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The "Rollo" Show
9 December 1972
Paramount Theater
Portland, Oregon
© 1998 by Fast Frank
This was the appearance in Portland Oreeegon of the Famous Petit Wazoo Orchestra. Now, the date I have written down is that of 9-December-1972, which was a Saturday night. BUT...according to the book by Miles it was 12-December-72.
Now, maybe I'm just gettin' a little too cantankerous here, but I could swear on my mother's grave that...huh? Oh, that's right, mom's still alive...anyway, I could swear this show was on the 9th. Why? Well, for one thing that's the date I wrote down, BUT! My biggest argument that I'm right and the rest of the world is wrong is this...
On Tuesday, 12-December, it had snowed 7" (that's seven inches) and the weather was thug-like...nobody was goin' anywhere, pal, and I sure as shit didn't drive my really cool 1962 Chrysler 2-door hard-top in-mint-condition ship of love into downtown Portland with 7" of snow on the ground, nosiree bob! So make a note, all you note-makers out there...Petit Wazoo Orchestra...Portland Paramount...OH-NINE -December- 1972, NOT TWELVE-December-1972!!!!
Sheesh! Anyway, it was still friggin' freezing as the crowd hugged the side of the building, trying desperately to cop a little warmth. I recall looking across the street (Broadway) and there was one of those signs on a building that tell you the time and temp, well, when I realized it was 20° and dropping I saw an excellent opportunity to make a suggestion to my then-girlfriend, Pam, as to how she could keep her hands nice and warm...unfortunately the line started mooovin'along.
We got inside the nice toasty warm lobby, and both of our glasses fogged up so bad, we had to literally grope our way down the aisle to our seats (I got slapped a few times, dunno why).
Soon the opening act took the stage...I was totally blown away...Ruben and the Jets? These guys wouldn't have an album out until June of '73 and therefore I kinda think people thought they might be bogus or something...actually, I think most people were in the Powder Rooms smokin' up a storm tryin' to make up for not being able to keep a joint lit outside in the wind and icicles...
Anyway...Ruben and the Jets! I recognized Tony Duran and then I recognized the tall lean guy with the really long hair and the baritone sax was Motorhead Sherwood! And yes, he still pooted out whatever he had that the groupies used to dig...maybe it was because he looked like the kinda guy girls used to go for back then. You know, the guy that would spend all day Saturday tuning up his Ship of Love...downing a couple a brews with the guys at the garage, then go pick up his chick and he'd just be reekin' of gasoline and testosterone and she'd just be all goose-bumpy and shit....
Oops! Pardon my digression there, folks...heh heh... These guys were pretty good at what they did, and what I liked was that they were obviously having a good time. The only tune they played that I recall without any kinda doubt was the old Shirelles tune "Dedicated To The One I Love". During the last song of the set (whatever the hell it was!) Motorhead jumped on one of the other guy's back and rode him piggy-back around the stage. Considering that Mr. Sherwood is a might under six feet tall, he looked like a monkey dry- humpin' a football riding this guy around...it was pretty hilarious...
Ah, but then...musicians wandered out across the stage, taking their place next to their chosen tool of trade and sitting down, each player having his or her own music stand with their sheet music there...waiting patiently...all those little dots just all excited and pumped and primed and ready to just fucking LEAP off of that page...
Mr. Zappa entered stage left and the crowd was up and on their feet. I was amazed at his comeback following the Rainbow Theater incident, and the fact that he had whipped this many musicians into a fairly tight little orchestra in what I would consider to be a fairly short time span!
Some of the music had not yet been released, so I can't rattle all the tunes off the top of my head, but I remember that it was obviously mostly instrumental stuff. My then- girlfriend was a bit surprized...here she expected to see this nutty whacky guy (ala JABFLA and Fillmore) and here was this rather reserved fella leading a small orchestra and they were actually READING their music...
Some tunes I'm reasonably sure of..."Montana", an early version of "Yellow Snow", "Cozmik Debris" and it seems like some stuff from "Grand Wazoo" and "WAKA/JAWAKA"...
I ended up getting both those albums as x-mas presents a few weeks later and I heard some familier tunage...
I remember they played "Rollo" which got guffaws from the audience...for years that tune rolled around in my head, and the only part of the thing I could recall was ; "...and the little doggies name was Rollo, and his little doggie dealie was hollow..."
I nearly drove myself (and my then-girlfriend) nutz!
I also recall he launched into a spiel about Tycho Brahe, whom I always knew as the Danish astronomer with the gold nose from way back. It seems, however, that FZ kept referring to an amplifier or something that had that name on it and I never did figure out what the fuck he was talking about...
Something I distinctly DO remember about this show was that FZ was a little tiny bit grouchy...upon introducing some particular tune he mentioned his fondness for the oboe, then sort of growled "And that thing better be in tune, Earl!" Oboeist Earl Dumler looked extremely sheepish, as though he'd had his ass chewed about it already.
At another point, when FZ was tuning up, I believe, somebody in the audience yelled at him...FZ gave the invisible heckler the finger and said, as only FZ could say, "Fuck you!"
All in all I think it was a pretty impressive show, I know having his small orchestral group certainly made for an interesting evening. Driving home in the hypnotic snowfall I jabbered nearly non-stop. When I did finally come up for air and was silent for a moment, my then-girlfriend looked at me and smiled "I liked it!"
Oh, yeah! That's another reason I know this show was on a Saturday! My mom and dad had gone out for their weekly dose of beer and cowboy music, and so my then-girlfriend and I had the house all to ourselves...heh heh...yeah, that's what it was...
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