Frank Zappa and Rock Music
palena
>There's nothing wrong with being straightforward and honest about your
>opinions on talk shows and in congressional testimony. However, Frank
>is so completely unwilling to bend even slightly in such situations
>that the end effect of what he's doing is damaging his own cause.
>He may have the benefit of knowing he's been totally true to himself
>in his testimony ("won the battle") but the "war" may be lost as a result.
...waitasecond!!! Is Frank Zappa really intent on swaying peoples'
views on this PRMC scene??? You gotta be kiddin'!! I thought he
went to those hearings just to cut up and mess around and generally
expose them for the farce that they really were.I didn't believe he
was actually going to make himself a "spokesman for the cause" or
anything mindless like that!!!...
...Say it ain't so!!!!...
Larry Palena
Dana S. Richards
> ...waitasecond!!! Is Frank Zappa really intent on swaying peoples'
> views on this PRMC scene??? You gotta be kiddin'!! I thought he
> went to those hearings just to cut up and mess around and generally
> expose them for the farce that they really were.I didn't believe he
> was actually going to make himself a "spokesman for the cause" or
> anything mindless like that!!!...
>
> ...Say it ain't so!!!!...
>
> Larry Palena
It is so.
I believe it was Mencken who said "One horselaugh is worth a thousand
syllogisms." Frank has for a very long time used satire to make his
point, sometimes in very irritating ways.
But you should never assume that he is aloof; and this PRMC thing
has a direct impact on his ability to make and distribute his music.
I don't feel he went to the hearings to "cut up". He was very
deliberate and prepared. He did make some remarks, though, that
struck the congressmen as out of place, which undercut his message.
Eric Robert Jablow
Frank Zappa is the wrong type of person to try to persuade a congressional
committee while undercutting his message. Official Washington is just
too scared of people like him to understand him.
Other people can do something like that and get away with it. The most
famous example is Casey Stengel, who blitzed a Senate committee for
45 minutes, destroying its decorum, entertaining the audience, and left
very subtle hints and ideas about the committee's proposed legislation
that was quite useful in its later deliberations. See *Stengel, His
Life and Times*, by Robert Cramer. The best comment on this was Mickey
Mantle's: "My views on this situation is about the same as Casey's."
Respectfully,
Eric Robert Jablow
MSRI
ucbvax!brahms!jablow