The Real Frank Zappa Book
Release Date: Sunday, January 1, 1989
The legendary Frank Zappa, one of the most influential, innovative and controversial musical artists for the past 20 years, takes us on a wild, funny trip through his life and times. Along the way, Zappa offers his inimitable views on many things such as art, politics and beer.
Frank Zappa with Peter Occiogrosso
Originally Published: 1989
Published by: Poseidon Press, New York
ISBN: 0-671-63870-X
352 pp, paperback, 23 x 15,5 cm
English
Translations of this book: Italian, German, Dutch, Japanese, Hungarian, Czech, Polish, Hebrew, French, Russian, Lithuanian, Spanish.
Chapters:
Introduction: Book? What Book?
01. How Weird Am I, Anyway?
02. There Goes the Neighborhood
03. An Alternative to College
04. Are We Having a Good Time Yet?
05. The Log Cabin
06. Send In the Clowns
07. Drool, Britannia
08. All About Music
09. A Chapter for My Dad
10. The One You've Been Waiting For
11. Sticks & Stones
12. America Drinks and Goes Marching
13. All About Schmucks
14. Marriage (as a Dada Concept)
15. “Porn Wars”
16. Church and State
17. Practical Conservatism
18. Failure
19. The Last Word
Introduction:
I don't want to write a book, but I'm going to do it anyway, because Peter Occhiogrosso is going to help me. He is a writer. He likes books - he even reads them. I think it is good that books still exist, but they make me sleepy. The way we're going to do it is, Peter will come to California and spend a few weeks recording answers to 'fascinating questions,' then the tapes will be transcribed. Peter will edit them, put them on floppy discs, send them back to me, I will edit them again, and that result will be sent to Ann Patty at Poseidon Press, and she will make it come out to be 'A BOOK.' One of the reasons for doing this is the proliferation of stupid books (in several languages) which purport to be About Me. I thought there ought to be at least ONE, somewhere, that had real stuff in it. Please be advised that this book does not pretend to be some sort of 'complete' oral history. It is presented for consumption as entertainment only.
SO, A FEW PRELIMINARY NOTES:
[1] An autobiography is usually written by somebody who thinks his life is truly amazing. I do not think of my life as amazing in any sense - however, the opportunity to say stuff in print about tangential subjects is appealing.
[2] Documents and/or transcriptions will be labeled as such.
[3] The epigraphs at the heads of chapters (publishers love those little things) were researched and inserted by Peter - I mention this because I wouldn't want anybody to think I sat around reading Flaubert, Twitchell and Shakespeare all day.
|4] If your name is in the book and you didn't want it to be there (or you don't like my comments) - my apologies.
[5] If your name isn't in the book and you fee! 'left out' - my apologies.
Reviews:
"An autobiography of mostly hilarious stories...fireside war tales from the big bad days of the rockin' sixties...primer of the sonic avant-garde, the book bashes favorite Zappa targets and dashes a few myths about the man.” - Vanity Fair
"This book belongs in every home.” - The New York Post