Frank
Zappa - Surround Pioneer Award, Surround Music Awards 2003
 A
moving tribute to the late Frank Zappa at the 2003 Surround
Music Awards achieved the unthinkable – taking up almost
a third of the 2.5-hour ceremony without a tedious moment.
If there was ever a deserving recipient for a Surround Pioneer
Award it was Zappa, the inventive composer, virtuoso guitarist,
and notorious satirist whose work spanned every musical genre,
from rock, blues and jazz innovations with his Mothers of Invention
to symphonic collaborations with the London Philharmonic. Back
in 1970, Zappa was experimenting with multi-track mixes, and
even released Quad versions of his ‘OverNite Sensation’ and ‘Apostrophe’ albums.
As Ed Cherney noted in his opening remarks, Zappa “was
recording in surround sound when most of us had just figured
out stereo.”
The SMA tribute began with a lighthearted salute from actor
Billy Bob Thornton, who was unable to attend and sent in his
remarks on video. Then the screen lifted to reveal Zappa’s
longtime friend and fellow iconoclast Larry
Flynt, who received
an enthusiastic welcome as he reminisced from the stage about
the Frank Zappa he knew, a man of outspoken intellect but deeply
private emotions. In a particularly revealing remembrance,
Flynt described once asking, “Frank, how come you
never write music about love?” and Zappa’s
response: “Love
is too subjective to write about. I leave that to others.”
Taking the stage next to present Zappa’s posthumous Surround
Pioneer Award was guitarist Steve
Vai, who expressed his thanks
to the departing Flynt for “helping me to discover
my favorite pastime.” Vai, who joined Zappa’s
band when he was fresh out of college, recalled his nerve-wracking
audition at which Zappa mischievously kept challenging him
to play increasingly difficult riffs until finally demanding
the impossible. When Vai objected, Zappa suggested, “You
know, Linda Ronstadt is looking for a guitarist.” As
he spoke with affection and reverence for his mentor and friend,
Vai grew more animated, unable to stop the torrent of funny,
touching stories from pouring out of him. By the time  Vai stopped
for a tightly edited Zappa video profile and collage of his
quad mixes, it felt as if we’d lost Zappa only yesterday
instead of a decade ago.
Accepting the Surround Pioneer Award were Zappa’s wife
Gail and son Dweezil, and the obvious love in their family
was a striking contrast to Zappa’s acerbic public persona.
Of course Zappa himself, always on guard against the slightest
whiff of cheap sentiment, would have disdained an awards show
of any kind, Dweezil pointed out. “But I think at
an event like this he would have been pleased – it means
people were paying attention. It means a lot to us to know
you appreciate what he did…” choking back
tears, his voice trailed off, unable to continue talking.
No words were needed, however, when Dweezil joined his band
for two of his father’s instrumental compositions. On ‘Black
Napkins’, a slow-burning blues number, Dweezil’s
guitar vividly evoked the astonishing fluid fingerwork I still
remembered from Mothers concerts so many years ago. And the
follow-up ‘Peaches en Regalia’, with its quirky,
rollercoaster intervals and joyful chorus, was nothing less
than an anthem to the whimsical genius that was Frank Zappa.
Philip Brandes 15/12/2003.
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Last update:
27th February 2004
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