Frank Zappa's widow protects his legacy [latimes.com]
ZapRatz
within the text.
-------------------------
Frank Zappa's widow protects his legacy
For Gail Zappa, that means making sure that her late husband 'has the
last word in terms of anybody's idea of who he is. And his actual last
word is his music.'
By Lynell George, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
September 21, 2008
http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/music/la-ca-zappa21-2008sep21,0,5110786.story
http://www.latimes.com/media/photo/2008-09/42475608.jpg
Frank Zappa, here in 1967 with his wife, Gail, had specific ideas
about his music. Michael Ochs Archives / Getty Images
WHOEVER devised the slipknot contract clause "into perpetuity" hadn't
conceived a Gail Zappa. She's made it her job to parse the music
industry's dense legalese, close contractual loopholes and, most
significantly, end what she sees as its iron grip on an artist's past,
present and future.
"Let me say it in the simplest way," she lays it out, her full hand on
the table, "My job is to make sure that Frank Zappa has the last word
in terms of anybody's idea of who he is. And his actual last word is
his music."
To that end, Gail Zappa has become a vocal advocate for artists'
rights. The wife of the late musician-composer Frank Zappa, she has
been keeping watch over not just her husband's image and brand but his
legacy. Despite what people might think, her dogged efforts are not
about erecting razor-wire around all things Zappa but protecting his
memory.
Yes, she knows all about the finger-pointing and the grousing, the
battles with the record labels about who owns what; the fury and
frustration of fans who are unable to download the most famous and
seminal works of the Zappa canon. The Zappa Family Trust is in the
middle of a dust-up with Rykodisc; Gail Zappa is suing Rykodisc over
"copyright infringements including digital rights."
It's not the first time the Zappas have been in a legal dance: In
1977, Frank Zappa filed a lawsuit against Warner Bros. Records and his
former manager citing artistic grievances and questioning certain
"creative accounting practices," Gail says. After an out-of-court
settlement was reached in 1982, the rights to his master recordings
reverted to him, a lucrative boon.
December marks the 15th anniversary of Frank Zappa's passing, but
interest in him and the work continues only to grow. "No two of
Frank's shows were ever the same, which is one of the reasons he was
one of the most heavily bootlegged artists," Gail explains.
Tapping into that interest, in the last few years, the Zappa Family
Trust has begun to release rarities from the Zappa vault. Frank was an
obsessive chronicler, recording both audio and video (in every
conceivable format) of his process. Gail has established two labels --
reconstituting Zappa and launching Vaulternative -- to showcase that
material, which includes band rehearsals from the '60s and live
footage selected by Gail with the assist of Vaultmeister Joe Travers.
This summer, they've issued on DVD the concert film "The Torture Never
Stops" in Frank Zappa's original edit and "One Shot Deal," a
previously unreleased compilation of guitar-focused music. Reissues of
Zappa's first solo album, 1967's "Lumpy Gravy," and the following
year's "We're Only In It for the Money" are in the offing. Coinciding
with all of this is the very first staging of his 1979 rock opera,
"Joe's Garage," at Hollywood's that, loosely speaking, chronicles the
travails of an imaginary guitarist named Joe. Gail gave the first-time
greenlight.
"I'm the front-of-house mixer," Gail Zappa says, settling into a soft
chair near Travers, just to the right of an old console setup in what
was most recently Frank's editing room in their Laurel Canyon home.
Gail usually makes herself available only for the nuts-and-bolts sound
bite related to a release, "but it's not often that I can get into the
grommets and widgets and explain what's behind all of this."
Her position hasn't always made her popular -- she's butted heads at
times with everyone from record execs and label lawyers to fan boards
and tribute bands. "I can't go out and be the rebuttal witness every
minute because I just end up looking like the screaming shrew that I'm
getting the reputation for being."
But she has her reasons, and they're rooted in a promise: "My job is
to make sure that everything is as clean as you can get it. . . . I
don't want anybody standing between the audience and what Frank's
intention as a composer was and still is. [W]hat I've discovered in
the process . . . comes down to one simple thing. Because everybody
wants to remake his image. And they can . . . Well, they can all pound
salt!"
