My father was a true music snob. As a professor of music, he deplored most modern sounds. I still remember the night the light came on for him. In the evenings, he and my mom would have a few glasses of wine and watch TV. One night in about 1967, Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention performed on the Johnny Carson show. As they played some tremendously abstract and challenging and very dissonant piece, my mother jeered. But my dad shot forward on the couch and said, "Hush! These guys are really good!"
They were better than good, and Frank Zappa was smarter than smart. Here are some of my favorite quotes from this 20th-century genius:
“The illusion of
freedom will continue as long as it's profitable to continue the
illusion. At the point where the illusion becomes too expensive to
maintain, they will just take down the scenery, they will pull back the
curtains, they will move the tables and chairs out of the way, and you
will see the brick wall at the back of the theatre”.
“The person who stands up and says, 'This is stupid,' either is asked
to behave or, worse, is greeted with a cheerful 'Yes, we know! Isn't it
terrific!'”
"I'm not saying I wish that I were black, but there are times when I wish that I wasn't WHITE."
"If you want a real education, quit school, go to the library and EDUCATE YOURSELF."
"Information doesn't kill you."
"The essence of Christianity is told to us in the Garden of Eden
history. The fruit that was forbidden was on the Tree of Knowledge. The
subtext is, All the suffering you have is because you wanted to find
out what was going on. You could be in the Garden of Eden if you had
just kept your fucking mouth shut and hadn't asked any questions.
"The whole foundation of Christianity is based on the idea that
intellectualism is the work of the Devil. Remember the apple on the
tree? Okay, it was the Tree of Knowledge. "You eat this apple, you're
going to be as smart as God. We can't have that.""
“It pays to make the U.S. school system a crock of shit because the
dumber the people are that come out, the easier it is to draft them,
make them into docile consumers, or, you know, mongo employees. There
are plenty of yuppies out there with absolutely nothing upstairs.
Graduate airheads with PhDs and everything but they don't know
anything”.
“I have four children, and I want them to grow up in a country with a WORKING first amendment.”
Frank was a smart guy.
8-D
my favorite zappa quote: the universe is one big note.
Spider: We are . . . actually the same note, but . . .
John: But different octave
Spider: Right. We are 4,928 octaves below the big note
Monica: Are ya . . . are you trying to tell me that . . . that this whole universe revolves around one note?
Spider: No, it doesn't revolve around it; that's what it is. It's one note
Spider: Everybody knows that lights are notes. Light, light, is just a vibration of the note, too. Everything is
Monica: That one note makes everything else so insignificant
John: What about negative light?
Spider: Pigs use it for a tambourine, which is one of the reasons why their music is so hard to understand
Dave, Thanks for sharing these truthful words. Love Mary
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