Before taking on the PalladiumPaul job, I was a journalist and was lucky enough to spend time with some amazing people. Up at the top of that list was one of my teenage heroes – Frank Zappa.
Twice, in advance of his concerts, I interviewed him. I’m not sure what I was expecting, but what I got was a brilliant, thoughtful and sometimes playful man. An artist who was always pushing the boundaries of “pop” music. And a charming guy who liked to eat ice cream during his interviews.
The first time I played a Zappa record in my room at home it was 1968’s We’re Only In It For The Money, the concept album which had the Mothers posed in dresses with hair exploding everywhere. Listening on my tiny stereo, the sound was so strange and new that when the album finished -I had a stomach ache! I told Zappa that story and he loved it. Just the effect he hoped to have on complacent, suburban teenagers, he said.
Sadly, I can’t track down the stories I wrote from those interviews. But I still love Zappa’s music and I’ve long been a fan of Bogus Pomp. Their show with full orchestra at the Palladium last fall was a highlight of the year for me. (That orchestral show will be back in late September on our main stage!)
This weekend, the Bogus boys will be doing an all-electric show, with vocals and lots of surprises, in our Side Door Cabaret. Two nights – Friday and Saturday at 8 – and the band promises new material each night.
As we got ready for the show, lots of Zappa posts and trivia crossed my electronic desktop. The weirdest of which was “The Crux of The Biscuit – Aural Conceptual Continuity in the Music of Frank Zappa,” posted by Cameron Piko. Here’s a sample:
“So if you are to buy any Frank Zappa album at random, chances are you are falling into a minefield of cryptic self-referential lyrics from other albums, odd themes that only reveal their importance in future works, or even pieces of music that originated from a work 20 years earlier. I thought I would help with this (and in doing so pick up some more important continuity clues for myself) by working through 63 of Frank’s albums spanning from 1966 to 1996 in an attempt to map out the links between these songs. Frank passed in 1993, and only a select few posthumous releases have been included for consideration.”
Piko goes on to connect more dots than I thought existed in Zappa’s music. To learn more, follow this link.
And for tickets or more info on the shows, follow this link to our box office or call 727 822-3590. Tickets are limited and are going fast, so get ’em in advance. And maybe take some Pepto Bismal….
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