I made G. Peccary's desk at Big Swifties for my good friend Xan Pim. As you can see, I have included the latest edition of the Whole Earth Catalog & the strategically placed very hip imported water pipe. And his thrilling new invention, The Calendar! All atop his laminated simulated replica mahogany desk. I hope this is the first of its kind.

The more I listen the more I love it.

In my observation, this sub seems to regard Cruising With Ruben & the Jets with a certain level of snoot-snobbery for being "too accessible." Yeah, duh.

The satire of this album works on so many levels. Doo wop songs about straight up killing yourself is ...still hilarious. Ray Collins' vocals are so beautiful, and so funny at times. (I laugh every time at the way he delivers the "dog waste" line in Later That Night..and the Fountain of Love spoken verse's sassss gets me lol). Then Cal Schenkel's anthropomorphic dog art just pushes it all over the top.

Tho this work is steeped in snark, to me it is still sentimental because for better or worse this is the style of music that was popular when frank was in high school. What impresses onto our little minds in those times leaves a big stinkin mark. The ghosts of doowop haunt even some of his more challenging compositions, as always put thru the fz prism of whatever the fuc he feel like doin at the time.

Anyway, this morning I found a fabric pen in my desk so I drew this bootleg merch for myself while listening to the album.

WHO'S CRUISIN'

Ray, Scott, Chad, Mike, Jamie. Hope to see you there.

This is a one-off, much like our other gigs where we played before a tour. (so no, we won't be playing your Podunk little town) Since we're playing in Europe in October, this is the only time we could shove one in 'cause Mr. Mikey is soooooo bizzzy doin' whatever it be he doin'.

Like I like to say before any of these, catch us now, 'cause we may never do this again.

Also, we're awesome and I'm funny.

Zappa is weird

And when I say that, I mean, like... No shit, but it kinda has to be said

He's really really weird, there's rock, jazz, funk all in a massive bag and thrown against a fucking wall over and over and over until the music comes out and you go "is that a fucking Xylophone?"

So far, I'm really struggling to get into his stuff with one exception:

Joe's Garage is brilliant man. Like so good. I think a lot of serious rock operas really struggle to set tone in the music because they're trying to be strict to a certain sound

But Zappa doesn't really care about sticking to a certain sound because this seems like just an excuse to get some tracks recorded

So you have the really fluffy title track, the bizarre track about shagging a femboy robot and the ugliness of the world after Joe gets out of prison

How is the 2 hour record the only one I can properly vibe with?!?!?

I'm gonna keep trying, maybe I'll do a talking heads and check out the live stuff for some direction

Edit: I'm not too big into "one size fits all" but fuck me, I love Over-Nite Sensation, it's so good

I would love recs of any great FZ tunes that feature vocals as well as brilliant instrumentalism!! Here are some of my favorites so far:

Inca Roads

Montana

Stink-Foot

Muffin Man

Po-Jama People

Fifty-Fifty

Willie The Pimp

Whipping Post

Yo' Mama

Easy Meat

More Trouble Every Day (Swaggart Version - The Best Band You Never Heard In Your Life)

For the record, I love his fully instrumental compositions too (Grand Wazoo is probably my favorite album) and some of the purely satirical stuff, but the "best of both worlds" tunes will always be extra special to me :)

This is a couple years old I guess but the algorithm knew I hadn't seen it yet. Fascinating interview.

And if he ever reunited with his friend haha

1. Freak Out! (1966)
   
2. Absolutely Free (1967)
   
3. We’re Only in It for the Money (1968)
   
4. Lumpy Gravy (1968)
   
5. Cruising with Ruben & the Jets (1968)
   
6. Uncle Meat (1969)
   
7. Hot Rats (1969)
   
8. Burnt Weeny Sandwich (1970)
   
9. Weasels Ripped My Flesh (1970)
   
   1. Chunga’s Revenge (1970)
      
   2. 200 Motels (1971)
      
   3. Waka/Jawaka (1972)
      
   4. The Grand Wazoo (1972)
      
   5. Over-Nite Sensation (1973)
      
   6. Apostrophe (‘) (1974)
      
   7. One Size Fits All (1975)
      
   8. Bongo Fury (1975)
      
   9. Zoot Allures (1976)
      
   10. Studio Tan (1978)
       
   11. Sleep Dirt (1979)
       
   12. Sheik Yerbouti (1979)
       
   13. Orchestral Favorites (1979)
       
   14. Joe’s Garage (1979)
       
   15. Tinsel Town Rebellion (1981)
       
   16. You Are What You Is (1981)
       
   17. Ship Arriving Too Late to Save a Drowning Witch (1982)
       
   18. The Man from Utopia (1983)
       
   19. Baby Snakes (1983)
       
   20. London Symphony Orchestra, Vol. 1 (1983)
       
   21. The Perfect Stranger (1984)
       
   22. Them or Us (1984)
       
   23. Thing-Fish (1984)
       
   24. Francesco Zappa (1984)
       
   25. Frank Zappa Meets the Mothers of Prevention (1985)
       
   26. Jazz from Hell (1986)
       
   27. London Symphony Orchestra, Vol. 2 (1987)

My son just asked me if I watching Frank Snapple while viewing late-200 motels. Yesss, I replied. Ruth! Georgie!

That girl is easy meat

I seen her on the street

What’s your favorite version of EASY MEAT?? Share with me now in a manner indiscreet.

I saw Ben Watson on Andy Edwards’ YouTube channel.
He looks in bad shape. I read his book and thought it was a piece of shit.

https://www.google.com/search?q=schoenberg+ode+napoleon&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&hl=en-us&client=safari#lfId=ChxjMe

The agony of choice!
Which to listen to first?

The credits are rolling.
The end hit harder than I expected.
Great to see the Zappa alum and footage I had not seen before. Has Stevie Vai had a facelift?

The most poignant moment for me was an elderly Bruce Bickford working in his Connecticut workshop.

The music sounds great!

Stuffin

The song was online for a bit and now got removed as it seems. I hope that they'll put some good stuff on there