Frank Zappa live “Don’t Eat The Yellow Snow” in Sydney 1973
Text by Sohrab Saadat Ladjevardi
Let me introduce you to one of my great music idols of the past: Frank Zappa who was a funny, but serious musician. He died sometime ago, and left a great heritage of music behind him. Thanks to YouTube we have always the chance to get access to him.
For me he was one of the best guitarists, performers, satirists and entertainers of Rock & Roll. He was something, and he never bored me as a live performer. He was a Zarathustra type of a musician: laughing and crying at the same time on and off stage. He was a normal-anormal guy. Although he put so much time and energy into his his music, he could also be a family man: he married twice and had a couple of kids.
I loved his ironic talking and ironic music. He was always a great band leader and had great members in his band who were able to perform his crazy music which wasn’t an easy one. He was also one of the first independent rock musicians who was willing to produce himself as an artist and to manage his own music business. One of the first DIY rock musicians.
It’s a shame that I have never seen him live because when I fell in love with him, I was in Osaka studying martial arts. I missed him when he performed only once in Tokyo in 1975. He never came back to Japan because Frank thought that Japanese couldn’t understand him.
I hope that I can find a writer soon who could write the Zappa DooBeeDooBeeDoo Blues.
About Frank Zappa
Frank Zappa (December 21, 1940 – December 4, 1993) was an American composer, electric guitarist, record producer, and film director. In a career spanning more than 30 years, Zappa wrote rock, jazz, electronic, orchestral, and musique concrète works. He also directed feature-length films and music videos, and designed album covers. Zappa produced almost all of the more than 60 albums he released with the band Mothers of Invention and as a solo artist. Read more.
Here are some quotes attributed to Frank Zappa:
