Zappa.com

Okay, I'm confused. I was reading some of my Zappa books the other day, and I noticed something. In almost all of the books I have, it says that Frank was diagnosed with prostate cancer in 1991. The Greg Russo book states that Frank knew in 1988, told no one but Ike Willis, and that this was part of the reason the the '88 tour wasn't all that great for the members of the band, that they could all sense that something just wasn't the same.

So now I'm confused. I know Frank must have sensed that something was wrong then, but which statement is more likely to be correct? The Greg Russo book is the only one I've read that says this. I was wondering what the rest of you thought.

i also think I heard somewhere he knew in 88

dont talk about this please
too painful

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Y'know, I just heard BWTHW a few minutes ago, and if Zappa did know when he did this tour....well, it comes through in some of the songs. It's been brought up before, but there are some downright heartfelt moments, even lyrically on that album.

mmm.....I miss Zappa.

But that would make it 5 years with cancer! Ouch!

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Playboy: How long have you known about your cancer?

Frank Zappa: I found out about it in the spring of 1990.

Playboy: It hit out of the blue?

Frank Zappa: I'd been feeling sick for a number of years, but nobody diagnosed it. Then I got really ill and had to go to the hospital in an emergency. While I was in there, they did some tests and found out it had been there for anywhere from eight to ten years, growing undetected by any of my previous doctors. By the time they found it, it was inoperable.

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The way I see it Barry, this should be a very dynamite show.

In an interview in Humo, GZ said he knew in 1989. (Or maybe 88, my memory lets me down. I'll check up.)

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Join the PackardGoose forum! Send me a PM!

I know, I don't like to talk much about it either. Poor thing. I'm not putting anyone down, but I wish people would get their facts straight.

I always thought that it was in 1990. But now I found in Candy Zappa's book "My Brother was a Mother" (page 78):

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Zappa Books

I think people on this board often disregard the facts, whilst trying to find evidence in his music that he knew he wasn't going to be around for much longer - seven, ten, even seventeen years before his death.

If, as Candy says (resists urge to start singing), Frank was diagnosed in 1989 and the hospital visit that curtailed the 1991 European trip simply confirmed that he was incurable...that still leaves one question unanswered.

When did Frank meet with this healer?
http://www.deankrafthealer.com/CaseHist ... Zappa.html

Doesn't he make some off hand jokes/comments on "Broadway The Hardway", that elude to the fact that he new he was ill?

Information needed for a faith healer to write that:
-Frank Zappa died of prostate cancer
-He had kidney trouble (says so on his death certificate)
-Frank Zappa is married to Gail.
-some background information on prostate cancer, PSA etc, which can be found in books, blogs, patients...

Don't trust everything you read. It sounds like a lot of baloney.

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Did you read the whole thing? At the end it says Frank ended up touring Germany after Christmas 1991. And if all this guy says is true, why didn't Frank just go back to him when he got sick and stay in remission?

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You gotta give the people something good to read, on a Sunday

He also says that Lucille Ball "towered" over him. Lucille Ball was 5' 7". I guess this was written when facts couldn't easily be checked. If you're going to convince me of your faith healing abilities, at least get your facts straight first.

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You gotta give the people something good to read, on a Sunday

His story could 'easily' be checked, through Gail.

In case it is true, we should all thank him for helping Mr Zappa to stand on his feet for a while longer and to be able to finish gems such as YS and CPIII.

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The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the source of all true Art and Science. - Albert Einstein

Every time this subject comes up, I always get pissed off again at the physicians who missed his diagnosis for so long. Fucking assholes.

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Everytime we picked a booger we'd flip it on this one winduh. Every night we'd contribute, 2, 3, 4 boogers. We had to use a putty knife, man, to get them damn things off the winduh. There was some goober ones that weren't even hard...

I have a similar problem ... I don't trust doctors and can't stand them and I have only trusted one doctor in my life! ... but he is an eye surgeon, not a doctor otherwise.

