Eat That Question: Frank Zappa in His Own Words Page #2

And the first question

that we'd like to ask you is,

how did you start out in the music business,

and how old were you

when you first got started?

Well, the first time I ever

got paid for playing music

was when I was 15.

And I started off as a drummer,

and before I actually had a drum set,

I used to play...

I was rehearsing with

this rhythm and blues band.

We used to rehearse over

at this preacher's house,

and since I didn't have any drums at all,

I had to borrow two pots from the kitchen,

and I used to put them

between my legs, like bongos,

and play on them with the drumsticks,

and that's how I started off.

I was reading about the first time

you ever composed a piece of music.

And I don't know if it was

really a piece of music,

but you actually went and you ruled out

the way it should look,

and you started drawing

the notes on the page...

That was a pretty great story.

- Well...

- What inspired you to do that?

I always thought music looked nice on paper,

and since I had a kind of interest in art

when I was a kid, I could draw pretty good.

I used to draw dollar bills

and things like that.

They were the wrong color,

so I couldn't pass 'em,

'cause all I had was pencils and white paper.

You know, I couldn't get the green right.

But...

I figured, well, if I could

just draw those things on the paper,

then you hand it to a musician,

and a musician knows how to read it,

and then he can play it, so that's what I did.

And then I started drawing music.

I hadn't the faintest idea

what it sounded like.

So the music came before the lyrics.

Yeah. I didn't write a rock-and-roll song

until I was about 21 or 22 years old.

Or any song with any lyrics to it.

And prior to that time,

the only thing that I was writing

was chamber music and orchestra music.

I started when I was 14.

You play a bicycle?

I... Yeah.

Are you in the musician's union?

No.

Do you play any other musical instrument?

Anything more conventional, perhaps.

Guitar, vibes, bass and drums.

How long have you

been playing bike, Frank?

About two weeks.

He probably was selling

insurance or something,

and he thought, "What's something real jerky

"that'll get me on The Steve Allen Show?"

Playing bicycle.

What could be sillier than that?

And he did it, and here we are.

That's probably how it happened.

You really only been playing two weeks?

Yes.

What do you do ordinarily, besides this?

I'm a composer.

Now, the whole idea that

we're going to do here

in this improvised concerto for two bicycles,

a pre-recorded tape,

and the musicians in the back,

is that you're supposed to

express yourself freely,

without any kind of...

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