Frank Zappa 016

Look closer for six song lyrics: Save your money, don’t go to the show. (Don’t Eat the Yellow Snow); Who was strictly from commercial. (Nanook Rubs It); They’re so light and fluffy white. (Father O’Blivion); But I got a crystal ball (Cosmik Debris); Knock the little jockeys off the rich people’s lawns (Uncle Remus) My python boot was too tight. (Stink-Foot)

The story:

Frank Vincent Zappa

Frank Vincent Zappa (December 21, 1940 – December 4, 1993) was an American musician, composer, activist and filmmaker. His work is characterized by nonconformity, free-form improvisation, sound experiments, musical virtuosity, and satire of American culture. In a career spanning more than 30 years, Zappa composed rock, pop, jazz, jazz fusion, orchestral and musique concrete works, and produced almost all of the 60-plus albums that he released with his band the Mothers of Invention and as a solo artist. Zappa also directed feature-length films and music videos, and designed album covers. He is considered one of the most innovative and stylistically diverse rock musicians of his era.

While in his teens, he acquired a taste for 20th-century classical composers. His debut album, released June 27, 1966 with the Mothers of Invention, Freak Out!, combined songs in conventional rock and roll format with collective improvisations and studio-generated sound collages. He continued this eclectic and experimental approach, irrespective of whether the fundamental format was rock, jazz or classical. Zappa’s output is unified by a conceptual continuity he termed “Project/Object”, with numerous musical phrases, ideas, and characters reappearing across his albums. 

During Zappa’s lifetime, he was a highly productive and prolific artist, earning widespread acclaim from critics and fellow musicians. He had some commercial success, particularly in Europe, and worked as an independent artist for most of his career. He remains a major influence on musicians and composers. His honors include his 1995 induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and the 1997 Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award. In 2000, he was ranked number 36 on VH1’s 100 Greatest Artists of Hard Rock. In 2004, Rolling Stone magazine ranked him at number 71 on its list of the “100 Greatest Artists of All Time”, and in 2011 at number 22 on its list of the “100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time”

On December 4, 1971, Zappa suffered his first of two serious setbacks. While performing at Casino de Montreux in Switzerland, the Mothers’ equipment was destroyed when a flare set off by an audience member started a fire that burned down the casino. The event is immortalized in Deep Purple’s song “Smoke on the Water”.  After losing the equivalent of over $300,000 worth of equipment, the Mothers played at the Rainbow Theatre, London, with rented gear. During the encore, audience member Trevor Howell pushed Zappa off the stage and into the concrete-floored orchestra pit. The band thought Zappa had been killed—he had suffered serious fractures, head trauma and injuries to his back, leg, and neck, as well as a crushed larynx, which ultimately caused his voice to drop a third after healing.

-credit Wikipedia

The artwork: 

The first print of this drawing was sold in April of 2019 at a silent auction to benefit the Lost Pines Art League, the largest comprehensive art center in the State of Texas, right here in Bastrop.

Digital Print on Archival Matte – Original illustration done in graphite and the following prisma colors: Ultra Marine and Aqua Marine-for precise serious military visual pleasure with duplicity; and Mulberry-because, of course, mulberries are tasteful
Artist: Tobin Bortner of Bastrop, Texas – drawing done in September of 2018 – ©Tobin Signs/Look Closer Illustrations 

DERIVATIVE Work – udiscovermusic.com/stories/irreplaceable-frank-zappa

What you get:
$40 (36.95 + 3.05 tax)
11 x 14 Print Package with Authenticity Sheet
signed and numbered (run of 30)
Domestic Priority Mail $8 (Free shipping)