Dec 21, 1940 -  December 4, 1993 – Frank Zappa tore down barriers between rock, jazz and classical music.  In the late 1960′s his Mothers of Invention moved easily from pieces by Stravinsky into saxophone themes inspired by American avant-garde jazz saxophonists such as Albert Ayler.

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Zappa’s passion for American politics was a big part of his life. He always encouraged his fans to register to vote on album covers, and throughout 1988 he had registration booths at his concerts. He even considered running for President of the United States.  NOW THAT WOULD HAVE BEEN SOMETHING!

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Like many unorthodox musicians, Zappa found many of his fans, not in the USA, but Europe. Perhaps his music was too complicated for the taste of most Americans. In fact, while ambling through the Deutsche Welle this morning I came across a piece about a statue of Zappa which began this entire serendipitous journey down the ZAPPA path.

Vilnius is the first city in the world to build a monument to American musician and film director Frank Vincent Zappa. Erected in 1995, it was designed by Konstantinas Bodganas, and built by Valdas Ozarinskas. Zappa never actually visited Lithuania, but he has many fans there. [Interesting isn't it, how the graffiti could be from Los Angeles. I wonder if there is some thread in uniformity of graffiti worldwide? ]

Frank Zappa’s Hungry Freaks Daddy

Mr. America try to hide the emptiness that’s you inside but once you find that the way you lie and the corny tricks that you tried will not forestall the rising tide

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The other day I wrote a post on the Radium girls–a story of how young women were unnecessarily exposed to radium–even after the company they worked for knew better. Zappa’s father worked at the Edgewood [Maryland] Arsenal chemical warfare facility at the Aberdeen Proving Ground. Due to their home’s proximity to the arsenal, which stored mustard gas, gas masks were kept in the house in case of an accident.  This had a profound effect on the young Zappa: references to germs, germ warfare and other aspects of the defense industry occur throughout his work.

During his childhood, Zappa was often sick, suffering from asthma, earaches and sinus problems. A doctor treated the latter by inserting a pellet of radium into each of Zappa’s nostrils; little was known at the time about the potential dangers of being subjected to even small amounts of therapeutic radiation. Nasal imagery and references appear both in his music and lyrics, as well as in the collage album covers created by his long-time visual collaborator, Cal Schenkel.  [SOURCE WIKI]

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Zappa was anti-drugs which certainly sets him apart from many musicians of his era.

Proclaim the Queen!

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