --> 00:15:03,278 It doesn't have a bathtub. It doesn't have a shower. 271 00:15:03,302 --> 00:15:04,934 Doesn't have hot water. 272 00:15:05,071 --> 00:15:07,182 I don't have anything to eat except peanut butter, 273 00:15:07,206 --> 00:15:09,840 instant mashed potatoes, and coffee. 274 00:15:09,975 --> 00:15:11,886 I go around gathering up pop bottles 275 00:15:11,910 --> 00:15:13,443 so I can buy cigarettes. 276 00:15:13,712 --> 00:15:15,256 But I've got all the electronic stuff I need 277 00:15:15,280 --> 00:15:17,014 to make recordings. 278 00:15:19,586 --> 00:15:21,051 Well, I've had long hair. 279 00:15:21,253 --> 00:15:23,053 It was shorter than Beatle hair. 280 00:15:23,856 --> 00:15:26,090 So, there was a certain amount of resentment 281 00:15:26,225 --> 00:15:28,826 in the community for my presence there at the studio. 282 00:15:29,296 --> 00:15:34,131 And this mysterious 13.50 an hour recording studio 283 00:15:34,267 --> 00:15:36,600 was, uh, bad for their community. 284 00:15:37,035 --> 00:15:40,370 So, they designed to, uh, get me out of there. 285 00:15:42,006 --> 00:15:44,741 Eventually this guy came to me and said 286 00:15:44,878 --> 00:15:48,245 that he was a used car salesman and that he and the boys 287 00:15:48,380 --> 00:15:50,514 were having a party next Wednesday 288 00:15:50,649 --> 00:15:53,417 and they would like to have a stag film made. 289 00:15:53,552 --> 00:15:55,152 And I said, "Are you kidding?" 290 00:15:55,287 --> 00:15:57,654 He said, "Well, we have about 100 dollars." 291 00:15:57,789 --> 00:15:59,600 And I said, "Well, I can't make you a movie 292 00:15:59,625 --> 00:16:02,559 for 100 dollars, but how would you like a nice tape?" 293 00:16:03,096 --> 00:16:06,196 So, that night, we manufactured a tape, 294 00:16:06,331 --> 00:16:09,366 which was supposed to be sex on tape, 295 00:16:09,501 --> 00:16:12,402 but there's absolutely no sex involved in this thing. 296 00:16:12,738 --> 00:16:15,304 But suddenly, the next day, 297 00:16:15,506 --> 00:16:18,741 the door swings open and vice squad officers 298 00:16:18,876 --> 00:16:21,578 from the San Bernardino Sheriff's Department 299 00:16:21,715 --> 00:16:22,835 come blasting in there. 300 00:16:23,081 --> 00:16:24,681 Pictures. Flash bulbs, 301 00:16:24,817 --> 00:16:26,777 and it was right out of a bad movie. 302 00:16:26,918 --> 00:16:28,785 They took every tape, 303 00:16:28,922 --> 00:16:32,789 every piece of film in the studio as evidence. 304 00:16:33,625 --> 00:16:34,993 And I went to jail. 305 00:16:42,333 --> 00:16:44,601 They sentenced me to six months in jail 306 00:16:44,736 --> 00:16:46,671 with all but ten days suspended 307 00:16:46,806 --> 00:16:48,639 plus three years' probation. 308 00:16:51,110 --> 00:16:53,309 ♪ It can't happen here ♪ 309 00:16:53,446 --> 00:16:56,681 ♪ Can't happen here, can't happen here... ♪ 310 00:16:57,249 --> 00:17:03,053 Zappa: 311 00:17:10,863 --> 00:17:13,529 That's the kind of stuff I had to put up with 312 00:17:13,665 --> 00:17:16,166 living in small-town environments. 313 00:17:17,804 --> 00:17:19,748 I don't have anything against small towns. 314 00:17:19,771 --> 00:17:22,239 I think they're wonderful if you like that kind of stuff. 315 00:17:23,041 --> 00:17:25,541 But it's very difficult to do the kinds of things 316 00:17:25,678 --> 00:17:28,011 that I do in a small-town situation. 317 00:17:29,082 --> 00:17:33,217 And the only thing I wanted to do was write music. 318 00:17:33,885 --> 00:17:37,020 And so, if I was ever going to hear what I wrote, 319 00:17:37,289 --> 00:17:39,289 I would have to put a band together. 320 00:17:41,693 --> 00:17:43,560 ♪ Motherly love ♪ 321 00:17:45,396 --> 00:17:47,298 ♪ Motherly love ♪ 322 00:17:48,334 --> 00:17:51,669 ♪ Forget about the brotherly and other-ly love ♪ 323 00:17:51,971 --> 00:17:55,105 ♪ Motherly love is just the thing for you ♪ 324 00:17:55,240 --> 00:17:57,218 ♪ You know your mother's gonna love ya ♪ 325 00:17:57,241 --> 00:17:59,162 ♪ Till ya don't know what to do ♪ 326 00:18:03,249 --> 00:18:04,382 ♪ Nature's been good ♪ 327 00:18:04,517 --> 00:18:06,282 ♪ To this here band ♪ 328 00:18:06,719 --> 00:18:09,185 ♪ Don't ever think we're shy ♪ 329 00:18:10,221 --> 00:18:11,900 ♪ Send us up some little groupies ♪ 330 00:18:11,923 --> 00:18:13,624 ♪ And we'll take their hands ♪ 331 00:18:13,759 --> 00:18:16,593 ♪ And rock 'em till they sweat and cry ♪ 332 00:18:16,729 --> 00:18:18,229 ♪ What you need is ♪ 333 00:18:19,230 --> 00:18:20,631 ♪ Motherly love ♪ 334 00:18:20,900 --> 00:18:22,098 ♪ Get it now ♪ 335 00:18:22,768 --> 00:18:24,067 ♪ Motherly love ♪ 336 00:18:25,770 --> 00:18:28,770 ♪ You know I've got a little motherly love for ya, honey ♪ 337 00:18:29,642 --> 00:18:31,220 ♪ You know it doesn't bother me at all ♪ 338 00:18:31,243 --> 00:18:33,163 ♪ That you're only 18 years old ♪ 339 00:18:33,278 --> 00:18:35,678 ♪ 'Cause I've got a little motherly love for you, baby ♪ 340 00:18:38,718 --> 00:18:43,753 (scatting) 341 00:18:45,057 --> 00:18:48,025 All right. This is a song that we've been work... working on 342 00:18:48,160 --> 00:18:51,294 in secret for a... a while now. 343 00:18:51,430 --> 00:18:53,174 Going to make an attempt to record it. 344 00:18:53,199 --> 00:18:54,675 If we mess it up, we'll just stop 345 00:18:54,700 --> 00:18:55,766 and do it over again. 346 00:18:55,901 --> 00:18:57,433 It doesn't have a name yet. 347 00:18:57,903 --> 00:19:01,538 But, uh, doesn't really need one. 348 00:19:03,843 --> 00:19:05,586 Johnny: He was a such a genius in his writing, 349 00:19:05,611 --> 00:19:07,730 and he knew so much about all the old music. 350 00:19:07,980 --> 00:19:10,092 He was able to marry all of that together, man. 351 00:19:10,115 --> 00:19:13,116 It was... I... I haven't heard anything like it 352 00:19:13,719 --> 00:19:15,318 before or since. 353 00:19:17,356 --> 00:19:19,396 Zappa: Whatever brought you to Hollywood? 354 00:19:20,425 --> 00:19:22,960 I came in search of Bob Dylan. 355 00:19:23,328 --> 00:19:26,529 And, uh, I came to see the Lovin' Spoonful. 356 00:19:26,664 --> 00:19:29,500 And I came to get away from my father, mainly. 357 00:19:29,634 --> 00:19:31,579 And then we started living on the streets here 358 00:19:31,604 --> 00:19:34,337 because he wasn't too happy about the overall situation. 359 00:19:35,141 --> 00:19:39,777 (band playing) 360 00:19:43,981 --> 00:19:45,759 Pamela: So, one night we came in there, 361 00:19:45,784 --> 00:19:47,151 expecting to see our favorites, 362 00:19:47,286 --> 00:19:48,997 the Grassroots and Billy Preston, 363 00:19:49,020 --> 00:19:50,298 and lo and behold, after two weeks, 364 00:19:50,321 --> 00:19:51,755 they changed the bill. 365 00:19:51,890 --> 00:19:53,669 And there was a group called Mothers playing. 366 00:19:53,692 --> 00:19:56,727 (band playing) 367 00:19:59,198 --> 00:20:01,109 Pamela: The main thing I remember 368 00:20:01,134 --> 00:20:03,414 is that they played a song that was 20 minutes long. 369 00:20:03,536 --> 00:20:07,438 And everybody was getting tired dancing in the middle of it. 370 00:20:09,008 --> 00:20:11,642 And on the second set that you played, 371 00:20:11,778 --> 00:20:14,545 you played a song called "How Could I Be Such a Fool?" 372 00:20:14,681 --> 00:20:16,357 And I remember listening to that song 373 00:20:16,382 --> 00:20:18,026 and thinking I'd never heard it before. 374 00:20:18,049 --> 00:20:19,749 And I was really surprised. 375 00:20:19,884 --> 00:20:22,619 I started thinking to myself, "God, did he write that?" 376 00:20:22,755 --> 00:20:24,532 And when I figured out that you had, 377 00:20:24,557 --> 00:20:26,134 'cause I asked you after you came off stage, 378 00:20:26,157 --> 00:20:27,490 I was going, 379 00:20:27,792 --> 00:20:29,436 "My god, he's got talent. I don't believe it." 380 00:20:29,461 --> 00:20:31,560 ♪ When I won your love ♪ 381 00:20:31,864 --> 00:20:33,798 ♪ I was very glad ♪ 382 00:20:34,665 --> 00:20:36,232 ♪ Every happiness... ♪ 383 00:20:36,501 --> 00:20:38,212 Interviewer: Do you think that perhaps you might, uh, 384 00:20:38,237 --> 00:20:40,356 in a year or two be the new musical messiah? 385 00:20:40,405 --> 00:20:42,271 As in the Beatles and Presley 386 00:20:42,406 --> 00:20:45,107 ten years ago and ten years before that? Whoever it was. 387 00:20:45,243 --> 00:20:48,377 Zappa: I can honestly say that I do not think so. 388 00:20:48,681 --> 00:20:52,215 (band playing) 389 00:20:52,785 --> 00:20:54,884 Announcer: The Mothers of Invention. 390 00:21:06,365 --> 00:21:09,933 Bunk: I... I don't remember, in all the years with Frank, 391 00:21:10,169 --> 00:21:12,936 hearing too many bands that had horns. 392 00:21:13,605 --> 00:21:16,106 Guitar players, you know, all over the place. 393 00:21:16,241 --> 00:21:19,410 Not too many, uh, bands had horns. 394 00:21:20,913 --> 00:21:22,833 But, you know, at the same time, 395 00:21:22,882 --> 00:21:25,281 I didn't hear any other bands 396 00:21:25,751 --> 00:21:29,086 playing Stravinsky or classical music or anything. 397 00:21:29,221 --> 00:21:31,954 So, uh, that was fairly unique. 398 00:21:32,090 --> 00:21:33,990 And that made me feel good 399 00:21:34,125 --> 00:21:36,861 about what we were doing musically. 400 00:21:41,233 --> 00:21:44,602 I'm not a weirdo or any of these other things. 401 00:21:44,804 --> 00:21:47,237 But when you get around other people 402 00:21:47,372 --> 00:21:51,607 that are just naturally funny and do weird things, 403 00:21:52,178 --> 00:21:56,012 I ended up just feeling very comfortable. 404 00:21:56,415 --> 00:21:59,082 It was exciting in the beginning. 405 00:21:59,217 --> 00:22:00,483 It truly was. 406 00:22:00,986 --> 00:22:05,690 But of course, it was musically difficult. 407 00:22:07,159 --> 00:22:09,626 Some nights, Frank would jump up into the air 408 00:22:09,761 --> 00:22:12,762 and come down, and he would expect us 409 00:22:12,897 --> 00:22:15,531 to know what song he was gonna go into. 410 00:22:16,301 --> 00:22:18,342 You know, a perfectionist here, you know. 411 00:22:19,570 --> 00:22:22,838 That made an impression that, jeez, well, you know... 412 00:22:22,974 --> 00:22:27,376 So, it became our duty... 413 00:22:28,079 --> 00:22:31,213 to engage in, uh, these kind of things 414 00:22:31,349 --> 00:22:33,817 that... that... That would make him laugh. 415 00:22:36,154 --> 00:22:38,588 Ian: The band wasn't specifically 416 00:22:38,958 --> 00:22:42,057 anything other than Frank's ideas. 417 00:22:43,028 --> 00:22:46,630 And each show was like a composition. 418 00:22:47,467 --> 00:22:50,166 And they happened because the band 419 00:22:50,301 --> 00:22:52,737 is following his direction. 420 00:22:55,874 --> 00:22:57,219 Ruth: You know, I used to think, 421 00:22:57,242 --> 00:22:58,674 "Okay, he's called me here," 422 00:22:58,809 --> 00:23:00,489 and I don't mean in the early days, 423 00:23:00,512 --> 00:23:02,289 I mean in full flower of playing with him. 424 00:23:02,314 --> 00:23:04,358 We'd talk for a minute, and then there isn't even 425 00:23:04,383 --> 00:23:06,884 a "Thanks for coming by" or "Okay, see you later." 426 00:23:07,019 --> 00:23:08,830 He would just turn the other way, 427 00:23:08,855 --> 00:23:10,898 and I would be waiting for him to turn back to say, 428 00:23:10,923 --> 00:23:13,457 "Oh." But if he turned back, it would be, "You still here?" 429 00:23:13,593 --> 00:23:15,470 You know, it's like, I was dismissed 430 00:23:15,493 --> 00:23:17,193 without even being dismissed. 431 00:23:17,328 --> 00:23:19,528 And you could interpret that as being, you know, 432 00:23:19,664 --> 00:23:22,365 what a fucking self-centered asshole. 433 00:23:22,701 --> 00:23:26,269 But I think that he was just so single-mindedly 434 00:23:26,404 --> 00:23:28,772 needing to get his work done. 435 00:23:31,410 --> 00:23:33,876 Bunk: In the four years I was with Frank, 436 00:23:34,012 --> 00:23:37,580 he shook my hand once and said, "Good job." 437 00:23:39,551 --> 00:23:44,587 I don't ever remember Frank embracing somebody. 438 00:23:46,357 --> 00:23:50,193 Maybe that was his environment when he was growing up. 439 00:23:51,496 --> 00:23:55,965 So, I kind of accepted that as... 440 00:23:58,036 --> 00:24:00,903 "Don't get too close, okay?" 441 00:24:01,405 --> 00:24:03,240 And, uh, I didn't. 442 00:24:05,411 --> 00:24:08,644 Zappa: I must say, this is a rather unprecedented response 443 00:24:08,779 --> 00:24:10,525 for the bullshit that we do, so sit down 444 00:24:10,548 --> 00:24:12,548 and we'll do some more if you like it. 445 00:24:20,125 --> 00:24:22,792 Gail: So... so, it was in April of 1966. 446 00:24:23,429 --> 00:24:26,128 It was at Los Angeles Airport, actually. 447 00:24:26,498 --> 00:24:30,200 I was working as a secretary at the Whisky, 448 00:24:30,336 --> 00:24:32,935 and there was another girl doing filing. 449 00:24:33,071 --> 00:24:34,904 And little did I know 450 00:24:35,039 --> 00:24:37,106 that she actually lived with Frank. 451 00:24:37,241 --> 00:24:38,607 She shared a house with him. 452 00:24:38,743 --> 00:24:40,544 And she got a phone call. 453 00:24:40,913 --> 00:24:42,311 And it was Frank. 454 00:24:42,446 --> 00:24:45,316 And he said, "Come pick me up." 455 00:24:46,184 --> 00:24:48,163 The night that I went to pick you up at the airport, 456 00:24:48,186 --> 00:24:49,797 and when I told you that I was bringing 457 00:24:49,820 --> 00:24:51,086 this lovely young thing with me 458 00:24:51,222 --> 00:24:53,182 because she was a lovely young thing. 459 00:24:53,259 --> 00:24:54,602 And you needed to get some action. 460 00:24:54,625 --> 00:24:56,226 And you said, "No, come alone." 461 00:24:56,362 --> 00:24:57,826 And so, I said, "Okay." 462 00:24:57,962 --> 00:24:59,840 So, I took her with me to the airport. 463 00:24:59,865 --> 00:25:01,777 And then we brought you home. We went and got those steaks, 464 00:25:01,800 --> 00:25:03,932 and I gave her my black slip to sleep in. 465 00:25:04,068 --> 00:25:05,501 And you guys slept in my room 466 00:25:05,837 --> 00:25:07,315 'cause I had the only double bed in the house. 467 00:25:07,338 --> 00:25:09,084 - Zappa: Mm. - And I slept on the couch. 468 00:25:09,107 --> 00:25:10,550 And you waited and took her to work at the Whisky 469 00:25:10,575 --> 00:25:11,808 in the morning. 470 00:25:12,377 --> 00:25:14,544 It was that weekend, and... and she called 471 00:25:14,680 --> 00:25:16,012 on the phone. You said, 472 00:25:16,281 --> 00:25:17,791 "Tell her if she wants to fuck to come over." 473 00:25:17,816 --> 00:25:19,460 And I said, "Huh, I can't say that to her. 474 00:25:19,483 --> 00:25:21,183 You'll have to say it yourself." 475 00:25:21,319 --> 00:25:23,230 And so you did. And then she came over 476 00:25:23,255 --> 00:25:25,855 and you guys were on the couch fucking. 477 00:25:25,990 --> 00:25:29,093 (opera music playing) 478 00:25:36,769 --> 00:25:41,238 (rock music playing) 479 00:25:47,246 --> 00:25:49,880 Gail: One thing that I'm very clear about 480 00:25:50,015 --> 00:25:51,882 is I married a composer. 481 00:25:52,017 --> 00:25:54,218 I don't know about whatever he is to anybody else, 482 00:25:54,353 --> 00:25:57,354 but to me he was a composer. 483 00:25:57,623 --> 00:26:01,023 And you have to be out of your mind 484 00:26:01,226 --> 00:26:04,694 to begin with to take it on. 485 00:26:05,431 --> 00:26:07,442 There's no guarantee that you're ever going to be 486 00:26:07,465 --> 00:26:08,897 able to earn an income. 487 00:26:09,034 --> 00:26:11,867 No one cares about what composers do. 488 00:26:12,003 --> 00:26:14,403 And everything is against you. 489 00:26:14,539 --> 00:26:18,942 Absolutely everything is against you, 490 00:26:19,077 --> 00:26:21,711 which makes the odds pretty fantastic. 491 00:26:23,214 --> 00:26:25,749 Zappa: The guy who came to see us, Tom Wilson, 492 00:26:25,884 --> 00:26:28,384 was having a good time with some girls. 493 00:26:28,752 --> 00:26:31,386 And he was dragged to the Whisky a Go Go 494 00:26:31,623 --> 00:26:33,289 to witness one of our songs, 495 00:26:33,425 --> 00:26:36,125 which happened to be a blues kind of a number. 496 00:26:37,028 --> 00:26:40,029 He said, "Oh. White blues band. Okay, we'll sign them," 497 00:26:40,566 --> 00:26:42,432 and signed the group 498 00:26:42,567 --> 00:26:44,734 and then went right back to the girls. 499 00:26:46,372 --> 00:26:48,404 Bunk: I don't think Wilson 500 00:26:48,539 --> 00:26:50,673 heard a lot of the other things 501 00:26:50,809 --> 00:26:54,109 because when we went into the studio, 502 00:26:54,246 --> 00:26:56,380 he was totally surprised. 503 00:26:56,515 --> 00:26:58,315 And I'm sure he wasn't sure 504 00:26:58,550 --> 00:27:01,084 whether this was going to sell or not. 505 00:27:01,720 --> 00:27:03,287 And we were out there. 506 00:27:11,863 --> 00:27:13,674 Zappa: This is a number we always play 507 00:27:13,699 --> 00:27:15,765 when people ask us to play more. 508 00:27:15,901 --> 00:27:17,478 Because we know that after we play this, 509 00:27:17,501 --> 00:27:20,703 they couldn't possibly ever want to hear us again. 510 00:27:22,273 --> 00:27:25,141 Crowd: (cheers, applauds) 511 00:27:25,277 --> 00:27:26,788 Zappa: We're going to play a piece of music 512 00:27:26,811 --> 00:27:28,731 that was written by Edgar Var♪se, 513 00:27:28,880 --> 00:27:30,480 called "Octandre." 514 00:27:31,482 --> 00:27:35,318 (band plays) 515 00:27:43,662 --> 00:27:45,306 Interviewer: Do you consider that your group 516 00:27:45,329 --> 00:27:47,142 is just as talented and as skilled as, say, 517 00:27:47,165 --> 00:27:48,832 men from a symphony orchestra? 