Fifteen years gone, and Frank Zappa still casts a long shadow. Gail,
like Travers, often speaks of him in present tense. And though, on
this late-summer afternoon, no one occupies Frank's old console chair,
there are all sorts of winking reminders salted about everywhere. Gold
records and old album covers. A "Nixon for Governor" poster hangs on a
far door. Scores of "Zappa" license plates, gifts from fans from
across the country, frame the old console, and photographs, tucked
into unexpected places, have a fun-house effect: the eyes seem to
follow you. It's not a spirit that hovers but an ethos; standards to
be upheld. Gail Zappa is not custodian of a ghost but of a force that
still has power to prod and provoke.
Keeping watch keeps her busy. There are the cover bands to police, and
there is even the historical narrative of Frank's band The Mothers to
keep close tabs on. It can be all over the map -- tribute bands
asserting that they are "embodying the spirit of Frank Zappa," an old
band member claiming collaborator status. "Do you remember 'Police
Woman'? Pepper?" Gail Zappa asks. "That's me. The ultimate Sgt.
Pepper."
One of the front-burner issues has been the digital music rights for
the work that makes up Frank Zappa's primary catalog. Many recording
artists have expressed their distaste for digital sound, arguing that
when their work is compressed into MP3 files, it can seem flat and
thin. What the public might not know, Gail says, "is that it was
Frank's concept to limit [the sale] to a format so that it was
accurately represented, that being 16-bit technology -- CDs. He didn't
want it compressed. So we're currently in a lawsuit over this issue."
What's at stake here is intent: "iTunes has been from the get-go
massively compressed. That's fine perhaps if you're Britney Spears . .
. but it's not fine for Frank Zappa's music, and he was interested in
protecting that." A spokesperson for Rykodisc parent Warner Music had
no comment.
Peering into genius
TO LABEL Frank Zappa an iconoclast would only be rounding the corner
of the neighborhood where he and his imagination reside. There's so
much stirring at every turn and busy intersection: glances of doo-wop,
blues, faux-psychedelia. His music couldn't be fenced-in in terms of
genre. In fact, much of it is an amalgam of styles -- embracing, say,
heavy artillery guitar-rock with nods to composers Igor Stravinsky or
Edgard Varèse -- that reflected his citizen-of-the world
sensibilities.
Angular and antic, prescient and political and vamped-up in tricky
time signatures, Zappa was of his time -- as a commentator and a
critic -- and light years ahead of it. "Frank often said," Gail says,
"that his job was to go 'out there' and come back . . . and tell you
what I found out.'"
Part of the idea behind opening the vaults was to chart those travels
and to give audiences an unprecedented, behind-the-scenes look at the
composer's process. As Vaultmeister, Travers isn't just cataloging the
contents, but, he says "also investigating the possibilities." Since
1995, Travers, the drummer for a band led by Frank's son Dweezil,
Zappa Plays Zappa, has been sifting through the assets; a
wall-to-wall, floor-to-ceiling audio/video and all-manner of
miscellany magic library.
Though every silver film canister, tape box or VHS shell is marked in
Frank Zappa's own hand, "it doesn't mean that you'll find what you
think in there," says Travers, so there is a fair amount of
mind-reading and extrapolating. There is basically every kind of
format that music was archived on from the '50s to the '70s, and
Travers has about 40% of it cataloged both on hard drive and CD.
Travers works closely with Gail, submitting ideas for releases.
Ultimately, she has the final word. "I kind of look at the progression
of the releases, like if we've released a record from a band in 1976,
I don't want to stay in that realm. I want to jump around and try to
cover different areas. . . . I try to prioritize a lot of things that
Frank didn't," Travers says. "There is an album. . . called 'Wazzoo,'
which is a 20-piece band that Frank only did eight shows with but
never released anything from. But we just did."
The Zappa label is dedicated to work wholly produced by Frank Zappa,
while Vaulternative highlights old sessions, rehearsals, sonic threads
long stored away. The Zappa Family Trust has about 40 projects in the
works, Gail says.
"We could easily put out five to eight projects a year and can do that
for the next few years." That would make Zappa almost as prolific as
he was when he was living.
"Years ago my husband said, 'Sell everything and get out of this
horrible business.' Did I listen? No. I tried. I really tried. But I
realized early on that I have to defend his right to have been here in
the first place," Gail says.
So all of this, every choice, weighs heavy. "The best thing that I can
hope is to . . . keep windows open to be able to discover the music.
If [people] get to the original recordings, and even Zappa Plays Zappa
and other groups that respect the intent of the composer then that
music is going to be with them for the rest of their lives.
