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Badchild
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Location: in france
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The Badchild Zappa Stories
Ok here is where i get to tell you about my Zappa .
First post....
In 1983 i wrote a letter to Frank Zappa C/O Glozter Management wherein i asked if there was any remote chance of seeing FZ in concert in my neck of
the woods (which was the East Coast of Canada). I did not get a reply but did get a catalogue and a tour sheet. And lo and behold there was a concert
due in Halifax Nova Scotia....a mere 200km from my home. Of course i was in awe and felt that this concert was because of my letter (how naive can you
get). It was of course a great show even though the acoustics in the hockey rink were dismal.
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scallopino
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How old were you at the time Badchild? Didn't Frank once say something about the acoustics in a hockey room, something about having a lot of air to
move around or something?
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BBP
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For a Dutchie like me, when 200 km is the other side of the country, it's odd to hear the word "mere" right before 200 km. But anything for Zappa!
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polydigm
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| Quote: | Originally posted by BBP
For a Dutchie like me, when 200 km is the other side of the country, it's odd to hear the word "mere" right before 200 km. But anything for Zappa!
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When driving from Sydney to Adelaide, Goulburn is the first major milestone at 200km with still another 1250km to go. We used to do that drive, and
back again after 2 weeks, once every year before finally moving back to Adelaide.
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Badchild
Apostrophe Status
Posts: 209
Registered: 13-3-2008
Location: in france
Member Is Offline
Mood: 45 years and bearded
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| Quote: | Originally posted by scallopino
How old were you at the time Badchild? Didn't Frank once say something about the acoustics in a hockey room, something about having a lot of air to
move around or something? |
I was 20/21 i guess. And yes he made many references to playing in big rooms. But beleive me he had the PA system (at least the times i saw him) to
move alot of air around.
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Badchild
Apostrophe Status
Posts: 209
Registered: 13-3-2008
Location: in france
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Mood: 45 years and bearded
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which brings us to story number two. BBP if you thought 200 km was a long drive....
Post 2 Pt 1-
Montreal Forum November 1982.
In the fall of 1982 a good friend of mine from Montreal called to say Zappa was playing the Forum and did i want tickets ??? Foolish question to say
the least. The concert was in november on a Saturday night. I had him pick up six tickets. He spent six hours in a lineup to get them...
During the week prior to the concert i was in FZ mode and talked about and played his music all the time. So we're at our local bar on thursday night
and there are a bunch of us at our table and i say. "Ok people, I got five tickets to see Zappa on Saturday night in Montreal, who is coming with me?"
While they're saying "Yeah sure! you've got tickets right!" I whip them out and lay them on the table. It took them a while to catch their breaths as
they laid their eyes on these "Tokens of Extreme pleasure". Then all hands went for the grab....
The next night (friday, for those keeping up), we packed up my 1978 Toyota station wagon and managed to leave Moncton at 1 am. The drive to Montreal
last 12 hours (about 1200 km back then). We drove almost non stop exept for a couple of pit stops and arrived at noon (we cross one time zone on the
way) on saturday. Nobody slept and we listened to FZ the whole way nothing but. I will not dwelve here on the controled substances used....
pt 2 (coming soon)
The Badchild
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scallopino
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As long as they were controlled substances  Looking forward to part 2.
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scallopino
Frank Zappa Status
Posts: 1321
Registered: 19-11-2005
Location: Melbourne, Austria
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Mood: No Mood
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| Quote: | Originally posted by BBP
For a Dutchie like me, when 200 km is the other side of the country, it's odd to hear the word "mere" right before 200 km. But anything for Zappa!
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It must be nice knowing that you could throw a rock into another country if you wanted to. You can't drive or cycle or walk over any national borders
here, unless you want to end up in the sea.
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BBP
Super Administrator
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Location: Eindhoven, Netherlands
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It's great! An hour of bicycling gets you in Belgium!
Once, on holiday, at the end of our stay in the Provence, Dad drove all the way from Aix-en-Provence to home. Some 800 km, he took all night and we
ended up stopping at every gas station. Must've been exhausting for him...