518 00:27:48,968 --> 00:27:50,945 Zappa: Oh, I... I think there are definitely things 519 00:27:50,970 --> 00:27:53,369 that this group of musicians can do that you... 520 00:27:53,672 --> 00:27:56,440 you wouldn't be able to find symphony musicians to do. 521 00:27:56,575 --> 00:27:58,118 Because not only do they manipulate 522 00:27:58,143 --> 00:27:59,753 their instruments with great skill, 523 00:27:59,778 --> 00:28:01,323 but they have to do it all from memory. 524 00:28:01,346 --> 00:28:03,846 And they have to do it with choreography. 525 00:28:04,449 --> 00:28:05,961 Interviewer: You insist on very high 526 00:28:05,984 --> 00:28:07,517 and exacting standards. 527 00:28:07,986 --> 00:28:09,353 Yeah. I have to insist on them. 528 00:28:09,788 --> 00:28:11,266 I don't always get them, but I have to insist on them. 529 00:28:11,289 --> 00:28:12,799 I think if you shoot any lower than that, 530 00:28:12,824 --> 00:28:14,602 you're going to wind up with something sleazy. 531 00:28:14,625 --> 00:28:15,858 So, we try and... like, 532 00:28:15,994 --> 00:28:17,439 the parts are real complicated, 533 00:28:17,462 --> 00:28:18,694 so if you don't stay on it 534 00:28:18,830 --> 00:28:20,674 and make sure everything is right 535 00:28:20,699 --> 00:28:22,699 you don't get an accurate performance. 536 00:28:23,868 --> 00:28:25,434 Bunk: Man, we would go in 537 00:28:25,569 --> 00:28:28,738 for a minimum eight, ten, twelve hours. 538 00:28:28,874 --> 00:28:31,141 I mean, you know, drinking black coffee. 539 00:28:31,276 --> 00:28:32,976 (stammers) He wouldn't stop. 540 00:28:33,112 --> 00:28:35,711 I mean, it was, you know, it's like, "God." 541 00:28:36,382 --> 00:28:38,326 It didn't matter if it was Christmas 542 00:28:38,349 --> 00:28:39,894 or Thanksgiving or whatever, man. 543 00:28:39,919 --> 00:28:41,999 We were going to rehearse and, you know, 544 00:28:42,621 --> 00:28:45,255 make sure that we were ready to... to play the music 545 00:28:45,390 --> 00:28:49,424 because he was just writing all the time. All the time. 546 00:28:49,560 --> 00:28:52,362 So, we were always introducing stuff. 547 00:28:52,897 --> 00:28:54,397 It was, uh, 548 00:28:54,532 --> 00:28:57,267 a very unusual approach, I think. 549 00:28:58,170 --> 00:29:00,203 ♪ Ooh, I remember ♪ 550 00:29:00,739 --> 00:29:05,875 ♪ Those wonderful dances in El Monte ♪ 551 00:29:06,010 --> 00:29:09,480 ♪ Ba-da-da-da Der-duh-duh-duh-duh ♪ 552 00:29:10,781 --> 00:29:17,054 Interviewer: 553 00:29:17,689 --> 00:29:22,792 Zappa: 554 00:29:26,230 --> 00:29:28,731 (whirring) 555 00:29:32,537 --> 00:29:35,605 ♪ It can't happen here ♪ 556 00:29:44,282 --> 00:29:46,816 Zappa: But we were never that popular in Los Angeles. 557 00:29:47,117 --> 00:29:50,653 Our market really wasn't the peace, love, hippie type people. 558 00:29:51,022 --> 00:29:52,521 That wasn't our market. 559 00:29:52,656 --> 00:29:55,357 Hippies did not like us because we didn't do 560 00:29:55,492 --> 00:29:57,413 the things that they approved of. 561 00:29:59,397 --> 00:30:00,931 Compared to New York, 562 00:30:01,066 --> 00:30:03,226 Los Angeles is a very conforming community. 563 00:30:04,470 --> 00:30:05,934 When we moved to New York 564 00:30:06,070 --> 00:30:07,714 there was virtually no scene at all. 565 00:30:07,739 --> 00:30:09,450 There was no long-haired anything there. 566 00:30:09,473 --> 00:30:11,674 People looked at us like we were from Venus. 567 00:30:13,112 --> 00:30:15,111 ♪ Freedom, freedom ♪ 568 00:30:15,246 --> 00:30:17,114 ♪ Kindly loving ♪ 569 00:30:17,249 --> 00:30:21,284 ♪ You'll be absolutely free ♪ 570 00:30:21,420 --> 00:30:23,519 ♪ Only if you want to be ♪ 571 00:30:23,654 --> 00:30:26,021 Interviewer: A lot of people have associated you, 572 00:30:26,157 --> 00:30:28,357 rightly or wrongly, with the drug culture 573 00:30:28,493 --> 00:30:30,861 that came into being in the '60s about the same time 574 00:30:30,996 --> 00:30:33,036 as your music first became prominent. 575 00:30:33,330 --> 00:30:35,710 Zappa: First of all, I have nothing to do with the drug culture. 576 00:30:35,733 --> 00:30:37,166 I don't use drugs, 577 00:30:37,435 --> 00:30:39,635 and I don't advise other people to use drugs. 578 00:30:39,805 --> 00:30:41,848 And a lot of the things that I think are wrong 579 00:30:41,873 --> 00:30:43,306 with the society today 580 00:30:43,508 --> 00:30:46,476 are a direct result of people using drugs. 581 00:30:47,846 --> 00:30:50,046 It's so prevalent that if you don't use drugs, 582 00:30:50,182 --> 00:30:51,615 people think you're weird. 583 00:30:52,517 --> 00:30:55,352 (song continues) 584 00:30:55,554 --> 00:30:57,473 Gail: The Beatles played in Hamburg, 585 00:30:57,555 --> 00:30:59,855 and they had their way with this club 586 00:30:59,990 --> 00:31:01,423 for months on end. 587 00:31:01,559 --> 00:31:03,792 And in a similar way, Frank had the Garrick. 588 00:31:03,928 --> 00:31:05,573 You get to work out what you want to do. 589 00:31:05,596 --> 00:31:07,508 You get to experiment with the audience. 590 00:31:07,531 --> 00:31:10,601 You get to really be intimate with an audience. 591 00:31:12,202 --> 00:31:14,703 That really helped Frank to perfect 592 00:31:14,838 --> 00:31:17,673 what he could get away with on stage. 593 00:31:19,443 --> 00:31:21,743 Zappa: The attention to the theatrical side grew 594 00:31:22,047 --> 00:31:23,480 when we moved to New York 595 00:31:23,615 --> 00:31:25,714 and had to do a show every night. 596 00:31:26,718 --> 00:31:29,051 The bulk of what could be classified 597 00:31:29,186 --> 00:31:31,621 as theater of cruelty took place at the Garrick Theater 598 00:31:31,757 --> 00:31:33,022 in '67. 599 00:31:33,659 --> 00:31:37,692 And that was a unique situation because it was the same people 600 00:31:37,828 --> 00:31:40,068 who kept coming back to the theater all the time. 601 00:31:40,898 --> 00:31:43,567 It was part of, uh, this little routine that we had 602 00:31:43,701 --> 00:31:45,313 with the two or three hundred people 603 00:31:45,336 --> 00:31:47,537 that made up the audience at the Garrick. 604 00:31:48,906 --> 00:31:50,506 Bunk: We'd get out and play, 605 00:31:50,642 --> 00:31:53,076 and Frank would start abusing people in the audience, 606 00:31:53,211 --> 00:31:55,178 you know, or calling people up. 607 00:31:55,313 --> 00:31:58,146 Or turning his back on the audience, saying, 608 00:31:58,450 --> 00:32:01,450 "You know, let's run through this," and ignoring them. 609 00:32:01,586 --> 00:32:02,920 And they... they loved it. 610 00:32:07,659 --> 00:32:11,461 Gail: For Frank, his measure of success 611 00:32:11,695 --> 00:32:14,998 is how close did you get 612 00:32:15,799 --> 00:32:17,599 to the realization 613 00:32:17,736 --> 00:32:23,373 of the idea that you first heard the first time you heard it? 614 00:32:23,709 --> 00:32:27,443 If you get anywhere near that, you can call it a success. 615 00:32:27,578 --> 00:32:29,739 But most of the time, you never even get close. 616 00:32:29,882 --> 00:32:31,792 'Cause you have to rely on all these other people 617 00:32:31,817 --> 00:32:33,615 to do all this other stuff. 618 00:32:34,586 --> 00:32:37,086 You know, people like musicians and things like that. 619 00:32:40,392 --> 00:32:42,604 Zappa: To do the kind of music theater that we were doing, 620 00:32:42,627 --> 00:32:44,438 you needed people who weren't afraid 621 00:32:44,461 --> 00:32:47,596 to act up on a stage and do ludicrous things. 622 00:32:48,400 --> 00:32:50,701 'Cause that was part of what the music was saying 623 00:32:50,935 --> 00:32:52,779 that the whole world was absolutely absurd, 624 00:32:52,804 --> 00:32:55,070 and so, here it is. We're giving it back to you. 625 00:32:55,472 --> 00:32:58,307 In fact, if we hadn't left Los Angeles, 626 00:32:58,576 --> 00:33:01,176 we would have just evaporated after the first album. 627 00:33:01,779 --> 00:33:03,579 Band member: One, two, three. 628 00:33:03,781 --> 00:33:06,782 ♪ Oh no, I don't believe it ♪ 629 00:33:06,919 --> 00:33:11,688 ♪ You say that you think you know the meaning of love ♪ 630 00:33:14,558 --> 00:33:17,526 ♪ You say love is all we need ♪ 631 00:33:17,662 --> 00:33:21,130 ♪ You say with your love you can change ♪ 632 00:33:21,266 --> 00:33:24,299 ♪ All of the fools, all of the hate ♪ 633 00:33:24,435 --> 00:33:28,005 ♪ I think you're probably out to lunch ♪ 634 00:33:32,777 --> 00:33:35,479 Ruth: I was a percussion major at Juilliard. 635 00:33:35,614 --> 00:33:37,534 I mean, this was back in the... 636 00:33:37,816 --> 00:33:40,450 the times of dynasties in music. 637 00:33:41,752 --> 00:33:43,519 I thought that I would love it, 638 00:33:43,988 --> 00:33:46,423 and all of that derailed for me, 639 00:33:46,557 --> 00:33:48,023 it just crashed and burned, 640 00:33:48,358 --> 00:33:51,227 when I heard my first Frank Zappa concert. 641 00:33:51,797 --> 00:33:53,496 I just suddenly realized, 642 00:33:53,632 --> 00:33:55,832 "I don't want to be a timpanist in an orchestra. 643 00:33:56,167 --> 00:33:58,078 And I don't want to be a triangle player 644 00:33:58,103 --> 00:33:59,234 in an orchestra." 645 00:33:59,471 --> 00:34:01,538 To have to sit in the back row on stage 646 00:34:01,673 --> 00:34:03,605 to play my three triangle notes. 647 00:34:03,875 --> 00:34:06,041 That was not anything that appealed to me 648 00:34:06,178 --> 00:34:09,144 from the moment I heard Frank's music. 649 00:34:09,280 --> 00:34:12,047 And it's not that I was inexperienced as a listener 650 00:34:12,617 --> 00:34:16,018 with other popular music or music theater or any of that. 651 00:34:17,655 --> 00:34:19,688 Frank embodied everything. 652 00:34:19,824 --> 00:34:24,460 Everything that showed me in that one concert 653 00:34:24,730 --> 00:34:26,563 that I wanted to do that. 654 00:34:28,900 --> 00:34:31,800 I would sit in my orchestration classes at Juilliard 655 00:34:32,070 --> 00:34:33,902 in my baroque history. 656 00:34:34,038 --> 00:34:37,706 These classes taught by the greatest people on Earth. 657 00:34:38,309 --> 00:34:41,043 One day, I was in one of the piano practice rooms 658 00:34:41,179 --> 00:34:43,612 and I was absolutely not even allowed to be there 659 00:34:43,847 --> 00:34:45,887 because "That's just for the pianists." 660 00:34:46,985 --> 00:34:50,385 And there I would be, trying to recall the melody 661 00:34:50,521 --> 00:34:52,422 or the melodic shape of "Oh No." 662 00:34:53,525 --> 00:34:55,057 Nobody was there. 663 00:34:55,193 --> 00:34:57,626 And on this fabulous grand piano, 664 00:34:57,762 --> 00:35:00,996 I played that piece to the best of my recollection. 665 00:35:01,132 --> 00:35:04,434 And I can't tell you, probably within 30 seconds, 666 00:35:04,568 --> 00:35:07,302 an officer of the school came in. 667 00:35:07,438 --> 00:35:08,737 "What are you doing?" 668 00:35:09,041 --> 00:35:11,273 "I'm just playing this beautiful music." 669 00:35:11,576 --> 00:35:14,322 "Doesn't sound like any music you're supposed to be playing here." 670 00:35:14,346 --> 00:35:16,322 And I said, "It's 20th-century music. 671 00:35:16,347 --> 00:35:18,746 What are you talking about? It's by a living composer." 672 00:35:18,916 --> 00:35:19,916 "Get out." 673 00:35:22,820 --> 00:35:25,588 And if you were to hear that piece on the piano, 674 00:35:25,722 --> 00:35:27,690 it could live in a concert hall. 675 00:35:27,826 --> 00:35:30,827 It was that type of music that he could produce 676 00:35:30,961 --> 00:35:34,163 that was a product of everything that was in him. 677 00:35:34,465 --> 00:35:36,431 But you couldn't really categorize it. 678 00:35:37,068 --> 00:35:39,380 You couldn't say, "Oh yeah, that's rock and roll,"'cause it wasn't. 679 00:35:39,403 --> 00:35:41,114 "It's jazz." No. It really wasn't. 680 00:35:41,139 --> 00:35:43,018 "It's pop music." No. Not at all. 681 00:35:43,074 --> 00:35:44,474 Well, what the hell is it? 682 00:35:45,309 --> 00:35:46,509 It's Zappa. 683 00:35:46,644 --> 00:35:51,914 Zappa: (harmonizing) 684 00:35:52,650 --> 00:35:54,983 Ruth: And I knew that it had changed my life. 685 00:35:55,119 --> 00:35:56,619 That's the thing. 686 00:35:57,088 --> 00:35:58,900 I didn't live my life and then look back on it and go, 687 00:35:58,923 --> 00:36:01,490 "Yeah. That was the life-changing moment." 688 00:36:01,626 --> 00:36:05,027 I walked out of that theater, and I was actually disoriented. 689 00:36:05,163 --> 00:36:08,465 I... my whole world had been shaken up. 690 00:36:08,599 --> 00:36:10,166 (laughter) 691 00:36:10,402 --> 00:36:13,601 And Frank recently came back from a town near Brussels 692 00:36:13,737 --> 00:36:16,639 where they had a kind of a European pop festival. 693 00:36:16,775 --> 00:36:19,007 How did you communicate with these kids 694 00:36:19,143 --> 00:36:21,510 who speak Walloon, who speak Flemish, 695 00:36:21,646 --> 00:36:23,980 who speak, uh, sort of a dialect of French? 696 00:36:24,115 --> 00:36:26,748 - What did... - I only talked to them once. 697 00:36:27,117 --> 00:36:28,485 Murray: What did you say? 698 00:36:28,619 --> 00:36:30,364 I said, "I'm really glad that you... you guys 699 00:36:30,389 --> 00:36:32,889 had a pop festival in spite of the French government." 700 00:36:33,824 --> 00:36:35,090 It's really very square. 701 00:36:35,226 --> 00:36:36,769 It's just very depressing, you know, 702 00:36:36,793 --> 00:36:39,027 to think of what Paris used to be famous for... 703 00:36:39,297 --> 00:36:42,030 - (censored) - (laughter) 704 00:36:42,266 --> 00:36:43,532 (sighs) 705 00:36:43,668 --> 00:36:44,867 Zappa: Go ahead, bleep it. 706 00:36:45,003 --> 00:36:46,670 Oh, Frank. 707 00:36:46,804 --> 00:36:49,172 (applause) 708 00:36:49,606 --> 00:36:51,967 Well, in the past Paris was famous for its... (censored) 709 00:36:52,043 --> 00:36:53,275 But now it... (censored) 710 00:36:53,577 --> 00:36:55,210 Audience: (laughs) 711 00:36:55,512 --> 00:36:57,458 Frank, you're going to kill the tourist business 712 00:36:57,481 --> 00:36:59,126 as far as the French are concerned. 713 00:36:59,150 --> 00:37:00,449 I hope so. 714 00:37:00,851 --> 00:37:03,211 Fr... France ought to get its... (censored)...together. 715 00:37:05,889 --> 00:37:08,391 Bunk: You know, when you look at stuff now, 716 00:37:08,527 --> 00:37:10,425 I mean, e... everything goes. 717 00:37:10,561 --> 00:37:12,061 And it also brings to mind, 718 00:37:12,195 --> 00:37:14,731 because we played with Lenny Bruce, 719 00:37:15,000 --> 00:37:20,436 you know, how difficult it was in terms of your language, uh, 720 00:37:20,572 --> 00:37:22,938 that people would not accept. 721 00:37:23,909 --> 00:37:26,019 Mike: Lenny Bruce had a... an incredible impact, 722 00:37:26,043 --> 00:37:27,476 an incredible influence. 723 00:37:28,246 --> 00:37:31,780 But, you know, Frank's influence was really, really strong. 724 00:37:32,083 --> 00:37:35,985 And... and it instantly just, like, made a beeline 725 00:37:36,119 --> 00:37:40,023 for the most influential archetypes and figureheads 726 00:37:40,157 --> 00:37:43,960 in rock music. You know, if you listen to Sgt. Pepper. 727 00:37:44,094 --> 00:37:45,806 It was obvious that the Beatles knew 728 00:37:45,829 --> 00:37:47,807 what... what was going on with Frank. 729 00:37:47,831 --> 00:37:51,400 They've explicitly said that Sgt. Pepper was our attempt 730 00:37:51,536 --> 00:37:52,969 to make our own Freak Out! 731 00:37:54,606 --> 00:37:56,525 And the inner spread of the album, 732 00:37:56,606 --> 00:37:59,175 whether Frank liked it or not, was powerful and iconic, 733 00:37:59,309 --> 00:38:01,389 and... and, you know, the... the record company 734 00:38:01,413 --> 00:38:03,579 were not wrong in terms of making an impact. 735 00:38:03,715 --> 00:38:04,947 It definitely made an impact. 736 00:38:05,083 --> 00:38:07,349 But Frank didn't think of it. 737 00:38:07,485 --> 00:38:09,751 So there's a part of him that just bristled 738 00:38:09,887 --> 00:38:12,288 because it wasn't his baby, you know. 739 00:38:12,422 --> 00:38:15,123 And the second album, he put his foot down. 740 00:38:15,260 --> 00:38:17,460 Not only was he in charge of... of the artwork 741 00:38:17,527 --> 00:38:20,295 and he did his own collage on the back cover, 742 00:38:20,632 --> 00:38:22,965 but if he had had the time and inclination, 743 00:38:23,101 --> 00:38:26,601 he could have continued on doing his own album artwork. 744 00:38:26,737 --> 00:38:28,858 And... and it would have been fascinating. 745 00:38:29,474 --> 00:38:33,509 But I think when Cal Schenkel crossed his path 746 00:38:33,844 --> 00:38:36,211 and he saw somebody that got what he was doing 747 00:38:36,514 --> 00:38:39,282 and could capture it and could also focus on it 748 00:38:39,416 --> 00:38:41,577 exclusively while, you know, Frank would look 749 00:38:41,652 --> 00:38:43,893 over Cal's shoulder and say, "Try that, try that." 750 00:38:44,288 --> 00:38:46,688 Frank just hands him his head, and you get just amazing cover 751 00:38:46,791 --> 00:38:47,956 after amazing cover. 752 00:38:48,260 --> 00:38:49,793 And that... it's beautiful 753 00:38:49,994 --> 00:38:51,905 'cause they built a world together. 754 00:38:51,929 --> 00:38:55,632 Those album covers plays into that thing of feeling 755 00:38:55,766 --> 00:38:58,201 like you're part of an alternative movement. 756 00:39:12,282 --> 00:39:15,284 Zappa: There had already been two other Sgt. Pepper parodies 757 00:39:15,418 --> 00:39:18,320 by the time that our package was ready. 