Okay, this is gonna need loctite threadlocker but I'll tell you I saw frank way back and in spite of his twisted; I'm not sure what I'd call him but he put on a fantastic show. He was like a conductor. There was the bizarre whatever side of him, the showman but the other side was very very serious about the music and getting it all together. And that they did.
Beware- he ripped off the mothers of invention big time. Jimmy carl black, the drummer, was my drummer on and off for 8 years. The mothers had a long running lawsuit against Frank. They all composed the songs but he convinced them to let him use his name and he would share the profits. He never did and instead fired them all. Jimmy lived in poverty while frank was a king. Finally he settled with the mothers. He gave out a couple hundred grand to the members. Jimmy was happy but right after the settlement frank announced he had cancer, soon died, and the family sold his music for mega millions. That pitance paid to the mothers paved the way to sell his music to sony. Yes he would have a made a good politician...... Jimmy quit playing drums at the end of life. We stayed in touch via email and phone. He moved to germany and died there. I asked him why he quit. He said he couldn't afford to hire somebody to carry them for him and he was too arthritic/old to carry them. For president? I would rather vote for popeye. Walter ---------- walter tore's spontobeat - a real one man band and over 1 million spontaneously created songs and growing. I record about 300 full length cds a year. " life is a daring adventure or nothing at all" - helen keller
You know, I dunno, but those mothers sound like weren't too smart. I heard a lot of folks had grievances about sharp operators in the business of making money, and in the same situation I bet I might find myself pretty bitter. But I'm thinking you gotta take responsibility for what you do, what you agree to. Why would you let someone just use his name on your work? Why not put it back on him to just use your name and you'll share with him? And if you settle and yore happy, why feel ripped off when the cat dies and you miss out? Man, what a dirty trick, up and dying like that. Zappa made about 80 albums, maybe 50 in his lifetime. Only a handful with that original band, so it's not like they were in for an equal share of the estate. If they settled, hey they agreed to the deal. Shucks, I don't know what I'm on about, it doesn't mean anything to me anyway. Just seems kinda illogical. Don't think I'd have voted for fz either, though.
