Academy Zappa: Proceedings Of The First International Conference Of Esemplastic Zappology

by Ben Watson (editor), Esther Leslie (Editor)

Frank Zappa always did it differently, and here his fans do too. With delegates from Paris, Rome, Leipzig and Vauxhall, this parodic conference included papers called "'Arf': Canine Continuity in the Output Macrostructure" and "The Mental Hygiene Dilemma." Zen Buddhism, Frankfurt school Marxism, Philip K. Dick and the Zappologically Deranged are used to denounce Madonna, postmodernism, hippies and everything you hold dear. Priceless.

Ben Watson, music journalist and longstanding contributor to "The Wire," "Hi-Fi News" and "Signal To Noise," is well-known for his deviant and polemical music criticism and is an acknowledged expert on Frank Zappa.

Esther Leslie is a reader in humanities at Birkbeck College, University of London.

Genres: Music

255 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2005

Reviews

[Judson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Look, some people like to make the simultaneously strong and stupid case that Frank Zappa's recordings place him among the High Cultural Subverters of the 20th Century, alongside guys like James Joyce and Duchamp and Godard and Adorno...that his project was to break dialectical thought (stupid/genius, highbrow/lowbrow, musician/pop star) in any thinking listener, basically, and make them squirm in the brain way and in the body way all at once and feel icky and deeply uncool about it but also kind of enjoy the whole process and its discomforts and implications for navigators of music's capitalist minefields. I sort of have to agree. The man wasn't just soloing on guitar and making his band members sing perverse shit for the hell of it.

But please don't read this unless you've heard more or less everything up through Ship Arriving Too Late to Save a Drowning Witch and please read Ben Watson's other Frank Zappa book first. You just won't grasp the "So Serious About This We Have to Sometimes Laugh and Shrug Like 'Oh come the hell on..."" tone that this book's essayists almost all take.

If you're already open to thinking hard about FZ, this book will re-open your ears 20 times over and make you download things you really don't want and maybe even thumb through your useless copy of Finnegan's Wake.

[John]

Darling Daughter tries to find me something obscure for Christmas. This year she found "Academy Zappa." It's the "Proceedings of the First International Conference of Esemplastic Zappology." I recognized one of the authors, and one of the editors, Ben Watson. He wrote "Frank Zappa: the Negative Dialectics of Poodle Play" a 600 page analysis of Zappa's work. It's an extensive look at Frank Zappa's work. I remember enjoying most of it, but he did get a bit carried away. The entire history of English Literature was embedded in Zappa's work somewhere, according to Watson. I just didn't see it, but I don't question his fanaticism.
I'm still not sure what "Esemplastic" means, but there is a definition of it in the Introduction. Zappology is more than a rehash of the work and career of Zappa. The Conceptual Continuity of Zappa's work must be reinterpreted in view of the new world. It's hard to believe sometimes that Frank has been dead for so long. Esemplastic Zappology is a dialectic trying to keep his work more than alive. Esemplastic Zappology isn't Rock journalism, or a meeting of fans. It's also an attempt to use some of the global marketing techniques that are going on to spread the works of Zappa.
It's a bit ironic to have what looks like an academic journal about Zappa. He loathed and despised the educational system, and at most shows I was at he encouraged students to drop out. School was a waste of time. "That's right... you get absolutely NOTHING with you college diploma." Might as well smoke it. (Well, it worked for Frank.)
But Esemplastic Zappology isn't academic, we're told by the members of ICE-Z. (International Conference of Esemplastic Zappology.) "Academic decorum is trashed as the glories, absurdities & obscenities of Frank Zappa, rock's greatest Dadaist, are unveiled." a blurb on the back cover tells us. There are thirteen papers that were read (or performed) at the Conference. Is this a parody of academia? Just the titles are a bit frightening: "The Secret Meaning of 'Arf' : Canine Continuity in the Output Macrostructure" by Dominique Jeunot. ""Watermelon in Easter Hay" : The Function of the Reverb Unit & the Poverty of the Individual Spirit." by T.H.F. Drenching. How about "What's the Ugliest Part of your Market-Researched Anaclitic-Affect Repertoire?" by Keston Sutherland. Yes, hours of fun!
Most of the authors are English, and discovered Zappa years after I did. It reminded me of first discovering Zappa, and trying to figure out what he was about. It was also great getting a different slant from some thirteen writers. Again there were times I thought things were spinning out of control, ("Poodles: a Zappological Reading of 'Ulysses'" by "Gamma.") but why fault a Zappa fanatic?
So Daughter did find a book that I'll read and analyze again. When's the next conference?

[marie monroe · Rating 3 out of 5]

it's dense. the cover is pink with a white poodle, though. who could pass that up? all the standard poodle parts are indicated: the truffle, the thorax, the upper thigh...

beyond the cover are the esemplastic zappologists' goin's on's.

it's like my stupid lit professor once said, "yes, marie, joyce was brilliant. you don't have to spend your life trying to prove it."

the word xenoarrangements is in here, though. that's just one itty tasty morsel.

[David Melbie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Woah. This stuff is weird, but I like it. Ben Watson (or, as I like to call him -- 'Footnoteous!') is still at it and, despite what critics think of him, he is interesting and not boring like 'rock journalists' have always been and, sadly, probably always will be.

And, watch out for Gamma. . . that man is crazy! --From A Reader's Journal, by d r melbie.

[Joe · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pretty bloody entertaining and irrelevant stuff. Perfect for the morning visit or the tube.