758 00:39:18,456 --> 00:39:22,157 And MGM was panic stricken 759 00:39:22,293 --> 00:39:24,559 that they would be sued by The Beatles 760 00:39:25,130 --> 00:39:26,695 and wanted legal assurance 761 00:39:26,831 --> 00:39:28,809 that The Beatles weren't going to harm them 762 00:39:28,833 --> 00:39:30,365 for putting this package out. 763 00:39:30,701 --> 00:39:34,170 And all the legal gyrations took about 13 months. 764 00:39:43,313 --> 00:39:45,126 Zappa: I know I talked personally 765 00:39:45,150 --> 00:39:46,960 to McCartney at one time and said that, you know, 766 00:39:46,985 --> 00:39:48,862 "The record company is panic stricken over this, 767 00:39:48,887 --> 00:39:50,887 and can you do anything to help me?" 768 00:39:51,556 --> 00:39:53,668 And it was like he was on the other end of the line, taking the phone and going, 769 00:39:53,692 --> 00:39:56,358 "You mean, you talk about business?" 770 00:39:57,695 --> 00:40:00,695 Like, "Oh, we have lawyers who do that." 771 00:40:01,264 --> 00:40:04,733 He just had no interest in participating in a discussion 772 00:40:04,869 --> 00:40:06,469 of the legal ramifications 773 00:40:06,603 --> 00:40:08,643 of a parody of the Sgt. Pepper cover. 774 00:40:09,007 --> 00:40:11,606 That was at a time when it was very, very unfashionable 775 00:40:11,742 --> 00:40:14,043 to be a businessman or even to have any contact 776 00:40:14,179 --> 00:40:15,644 to the world of commerce. 777 00:40:16,213 --> 00:40:18,333 I mean, people were living in a dream world. 778 00:40:18,416 --> 00:40:20,161 How did they expect to earn a living 779 00:40:20,184 --> 00:40:23,286 doing their music if they didn't have some idea 780 00:40:23,420 --> 00:40:25,065 that the people who were distributing it 781 00:40:25,088 --> 00:40:27,088 were only there to steal from them? 782 00:40:28,260 --> 00:40:31,561 Most of the artists that I knew were too busy getting ripped. 783 00:40:32,963 --> 00:40:34,876 If you just got high and went out 784 00:40:34,900 --> 00:40:38,134 and did your groovy music and, you know, then there were 785 00:40:38,269 --> 00:40:40,769 business people who took care of that other stuff. 786 00:40:47,744 --> 00:40:50,056 It's time for a revolution but probably not in the terms 787 00:40:50,081 --> 00:40:51,547 that people imagine it. 788 00:40:53,351 --> 00:40:55,429 The thing that's wrong today is that the... the people 789 00:40:55,452 --> 00:40:59,088 who are in control of the media and the government 790 00:40:59,222 --> 00:41:01,923 and, you know, things that... that run the lives 791 00:41:02,059 --> 00:41:04,193 of the average person in the street, 792 00:41:04,728 --> 00:41:06,106 they aren't doing a good job of it 793 00:41:06,130 --> 00:41:07,630 'cause they don't really care. 794 00:41:08,132 --> 00:41:09,943 Man: Why don't you run for president? 795 00:41:09,967 --> 00:41:11,878 I thought about it a number of times before. 796 00:41:11,902 --> 00:41:14,103 And then the thing that always holds me back 797 00:41:14,304 --> 00:41:16,938 is that what would it feel like to actually be the president, 798 00:41:17,074 --> 00:41:19,195 you know, and have to stay in Washington DC 799 00:41:19,309 --> 00:41:22,411 in a house for four years? That'd be pretty grim. 800 00:41:22,813 --> 00:41:27,416 - (singers vocalizing) - (tambourine playing) 801 00:41:33,324 --> 00:41:37,893 Zappa: A lot of what we do is designed to annoy people 802 00:41:38,028 --> 00:41:40,461 to the point where they might, just for a second, 803 00:41:40,597 --> 00:41:42,565 question enough of their environment 804 00:41:42,701 --> 00:41:44,067 to do something about it. 805 00:41:47,605 --> 00:41:49,416 As long as they don't feel their environment, 806 00:41:49,440 --> 00:41:50,940 they don't worry about it. 807 00:41:51,074 --> 00:41:53,235 They're not going to do anything to change it. 808 00:41:53,344 --> 00:41:54,844 And something's got to be done 809 00:41:54,978 --> 00:41:58,114 before America scarfs up the world and shits on it. 810 00:41:58,349 --> 00:42:01,117 ♪ We are the other people We are the other people ♪ 811 00:42:01,251 --> 00:42:04,219 ♪ We are the other people You're the other people too ♪ 812 00:42:05,456 --> 00:42:06,989 ♪ Found a way to get to you ♪ 813 00:42:07,992 --> 00:42:10,726 ♪ We are the other people We are the other people ♪ 814 00:42:10,862 --> 00:42:13,862 ♪ We are the other people You're the other people too ♪ 815 00:42:15,199 --> 00:42:16,932 ♪ Found a way to get to you ♪ 816 00:42:18,335 --> 00:42:20,737 ♪ Do you think that I love you... ♪ 817 00:42:21,005 --> 00:42:22,815 Zappa: I wasn't in the United States 818 00:42:22,840 --> 00:42:25,139 when Moon was born. I was on the road. 819 00:42:25,275 --> 00:42:26,954 As I walked out the door to get on the bus, 820 00:42:26,978 --> 00:42:30,512 I said, "Well, if it's a girl, name it Moon, 821 00:42:30,648 --> 00:42:32,728 and if it's a boy, name it Motorhead." 822 00:42:34,686 --> 00:42:39,255 ("Final Hymn" from Stravinsky's The Firebird plays) 823 00:43:42,119 --> 00:43:44,231 Reporter: In California, actor Ronald Reagan 824 00:43:44,255 --> 00:43:46,132 and Mrs. Reagan arrive to cast their votes 825 00:43:46,157 --> 00:43:48,036 in the state's primary election. 826 00:43:48,226 --> 00:43:50,525 He's the Republican nominee for governor. 827 00:43:50,661 --> 00:43:52,862 It's his first political contest. 828 00:43:57,568 --> 00:44:00,168 Gail: Reagan was the governor of California. 829 00:44:01,039 --> 00:44:06,576 And there was a freak contingent starting in LA at the time. 830 00:44:07,144 --> 00:44:11,547 And in those days, if you had long hair in this town 831 00:44:11,916 --> 00:44:13,449 and you were driving a car, 832 00:44:13,585 --> 00:44:15,545 it was such an infrequent occurrence 833 00:44:16,021 --> 00:44:18,181 that people would actually wave to each other. 834 00:44:18,255 --> 00:44:20,523 That's how... what a tigh... what a small 835 00:44:20,657 --> 00:44:22,557 and tight community it was. 836 00:44:23,860 --> 00:44:25,773 Pamela: Well, Frank was considered 837 00:44:25,797 --> 00:44:28,262 by everyone on the strip and all the people in the clubs 838 00:44:28,398 --> 00:44:31,833 to be sort of the... I mean, the ersatz Pied Piper 839 00:44:31,969 --> 00:44:33,302 of Laurel Canyon. 840 00:44:33,603 --> 00:44:35,648 He was right in the center of it in the log cabin, 841 00:44:35,672 --> 00:44:37,806 which was Tom Mix's old cabin 842 00:44:38,108 --> 00:44:40,376 with his horse buried under the bowling alley. 843 00:44:40,510 --> 00:44:41,989 People can't believe these kind of things. 844 00:44:42,012 --> 00:44:44,090 With Houdini's house right across the street. 845 00:44:44,114 --> 00:44:47,483 And he... he was this centrifugal force 846 00:44:47,851 --> 00:44:49,217 of Laurel Canyon. 847 00:44:49,853 --> 00:44:51,519 Any kind of rock star, 848 00:44:51,655 --> 00:44:53,266 especially the British guys who came to town, 849 00:44:53,291 --> 00:44:56,324 wanted to meet Frank. So, we would, 850 00:44:56,460 --> 00:44:58,304 you know, meet these rock stars, 851 00:44:58,329 --> 00:44:59,628 and they right away would say, 852 00:44:59,764 --> 00:45:01,496 "C... can we meet Zappa?" 853 00:45:01,632 --> 00:45:03,751 So, of course, Jagger was there, the Stones, 854 00:45:03,800 --> 00:45:05,668 and all the local bands too. 855 00:45:05,802 --> 00:45:07,068 But Jeff Beck, I mean. 856 00:45:07,371 --> 00:45:09,150 Any... anybody you can think of at that time. 857 00:45:09,173 --> 00:45:13,041 It was the center of the world at that point. 858 00:45:13,543 --> 00:45:15,344 ♪ A brown felt top hat ♪ 859 00:45:15,478 --> 00:45:17,045 ♪ Wrapped with a bow ♪ 860 00:45:17,181 --> 00:45:19,141 ♪ Yellow wrap-around girl-watchers ♪ 861 00:45:19,217 --> 00:45:20,715 ♪ That never show ♪ 862 00:45:20,851 --> 00:45:22,396 ♪ His blue eyes, his blue eyes ♪ 863 00:45:22,420 --> 00:45:24,186 ♪ What a fantastic disguise ♪ 864 00:45:24,320 --> 00:45:27,356 ♪ He's so grand and fantastic, so wonderful ♪ 865 00:45:27,824 --> 00:45:31,092 Pamela: Frank suggested, since he had started a record label, 866 00:45:31,228 --> 00:45:35,063 that we actually become our own group. 867 00:45:35,398 --> 00:45:36,998 It was very ra... unusual. 868 00:45:37,135 --> 00:45:38,945 I mean, there were no rock... Girl rock bands at all 869 00:45:38,969 --> 00:45:41,871 or rock groups. We didn't play any instruments. 870 00:45:42,907 --> 00:45:46,407 And he wanted us just to capture our lives in Laurel Canyon, 871 00:45:46,543 --> 00:45:47,876 on the Strip. 872 00:45:48,077 --> 00:45:50,038 He thought we had something to say. 873 00:45:50,181 --> 00:45:53,648 He always liked to preserve moments in time. 874 00:45:54,684 --> 00:45:57,585 Man: Uh, what kind of, uh, girls are these groupies? 875 00:45:57,887 --> 00:46:00,000 Zappa: Well, not all of 'em are groupies, you know. 876 00:46:00,023 --> 00:46:02,423 Some girls that will readily admit that they are groupies 877 00:46:02,525 --> 00:46:04,893 have a very special sort of mentality, you know, 878 00:46:05,028 --> 00:46:07,628 and they... they aspire to that position. 879 00:46:07,764 --> 00:46:10,909 But there are other girls who would never admit that they are groupies, 880 00:46:10,934 --> 00:46:13,302 but who function in that capacity anyway. 881 00:46:13,438 --> 00:46:15,518 Man: And the... what about, uh, your wife? 882 00:46:15,606 --> 00:46:17,672 I mean, does she like it? 883 00:46:17,807 --> 00:46:19,619 Well, she's become accustomed to it 884 00:46:19,643 --> 00:46:21,110 over a period of years. 885 00:46:24,215 --> 00:46:25,514 Pamela: Well, early, early days, 886 00:46:25,782 --> 00:46:28,583 I did not notice any messing around. 887 00:46:29,420 --> 00:46:31,331 When... when Moon was a little baby, 888 00:46:31,355 --> 00:46:32,898 and then she got pregnant with Dweezil, 889 00:46:32,922 --> 00:46:34,989 and she insisted they leave that scene. 890 00:46:35,126 --> 00:46:36,224 I remember that. 891 00:46:36,427 --> 00:46:37,592 Okay, that's it. 892 00:46:37,795 --> 00:46:39,606 She... she was having another kid. 893 00:46:39,630 --> 00:46:43,266 And, uh, you know, I don't think she liked it. 894 00:46:43,902 --> 00:46:46,101 She didn't. In fact, I know she didn't like it, 895 00:46:46,237 --> 00:46:47,969 but she knew about it. 896 00:46:48,605 --> 00:46:50,606 Zappa: I'm a human being, you know. 897 00:46:51,141 --> 00:46:52,641 I like to get laid. 898 00:46:53,911 --> 00:46:56,612 I mean, is... you have to be realistic about these things. 899 00:46:56,746 --> 00:46:59,382 You go out on the road, you strap on a bunch of girls, 900 00:46:59,516 --> 00:47:00,717 you come back to the house, 901 00:47:00,885 --> 00:47:02,630 you find out you've got the clap. 902 00:47:02,653 --> 00:47:04,130 What, you're going to keep it a secret from your wife? 903 00:47:04,155 --> 00:47:06,322 You know. So, I come back there, I said, 904 00:47:06,456 --> 00:47:08,617 "Look, I got the clap. Go get a prescription." 905 00:47:08,659 --> 00:47:11,260 So, she goes out and gets some penicillin tablets. 906 00:47:11,396 --> 00:47:13,461 We both take them, and that's it. 907 00:47:14,764 --> 00:47:17,166 She grumbles every once in a while, but, you know, 908 00:47:17,802 --> 00:47:19,235 she's my wife. 909 00:47:19,704 --> 00:47:23,539 Pamela: And he did include her in... in almost everything 910 00:47:23,675 --> 00:47:24,974 that... that he was doing. 911 00:47:25,175 --> 00:47:27,376 She was right there at all times. 912 00:47:27,510 --> 00:47:29,188 All right. Now what do you want to do about... 913 00:47:29,213 --> 00:47:30,579 Gail: I'll tell you the secret 914 00:47:30,715 --> 00:47:32,458 to keep maintaining a relationship, 915 00:47:32,483 --> 00:47:36,518 apart from the hideous uh, occupational hazards 916 00:47:36,653 --> 00:47:39,554 that in... that are specific to rock and roll, 917 00:47:39,791 --> 00:47:43,559 um, which can throw you for an... take you 918 00:47:43,693 --> 00:47:48,197 on an emotional rollercoaster if you let it from time to time. 919 00:47:48,331 --> 00:47:49,364 But... 920 00:47:50,166 --> 00:47:53,001 the main thing is don't have those conversations. 921 00:47:54,137 --> 00:47:57,039 So, Frank does what he does, and I do what I do. 922 00:48:00,077 --> 00:48:03,210 You know, I used to... had an expression in my own mind about it. 923 00:48:03,447 --> 00:48:05,181 A polarity of passions. 924 00:48:06,516 --> 00:48:08,050 Two different worlds there, 925 00:48:08,186 --> 00:48:10,351 and it's sometimes very uncomfortable 926 00:48:10,487 --> 00:48:13,320 because he couldn't fucking wait to get out of the house 927 00:48:13,456 --> 00:48:14,690 and go on the road. 928 00:48:15,226 --> 00:48:17,893 But then, he was also very happy to come home 929 00:48:18,027 --> 00:48:19,594 just to feel safe again. 930 00:48:24,668 --> 00:48:26,179 Gail: One of the reasons why I said, 931 00:48:26,202 --> 00:48:28,081 "Let's get the fuck out of here," 932 00:48:28,106 --> 00:48:31,072 because Manson had set up shop in the mountain behind us 933 00:48:31,208 --> 00:48:32,608 at the log cabin. 934 00:48:34,043 --> 00:48:36,945 There was this trail that was maybe ten feet 935 00:48:37,081 --> 00:48:38,246 from the bedroom window, 936 00:48:38,682 --> 00:48:40,983 and every morning, I would see their feet 937 00:48:41,485 --> 00:48:43,445 cruising around the neighborhood. 938 00:48:43,820 --> 00:48:45,221 They were creepy. 939 00:48:47,224 --> 00:48:49,184 I mean, the thing about the '60s, 940 00:48:49,594 --> 00:48:51,726 you just know stuff. 941 00:48:52,228 --> 00:48:54,407 You don't know why you know it, but you just know it. 942 00:48:54,431 --> 00:48:56,898 You feel it. It's... it's just in the air. 943 00:48:57,034 --> 00:48:58,668 And I remember that. 944 00:48:58,969 --> 00:49:01,237 Reporter: The family's leader, Charles Manson, 945 00:49:01,371 --> 00:49:03,472 denied that they were a violent group. 946 00:49:03,940 --> 00:49:06,742 Gail: I don't know if previous generations felt that. 947 00:49:07,376 --> 00:49:08,978 But I know we did. 948 00:49:09,847 --> 00:49:11,980 Whoever was alive then did. 949 00:49:12,516 --> 00:49:15,251 (sinister music playing) 950 00:49:28,664 --> 00:49:30,943 Alice: The way we met was that I met Miss Christine 951 00:49:30,967 --> 00:49:32,333 from the GTOs. 952 00:49:32,670 --> 00:49:34,614 And they knew we were looking for a contract, 953 00:49:34,637 --> 00:49:37,077 and... and they knew Frank was just starting his own label. 954 00:49:37,375 --> 00:49:41,076 And we were this little band coming to LA to try to make it. 955 00:49:41,644 --> 00:49:44,246 Not knowing that he was going to be our savior. 956 00:49:44,782 --> 00:49:47,081 Every record company turned us down 957 00:49:47,217 --> 00:49:48,550 except for Frank. 958 00:49:49,119 --> 00:49:50,251 It was weird. 959 00:49:50,487 --> 00:49:52,086 He had the freaks, 960 00:49:52,322 --> 00:49:54,956 and he had the very, extremely intelligent 961 00:49:55,358 --> 00:49:57,893 and the very artsy people behind him. 962 00:49:58,161 --> 00:50:00,521 And then there was the whole middle that didn't get it. 963 00:50:00,998 --> 00:50:05,367 (band playing) 964 00:50:12,777 --> 00:50:17,780 Man: You formally disbanded the Mothers in 1969. Why? 965 00:50:19,182 --> 00:50:21,063 Zappa: Because it was a disaster. 966 00:50:21,418 --> 00:50:22,617 We were doing a tour. 967 00:50:22,753 --> 00:50:24,753 The tour wasn't successful. 968 00:50:25,289 --> 00:50:28,858 At the beginning, I took 400 dollars out of my bank account 969 00:50:28,992 --> 00:50:30,159 so I could eat. 970 00:50:31,128 --> 00:50:32,871 And by the time the tour was over, 971 00:50:32,896 --> 00:50:34,541 after paying everybody and everything, 972 00:50:34,565 --> 00:50:36,731 I was 10,000 dollars in debt. 973 00:50:37,034 --> 00:50:39,467 And it just seemed to me that this was not the... 974 00:50:40,103 --> 00:50:42,170 A lifestyle I wished to continue. 975 00:50:42,840 --> 00:50:45,708 Hey. That sounds like shit. 976 00:50:48,445 --> 00:50:51,380 Want to get a level on this before we actually make it? 977 00:50:53,951 --> 00:50:56,684 Bunk: When we first went out to play, after the concert, 978 00:50:56,820 --> 00:50:59,722 we wanted to know if we were actually going to get paid. 979 00:51:00,891 --> 00:51:03,057 There was always that kind of, 980 00:51:03,193 --> 00:51:06,094 "Wow. What's going on financially?" 981 00:51:06,896 --> 00:51:09,998 So, we didn't even get a two-week notice. 982 00:51:10,134 --> 00:51:11,934 And... and I remember saying, 983 00:51:12,170 --> 00:51:14,235 "I just bought a new Chevy," whatever. 984 00:51:14,371 --> 00:51:15,903 You know. So, no. 985 00:51:16,039 --> 00:51:18,407 It was totally out of the blue. 986 00:51:19,076 --> 00:51:20,409 Totally. 987 00:51:23,347 --> 00:51:25,914 Mike: I think that Frank realized, "Wow. 988 00:51:26,050 --> 00:51:27,969 I just wanted to create something, 989 00:51:28,018 --> 00:51:29,896 and I wanted to make a statement artistically," 990 00:51:29,920 --> 00:51:32,121 but there's people relying on you. 991 00:51:32,255 --> 00:51:34,322 There's people expecting paychecks. 992 00:51:34,458 --> 00:51:37,458 And then Frank is like, "This isn't fun for me anymore. 993 00:51:37,594 --> 00:51:40,228 I don't want to feel as though I'm responsible 994 00:51:40,364 --> 00:51:41,974 for the... the happiness and livelihood 995 00:51:41,998 --> 00:51:43,998 of... of a bunch of other people." 996 00:51:45,335 --> 00:51:47,436 "All I want to do is... is make statements 997 00:51:47,570 --> 00:51:50,106 and see how they sound." 