"It is not a causal relationship," she says. "So that's the reason,
the whole motivation for what I do what I do. Because I owe it to
Frank and what I feel about his music. When it's said and done, I
still work for that guy."
Related
*
Pat Towne stages Frank Zappa's 'Joe's Garage'
--
As of the day this message is being posted there are,
lacking an unexpected alternate outcome, 121 days
remaining in the imperial presidency of George W. Bush
David Z
You have to admit, what Gail's trying to do is admirable. She's trying to
defend Frank's memory. You may not agree with what she's doing or how she's
doing it, but I give her an A for effort.
IIRC, Frank said that he didn't much care how he was remembered. Frank told
her to just cash in and get out of the business. Apparently, she thinks
either (a) he didn't really mean it, (b) he didn't fully understand the
implications of those instructions or (c) she just can't bring herself to
sell and walk away. I think the answer is both (b) and (c) and tend to
agree with her.
--
--
"ZapRatz" <zapratzR...@newsguy.com> wrote in message
news:h2bbd49tk08apdlt4...@4ax.com...
Consigliere
>Thanks for posting this well written article.
>
>You have to admit, what Gail's trying to do is admirable. She's trying to
>defend Frank's memory. You may not agree with what she's doing or how she's
>doing it, but I give her an A for effort.
>
>IIRC, Frank said that he didn't much care how he was remembered. Frank told
>her to just cash in and get out of the business. Apparently, she thinks
>either (a) he didn't really mean it, (b) he didn't fully understand the
>implications of those instructions or (c) she just can't bring herself to
>sell and walk away. I think the answer is both (b) and (c) and tend to
>agree with her.
>
>--
Probably, GZ is staying in the public eye, with articles such as
these, to KEEP INTEREST ALIVE for FZ's works.
Also, with the sub-prime loan mess in the banking business, Citibank,
Washington Mutual, UBS close to collapse, and with Merril Lynch,
Morgan Stanley, Lehman Bros and others bankrupt and merging with other
banks (Wachovia, Bank America, and more) perhaps the ZFT finances has
FIZZLED and ...cash flow is again necessary.
Watch Ryko or another company to reissue the Zappa catalog to make
sure the bucks are rolling in, once more.
It's all for a good cause ... the jokes are still funny on Zappa's CD
even after all these years.
John Scialli
I think they've always had a "Green" portfolio.
The old geezer
> It's all for a good cause ... the jokes are still funny on Zappa's CD
> even after all these years.
Oh, PLEEZE! They're all dated & callow.
TOG
Consigliere
<JY...@aol.com> wrote:
>
>> It's all for a good cause ... the jokes are still funny on Zappa's CD
>> even after all these years.
>
>Oh, PLEEZE! They're all dated & callow.
Funny for those first hearing Zappa's material, just as teenagers are
30 years after the fact, hearing foir the first time Exile On Main
St. and other discs.
Zut boF
> Navigate to the webpage to utilize the various weblinks presented
> within the text.
> -------------------------
>
> Frank Zappa's widow protects his legacy
>
> For Gail Zappa, that means making sure that her late husband 'has the
> last word in terms of anybody's idea of who he is. And his actual last
> word is his music.'
>
> By Lynell George, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
>
...Because I owe it to Frank and what I feel about his music. When
The old geezer
> On Sun, 21 Sep 2008 11:32:23 -0700 (PDT), The old geezer
>
>
> >> It's all for a good cause ... the jokes are still funny on Zappa's CD
> >> even after all these years.
>
> >Oh, PLEEZE! They're all dated & callow.
>
> Funny for those first hearing Zappa's material, just as teenagers are
> 30 years after the fact, hearing foir the first time Exile On Main
> St. and other discs.
Oh yeah, real funny. I'm sure they're just rolling with laughter
listening to DSAA. They're probably wondering who's Nixon? It means
nothing to someone born in the 80's or 90's.
Would you have been cracking up back in the 60's listening to songs
about FDR or Hoover? I think not. You woulda been going. "huh?".
TOG
Frunobulax
> listening to DSAA.
The overtly political and timely pieces do tend to suffer from the
passage of time, particularly if the music they're presented with
doesn't resonate with the listener, but Frank wrote about more than
the then current political landscape. I think his skewering take on
various aspects of the culture will continue to be relevant as long as
America's (or whomever's) culture continues to be irrelevant - and
thus entertaining to those with an ear for listening to it.
