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I knew about this book for a while. What I heard was negative.

So a few weeks back I finally picked this book up.
I'm not one to read books from start to finish, I like to dip in and out but I'm about 3 quarters through this book so far.

I have to say I love reading about Frank's life. This book is the first book I have read that doesn't hero worship. In fact, at times, Barry Miles comes across as not really liking Zappa that much.

There are quite a few digs at Frank. I tend to want to go on the defensive but this book has made me realise I still have a lot to learn about Frank.

The book seems to quote a lot of the people around Frank so you get an inside prospective from those who worked for him.
Frank was a man with a mission and in those scenarios people can get treated like shit. Frank could be very cold from what I understand.

So, just wondering what others thought about this book?
I'm aware of some inaccuracies such as Frank passing away on the Sat the 6th of December (sic).

The book takes great pleasure in mentioning Frank's affairs which I find quite distasteful considering he had a wife and kids. If many of the things mentioned in the book are true you can start to see why the zappa are so fucked up, not unlike most families mind!

Anyway, I avoided it for a long time but I am glad I picked up this book.

The book contains many grave errors, several unfounded Frank bashes and is highly unprofessional. I wanted to send it back to the editors along with an angry letter correcting all the mistakes, but it proved to be too expensive, so I gave it away.

Burn it. In these days of high oil prices, it's always good to have something to burn when it gets cold.

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Agreed. I thought it was a hatchet job. I don't mind authors being critical of Frank. But an awful lot of his criticisms were clearly personal, unfounded, and had a sarcastic tone to them.

After it came out, Gail was on the forum one day and was asked if she'd sue. She said she didn't want to give Miles the publicity.

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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...

When did the book first come out then?

Can you clarify some of the major errors?
As I mentioned, I have come across a few but be good to know for sure.

The book sucks, but Pick up some Barry Miles ,Keyboard wizard, Fusion is, very hard to find, but he does still record, mainly with his brother Terry Silverlight, check out Will Lee's web site for link.

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Confusion will be my epitaph

I think it's about 5-6 years old by now. I do think it's worth reading. There are a lot of interesting things in the book, which appear to be historically true. Stories about the making of specific albums, specific tours, etc.

Miles' tone is the problem, for me at least. He has a recurring theme of
Frank being incredibly egocentric and willing to screw other people (such as band members or even his own family members) for his own ego gratification. He paints him as a total control freak, but not in an artists-naturally-are-control-freaks way, but in a Frank-is-out-of-control way. If that makes any sense.

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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 like it a lot. It is nice to read someone who is critical. Provides much more perspective than most other books that just confirms me in what I know; that Frank was great.

There are factual errors, but not to an extent that it undermines the credibility of Miles' critical points. I for one, like his questioning of some of Zappa's lyrics. I am not an american, nor do I have English as native tongue, but I never did understand the lyrics to, say, Easy Meat and Bamboozled by Love. Actually I find them puerile at best, offensive at worst.

So don't burn the book.

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"Everybody in this room is wearing a uniform, and don't kid yourself" - FZ
http://www.myspace.com/kirnehness

I've read some 12 Zappa biographies by now. Barry Miles is the worst, beating the FZ-dissed book by David Walley and Michael Gray's Zappa-bashing.
Personally I prefer the more in-depth 2002 book by Kevin Courrier, called Dangerous Kitchen. He keeps distance, something you should do as a biographer. He also explains meanings of lyrics and has a long comparison of vinyl vs CD Zappa releases.

But the best one is still the Real Frank Zappa Book.

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I am into Hells Kitchen, and yea let's talk lyrics, after all no sense talking notes.

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Confusion will be my epitaph

Hells Kitchen?
What's Zappa got to do with a TV cooking competition?

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They both insist on saying "fuck" on stage/camera??

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Stay with me flagrantly and we'll have ecstasy for all eternity.

Hells Kitchen is great! Life and death in the kitchen!

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Country music + Black music = Rock and Roll

I'm all for free speech but have you noticed here that you often get a perfectly formed thread about a specific subject that gets turned into gobbledygook within the blink of an eye for no apparent reason



Still if it's Hells kitchen were onto now I much prefer Kitchen Nightmares but I have to say, the English version of the show is much more interesting than the yank version.



Though I don't think we have even scratched the surface of some of the controversial things mentioned in Barry Miles book.

Improv baby, Besides Barry's book was getting stale. Like I said before check out the real Barry Miles; Keyboard wizard !!!

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Confusion will be my epitaph

A thread less than 24 hours is classed by you as stale.
Blimey!

Very stale especially, compared to Barry Miles The Keyboard player.!!!

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Confusion will be my epitaph

(wow, haven't been here in awhile)
My problems with the book are that it a) deliberatley views Zappa in a bad light, even when he has to distort the picture (the whole 'Gail pregnant with Moon and him going on Tour thing'). He cites as gospel Nigey Lennon's book, which really can't be taken seriously. And he doesn't really get Zappa, so he tries to connect him as much as possible with other people he has a passing familiarity with (IE other people he's written books about) like The Beatles and The Beats.

Miles' book is ugly, full of homebrewed psycho-analysis & other kind of crap. He's got two problems with FZ: He's too much into the 60's & he's from England.

The hard back book was about feb 2004 paperback 2005 august.

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Arf you out of your fucking mind.

The book sucks. Constructive criticism is ok, but some of it certianly isn't that.

For instance, I remember that at one point he criticises Frank for making numerous edits on the title track on SATLTSADW, suggesting he did it because he'd become obsessed with the process. In fact, as we all know, FZ was never happy with the way that track was performed (all the way through) and therefore edited segments together to get a "perfect" performance. That's artistic dedication, not obsession. So ill-informed ridiculously critical stuff like that turned me off the book.

I think a lot of what is said in the book comes across bluntly.
But to say a book is shit because he used the word Obsessed and not Perfect is scrapping the barrel a litte

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Arf you out of your fucking mind.

Yeah I can see how this book offends fans. It does take quite a few digs at Frank. That aside and some of the errors it was still a good read and I learnt quite a few new things which is the whole point of reading a book about someone.

I'd read several books, articles and interviews on FZ. The only new things for me were Ni. Lennon bits and the material copied from Candy's book. And the fallacious things of course.
It's just that ANY book on FZ, even Candy's (that regales primarily of her and non-Frank family) and Michael Gray's (spends a long section on claiming FZ was a bad husband, without quoting any interview with Gail, or Kay Sherman for that matter) outputs are a better introduction to the life of the Grand Master.

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That was just 1 example, as I said. There are plenty more.

Maybe you know more than the book says a word is a word don't let it eat yu!

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Arf you out of your fucking mind.