Frank Zappa

 

The Dangerous Kitchen: The Subversive Art of Frank Zappa
by Kevin Courrier
Book Description: The name Frank Zappa often conjures up the image of a deranged satirist. But for close to thirty years, between 1966 until his untimely death from prostate cancer in 1993, Frank Zappa was one of the most influential, innovative, and controversial musicians in contemporary and popular music (despite little airplay on the radio). Beginning with his band, the Mothers of Invention, Frank Zappa built a formidable career in rock and roll by combining a wide range of styles, including serious contemporary music, jazz, rhythm and blues, doo-wop, and social and political parody. Yet Zappa was often portrayed as a drug addict (even though he denounced drug use) and a fetishist (despite a normal married life). In The Dangerous Kitchen: The Subversive Art of Frank Zappa, Kevin Courrier explodes those myths by illuminating the facts about this outrageously gifted composer. Courrier examines how Frank Zappa`s emergence in American popular culture during the eclectic and experimental sixties was no accident. 

Courrier illustrates that Zappa`s musical career - which poked fun at middle-class conformity, the hippie sub-culture, disco, the rock industry, and the Reagan era - had its roots in the artistic rebellion against Romanticism in the nineteenth century. The book draws links to the musical and cultural antecedents of Frank Zappa`s career, including Erik Satie, Arnold Schoenberg, Anton Webern, Igor Stravinsky, Charles Ives, and Zappa`s true hero, Edgard Varese, who was as much a scientific inventor of electronic sounds as he was a dynamic avant-garde composer. 

In The Dangerous Kitchen: The Life and Politics of Frank Zappa, Kevin Courrier examines Frank Zappa as a composer, performer, political artist, and American original.
Paperback: 500 pages ; Dimensions (in inches): 1.17 x 9.76 x 7.08 
Publisher: ECW Press;  
ISBN: 1550224476 

The Real Frank Zappa Book
by Frank Zappa, Peter Occhiogrosso
This is the second-best way to expose yourself to the particular genius of Frank Zappa (music is the best, after all)--through his own words. In addition to being an idiosyncratic American composer of some degree of controversy, Zappa was an orator of no small ability or scope. He was known for his ability to expound at great length (and to hilarious effect) on any number of topics. The Real Frank Zappa Book faithfully captures this side of its author, composed of essays on everything from his background and upbringing, to politics, capitalism, and raising children. Zappa takes the opportunity to dispel some of the most pervasive rumors that surrounded him right up to (and even persist after) his death in 1993 (no he didn't do drugs, or sleep with all those groupies). If you're familiar with the man, you will be able to hear his distinctive enunciations (aided by the bold-facing of certain words and Zappaisms) as you read the assorted road stories, his views on making music for a living, and scenes from two--count them, two--organized hearings on obscenity in music. Of course, the chapter titles speak for themselves and include such Zappa winners as "All About Schmucks," "Marriage (As a Dada Concept)," and "America Drinks and Goes Marching." Amazon.com
Paperback: 352 pages ; Dimensions (in inches): 0.79 x 9.16 x 6.14 
Publisher: Fireside; Reprint edition (May 1990) 
ISBN: 0671705725 

Being Frank : My Time With Frank Zappa
by Nigey Lennon, Phil Stern, Suzy Beal

Mother! the Frank Zappa Story
by Michael Gray

Viva! Zappa
by Dominique Chevalier

Cosmic Debris: The Collected History & Improvisations of Frank Zappa
by Greg Russo
Paperback: 352 pages 
Publisher: Crossfire Pubns; 3rd edition (January 9, ) 
ISBN: 0964815702 

No Commercial Potential : The Saga of Frank Zappa
by David Walley

Necessity Is : The Early Years of Zappa's Mothers of Invention
by Billy James

Electric Don Quixote : The Story of Frank Zappa
by Neil Slaven

The Frank Zappa Companion : Four Decades of Commentary
by Richard Kostelanetz (Ed.), John Rocco (Ed.), Andre Kostelanetz
Out of Print - Try Used Books

Zappa : Visual Documentary
by Miles

America the Beautiful : A Novel
by Moon Unit Zappa

Wild Child : Girlhoods in the Counterculture
by Chelsea Cain (ed.), Moon Unit Zappa

Frank Zappa : The Negative Dialectics of Poodle Play
by Ben Watson
 
 
 

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