998 00:51:52,076 --> 00:51:55,244 Zappa: The new format that I'm working with now is... 999 00:51:55,545 --> 00:51:57,791 that if I want to form a group called The Mothers of Invention 1000 00:51:57,815 --> 00:51:59,855 I'll stick anybody in it that I want to. 1001 00:51:59,884 --> 00:52:03,318 It's just whoever happens to be right for the type of work 1002 00:52:03,452 --> 00:52:04,786 that we're doing. 1003 00:52:05,121 --> 00:52:06,900 Like, for instance, if I'm going to do a concert 1004 00:52:06,923 --> 00:52:08,802 with a symphony orchestra and I don't necessarily 1005 00:52:08,826 --> 00:52:11,358 want to do a lot of vocals with the orchestra, 1006 00:52:11,494 --> 00:52:12,960 then I don't bring the vocals. 1007 00:52:13,362 --> 00:52:16,130 Or I... I have, uh, occasion to play a job 1008 00:52:16,266 --> 00:52:18,077 with a small group, like four or five pieces, 1009 00:52:18,101 --> 00:52:19,679 where I'm just going to play the guitar, 1010 00:52:19,702 --> 00:52:21,514 I'll bring along an instrumentation 1011 00:52:21,538 --> 00:52:23,349 - like Hot Rats. - Man: Uh-hmm. 1012 00:52:23,373 --> 00:52:25,474 So, I... it gives me a little bit more 1013 00:52:25,610 --> 00:52:27,675 artistic flexibility, you might say. 1014 00:52:28,277 --> 00:52:30,311 Most of what occurred after that, 1015 00:52:30,579 --> 00:52:32,947 the groups were not as permanent. 1016 00:52:33,784 --> 00:52:36,050 They didn't have the same kind of personality 1017 00:52:36,186 --> 00:52:37,266 as the early Mothers. 1018 00:52:38,655 --> 00:52:42,157 The one that followed on after that 1969 batch 1019 00:52:42,293 --> 00:52:44,137 was the group with Mark and Howard. 1020 00:52:44,161 --> 00:52:45,594 And it had an identity. 1021 00:52:45,728 --> 00:52:48,295 - Oh, you're so professional. - Oh, okay. 1022 00:52:48,431 --> 00:52:51,800 The way you get to travel to all those exotic places. 1023 00:52:52,268 --> 00:52:56,038 Do you really have a hit single on the charts with a bullet? 1024 00:53:00,844 --> 00:53:03,545 ♪ Imagine me and you, I do ♪ 1025 00:53:03,681 --> 00:53:07,215 ♪ I think about you day and night, it's only right ♪ 1026 00:53:07,351 --> 00:53:10,985 ♪ To think about the girl you love and hold her tight ♪ 1027 00:53:11,121 --> 00:53:14,757 ♪ So happy together ♪ 1028 00:53:15,860 --> 00:53:19,793 ♪ I can't see me lovin' nobody but you ♪ 1029 00:53:19,929 --> 00:53:22,797 ♪ For all my life ♪ 1030 00:53:22,932 --> 00:53:26,867 ♪ When you're with me, baby, the skies'll be blue ♪ 1031 00:53:27,003 --> 00:53:30,371 ♪ For all my life ♪ 1032 00:53:31,141 --> 00:53:33,052 Zappa: They had been in a group called The Turtles, 1033 00:53:33,077 --> 00:53:35,117 but I guess The Turtles had broken up. 1034 00:53:35,211 --> 00:53:36,710 And I had done a concert 1035 00:53:36,847 --> 00:53:38,391 with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, 1036 00:53:38,414 --> 00:53:40,282 and they came to the concert. 1037 00:53:40,684 --> 00:53:42,461 And we decided that I would put together 1038 00:53:42,485 --> 00:53:44,230 another touring band called the Mothers 1039 00:53:44,253 --> 00:53:46,554 and go out and do amusing things. 1040 00:53:50,327 --> 00:53:51,393 Hey! 1041 00:53:58,235 --> 00:54:00,635 ♪ Call any vegetable ♪ 1042 00:54:01,204 --> 00:54:02,938 ♪ Call it by name ♪ 1043 00:54:05,742 --> 00:54:07,442 ♪ Call one today ♪ 1044 00:54:08,344 --> 00:54:10,579 ♪ When you get off the train ♪ 1045 00:54:13,516 --> 00:54:15,782 ♪ Call any vegetable ♪ 1046 00:54:15,918 --> 00:54:21,923 ♪ And the chances are good! ♪ 1047 00:54:24,994 --> 00:54:26,360 Zappa: We were redefining 1048 00:54:26,496 --> 00:54:28,373 the expectations of entertainment. 1049 00:54:28,398 --> 00:54:30,043 But it seemed to me there was no reason 1050 00:54:30,067 --> 00:54:31,878 why that audience shouldn't experience 1051 00:54:31,902 --> 00:54:33,612 some of the things that had already happened 1052 00:54:33,637 --> 00:54:36,304 since 1920 in musical development. 1053 00:54:36,440 --> 00:54:38,418 Things that they were completely unaware of 1054 00:54:38,442 --> 00:54:41,309 just because they were a "rock audience" 1055 00:54:41,445 --> 00:54:44,144 and therefore deprived of musical experience. 1056 00:54:44,280 --> 00:54:46,514 It wasn't being presented to them in any kind 1057 00:54:46,650 --> 00:54:48,949 of music appreciation class in school. 1058 00:54:49,585 --> 00:54:51,820 Unfortunately, there were some people 1059 00:54:51,956 --> 00:54:55,757 who thought that it was bad because nothing should change 1060 00:54:55,893 --> 00:54:57,759 real rock and roll. 1061 00:54:57,893 --> 00:55:00,795 And anybody who would interfere with that kind of aesthetic 1062 00:55:00,931 --> 00:55:04,465 was viewed as a threat and needed to be disposed of. 1063 00:55:05,135 --> 00:55:08,302 And basically, my career has been... 1064 00:55:09,405 --> 00:55:12,141 year after year, waiting to be disposed of. 1065 00:55:41,338 --> 00:55:43,338 Man: How do you know about success? 1066 00:55:43,974 --> 00:55:45,650 Zappa: How do I know about success? 1067 00:55:45,675 --> 00:55:46,909 I don't know. 1068 00:55:48,644 --> 00:55:50,289 I watched The Beatles in the '60s. 1069 00:55:50,313 --> 00:55:51,679 I guess that's success. 1070 00:55:52,081 --> 00:55:53,815 (cheers and applause) 1071 00:55:54,083 --> 00:55:56,184 Hey. Sit down and cool it for a minute 1072 00:55:56,320 --> 00:55:58,164 so I can hear what we're going to do. 1073 00:55:58,188 --> 00:56:00,655 And for... and for those of you in the band who have no idea 1074 00:56:00,791 --> 00:56:03,557 what's about to happen, this is in A minor. 1075 00:56:03,693 --> 00:56:04,893 And it's not standard... 1076 00:56:05,027 --> 00:56:06,672 Mike: You pretty much couldn't find 1077 00:56:06,695 --> 00:56:08,829 a... a more pristine example of somebody 1078 00:56:08,965 --> 00:56:10,833 at the absolute pinnacle 1079 00:56:10,967 --> 00:56:13,001 of mainstream musical success... 1080 00:56:13,903 --> 00:56:16,605 who decides, "Wow. This is bullshit." 1081 00:56:17,474 --> 00:56:19,041 I'd just like to say hello. 1082 00:56:19,909 --> 00:56:24,980 Mike: And so, when Lennon and Zappa finally crossed paths... 1083 00:56:27,617 --> 00:56:32,253 in some ways, it gave John and Yoko's artistic expression 1084 00:56:32,389 --> 00:56:35,690 a framework that they never really enjoyed 1085 00:56:35,992 --> 00:56:37,791 in any other context. 1086 00:56:37,927 --> 00:56:40,128 And in some ways, makes more sense 1087 00:56:40,262 --> 00:56:43,030 when the imprimatur of Frank and the Mothers 1088 00:56:43,166 --> 00:56:44,298 are surrounding them. 1089 00:56:44,568 --> 00:56:45,800 ♪ Stupid ♪ 1090 00:56:46,902 --> 00:56:48,369 ♪ Stupid ♪ 1091 00:56:49,905 --> 00:56:51,407 ♪ Stupid ♪ 1092 00:56:53,009 --> 00:56:54,275 ♪ Stupid ♪ 1093 00:56:55,811 --> 00:56:57,378 ♪ Stupid ♪ 1094 00:56:58,681 --> 00:56:59,713 ♪ Stupid ♪ 1095 00:57:00,817 --> 00:57:04,952 Alice: I really think Frank was afraid to have a hit record. 1096 00:57:06,190 --> 00:57:08,722 Because I think Frank could have written hit records all day. 1097 00:57:09,858 --> 00:57:13,561 And he purposely sabotaged a lot of his records. 1098 00:57:15,264 --> 00:57:16,909 It was interesting 'cause everybody 1099 00:57:16,932 --> 00:57:19,092 was going for the hit record, and he never did. 1100 00:57:20,804 --> 00:57:23,505 Ian: That makes absolutely no sense to me. 1101 00:57:25,208 --> 00:57:28,876 But I don't disagree with it because I... I think 1102 00:57:29,012 --> 00:57:31,324 that that's probably correct, but I don't think Frank was... 1103 00:57:31,347 --> 00:57:36,617 Had any interest whatsoever in writing an... any hit tunes. 1104 00:57:37,753 --> 00:57:40,188 That's not even on his radar. 1105 00:57:42,659 --> 00:57:43,824 Ruth: This man... 1106 00:57:44,394 --> 00:57:47,295 was just a walking mass of contradictions, 1107 00:57:47,563 --> 00:57:50,465 and yet... now I'm going to contradict myself. 1108 00:57:50,599 --> 00:57:52,032 At the same time, 1109 00:57:52,268 --> 00:57:54,507 he was very consistent with those contradictions. 1110 00:57:56,271 --> 00:57:58,806 (orchestra plays) 1111 00:58:02,711 --> 00:58:05,246 Man: Do you see any commercial potential in it? 1112 00:58:05,481 --> 00:58:08,416 I sure as hell hope so. (laughs) 1113 00:58:11,588 --> 00:58:14,387 From 200 Motels he expects the worst reviews 1114 00:58:14,523 --> 00:58:16,623 of any movie ever put out. 1115 00:58:17,693 --> 00:58:21,996 His intention is to create a piece of film so bizarre 1116 00:58:22,264 --> 00:58:25,867 and parts of it so full of bullshit 1117 00:58:26,804 --> 00:58:29,871 and other parts of it so technically perfect 1118 00:58:30,007 --> 00:58:32,440 that the people are going to leave the theater, going... 1119 00:58:32,576 --> 00:58:35,010 "I didn't understand it at all. What's he doing? 1120 00:58:35,144 --> 00:58:37,478 What's... what's the message? What's he trying to say?" 1121 00:58:37,614 --> 00:58:39,815 Well, that's the message. 1122 00:58:40,284 --> 00:58:41,916 Martin walks over in here. 1123 00:58:42,052 --> 00:58:44,331 You just come over and stand near the side of the organ 1124 00:58:44,355 --> 00:58:45,987 and watch from the background. 1125 00:58:46,121 --> 00:58:47,967 Mark: Just the whole idea that it is Frank Zappa 1126 00:58:47,990 --> 00:58:49,490 and The Mothers of Invention 1127 00:58:49,793 --> 00:58:51,637 has always given us something to talk about. 1128 00:58:51,661 --> 00:58:55,862 You know, Frank is, you know, our boss, and so there's always 1129 00:58:55,998 --> 00:59:00,034 that kind of management/worker relationship. 1130 00:59:00,704 --> 00:59:02,702 It's all very temporary. 1131 00:59:02,938 --> 00:59:06,740 And, uh, that's the way it works. 1132 00:59:06,876 --> 00:59:09,342 And you just... You just never know. 1133 00:59:09,478 --> 00:59:11,846 I mean, like, it isn't the final stay 1134 00:59:11,981 --> 00:59:13,581 for any of us. 1135 00:59:13,717 --> 00:59:14,827 You know, like, this isn't the final Mothers 1136 00:59:14,851 --> 00:59:16,217 Frank will have. 1137 00:59:16,519 --> 00:59:19,086 It's hard to say how long we will be together. 1138 00:59:20,423 --> 00:59:22,983 So, they see that you're getting Martin back there and everybody. 1139 00:59:23,059 --> 00:59:24,525 You're waking them all up. 1140 00:59:25,596 --> 00:59:29,364 Steve: My perspective of it has changed through the years. 1141 00:59:30,067 --> 00:59:32,467 Because when I was in it, 1142 00:59:33,302 --> 00:59:36,070 I was a tool for the composer 1143 00:59:36,206 --> 00:59:38,373 and... and as... Is all of his musicians. 1144 00:59:38,574 --> 00:59:42,876 And he used his tools, uh, brilliantly. 1145 00:59:43,813 --> 00:59:46,882 It's like, whatever you can do that's interesting and unique, 1146 00:59:47,016 --> 00:59:48,750 it's going to be exaggerated 1147 00:59:49,385 --> 00:59:54,255 and used as he deems fit for his music. 1148 00:59:57,094 --> 01:00:01,862 Ruth: Frank would often appear to be cold, aloof, 1149 01:00:01,998 --> 01:00:06,867 and not personally involved with his trained monkeys 1150 01:00:07,003 --> 01:00:09,036 as once he joked about. 1151 01:00:09,172 --> 01:00:11,132 We're just all trained monkeys, right? 1152 01:00:11,208 --> 01:00:14,175 He's the circus ringleader or whatever. 1153 01:00:14,878 --> 01:00:21,115 But I want to tell you that he had great feelings for us. 1154 01:00:21,818 --> 01:00:24,286 He was... he was human. 1155 01:00:24,420 --> 01:00:27,355 There were times when I didn't feel 1156 01:00:27,590 --> 01:00:28,956 that he was so much. 1157 01:00:29,092 --> 01:00:31,760 And I did feel he was cruel at times. 1158 01:00:31,894 --> 01:00:34,663 But he was a passionate man. 1159 01:00:34,797 --> 01:00:37,798 And he developed real love, 1160 01:00:37,934 --> 01:00:40,233 I'm not going to say equally for everybody. 1161 01:00:40,369 --> 01:00:45,005 But the people that he loved, he kept bringing back 1162 01:00:45,742 --> 01:00:49,010 over and through many of the bands. 1163 01:00:49,144 --> 01:00:50,846 Many of the tours. 1164 01:00:53,016 --> 01:00:55,516 (speaking indistinctly) 1165 01:00:55,952 --> 01:00:58,032 Gail: Frank was very loyal to the people 1166 01:00:58,086 --> 01:01:00,047 that had helped him along the way 1167 01:01:00,090 --> 01:01:02,190 even if they were the worst motherfuckers. 1168 01:01:02,759 --> 01:01:06,293 He would, um, go out of his way to help them. 1169 01:01:07,164 --> 01:01:11,498 And I can count on one hand the friends that he truly 1170 01:01:11,634 --> 01:01:13,501 would spend time with. 1171 01:01:14,637 --> 01:01:18,539 He was pretty forgiving for someone that he knew, 1172 01:01:18,675 --> 01:01:20,641 but if he didn't know you, 1173 01:01:21,344 --> 01:01:22,811 one chance, that's it. 1174 01:01:22,945 --> 01:01:24,045 Done. 1175 01:01:24,447 --> 01:01:26,882 You know, so he could be hardcore as well. 1176 01:01:36,259 --> 01:01:38,170 First of all, he was not injured. 1177 01:01:38,195 --> 01:01:40,061 He was attacked. 1178 01:01:43,867 --> 01:01:46,367 This myth about him falling off the stage, 1179 01:01:46,503 --> 01:01:48,302 that didn't happen. 1180 01:01:48,438 --> 01:01:52,773 Some idiot attacked him and threw him off the stage. 1181 01:01:53,041 --> 01:01:55,161 - (people screaming) - (indistinct chatter) 1182 01:02:00,916 --> 01:02:03,585 Man: And I know a lot of people know something happened to you, 1183 01:02:03,719 --> 01:02:05,418 and essentially, it was that 1184 01:02:05,554 --> 01:02:09,023 a person of somewhat demented condition, apparently, 1185 01:02:09,159 --> 01:02:10,759 had pulled you off the stage 1186 01:02:10,893 --> 01:02:13,094 at a place called the Rainbow Theatre in London. 1187 01:02:13,896 --> 01:02:16,309 And you were knocked unconscious and pretty seriously injured. 1188 01:02:16,333 --> 01:02:17,710 And I know you were in a wheelchair 1189 01:02:17,733 --> 01:02:19,199 a long time after that. 1190 01:02:19,469 --> 01:02:21,746 Uh, there's been a lot of talk about some of things 1191 01:02:21,771 --> 01:02:24,606 that happened to the Mothers as a result of that accident, 1192 01:02:24,740 --> 01:02:27,474 but I'm wondering what, if anything, it did to you. 1193 01:02:27,610 --> 01:02:28,876 Did it affect your thinking? 1194 01:02:29,112 --> 01:02:30,922 Did it change any of your perspectives? 1195 01:02:30,947 --> 01:02:32,413 Oh, certainly. Of course. 1196 01:02:32,547 --> 01:02:34,492 It helps you to find out who your friends are. 1197 01:02:34,516 --> 01:02:35,516 (chuckles) 1198 01:02:36,251 --> 01:02:38,518 Try sitting in a wheelchair for nine months. 1199 01:02:38,655 --> 01:02:40,614 You'll find out who your friends are. 1200 01:02:43,427 --> 01:02:45,170 The point that I was in the hospital, 1201 01:02:45,193 --> 01:02:46,561 you have a bunch of guys 1202 01:02:46,762 --> 01:02:48,641 who earn their living from touring. 1203 01:02:48,664 --> 01:02:50,576 And I was unable to tour for the bulk of that year. 1204 01:02:50,599 --> 01:02:52,711 So, I'm used to being active and traveling around 1205 01:02:52,735 --> 01:02:54,467 and having a good time. 1206 01:02:54,804 --> 01:02:57,438 And so, if you're sitting there and you are an invalid 1207 01:02:57,706 --> 01:03:00,608 against your will, uh, it does change your outlook 1208 01:03:00,744 --> 01:03:01,909 a little bit. 1209 01:03:32,275 --> 01:03:34,809 Bruce: The nose is the important part 1210 01:03:35,945 --> 01:03:38,579 when you're making a Zappa head. 1211 01:03:39,882 --> 01:03:42,416 'Cause no one else has one like it. 1212 01:03:45,621 --> 01:03:49,190 It doesn't have ears, but that's because 1213 01:03:49,324 --> 01:03:52,260 they wouldn't be seen once you get the hair on. 1214 01:03:54,931 --> 01:03:58,498 But the hair is actually the... the simpler part 1215 01:03:58,635 --> 01:04:00,467 of this whole thing. 1216 01:04:01,137 --> 01:04:06,574 You can see here how easily the hair goes on. 1217 01:04:11,014 --> 01:04:13,782 Man: How did you find the animator, Bruce Bickford? 1218 01:04:14,150 --> 01:04:16,518 Zappa: I was sitting here with a broken leg, 1219 01:04:16,652 --> 01:04:18,452 and he climbed over my fence 1220 01:04:18,588 --> 01:04:20,721 with two reels of film under his arm. 1221 01:04:21,257 --> 01:04:22,735 Now, this is tough 'cause the fence 1222 01:04:22,759 --> 01:04:25,427 used to be pretty high, but he made it. 1223 01:04:28,164 --> 01:04:30,831 Bruce: I hitchhiked up to Laurel Canyon 1224 01:04:30,967 --> 01:04:33,034 and then found his house. 1225 01:04:34,903 --> 01:04:38,505 We looked at the stuff, and he was impressed 1226 01:04:38,641 --> 01:04:41,509 by the number of figures that I could sustain 1227 01:04:41,644 --> 01:04:44,144 in animation in one shot. 1228 01:04:45,815 --> 01:04:48,882 Zappa: As far as I can tell, he's the best ever. 1229 01:04:49,652 --> 01:04:51,630 And he wanted to know if I could help him. 1230 01:04:51,655 --> 01:04:53,894 I was sitting in the basement, and here's this guy 1231 01:04:53,989 --> 01:04:55,090 with this footage. 1232 01:04:55,891 --> 01:04:57,972 And he's been on my payroll ever since. 1233 01:05:00,762 --> 01:05:02,922 Mike: Motherfucker throws Frank off the stage, 1234 01:05:03,032 --> 01:05:04,844 and whether Frank likes it or not, 1235 01:05:04,867 --> 01:05:07,201 that's a huge marker for a new phase. 1236 01:05:07,336 --> 01:05:08,936 He's got to convalesce. 1237 01:05:09,072 --> 01:05:11,016 And what do you do if you're Frank Zappa 1238 01:05:11,041 --> 01:05:14,007 with that brain and you can't move? 1239 01:05:14,143 --> 01:05:15,443 And you can't get up? 1240 01:05:15,811 --> 01:05:17,771 He's got a restless, creative mind, 1241 01:05:17,847 --> 01:05:19,726 so he's going to start creating. 