A nice Zappa surf article from the past
Norm Katuna
I was doing some searching in Deja news for a few of my old articles and
found this.This was originally published in alt.fan.frank-zappa. I think
that this would be of interest to several members of A-R-O. who would not
normally read the Zappa group. Everything is left in to show proper credit
for this.
Article 19 of 20
Subject: Surf Music
From: hgr...@jolt.mpx.com.au (Henry Griggs)
Date: 1996/02/28
Message-Id: <4h1q5v$h...@inferno.mpx.com.au>
Organization: Microplex Pty Ltd
Newsgroups: alt.fan.frank-Zappa
Here's the artcile on Zappa's Surf Music.
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THE BIG KAHUNA #8
Surf Music
by Stephen McParland
from IT Issue #16 December/January/February 1995/6
As promised last issue, here is a rundown of Frank Zappa's surfing music
roots. Francis Vincent Zappa Jr was born in Baltimore, Maryland on
December 21, 1940 and although certainly no one's vision of the eternal
surfer, he too like many of those who rose to prominence in the mid to
late '60s had his feet firmly entrenched in the sand at the beginning of
the new decade.
In 1950, the Zappa family migrated to sunny California and by the late
'50s, Frank was busying himself in many facets of the recording medium.
His first surf related production involved a local disc jockey by the
name of Brian Lord who then worked for San Bernadino radio station KMEN.
Lord's Zappa penned and produced The Big Surfer was initially issued on
Zappa's own Vigah label and later picked up by Capitol Records. Issued
under the name Brian Lord And The Midnighters; the "Midnighters" were
Zappa, Paul Buff, Dave Aerni and Ray Collins. This was followed by
Zappa's own personal contribution as "Ned" on Surf Along b/w Hey Nelda,
another Vigah release, which this time (not surprisingly) was not picked
up by Capitol. "Nelda" on this recording was soon-to-be "Mother" Ray
Collins.
One other Zappa surf dabbling was the more successful Tijuana Surf by
The Hollywood Persuaders on Original Sound Records, which Zappa had
recorded at PAL. In addition to Ray Collins, another associate and
occasional co-producer with Zappa these early recorded outings was Paul
Buff who owned and operated PAL Recording Studios, situated at 8040
Archibaid Avenue in Cucamonga, then a small town situated some 40 miles
east of Los Angeles. It was through running PAL that Buff met the
younger Zappa. "Time after time," explained Buff to surf music historian
John Blair, "Frank would assemble a jazz group and we would cut some
stuff. And time after time, Frank would trot the results up to Hollywood
only to be told there was no demand for that kind of music." "We would
spend all this time making these recordings, intricately overdubbing
them, putting sound effects on them and everything," recalled Zappa in a
December 1973 Dr. Demento radio show. "Paul Buff would put on a straw hat
and some red socks and a vest, which he thought was the way he looked
best as a businessman and he would go into Hollywood where he had
connections and talk to big producers like Bob Keene and Art Laboe and
he even knew Jim Economides at Capitol." Yet another associate of both
Buff and Zappa during this period was Dave Aerni from nearby Riverside.
In addition to driving an ice cream truck by day, Aerni had teamed up
with George Taunton to form Aertaun Records (AERni + TAUNton) on which
he had released a series of recordings by The Tornadoes, a Bakersfield,
California band he also managed. The group's Bustin' Surfboards was a
minor (#71) US national hit towards the end of 1962. Aerni also co-wrote
with Paul Buff Not Another One, the B-side of Brian Lord's The Big
Surfer single, as well as Heavies b/w The Cruncher, a single released
under the name of The Rotations on Original Sound Records. The first
twenty seconds of Heavies was later used by Zappa on The Mothers Of
Invention's track Nasal Retentive Calliope Music included on the album
WE'RE ONLY IN IT FOR THE MONEY (Verve 5045, released in December 1968.)