But most of the fuckheads I have seen in this area are all Barbie Doll doctors and would not know how to say hello to you and more than they know how to help you ... but they will immediately tell you that you did not tell them every little thing ... like they were interested once they wanted you to buy off on diabetes and this or that, to ensure they could make more profits for the company that owns your building! ... that part is the one that makes me mad the most! Some of these clinics are fucked.

And they don't believe, or trust what you say, or had done to you, or happened before ... and to me this is the real issue ... communication and respect. So I mentioned to my doctor the treatments that got me off all sinus medication and she looked at me ... you're kidding ... no way ... because all she could see was the amount of money in her pills and whatever else many visits she could suck off the insurance company!

Frank, like my dad, might have not spoken soon enough for treatments to be able to be more effective, but then ... if it were me, I probably would be more interested in playing the gueetar than I would be in going to see a doctor that doesn't really like me, talks to me like I am a child, and ... is not listening anyway, because he/she wants you to take this pill here that the drug company is pushing for something you don't have!

It's a tough area ... and all of us have different views and opinions on it. It's easy to sit here and say ... Frank you should have relaxed a bit more and given your body a rest and seen a doctor once or twice more ... but in the end ... if your time is up, it doesn't matter what anyone thinks or does or goes ... and I have no issue with that. I suppose that Gail and the kids might have a right to be angry, but I think they are over that by now ... as it is a wasted emotion.

Use it to help and inspire you, and concentrate on the positive side of it all. It's what makes like worth living, btw! Not to mention the art to appreciate ... which is about that inner light ... that inner beauty ... that inner ... something ...

Without doctors I would now be dead. Yes, individual mistakes are made, but I have great faith in the medical profession.

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The way I see it Barry, this should be a very dynamite show.

I've just e-mailed Gail and asked, I hope I get a reply.

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You gotta give the people something good to read, on a Sunday

...kind of a delicate subject, though...

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The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the source of all true Art and Science. - Albert Einstein

he shoulda smoked some pot

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Stop Plate Techtonics!!
http://www.myspace.com/originalfacelift
http://www.balkanmusic.org/
http://thesurfonics.com/index.html

I'm thinking he probably should have drunk tomato juice.

Nope. Pot is a proven cancer PREVENTER, not to mention a proven CURE for cancer.
The *SPAM* companies have known this for over 40 years and this is a major reason why it remains illegal.

I am going to post something now that I posted on the MPP forum. It should have been articulated 40 years ago. Would have saved a lotta lives and a lotta money. Here it is:

"cannabis prohibition has been a masterpiece in the art of brainwashing. Prohibitionists are ignorant and should be treated as such. Think about it. Wouldn’t you correct or even repremand someone who says something ignorant, like “only homosexuals get AIDS”? Next time someone says pot is dangerous, open up a can of whupass on their ignorant ass. Show some guts. Just do it!"

I hope that the rest of you will reply like this guy "Tennessee Activist" did:

"
MARK #13!, BROTHER THAT IS WHAT IT’S ALL ABOUT, YOU GOT RIGHT AND IF ONLY A FEW PEOPLE TAKE YOUR ADVISE MJ WILL BE LEGAL A WHOLE LOT SOONER!!!!! BRILLIANT MAN, JUST BRILLIANT. COULD HAVE SAID IT BETTER MYSELF BROTHER!"


RIP Frank.

Gee. I wonder why politicians don't take the pro-marijuana lobby seriously.

Clearly then, YOU are part of the problem.

... but speaking as a great admirer and as someone who is going through the hell of cancer in the family right now (and very coincident with that description in this case here), an for more general aspects of my suspicions about the universe, I'd really like to get to the bottom of this...

So thanks Cal., thoughtful move, even though can and might be a very personal and painful memory/information...

PS. but as I am already a 'believer' of some sort, I have no preemptive reason to doubt of what this person wrote, from a personal point of view, after all, once in print on the web, he would risk being contradicted by Gail.

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The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the source of all true Art and Science. - Albert Einstein