From Zappa To Lenin

Found on the Where On Earth blog (via zappafan.net), about FZ’s bust in Vilnius, Lithuania:

A few years ago, I had the good fortune to share some beers with one of the students responsible for this very odd monument. He explained to me in a dark Vilnius pub how he and his friends, caught up in the early 1990s euphoria of post-communist freedom, decided to honor one of their favorite American singers whom they clandestinely listened to during communism because authorities banned his decadent western music.

Amazingly, during a crazy time when all things seemed possible, the students were able to convince the city government of their worthy Zappa cause. Even more remarkable, was that the students commissioned local sculptor Konstantinas Bogdanas to create the bust. Prior to this commission, Bogdanas sculpted only what the state told him to sculpt, which was mostly Lenin statues and other heroes of the socialist revolution.

And here is an interview with the sculptor:

In the far right corner is Lithuanian President Valdas Adamkus, while rock legend Frank Zappa stares from the left. But the subject that made Bogdanas best known, Soviet leader Vladimir Lenin, is noticeably absent from the cluttered display.

The Man Belonged In A Strait Jacket

Blogs 4 Brownback on Zappa:

The man belonged in a strait jacket. Wherever he is now, I’m sure it’s hot and I don’t want to go there. He was one of the deviant perverts who subsumed American culture in the 1960s. His music was horrible and weird, and his viewpoints were, too. We should exhume his body and burn it in a dumpster. It’s the least we can do for him, after all he did to us.

And who the fuck is Brownback? Oh, here he is.

The Neocon Series

Dennis P. McCann, artist, FZ-fan and founder of the Yahoo! Zappa-List has started a series of paintings entitled the Neocon Series. He’s currently at “Phase two”:

Phase Two examines the defining events by which history will judge the Bush administration, and the overall Neocon agenda. As always, I am not going to tell you, the viewer, what this painting means. That is for you to decide for yourself. Be aware that it is not only the objects that are of importance, but also the intersection of those objects. And, as always, the color is of significance.

With fantastic results so far, I might add.

DeNameland

Let’s create a nation for FZ, shall we?

Build a nation and run it according to your own warped political ideals. Create a Utopian paradise for society’s less fortunate or a totalitarian corporate police state. Care for your people or deliberately oppress them. Join the United Nations or remain a rogue state. It’s really up to you.

The governmental style should obviously be Libertarian, its official religion the Church of American Secular Humanism (CASH). Should it be a republic? Which currency will it use? Any suggestions for a flag design, a name?

Via Boogeopia

It Can’t Happen Here?

A Fascist America, in 10 easy steps is one scary read. Naomi Wolf:

It is my argument that, beneath our very noses, George Bush and his administration are using time-tested tactics to close down an open society. It is time for us to be willing to think the unthinkable – as the author and political journalist Joe Conason, has put it, that it can happen here. And that we are further along than we realise.