Interview with Frank Zappa (1992), Part One

[Otto]

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The reports appeared last week after Zappa canceled his part in "The Yellow
Shark," a series of European concerts
of his orchestral music. Zappa hosted and partially conducted two of the
initial concerts at the Frankfurt Festival
Sept. 17-19, then flew back to L.A., too ill to continue. His condition has
since improved, and the concerts by the
highly regarded Ensemble Modern were completed in Berlin and Vienna without
him.
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For much of the last year, Zappa practically sequestered himself in his home
studio to write new works
commissioned by the Ensemble, an international group of 25 classically
trained musicians specializing in modern music
(which recently drew critical praise for a John Cage tribute at the
Frankfurt
Festival).
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Named after a fiberglass fish that used to rest against Zappa's
listening-room fireplace, "The Yellow Shark" is a
90-minute program of transcriptions and new arrangements of existing Zappa
works, such as "Be-Bop Tango,"
"Pound for a Brown," "G-Spot Tornado," "Dog Breath" and "Uncle Meat" (here
combined as a suite, "Dog/Meat")
and new compositions: "Chunnel Mr. Boogins," "Amnerica," "Get whitey,"
"Welcome to America," "None of the
Above".
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"The Yellow Shark" is a mighty fine piece of music.
A close friend of mine who has been working for the "Ensemble Modern" was
invited too to Zappa's house and told some nice stories about FZ's
friendliness & the fun they all had. In the evenings Matt Groening ("The
Simpsons") regularly came over and helped Frank and the musicians to empty
some bottles of Beck's Beer which Frank drank due to his disease.

Otto