Does Serious Music Belong in Pop? Borrowings from Stravinsky in the Music of Frank Zappa

Yesterday morning, I read a paper at a meeting of the Northern California Chapter of the American Musicological Society at Stanford. It went pretty well! There was a wonderful audience that provided some stimulating questions and conversation afterward. A couple of readers (feeling teased by the abstracts I’ve posted lately) have asked me to post […]

Does Serious Music Belong in Pop? Borrowings from Stravinsky in the Music of Frank Zappa

ABSTRACTS: Stravinsky Borrowings and Cage on Popular Television

Whew! Things have been pretty hectic lately! In addition to the usual chipping away at the ol’ dissertation, I’ve been preparing abstracts for paper proposals at a number of upcoming conferences. (See my post from November 15.) Responses from conference committees have slowly (but surely!) been trickling in. Unfortunately, the Experience Music Project Pop Conference […]

ABSTRACTS: Stravinsky Borrowings and Cage on Popular Television

Water Walking and Bicycle Blowing (part 2)

Following up on my previous post (discussing Cage’s influence on Zappa with regards to performances they gave on popular television shows), I’d like to discuss some of Zappa’s comments on Cage and get into the issue of influence a little deeper. What follows is a (roughly chronological) account of instances where Zappa talks about Cage […]

Water Walking and Bicycle Blowing (part 2)

“The other night we painted posters…”

I’m writing a chapter right now on Stravinsky borrowings (quotations and the like) in Zappa’s music. The centerpiece of my analysis looks at the Petrushka fragments that make up Zappa’s guitar solo in the middle of “Status Back Baby.” Well, Stravinsky was a major influence on Zappa when he was young (see my post from […]

“The other night we painted posters…”

I Come From Nowhere(?)

My dissertation–if you hadn’t already gathered–focuses on the convergence of popular and classical music streams that informs much of Frank Zappa’s music. This confluence means different things in different places (for both Zappa and his audience), but it seems to me to be a defining characteristic that runs through all of his work. My questions […]

I Come From Nowhere(?)

Ritual Dance of the Young Zappa

At a young age, Zappa bought a copy of The Rite of Spring and loved every note: The second 33 1/3-RPM record I bought was by Stravinsky. I found a budget-line recording (on Camden) of The Rite of Spring by something called ‘The World-Wide Symphony Orchestra.’ (Sounds pretty official, eh?) The cover was a green-and-black […]

Ritual Dance of the Young Zappa