Author: alex

Kinda Young, Kinda Dead…

In doing my thesis research (which will include a chapter on You Are What You Is), I stumbled across the discussion of “Charlie’s Enormous Mouth” over at the ARF.ru website, which had this comment:

Fuck ME. I remember the Charlie fragrance commercials, but I don’t remember kinda young kinda wow. I was real young so I dont doubt it.
I always suspected that Charlie’s Enormous Mouth was a riff on the “Charlie” fragrance because “Charlie” referred to a woman name in both cases. (For the non-English speaking, Charlie is usually a nickname for Charles, a mans name, and rarely used for Charlene or any other female variant).

In this day and age of vintage commercials being posted on YouTube for nostalgic purposes, I was able to find a 1973 ad for the Charlie fragrance…

And this, ladies and gentlemen, is why I find FZ’s work to be endlessly rewarding to the astute listener.

Owsley Stanley, 1935-2011

Owsley Stanley died in an automobile accident on March 13 in Australia, where he had been living.

Besides being known to Zappaphiles as a reference in “Who Needs The Peace Corps?”, Mr. Stanley was best known for his work as an amateur chemist, providing his wonder-tonic for the likes of The Beatles and The Grateful Dead. We also have Mr. Stanley to thank for the Dead’s skull logo and served as the inspiration for the group’s dancing bear logos.

We remain vigilant in learning if documents will be released revealing whether or not Mr. Owsley was indeed a CIA man.

Impact (Parte Tre)

With this very simple rule in mind, all I had to think of was the albums that blew my mind on first listen. Not albums that eventually clicked with me – although that would make an interesting list (it would include The Kinks Are The Village Green Preservation Society and more than a few FZ albums) – but the albums that when it was over, all I could say was, “Holy fuck, this was INCREDIBLE.”

The rules: Don’t take too long to think about it. Fifteen albums you’ve heard that will always stick with you. List the first fifteen you can recall in no more than fifteen minutes.

With this very simple rule in mind, all I had to think of was the albums that blew my mind on first listen. Not albums that eventually clicked with me – although that would make an interesting list (it would include The Kinks Are The Village Green Preservation Society and more than a few FZ albums) – but the albums that when it was over, all I could say was, “Holy fuck, this was INCREDIBLE.”

Continue reading “Impact (Parte Tre)”

Defending Zappa?

In my youth, I felt like I had an easier time introducing my friends to Zappa. I used to simply play “Bobby Brown Goes Down,” because when you’re 14 or 15 years old, it’s the funniest thing you could possibly hear. It had swear words in it, he was making fun of the jocks we all collectively hated, and it was catchy as Hell! Similar cases could be made for other tunes like “Stick It Out,” “Catholic Girls,” and “Jewish Princess.”
Continue reading “Defending Zappa?”