Anyways: you did swap drivers, didn't you Badchild?
I'm very curious at part 2!!  (taps feet in excitement)
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Badchild
Apostrophe Status
Posts: 209
Registered: 13-3-2008
Location: in france
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Mood: 45 years and bearded
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oK upon further memory research. it turns out that it was 1981 and not 82. Yeah we had three drivers for the trip. But in order to get six people in
my Toyota station wagon, someone had to lay down in the back part of the car.....
coming soon....the drive up.....snowstorm in november...the big truck incident.
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scallopino
Frank Zappa Status
Posts: 1321
Registered: 19-11-2005
Location: Melbourne, Austria
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Mood: No Mood
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| Quote: | Originally posted by polydigm
| Quote: | Originally posted by BBP
For a Dutchie like me, when 200 km is the other side of the country, it's odd to hear the word "mere" right before 200 km. But anything for Zappa!
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When driving from Sydney to Adelaide, Goulburn is the first major milestone at 200km with still another 1250km to go. We used to do that drive, and
back again after 2 weeks, once every year before finally moving back to Adelaide. |
How did you cope with the latest heat wave Poly? We had a slightly shorter one here in Melbourne. It was goddamn awful.
[Edited on 28-3-2008 by scallopino]
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polydigm
King Kong Status
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| Quote: | | Originally posted by scallopino: How did you cope with the latest heat wave Poly? We had a slightly shorter one here in Melbourne. It was
goddamn awful. |
We had the air conditioner going almost constantly - I'm not looking forward to the electricity bill - and we didn't go out much. I managed the odd
game of golf with my boys because the three par course we play on has masses of really big trees and we went late in the afternoon to take advantage
of the shade.
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scallopino
Frank Zappa Status
Posts: 1321
Registered: 19-11-2005
Location: Melbourne, Austria
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Mood: No Mood
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It's funny how when it's 27 degrees outside you don't usually say: "Fuck, it's sooo hot!". But at night that temperature becomes almost unbearable.
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Badchild
Apostrophe Status
Posts: 209
Registered: 13-3-2008
Location: in france
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Mood: 45 years and bearded
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Pt. 2- Six for the show
We arrived in Montreal at noon and after a club sandwich and a beer or three, we all went to sleep. Came to a couple of hours later and went into
Zappa mode for good. Although it was cold as fuck in Montreal we were all overheated with exitement. Did a good bar crawl in downtown until about a
half hour before the show. There were thousands of people lingering around the Forum with lots of hats and banners and such.
Went in, found our seats (forth row center! ) and the party started. The
band came out, tuned up and then there he was, Frank Zappa. He said how thrilled he was to be back in Montreal and then launched the band into
Chunga’s Revenge.
The forum was pretty packed probly about 9 or 10 k people. But the fucking sound was awesome. I remember looking up at the PA speakers which were huge
and counting them...there were 24 cabinets about 1m by 3m each.
Steve Vai was stunt guitarist and i was listening to his playing and it was quite loud, as was the whole band, and getting louder as they made ready
for the solo. Then Frank made a head gesture to the side of the stage and J. Smothers (a scary looking guy to say the least) came over with a
stratocaster and gave it to FZ. The hair on the back of my neck was starting to stand straight out in anticipation for this solo from one of my
favorite tunes, but what happened next just about made me die.
When FZ hit the first note of the solo, it was so fucking loud and in your face, i’m sure that if you had been on stage just then and could see the
audience, you’d have seen 10 000 heads jerk back in unison. I mean, we are talking Major Decibels coming at you from everywhere. I glanced over to one
of my friends, who had never been to a fz concert before. He had his jaw hanging down below his navel and his eyes bugged out. It was just Pure Bliss.
The rest of the show is mostly a blur, but i do remember him playing a lot of stuff from the You are What You Is album with special treatment of Dumb
all over. And also The Black Page..And also being totally amazed (ie: in awe) of what Steve Vai could do with a stratocaster....
