Blow Your Harmonica, Son

Next week Jimbama and I get to go to the glorious Hampton Beach Casino Ballroom on the NH coast to see Zappa Plays Zappa for the second summer in a row. Last year they tore the place up. The crowd was full of old school Frank fans who looked exactly as you'd imagine a group of 60s burnouts living near the NH coast would look. Lots of long moustaches, grizzled faces and a bevy of tattooed ladies. They went absolutely insane for the entirety of the show, similar to the San Quentin inmates, and hooted and hollered long after the encore. Dweezil commented on how crazy we all were and promised to be back next year. He seemed genuinely surprised at the hardcore superfans filling the place but Frank Zappa freaks are nothing if not obsessive.

So they're returning to the same venue with a whole new set of songs from throughout Frank's long and storied career. Nothing will excite me as much as their mindblowing version of "Brown Shoes Don't Make It" from last year's show but I'm giddy with anticipation anyhow. Here's a wild clip from Frank's appearance on the Steve Allen show back in 1963 when he was only 22. This is clip 4 of 4 and you can see the others here, here and here but this is really the showpiece - Frank conducts Steve and his orchestra in a improvisatory noise piece centering around 2 bicycles. I can't believe they spent so much time on this segment (all 4 parts total over 16 minutes) and allowed such cacophonous experimentation on a popular show. Teevee sure was different back then.



Here is a clip of Frank's induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (which has yet to set things right and induct Rush) in 1994 shortly after his death. It begins with a fun montage of his music and philosophies and then moves on to a typically bored speech by Lou Reed, professional creepshow, and a bizarre but strangely moving award acceptance by Moon Unit.