Identify this gem of a Zappa quote...
Joseph B McGlinchey
"Influence: Science and Practice" by Robert Cialdini...he opens one
section talking about Zappa in the 60s (when he had long hair) going on a
talk show much like the 80s Morton Downey Jr. Show, where the host would
invite guests and insult them as much as possible to try to get them
angry (and, hence, entertaining)...
When our dear Frank came on, this particular guy, who had an artificial
leg, said "I guess your long hair makes you a girl", to which Frank
retorted "I guess your wooden leg makes you a table"!
Does anyone remember this story? I can't remember exactly for what
purpose Cialdini related the story, but it always stuck out in my mind,
and I have never seen it mentioned here...
Does anyone know more about this particular event?
Joe McGlinchey
Teachers College
Columbia University
Gary E. Rush
[ snip ]
: When our dear Frank came on, this particular guy, who had an artificial
: leg, said "I guess your long hair makes you a girl", to which Frank
: retorted "I guess your wooden leg makes you a table"!
[ snip ]
what a great story, and if you ever saw Joe Pyne (pronounced the same as
pine) you are sure to appreciate it all the more. Joe was a local guy in
LA during the 60's, i used to watch him on (b&w) t.v. and he specialized
in nuts, the nuttier the better. a former marine with a crew-cut, he
invited audience participation both with the guests and later one-on-one
during his beefbox segment. the beefbox (nothing more than a microphone
and maybe there was a lectern) was my favorite because so-called normal
people would step up and take joe on. joe's line was "all right, what's
_your_ beef?" and they'd go off about the evils of flouridation or
parking tickets or communism or whatever, after which joe would dispatch
them with a verbal coup de grace to the delight of the equally
bloodthirsty audience. one of the legendary stories about him is that
during the watts riots of ('65?) he pulled a gun, put it on the table, and
invited the rioters to visit him at the station. this understandably
didn't go over well with management, or so the story goes. for some
reason i remember his line, "go gargle with razorblades," which i'm sure
he didn't invent but i associate it with him.
now i'm laughing about pyne and his "wooden" leg, i didn't see or don't
remember seeing FZ on it, but i wish i had and could. i bet frank held
his own.
Gary Rush
o o o o gr...@crl.com o o o o
Karsisto Konsta
> Does anyone know more about this particular event?
It has been mentioned here a couple of times. Here's one
version of the story I found in my files:
-- cut here -------------------------------------------------------------------
From: soph...@tezcat.com (Kirk Pennak)
Newsgroups: alt.fan.frank-zappa
Subject: Re: Joe Pine vs. Frank Zappa--probably real
Date: Fri, 09 Jun 1995 22:43:20 -0600
Message-ID: <sophfilm-090...@pennak.tezcat.com>
In article <marcozziD...@netcom.com>, marc...@netcom.com (terrence
marcozzi) wrote:
> : >Can anybody tell me if the supposed on-screen meeting between Frank Zappa
> : >and Joe Pine ever took place?
>
> Wow! Joe Pine! I didn't know about the Zappa thing, but how many people
> can actually say that they WATCHED Joe Pine's show even once! I'm
> impressed!!! I had a button that had a swine's head on it and around the
> edges it read, "PINE IS A SWINE!"
> --
> SHINY BEAST OF THOUGHT
In his obit for Frank, Brian Baker (who writes music reviews for his own
zine _Ouch!_ and several Cincinnati papers) described it as follows (and
BTW, this is used by permission, copyright 1994 Brian Baker):
Brian starts off by writing about his experiences of watching Pyne as a
child, and Pyne's propensity for choosing easy targets to ridicule:
"His favored guests were hippies, and the more stoned they appeared, the
better Joe liked it. He would rant and rave about their hygiene, their
hair, and their inevitable stand against the Vietnam War. He would assail
them for being unpatriotic, and remind them at top volume how he had given
up a leg in service to his country in the Korean conflict, and would
demand to know what they intended to give the country, beside fleas. The
hippies, generally peace-loving and acid-burnt, would demure to Joe and he
would throw them off the stage to get to his next guest, the gentleman who
claimed to have had dinner with Venusians."
