Zappadan, the annual festival that commemorates the period between December 4th and December 21st - the interval between composer Frank Zappa's birth and death dates (in reverse order) - may not be as widely celebrated as the far shorter Festivus, but it does break the tedium of the regular holiday schedule, and is an important part of the War on the Commercialization of Christmas.
I celebrated the penultimate day of Zappadan by finishing composition of Bamyan Voids for orchestra, a piece Zappa might have enjoyed.
Here's Zappa conducting a cover of Maurice Ravel's Bolero, during his famously disastrous unfinished 1988 tour. This performance was on May 17, 1988 in Barcelona, Spain:
Let's not be too tough on our own ignorance. It's the thing that makes America great. If America weren't incomparably ignorant, how could we have tolerated the last eight years?
ReplyDelete-- Frank Zappa, in 1988
Funny, doesn't seem like much has changed.
Context is everything, no?.
ReplyDeleteZappa was referring to the term of Ronald Reagan. In that respect, he could have just as well made the same comment about the Bush years.
A better quote to remember Zappa's legacy might be:
"Remember, Information is not
knowledge; Knowledge is
not Wisdom; Wisdom is not
truth; Truth is not beauty;
Beauty is not love; Love is
not music; Music is the best."
Merry Zappadan, PA.
ReplyDelete