Don't you boys know any nice songs?
December 12, 2016 9:19 PM   Subscribe

It's April 1, 1980. Frank Zappa, legendary composer, performer, and noted political troublemaker arrives at the San Francisco airport. Representatives of the US Navy are waiting for him as he exits the aircraft and the encounter was captured on video. Full story at the Navy Times.
posted by LastOfHisKind (31 comments total) 50 users marked this as a favorite
 
Frank Zappa, it turns out, was a huge fan of the Navy Band.

I wonder how he felt about the Navy after that ship arrived too late to save the drowning witch.
posted by LeLiLo at 9:38 PM on December 12, 2016 [9 favorites]


Well...given the other songs on that album, I think it's good they chose Joe's Garage instead of Crew Slut or Catholic Girls.

That was awesome, by the way - so nice to see FZ genuinely thrilled and enjoying the moment. And to the band's credit, they did a good job with it.
posted by mosk at 9:42 PM on December 12, 2016 [2 favorites]


I bet 2016 would've got him if cancer hadn't gotten him first. But it would have been great to have a few more years of Frank's music.

Getting old -- if you're not in the high-net-worth escape pod -- is nothing more than seeing your idols die.
posted by spacewrench at 9:52 PM on December 12, 2016 [5 favorites]


Your attitudes to women were often worrying but I still miss you FZ.
posted by GallonOfAlan at 10:51 PM on December 12, 2016 [1 favorite]


thanks for this. put a smile on my face at the end of an oft trying day.
posted by philip-random at 11:29 PM on December 12, 2016 [1 favorite]


Reent toont teent toont teent toont teenooneenoonee
posted by rhizome at 12:01 AM on December 13, 2016 [5 favorites]


Gah, wish I'd known about the kickstarter. And I was even listening to FZ while walking to work this morning.
posted by Harald74 at 12:56 AM on December 13, 2016


Oh, man, at 2:36, he's shaking their hands, and he introduces himself, "Frank Zappa."

:-D
posted by paleyellowwithorange at 1:06 AM on December 13, 2016


Eponysterical.
posted by acb at 1:36 AM on December 13, 2016 [2 favorites]


one more time!
posted by terretu at 3:25 AM on December 13, 2016 [2 favorites]


And that's a big smile on my face to start the day. Thanks for this!
posted by Songdog at 4:36 AM on December 13, 2016 [3 favorites]


I bet 2016 would've got him if cancer hadn't gotten him first. But it would have been great to have a few more years of Frank's music.

Tipper Gore Lives.
posted by briank at 4:56 AM on December 13, 2016 [1 favorite]


I was just thinking about how insanely famous Frank Zappa was in his day. When I was a kid in Iceland in the 80s, a popular tongue twister included his name. He was one of those rock stars that pretty much everyone knew. Now he's almost vanished from popular culture. He's probably due a resurgence.
posted by Kattullus at 5:34 AM on December 13, 2016 [2 favorites]


Dweezil's workin' hard on it, man.

Apparently the younger siblings running the ZFT want to trademark the name and sell Zappa™ yoga pants.

2016 would be hard for Frank any way.
posted by petebest at 6:11 AM on December 13, 2016


*snif* that video was the best. How often do we get to see Frank with a big sincere happy goofy smile?
posted by petebest at 6:19 AM on December 13, 2016 [5 favorites]


Seeing that sailor with the full beard sent me down this rabbit hole: A Brief History of Grooming in the U.S. Navy
posted by exogenous at 6:48 AM on December 13, 2016 [2 favorites]


It makes its own sauce if you add water.
posted by SansPoint at 6:59 AM on December 13, 2016 [2 favorites]


This was a great start to my day after a catastrophically bad day yesterday. Thanks, LastofHisKind!
posted by oozy rat in a sanitary zoo at 7:02 AM on December 13, 2016


*smiling*

Thanks for this
posted by Smedleyman at 7:28 AM on December 13, 2016


I enjoyed this very much. Thanks.
posted by friendlyjuan at 7:44 AM on December 13, 2016


This is how the world ends
Not with a whimper,
but with a Big Band
posted by chavenet at 7:52 AM on December 13, 2016 [1 favorite]


One More Time......
posted by mule98J at 8:45 AM on December 13, 2016


This was very sweet.
posted by Guy Smiley at 9:13 AM on December 13, 2016


That was great. Thank you!
posted by corvikate at 10:41 AM on December 13, 2016


This was awesome. Thanks for posting it.

Seeing that sailor with the full beard sent me down this rabbit hole: A Brief History of Grooming in the U.S. Navy

Heh heh. "A Brief History of Grooming in the U.S. Navy" would be a perfect Frank Zappa album/song title.
posted by mandolin conspiracy at 11:49 AM on December 13, 2016 [1 favorite]


I used to play tuba in a military band. I used to (hell, still do) love Frank Zappa. This f-ing video made me cry.
posted by charlesminus at 12:41 PM on December 13, 2016 [3 favorites]


So I'm a classically trained composer and even though Zappa gets recommended to me all the time I have to admit that I've only on very rare occasion dipped into that pool. But seeing that his command of the baton was actually pretty good (following a somewhat idiosyncratic pattern but close enough to the standard that he is clearly aware of the norms) and natural makes me realize that maybe people haven't been overstating his relevance to me?

It's a shibboleth, y'all, but sometimes that's what it takes. And looking through his Wiki article and seeing his obsession with Varese pretty much seals the deal. I know, it's kind of shallow on my part, but sometimes that's what it takes. He knows his stuff and that makes him much more interesting. (Though "knowing your stuff" is not a requirement for my enjoyment of music but for someone who gets spoken of in the way Zappa is it is kind of important -- it validates the things people say about him.)
posted by bfootdav at 2:06 PM on December 13, 2016 [2 favorites]


When I was a kid in Iceland in the 80s, a popular tongue twister included his name.
Frank Zappa in a Sponge Coat
posted by unliteral at 2:53 PM on December 13, 2016 [1 favorite]


bfoodav: He was also big into Boulez. I thought Yellow Shark was the best thing he had done in a long time, basically better than anything after he got the Synclavier. I wish he'd taken the time to do more of it.
posted by rhizome at 5:53 PM on December 13, 2016


Very cool. Kind of a flash mob thing before flash mobs were a thing.

I hope the original video surfaces at some point (rather than this one which is a video of a screen playing the original).
posted by beagle at 9:24 AM on December 14, 2016


Apropos of all this..."He plays the bicycle. And his name is Frank Zappa."

Frank Zappa on The Steve Allen Show March 4, 1963
posted by mandolin conspiracy at 6:15 PM on December 19, 2016 [1 favorite]


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