- published: 02 Feb 2014
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Frank Vincent Zappa (December 21, 1940 – December 4, 1993) was an American composer, singer-songwriter, electric guitarist, recording engineer, record producer and film director. In a career spanning more than 30 years, Zappa wrote rock, jazz, orchestral and musique concrète works. He also directed feature-length films and music videos, and designed album covers. Zappa produced almost all of the more than 60 albums he released with the band The Mothers of Invention and as a solo artist. While in his teens, he acquired a taste for percussion-based avant-garde composers such as Edgard Varèse and 1950s rhythm and blues music. He began writing classical music in high school, while at the same time playing drums in rhythm and blues bands; he later switched to electric guitar.
He was a self-taught composer and performer, and his diverse musical influences led him to create music that was often impossible to categorize. His 1966 debut album with The Mothers of Invention, Freak Out!, combined songs in conventional rock and roll format with collective improvisations and studio-generated sound collages. His later albums shared this eclectic and experimental approach, irrespective of whether the fundamental format was one of rock, jazz or classical. His lyrics—often humorously—reflected his iconoclastic view of established social and political processes, structures and movements. He was a strident critic of mainstream education and organized religion, and a forthright and passionate advocate for freedom of speech, self-education, political participation and the abolition of censorship.
Actors: John Corbett (actor), Bret Roberts (actor), Chris Ellis (actor), Curtis Armstrong (actor), Taylor Negron (actor), George Wendt (actor), Andrew Gross (composer), Kevin Thomas Roy (miscellaneous crew), Brian Groh (actor), Quinton Flynn (actor), Jay Michael Ferguson (actor), Adam Tomei (actor), Rob Benedict (actor), Andrea Ajemian (actress), Kirk Ward (actor),
Genres: Drama, Music,Actors: Jason Priestley (actor), Christopher Lennertz (composer), Dee Snider (actor), Brinton Bryan (miscellaneous crew), K. Lynn Martin (miscellaneous crew), Mariel Hemingway (actress), Joe Grisaffi (actor), Tim Guinee (actor), Lois Chiles (actress), Griffin Dunne (actor), Joe Grisaffi (miscellaneous crew), David Born (actor), Dan Eggleston (actor), Michael Crabtree (actor), John S. Davies (actor),
Genres: Comedy, Drama, Music,Actors: Tony Palmer (director), Ringo Starr (actor), Tony Palmer (writer), Frank Zappa (director), Frank Zappa (actor), Ringo Starr (actor), Frank Zappa (writer), Keith Moon (actor), Theodore Bikel (actor), Frank Zappa (composer), Theodore Bikel (actor), Gillian Lynne (miscellaneous crew), Rich Harrison (editor), Sue Yelland (costume designer), Don Preston (actor),
Plot: "Touring makes you crazy," Frank Zappa says, explaining that the idea for this film came to him while the Mothers of Invention were touring. The story, interspersed with performances by the Mothers and the Royal Symphony Orchestra, is a tale of life on the road. The band members' main concerns are the search for groupies and the desire to get paid.
Keywords: animated-segments, animated-sequence, ascending-to-heaven, band, cult, cult-director, cult-figure, cult-film, cult-film, cult-filmActors: Logan Ramsey (actor), Michael Nesmith (actor), Jack Nicholson (actor), Bob Rafelson (actor), Kenner G. Kemp (actor), Michael Nesmith (actor), Victor Mature (actor), Sam Flint (actor), Timothy Carey (actor), Percy Helton (actor), Micky Dolenz (actor), Dennis Hopper (actor), John Dennis (actor), Davy Jones (actor), Ronald Reagan (actor),
Plot: Running in from seemingly nowhere, 'Micky Dolenz' (qv), 'Davy Jones (I)' (qv), 'Michael Nesmith' (qv) & 'Peter Tork' (qv) - better known collectively as 'The Monkees' (qv) - disrupt a bridge opening ceremony. From where and why did they come to disrupt the proceedings? They were filming a series of vignettes in several different genres, including a wild west sequence, a desert war sequence, a Confederate war sequence, and a science fiction sequence. They disagree with much of what is happening around them, and try to figure out how to escape the oppression they feel - symbolized by a big black box in which they are seemingly imprisoned - by the forces around. That oppression is often shown in the form of "The Big 'Victor Mature' (qv)".
Keywords: actual-human-being-killed, anti-war, based-on-tv-series, bathroom, box, box-office-flop, bridge, candle, channel-surfing, coca-colaTonight though I'll tell you one thing about these New York crowds
Some of them, they get too carried away you know because they think Frank Zappa is such a mad man
You know they come here to see him go crazy or something you know
They don't realise there's notes are involved you know
I told you the first time I met you, you remember that what I said.
You want to be in the band!
No well, I wouldn't do that to you man, I would try out for the band but I wouldn't ...
I'll try you out
I don't sing
What do you mean you don't sing, I've heard you sing