*** Inspiration Behind The Painting ***
In 1991 I spent ten weeks in Holland.
I was seventeen.
On my travels I was introduced to a guy who for which I was informed had...
"The most amazing record collection”.
In 1991, everyone was still in mid-arousal with CD’s.
Vinyl was so passe.
Except if you were a purist.
Like me, this guy, Sam, was also a musician – and obsessed about it.
In his broken English, dipped in a strong Dutch accent, he asked…
“Carl, you like Frank Zappa.”
Was he telling me I didn’t have an option?
Me: “Ok…well, I don’t really know his music…I’ve never really…”
Sam interjected...
“Yes, yes, yes…you do.”
Sam pulled a record out of a milk crate that housed his vinyl collection.
It was Frank Zappa – The Mothers, Live at The Filmore East.
When I first heard Zappa’s music, I felt as though I couldn’t keep up.
Just as I was getting to...
“Ok, I get where this goin’….
It quickly became...
“Yeah, aha…huh? No wait…what the?”
Sam cranked up the volume to a blistering level, nodding at me with a grin as wide as a canyon.
In 1991, my experience was that everyone in Holland smoked like a broken tractor – and variations of flora.
So, imagine a small room with two guys...
...who can barely see each other through the fog...
...trying to communicate to each other, through existing language differences...
...with Frank Zappa music playing loud enough for our Belgium neighbours to hear.
After some time, the record finished.
I brazenly asked…
“So, what else is in your collection, Sam?”
Sam seemed excited by this question, his eyes glistening like a nose hair after a sneeze.
He reached into one of the milk crates and pulled out another vinyl.
He held it in the air like a knight holding his sword high in celebrations of victory.
“Carl, this one is magic!”
Me: “Cool, what is…
Sam: “Sssshhhhhhh…Zappa!”
More Zappa?
It was Zappa’s double album, Joes Garage.
After Joes garage had finished, I turned to ask…
“What other music do you listen to, Sam?”
Sam: “Yes, of course…Zappa!”
I gazed into the milk crates - and then it hit me.
“Sam, you don’t listen to any other music, except Frank Zappa?”
Sam: “Why is there other music?”
This was my introduction to the music of Frank Zappa…
Seventeen years of age...
...in a smoked filled room, and now higher than a giraffe’s earlobe...
...in a foreign country in the middle of a snowy winter, drinking so much strong coffee I even started feeling like a human vibrator.
I think with Zappa’s music, you either get it, or you don’t let yourself get close enough to it appreciate it properly.
Zappa had a higher form of communicating through music.
If you are familiar with Frank’s work, you’ll appreciate that he didn’t just play instruments…
He became the instrument.
He was an amazing composer.
My memory of Sam is forever planted in my memory.
He had around 50 albums in his record collection – all of them, Zappa.
His obsession was fascinating.
I became intrigued with Zappa thanks to Sam.
Sam’s theory was kind of simple…
“Normal people don’t get Zappa music”
Maybe.
Peace,
Carl
Painting of Frank Zappa by Carl - CAKUart