Notes & Comments
Chapter 2—There Goes The Neighborhood
[p. 37] Don [Van Vliet] was also an R&B fiend, so I'd bring my 45s over and we'd listen for hours on end to obscure hits by the Howlin' Wolf, Muddy Waters, Sonny Boy Williamson, Guitar Slim, Johnny "Guitar" Watson, Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown, Don and Dewey, the Spaniels, the Nutmegs, the Paragons, the Orchids, the etc., etc., etc.
- Howlin' Wolf, Muddy Waters, Sonny Boy Williamson, Guitar Slim, Johnny "Guitar" Watson, Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown, and Don & Dewey appear in the Freak Out! List Of Contributors.
Every once in a while Don would scream at his mother (always in a blue chenille bathrobe), "Sue! Get me a Pepsi!" There was nothing else to do in Lancaster.
- See Captain Beefheart vs. The Grunt People (1969), Sequence #4, Scene #17, and "The Torture Never Stops" on You Can't Do That On Stage Anymore Vol. 4 (1991).
Chapter 3—An Alternative To College
[p. 57] Once I got out, I went to see Art Laboe. He had released some of my material on his Original Sound label ("Memories of El Monte" and "Grunion Run") and got an advance on a royalty payment, which I used to bail out the girl.
- See Art Laboe in the Freak Out! List Of Contributors.
Chapter 4—Are We Having A Good Time Yet?
[p. 90] In 1966 and '67, the L.A.P.D. and the Sheriffs Department went to war with the freaks in Hollywood. Every weekend people were rounded up (with no warrants presented or charges stated) as they walked on Sunset Boulevard, forced into Sheriff's buses, driven downtown, held hostage for the evening, then let go—all because they had LONG HAIR.
The places where they used to eat (Ben Frank's on Sunset and Canter's Deli on Fairfax) were under constant surveillance. The city government threatened to take away Elmer (Whisky-a-Go-Go) Valentine's liquor license if he didn't stop booking long-haired acts into his club. There was no place left to work in Hollywood.
- See notes on Canter's in the Freak Out Hot Spots list.
[p. 94-95] On another occasion, Jimi Hendrix sat in with us. I didn't know him before then, and I can't remember how I was introduced to him—probably met him at the Tin Angel. A few days later he came to visit our cubicle on Charles Street with his friend, drummer Buddy Miles. Jimi was wearing green velvet pants—all decked out—on his way to a party with Buddy. (The only thing that Buddy said was "Hi, Frank," after which he sat on the couch, leaned back and passed out, snoring.) They were there for about an hour and a half. Buddy had a nice nap, and Hendrix ripped his pants at the crotch while demonstrating a dance step. Gail sewed them up for him. When it was time to leave he said, "Come on, Buddy." The snoring stopped, and they left.
- See notes on Jimi Hendrix.
Chapter 5—The Log Cabin
[p. 104] Included in it is a tape of Cynthia Plaster-Caster talking on the phone to Miss Pamela (now known as Pamela 'I'm With the Band' Des Barres), comparing notes. They both kept diaries, so they had cross-references to the same guys. Noel Redding, bassist from the Jimi Hendrix group, also kept diaries, intertwined with the other two. It would have been great to see them all in one book.
[p. 106] When Hendrix was cast, Cynthia told me, he liked the glop so well, he fucked the mold.
- See notes on Jimi Hendrix.
Chapter 6—Send In The Clowns
[p. 117]
Craig Edon Pinkus, interviewed by Bob Dobbs, June 24, 2016
I have photographs of him, I was out there for a week. He was in the wheelchair. He was rehearsing, I did a large number of black and white photographs, some of which—without credit, which is fine—made it into his book, you know, The Real Frank Zappa Book. [...] The black and white shot of him in the wheelchair in the rehearsal room is mine.
Chapter 8—All About Music
[p. 179] Although I wouldn't say I could play a Guitar Slim lick sitting here today, his mangle-it strangle-it attitude provided an important aesthetic guidepost for the style I eventually developed. My two other influences were Johnny "Guitar" Watson and Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown.
- Guitar Slim, Johnny "Guitar" Watson, and Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown appear in the Freak Out! List Of Contributors.
[p. 194-195] Pierre Boulez
- Pierre Boulez appears on the Freak Out! List Of Contributors. See also Contempo 70 (1970); The Perfect Stranger (1984); An Evening With Pierre Boulez And Frank Zappa (1989).
[p. 196-197] The Perfect Stranger
- See notes & comments for The Perfect Stranger (1984).
Chapter 18—Failure
[p. 346] Other characters include: Galileo, Tesla, Newton, da Vinci, Mussolini, Hitler, Stalin, and Elvis Presley as THE DEVIL.
- See notes on Elvis Presley in the Freak Out! List Of Contributors.