Both Buff's and Aerni's connection with Original Sound Records came via
their friendship with label boss Art Laboe and it was through this
existing relationship that Zappa managed to place The Penguins'
recording of Memories Of El Monte (which he had written with Ray
Collins) with the label. Zappa also produced the recording. In addition
to The Penguins' master, Original Sound also picked up Zappa's surf
instrumental Grunion Run as the B-side of Buff's new one-man creation,
Tijuana Surf. The group name under which the single was originally
issued was The Persuaders, but this was subsequently changed to The
Hollywood Persuaders to avoid confusion with the Chuck Rio related group
of the same name (who had released material on Saturn record label). The
Hollywood Surfers single listed the A-side as simply Tijuana. "Around
1963," remembered Buff, "At the height of the surfing thing, I had
become reasonably proficient at playing piano, bass, organ and drums. I
had become tired of these four instruments, but was still very much a
loner. I didn't like to hire other musicians. I liked to put things
together myself...I liked the sound of the saxophone, especially with
the advent of the surfin' sax sounds. Still, I had no money. (So) One
day I went to the local music store and rented an alto sax for $15 a
month and bought a $2 book on how to play the sax. I didn't read music,
but had garnered a pretty good handle on the mechanics and math of
music. I took the sax home to PAL and got out the book. For a couple of
days I learned where to put the fingers to make certain notes. On the
third day I visualised a record, wrote a melody and went back to the
piano/organ/bass and drums and put down a rhythm track. Then I got out
the sax and overdubbed about three melody and harmony lines. When I was
finished I thought it sounded pretty good, kind of like Mexican surf
music, so I called it Tijuana Surf." The single eventually sold around
5,000 copies locally, but achieved greater fame south of the border when
Laboe sent the record down to an affiliated record label in Mexico.
According to Buff, "It stayed #1 for 10 solid months, with The Beatles'
I Want To Hold Your Hand (at) #2."
Because there was no band as such, Laboe hired three musicians - Mike
Martin, Bob Husband and Brian Blanchard - to pose as group members. The
trio also contributed to the one and only Hollywood Persuaders' long
player, DRUMS A-GO-GO issued by Original Sound (ORS-LPM 5013/ORS-LPS
8874). Martin, Husband and Blanchard, with Buff overdubbing, recorded
five of the album's 12 tracks, They also wrote one, (Hollywood A-Go-Go).
The remaining seven tunes were done entirely by Buff at Pal. Zappa's
Grunion Run was not included on Lhe album, but according to Buff, Zappa
did play live with the "band" on one occasion in the Bakersfield-Fresno
area. The "band" for that one performance consisted of Buff, Zappa and
some hired jazz musicians. Zappa later purchased Pal Recording Studios
from Buff, renaming the establishment Studio Z.
FRANK ZAPPA SURF DISCOGRAPHY
BRIAN LORD AND THE MIDNIGHTERS
The Big Surfer (Frank Zappa) VIGAH OOO1 /63
Not Another One (Dave Aerni-Paul Buff)
BRIAN LORD AND THE MIDNIGHTERS
The Big Surfer (Frank Zappa) 45-39841 CAPITOL 4981 6/63
Not Another One (Dave Aerni-Paul Buff) 45-39840
NED AND NELDA
Surf Along (Frank Zappa-Ray Collins) VIGAH 0002 6/63
Hey Nelda (Frank Zappa-Ray Collins)
THE PERSUADERS
Tijuana Surf (Paul Buff) PB-2626-F1 ORIGINAL SOUND 39 /63
Grunion Run (FrankZappa) PB-2627-F1
THE HOLLYWOOD PERSUADERS
Tijuana (Paul Buff) OS-083 ORIGINAL SOUND 39 7/63
Grunion Run (Frank Zappa) OS-082
THE ROTATIONS
Heavies (Dave Aerni-Paul Buff) OS-086 ORIGINAL SOUND 41 9/63
The Cruncher (Dave Aerni-Paul Buff) OS-087
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Henry
*****
hgr...@mpx.com.au
Sydney, Australia.
________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________
Norm Katuna
------------------
Todd Rhodes Your mouth got a hole in it King 4648
Todd Rhodes Let-down blues King 4666
Joe Robinson Suspicious of my woman RCA 50-0052
Leonard Blanks
no...@cts.com (Norm Katuna) writes:
>I was doing some searching in Deja news for a few of my old articles and
>found this.This was originally published in alt.fan.frank-zappa. I think
>that this would be of interest to several members of A-R-O. who would not
>normally read the Zappa group. Everything is left in to show proper credit
>for this.
[brilliant article snipped]
Thanks for the thought Norm, but I am a bit confused since I understood
that subscribing to alt.fan.frank-zappa was a requirement of those who
wanted to join the new groups. This was, in fact, the only reason I
voted for them ... well, that, and the fact that trolling would not be
tolerated. Did I miss something in the charters?
Len
--
Leonard Blanks | It possesses a sound rhythmic structure
l...@haruspex.demon.co.uk | and facilitates Terpsichorean movement;
http://www.haruspex.demon.co.uk/ | I'll give it an 85.