For fans like myself, however, it is more about the music than the
lyrics. Certainly Zappa's special turn of phrase and delivery is part
of the draw but how many times can you hear the same joke over and
over? If the music doesn't carry it, the joke will go stale after
about the third listen, anyway.
As much as I enjoy the lyrical content on Greggary Peccary, for
example, I would dearly love to get my hands on a version of the track
sans vocals.
That being said, the music that continually draws me to Frank isn't
the kind of music that juices up your average kid, anyway. No then,
not now.
Let's face it: we're all a bunch of goddamn freaks arguing over what
was and will undoubtedly remain, no matter the exposure it receives,
the equivalent of a musical footnote.
Dave
"Frunobulax" <sevr...@aol.com> wrote in message
news:7d0af237-c4d5-4945...@v39g2000pro.googlegroups.com...
> As much as I enjoy the lyrical content on Greggary Peccary, for
> example, I would dearly love to get my hands on a version of the track
> sans vocals.
Wazoo came out 10 months ago.
Frunobulax
Wow - my copy had some great live variations on what would become
Greggary Peccary but not a non-vocal version of the Studio Tan
Greggary Peccary.
How did you get so lucky?
I feel cheated.
Dave
> Wow - my copy had some great live variations on what would become
> Greggary Peccary but not a non-vocal version of the Studio Tan
> Greggary Peccary.
It wasn't clear that you were specifically talking about
the Studio Tan version. I agree, that would be great.
In the same vein, the vinyl version of Sleep Dirt on CD
would be nice, and some of the stuff (like Amnerika)
from Thing Fish w/out vocals would be good.
ZapRatz
<JY...@aol.com> wrote:
>Would you have been cracking up back in the 60's listening to songs
>about FDR or Hoover? I think not. You woulda been going. "huh?".
That analogy reminds me of listening to Lenny Bruce routines now. I
don't know anything about many of the people or cultural elements he
references. And I was born in the early 1950's.
--
As of the day this message is being posted there are,
lacking an unexpected alternate outcome, 119 days
The old geezer
Granted...I'll give you that!
TOG
The old geezer
And I was born in the early 1950's......
How early????
Lenny Bruce's "humor" went out the window the same time Vaughn
Meader's did on 11/22/63. After that he wuz reduced to saying F**K on
stage to attract attention & boy did he get it!
TOG
Frunobulax
> "Frunobulax" <sevri...@aol.com> wrote in message
>
> news:e053946c-2be8-4f0e...@i20g2000prf.googlegroups.com...
>
> > Wow - my copy had some great live variations on what would become
> > Greggary Peccary but not a non-vocal version of the Studio Tan
> > Greggary Peccary.
>
> It wasn't clear
Yeah, I have to work on that. As much as I LOVE Wazoo and WANT MORE OF
THE SAME, PLEASE, ZFT, this early version of Greggary Peccary doesn't
resonate in my mind as the *real* Greggary Peccary, i.e.: the one on
Studio Tan or Lather - my biggest mistake being the assumption that
everyone else thinks the same way!
> In the same vein, the vinyl version of Sleep Dirt on CD
> would be nice, and some of the stuff (like Amnerika)
> from Thing Fish w/out vocals would be good.
Oh, gawd yes! I'm so thankful to the release of Lather for giving me
the bulk of Sleep Dirt on cd in a form I can tolerate. (for that
matter, if FZ always intended to vocalize the contents of Sleep Dirt
as he claimed, I have to thank Warner Bros. on the issue as well -
ulk!)
Martin Gregorie
> Lenny Bruce's "humor" went out the window the same time Vaughn Meader's
> did on 11/22/63. After that he wuz reduced to saying F**K on stage to
> attract attention & boy did he get it!
>
WTF? I never heard (or heard of) Lenny Bruce when he was around, but I
did see the play "Lennie" (starring Eddie Izzard as Lennie, with music
live on stage by the Peter King Quartet) in 1999. That was a great
evening. Izzard did many of Lennie's 'pieces' and, like a lot of FZ's
commentary, they hadn't dated and were extremely funny and relevant to
attitudes that are still all too common.
--
martin@ | Martin Gregorie
gregorie. | Essex, UK
org |
Yesterdays Wafflez
sevr...@aol.com (Frunobulax) Wrote:
Let's face it: we're all a bunch of goddamn freaks arguing over what was
and will undoubtedly remain, no matter the exposure it receives, the
equivalent of a musical footnote.
Well said!