But i will never ever forget the force of that guitar solo, to this day 27 years later, i still get goosebumps when i hear that tune.
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BBP
Super Administrator
Posts: 8053
Registered: 3-10-2005
Location: Eindhoven, Netherlands
Member Is Offline
Mood: Cheerful yet relaxed
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Whoo! Great seats! Great solos!
...Ahh... I'm feeling now that I've been born ten years too late...
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punknaynowned
Frank Zappa Status
Posts: 1283
Registered: 29-8-2006
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yes!
thanx mang
very vivid
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scallopino
Frank Zappa Status
Posts: 1321
Registered: 19-11-2005
Location: Melbourne, Austria
Member Is Offline
Mood: No Mood
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I know what you mean Bonny. 
| Quote: | Originally posted by Badchild
Pt. 2- Six for the show
We arrived in Montreal at noon and after a club sandwich and a beer or three, we all went to sleep. Came to a couple of hours later and went into
Zappa mode for good. Although it was cold as fuck in Montreal we were all overheated with exitement. Did a good bar crawl in downtown until about a
half hour before the show. There were thousands of people lingering around the Forum with lots of hats and banners and such.
Went in, found our seats (forth row center!) and the party started. The
band came out, tuned up and then there he was, Frank Zappa. He said how thrilled he was to be back in Montreal and then launched the band into
Chunga’s Revenge.
The forum was pretty packed probly about 9 or 10 k people. But the fucking sound was awesome. I remember looking up at the PA speakers which were huge
and counting them...there were 24 cabinets about 1m by 3m each.
Steve Vai was stunt guitarist and i was listening to his playing and it was quite loud, as was the whole band, and getting louder as they made ready
for the solo. Then Frank made a head gesture to the side of the stage and J. Smothers (a scary looking guy to say the least) came over with a
stratocaster and gave it to FZ. The hair on the back of my neck was starting to stand straight out in anticipation for this solo from one of my
favorite tunes, but what happened next just about made me die.
When FZ hit the first note of the solo, it was so fucking loud and in your face, i’m sure that if you had been on stage just then and could see the
audience, you’d have seen 10 000 heads jerk back in unison. I mean, we are talking Major Decibels coming at you from everywhere. I glanced over to one
of my friends, who had never been to a fz concert before. He had his jaw hanging down below his navel and his eyes bugged out. It was just Pure Bliss.
The rest of the show is mostly a blur, but i do remember him playing a lot of stuff from the You are What You Is album with special treatment of Dumb
all over. And also The Black Page..And also being totally amazed (ie: in awe) of what Steve Vai could do with a stratocaster....
But i will never ever forget the force of that guitar solo, to this day 27 years later, i still get goosebumps when i hear that tune.
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I've seen that a few times in the dvds and videos. One of the best is on City Of Tiny Lights on the Baby Snakes film. Another one I can remember is on
some youtube video with Vai, who's wearing this stupid leopard print leotard thng. And he plays a solo which so technically brilliant that you wonder
if Frank could get close to it. But Frank comes in and is about 8 times louder and wins the day by force alone. I think it was on Stevie's Spanking.
Ironically, Vai did the same thing to Dweezil when I saw ZPZ last November.
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Badchild
Apostrophe Status
Posts: 209
Registered: 13-3-2008
Location: in france
Member Is Offline
Mood: 45 years and bearded
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coming soon....the (let me take you to the beach) drive back.
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scallopino
Frank Zappa Status
Posts: 1321
Registered: 19-11-2005
Location: Melbourne, Austria
Member Is Offline
Mood: No Mood
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Hahaha. Look forward to it.
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Badchild
Apostrophe Status
Posts: 209
Registered: 13-3-2008
Location: in france
Member Is Offline
Mood: 45 years and bearded
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No no it's not the second part sorry.....
It's not that i forgot.....i just dont have much time these days.....in france you do get a lot of vacation time, but in between you got to work
double time.
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