1242 01:05:19,981 --> 01:05:22,226 Zappa: Ladies and gentlemen, I suppose you've noticed 1243 01:05:22,251 --> 01:05:23,684 that this is a clay forest, 1244 01:05:23,820 --> 01:05:25,398 and the forest has been manufactured 1245 01:05:25,422 --> 01:05:26,686 for your edification 1246 01:05:26,822 --> 01:05:29,123 by none other than Bruce Bickford. 1247 01:05:29,259 --> 01:05:31,418 Bruce, would you please tell us what's going on 1248 01:05:31,527 --> 01:05:32,893 on this table over here? 1249 01:05:33,128 --> 01:05:35,797 Bruce: Well, all you have to do is just move it 1250 01:05:35,931 --> 01:05:37,565 a very slight amount. 1251 01:05:38,601 --> 01:05:40,300 And then you take the picture. 1252 01:05:40,536 --> 01:05:43,871 And you move it again. And just keep going. 1253 01:05:44,007 --> 01:05:46,239 And you can pick up speed after a while. 1254 01:05:46,376 --> 01:05:49,577 On making sure each time that you get your fingers out 1255 01:05:49,713 --> 01:05:53,213 from in front of the lens before you take the picture. 1256 01:05:53,949 --> 01:05:56,251 That's all you got to know. 1257 01:05:58,788 --> 01:06:01,922 Uh, at times, he... he was stubborn. 1258 01:06:02,925 --> 01:06:04,592 We were gonna make a movie, 1259 01:06:04,728 --> 01:06:10,465 and all he could think about was control. His control. 1260 01:06:11,768 --> 01:06:15,836 He had some emotions that ran deep 1261 01:06:16,306 --> 01:06:18,606 that he wouldn't express. 1262 01:06:20,710 --> 01:06:25,679 Bunk: I just accepted everything rather than questioning 1263 01:06:25,914 --> 01:06:28,115 why are you like you are? 1264 01:06:28,251 --> 01:06:31,152 But I could see the workaholic, 1265 01:06:31,755 --> 01:06:35,657 and that was where his joy was coming from. 1266 01:06:37,193 --> 01:06:40,293 Mike: I think that Frank didn't, like, express himself 1267 01:06:40,496 --> 01:06:43,530 as directly in terms of his own emotions. 1268 01:06:44,766 --> 01:06:47,969 I don't think he saw that as his purpose. 1269 01:06:50,139 --> 01:06:52,472 Bruce: He had so much talent. 1270 01:06:52,974 --> 01:06:55,677 It defied everything. 1271 01:07:00,583 --> 01:07:03,851 Mike: When something cataclysmic happens in your life, 1272 01:07:04,721 --> 01:07:07,021 there's any number of ways you can deal with it. 1273 01:07:07,155 --> 01:07:09,101 You can just go, "Oh, my god, why me?" 1274 01:07:09,125 --> 01:07:11,192 and be capsized. 1275 01:07:11,327 --> 01:07:14,829 Or you can say, "Well, I got no choice in the matter here. 1276 01:07:14,965 --> 01:07:16,530 Something has changed." 1277 01:07:16,833 --> 01:07:19,000 He's not going to continue employing a group 1278 01:07:19,135 --> 01:07:20,668 while he's convalescing, 1279 01:07:20,802 --> 01:07:23,637 so that version of the Mothers scatters, 1280 01:07:24,206 --> 01:07:25,639 starts doing their own things. 1281 01:07:25,775 --> 01:07:28,742 And as soon as he's able to write, 1282 01:07:29,512 --> 01:07:32,056 wheel to the rehearsal studio, get some of the horn players in there, 1283 01:07:32,081 --> 01:07:34,440 put the charts in front of him, hear what things sound like, 1284 01:07:34,884 --> 01:07:37,751 end up with a stack of new compositions, 1285 01:07:37,887 --> 01:07:41,021 go out on the road, surprise people yet again. 1286 01:07:42,159 --> 01:07:44,478 Let me tell you something. Do you like monster movies? 1287 01:07:44,827 --> 01:07:46,027 Anybody? 1288 01:07:46,596 --> 01:07:49,262 I love monster movies. 1289 01:07:50,400 --> 01:07:53,835 I simply adore monster movies and the cheaper they are, 1290 01:07:54,036 --> 01:07:56,403 the better they are. All right? 1291 01:07:58,039 --> 01:07:59,773 And this is "Cheepnis" here. 1292 01:08:00,041 --> 01:08:01,742 One, two, three, four. 1293 01:08:09,619 --> 01:08:11,385 ♪ I ate a hotdog ♪ 1294 01:08:11,521 --> 01:08:13,253 ♪ It tasted real good ♪ 1295 01:08:16,326 --> 01:08:18,693 ♪ Then I watched a movie from Hollywood ♪ 1296 01:08:22,765 --> 01:08:24,265 (cheers and applause) 1297 01:08:39,416 --> 01:08:41,649 I want to tell you one more time. 1298 01:08:42,252 --> 01:08:43,684 I want to thank you 1299 01:08:43,920 --> 01:08:45,840 because I really appreciate this. 1300 01:08:46,488 --> 01:08:48,989 (guitar wailing) 1301 01:09:05,007 --> 01:09:08,576 Thank you, thank you. Thank you. Thank you, thank you, thank you. 1302 01:09:08,712 --> 01:09:11,945 Thank every one of you. And good night. 1303 01:09:19,087 --> 01:09:22,422 Scott: I think at every point in his life, 1304 01:09:22,559 --> 01:09:24,591 he was trying to do the best thing 1305 01:09:24,926 --> 01:09:27,961 that he could to have no regrets. 1306 01:09:28,831 --> 01:09:35,234 But what was Frank honestly trying to do? 1307 01:09:35,805 --> 01:09:40,640 He didn't give a shit about the immediate... 1308 01:09:40,976 --> 01:09:44,578 world of his... of his attempting to function 1309 01:09:44,713 --> 01:09:46,759 in the way that he chose to function, which was 1310 01:09:46,783 --> 01:09:49,182 "If I'm alive, I've got to be in the studio. 1311 01:09:49,319 --> 01:09:52,119 I've got to be at the music paper." 1312 01:09:52,988 --> 01:09:54,320 Zappa: My desires are simple. 1313 01:09:54,457 --> 01:09:55,967 All I want to do is get a good performance 1314 01:09:55,992 --> 01:09:57,225 and a good recording 1315 01:09:57,627 --> 01:09:59,438 of everything that I ever wrote so I can hear it. 1316 01:09:59,462 --> 01:10:00,939 And if anybody else wants to hear it, 1317 01:10:00,962 --> 01:10:02,197 then that's great too. 1318 01:10:03,733 --> 01:10:05,832 Sounds easy, but it's really hard to do. 1319 01:10:07,002 --> 01:10:09,904 Steve: Frank was a slave to his inner ear. 1320 01:10:10,139 --> 01:10:12,179 So, he heard things a particular way, 1321 01:10:12,274 --> 01:10:14,475 and then he tried to manifest them in the world, 1322 01:10:14,510 --> 01:10:15,909 but there were limitations. 1323 01:10:16,045 --> 01:10:18,979 And... there's financial limitations to a degree 1324 01:10:19,114 --> 01:10:21,649 when you're dealing with orchestra pieces. 1325 01:10:21,783 --> 01:10:24,384 And there's performance limitations, you know? 1326 01:10:24,520 --> 01:10:27,820 You can just write something that somebody can't play, you know. 1327 01:10:28,224 --> 01:10:31,525 But the music needed to resemble what he was hearing 1328 01:10:31,661 --> 01:10:32,926 in his head. 1329 01:10:33,630 --> 01:10:36,596 So, this led to a lot of... I think suffering on his part 1330 01:10:36,731 --> 01:10:39,132 due to the inadequacies and limitations of others, 1331 01:10:39,268 --> 01:10:41,569 you know. Sorry, Frank. 1332 01:10:41,871 --> 01:10:43,636 (laughter) 1333 01:10:44,273 --> 01:10:45,972 Zappa: We rehearse all the time. 1334 01:10:46,842 --> 01:10:49,243 Every day before we play, we rehearse. 1335 01:10:49,444 --> 01:10:51,078 We'll... we'll rehearse, uh, 1336 01:10:51,213 --> 01:10:54,280 before this tour, we rehearsed for three weeks 1337 01:10:54,917 --> 01:10:58,185 four days a week, five hours a day. 1338 01:10:58,854 --> 01:11:01,555 Steve: A lot of people think, "Oh, he was very demanding." 1339 01:11:02,024 --> 01:11:03,791 No more demanding than anybody 1340 01:11:03,926 --> 01:11:06,126 that has a job that they need to do. 1341 01:11:06,261 --> 01:11:09,963 But it would be really difficult for a musician in Frank's band 1342 01:11:10,099 --> 01:11:12,867 if he was asking you to do things that you couldn't do. 1343 01:11:13,336 --> 01:11:15,336 But he always asked you to do things 1344 01:11:15,371 --> 01:11:18,439 that he believed you can do, but maybe you didn't. 1345 01:11:21,077 --> 01:11:24,279 "Black Page" was a piece of music that Frank wrote. 1346 01:11:25,347 --> 01:11:28,981 It's probably, um, at the foref... 1347 01:11:29,118 --> 01:11:30,551 forefront of innovation 1348 01:11:31,119 --> 01:11:34,454 in regard to rhythmic polymetric notation. 1349 01:11:35,992 --> 01:11:39,158 No doubt. No doubt. Because there's certain rhythmic 1350 01:11:39,295 --> 01:11:41,229 situations in that piece 1351 01:11:41,797 --> 01:11:44,832 that are extraordinarily complex, 1352 01:11:45,301 --> 01:11:46,701 but the important thing 1353 01:11:46,935 --> 01:11:49,055 is it sounds like a beautiful piece of music. 1354 01:11:49,104 --> 01:11:50,470 It's unique. 1355 01:11:50,773 --> 01:11:52,083 It's a comp... and it's nothing like anything else 1356 01:11:52,108 --> 01:11:54,809 in his catalog. This is Frank, you know. 1357 01:11:54,944 --> 01:11:58,712 And so, the "Black Page" is this piece of music 1358 01:11:58,847 --> 01:12:00,480 that was like this, um, 1359 01:12:00,615 --> 01:12:03,283 phenomenon to me and to many others. 1360 01:12:19,100 --> 01:12:22,869 Ruth: There was no doubt that there was a person 1361 01:12:23,005 --> 01:12:26,806 who could write music, fantastic music, 1362 01:12:27,009 --> 01:12:29,377 who cared that it be played properly. 1363 01:12:31,346 --> 01:12:33,279 And what I'm hearing 1364 01:12:33,983 --> 01:12:36,216 was put on this earth for me. 1365 01:12:36,452 --> 01:12:37,618 It was for me. 1366 01:13:06,849 --> 01:13:08,416 Ruth: That music is there 1367 01:13:09,851 --> 01:13:12,685 for as long as we have any kind of, uh, 1368 01:13:12,822 --> 01:13:14,555 appreciation for the arts. 1369 01:13:15,625 --> 01:13:17,925 The music that Frank made I think will last. 1370 01:13:27,069 --> 01:13:29,109 Producer: You guys fucking nailed that. 1371 01:13:30,005 --> 01:13:31,371 (laughs, cheers) 1372 01:13:31,506 --> 01:13:33,240 Yeah. That was good. 1373 01:13:36,212 --> 01:13:38,744 Man: Now that you are becoming a successful man 1374 01:13:38,881 --> 01:13:42,082 on... in the music scene, what consequences 1375 01:13:42,350 --> 01:13:44,162 could this probably have for you? 1376 01:13:44,185 --> 01:13:45,685 Zappa: I don't think about it. 1377 01:13:45,820 --> 01:13:47,054 A lot of times, the people... 1378 01:13:47,922 --> 01:13:49,990 like what you do for the wrong reasons. 1379 01:13:51,426 --> 01:13:53,728 Live from New York, it's Saturday Night. 1380 01:13:53,962 --> 01:13:56,229 (cheers and applause) 1381 01:13:57,399 --> 01:13:59,567 No, I don't do drugs. 1382 01:13:59,702 --> 01:14:03,503 I just don't like the effects it has on some people. 1383 01:14:06,375 --> 01:14:07,573 What do you mean, man? 1384 01:14:07,775 --> 01:14:09,287 What do you mean you don't do drugs? 1385 01:14:09,311 --> 01:14:11,078 Frank Zappa doesn't do drugs? 1386 01:14:11,213 --> 01:14:12,313 I don't believe it. 1387 01:14:13,082 --> 01:14:14,426 Zappa: Uh, well, that was their idea 1388 01:14:14,449 --> 01:14:16,117 of something funny. 1389 01:14:16,386 --> 01:14:18,063 I think they actually did it just to make fun of me, 1390 01:14:18,087 --> 01:14:19,386 you know, because you know 1391 01:14:19,521 --> 01:14:21,481 what their orientation is all about. 1392 01:14:21,890 --> 01:14:24,225 You didn't get high with the original Mothers? 1393 01:14:24,359 --> 01:14:26,270 - No. - What about Freak Out!, man? 1394 01:14:26,295 --> 01:14:28,614 You mean, you were straight when you wrote Freak Out!? 1395 01:14:28,698 --> 01:14:30,398 Oh my, God! Oh, my God! 1396 01:14:30,600 --> 01:14:35,168 Ah, wow, man, that's such a mind blower. 1397 01:14:35,570 --> 01:14:38,639 Zappa: I thought the whole skit sucked myself, and, uh, 1398 01:14:38,774 --> 01:14:40,474 I was just stuck doing it. 1399 01:14:40,609 --> 01:14:42,688 They wouldn't let me write anything for the show. 1400 01:14:42,712 --> 01:14:44,521 What is your function on this planet? 1401 01:14:44,546 --> 01:14:46,579 I am a musician. 1402 01:14:46,881 --> 01:14:48,082 One, two, three, four. 1403 01:14:50,453 --> 01:14:54,253 Don Pardo: Ladies and gentlemen. Frank Zappa. 1404 01:14:54,523 --> 01:14:56,335 ♪ I don't know much about dancing ♪ 1405 01:14:56,359 --> 01:14:58,158 ♪ That's why I got this song ♪ 1406 01:14:58,293 --> 01:14:59,805 ♪ One of my legs is shorter than the other ♪ 1407 01:14:59,828 --> 01:15:01,362 ♪ And both my feet's too long ♪ 1408 01:15:01,497 --> 01:15:03,140 ♪ Course now right along with them ♪ 1409 01:15:03,164 --> 01:15:04,530 ♪ Got no natural rhythm ♪ 1410 01:15:04,667 --> 01:15:06,233 ♪ But I go dancing every night ♪ 1411 01:15:06,368 --> 01:15:08,313 ♪ Hoping one day I might get it right ♪ 1412 01:15:08,337 --> 01:15:11,537 ♪ I'm a dancing fool ♪ 1413 01:15:11,939 --> 01:15:15,007 ♪ I'm a dancing fool ♪ 1414 01:15:15,277 --> 01:15:18,578 ♪ I'm a dancing fool ♪ 1415 01:15:18,713 --> 01:15:20,981 ♪ He's a dancing fool ♪ 1416 01:15:21,317 --> 01:15:23,356 ♪ I may be totally wrong, but I'm a... ♪ 1417 01:15:25,020 --> 01:15:27,060 ♪ I may be totally wrong, but I'm a... ♪ 1418 01:15:28,791 --> 01:15:30,831 ♪ I may be totally wrong, but I'm a... ♪ 1419 01:15:32,261 --> 01:15:35,694 ♪ I may be totally wrong, but I'm a fool, yeah ♪ 1420 01:15:36,331 --> 01:15:37,698 Mike: There was a part of him 1421 01:15:38,167 --> 01:15:39,778 that even though he had a lot of people's attention, 1422 01:15:39,801 --> 01:15:41,841 of feeling cynical about the fact that, 1423 01:15:41,970 --> 01:15:43,614 yeah, all these people are... are looking, 1424 01:15:43,639 --> 01:15:45,679 but they don't know what they're seeing. 1425 01:15:51,079 --> 01:15:53,319 Ray White: Sometimes truth, when you put truth up, 1426 01:15:53,416 --> 01:15:55,716 really quickly, like "Here's the truth," 1427 01:15:55,850 --> 01:15:59,219 uh, it's like, uh, uh, um, daylight to a vampire. 1428 01:15:59,354 --> 01:16:00,686 You know what I'm saying? 1429 01:16:00,823 --> 01:16:02,863 Some people are used to avoiding truth. 1430 01:16:02,890 --> 01:16:05,391 When someone puts it right on the table, 1431 01:16:05,994 --> 01:16:07,905 don't bring that plate out here again. 1432 01:16:07,930 --> 01:16:10,208 And don't play the music that the guy that eats off 1433 01:16:10,233 --> 01:16:11,597 that plate on the radio. 1434 01:16:12,600 --> 01:16:14,680 He don't... not only thinks, he discerns. 1435 01:16:15,371 --> 01:16:18,204 We got to keep this guy under check, you know? 1436 01:16:18,341 --> 01:16:19,541 'Cause he can't be out there. 1437 01:16:19,608 --> 01:16:21,707 And that's just my eyes seeing it 1438 01:16:21,844 --> 01:16:23,711 as a Black man in America. 1439 01:16:24,012 --> 01:16:25,690 Anybody that comes from the outside, 1440 01:16:25,715 --> 01:16:29,615 or so-called outside, with ideas and new thoughts, 1441 01:16:30,252 --> 01:16:33,220 and you see this unknown hand just go like this 1442 01:16:33,421 --> 01:16:34,689 and brush you aside. 1443 01:16:36,591 --> 01:16:38,503 Gail: In those days, record companies 1444 01:16:38,528 --> 01:16:41,228 had a lot more control over artists. 1445 01:16:41,764 --> 01:16:44,864 Typically, what a record company would do is like sort of, 1446 01:16:45,067 --> 01:16:46,811 they would get it... They were getting closer 1447 01:16:46,836 --> 01:16:49,368 and closer to 360 deals, which means they own 1448 01:16:49,570 --> 01:16:51,771 all the parts of you around your asshole 1449 01:16:52,041 --> 01:16:54,641 and everything else that goes with. 1450 01:16:55,144 --> 01:16:57,077 So, Frank wanted to do a box set. 1451 01:16:57,279 --> 01:17:00,113 They said, "No, nobody can do box sets. That's insane." 1452 01:17:00,315 --> 01:17:02,448 So then he took the box set apart 1453 01:17:02,583 --> 01:17:04,417 and made four albums out of it. 1454 01:17:04,552 --> 01:17:06,564 He went over to Warner's, and he just handed them over 1455 01:17:06,588 --> 01:17:08,521 and said, "Okay, we're... I'm done. 1456 01:17:08,757 --> 01:17:11,118 That's the end of my contract. Here's your four albums." 1457 01:17:11,594 --> 01:17:16,328 And that changed everything from that point on. 1458 01:17:16,564 --> 01:17:19,198 But more than that, he's the first artist to go 1459 01:17:19,435 --> 01:17:20,801 completely independent. 1460 01:17:21,302 --> 01:17:23,222 You know, we set up our own label. 1461 01:17:23,672 --> 01:17:27,173 Mike: As Frank and Gail get into the Zappa Records phase, 1462 01:17:27,309 --> 01:17:29,590 and you know, one of the first albums that come out, 1463 01:17:29,877 --> 01:17:33,413 Sheik Yerbouti, which is a very successful album. 1464 01:17:33,548 --> 01:17:36,349 And it's got crowd-pleasing, really filthy shit on it. 1465 01:17:36,618 --> 01:17:39,353 But... you get into the subject matter on that record, 1466 01:17:39,488 --> 01:17:42,288 and it's still dark. He's still in that dark place. 1467 01:17:42,557 --> 01:17:44,302 Almost every song on that record 1468 01:17:44,327 --> 01:17:47,261 is just like attacking a specific group of people. 1469 01:18:24,365 --> 01:18:28,835 Man: You always were a renegade against the music business. Why? 1470 01:18:29,037 --> 01:18:30,914 Zappa: Because most of what the music business does 1471 01:18:30,939 --> 01:18:32,405 is not musical. 1472 01:18:32,807 --> 01:18:33,985 Man: How many lawsuits do you have out now, Frank? 1473 01:18:34,010 --> 01:18:35,542 Zappa: Probably about nine. 1474 01:18:35,877 --> 01:18:37,622 Man: Nine lawsuits against some of the most famous 1475 01:18:37,645 --> 01:18:39,525 record companies in Los Angeles. 1476 01:18:39,614 --> 01:18:40,814 Zappa: That's true. 1477 01:18:41,149 --> 01:18:42,594 Man 2: What do you think is the reason 1478 01:18:42,618 --> 01:18:44,578 that Warner Brothers didn't pay you? 1479 01:18:44,686 --> 01:18:46,726 They're a bunch of assholes, of course. 