Frank Zappa on Registering to Vote (extended clips)

[tempelton1]

Run time: 04:42 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4jlJPoGsrtc   Posted on YouTube: September 07, 2009 By YouTube Member: Views on YouTube: 0   Posted on DU: September 09, 2009 By DU Member: tempelton1 Views on DU: 831

 
Frank remains as relevant as ever...

[Rabrrrrrr]

1. "Register, and vote like a beast!"

:rofl:

Fantastic!

[tempelton1]

2. The threat of the beast of democracy...

...is something republicans scare their children to sleep with everynight...

[90-percent]

3. Frank is my hero

And has been since the early seventies. This is in large part due to the many interviews and thoughts about things Frank was interviewed about over the years. I find his values and pronouncements downright inspiring and absolutely correct and timeless. And right on the money, especially with respect to politics.

I will go so far as to say if he were still alive, the entire National Debate would be entirely different. He was headed in the direction of taking these righty fundamentalist corporate Christians head on anywhere any place any time for any reason at all! He coulda been a Meet the Press regular for the last fifteen years, even!

Thanks for the post.

-90% jimmy

[Magleetis]

4. I love Frank too

I think he was one of the most innovative composers of the 20th century. His album Broadway The Hard Way predicted the extreme christian right we have today. Frank saw it coming. There is a great track on The Best Band You Never Heard In Your Life called A Few Minutes With Brother A. West where he parodies an evangelist. It is classic.

[tempelton1]

5. I agree - to a point...

Frank is probably the only person I consider to have been truly an extraordinary human being and is easily my biggest hero ever. However, that is not to say that I can agree with 100% of his political positions. For instance, Frank hated unions. He wrote songs mocking them and railed against them in interviews. This was, as others have pointed out, perhaps the inevitable outcome of a cottage industry businessman mentality but I still can't agree with Frank on that one. Similarly, he referred in one instance to himself as "devoutly capitalist", which is something else that doesn't appeal to me.

That however is part of what is facinating about Frank - the fact that he is almost impossible to pin down to one easy position. The man was nothing if not unpredictable.

And, as you suggest, there is much he got right politically too: opposition to the Christian Right and Republicans in general. Opposition to the PMRC and their boring attempts at censorship through economic pressure. Opposition to Reagan's murderous intervention in Central America. Opposition to the Soviet Union. Opposition to the first Gulf War. Pro freedom of speech. Pro choice. Pro taxing the churches. And, for me what is most interesting, was his evolving adherence to what I consider to have been a mild streak of social democracy (European style) in his later years. To explain, although largely claimed by the Libertarians as one of their own, Frank actually refused to run as a Libertarian Presidential candidate, as he considered their total opposition to welfare as objectionable. As Frank knew, but only occassionally talked about in interviews, you have to take care of the most vulnerable in society (heck, he even expressed his support for Mario Cuomo at one stage!). I think he could well have evolved more in that capacity - as well as the straight talking ass kicker extrodinaire - had he lived.

He is missed!

[90-percent]

6. Broadway the Hard Way

I think was mostly live stuff from the 1988 Tour?

I live in Connecticut and after the 1984 Tour, Frank got in to the synclavier and fighting the PMRC and sounded like he was just not going to tour any more. Then, he puts together the 1988 band and hits the road. By this time I was very rabid in my fanaticism about him and relished another chance to go out and see him. Which I did maybe eight times that year. Starting at Albany, the first show of the Tour. It was a spiritual experience and such a joy to see him again. And again and again. poughkeepsie, Springfield MA, Boston, Providence, Hartford and last but not least, The Nassau Coliseum on Long Island. Long Island has the highest density of Zappa fans in the entire USA and Frank was in a big hockey rink, like the old days in the 70's, when he could fill such big places.

So, I did get to witness a lot of BWTHW stuff live, along with The Best Band You Never Heard six CD's.

Unions in principle are wonderful, however, they tend to become corrupt and are just as greedily run as corporate upper management, in many cases. History shows that unions were a major cause of the prosperity post World War Two and the rise of the middle class. I hope they make a big comeback in America and are run by thoughtful and wise people that are in it for the common good.

-90% jimmy

[tempelton1]

7. Unions Aren't Perfect - But Neither Are 80 Hour Work Weeks

Without unions, labour would have no collective power. We are an impefect species and so that unions are impefect is a given. But what they have done the world over to redress the criminal imbalance of power that has historically favoured those who own/control the economy is indisputable. As for unions being run by thoughtful and wise people - I disagree: I think they should be run by ordinary and local people with decentralised power structures. The problems of history have only one thing in common - a predictable concentration of power. That needs to be addressed. The very existence of unions - as a concept that stands against private/concentrated power - should serve as a template for this. That they need to be improved is a given but we should not let their imperfections blind us to the fact that they are often the only thing standing between us and the unbridled power of those who favour a complete lack of capitalist accountability.

However, having said all that, you lucky mother having seen Frank live all those times! I barely had heard of Frank by the time he died :(

[MrMickeysMom]

9. Well said, tempelton1!

Welcome to DU, too.

[tempelton1]

12. Thanks MrMickeysMom! :)

[graywarrior]

8. Frank's book is really what got me all turned on to politics.

[MrMickeysMom]

10. What was the title? eom

[graywarrior]

13. The Real Frank Zappa

http://www.amazon.com/Real-Frank-Zappa-Book/dp/0671705725/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1252545463&sr=8-1

[MrMickeysMom]

14. I just read the first few pages of it...

I could have kept going.

I'll remember this for a gift (then read the rest of it myself)!

[ZackH]

11. Some of My Favorite Albums Ever

Apostrophe and Sheik Yerbouti are probably two of my favorite albums ever. Love watching his debate videos as well.