Hiiiaaaahh!

Welcome to my Frank Zappa blog. I have never had a blog before but I get quite a diary feel from it already so I think that is the form it will take; but of course who is to say this early in the game. I thought a good way to start would be to give my personal review of Mr. Zappa's movie, "Baby Snakes". In his autobiography, Frank talks about the way he likes to bring elements of drama into his music-- whether that means involving the audience, using props on stage or relating animated stories. This is what struck me most when I saw the film. Particularly when he was conducting the band, he made use of his whole body to maximize his communication with the members and express the feeling of a particular piece. This type of articulation facilitated a more complete understanding for me regarding Zappa's philosophy on the expansive quality of music as a mode of expression. He obviously had an impact on the audience as well as the band who came across as incredibly spirited in their performance. Frank actually reminded me of a type of cheerleader in this way. He has a real ability to encourage people to "get into it". I think he does this mostly through example, by way of taking role play seriously and having the humility to be uninhibited in doing so. It seemed to be contagious; causing the band members to follow suit and surely vice versa. I first noted this during the live concert that dominates most of the scenes in the film but began noting it in the offstage footage as well.

The band members were always having fun acting out comical mini skits or randomly taking on invented personnas. As understandable as this is, it is actually my primary criticism of "Baby Snakes". Aside from the music, the backstage tom foolery seemed like it would be more fun to participate in than to watch from my living room. I was pretty turned on by the name of the movie and given Frank's strength in story-telling, I went into it excited for a wicked Zappa-invented-narrative and felt a little let down.

Overall, it was cool to get a feel for the way the Mothers got into a specific state of mind on stage and how this came across through the music and actually seemed to become an asset, or even a catalyst for the creation of metamusic (which is a word I just made up). Even as a secondary spectator, I felt the movement, the weight and most importantly, the character of a given work much more than I had from just hearing the songs on CD. This is usually true in any situation where there is live music, but Frank's broad vision of what music has the potential to include gives it all a lot more UMPH.

In closing, "Remember there's a big difference between kneeling down and bending over." And that's from Frank.