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FZ in Austin
18 October 1981
Frank Erwin Special Events Center
Austin, Texas
© 1998 by John Henley
It was the 1981 tour. The Armadillo World Headquarters was closed and demolished. Frank returned to Austin somewhat sooner than I'd expected, but this time, instead of the funky, compatible AWHQ, he was booked into the Frank Erwin Special Events Center, also known as The Super Drum, also known as "who'd want to see a concert in THAT place?"
He didn't sell as many tickets for the place as, say, Bob Dylan had a few years before, so instead of using the whole arena, they curtained off half of it. As it turned out, the experience wasn't as sterile as it could have been, because the sightlines were good, the seats were comfortable, and the sound was better than you'd think. (Still, I'll say right here that it remains the last rock show I've seen at that venue. It's much better for basketball.)
My date for that night was my ex-girlfriend - yes, ex-gf - and the emotional baggage surrounding that kept me kind of distracted. So, I don't in fact remember much about that show, beyond the following:
He had new members Bobby Martin (who looked entirely too straight and nice to be in FZ's band - more like a Holiday Inn lounge singer) and Chad Wackerman (which meant FZ had had a new drummer each time I'd seen him). I guess Scott was in the band too, but I don't remember him.
There was quite a long time between the end of the main set, and the encore. When they finally came back on stage, FZ apologized for the long wait and said he had "a touch of stomach flu." (How often did these guys work sick??)
The day afterwards, the local paper printed a review, by Ed Ward (who'd been one of the founding editors of Rolling Stone). Ward denounced Zappa as a fraud, he denounced him for making Ray White sing the 'offensive'"Nigger Business" (that's what he called it), and not stopping there, he denounced the audience as being stupid dupes of this offensive fraud who passed himself off as a "genius." Ever since then, I have had zero respect for Ed Ward and for any music reviewer who dares to criticize an audience for enjoying itself. Slag the performers all you want, but the audience is innocent, you know?
The most clear memory: At one point, while introducing the band, FZ brought out one of the roadies. Can't remember his name. FZ said something like, "Girls, (x) is really nice, really lonely and really, really horny. So if any of you are willing to accomodate a lonely horny roadie - and he's a really nice guy - then come backstage after the show, and we'll get you introduced." At this point, the roadie thought it would be a good idea to turn his back, drop his pants and moon the audience. Frank, sounding genuinely shocked (though surely he wasn't very), promptly chided him for such a tacky action. "How can you expect some nice girl to want to lay you when you do something disgusting like that??" The roadie shrugged and slunk offstage.
John Henley
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