I'm so thankful to the release of Lather for giving me the bulk of Sleep
Dirt on cd in a form I can tolerate. (for that matter, if FZ always
intended to vocalize the contents of Sleep Dirt as he claimed, I have to
thank Warner Bros. on the issue as well - ulk!)
ditto-DITTO!
thanz,
Y.W.
Yesterdays Wafflez
Friggin hilarious!
Y.W.
The old geezer
How so? if Lenny were still around today he'd be another one of those
sad persons taking cheap shots at George W. Been there! Seen/heard
it a million times. Easy pickins. Come up with something funny/
original. George Carlin surpassed Lenny in every way. And don't lay
any of that crap that Lenny laid the groundwork...blah..blah..blah.
Lenny wuz nothing more than a Greenich Village hack that had a movie
made about him w/ Dustbin Hoffman.
Tog
ND: Dundee Pale Ale
NP: Innerzones - Steve Roach & Vidna Obmana
TOG
Milhouse G
> On Sep 21, 7:08 pm, Consigliere <consigli...@videotron.ca> wrote:
>> On Sun, 21 Sep 2008 11:32:23 -0700 (PDT), The old geezer
>>
>> <J...@aol.com> wrote:
>>
>>>> It's all for a good cause ... the jokes are still funny on Zappa's CD
>>>> even after all these years.
>>> Oh, PLEEZE! They're all dated & callow.
>> Funny for those first hearing Zappa's material, just as teenagers are
>> 30 years after the fact, hearing foir the first time Exile On Main
>> St. and other discs.
>
> Oh yeah, real funny. I'm sure they're just rolling with laughter
> listening to DSAA. They're probably wondering who's Nixon? It means
> nothing to someone born in the 80's
*ahem*
--
Milhouse
The old geezer
wrote:
>
> > Oh yeah, real funny. �I'm sure they're just rolling with laughter
> > listening to DSAA. �They're probably wondering who's Nixon? It means
> > nothing to someone born in the 80's
>
> *ahem*
Oh....Please elaborate! :-)
TOG
Dave Wilcher
> On Sep 22, 6:22?pm, Milhouse G <milhouse_on_a_st...@derekmarvelli.org>
> wrote:
>>
>>> Oh yeah, real funny. ?I'm sure they're just rolling with laughter
>>> listening to DSAA. ?They're probably wondering who's Nixon? It means
>>> nothing to someone born in the 80's
>>
>> *ahem*
>
> Oh....Please elaborate! :-)
I think my friend Milhouse is calling you out on your bullshit that everyone
under the age of 30 is ignorant of history, by using his self as an example.
Clear enough for you?
dave
--
A patriot must always be ready to defend his country against his
government. - Edward Abbey
Strictly Commercial
I find it hard to believe there's anybody alive who doesn't remember
Mojo Nixon!
Rollo
ZapRatz
<JY...@aol.com> wrote:
>On Sep 22, 2:19 pm, ZapRatz wrote:
> And I was born in the early 1950's......
>How early????
The year Hank Williams died.
>Lenny Bruce's "humor" went out the window the same time Vaughn
>Meader's did on 11/22/63. After that he wuz reduced to saying F**K on
>stage to attract attention & boy did he get it!
I was referring to various people Lenny spoke of, or name-checked, on
his records. I can't recall the names of the people right now.
What I do recall now is that the people he mentioned were on the same
record as his riff about a kid getting ripped on the chemicals
utilized when assembling a Lancaster model airplane. I haven't
listened to his recordings in many years so I've forgotten specific
titles.
ZapRatz
I read several books about him before the film 'Lenny' came out in
1974. I recall reading at least one of those books at my place of
employment.
I operated a machine that performed initial machining on crankshafts
for four-cylinder Wisconsin industrial engines. The cycle time from
insertion and indexing a fresh crankshaft until all of the machining
was done on them was about 11 or 12 minutes. So, I got paid for
sitting by the machine and reading books (or goofing off) in a number
10-or-so minutes sessions.
I was very eager to see the film due to my familiarity with his life
and trials and tribulations.
Ironically, just last week I listened once again to the soundtrack of
the film.
ZapRatz
That cartoon was shown in a theater preceding a feature film I saw
back in the early 1970's.
