Nov. 16, 1974 review: Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention at the Aud

 


I remember well how hard it was to get my car unstuck from a foot of the white stuff at the corner of Seneca Street and Michigan Avenue en route to this concert. Chilled to the core, I didn’t go directly to my seat, but spent the entire opening set thawing out in front of a huge heating vent. 

Nov. 16, 1974 

Zany Zappa Draws 1,800

Despite the Swirling Snows 

          Nanook, no no. The Friday afternoon squalls were totally blotting out the grey mass of Memorial Auditorium a mere city block away and Festival East was saying the Frank Zappa concert was still on.

          After all, wasn’t Zappa’s equipment already in town? And weren’t Zappa and the Mothers here too, having only to snowshoe over from the previous night’s gig in Rochester?

          But for some 2,000 ticketholders, the outlook wasn’t so bright. The radio announcers said anybody going downtown last night was bananas. It would be a crazy thing to do, the kind of crazy thing you’d do only for a zany like Zappa.

* * *

IT DIDN’T seem quite so crazy when the storm subsided just before dark, settling down into a simple pneumonia wind gale. Or if you heard that promoter Jerry Nathan, after losing his car in a drift, hitched from North Buffalo to the Aud in 45 minutes.

          “If a 54-year-old man can do it,” Nathan observed with an arctic gleam in his eye, “then a kid can do it.”

          About 1,800 did, but the experience pretty much drained them of all their spunk until it came time to stomp for encores. Then they showed the determination that got them there in the first place.

          Elvin Bishop, the former Paul Butterfield Blues Band guitarist, scoped in on those determined vibes right away.

* * *

“IF YOU came out on this night,” he drawled, “you must be some music LOVERS.”

          He and his cramped-for-room sidemen played a bunch of his new sunny Southern songs, like “Stealin’ Watermelons,” but the best licks were left for last in his hit, “Travelin’ Shoes,” and his encore.

          Here was the measure of Bishop’s tasty talents – his ease with Chicago blues riffs and his tone, a tawny bite with a hybrid echo. The music lovers loved it.

          Zappa’s best came at the beginning, in “Stinkfoot” and his saga of the golden tundra – “Don’t Eat the Yellow Snow” (“Nanook, no no, don’t be a bad Eskimo”).

          After that, his precision jazz-rock seemed strangely subdued. No bizarre solos, no instrumental hi-jinks, no smoke bombs, circus acts or bursts of fed-uppityness from the Jeremiah of the Plastic Age. Just Zappa flapping bird-like arms in “Penguin in Bondage.”

* * *

INTRODUCED AS “your closest relatives,” Zappa and the Mothers were less like Mothers of Invention and more like suburban mothers, grateful that you came, worried about you leaving.

          “Listen, it’s gonna take you all a long time to get home, so you better start going now,” Zappa admonished as his encore ended shortly after 11 p.m. Outside, there wasn’t a single new snow flurry in sight. Yes, Nanook, the Zappamaniacs had beaten the blizzard.

* * * * *

IN THE PHOTO: Closest I can get to this incarnation of the Mothers is this shot from 1975, which adds bassist Tom Fowler’s trombone-playing brother to the picture. From left, front: Ruth Underwood, Frank Zappa and Napoleon Murphy Brock; rear, Chester Thompson, Bruce Fowler, Tom Fowler and George Duke.

* * * * *

FOOTNOTE: Personnel on this occasion was Napoleon Murphy Brock, sax, flute and vocals; George Duke, keyboard and vocals; Ruth Underwood, percussion; Chester Thompson, drums; and Tom Fowler, bass.

Bootleg CDs give a complete rundown of the setlist on this date. It goes like this: 

Tush Tush

Stinkfoot

RDNZL

Village of the Sun

Echidna’s Arf (of You)

Don’t You Ever Wash That Thing (with snippet of “Who Needs the Peace Corps?”)

Penguin in Bondage

T’Mershi Duween

Dog Breath Variations

Uncle Meat

Building a Girl

Don’t Eat the Yellow Snow

Nanook Rubs It

St. Alphonzo’s Pancake Breakfast

Father O’Blivion

Tush Tush Outro

Camarillo Brillo

More Trouble Every Day

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