Young Frank Zappa

[Nijinsky Hind]

On the cover of "Memories of El Monte" with Art laboe in a crowd scene at The El Monte Legion Stadium... Just a few miles from Cucamonga.

Fu manchu-less prolly 16 or even younger... Heavy Doo Wop oldies.

[Nijinsky Hind]

image.jpg

[Dave (in MA)]

On the cover of "Memories of El Monte" with Art laboe in a crowd scene at The El Monte Legion Stadium... Just a few miles from Cucamonga.

Fu manchu-less prolly 16 or even younger... Heavy Doo Wop oldies.

looɔ ʎʇʇǝɹd

[zravkapt]

looɔ ʎʇʇǝɹd

How the hell did you do that? I'm gonna lose sleep over this.

[Dave (in MA)]

I turned my keyboard so that the spacebar was at the top.

[rcarlberg]

Hung up on my Weesa, she is so divine. Buncha pictures from that era in The Real Frank Zappa Book, and yeah, he looked like that guy that was always getting locked inside his locker by the quarterback.

[Onomatopoeic]

How the hell did you do that?

pɹɐoqʎǝʞ uʍop ǝpᴉsdn 'pᴉɐs ǝɥ ǝʞᴉl

[Dave (in MA)]

Note, you can't do capital letters with your keyboard upside down because the ⇧Shift key is pointing down.

[Zeuhlmate]

/ɯoɔ˙ʇxǝʇuʍopǝpᴉsdn˙ʍʍʍ//:dʇʇɥ ǝʇᴉsqǝʍ sᴉɥʇ ǝsn plnoɥs no⅄

[Digital_Man]

There's a youtube clip of Frank playing a bicycle on the tonight show when he's about fourteen.

[Zeuhlmate]

[Joe F.]

There's a youtube clip of Frank playing a bicycle on the tonight show when he's about fourteen.

He was 22.

[progeezer]

Frank's love of doo-wop validates his musical acumen.

[Nijinsky Hind]

Frank's love of doo-wop validates his musical acumen.

He was friends with art laboe, many doo wop singers and bands, and wrote some of their songs... Even plays instruments on some... The penguins, the paragons... Probably more... He did that stuff very young... The el monte legion stadium was a big deal in the 50s. Rock and doo wop shows every weekend.

Frank was very well connected even at an early age.

[Nijinsky Hind]

Haha... Sorry bout the up side down.

[progeezer]

I started singing in acapella doo-wop groups under the "el" ("Looking For An Echo") in Queens when I was 12 (1957). I went to every Alan Freed show at the Brooklyn Paramount and the Brooklyn Fox.

Groups like The Paragons, The Penguins (who recorded a song called "Memories Of El Monte"), The Channels, The Heartbeats, The Cleftones, The Teenagers, The Moonglows and a thousand other doo-wop groups, white, black & Hispanic, were the center of my universe. School sure as hell wasn't.

[GuitarGeek]

There's a youtube clip of Frank playing a bicycle on the tonight show when he's about fourteen.

It wasn't the Tonight Show, it was The Steve Allen Show, which was a completely different program.

[Nijinsky Hind]

Love the old doo wop... Have collected many 45s over the years. Some classics. I play them every so often. The scene appears to have been peacefully multi racial... Seems like it was a good scene... I was born in 57 so missed all that.

[zravkapt]

/ɯoɔ˙ʇxǝʇuʍopǝpᴉsdn˙ʍʍʍ//:dʇʇɥ ǝʇᴉsqǝʍ sᴉɥʇ ǝsn plnoɥs no⅄

sʞuɐɥ┴

[Onomatopoeic]

ɐᴉlɐɹʇsnɐ uᴉ ɐddɐz

[Nijinsky Hind]

Hahahahah

[3LockBox]

well, that was awkward

[Reid]

I picked up this 5 disc set which features FZ's first recordings and guitar playing on record. It's mostly obscure Southern California rock & roll, and surf music recorded from early to late 60s. Also includes the audio from the Steve Allen Show appearance.

[GuitarGeek]

well, that was awkward

I always thought it was hilarious. The thing that's brilliant is that the two of them are playing off each other, for instance, when Steve asks Frank how long he's been playing the bicycle and he says "About two weeks" and Steve shoots back with, "You must have been thinking, 'What can I do that will get me on the Steve Allen Show'" (which I think is exactly what happened, because you note at the end Frank mentions doing the music for The World's Greatest Sinner, which I think is the real reason he's there, to plug "the world's worst movie", as he describes it).

And it's great that neither of them are particularly taking the matter seriously. Frank can't stop laughing through chunks of the interview. And I've always loved the ending where Steve says something like, "I think I speak for everyone here when I say don't come around hear again!". He was great at those kind of lines.

One thing I've never been sure of is after they come back from the commercial break, Steve mentions that what Frank was doing was not unlike some of the contemporary classical music that was coming from Europe at the time. I've never been sure if he was complimenting Frank, or putting down the contemporary classical music guys. Ya know, in the same way that some people look at modern art, and says "My 4 year old could do the same thing". With Steve, you were never sure (as per the time he recited Be-Bop-A-Lula as a spoken word piece).

[zombywoof]

I picked up this 5 disc set which features FZ's first recordings and guitar playing on record. It's mostly obscure Southern California rock & roll, and surf music recorded from early to late 60s. Also includes the audio from the Steve Allen Show appearance.

Is that the same Ray Collins who sang with the MOI?