The old geezer
> The old geezer wrote:
> > On Sep 22, 6:22?pm, Milhouse G <milhouse_on_a_st...@derekmarvelli.org>
> > wrote:
>
> >>> Oh yeah, real funny. ?I'm sure they're just rolling with laughter
> >>> listening to DSAA. ?They're probably wondering who's Nixon? It means
> >>> nothing to someone born in the 80's
>
> >> *ahem*
>
> > Oh....Please elaborate! :-)
>
> I think my friend Milhouse is calling you out on your bullshit that everyone
> under the age of 30 is ignorant of history, by using his self as an example.
> Clear enough for you?
Find any teenager & ask them who the President of the USA wuz during
WW1 & WW2. Then ask them who Col. Klink wuz. I rest my case.
TOG
NP: The Magnificent Void - Steve Roach
ND: Dundee Pale Bock
Yesterdays Wafflez
zapratzR...@newsguy.com (ZapRatz) Wrote:
Thank you masked man!
Friggin hilarious!
That cartoon was shown in a theater preceding a feature film I saw back
in the early 1970's.
I got it here if ya want?
Y.W.
Milhouse G
> The old geezer wrote:
>> On Sep 22, 6:22?pm, Milhouse G <milhouse_on_a_st...@derekmarvelli.org>
>> wrote:
>>>> Oh yeah, real funny. ?I'm sure they're just rolling with laughter
>>>> listening to DSAA. ?They're probably wondering who's Nixon? It means
>>>> nothing to someone born in the 80's
>>> *ahem*
>> Oh....Please elaborate! :-)
>
> I think my friend Milhouse is calling you out on your bullshit that everyone
> under the age of 30 is ignorant of history, by using his self as an example.
> Clear enough for you?
That's about right.
Granted, it's not like I experienced things like the Nixon
administration first hand, but it's not like a song like "Dickie's Such
An Asshole" (first performed about 7.5 years before I was born) ever
went completely over my head, either. But then I wasn't like all the
other kids. :P
It made me feel a little old listening to Lou Reed's "New York" album
recently and realizing that people born only 3 or 4 years after me would
have almost no first-hand recollection of the people and current events
topics namechecked in "Sick of You", released in 1989.
--
Milhouse
Milhouse G
Now there's a man who spoke some truth! If you don't have Mojo Nixon
then your store could use some fixin'!
--
Milhouse
Milhouse G
> On Sep 22, 7:58�pm, "Dave Wilcher" <davewilc...@gmail.com> wrote:
>> The old geezer wrote:
>>> On Sep 22, 6:22?pm, Milhouse G <milhouse_on_a_st...@derekmarvelli.org>
>>> wrote:
>>>>> Oh yeah, real funny. ?I'm sure they're just rolling with laughter
>>>>> listening to DSAA. ?They're probably wondering who's Nixon? It means
>>>>> nothing to someone born in the 80's
>>>> *ahem*
>>> Oh....Please elaborate! :-)
>> I think my friend Milhouse is calling you out on your bullshit that everyone
>> under the age of 30 is ignorant of history, by using his self as an example.
>> Clear enough for you?
>
> Find any teenager & ask them who the President of the USA wuz during
> WW1 & WW2. Then ask them who Col. Klink wuz. I rest my case.
Isn't this really more dependent on the information the kid was exposed
to growing up than anything?
--
Milhouse
Martin Gregorie
> The old geezer wrote:
>> On Sep 22, 7:58�pm, "Dave Wilcher" <davewilc...@gmail.com> wrote:
>>> The old geezer wrote:
>>>> On Sep 22, 6:22?pm, Milhouse G
>>>> <milhouse_on_a_st...@derekmarvelli.org> wrote:
>>>>>> Oh yeah, real funny. ?I'm sure they're just rolling with laughter
>>>>>> listening to DSAA. ?They're probably wondering who's Nixon? It
>>>>>> means nothing to someone born in the 80's
>>>>> *ahem*
>>>> Oh....Please elaborate! :-)
>>> I think my friend Milhouse is calling you out on your bullshit that
>>> everyone under the age of 30 is ignorant of history, by using his self
>>> as an example. Clear enough for you?
>>
>> Find any teenager & ask them who the President of the USA wuz during
>> WW1 & WW2. Then ask them who Col. Klink wuz. I rest my case.
>
> Isn't this really more dependent on the information the kid was exposed
> to growing up than anything?
>
Its damn hard to know any history if all you're fed is a mixture of lies
and myths made up by Hollywood and the Networks to prize dollars from the
pockets of the gullible plus 'facts' bent out of shape by political party
pliers.