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When All The World Was Young
20 April 1980
Fox Theater
Atlanta, Georgia
© 1998 by James Diesel
Got home from work on Friday April 18th 1980....Finally...the week was over....This was going to be a great weekend...Why you say?...Well besides being 25 and single,I had tickets to see 2 shows worth of Frank Zappa on Sunday night the 20th(4th row floor for the first show and 1st row balcony for the second show)...I fed my trusty pet dog Ike(yes named after Mr Willis),opened a bottle of Sterling Big Mouth Beer and put on Joe`s Garage Act I. It had a few snap, crackle and pops because this Lp had pretty much lived on my turntable since the previous September when it was released.All that night and the next day FZ`s music was a constant sound coming out of my house.Sunday arrived with great anticipation..All the guys started showing up at my place one by one...Cody(our designated driver),My brother Thonza,Randy...then the other Randy...We were ready...We discussed who would be in the band tonight,what music would be played...you have to remember that in 1980 there were no internet discussion groups or web sites...you had to scrounge for FZ information...you didn`t even know there was a tour happening until you heard about tickets going on sale on the radio.....well maybe a Circus or Rolling Stone magazine(rare) annoucement..We took off around 4:00 p.m., 3 hours before the show,although we were only 20 minutes away...Listening to Waka Jawaka all the way...knowing full well we wouldn`t hear it tonight...Got parked...We killed a few more Budweisers from our cooler cause they don`t sell them on Sundays in Georgia(In tribute To FAST FRANK...somebody may have lit a joint..AH What the fuck..we were pretty stoned)...We Walked around the corner to the front of The Fox Theater....its a great old landmark in Atlanta(a city famous for tearing down anything old to bring in the new)...checked out the marquee(see above).....Went to the door and waited....There we all were ....the usual suspects....The same people we see year after year.....FZ fanatics..We were hiding cameras and recorders(Kinda hard in April in the SOUTH just wearing t shirts and shorts)but somehow we managed..They opened the doors finally and we charged in....easing down front to check out the eqiupment.It looked like a two keyboard setup and a couple of guitars along with drums and a bass amp by one of the keyboard setups.We walked back up towards where the mixing console was setup and looked at the board.We got excited right away when we saw a piece of masking tape at the bottom of one of the channels that said RAY VOCAL...Ray Collins maybe? Naah....Ray White for sure(maybe)....I saw Tommy Mars standing a couple of rows behind the board talking to what seemed to be some friends,He smiled and said hello to us as he headed back toward the the front.....We headed to our 4th row seats and the lights dimmed just as we sat down....Showtime!!
Show #1
The opening few bars of music I quickly recognized as "Watermelon In Easter Hay".....It was great.....The guitar just soared over the band....After Watermelon...he intoduced the band...Ike Willis...Ray White...Tommy Mars...Arthur Barrow(doubling on Bass and Keys)and David Logerman on drums....FZ and the boys broke into a slew of new material the best being "Pick Me I`m Clean".I remember Ike and Ray`s vocals being really good on this one,and Frank`s guitar solo just blew us away..."The Mudd Club" comes to mind as another crowd pleaser.....When they did "Heavenly Bank Account" the old Fox Theater screen lit up with dollar signs...I have a great picture of this one(website).....Right at the end of show #1 they did "Jumbo Go Away" leading into "I don`t Wanna get Drafted" and "Drafted Again"...Mr Barrow did his great Doors type organ solo....The encore escapes me(I could listen to the tape)but I would rather do this from memory.....Great show!!!
Show #2
We walked outside after the first show buzzing about the great music we had just heard....People were standing outside waiting to get in for Show #2.Of course we had to brag about the fact that we had just came from Show #1 and how great it was....It seemed like no time before they opened the doors and let us back in.We were in the Balcony for this show....The lights dimmed and FZ and the band came back on and did a killer version of "Chunga`s Revenge".....I remember how great "Outside Now" and "Lucille" were!Then Frank announced that they were going to play a song they hadn`t played on this tour...It turned out to be "Zoot Allures"(simply incredible).Ray sang a great version of "City Of Tiny Lites" and then knocked us out with"The Illinois Enema Bandit"......I can still see that enema bag he had on his shoulder as he just nailed the vocals....the crowd was just going beserk at this point...They did "Yellow Snow" and "Night Owl" for the encores.....The house lights came up and it was over that quick.Wow...Pleasantly stoned...uh...I mean stunned would describe our frame of mind as we walked back to the car.We didn`t say much on the way home....just listened to the freshly recorded Show #2 and sped into the Georgia night...I guess you had to be there....James Diesel
© 1980jdeesel@bellsouth.net
See also Frank & Elsewhere
I was at the Zappa show at the Fox (first show) and just wanted to add the following to the already fine review posted.
I avoided buying some cheap bootleg shirts out front.
Zappa opened with Watermelon In Easter Hay. One of the greatest musical moments I've enjoyed. He walked out front and went to town, had his wah-wah pedal blazing.
They did a bunch of You Are What You Is. Lots of three-part harmony stuff. Not my favorite FZ, but it was still very good.
He ended with a great version of "Love of My Life" -
Sure wish I would have stayed for second show.
I was a broke teenager.
Hey, that's show biz.
Todd Steed
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