1480 01:18:49,725 --> 01:18:52,425 Steve: Besides the incredible freedom 1481 01:18:52,560 --> 01:18:54,929 of his creative perspectives, 1482 01:18:55,664 --> 01:18:58,798 his business perspectives were very independent. 1483 01:18:59,167 --> 01:19:01,047 I mean, he started his own label 1484 01:19:01,369 --> 01:19:04,771 back in the day when this was relatively new 1485 01:19:04,907 --> 01:19:06,984 and he was sort of at the forefront in a sense, 1486 01:19:07,009 --> 01:19:09,141 and that was very vital to their, you know, 1487 01:19:09,444 --> 01:19:11,011 organization and their income. 1488 01:19:12,515 --> 01:19:16,783 Gail: By 1982, we had started a small mail-order company, 1489 01:19:17,019 --> 01:19:18,452 and we did, like, 1490 01:19:18,587 --> 01:19:20,506 a million dollars' worth of sales. 1491 01:19:20,788 --> 01:19:23,456 For us, that was good business because you only had to sell 1492 01:19:23,591 --> 01:19:25,671 a quarter as many records really to make 1493 01:19:25,895 --> 01:19:27,327 the same amount of profit. 1494 01:19:27,563 --> 01:19:29,373 This is where all the fan mail comes in. 1495 01:19:29,398 --> 01:19:31,342 This is where I read it, and if you don't believe me, 1496 01:19:31,367 --> 01:19:33,648 look around you. There's boxes, and I read everything. 1497 01:19:36,238 --> 01:19:38,216 Gail: In retrospect, people think you're a genius. 1498 01:19:38,240 --> 01:19:40,908 But while it's happening, you're just, 1499 01:19:41,542 --> 01:19:43,009 "Okay, now what?" 1500 01:19:43,511 --> 01:19:46,880 And it's just an... an idea comes to you, 1501 01:19:47,015 --> 01:19:48,481 and then you go for it. 1502 01:19:50,418 --> 01:19:51,418 Good evening. 1503 01:19:51,921 --> 01:19:54,555 I'm here tonight to announce my intention 1504 01:19:54,756 --> 01:19:56,568 to seek the Republican nomination 1505 01:19:56,591 --> 01:19:58,511 for President of the United States. 1506 01:19:58,560 --> 01:20:00,305 Mike: With the onset of Reaganism 1507 01:20:00,328 --> 01:20:02,073 and what was happening in the country at that time, 1508 01:20:02,097 --> 01:20:04,331 in some ways, I think that drew Frank out 1509 01:20:04,466 --> 01:20:06,934 of the more solipsistic darkness 1510 01:20:07,136 --> 01:20:09,336 of what was happening in his career. 1511 01:20:10,072 --> 01:20:12,149 Zappa: This is the dawning of the dark ages again 1512 01:20:12,173 --> 01:20:13,472 as far as I'm concerned. 1513 01:20:13,975 --> 01:20:16,055 Never have the arts been in such bad shape 1514 01:20:16,244 --> 01:20:17,478 in the United States. 1515 01:20:20,015 --> 01:20:25,051 Man: (whispering) This is the Central Scrutinizer. 1516 01:20:25,988 --> 01:20:27,654 As you can see, 1517 01:20:27,856 --> 01:20:32,025 music can get you pretty fucked up. 1518 01:20:33,828 --> 01:20:38,298 Take a tip from Joe, and get a good job. 1519 01:20:42,770 --> 01:20:46,606 Zappa: The business of music is all about this fake list 1520 01:20:46,742 --> 01:20:49,275 of who sold what. 1521 01:20:50,412 --> 01:20:53,980 The whole idea of selling large numbers of items 1522 01:20:54,115 --> 01:20:56,315 in order to determine quality to it 1523 01:20:56,452 --> 01:20:58,519 is what's really repulsive about it. 1524 01:21:00,922 --> 01:21:03,201 Adam Curry: MTV's Top 20 Video Countdown is sponsored 1525 01:21:03,225 --> 01:21:05,693 by Burger King and by Three Musketeers. 1526 01:21:09,332 --> 01:21:10,707 Zappa: The record industry decided 1527 01:21:10,731 --> 01:21:12,533 this is the wave of the future. 1528 01:21:13,234 --> 01:21:16,403 And they started signing only groups who look good. 1529 01:21:17,038 --> 01:21:21,074 And the whole idea was making picture music. 1530 01:21:22,511 --> 01:21:25,744 When the music business was still sort of about 1531 01:21:25,881 --> 01:21:27,514 recording songs, 1532 01:21:27,649 --> 01:21:29,349 you could have a hit record 1533 01:21:29,551 --> 01:21:33,185 if it caught on in one of 10,000 1534 01:21:33,322 --> 01:21:35,282 different radio stations in America. 1535 01:21:36,225 --> 01:21:40,560 Now, instead of having 10,000 chances to make a hit, 1536 01:21:41,563 --> 01:21:43,095 you got one. 1537 01:21:43,664 --> 01:21:46,000 Neil Armstrong: That's one small step for man, 1538 01:21:47,569 --> 01:21:50,404 one giant leap for mankind. 1539 01:21:54,643 --> 01:21:57,577 ♪ And may the Lord ♪ 1540 01:21:57,845 --> 01:22:03,382 ♪ Have mercy On the fate of this movie ♪ 1541 01:22:03,652 --> 01:22:06,654 ♪ And God bless the mind ♪ 1542 01:22:06,922 --> 01:22:12,158 ♪ Of the man in the street ♪ 1543 01:22:12,560 --> 01:22:15,662 Steve: Even in the most ugliest chord he ever wrote, 1544 01:22:16,431 --> 01:22:19,233 there's always a ray of hope in there, you know. 1545 01:22:21,203 --> 01:22:24,904 As an entertainer, I'm responsible for delivering 1546 01:22:25,041 --> 01:22:27,774 the best of what I can do to the audience 1547 01:22:27,909 --> 01:22:29,720 that has bought a ticket to see it 1548 01:22:29,744 --> 01:22:31,345 or buys a record to hear it. 1549 01:22:31,579 --> 01:22:32,779 And what about your friends? 1550 01:22:32,913 --> 01:22:34,614 Your neighbors? Your family? 1551 01:22:34,884 --> 01:22:36,595 Zappa: Well, I don't have any friends. 1552 01:22:36,618 --> 01:22:39,085 I have a wonderful wife and four children. 1553 01:22:39,287 --> 01:22:40,899 I like them. They're my friends. 1554 01:22:40,922 --> 01:22:42,199 Sandi: So, your wife is your friend? 1555 01:22:42,224 --> 01:22:43,224 Right. 1556 01:22:43,725 --> 01:22:46,292 When you're not working, do you just sort of 1557 01:22:46,796 --> 01:22:48,773 cut yourself off from the rest of the world 1558 01:22:48,796 --> 01:22:51,064 and you're with your family? 1559 01:22:51,198 --> 01:22:53,010 Zappa: Well, when I'm not touring, I'm at home. 1560 01:22:53,033 --> 01:22:55,502 I have a studio in my house. I do my recording there. 1561 01:22:55,636 --> 01:22:57,837 And when I'm done doing that part of my work, 1562 01:22:57,972 --> 01:23:00,006 I go off on the road and travel around 1563 01:23:00,141 --> 01:23:01,341 and do this kind of stuff. 1564 01:23:04,813 --> 01:23:06,345 They're here. 1565 01:23:06,614 --> 01:23:08,148 ♪ And we need a new burden ♪ 1566 01:23:11,854 --> 01:23:14,220 It's coming at you. 1567 01:23:17,158 --> 01:23:19,960 ("Sofa" by Frank Zappa plays) 1568 01:23:47,590 --> 01:23:49,989 Pamela: The kids didn't get to see that much of him. 1569 01:23:50,958 --> 01:23:52,458 Just the way it goes. 1570 01:23:52,661 --> 01:23:55,494 He was on a mission, and he was going to accomplish 1571 01:23:55,630 --> 01:23:57,063 that mission no matter what. 1572 01:23:58,033 --> 01:23:59,676 Mike: Well, the sweet thing about "Valley Girl" 1573 01:23:59,701 --> 01:24:01,479 is that it was Frank and Moon in the studio. 1574 01:24:01,502 --> 01:24:02,902 Them, you know, connecting. 1575 01:24:03,037 --> 01:24:05,072 Undoubtedly having a good time 1576 01:24:05,306 --> 01:24:08,507 even though it was the result of Moon, you know, 1577 01:24:08,644 --> 01:24:11,177 putting a note under, you know, Frank's studio door, saying, 1578 01:24:11,313 --> 01:24:13,779 "Hi, my name's Moon. I live in the same house as you. 1579 01:24:14,649 --> 01:24:16,890 Uh, j... just in case you're... you're interested, 1580 01:24:17,085 --> 01:24:18,551 I do this Valley Girl voice." 1581 01:24:22,224 --> 01:24:24,167 Mike Douglas: It was nearly 15 years ago 1582 01:24:24,192 --> 01:24:26,171 when the Beach Boys brought national attention 1583 01:24:26,194 --> 01:24:27,726 to California girls. 1584 01:24:27,863 --> 01:24:30,063 These days, another kind of California girl 1585 01:24:30,332 --> 01:24:32,297 is being immortalized on record. 1586 01:24:32,701 --> 01:24:34,311 There's a song getting heavy airplay 1587 01:24:34,336 --> 01:24:36,470 on Southern California rock stations 1588 01:24:36,604 --> 01:24:38,070 called "Valley Girl." 1589 01:24:38,439 --> 01:24:41,573 ♪ Valley girl She's a valley girl ♪ 1590 01:24:41,842 --> 01:24:45,345 ♪ Valley girl She's a valley girl ♪ 1591 01:24:45,680 --> 01:24:48,282 ♪ Okay, fine, fer sure Fer sure ♪ 1592 01:24:48,551 --> 01:24:50,951 ♪ She's a valley girl in a clothing store ♪ 1593 01:24:51,185 --> 01:24:53,364 Hi. You're probably wondering what we're doing right now. 1594 01:24:53,389 --> 01:24:55,555 Well, you see, we have this problem. 1595 01:24:55,689 --> 01:24:57,301 We have this record called "Valley Girl," 1596 01:24:57,326 --> 01:24:58,903 and all these assholes keep calling up 1597 01:24:58,926 --> 01:25:00,904 and asking for interviews and photographs. 1598 01:25:00,929 --> 01:25:02,295 So, in the middle of the night, 1599 01:25:02,530 --> 01:25:05,431 we have to sit on the roof and stand out here 1600 01:25:05,567 --> 01:25:07,345 and move around and do dumb things 1601 01:25:07,368 --> 01:25:10,270 so that the world's most famous photographer, 1602 01:25:10,404 --> 01:25:14,073 Norman Seeff, can take pictures of this crap for Life magazine. 1603 01:25:14,208 --> 01:25:15,809 That's what we're doing here. 1604 01:25:15,944 --> 01:25:18,677 ♪ Valley girl She's a valley girl ♪ 1605 01:25:18,814 --> 01:25:20,279 ♪ Okay, fine ♪ 1606 01:25:20,649 --> 01:25:22,889 Zappa: "Valley Girl" was a very unusual accident 1607 01:25:22,917 --> 01:25:24,251 in the US. 1608 01:25:24,619 --> 01:25:27,688 We were a small label distributed through CBS. 1609 01:25:27,957 --> 01:25:29,521 Nobody at CBS had any idea 1610 01:25:29,658 --> 01:25:32,024 that that thing would catch on the way it did. 1611 01:25:32,726 --> 01:25:35,360 The way it happened was my daughter took 1612 01:25:35,497 --> 01:25:37,831 an acetate of "Valley Girl" to a station in Pasadena 1613 01:25:38,100 --> 01:25:40,432 called KROQ, and as soon as they played it, 1614 01:25:40,568 --> 01:25:43,069 the phone started ringing, and it became an instant hit. 1615 01:25:43,204 --> 01:25:44,505 People loved it right away. 1616 01:25:44,773 --> 01:25:46,439 Like, oh, my God. 1617 01:25:47,041 --> 01:25:49,054 Zappa: Meanwhile, I'm in Europe on a tour. 1618 01:25:49,078 --> 01:25:51,344 I don't even know I've got a hit record. 1619 01:25:51,779 --> 01:25:54,980 In 1982, you couldn't walk around in the United States 1620 01:25:55,117 --> 01:25:57,317 without hearing something about "Valley Girl." 1621 01:25:57,653 --> 01:25:59,396 Next on Channel Five, it's awesome 1622 01:25:59,421 --> 01:26:00,653 'cause we're going to, like, 1623 01:26:00,788 --> 01:26:02,199 crank with the whole Zappa family. 1624 01:26:02,224 --> 01:26:03,600 For sure. Totally on evening news... 1625 01:26:03,625 --> 01:26:05,235 Pamela: And that was his first big hit. 1626 01:26:05,260 --> 01:26:06,627 His only big hit. 1627 01:26:08,063 --> 01:26:11,765 But it really came out of Moon 1628 01:26:12,266 --> 01:26:14,186 wanting to spend time with her dad. 1629 01:26:16,837 --> 01:26:18,617 Man: What's happening in the future now? 1630 01:26:18,640 --> 01:26:20,283 Have you... Are you planning a follow-up right away 1631 01:26:20,307 --> 01:26:21,975 to cash in on the, uh, 1632 01:26:22,176 --> 01:26:23,688 the audience's receptivity, or... 1633 01:26:23,712 --> 01:26:25,422 No. As a matter of fact, the next thing 1634 01:26:25,447 --> 01:26:28,515 that I'm going to do is go out to, um, Cal-Arts tonight 1635 01:26:28,716 --> 01:26:31,037 and hear a couple of piano players give a performance 1636 01:26:31,219 --> 01:26:33,921 of some of my orchestra music. 1637 01:26:40,729 --> 01:26:44,564 Mike: So, there's "Valley Girl." A success, mainstream success. 1638 01:26:44,699 --> 01:26:47,667 But to Frank, it's like, "Okay, what can I do now? 1639 01:26:47,802 --> 01:26:49,069 I've got people's attention." 1640 01:26:49,304 --> 01:26:52,005 One. Two. Three. 1641 01:26:56,712 --> 01:26:58,645 David: From everything I'd heard, 1642 01:26:58,779 --> 01:27:00,979 and heard about Zappa, 1643 01:27:01,815 --> 01:27:05,585 it just seemed like he should write for Kronos. 1644 01:27:05,854 --> 01:27:07,987 Yeah. So, if we can play those longer, 1645 01:27:08,122 --> 01:27:09,766 I think that will be more effective. 1646 01:27:09,791 --> 01:27:11,490 David: How l... uh, what length? 1647 01:27:11,626 --> 01:27:13,926 Hank: I have a quarter note tie into... 1648 01:27:14,061 --> 01:27:16,529 - Oh, I see. - It's very strange sheet music. 1649 01:27:16,664 --> 01:27:19,030 David: I think the first time we spoke 1650 01:27:19,167 --> 01:27:20,699 was after a concert. 1651 01:27:21,269 --> 01:27:25,137 I'm thinking '82, '83. 1652 01:27:25,506 --> 01:27:28,375 Shortly after that is when he began to write, 1653 01:27:29,578 --> 01:27:31,478 uh, the new piece for us. 1654 01:28:04,179 --> 01:28:08,414 I always appreciated the fact that he taught himself. 1655 01:28:09,350 --> 01:28:11,229 He went to the library as a kid, 1656 01:28:11,252 --> 01:28:14,154 and he just checked out books and stayed there and learned. 1657 01:28:14,288 --> 01:28:16,856 For me, that's been a big inspiration. 1658 01:28:17,792 --> 01:28:19,792 When I think of Zappa's life's work, 1659 01:28:19,994 --> 01:28:22,994 I'm reminded of Charles Ives, 1660 01:28:23,131 --> 01:28:25,497 Harry Partch, Sun Ra. 1661 01:28:26,100 --> 01:28:28,935 These are American experimentalists 1662 01:28:29,069 --> 01:28:32,104 that totally reimagined the way music 1663 01:28:32,239 --> 01:28:34,875 might be heard, might be composed. 1664 01:28:36,244 --> 01:28:38,878 And Zappa belongs in that tradition. 1665 01:29:37,573 --> 01:29:39,149 Zappa: I still write orchestra music. 1666 01:29:39,173 --> 01:29:41,253 But, you know, nobody will ever hear it. 1667 01:29:41,975 --> 01:29:43,055 Interviewer: You sure? 1668 01:29:43,145 --> 01:29:45,212 Well, I don't wanna say never, 1669 01:29:45,346 --> 01:29:47,579 but, uh, the chances of the music being played 1670 01:29:47,716 --> 01:29:51,016 are not very good because every time we start negotiating 1671 01:29:51,152 --> 01:29:53,130 with somebody about having a performance of it, 1672 01:29:53,154 --> 01:29:55,394 all these problems arise, and it always comes down 1673 01:29:55,489 --> 01:29:57,989 to how much money they're willing to spend to do it. 1674 01:29:58,126 --> 01:30:00,859 Because it... we've had some offers from orchestras who say, 1675 01:30:00,994 --> 01:30:02,261 "Yeah, we'd love to play it, 1676 01:30:02,396 --> 01:30:04,041 but we'll give you two rehearsals." 1677 01:30:04,064 --> 01:30:05,975 And it's impossible to play it in two rehearsals. 1678 01:30:06,000 --> 01:30:07,332 You just can't do it. 1679 01:30:07,469 --> 01:30:09,012 And I would rather not have it played 1680 01:30:09,037 --> 01:30:11,369 than to have somebody play it wrong. 1681 01:30:11,572 --> 01:30:13,850 Reporter: Tomorrow night, the London Symphony Orchestra 1682 01:30:13,875 --> 01:30:16,376 are giving a concert at their home at the Barbican Centre. 1683 01:30:17,078 --> 01:30:19,189 The program of orchestral music they'll be playing 1684 01:30:19,213 --> 01:30:21,213 is music written by the celebrated 1685 01:30:21,349 --> 01:30:23,229 American rock star Frank Zappa. 1686 01:30:23,551 --> 01:30:25,832 Robin Denselow has been looking at the least known 1687 01:30:25,953 --> 01:30:28,621 and the least commercial side of Zappa's art. 1688 01:30:29,189 --> 01:30:31,725 Robin: Frank Zappa has been quietly writing pieces 1689 01:30:31,859 --> 01:30:35,261 for a full orchestra alongside his rock work for years. 1690 01:30:35,530 --> 01:30:37,240 For their first ever performance, 1691 01:30:37,265 --> 01:30:39,398 he's using the London Symphony Orchestra. 1692 01:30:39,533 --> 01:30:43,069 The conductor, Kent Nagano, was chosen by Zappa. 1693 01:30:43,204 --> 01:30:45,637 Interviewer: Do you expect to actually make any money 1694 01:30:45,774 --> 01:30:47,685 out of the concert and the recordings 1695 01:30:47,708 --> 01:30:48,908 that you've come here to make 1696 01:30:49,077 --> 01:30:50,621 - with the LSO? - No. No. 1697 01:30:50,645 --> 01:30:52,422 Interviewer: Why then do you do it? 1698 01:30:52,447 --> 01:30:55,448 Well, I think that any artistic decision that is based on 1699 01:30:55,583 --> 01:30:57,828 whether or not you're going to make money is not really 1700 01:30:57,851 --> 01:31:00,920 an artistic decision. It's a business decision. 1701 01:31:01,555 --> 01:31:03,756 And there are a lot of things that I can do 1702 01:31:03,890 --> 01:31:05,257 to earn a living 1703 01:31:05,393 --> 01:31:07,104 and a lot of things that I have already done 1704 01:31:07,127 --> 01:31:09,328 to earn a living, which have produced the amount 1705 01:31:09,430 --> 01:31:11,931 of, uh, capital needed to do this project. 1706 01:31:12,067 --> 01:31:15,335 I came here to spend money on an English orchestra 1707 01:31:15,470 --> 01:31:18,069 to record my music so I can take it home 1708 01:31:18,206 --> 01:31:19,805 and I can listen to it. 1709 01:31:19,940 --> 01:31:22,908 And if somebody else likes that kind of stuff, 1710 01:31:23,045 --> 01:31:24,889 I will make it available on a record 1711 01:31:24,912 --> 01:31:26,679 so that they can hear it. 1712 01:31:26,814 --> 01:31:29,481 That is my part of the public service of spending the money 1713 01:31:29,618 --> 01:31:31,350 to make this event happen. 1714 01:31:31,485 --> 01:31:33,152 No foundation grant, 1715 01:31:33,287 --> 01:31:34,988 no government assistance, 1716 01:31:35,122 --> 01:31:36,555 no corporation, 1717 01:31:36,690 --> 01:31:37,990 no committee. 1718 01:31:38,126 --> 01:31:41,159 Just a crazy guy who spent the money 1719 01:31:41,296 --> 01:31:45,332 to hire English musicians to do a concert at the Barbican 1720 01:31:45,466 --> 01:31:48,701 and make an album for Barking Pumpkin Records. 