Posted on - December 5, 2003 [at] 11:13 pm by Brad
Tagged in - misc
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Apparently it’s the 10th anniversary of Frank Zappa’s death today. I’m not sure if it shows at all, but Zappa’s been a pretty big influence on me both in his music and his attitudes towards recording and the music industry. One of the things I admired about him most was how practical he was in regards to his art.
I tend to avoid being sentimental about artists, but every now and then I think it’s pretty crummy that Frank isn’t around to play around with the latest gear, use the Internet to distribute his music and to generally be a pain in the RIAA’s ass.
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9 Comments on this post
Fuzzee on Zappa
December 5, 2003 at 11:25 pm
*Sigh.* I love Frank Zappa, and it pains me to think that he died when I was six years old. Ah, well, all things come to pass… and his music is still here.
victor on Zappa
December 6, 2003 at 1:09 am
Actually, Gail has been doing a great job at watching over the legacy (including the activism) and replacing all those scratchy Lumpy Gravy LPs with CDs is still a “good thing”
start here: http://www.zappa.com
if you want to honor Frank, buy a Persuasions CD:
http://www.riprense.com/Persuasions.htm
Kathy on Zappa
December 8, 2003 at 11:17 am
Actually, Victor, what does that have anything to do with being sad that Frank is dead?
victor on Zappa
December 8, 2003 at 2:03 pm
Listening to music created and inspired by Frank Zappa (e.g. Frankly A Cappella by the Persuations) is how I cope with being sad that Frank is dead.
Sorry if that sounds like a stretch.
Sector on Zappa
December 8, 2003 at 2:16 pm
Victor, thinking that Frank wouldn’t like you is how I cope.
victor on Zappa
December 8, 2003 at 6:33 pm
ha! Well you should be well inured, I’m sure your thinking is correct.
queenie on Zappa
December 11, 2003 at 10:08 pm
I <3 Frank. My music appreciation teacher had been annoying me all semester by doing stupid things like stumbling over the Beatles’ names and being unable to recall Timothy Leary’s “Turn on, tune in, drop out” slogan … and then, when it came time to lecture on Art Rock, he spent a good forty minutes on Frank and played “Dinah-Moe Humm” all the way through, much to the consternation of the 20-year-old kids in the class. It was pretty great.
slime.oooytv.set on Zappa
February 12, 2004 at 3:28 am
zappa was way ahead of the internet:
(from zappa.com)
A PROPOSAL FOR A SYSTEM TO REPLACE
ORDINARY RECORD MERCHANDISING
– copyright 1983 by Frank Zappa –
Ordinary phonograph record merchandising as it exists today is a stupid process which concerns itself essentially with pieces of plastic, wrapped in pieces of cardboard.
These objects, in quantity, are heavy and expensive to ship. The manufacturing process is complicated and crude. Quality control for the stamping of the discs is an exercise in futility. The system is subject to pilferage (as, in some instances, pressing ‘over-runs’ have been initiated, with the quantity pressed above the amount of the legitimate order removed from the premises and sold on the black market).
Dissatisfied customers routinely return records because they are warped and will not play.
Large numbers of people are employed in the field of ‘record promotion’ . . . these salaries are, for the most part, a waste of money.
New digital technology may eventually solve the warpage problem and provide the consumer with better quality sound in the form of Compact Discs [C.D.’s]. They are smaller, contain more music, and would, presumably cost less to ship . . . but, they are much more expensive to buy and manufacture. To reproduce them, the consumer needs to purchase a digital device to replace his old hi-fi equipment (in the $700 price range).
The bulk of the promotional effort at every record company today is expended on “NEW MATERIAL” . . . the latest and the greatest of whatever the cocaine-tweezed A&R Brass has decided to inflict on everybody. More often than not, these ‘aesthetic decisions’ result in mountains of useless vinyl/cardboard artifacts which cannot be sold at any price, and are therefore returned for disposal and recycling. These mistakes are expensive.
Put aside momentarily the current method of operation and think what is being wasted in terms of GREAT CATALOG ITEMS, squeezed out of the market place because of limited rack space in retail outlets, and the insatiable desire of quota-conscious company reps to fill every available niche with THIS WEEK’S NEW RELEASES.
Every major record company has vaults full of (and perpetual rights to) great recording by major artists in many categories which might still provide enjoyment to music consumers if they were made available in the right way. MUSIC CONSUMERS LIKE TO CONSUME MUSIC . . . NOT PIECES OF VINYL WRAPPED IN PIECES OF CARDBOARD.
It is our proposal to take advantage of the POSITIVE ASPECTS of a NEGATIVE TREND afflicting the record industry today: HOME TAPING via cassette of material released on vinyl.
First of all, we must realize that the taping of albums is not motivated by ‘stinginess’ alone . . . if a consumer makes a home tape from a disc, that copy will probably sound better than a commercially manufactured high-speed dupe cassette, legitimately released by the company.
People today enjoy music more than ever before, and, they like to take it with them wherever they go. THEY CAN HEAR THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN GOOD AUDIO AND BAD AUDIO . . . THEY CARE ABOUT THAT DIFFERENCE, AND THEY ARE WILLING TO GO TO SOME TROUBLE AND EXPENSE TO HAVE HIGH QUALITY ‘PORTABLE AUDIO’ TO USE AS ‘WALLPAPER FOR THEIR LIFESTYLE’.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
THE ANSWERS TO PERPLEXING QUESTIONS….
http://www.zappa.com/cheezoid/whatsnew/world-news/FZ-Proposal/index.html
sausage on Zappa
May 11, 2004 at 3:46 pm
THE TIME IS NOW GO OUT TO WHERE THEY HAVE A KAROKEE NIGHT AND SEE IF THEY HAVE DYNAMOE HUM IN THE BOOK. iT SEEMS TO BE COMMON AROUND HERE IN NORTHERN ILLINOIS IT IS FUN TO SING FRANK AND ANNOY THE HELL OUT OF PEOPLE WHO JUST DON’T GET IT