Black Napkins

Posted on December 21, 2007 by Alex

Categories: A/V Squad, damn, unspeakable awesomeness

Frank Zappa, 1940 - 1993

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Comments:

  1. I saw Zappa at (what was then called) the Universal Amphitheater.

    I think I was in college at the time, so maybe it was before ‘85. Or maybe I had just graduated and it was the late 80s.

    Anwyay, I remember there were about a million guys on stage with him, his band was huge.

    And he switched out his guitar after every song. Not sure if he was having trouble staying in tune or if he was just OCD about the guitar tuning.

    The show was more like a jazz fusion performance than a rock show. He didn’t perform the “funny” Zappa songs (and at the time, Valley Girl was just a few years old). He didn’t do Joe’s Garage, I don’t think.

    It was more like a Grateful Dead, jam rock thing, than what you would expect from Zappa if you only knew the familiar songs.

    Oddly enough, I was at a Dead show a few years later at the L.A. Sports Arena right around the time Zappa died. The Dead did “He’s Gone” that night and dedicated it to Zappa. I’m almost positive that it was Garcia who did the dedication and Garcia never spoke between songs.

    Those are my Zappa memories.

    Comment by Paul — December 21, 2007 @ 10:51 am

  2. Just talked to my buddy … it was December 1984.

    Comment by Paul — December 21, 2007 @ 12:44 pm

  3. I saw Zappa a few times. The last was in Berkeley in 1984, just a few months before you saw him.

    The man was a genius.

    Comment by Alex — December 24, 2007 @ 5:25 pm