I was listening to “Trouble Everyday”, and felt I needed more background on the Watts Riots of 1965. Upon looking it up on wikipedia, I felt dissatisfied with both the quality and quantity of information that popped up on the screen. The initial cause was outlined as, the arrest of a drunk driver and the resulting rebellion of people on the street. Presumably, the arrested man was black and the officer white. The wikipedia article did not mention this important detail, nor did it go into racial tensions that characterized the epoch. I thought this spoke significantly to the lack of in-depth coverage that was the focus and remains shallow and a-historical.

In “Trouble Everyday”, Zappa comments on this inherent consequence of news coverage due to the fact that the industry remains profit driven. The byproduct of this is quite simply the way in which news coverage preys on dramatization of events in order to increase viewing and furthermore, the immemorial tradition of misrepresenting a sequence of events so that it reflects the values of the broadcasting station. The tendency for inaccurate and exaggerated coverage in mainstream news is illustrated in the following lyric: “The newsmen say they get the dirt Before the guys on channel so and so”. Zappa highlights the way that the drive for increased profit results in slander when he asserts that he, “don't need it
Take your t.v. tube and eat it.” Obviously, he had a real problem with the content pumped out for the benefit of the elite few controlling the news feed. Given the mass corporatization of news today, this song still holds water. Many of the large broadcasting corporations are connected and owned by a disturbingly small group of people. Conrad Black for instance, controls the Daily Telegraph, the Chicago Sun Times, Jerusalem Post, National Post and hundreds of community newspapers in North America. Indeed, “all that phony stuff on sports And all those unconfirmed reports” Zappa refers to in his work are still in mass circulation. Zappa’s warning against the way profit could affect information dissemination is increasingly applicable today as the disparity between the affluent and the poor increases; leaving innumerable amounts of people at the mercy of fewer and fewer figures in power, like Black.

Another major issue Zappa covers in this politically centered song is the power of mob mentality. He mentions the way people fuel one another on their blind paths of destruction when he sings, “Watch the mob just turn and bite em, And they say it serve them righ Because a few of them are whiteAnd it's the same across the nation Black and white discrimination.” The character of rage is so volatile that it lubricates violence where there is no rationality or purpose behind it once it’s been sparked. The fact that he mentions both black and white groups and their useless crashing and burning speaks to the senseless quality of fury. Zappa consistently references the futility of this type of thoughtless response to provocation. Although he himself experienced discrimination and exclusion time after time, he responded through communication of the injustice through his music rather than beating someone up on the street or his wife at home. It is commonly said of Zappa that he was a misanthrope, but in reality he was reasonably critical of people who chose to make use of their biceps rather than their brains.

In class on March 25th, I was pleasantly reminded of an aspect of Baby Snakes that I had forgotten to mention in my last blog—the animation by Bruce Bickford. Upon rewatching the video clips in class, it seemed a ridiculous oversight on my part given that the imagery created by Bickford for the film, was probably my favorite aspect of the movie. Bickford’s work is both incredibly meticulous as well as full of awesome movement. His images are rich with texture, colour and invention. These factors in combination with his talent for accurately capturing a sense of nuanced character through movement made the animation hypnotizing. I was moved to rewind and rewatch many of the sequences and wished I knew how to get my DVD player to play in slow motion!

Bickford’s talent for portraying movement and consequently character, was particularly evident in his depiction of Zappa as a clay figure. “Clay Zappa’s” hand motions were done in a way that seemed uncanny to me in the way they represented the real Zappa’s with such accuracy. Upon seeing this, I was moved to think of the way Bickford’s ability in this regard was able to facilitate a type of feeling or essence in his more abstract animation.

My opinion of Bickford in the film was quite bland at first. Even though his work fascinated me, he seemed unremarkable; if not entirely boring. When Zappa is interviewing him about what his art meant to him, his responses were lacking in intrigue but my respect for him picked up when Zappa asked him what the meaning behind the extension of noses into other forms and shapes was. His response was simply, “The nose is easily animated”. I thought it was cool how Bickford was honest about the fact that there was no profound meaning behind everything but rather some things just look cool. Although there are common elements that I suspect were consciously animated to provoke feelings pertaining to the grotesque, perverse, imaginative and comical, I give props to anyone who puts extensive effort into a project just because they want to see something cool. Like Zappa—who has often said the only reason he made music was because he wanted to hear what he heard in his head aloud—Bickford struck me as an artist whose reason for creation was self-motivated. I love this quality in an artist. I think the objective for a project comes through in the work and therefore the art produced by people whose goals are centered around money, fame—or whatever other external motivating factors—is compromised. Sincerity in this sense, affects the creative process. A labour of love is always more captivating than labour-sans-love.

Perhaps this is why Frank seemed to have so much respect for Bickford. Zappa encouraged people to make conscious decisions for their own reasons and I bet he was perceptive to this admirable quality in Bruce. It’s hard to find people who follow their hearts and are cool because of it.

On that note, Chad VanGaalen is pretty much my love of life and I suspect he’s got some Bruce Bickford, Zappa-esque qualities in him. He is a musician and artist who has done his own animation for his videos and some for various other bands as well. Not only is his music SPECTACULAR, but his animation is very close to equally impressive. The style is similar to Bickford’s at times in the way that shapes morph into one another, creating fluid torrents of mutating body parts and mystical formations.

Check out: Flower Gardens, Red Hot Drops and Clinically Dead. One minute and forty-five seconds into Clinically Dead, VanGaalen’s black and white visual narrative potently resembles some of Bickford’s work.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=58rP44NSNNs Clinically Dead

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iKYeCWfXSro Flower Gardens

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O5CwHXPp4rU Red Hot Drops

One last thought: I could not help but think of Disney’s Fantasia during Baby Snakes. As a child (and still to this day, actually) I have never been much of a classical music fan. Save one exception: Beethoven's Fur Elise—and not because my name is in the title. I distinctly remember falling asleep when my mother took my brother and I to the symphony on a number of occasions and yet Fantasia was always a movie I liked. Of course I can only surmise why that was, but it seems likely that my perception was heightened, thereby elongating my attention span with the combination of music and visuals. It’s simply more exciting. The combo makes music a more accessible medium; and everyone knows that Frank was all about that.

Goodbye now!

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.