Zappa.com

Awrighty...the time has come for me to ask everyone who reads this thread...HAVE YOU EVER BEEN MISTREATED BECAUSE YOU'RE A FRANK ZAPPA FAN?

Here's what happened to me:

It was Halloween of 2006, last year. I had a really neat costume together. I was wearing a white shirt that had a picture of FZ on it. I know a lot of people have probably seen it...in the photo he had the long, late 70's hairstyle (no bangs...my favorite ) and he's wearing a kinda beat-up looking "Uncle Sam" top hat. Beneath the picture it says "ZAPPA FOR PRESIDENT". With this shirt, I wore a vest with the American flag all over it, a top hat with an American flag tie around it (here's an odd coincidence...there's a tag on the tie that says, "an original by PATRICIA"), white bell-bottoms, black platforms, and a beaded necklace that looks very similar to the one Frank wore in "Baby Snakes". I also carried a whip (don't know if it's real, but it's very convincing).


I had never done any real, authentic trick or treating before. I've never been able to trick or treat in my own neighborhood, so my parents were going to take me in town so I could trick or treat there. I live in a neighborhood where you just don't tick or treat. There are too many weirdos. Don't get me wrong, I think that weirdos are neat. But the weirdos in my neighborhood are the ones that simply aren't safe.

Everywhere I went earlier in the day, nobody said anything bad about my costume. They all said I looked cute and gave me candy, even though I wasn't trick or treating yet. That was nice.

But then, when I finally went trick or treating, it went downhill.

I went to the first house that caught my eye. There were a bunch of other kids there, so I figured that the candy might be good.
So I went up to the table, where they had these big containers of candy that everyone was just reaching from. I waited in line, and when it was my turn, I smiled and said "Trick or Treat" and then "hi" because this was the first time I had ever done this and was nervous.
The woman at the door just looked me up and down like she was very unhappy with me or something.
When I started to reach for the candy, like everyone else was doing, she said, "Here. Just let us give you the candy. That's how we're all doing it here."
I had no idea what I did wrong. I kinda shrunk back and said, "I'm really sorry. I've never done this before."
And she said, "Really." Then she gave me one piece of candy (compared to the handfuls she was giving all the other kids) and said very loudly, "That's it. Now, LEAVE."

I was angry enough that I didn't even want to do any more trick or treating. I didn't even keep the candy she gave me (which was a candy I hate, too).
I know for sure that I wasn't being rude. And she didn't even seem to be the kind of person to even know who Frank Zappa was. She was a little bit of a yuppie/soccer mom, the kind who has maybe three kids, all under the age of 13, a minivan, and a husband with an office job (no offense to anyone with children, minivans, or office jobs).

So...if you've ever been given trouble because of what you like, here's a chance to rant.

how do you know it was because you were a zappa fan?

Wait, Wazette, how old are you?
I don't want to be rude, but some people look at people over the age of 15 Trick or Treating oddly..

Actually, I'm not sure if it was because I'm a Zappa fan. But that's the only reason I can think of. There were other teenagers there...some of them were dressed up in pretty weird costumes and some weren't, and they didn't get a bad response. I wasn't rude or anything. My mother thought maybe the woman was a hardcore Bush lover.

Feralcats: I can't say how old I am for safety reasons. All I will say is that I am not old enough to drink.

I do know what you mean when you say that some people think it is odd for kids over the age of 15 to trick or treat, but I've never really met anyone who thought that way. I had a friend who went as a flasher (he wasn't naked... he wore clothes underneath his trenchcoat) and he didn't get any negative responses.

I don't know. But I WAS curious as to what people thought about this anyway. I'd still like to know if anyone's ever been given a hard time about this, though. It seems like it could be possible.

safety reasons? what does that mean? why can't you say if you're under 21? are you under 18? older? if you're older than 18, i'd say maybe the woman had a right to look at you sideways, because you're way too old. however, you said your folks took you and you got positive responses earlier. why give up after one house? sounds like a quitter to me. we've had people on this forum under 15, so i don't understand the secrecy. odd.

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One two, buckle my shoe!

That sounds very strange. OK, if you're 15 or older but not 21 I wouldn't have been pissed off with you back when I was 16, 17, 18 and answering the door for "kiddies" Halloween night if you were in costume. Probably would have thought you were too old for trick-or-treating but a costume would've made the difference.
The way it was here there were too many idiots in regular clothes ringing the bell for a hand-out who were my age or older and they pissed me off. I gave them the same whatever that we were handing out but always with an annoyed look that I made sure they saw, which they did see but obviously didn't give a shit about -- they were just looking for cheap freebies.
That woman who gave you a hard hour was really very strange about it especially if your mother was with you and you said, "I'm really sorry. I've never done this before." I don't know what her problem was but she sounds like a real nutjob and it might or might not have had anything to do with the Zappa costume.
Ok, so your're older than the usual "kiddies", but try it again next Halloween and avoid Ms. Nasty's house. Likely that was a case of pure bad luck. Most anyone with even a slight bit of humor in them (Yes, there really are fewer and fewer people with any humor at all in them.) will like the costume, think you're ridiculous for trick-or-treating at your age, but at least not be hostile the was that snarling old biddy was.