1721 01:31:49,104 --> 01:31:52,238 How do you get the London Symphony Orchestra 1722 01:31:52,372 --> 01:31:53,372 to do your stuff? 1723 01:31:53,475 --> 01:31:55,707 - You pay them. - Yeah. 1724 01:31:56,043 --> 01:31:58,545 But isn't this a really prestigious organization? 1725 01:31:58,680 --> 01:31:59,811 Of course. 1726 01:32:00,015 --> 01:32:01,426 So, you pay them a lot of money. 1727 01:32:01,449 --> 01:32:03,149 - Yeah. - (laughter) 1728 01:32:03,284 --> 01:32:06,319 It's just as serious to write a song like "Valley Girl" 1729 01:32:07,122 --> 01:32:10,390 as it is to write the ballet called Mo 'N Herb's Vacation. 1730 01:32:10,524 --> 01:32:13,560 To me, they're equally serious problems in music. 1731 01:32:15,863 --> 01:32:18,197 Unless they have sufficient time to rehearse it, 1732 01:32:18,332 --> 01:32:20,409 the chances of an absolutely perfect performance 1733 01:32:20,434 --> 01:32:21,801 are not good. 1734 01:32:22,136 --> 01:32:23,948 David Letterman: Now, uh, how close did you get? 1735 01:32:23,971 --> 01:32:26,505 Zappa: I would say that we're up to about 75% on this record. 1736 01:32:26,640 --> 01:32:29,775 Conductor: So, you could you take a look, please, at 159? 1737 01:32:31,512 --> 01:32:34,947 Robot: The inhabitants here do not have the intelligence 1738 01:32:35,082 --> 01:32:37,115 to be utilized anymore. 1739 01:32:37,752 --> 01:32:39,752 So, man built me. 1740 01:32:40,855 --> 01:32:42,815 Zappa: Human beings are expensive. 1741 01:32:43,324 --> 01:32:46,725 If given the choice between not making music at all 1742 01:32:46,860 --> 01:32:49,729 or making music in a medium that a person can afford, 1743 01:32:49,863 --> 01:32:52,364 I will make music in a medium I can afford. 1744 01:32:53,067 --> 01:32:55,068 Ergo, the machine. 1745 01:32:57,204 --> 01:33:00,338 I had bought the Synclavier and started doing 1746 01:33:00,475 --> 01:33:02,574 all the composition in that medium 1747 01:33:02,711 --> 01:33:04,791 because you can write it the way you want, 1748 01:33:04,912 --> 01:33:06,779 and you get to conduct it also. 1749 01:33:06,914 --> 01:33:10,181 Even have it executed at any speed or any amplitude. 1750 01:33:10,318 --> 01:33:12,953 You can control all the nuances of the performance. 1751 01:33:13,822 --> 01:33:15,454 I would rather do it myself 1752 01:33:15,590 --> 01:33:17,791 than give it to somebody else to do. 1753 01:33:18,092 --> 01:33:22,194 (electronic music playing) 1754 01:33:33,407 --> 01:33:34,673 Man: Okay, Ahmet. 1755 01:33:35,810 --> 01:33:39,011 Stop the game, and I want to... And have him get some 1756 01:33:39,146 --> 01:33:40,578 pictures of you with the clay. 1757 01:33:41,215 --> 01:33:43,483 I don't have any clay. Thanks. 1758 01:33:43,618 --> 01:33:45,595 Man: There's 1,000 pounds of it around here someplace. 1759 01:33:45,619 --> 01:33:47,765 Woman: There's 1,000 pounds right behind you, Ahmet. 1760 01:33:47,788 --> 01:33:49,088 Don't lie. 1761 01:33:51,893 --> 01:33:54,527 (laughter) 1762 01:33:58,065 --> 01:33:59,297 What do you want me to build? 1763 01:33:59,434 --> 01:34:00,533 Man: Whatever you want. 1764 01:34:19,220 --> 01:34:21,854 Zappa: It's not easy to keep converting capital 1765 01:34:21,989 --> 01:34:24,823 from doing other things and to reinvesting in it 1766 01:34:24,960 --> 01:34:26,970 to doing that kind of stuff because there's no way 1767 01:34:26,994 --> 01:34:28,939 that the music that I'm working on 1768 01:34:28,963 --> 01:34:30,764 is gonna pay its own way. 1769 01:34:33,501 --> 01:34:35,740 But I would rather do it this way than to rely on 1770 01:34:35,802 --> 01:34:39,238 a government or to rely on, uh, you know, 1771 01:34:39,372 --> 01:34:41,506 a king or a duke or somebody who, you know, 1772 01:34:41,643 --> 01:34:43,854 wants to take drastic action if he doesn't approve 1773 01:34:43,877 --> 01:34:45,145 of your work of art. 1774 01:34:45,479 --> 01:34:46,845 You know, forget that. 1775 01:34:47,881 --> 01:34:50,815 Do you still think that music students in universities 1776 01:34:50,952 --> 01:34:53,353 are studying a dead language in a dead institution 1777 01:34:53,488 --> 01:34:56,322 by dead professors, and would you explain why? 1778 01:34:56,457 --> 01:34:57,689 (laughter) 1779 01:34:57,824 --> 01:34:59,391 Well, yes. 1780 01:34:59,527 --> 01:35:02,028 (laughter) 1781 01:35:02,363 --> 01:35:05,564 Because a lot of times, uh, composers will come to me, 1782 01:35:05,699 --> 01:35:07,800 and they'll say, "Well, what do I do?" 1783 01:35:07,935 --> 01:35:09,779 And I tell them, "Get a real estate license 1784 01:35:09,804 --> 01:35:12,837 because if you expect to write music in the United States, 1785 01:35:12,974 --> 01:35:14,894 what are you gonna do for a living?" 1786 01:35:15,377 --> 01:35:17,842 If you want to be a composer in the United States, 1787 01:35:17,979 --> 01:35:20,145 you must write for the media. 1788 01:35:20,280 --> 01:35:22,326 You can't just write music because you're writing music. 1789 01:35:22,350 --> 01:35:24,390 You have to have some other kind of a job 1790 01:35:24,519 --> 01:35:25,885 to support your habit. 1791 01:35:26,020 --> 01:35:29,521 And, uh, it's a sad story, but it's true. 1792 01:35:30,091 --> 01:35:32,692 (applause) 1793 01:35:35,195 --> 01:35:37,762 ♪ Your mouth ♪ 1794 01:35:37,899 --> 01:35:40,399 ♪ Is your religion ♪ 1795 01:35:42,036 --> 01:35:46,605 ♪ 'Cause what they do in Washington ♪ 1796 01:35:47,007 --> 01:35:49,507 ♪ They just takes care ♪ 1797 01:35:50,043 --> 01:35:52,744 ♪ Of number one ♪ 1798 01:35:53,081 --> 01:35:57,250 ♪ And number one ain't you ♪ 1799 01:35:59,587 --> 01:36:02,287 ♪ You ain't even ♪ 1800 01:36:02,423 --> 01:36:04,556 ♪ Number two ♪ 1801 01:36:14,536 --> 01:36:17,170 Man: This is ABC News Nightline. 1802 01:36:17,572 --> 01:36:20,372 Reporting from Washington, Ted Koppel. 1803 01:36:20,507 --> 01:36:22,252 A lot of people, and they are becoming 1804 01:36:22,277 --> 01:36:23,609 increasingly vocal, 1805 01:36:23,744 --> 01:36:26,212 find the songs and the rock video performances 1806 01:36:26,346 --> 01:36:28,247 that go with them offensive. 1807 01:36:28,382 --> 01:36:30,528 Reporter: One group of parents has heard more than enough. 1808 01:36:30,551 --> 01:36:32,229 The Parents Music Resource Center 1809 01:36:32,252 --> 01:36:34,412 wants a labelling system for albums and tapes, 1810 01:36:34,521 --> 01:36:36,442 much like movies are rated today. 1811 01:36:36,524 --> 01:36:38,234 Later this month, a Senate committee 1812 01:36:38,259 --> 01:36:39,636 will hold hearings on the question. 1813 01:36:39,659 --> 01:36:41,604 A tribute to the clout of the center, 1814 01:36:41,628 --> 01:36:43,573 whose members include Susan Baker, 1815 01:36:43,597 --> 01:36:45,637 wife of Treasury Secretary James Baker. 1816 01:36:45,667 --> 01:36:47,711 Susan: "Guess you could say she was a sex fiend. 1817 01:36:47,734 --> 01:36:50,603 I met her in a hotel lobby, masturbating with a magazine." 1818 01:36:50,939 --> 01:36:52,817 Reporter: Frank Zappa is one of the few rock artists 1819 01:36:52,841 --> 01:36:55,041 to come out openly against the labeling effort. 1820 01:36:55,109 --> 01:36:57,029 I mean, if it looks like censorship 1821 01:36:57,144 --> 01:36:59,289 and it smells like censorship, it is censorship 1822 01:36:59,314 --> 01:37:01,224 no matter whose wife is talking about it. 1823 01:37:01,247 --> 01:37:02,347 It's censorship. 1824 01:37:02,583 --> 01:37:04,494 Ted: The analogy you draw is a... 1825 01:37:04,519 --> 01:37:07,152 Mike: Frank was being called upon by Ted Koppel and CNN 1826 01:37:07,287 --> 01:37:08,654 and Larry King 1827 01:37:08,789 --> 01:37:10,734 and a lot of mainstream news outlets 1828 01:37:10,757 --> 01:37:12,797 to come on and talk about this stuff. 1829 01:37:13,094 --> 01:37:15,595 Well, he had cleaned up his act sartorially so much 1830 01:37:15,729 --> 01:37:18,631 that he was no longer visually the freak from the '60s. 1831 01:37:18,765 --> 01:37:21,600 He was somebody that understood that "If I'm gonna do battle 1832 01:37:21,735 --> 01:37:23,546 with these people, I need to like, uh, 1833 01:37:23,570 --> 01:37:25,037 come to them on their turf." 1834 01:37:25,172 --> 01:37:26,817 And they're taking a right away from him. 1835 01:37:26,841 --> 01:37:30,109 Gail: Frank became the go-to person for comments 1836 01:37:30,243 --> 01:37:32,404 to deal with record rating because nobody else 1837 01:37:32,514 --> 01:37:34,434 in the record industry showed up. 1838 01:37:34,783 --> 01:37:36,726 I think that they're probably concerned about airplay, 1839 01:37:36,751 --> 01:37:38,595 and they're probably concerned about their careers, 1840 01:37:38,619 --> 01:37:40,663 and they're probably concerned about, uh, you know, 1841 01:37:40,688 --> 01:37:42,265 taking a chance and opening their mouth. 1842 01:37:42,288 --> 01:37:44,023 But I don't speak for them. 1843 01:37:44,158 --> 01:37:46,170 I don't speak for the rest of the record industry. 1844 01:37:46,194 --> 01:37:48,426 I speak as a private citizen, 1845 01:37:48,563 --> 01:37:52,497 as a middle-aged Italian father of four. 1846 01:37:52,632 --> 01:37:55,400 I got concerns here about what's gonna happen 1847 01:37:55,537 --> 01:37:58,537 to the right to have free speech and right to assemble 1848 01:37:58,671 --> 01:38:00,885 and the right to have somebody use your own words 1849 01:38:00,908 --> 01:38:03,341 against you in a legal situation. 1850 01:38:03,711 --> 01:38:05,877 And nobody is sticking their neck out to say 1851 01:38:06,014 --> 01:38:07,546 that it's all a bunch of crap. 1852 01:38:09,149 --> 01:38:11,550 Mr. Zappa, thank you very much for being with us. 1853 01:38:11,952 --> 01:38:13,152 Please proceed. 1854 01:38:13,988 --> 01:38:17,588 I've got an idea for a way to stop all this stuff 1855 01:38:17,725 --> 01:38:21,025 and a way to give parents what they really want, 1856 01:38:21,162 --> 01:38:23,662 which is information, accurate information, 1857 01:38:23,797 --> 01:38:25,831 as to what is inside the album. 1858 01:38:26,500 --> 01:38:30,101 I have no objection to having all of the lyrics 1859 01:38:30,805 --> 01:38:35,041 placed on the album routinely all the time. 1860 01:38:35,643 --> 01:38:38,243 I think your suggestion is, uh, is an intriguing one 1861 01:38:38,378 --> 01:38:39,878 and might really be a solution. 1862 01:38:40,148 --> 01:38:42,113 I think your suggestion is a good one 1863 01:38:42,248 --> 01:38:43,715 that they print those words. 1864 01:38:44,118 --> 01:38:45,484 That would go a long way 1865 01:38:45,618 --> 01:38:47,538 to satisfying everyone's objection. 1866 01:38:47,588 --> 01:38:49,668 Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Senator Hawkins. 1867 01:38:50,390 --> 01:38:52,101 Mike: Frank would say it was a failure 1868 01:38:52,126 --> 01:38:54,203 because it still ended up with the Parental Advisory sticker 1869 01:38:54,228 --> 01:38:55,761 on the thing. 1870 01:38:55,895 --> 01:38:57,908 But I think he made a difference there. 1871 01:38:57,931 --> 01:39:00,332 There were times that I wished that he could 1872 01:39:00,467 --> 01:39:02,427 modulate his approach a little bit 1873 01:39:02,470 --> 01:39:04,069 with a little bit less anger. 1874 01:39:04,204 --> 01:39:06,072 Sex equals sin. 1875 01:39:06,207 --> 01:39:09,175 Mike: But that anger resulted in some wonderful moments 1876 01:39:09,310 --> 01:39:11,344 like the Crossfire with James Lofton. 1877 01:39:11,479 --> 01:39:13,122 James: Do you think the founding fathers 1878 01:39:13,146 --> 01:39:15,346 really had the First Amendment, that they gave us 1879 01:39:15,416 --> 01:39:18,317 the First Amendment to defend songs that glorify Satanism 1880 01:39:18,452 --> 01:39:20,264 and incest and suicide? Do you really believe that? 1881 01:39:20,287 --> 01:39:22,032 - Absolutely. - You really believe that? 1882 01:39:22,055 --> 01:39:23,332 - Yeah, I believe it. - James: You're an idiot then. 1883 01:39:23,356 --> 01:39:24,902 - Yeah? - James: You're an idiot. 1884 01:39:24,926 --> 01:39:26,002 Well, I'll tell you what. Kiss my... (bleep) 1885 01:39:26,025 --> 01:39:27,225 How do you like that, buddy? 1886 01:39:27,362 --> 01:39:28,838 James: Well, take your teeth out. 1887 01:39:28,863 --> 01:39:31,130 I was surprised to see you heading the protest. 1888 01:39:31,565 --> 01:39:33,298 Why wasn't someone like Prince 1889 01:39:33,434 --> 01:39:35,112 involved with you in that? I mean... 1890 01:39:35,136 --> 01:39:36,845 He should have been involved in it, 1891 01:39:36,869 --> 01:39:39,189 but I think that it's his right to keep his mouth shut. 1892 01:39:39,407 --> 01:39:41,251 It's also Bruce Springsteen's right 1893 01:39:41,274 --> 01:39:43,576 to keep his mouth shut and anybody else 1894 01:39:43,711 --> 01:39:45,721 that they went after. They never attacked my lyrics. 1895 01:39:45,746 --> 01:39:46,979 They attacked those people. 1896 01:39:47,114 --> 01:39:48,559 They even went after Michael Jackson. 1897 01:39:48,582 --> 01:39:50,161 But you fought real hard for these people, 1898 01:39:50,185 --> 01:39:51,595 and it was never your music involved. 1899 01:39:51,618 --> 01:39:52,828 That's the thing that shocked me. 1900 01:39:52,853 --> 01:39:54,319 It's the principle of the thing. 1901 01:39:54,622 --> 01:39:56,266 We live in a country where we're supposed to be free. 1902 01:39:56,291 --> 01:39:57,967 Take a look at what happened in China. 1903 01:39:57,992 --> 01:39:59,802 You got a bunch of kids there who want democracy. 1904 01:39:59,827 --> 01:40:01,159 They don't even know what it is. 1905 01:40:01,296 --> 01:40:03,494 We supposedly have it here, what do we do? 1906 01:40:04,164 --> 01:40:06,364 Sit around and go, hmm, hmm. 1907 01:40:06,500 --> 01:40:08,667 "Let somebody else take care of it for me." 1908 01:40:25,853 --> 01:40:29,121 (cheers and applause) 1909 01:40:29,256 --> 01:40:30,788 Scott: From the very beginning, 1910 01:40:31,125 --> 01:40:33,292 there wasn't literally anything like it. 1911 01:40:33,828 --> 01:40:37,363 As musicians, that was the way that we spoke to each other. 1912 01:40:37,497 --> 01:40:40,365 Like, instead of quoting movies, we quoted Zappa. 1913 01:40:40,501 --> 01:40:41,801 ♪ It's about truth ♪ 1914 01:40:41,935 --> 01:40:43,502 ♪ Truth ♪ 1915 01:40:43,837 --> 01:40:45,649 Scott: And it wasn't until I started playing with him 1916 01:40:45,672 --> 01:40:49,908 that I realized that he was fucking with America 1917 01:40:50,043 --> 01:40:51,854 as much as he was fucking around with music. 1918 01:40:51,878 --> 01:40:54,880 Like, America was just another canvas 1919 01:40:55,015 --> 01:40:56,582 for him to do his shit on. 1920 01:40:56,717 --> 01:40:59,385 This is working here. Hello, which one's working? 1921 01:40:59,686 --> 01:41:00,686 None. 1922 01:41:05,726 --> 01:41:07,126 This is censorship. 1923 01:41:07,261 --> 01:41:09,862 (laughter) 1924 01:41:09,997 --> 01:41:12,564 Scott: How did he see himself in a world 1925 01:41:12,699 --> 01:41:14,733 that was literally going mad? 1926 01:41:15,069 --> 01:41:16,668 He saw the big picture. 1927 01:41:17,337 --> 01:41:20,104 I cannot imagine in any way 1928 01:41:20,240 --> 01:41:23,007 it could keep a man like him down. 1929 01:41:23,143 --> 01:41:25,912 If anything, he would battle up 1930 01:41:26,046 --> 01:41:29,614 until the last drop of his blood was shed. 1931 01:41:30,018 --> 01:41:32,097 Overrun by orcs, he doesn't give a shit. 1932 01:41:33,087 --> 01:41:36,121 You cannot live your life as if you are 1933 01:41:36,256 --> 01:41:39,390 about to not be able to do your life anymore. 1934 01:41:39,659 --> 01:41:40,659 You know? 1935 01:41:40,761 --> 01:41:43,796 Protesters: (chanting) 1936 01:41:46,768 --> 01:41:48,677 Man: Czechoslovakia today became the latest 1937 01:41:48,702 --> 01:41:50,780 of the countries of Eastern Europe once held 1938 01:41:50,805 --> 01:41:53,171 so tightly in the Soviet grip to throw off 1939 01:41:53,306 --> 01:41:55,274 its hardline Communist yoke. 1940 01:41:55,408 --> 01:41:58,978 (chanting) 1941 01:42:01,247 --> 01:42:02,926 Zappa: I guess it was about a year before 1942 01:42:02,949 --> 01:42:05,095 the Velvet Revolution, when I was visited here 1943 01:42:05,118 --> 01:42:07,118 by a Czech composer. 1944 01:42:07,654 --> 01:42:09,322 And through the interpreter, 1945 01:42:09,457 --> 01:42:13,591 he indicated that he wanted to play some of my music 1946 01:42:13,728 --> 01:42:16,628 and wanted me to come to Prague for the concert, 1947 01:42:16,764 --> 01:42:19,332 and I thought, well, the chances of me doing that 1948 01:42:19,466 --> 01:42:22,634 were pretty unlikely because Czechoslovakia was pretty grim. 1949 01:42:22,936 --> 01:42:25,404 And the next thing I knew, they had this revolution, 1950 01:42:25,974 --> 01:42:28,240 and this composer was a member of parliament. 1951 01:42:29,277 --> 01:42:31,944 And I'd already made four trips to the Soviet Union 1952 01:42:32,079 --> 01:42:34,512 and had been trying to develop some East-West 1953 01:42:34,748 --> 01:42:35,914 international trade. 1954 01:42:36,050 --> 01:42:37,615 Boy, is it cold here. 1955 01:42:37,752 --> 01:42:41,587 And I arranged to come to Prague on my way 1956 01:42:42,155 --> 01:42:44,523 back to the United States from Moscow. 