Did FZ do audience requests?

vanzon@gemini

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Feb 23, 1994, 7:18:30 AM2/23/94

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Hello,

On YCDTOSA vol.2, the Helsinki Concert, someone in the audience makes the
request to play "Whippin' Post".
FZ replies: "Sorry, we don't know that one. Hum me a few bars...".
This was recorded september 1974 (released in 1988).

As far as I know, the first FZ-album on which "Whippin' Post" appears is
"Them Or Us", released in 1984 (recorded 1983 ?).

Note that the timeline of releases is opposite to the timeline of recordings.
So the first time I heard "Helsinki" (just a week ago) it sounded to me like
a normal request, i.e. picked from FZ's repertoire.
However, was it really the case, at that time (1974)?
Or did "Helsinki" made him start playing "Whippin' Post"? In other words:
did he do audience requests?

Just curious....

Ed van Zon.

spb...@ocvaxa.cc.oberlin.edu

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Feb 23, 1994, 10:52:18 AM2/23/94

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This was discussed a while ago with some misinformation posted. The
complete story (as gleaned from an FZ interview in Guitar Player in '83) :
The Helsinki request did inspire Zappa to play "Whippin' Post" out of a
perverse desire to satisfy the unlikely request. (I'm sure it never would have
occured to him to play this song otherwise.) When Bobby Martin joined the band
in '81, and it came up that he could play and sing "Whippin' Post," Zappa did
an arrangement of it.
Don't know if Zappa would have responded this way to every request...

Pat Buzby
Oberlin, OH

line...@delphi.com

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Mar 2, 1994, 3:07:02 AM3/2/94

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Maybe the guy doing the requesting just stumbled into the wrong concert. LSD
was pretty strong in those days.
The Allman Brothers could have been playing next door! -LINETRAMP-

ENL39...@artscourse.watstar.uwaterloo.ca

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Mar 4, 1994, 1:34:34 PM3/4/94

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Sort of. I saw him in Vancouver (BC) in about 1975, in a cow-palace
called "the Agridome". At one point, while Z was doing a quiet
solo, some metalhead who had wandered in to the wrong concert
yelled out "Jimmy Page!" A minute or so later, after he had
finished the musical thought he was working on, Z broke into the
run from "Heartbreaker", and then went back to what he was doing.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Don Kiphart

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Mar 7, 1994, 10:20:02 AM3/7/94

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I saw FZ about the same time (1975) in Spokane. Someone in the crowd
kept yelling for Mudshark. Frank said something to the effect, "you all know
that one...", then lead the audience through the chorus. He set down and
jammed for about 20 minutes. I don't think he was very happy about the request.
The jam was great though.

don k,

spb...@ocvaxa.cc.oberlin.edu

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Mar 7, 1994, 9:31:53 PM3/7/94

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I have a genuine boot (sorry Frank!) from Melbourne, Australia in June
'73 where the audience requests "Mudshark." Frank explains that they were
about to play a song that was better than "Mudshark" ("Farther Oblivion," the
instrumental from the second-half of "Piquantique," mostly a medley of themes
from "Gregory Peccary" and "Be-Bop Tango"), but he complies with the request
nonetheless, even though the band didn't know the song. Eventually he goes
from there to "Be-Bop Tango."

Pat Buzby
Oberlin, OH

Chaos 89

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Mar 10, 1994, 1:28:02 AM3/10/94

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When I was a student at SIU-Carbondale in the Fall of 1980, Zappa was the
homecoming show, this was actually my third and last concert of his that I saw.
Anyways, half way through the show someone throws an inflatable rubber shark
with the word MUD painted on the side. He picked it up turned to the band and
siad "Why not", and went into a perfect rendition of the song. I was amazed
since none of these band memgers were with in during the Filmore days.

Wayne
Cha...@AOL.com