Frank Zappa on Democracy

[90-percent]

Run time: 02:06 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zing1_b57jY   Posted on YouTube: June 06, 2009 By YouTube Member: reldditmot Views on YouTube: 3082   Posted on DU: April 17, 2010 By DU Member: 90-percent Views on DU: 780

 
Frank Zappa has been my hero since the October 17, 1971 Stony Brook late show.

His words from over twenty years ago are still contemporary today.

If he didn't get sick, he would have run for President in 1992. He had already hired some consultants to see if a run would be viable.

I always wonder if Jim Baker and Poppy Bush' CIA didn't get to his Doctor that misdiagnosed his prostate cancer? What Frank was saying about US Government in the later part of his life might have been threatening to the "establishment" at the time.

-90% Jimmy

[jefferson_dem]

1. Thanks.

Man, I love Frank. The world misses him...and his biting irreverence.

"record company pricks" ... "billy the mountain" ... "a token of my extreme"... on and on...

[Enthusiast]

9. "A Token of My Extreme"

is really funny, like so many of the others. And I love Billy the Mountain. Hell, I love 'em all.

[izquierdista]

2. No wondering needed

Anyone who believes that "tobacco is a vegetable" is living life as a 78, not the LP version.

[postulater]

3. "misdiagnosed his prostate cancer" ?

I remember he died of prostate cancer. What happened with the misdiagnosis?

I'm watching and I'm waiting, watching on TV.
...
There's no way to delay the trouble coming everyday.

[WhoIsNumberNone]

4. Misdiagnosis?

First I've heard of this. The understanding I always had -from interviews I'd heard with Dweezil and Moon- was that he didn't like doctors and by the time it was discovered the cancer was too advanced.

Zappa as president? Wow. I don't think it ever could have happened- and might have cost Clinton the election if he'd tried- but how cool would it have been? I could imagine him becoming governor of California, or even Senator, but I can't see him actually winning a presidential race. Too many people would have seen him as a hippie weirdo.

[WhoIsNumberNone]

5. But on a related topic-

Check this out:

http://wordsmith.sulekha.com/blog/post/2008/07/crazy-kingdom.htm

Scroll all the way to the bottom.

[truedelphi]

7. What a wonderful little tale -

Very whimsical. And thank you.

[truedelphi]

6. Big K & R for Zappa and his talk on our education. n/t

[90-percent]

8. Cancer misdiagnosis

From the milestone 1993 Playboy interview. First time in Playboy history the interview was with the Playboy musical artist of the year:

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.

entire Playboy interview at:

http://www.science.uva.nl/~robbert/zappa/interviews/Playboy/Interview.html

-90% Jimmy

by the way - thanks for the recs. first time in DU history I got over five recs! (or one of the first. most of my posts usually end threads, not start them!)

[90-percent]

10. more links

http://www.youjotube.com/watch/-n_pXa28OsY

I was told a story back in 1972 about Zappa taking over a high school shop class.

This video is the first time I've heard Frank Zappa talking about the incident! So, it took me 38 years to find this video!

Other really good stuff on it for my fellow DU Zappa fans! Especially about Unions!

-90% jimmy