"But late one Saturday night, Joe offered a guest that would change my
little life. I was only half paying attention when he introduced his
victim, a member of a Southern California band of some ill-repute,
according to Joe, and a particularly vile sort of hippie. Another stoner
for the pile, I thought glumly as the freak rounded the corner and took
his seat next to Joe. The guest's hair was wild and black and thick and
looked like it hadn't been combed since birth, his clothes were shabby for
thrift store quality, and he sported the oddest moustache I had ever seen
in my life."
"Joe wasted no time. 'You have long hair,' he sneered. 'You must be a girl.'"
"Without a moment's hesistation, the freak leveled a clear gaze at Joe and
shot back 'You have a wooden leg. You must be a table.'"
"The audience went wild. Joe went wild. I went into a state of zen
amazement. A hippie had finally scored a direct hit on Joe Pyne, and he
was sinking fast. The freak just smiled, secure in the knowledge that the
host was no threat. I didn't realize it then, but I had just been exposed
to a viruent strain of creativity know as Frank Zappa."
-- cut here -------------------------------------------------------------------
--
________________________________
Konsta Karsisto, k...@cs.tut.fi
wills...@gmail.com
> Hi! A long long time ago, I read a great book on social psychology called
> "Influence: Science and Practice" by Robert Cialdini...he opens one
> section talking about Zappa in the 60s (when he had long hair) going on a
> talk show much like the 80s Morton Downey Jr. Show, where the host would
> invite guests and insult them as much as possible to try to get them
> angry (and, hence, entertaining)...
>
> leg, said "I guess your long hair makes you a girl", to which Frank
> retorted "I guess your wooden leg makes you a table"!
>
> purpose Cialdini related the story, but it always stuck out in my mind,
> and I have never seen it mentioned here...
>
>
> Teachers College
> Columbia University
Cialdini mentions this story in his epilogue in “Influence, Psychology of Persuasion”, revised edition (He misspells “Pyne” as “Pine”). It has to do with to first impressions, or making decisions based on only one piece of information. These cognitive shortcuts often save brain power for other tasks, but can also backfire. The use of only one highly representative piece of information, in isolation, usually works for us. Unfortunately it can also lead to stupid mistakes. Researchers Ambady & Rosenthal, 1993, describe the frequent accuracy of what they term “thin-slice judgements”.
Bil
ACK IN THE 1960S A MAN NAMED JOE PINE HOSTED A RATHER remarkable TV talk show that was syndicated from California. The program was made distinctive by Pine’s caustic and confrontational style with his guests—for the most part, a collection of exposure-hungry entertainers, would-be celebrities, and representatives of fringe political or social organizations. The host’s abrasive approach was designed to provoke his guests into arguments, to fluster them into embarrassing admissions, and generally to make them look foolish. It was not uncommon for Pine to introduce a visitor and launch immediately into an attack on the individual's beliefs, talent,or appearance. Some people claimed that Pine’s acid personal style was partially caused by a leg amputation that had embittered him to life; others said no, that he was just vituperous by nature.
One evening rock musician Frank Zappa was a guest on the show. This was at a time in the sixties when very long hair on men was still unusual and controversial. As soon as Zappa had been introduced and seated, the following exchange occurred:
PINE: I guess your long hair makes you a girl.
ZAPPA: I guess your wooden leg makes you a table.
Aside from containing what may be my favorite ad-lib, the above dialogue illustrates a fundamental theme of this book: Very often in making a decision about someone or something, we don’t use all the relevant available information; we use, instead, only a single, highly representative piece of the total. And an isolated piece of information, even though it normally counsels us correctly, can lead us to clearly stupid mistakes—mistakes that, when exploited by clever others, leave us looking silly or worse.