Zappa Had a Fall

I claim innocence.

It was a long week-end, and I had just finished reading a book that I needed to return to the library. I had not been there for a few weeks, and I was not borrowing albums the way I used to - thank you, Spotify - and I sort of wandered around trying to decide what to do with myself. In the stacks, I went blindly through certain compilations and found a stack of CDs that went back to my childhood, teenagedom, and my imagination. And then I found an interesting box set: 'The Mothers 1971'.

Ah, the Mothers. The Mothers of Invention, Mark II; a group that the late great Frank Zappa put together and toured with after the original band could not fulfill whatever concept of the live show he wanted. The box set came out last year, comprising 8 CDs with recordings from the 1971 tour. I was a fan of this particular moment in Zappadom, and I was glad to pick it up.

And then I made the mistake of picking up the liner notes (thankful that the library allowed us to do this before checking anything out).

I knew that the group had already faced a fire that destroyed all of their equipment at the end of the show in Montreux (save one small cowbell). Anyone heard of 'Smoke On The Water'? What impresses me more and more now is that the band continued with the tour, playing at the Rainbow with bad acoustics and worse equipment. But they were back in England, and at the end of the show, they did an encore performance of 'I Want To Hold Your Hand'.

And then it happened. Frank Zappa was attacked on the stage by a fan who nearly killed him. And now you can hear it in real time (I will quote directly from the liner notes and the words of Joe Travers, described as a 'Vaultmeister' - the one in charge of all those recordings; the one who discovered what I never thought could be found):

Frank mentioned that had the incident at the Rainbow been captured on tape, he would have released it...it wasn't until 2020 that I decided to digitize the original 1'' 8-Track tape masters of the show... At the end of the 4th reel, after the encore of 'I Want To Hold Your Hand', the mix faded out during the audience response. But much to my surprise...there's no fade out at all. Instead, there it was...I never expected it...It came roaring out of the speakers - and it was chilling.

Need it be said that the first thing I listened to was that track?

To hear the band perform such a playful song and anticipating the attack on someone I have admired for years was a disturbing moment. The band plays the Beatles classic, says goodbye to the audience (we hear other members of the band leaving the stage) and then Frank speaks. And then there is a gap of dead air.

No screams. No shouts. But we do hear the confusion. If I had to compare it to anything else I have heard or seen before, there are two other media moments that come to mind: 1) the last scene in 'The Blair Witch Project' (one of the crew is standing in the corner of the house and the camera operator is attacked by an unseen figure); and 2) the 'Belsen Was a Gas' performance by the Sex Pistols from their Winterland concert in 1978 (the rock critic Lester Bangs stated that the gap between the end of the song and the roar of the crowd is 'one of the most frightening things I've ever heard. You wonder exactly what they might know they were screaming for. As you wonder exactly what you might be affirming by listening to this over and over again.'

Very true, Mr. Bangs. Very true. I wonder about myself skipping ever other song on all those discs and going directly to that track and that moment. I am wondering what it says about me and the way that I think about celebrity, technology and certain uncomfortable moments in history.

Listen: I am not claiming any sort of enlightened ideas about me or our culture. I will watch and wonder about the car crashes and uncomfortable scenes around me like anyone else. But I ask too many questions when I find myself looking at this material. What if Zappa had died at that moment? What if the recording had been discovered earlier (he said that he would have released it; his family and former band members approved of this box set)?

Maybe I am expecting too much from me. I have been told that I am often too hard on myself. Maybe I should not be so tough on me...or any other Zappaholics who have been waiting for more information on this key moment in his performance history...

But I do have to wonder about all this unearthed material and the potential for the worst moments in recorded history to be released and disseminated as entertainment.

Do we need to know?

Thank you for reading!

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You can find more poems, stories, and articles by Kendall Defoe on my Vocal profile. I complain, argue, provoke and create...just like everybody else.

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