1957 01:42:44,792 --> 01:42:47,158 And it was during my Prague visit, 1958 01:42:47,293 --> 01:42:49,305 I proposed to them that if they needed 1959 01:42:49,328 --> 01:42:51,408 some sort of representation in the West 1960 01:42:51,431 --> 01:42:55,967 to help them get investment or whatever they needed to do, 1961 01:42:56,104 --> 01:42:58,237 that I would be interested in doing that. 1962 01:43:01,141 --> 01:43:03,185 So, when I got off the plane, there was 5,000 people 1963 01:43:03,210 --> 01:43:05,344 waving at me. And, uh, you know, 1964 01:43:05,479 --> 01:43:07,979 never before in my life had I seen anything like that. 1965 01:43:08,215 --> 01:43:10,748 (chuckles) Get off the plane, 1966 01:43:10,884 --> 01:43:12,628 and, you know, there's a lot of people, 1967 01:43:12,653 --> 01:43:14,698 but there's no police, and there's no bodyguards. 1968 01:43:14,721 --> 01:43:16,800 There's no nothing. Just people waving at you. 1969 01:43:16,823 --> 01:43:19,557 That's nice until you go through the airport 1970 01:43:19,827 --> 01:43:21,327 and they start piling on you. 1971 01:43:21,695 --> 01:43:24,229 And to get from the door of the airport to the minibus 1972 01:43:24,364 --> 01:43:26,404 that was going to take us to the hotel 1973 01:43:26,500 --> 01:43:28,301 took about 40 minutes. 1974 01:43:30,337 --> 01:43:32,578 Gary: When Frank was there, it was like, Frank was 1975 01:43:32,774 --> 01:43:34,184 the President of the United States 1976 01:43:34,207 --> 01:43:35,341 coming to visit. 1977 01:43:36,978 --> 01:43:39,377 And Frank was trying to figure out 1978 01:43:39,512 --> 01:43:41,846 why was everyone there so happy to see him? 1979 01:43:43,016 --> 01:43:46,985 And evidently, in Czechoslovakia, 1980 01:43:47,121 --> 01:43:49,822 when young kids played rock music, 1981 01:43:49,957 --> 01:43:51,356 the police would tell them, 1982 01:43:51,492 --> 01:43:53,412 "Turn off that Frank Zappa music." 1983 01:43:54,560 --> 01:43:56,600 And all of a sudden, here's Frank Zappa. 1984 01:43:58,265 --> 01:44:01,100 He was a symbol of this freedom, 1985 01:44:02,435 --> 01:44:04,555 which is incredible when you think about it. 1986 01:44:05,072 --> 01:44:06,639 He had that kind of effect. 1987 01:44:08,609 --> 01:44:11,576 David: It was like the king of freedom had showed up. 1988 01:44:11,779 --> 01:44:14,113 I mean, Frank was shocked. 1989 01:44:15,048 --> 01:44:17,817 (cheering) 1990 01:44:19,720 --> 01:44:21,752 ♪ Freedom, freedom ♪ 1991 01:44:21,889 --> 01:44:23,454 ♪ Kindly, loving ♪ 1992 01:44:23,690 --> 01:44:25,234 Kathleen: Rock musician Frank Zappa, 1993 01:44:25,259 --> 01:44:26,970 who's always been something of a maverick, 1994 01:44:26,993 --> 01:44:29,072 has just returned from a trip to the Soviet Union 1995 01:44:29,095 --> 01:44:31,863 and Czechoslovakia. And in Prague, 1996 01:44:31,998 --> 01:44:33,532 he met with V♪clav Havel, 1997 01:44:33,667 --> 01:44:35,734 now the President of Czechoslovakia. 1998 01:44:35,869 --> 01:44:37,829 He also visited the Czech parliament 1999 01:44:37,871 --> 01:44:40,372 and was named the Czech Cultural 2000 01:44:40,507 --> 01:44:42,667 and Trade Representative to the United States. 2001 01:44:43,010 --> 01:44:44,386 And Frank Zappa joins us this morning. 2002 01:44:44,411 --> 01:44:45,854 - Good morning. - Good morning. 2003 01:44:45,878 --> 01:44:47,724 Twenty years ago, did you think that 2004 01:44:47,747 --> 01:44:49,747 - this would be your occupation? - No. 2005 01:44:49,783 --> 01:44:51,716 What are the job specifications? 2006 01:44:51,851 --> 01:44:54,552 I'm supposed to represent them for trade, 2007 01:44:54,689 --> 01:44:58,090 for tourism, and for cultural matters. 2008 01:44:58,926 --> 01:45:00,192 Only rock business? 2009 01:45:00,728 --> 01:45:02,905 Zappa: No, no, it's got nothing to do with rock and roll. 2010 01:45:02,930 --> 01:45:04,541 Kathleen: So, is this Frank Zappa the businessman 2011 01:45:04,564 --> 01:45:06,685 who's coming to the fore and not the rocker? 2012 01:45:06,766 --> 01:45:08,478 Well, let's say that Frank Zappa the rocker 2013 01:45:08,502 --> 01:45:11,936 has been pretty much excluded from US broadcasting. 2014 01:45:12,073 --> 01:45:14,840 So, Frank Zappa the rocker will now do something else. 2015 01:45:15,909 --> 01:45:18,810 David: It turns out that, uh, when he had testified 2016 01:45:19,012 --> 01:45:20,845 before Congress, uh, 2017 01:45:20,980 --> 01:45:22,893 our fine Secretary of State at the time, James Baker, 2018 01:45:22,917 --> 01:45:25,015 his wife had been involved in the, uh, 2019 01:45:25,152 --> 01:45:28,487 little Washington clubs going to save the world. 2020 01:45:28,788 --> 01:45:31,590 And James Baker went to Czechoslovakia, 2021 01:45:31,725 --> 01:45:33,537 and he had told the Czech government 2022 01:45:33,560 --> 01:45:35,137 that if they wanted anything to do 2023 01:45:35,162 --> 01:45:36,773 with the United States government anymore, 2024 01:45:36,796 --> 01:45:38,797 if they wanted aid or help or anything 2025 01:45:39,434 --> 01:45:41,444 that they would have to get rid of this association 2026 01:45:41,467 --> 01:45:42,702 with Frank Zappa. 2027 01:45:43,436 --> 01:45:47,472 (applause) 2028 01:45:47,608 --> 01:45:51,309 Woman: Our primary purpose is to educate and inform parents 2029 01:45:51,444 --> 01:45:53,256 about this alarming trend, as well as 2030 01:45:53,279 --> 01:45:56,113 to ask the industry to exercise self-restraint. 2031 01:45:56,449 --> 01:45:59,051 Some say there's no cause for concern. 2032 01:45:59,186 --> 01:46:00,720 We believe there is. 2033 01:46:04,190 --> 01:46:05,524 Thank you. 2034 01:46:05,725 --> 01:46:07,037 Mike: When we were on the road in '88, 2035 01:46:07,060 --> 01:46:08,760 he was already feeling poorly. 2036 01:46:08,895 --> 01:46:11,895 But, you know, he had been told it was various other conditions, 2037 01:46:12,032 --> 01:46:13,952 various and he was... He was trying 2038 01:46:14,033 --> 01:46:15,600 different ways to deal with it. 2039 01:46:15,735 --> 01:46:17,935 But, you know, he was getting sicker all the time. 2040 01:46:18,538 --> 01:46:21,707 He retired from the concert stage 2041 01:46:22,042 --> 01:46:25,110 at the same time that his illness was coming on. 2042 01:46:27,014 --> 01:46:28,859 We sat in the... In the control room, 2043 01:46:28,882 --> 01:46:29,981 and he... 2044 01:46:31,385 --> 01:46:32,583 he said, uh, 2045 01:46:33,119 --> 01:46:34,430 "Well, like, you know, I've got some news for you." 2046 01:46:34,454 --> 01:46:35,998 And I said, "What?" And he said, 2047 01:46:36,023 --> 01:46:37,667 "I've just been diagnosed with prostate cancer." 2048 01:46:37,692 --> 01:46:39,858 And he sat back and took a huge drag off 2049 01:46:40,060 --> 01:46:42,427 his cigarette and looked resolute 2050 01:46:42,563 --> 01:46:45,229 and, you know, and somewhat, you know, 2051 01:46:45,364 --> 01:46:48,367 like, you know, "Fuck that." You know, like it's, 2052 01:46:48,502 --> 01:46:50,012 uh, you know, "I've just been diagnosed 2053 01:46:50,037 --> 01:46:51,847 with prostate cancer." He knew the... 2054 01:46:51,872 --> 01:46:54,050 What the effect of those words were going to be, 2055 01:46:54,073 --> 01:46:56,774 but he also gave off this attitude of... 2056 01:46:56,911 --> 01:46:59,377 "It's not gonna stop me from doing what I have to do." 2057 01:47:17,297 --> 01:47:20,332 Zappa: And politically, I am in the process of, uh, 2058 01:47:20,466 --> 01:47:24,569 doing what we call a feasibility study to see, 2059 01:47:25,104 --> 01:47:27,439 uh, if it's possible for me to run for President 2060 01:47:27,574 --> 01:47:29,809 of the United States against George Bush. 2061 01:47:31,645 --> 01:47:33,779 Interviewer: That's quite a comment. 2062 01:47:34,847 --> 01:47:36,014 You feel there's a chance? 2063 01:47:36,449 --> 01:47:39,283 Uh, yes. Not a good one 2064 01:47:39,420 --> 01:47:41,701 because, you know, he has more balloons than I do. 2065 01:47:41,755 --> 01:47:43,699 Interviewer: (laughs) Makes a lot of sense. 2066 01:47:43,724 --> 01:47:46,791 The next time I interview you, I may be calling you 2067 01:47:46,926 --> 01:47:49,462 Mr. President instead of Mr. Zappa. 2068 01:47:51,265 --> 01:47:52,430 Maybe. 2069 01:47:54,702 --> 01:47:56,622 Moon: Do any of these things work? 2070 01:47:58,137 --> 01:47:59,137 (sighs) 2071 01:48:00,774 --> 01:48:02,452 Uh, we're here to make a statement 2072 01:48:02,475 --> 01:48:03,975 on behalf of our family. 2073 01:48:05,244 --> 01:48:07,779 Although Frank was looking forward to being here 2074 01:48:07,913 --> 01:48:09,847 and really intended to be here, 2075 01:48:10,117 --> 01:48:12,484 unfortunately, he's not here. 2076 01:48:13,420 --> 01:48:15,820 As many of you know, he's been diagnosed 2077 01:48:15,956 --> 01:48:18,189 by journalists as having cancer. 2078 01:48:19,192 --> 01:48:22,159 We'd like you to know his doctors have diagnosed 2079 01:48:22,296 --> 01:48:26,398 prostate cancer, which he's been fighting successfully, 2080 01:48:27,100 --> 01:48:30,469 and he has been feeling well and working too hard 2081 01:48:30,604 --> 01:48:32,070 and planned to attend... 2082 01:48:34,408 --> 01:48:36,118 Jamie: You're a legendary workaholic. 2083 01:48:36,143 --> 01:48:37,654 - Are you able to work? - Not anymore. 2084 01:48:37,677 --> 01:48:39,877 Jamie: Not anymore. Tell me. 2085 01:48:40,314 --> 01:48:43,782 Uh, basically on a good day, I can go 9:30 to 6:30. 2086 01:48:45,152 --> 01:48:46,595 Jamie: It's really slowed you down. 2087 01:48:46,619 --> 01:48:49,621 - Yeah. - Has being sick affected 2088 01:48:49,756 --> 01:48:51,916 your music, what kind of music you're writing? 2089 01:48:51,958 --> 01:48:52,958 No. 2090 01:48:54,127 --> 01:48:57,595 Can you tell me a little bit about how you've been doing? 2091 01:48:58,364 --> 01:49:00,230 - Uh, fair. - Jamie: Fair? 2092 01:49:00,367 --> 01:49:02,033 Yeah. Good days, bad days. 2093 01:49:02,168 --> 01:49:04,168 Jamie: More bad days than good days? 2094 01:49:06,139 --> 01:49:07,139 Yeah. 2095 01:49:12,078 --> 01:49:14,212 Let's do it. Tell her to hurry. 2096 01:49:16,649 --> 01:49:18,493 Yeah, she's got to cover up the results 2097 01:49:18,518 --> 01:49:20,618 of my botched transfusion here. 2098 01:49:26,426 --> 01:49:27,426 Man: Ready? 2099 01:49:38,838 --> 01:49:41,372 Mike: He is diagnosed, and he really, 2100 01:49:41,507 --> 01:49:43,475 uh, started working in earnest. 2101 01:49:44,045 --> 01:49:47,546 And that in some ways, I think, was intentionally 2102 01:49:47,680 --> 01:49:50,916 a summing up while he was ill in the last couple years. 2103 01:50:33,961 --> 01:50:36,328 Steve: One of the things that Frank loved 2104 01:50:36,762 --> 01:50:40,332 was musicians that really loved what they were doing, 2105 01:50:40,467 --> 01:50:44,836 and enjoyed playing 2106 01:50:44,971 --> 01:50:48,073 to the best of their ability and took great pride 2107 01:50:48,375 --> 01:50:50,975 in the composer's music. 2108 01:50:51,778 --> 01:50:54,179 There was not enough through the years. 2109 01:50:54,413 --> 01:50:56,747 You know, Frank dealt with orchestras that were, 2110 01:50:56,884 --> 01:51:00,083 you know, basically paid and came in 2111 01:51:00,220 --> 01:51:03,087 and did their job just by, "Okay, here's another chart." 2112 01:51:03,222 --> 01:51:05,690 But then through the years, the... his music 2113 01:51:05,826 --> 01:51:08,092 as it started touching more younger people 2114 01:51:08,228 --> 01:51:10,529 who were growing up and taking up instruments, 2115 01:51:11,364 --> 01:51:13,564 some of them had a deep desire 2116 01:51:13,966 --> 01:51:17,469 to play Frank's music that way. 2117 01:51:18,506 --> 01:51:21,773 So, when Frank discovered the Ensemble Modern, 2118 01:51:22,475 --> 01:51:26,912 this is a group of musicians that wanted to play his music 2119 01:51:27,814 --> 01:51:30,416 on a level that was yet to be achieved. 2120 01:51:33,953 --> 01:51:36,720 Zappa: When the final event is put together, 2121 01:51:37,056 --> 01:51:40,259 I will make some structure out of what worked 2122 01:51:40,394 --> 01:51:41,659 during the rehearsal. 2123 01:51:43,529 --> 01:51:45,729 At the end of the day, you'll have it on paper. 2124 01:51:45,966 --> 01:51:47,365 And you'll be able to read it. 2125 01:51:47,501 --> 01:51:48,501 Okay? 2126 01:51:51,104 --> 01:51:54,806 Okay, so watch, and I'll just move the pitch around the room. 2127 01:52:01,014 --> 01:52:05,016 (orchestra plays) 2128 01:52:13,260 --> 01:52:15,572 And instead of just playing your note, style the note. 2129 01:52:15,595 --> 01:52:18,128 Put some sort of different vibrato rates on it, you know, 2130 01:52:18,265 --> 01:52:20,310 your... that's the one note you have in life. 2131 01:52:20,333 --> 01:52:22,453 You're really gonna play the shit out of it. 2132 01:52:22,569 --> 01:52:25,369 And your big chance to be a star with one note. 2133 01:52:25,505 --> 01:52:26,572 Here we go. 2134 01:52:29,007 --> 01:52:32,110 (orchestra plays) 2135 01:52:41,921 --> 01:52:44,021 Gail: He worked lots of different 2136 01:52:44,157 --> 01:52:45,724 projects simultaneously. 2137 01:52:46,092 --> 01:52:49,461 But that shifted when it was becoming more obvious 2138 01:52:49,596 --> 01:52:51,917 that he wasn't gonna have the time that he needed. 2139 01:52:52,032 --> 01:52:55,367 And then I think he set up priorities himself. 2140 01:52:55,903 --> 01:52:58,603 Went too fast. Da-da, da-da. 2141 01:52:58,738 --> 01:53:00,137 (coughs) 2142 01:53:00,373 --> 01:53:03,140 (indistinct chatter) 2143 01:53:03,275 --> 01:53:05,711 There's nothing weird about the tempo relations. 2144 01:53:05,845 --> 01:53:08,646 There's nothing science fiction about this tempo. 2145 01:53:11,850 --> 01:53:13,318 Yeah. 2146 01:53:13,720 --> 01:53:15,960 Gail: You make decisions about what you can finish, 2147 01:53:16,055 --> 01:53:18,015 what's really important to finish, 2148 01:53:18,492 --> 01:53:21,059 which, you know, 2149 01:53:21,929 --> 01:53:24,128 is another kind of composition. 2150 01:53:24,264 --> 01:53:28,265 (vocalizing) 2151 01:53:28,568 --> 01:53:29,967 I see what it is. 2152 01:54:00,734 --> 01:54:04,469 (music playing) 2153 01:55:44,304 --> 01:55:47,405 (cheers and applause) 2154 01:56:11,564 --> 01:56:13,885 Ruth: I had written a letter that I had hand-delivered 2155 01:56:13,966 --> 01:56:15,065 to the house 2156 01:56:15,801 --> 01:56:18,436 when I really thought I was not going to see him again. 2157 01:56:19,939 --> 01:56:21,672 It was essentially... 2158 01:56:22,275 --> 01:56:25,777 a letter of love and gratitude... 2159 01:56:31,083 --> 01:56:33,283 for everything he had done in the world. 2160 01:56:33,920 --> 01:56:35,787 And not just the world of music 2161 01:56:36,588 --> 01:56:38,489 and not just my little life 2162 01:56:39,192 --> 01:56:40,792 but the world. 2163 01:56:42,328 --> 01:56:43,328 And so... 2164 01:56:44,329 --> 01:56:47,497 I asked him to read it after I would leave. 2165 01:56:47,634 --> 01:56:49,873 Of course, he opened it right while I was there. 2166 01:56:50,770 --> 01:56:54,171 He read it, and he said, um, 2167 01:56:54,841 --> 01:56:56,475 he was not effusive. 2168 01:56:56,609 --> 01:56:58,287 I didn't expect him to be, but he said, 2169 01:56:58,310 --> 01:57:00,845 "That is really, really nice." 2170 01:57:01,581 --> 01:57:03,148 And he hugged me. 2171 01:57:03,283 --> 01:57:05,783 And he looked like he was in so much pain, 2172 01:57:05,917 --> 01:57:07,185 and he hugged me. 2173 01:57:20,466 --> 01:57:22,634 But nothing. It fucking sucked. 2174 01:57:27,341 --> 01:57:29,273 Gail: Before Frank died, he said, 2175 01:57:29,408 --> 01:57:31,153 "Sell everything, and get out of this business. 2176 01:57:31,176 --> 01:57:33,176 It's hateful, and take, you know, 2177 01:57:33,313 --> 01:57:35,680 go get a house at the beach, and have a good time." 2178 01:57:37,384 --> 01:57:40,752 So, there you have it in a nutshell. 2179 01:57:56,136 --> 01:57:59,203 (cheers and applause) 2180 01:58:04,377 --> 01:58:05,543 Zappa: Thank you. 2181 01:59:06,238 --> 01:59:10,274 (cheers and applause) 2182 01:59:32,032 --> 01:59:34,533 Jamie: You got an extraordinary reaction. 2183 01:59:34,667 --> 01:59:37,668 I mean, 20-minute standing ovation. 2184 01:59:38,671 --> 01:59:40,837 How do you feel about that? 2185 01:59:40,974 --> 01:59:43,018 Well, uh, there's no accounting for taste. 2186 01:59:43,042 --> 01:59:44,542 Oh, come on. 2187 01:59:44,676 --> 01:59:46,176 You must have been thrilled. 2188 01:59:46,546 --> 01:59:49,814 I was. I was happier that they did that 2189 01:59:49,949 --> 01:59:51,527 rather than throw things at the stage. 2190 01:59:51,551 --> 01:59:54,485 (cheers and applause) 2191 02:00:06,265 --> 02:00:10,301 (cheers and applause) 2192 02:00:35,194 --> 02:00:39,230 (music playing) 2193 02:01:36,890 --> 02:01:37,988 Zappa: We were loud. 2194 02:01:39,225 --> 02:01:40,358 We were coarse. 2195 02:01:41,927 --> 02:01:43,461 And we were strange. 2196 02:01:44,930 --> 02:01:48,166 And if anybody in the audience ever gave us any trouble, 2197 02:01:48,902 --> 02:01:50,367 we'd tell them to fuck off. 2198 02:01:51,002 --> 02:01:54,939 ("Watermelon In Eastern Hay" by Frank Zappa playing) 2199 02:07:17,796 --> 02:07:21,966 Zappa: This is the Central Scrutinizer. 2200 02:07:22,534 --> 02:07:25,335 Joe has just worked himself 2201 02:07:25,604 --> 02:07:28,171 into an imaginary frenzy 2202 02:07:28,307 --> 02:07:30,106 during the fade-out 2203 02:07:30,242 --> 02:07:32,542 of his imaginary song. 2204 02:07:33,479 --> 02:07:36,680 He begins to feel depressed now. 2205 02:07:36,815 --> 02:07:40,685 He knows the end is near. 2206 02:07:40,708 --> 02:07:42,708 >>>>oakislandtk<<<<< www.opensubtitles.org 172547

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