thoughts on frank zappa

and for those of you who didn't already know, Zappa was -- except for nicotine -- TOTALLY CLEAN AND SOBER HIS WHOLE LIFE. He was not remotely "drug crazed" but I think maybe be was a "nut." And that's a good thing.

I agree with all of you! Frank Zappa was a genius, and yes was clean and sober through it!

I had the pleasure of seeing him live at Madison Square Garden’s Felt Forum on Halloween night or the them or Us tour. I think it was ’85 as I was in HS at the time, great show from the second row my buddy and I some how snuck into for the entire show…which we where both dressed as sheiks for! My brother was a huge Zappa fan and collector, and I’m sure to this day still has his COMPLETE Vinyl collection, mainly original pressings and at least one unopened copy of all early work (yes, ALL the early stuff) up to at least Sheik yer bouty (sp?). We even had our mother listening to Frank! She loved the song Bobby Brown (SYB).

As for his education…. Frank was a graduate of Juliard. He graduated last in his class, but got in and finished!!

I think for me he really shined in the congressional hearing. Unfortunately, many ‘rock starts’ went to these hearings, armed with little more than angst and a preference. Some, Dee Snyder also comes to mind, went with intelligible ideas and presented themselves in a professional manner, getting their points across in a positive way. Frank was undoubtedly the top of the top in this arena! I’m sorry he’s gone… but I’ll never forget him that Halloween night!

I saw an interviewer accuse Frank of the drug crazed rock star thing while he was being considered as a Czech ambassador. Frank didn't take too kindly to that line of thought given he was indeed clean and sobar throughout. I heard once that Frank's IQ was in the 240 range, a tad above average i'd say.

One of the great things he did was bring all kinds of killer young musicians into the spotlight. I saw him with Steve Via when Steve was only 18. Jean Luc Ponty, Terry Bozio and a hoard of others also emerged from his unreal bands.

No doubt F.Z. was very very talented, BUT putting him "beside the likes of Mozart & Bach" (now we are talking about true GENIUSES) is ridiculous to me!

I thinki Chad Wackerman was only 16 on his first Zappa appearance. Can anyone verify?