Electric Don Quixote: The Definitive Story of Frank Zappa by Neil Slaven

Author:Neil Slaven [Slaven, Neil]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Music, Individual Composer & Musician
ISBN: 9780711994362
Google: 4lNRIZm_baQC
Amazon: 0711994366
Published: 2003-03-01T13:00:00+00:00

Napoleon Murphy Brock, George Duke and Tom Fowler retained their places in the band and Bruce Fowler returned on trombone. Denny Walley, an ex-member of Geronimo Black, the band that Jimmy Carl Black and Bunk Gardner had formed after the original Mothers had disbanded, came in on slide guitar and vocals. But the most noteworthy addition to the band was Don Vliet, his own career on temporary hold, stalled in a legal logjam.

"Don had the ability and the inclination to sign any piece of contractual paper shoved under his nose at any time," Frank explained, "without comprehending what these papers said and how they interacted with each other. And so his career fell on evil days, because he had signed papers with companies all over the place that all had conflicting claims on his services. He was in a position where he couldn't tour and he couldn't record. It was at that time that I put him in the band to do the 'Bongo Fury' tour. That was the only way he could make some money because he was just legally tied up all over the place."10

"He called me up and asked for help," Frank told NME. "I told him that the Mothers were holding auditions on Tuesday and Thursday (just before their Halloween show), and that he should come along."11

"He flunked," he told Steve Weitzman. "See, he had a problem with rhythm, and we were very rhythm oriented. Things have to happen on the beat. I had him come up on the bandstand at our rehearsal hall and try to sing 'Willie The Pimp' and he couldn't get through it. I figured if he couldn't get through that, I didn't stand much of a chance in teaching him the other stuff."12

Things went better at the Spring 1975 rehearsals. "Although he still has trouble remembering words and making things happen on the beat, he's better," Frank said. "Just before the tour, I tried him again and he squeaked by."'3 He denied that there was animosity between them, even though the Captain had hardly wasted an opportunity to bad-mouth him over the last few years. "Any idea of a feud between us is quite pointless." But any affection he had for their almost 20-year friendship didn't prevent Frank from a stark assessment of Vliet's unique talents.

Speaking after the tour's first gig at Bridges Auditorium at Pomona College in Claremont on April 11, he said, "The way he relates to language is unique, the way in which he brings my text to life. Of course, he has problems. His memory causes him trouble. He won't be separated from his sheets of paper that have his words written on. He clings to them for dear life. He also has a literacy problem. He can hardly read. He also has trouble staying on a beat. Captain Beefheart has no natural rhythm. He does have this thing inside him. It's dynamic and he wants to express it. In a voice like Howlin' Wolf."14

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