FZ Free-Zone (Almost)……

No, you can’t get Frank Zappa recordings for free in OKC, you can’t find them (almost)…. A friend asked me to do some guitar work on a version of “Montana” he did and I couldn’t find my CD copy of “Over-nite Sensation” anywhere (My Vinyl copy is in storage and would probably take months to dig-out), so, I thought, just a quick trip to any music store, no problem….. Well, five stores later, I found one lonely copy at the second Best Buy store I visited…. FZ recorded around 60 albums in his short career and the most I found at any location was five!…. Target didn’t even have any rock albums that started with “Z”….. Wal-Mart faired better with a “Warren Zavon” album….. CD Warehouse had one copy of “Freak-Out“…. As you might imagine, FZ air-play is zero in the OKC zone…. Pretty Damn sad as I consider him second only to Hendrix in guitar playing and originality…. “I Gotta Get Outta This Place“…..

For your enjoyment, here are two original FZ stick-on passes…. The “Them or Us” is a paper after show guest pass and the “Vets Memorial” is a fabric backstage pass…. In my collection, unused and preserved for us FZ fans…..
Frank Zappa

13 Responses to “FZ Free-Zone (Almost)……”

  1. Wonder how hard it would be to get the rights to market FZ dental floss? Better yet, how many people in Oklahoma would actually get it?

  2. Those of us on this blog that still live in Oklahoma, my cousin “ZZ” Jimmy (has “ZZ-Top” beard and super long hair – could also be mistaken for “Leon Russell” since his hair and beard are now white), My brother, and maybe, just maybe, about 10 others in the state and even that may be an optimistic estimation…..

    Maybe we ought to go into a joint venture on this, Sunn, although, we would have to raise the floss in Oklahoma using illegal aliens and export it out of Oklahoma to the more music aware centers of the U.S….. The best place to market it would be in music stores…… Like one of the “Mothers” said,”Frank, I don’t want to get rich, I just want to get even.“….

  3. #3 by Randalf the Grey

    Hee hee hee, just the thought of those illegals pluckin’ the old floss and waxin’ it down—is that one of those jobs that
    dumb-ass dubya says “American citizens just won’t do” ? Of course, what he means is that American citizens won’t do those jobs AS CHEAPLY as illegals. That’s why the wealthy Repubs are in favor of allowing a certain number of illegals. It’s just so hard to find good ( cheap ) help. And the white trash Republicans are too stupid to realize their getting screwed.

  4. #4 by Randalf the Grey

    I guess if I’m going to call someone stupid, I should proof-read my comments before I post ’em. The end of that last sentence should read “…THEY’RE getting screwed”.

  5. Yeah, RTG, the “spell checker” just donut catch them grammar mi-steaks….. Do it?…. Not to worry though, I’ve been tweaking the posts and comments for small things like that and weird spacing (both of your’s had a “hard return” in them in the middle of a sentence that I am sure you didn’t intend)…. Now, I don’t screw with the content in any way!…. I thought I’d say that before someone accuses me of censorship… I would ***** do **** to *** Re****ered U***….

    Sunn, and you too, RTG, if you’re interested, I’ve got another FZ product for us…… “Camarillo Brillo” – It could be a kitchen scouring pad or a hair pomade to “Give you the FZ look“…. What’ta ya think?…..

  6. I’m in. We could go on all day. How about “Suzy” Cream Cheese? Diversity, that’s the ticket. You could use the FZ dental floss after consuming the cream cheese & crackers, right?

  7. #7 by Randalf the Grey

    Absolutely no commercial potential—just like Frank’s music.

  8. I don’t know, RtG, the way retro things are selling these days…. I can buy 30 different versions of a Hendrix T-shirt, any of his albums on 180 gm vinyl, and over 10 different, what we would call “boot-leg” recordings, including his very last concert in Germany just before he died which came out in January, 2006, along with all sorts of paraphernalia with Hendrix on it, and have it in my hands the next day….. Maybe we should contact Frank’s family and try to strike a deal for the rights…. If they don’t think there’s much potential we might be able to get them “cheep” or at least “50-50”….. I mean, Dweezl and Moon Unit shouldn’t be that hard to deal with since “You Can’t Do That on Stage Anymore”…..

  9. If this venture proves successful, we could then go big time & open a “200 Motels”
    chain. The possibilities are endless. As Don King would say, “Only in America”.

  10. #10 by Randalf the Grey

    MR, I was being fEcetious again. Actually, in spite of that infamous statement by a record company executive that Frank and the
    Mothers had “no commercial potential”, Frank’s widow, Gail, is a VERY wealthy woman—and probably somewhat more shrewd than
    Dweezil, Moon and Ahmet.

  11. MR: I thought that your FZ Stash was in the cabinet above the computer, Next to the Microwave. At least thats where they were when you done some FZ stuff for me. You could have borrowed mine and can anytime.As for “No commercial potential” Gail holds all the rights to all things Frank, Images, Sounds, Ideas, Etc. She has not really given a viable(in my opinion) reason for not cashing in on the marketing rights for paraphernalia. I personally would like to purchase a reprint of the Phi Crappa Zappa poster and some Tees. I like the 200 motels idea, the only problem is that the majority of the population is musically stupid and most things Zappa goes right over their Muffin Heads. Therefore it is up to us, the Musically knowledgeable and appreciative to keep his memory and genius alive even if through bootleg means, I don’t want Frank to be remembered just for the fact that his death made men over 40 to start going to the doctor and being violated.
    I urge all of you to put on Broadway The Hard Way, Turn it up to 11, open all the windows and scream out ” 1 and 1 is 11, 2 and 2 is 22, won’t some one kindly tell me, what’s the government tryin’ to do”.

  12. jj, I had that very poster on my wall, while in college. My parents really didn’t like that one, for some reason.

  13. Any self respecting college student had that one displayed proudly in their dorm room/apartment.

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