Zappa.com

I don't know if this was ever brought up in another thread, but Little Feat has always been one of my favorite bands back in the 70s. Being from the Wash. DC area, it's easy to know why since they were hugely popular there. In fact, I was lucky enough to attend one of the Waiting For Columbus shows recorded at Lisner Auditorium at George Washington University.

A lot of stories have circulated around about Lowell's departure from the Mothers in '69. One had that he was fired for doing a guitar solo with his amp off onstage. Another had him proposing the song Willin' to Frank and Frank didn't like the drug references and told him "Go form your own band!"

My theory is that Frank may have really been doing him a favor and even helping him secure a record contract with Warner Bros. (the Feat's label) since WB was also Frank's distributor at the time for his Bizarre label.

Anybody know the real story on this?

I've heard the story about Willin' too. Don't know if it is true, or if FZ meant "good song - you should have your own band" or "get out of here with your pro-drug country song."

Incidentally, Roy Estrada of course was the original Little Feat bassist after leaving the Mothers, and Bill Payne (LF keyboardist) had been trying to get into the Mothers but was turned away because FZ had enough keyboardists.

they were my 2 favorites back in the mid '70's

They still are 2 of my favorite groups...at least as far as the Little Feat of the 70's is concerned....

_________________
"You can fly like a Penguin when you're dealing with Turkeys."

Yeah, 70s Feat is it for me too. Let it Roll was a good comeback and bringing in Fred Tackett was certainly a good move since he had co-written a few of the early Feat's songs.

Little Feat was the best band I ever saw
their gig at the Hordern in July 76 was awesome..they were at their peak IMO
The "Columbus" tour gigs were not as good IMO ...they might've been a bit road-weary
Also...the tunes seemed more rushed on Columbus...less laid-back & groovy

According to George’s recollection, he was kicked out of Zappa’s group after proposing the song “Willin,” ostensibly because the song is about a truck driver that contains references to drug and alcohol use. Zappa was an inflexible opponent of illicit drug use within his presence.


http://bangkokjungle.com/2009/03/25/tru ... ll-george/


Somewhere there is a video of Lowell saying this very thing.