--Bat

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<------PhotoArtWerk by debutante_daisy http://www.facebook.com/BatchainTheMovie

Ive been treated badly for looking a little out of the ordinary, but never specifically because of the music I've been into.

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"Listen to that noise! It's like Barry White eating wasps."

Is anyone here a paedophile?

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www.freewebs.com/simonking - an unacknowledged literary prodigy
simonking1.blogspot.com - an angry recluse's written outpourings

Hahahahahahaha!

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"Listen to that noise! It's like Barry White eating wasps."

JEZEBEL BOOOOOY...

^if he doesn't wanna say how old he is...let him. as for you story, sounds like you reached for the damn candy and the woman was giving it out; nothing to do with you being a zappa fan. next time, don't reach for the damn candy.

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"Once you go black, you never go back."
--Thomas Jefferson

I'm not a pedophile at all!! My parents are very protective of me because I'm an only child (and a girl, too)! They get very upset when I give out personal information because I've already had two friends who had weird experiences on the internet because they did the same. This is the first forum I've been on, and before I registered I had to promise I wouldn't say too much like that or else they wouldn't let me on. If you have kids, you're protective of them, right? Well, if you had just one, wouldn't you be a little more protective than usual?

If you still want to know how old I am, then I'll tell you.

(p.s. I only reached for the candy because everyone else did and I didn't want to stand there and look stupid, which I'm sure I do now. But whatever.)

I'm just curious as to what desert you live in. Sahara? Gobi? Kalahari?

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Faster'n a three-peckered owl!

I live in the southwest desert of the United States. Where I'm at the desert is pretty ugly, but when you get a little higher up in the state it can be very pretty to see.

I see. I bet you can relate to some parts of the song "Village of the Sun".

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Faster'n a three-peckered owl!

I used to live across from a high school and it annoyed me big time when the teenagers made minimal attempts to dress up for Halloween. At least you weren't a guy with a football uniform on. I'd give you 5 points for having any sort of costume at all. I bet its mostly the age thing.

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Country music + Black music = Rock and Roll

Yup, I think it's just plain weird for anyone over the age of 13 to go Trick or Treating. Must have been the age thing.

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"Listen to that noise! It's like Barry White eating wasps."

Thing is, where I live at, there's not much very much fun stuff for teenagers to do at any time of year. When there is, it's usually church-run or it's geared mostly towards the 9 to 11-year-old age group. The teenagers are expected to be too busy with sports or going out on dates to really care.

that sucks...whaddya do instead?

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"Once you go black, you never go back."
--Thomas Jefferson

hey--sorry, did'nt know you were a fellow chickie --some older people get upset when a young girl dresses differently, and i'm not talking provocatively. too bad you live in such a sealed tuna sandwich, i did too when i was a young female zappa fan.i tip my hat to younger zappa fans even more than young men, really makes you an outcast. someone asked me in jr. high who i liked, and i answered frank zappa, they said, "oh--does he live here?" they thought he was some guy in town. hahahaha.

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One two, buckle my shoe!

sounds like your parents are way too protective...

That sho is a bummer. But hey, you have Uncle Frankie to keep you company, so all is not lost!

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"Listen to that noise! It's like Barry White eating wasps."

As a "Zappa fan" I've only ever been mistreated by, ironically enough, other Zappa fans.....here at this board in days long past.

.

Well, I live in a small area 30 minutes outside of Tucson, AZ (and that's all I'll say about where I live now) and if you want to do anything at all, you have to get to Tucson, or in some cases, Phoenix. We live far enough out that we actually used to have illegal aliens passing through our yard! There's very little out here; a few gas stations, an elementary/junior high school, some restaurants, and they're building a dollar store out here. There isn't a real high school out here, so eventually everyone my age has to travel pretty far in town just to go to school. There's a charter high school out here, but I'm worried about the fact that it could get the really bad kids that other high schools wouldn't take. The only get-togethers they have are things to raise money for the school.
For "fun", the junior high school out here used to have dances, but somebody would always be fighting or not everybody would be picked up on time, so they quit having those. And even in town there really isn't much to do...stuff for teens is often downtown, at night, and I'm not allowed to go unless I have a parent or someone older around, because we've seen some pretty strange people there. I like places with good music, but most of the stuff for teenagers usually involves rap, punk, or emo music, none of which I like.
That's why I had to go to somewhere else to trick or treat, though. In my neighborhood, there are just a lot of people I don't trust. A lot of the people are into drugs and such, and they start from an early age out here. I used to be friends with kids out here, but they've all gotten too out-of-control or snobbish to be around. All my good friends (who are pleasantly wacky) live further on into town. Here, when kids get bored, often times they get in trouble.
Of course, a lot of kids just stay home and do things there, like I do.

Just in case you're wondering...the place where I live is full of hillbillies, just like those small communities in the movies. No joke! Those people really do exist. And they always let their dogs run lose.

I know exactly what you mean, Dove_Grey. I've actually met quite a few Zappa fans here, and none of them were female. It's not much of a problem, because for some reason I get along with guys better than I do with some girls. Almost all the girls my age are into makeup, clothes, looking cool even to go to the grocery store, and wondering if their boyfriends really love them as much as they say they do. I like clothes and makeup a little bit, but I don't feel that I should dress up every single day like the other girls do. The biggest thing I do is polish my nails. I'm more into music, writing, drawing, and people-watching.