A black-and-white photo of Frank Zappa from June 17, 1970 The photo has been processed so as to show lapis lazuli in Zappa's eye. Original photo: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Frank_Zappa,_1970_-_19.jpg 17 June 1970 Source Frank Zappa, Noord-Hollands Archief, collectie Fotopersbureau De Boer, NL-HlmNHA_1478_08365K02_19 Author Fotopersbureau De Boer Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Universal Public Domain Dedication

Notices where this attachment appears

1. 栄屯 (eidon@raru.re)'s status on Sunday, 26-Nov-2023 21:17:23 JST 栄屯

   Zappa had a preternatural vision to what would become his Music. The fixation on Ionisation, and the famous phone call to a "Mr Varèse in Greenwich Village", for instance, reveal a difference between Zappa and other geniuses that truly amazes.

   "Normally," geniuses are influenced by what they find on their road. Zappa himself mentioned he could have developed himself into a genius entrepreneur. Or he would have excelled in politics and become a party leader and a president. But no, Zappa wanted differently. He purposely created a continuity of events leading to his "becoming" -- his emergence as Zappa. So my take is that Zappa is one of the few "meta-geniuses" of this world. Varése was a fundamental encounter/ingredient, but for reasons that escape my meager ability to understand, it seems like Zappa-in-progress knew that he needed Varèse, he needed Strawinsky, he needed Webern, he needed Cage. Don't ask me how, but he seemed to select those elements, those encounters. As if they would help speed up the process of his emergence.

   Because speed and time were of the utmost importance for Zappa to become Zappa.