Frank Zappa stops by for an after gig radio interview at WBCN-FM, Boston, MA, on October 26th, 1978. Zappa apologizes for his lateness by producing a tape from the mixing board of the start of the prior night’s show of “Persona Non Grata” from North Shore Coliseum, Danvers, MA, followed by an interview. Another piece of fantastic Zappa history.
A very cool interview, and the Persona Non Grata from Zappa’s soundboard cassette is stunning. I love those big meandering solos from 1978, like this one and Ancient Armaments. A compilation of guitar highlights from around 1978 is highly desirable!
Wow, that Persona Non Grata is awesome! I always thought that the Sheik Yerbouti was a sufi master, and here’s some evidence. This is true mysticism, with Barrow and Colaiuta as fellow dancing dervishes.
I too love that Persona Non Grata very much 😀
Totally off topic, but somehow relevant here – check out the Japanese New Music Festival if they come to your local bar:
http://www.acidmothers.com/cgi-bin/live/liveen.html
I was at this show. The coliseum was a hockey rink. The acoustics were terrible. The crowd was full of assholes. Zappa was shirtless and someone whipped a cigarette lighter off his bare chest that caused him to halt the show and leave the stage in disgust. He came back about five minutes later and warned that if the audience didn’t behave themselves, the show would be over. It was not one of Zappa’s finer moments, but I saw a great performance about 3 years later at the Boston Music Hall.
The interplay between Zappa and Colaiuta on this is just sick. I’m almost tempted to call it instant xenochrony, of the finest kind. And Tommy Mars’ synth flourishes are totally weird and beautiful. So I do like this one, if you haven’t guessed yet… Perhaps even more than the Ancient Armaments single.
The Japanese New Music Festival was fun, by the way. A lot of instant xenochrony there 🙂