Frank Talk: The Inside Stories Of Zappa's Other People.

by Andrew Greenaway

Following his highly successful previous book, Zappa The Hard Way, Frank Zappa specialist Andrew Greenaway's second tome on the influential cult artist is something completely different! Frank Talk: The Inside Stories of Zappa's Other People is compiled from over 40 interviews Greenaway has conducted during the past three decades, with the people who knew and worked with the legendary composer and musician. From Zappa's own family (including his brother and sister and eldest son, Dweezil), through to members of the Mothers of Invention such as Jimmy Carl Black, Roy Estrada & Don Preston - major discoveries like guitarists Warren Cuccurullo (who went on to much success with Duran Duran) & Steve Vai (Alcatrazz / Dave Lee Roth / Whitesnake) plus drummer extraordiniare Terry Bozzio who later formed Missing Persons as well as working with luminaries such as Jeff Beck and Mick Jagger, through to the likes of Ike Willis, Scott Thunes and Mike Keneally who played in Zappa's last touring band. Augmented with artwork and caricatures created by noted designer Antero Valerio, Frank Talk gives an extraordinary insight into this musical genius that is piled on in layers. With Greenaway's recognised knowledge of Zappa this book will undoubtedly compliment his previous title and be every bit as revered.

Genres: Music

256 pages, Kindle Edition

Published July 21, 2017

About the author

Andrew Greenaway was born in Orpington, Kent, in 1958. He edits the UK’s only Frank Zappa website (www.zappanews.co.uk) and has curated eleven Zappa-themed albums for Cordelia Records.

As well as writing Zappa The Hard Way (2010), The Beatles... The Easy Way (2014), Frank Talk: The Inside Stories Of Zappa’s Other People (2017), FZ88: A Visual Documentary of Zappa's Final Tour (2019) and The Zappa Tour Atlas (2019) for Wymer Publishing, Andrew has contributed to 1001 Songs You Must Hear Before You Die (Octopus Books, 2010), We Are The Other People - 25 Years Of Zappanale (Wehrhahn Verlag, 2014) and The Greatest Albums You'll Never Hear (Octopus Books, 2014).

He also helped ‘ghost’ Anton Johnson's autobiography King Of Clubs (Grosvenor House, 2012) and is currently working on The Zappa Tour Atlas with Mick Zeuner and Klaus Kühner (slated for publication in September 2019) and a Zappa fan scrapbook.

Andrew was one of the key contributors to ZappaCast - The Frank Zappa Podcast (http://www.zappa.com/zappacast) and now co-hosts Andrew & Lee’s Music Emporium on SoundCloud (https://soundcloud.com/andrew-greenaw...). He also co-organises Festival MOO-AH, a biennial celebration of Zappa’s music and more in Corby, and is an auxiliary member of the Zappa Early Renaissance Orchestra.

Andrew has three children, two cats, one wife, and lives with them near the Thames Delta in deepest, darkest Essex. Aside from his family and music, his other interests include the Marx Brothers, Woody Allen, Kurt Vonnegut, Chelsea FC, Speedway GP, Coronation Street and having a laugh.

Reviews

[Pauline Butcher Bird · Rating 4 out of 5]

The star of this book is Andrew Greenaway. He has an astonishing knowledge of everything Zappa, his music, lyrics, when they were written, played and recorded, who was in which band and when, and even who played on every track on every album of each one of these musicians.
I like the way the interviewees are listed in alphabetical order so you get a wide variety of views as you move along. What is noticeable is how these people, mostly musicians in Zappa’s bands, many of whom had worked with him for years, were unwilling to reveal anecdotes. Except for Ike Willis, their answers slid over the subject of Frank Zappa as if they were afraid any comments might mar -his memory. Instead, they speak mostly about their own careers.
Nigey Lennon, Lorraine Belcher and Essra Mohawk have less inhibitions, three of the five women in the mix, Nigey describing Frank’s petulant response when she dared to criticise him, Lorraine with an astonishing story about Frank’s first wife, Kay, and supposedly why he wrote ‘Call Any Vegetable’, and Essra with the only reference I’ve seen or heard of Frank manhandling anyone. There are many other gems like Napoleon Murphy Brock before his audition telling Marty Perellis that he’d never heard of Frank Zappa, Frank telling Ike Willis to ‘make sure they don’t kill Scott’, and Mike Keneally’s fall-out with Dweezil. I do like Dweezil’s justification for bringing younger musicians into his band in order to reach a new audience rather than continually use alumni.
I am honoured to be included in this book and plan to buy the paperback. Then I will get the drawings by Antero Valerio which are missing from the e-book. Whichever version you choose, I am sure you will draw your own equally interesting stories from this almost encyclopaedic catalogue of memories.
Freak Out! My Life with Frank Zappa

[Joel · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fascinating deep dive into all sorts of people and performers who were a part of the orbit of Frank Zappa.
I'm not a massive Zappa fan - I'm just related to one, but I've always known (or been told?) that there's a deep, rich collection of great music to be explored. Of which, I have scratched the surface, all my life.
The interviews - ranging from 1991 to 2016 - are presented (oddly) in alphabetical order, so the tale of Zappa's life (and after-life) feels like it unfolds a bit randomly, forward and backward in time on various tours or home life, but because the book wraps up neatly with Zappa family members' interviews, the book feels like a neatly wrapped up telling.
The book ends with Dweezil Zappa, and the ongoing legacy of Zappa Plays Zappa, and other iterations of Zappa music out in the world.