I have some cool stories about meeting cool people.
When I was a boy, my dad took me to see Buddy Rich perform with his big band in a small theater in Annapolis. We went to the matinee. After the set, Mr Rich invited the audience to attend the second show, as it wasn’t sold out. So, we did and it was amazing.
I met Buddy Rich in the lobby between shows. He signed this record jacket for me. Dad and I went back into the theater, and it was empty. We wandered up onto the stage, and I sat at Buddy Rich’s drum set. I picked up his sticks and as I started to play, a roadie appeared and implored us to get the fuck off the stage before Buddy saw us.
We complied.
In my mid-twenties, I was obsessed with Hong Kong cimema: Jackie Chan, John Woo, and Jet Lee in particular. When Rumble in the Bronx was being set to release in the US. Jackie Chan visited the Hard Rock Cafe in San Francisco. I had a friend working there, and Jackie signed two posters just for me! I was over the moon!
I worked as a music buyer for years, and was able to get invited to an industry party after the Smashing Pumkins played with the Red Hot Chili Peppers in DC for the Blood Sugar Sex Magik tour. Flea wasn’t there, but I met Anthony. He called me Jim Skala Jim. He was extremely gracious.
Likewise, Bootsy Collins visited the warehouse where I worked, supporting his new record label (I think). He signed my Parliament CD cover.
Also, I can’t find the photo, but I met Joan Jett there. We had a photo with her, two other buyers and the manager, and myself. She was directly in front of me, and leaned back into me. I’ll never forget that.
Early in my buying career, I was invited to a Megadeth listening party lunch at 98 Rock. I was just out of college, and pretty awkward, socially. Dave Mustaine actually wandered over to struck up a conversation with me, about my job, etc. He was really nice.
When I was in high school, I worked as a dish washer. The cook in the kitchen where I was employed took me to see Heart and Cheap Trick. I’ve written elsewhere that Cheap Trick’s One on One was the first record I ever bought with my own money.
We heard that both bands were staying at a particular hotel, so we went there after the show. Sure enough, some guys from heart were there. I didn’t really care about Heart, but I found Rick Nielsen and Robin Zander on a couch near the bar. Rick Nielsen gave me a guitar pick. I told Robin that I was in a band, and we played some of their songs. He said “What’s the name of your band?” I said “Ace’s High.”
He said “Man, that’s a cool name.”
I was so happy.
Here are a few more. Edward Gorey:
Terry Pratchett:
John Waters:
Alex Van Halen:
Geoff Nicholson:
I have a few other signatories that aren’t in this post – a couple of postcards from Ian Mackaye, Billy Martin’s book, and a letter that Steve Vai sent me when I was in college. But, I don’t mean to brag (Yes, I’m actually bragging, I know), but these are pretty special moments.
From the One Mile Gallery site: 40 Artist group show opening August 16 with opening reception 5-8pm
Phantasma is a multidisciplinary group exhibition showcasing the work of over 40 artists, primarily from New York’s Hudson Valley, with select contributors from across the United States. United under the theme of “phantasma”—a term evoking the spectral, illusory, and dreamlike. The exhibition explores the unstable boundaries between perception and reality, presence and absence, the material and the imagined.
Featuring a dynamic range of media including painting, sculpture, and multi media works, Phantasma foregrounds artistic practices that engage with the uncanny, the subconscious, and the ephemeral.
In Phantasma, ephemerality is not solely embedded in the materials or lifespan of the artworks, but more crucially, in the temporality of the viewer’s encounter. Even the most materially permanent works become ephemeral through the lens of perception. The time one spends with a piece, the subjective attention one brings to it, and the emotional or psychological states it evokes are all transient, unrepeatable phenomena.
This viewer-centered ephemerality aligns closely with the exhibition’s thematic core. The concept of phantasma implies not just illusion or apparition, but a kind of fleeting mental image that is something glimpsed and then gone. In this light, the exhibition invites reflection on how art exists not just as an object in space, but as an event in time—a momentary convergence between work and witness.
Such moments are inherently unstable. No two viewings are the same; no two viewers see the same thing. Light shifts, sound overlaps, distractions arise, memories intervene. Even in a static work, meaning is never fixed—it shimmers, disappears, reemerges elsewhere. Phantasma engages this instability as a mode of presence, encouraging the viewer to lean into the impermanence of attention, the fragility of focus, and the shifting textures of perception.
Here, ephemerality becomes less about what the work is, and more about what it does in time, how it lives briefly in the field of experience before dissolving into memory.
It was a fantastic opening – One Mile Gallery is charming, and this show is packed with great work. Mark Hogancamp was on hand, and I got to spend time asking him questions and talking. He told me that he’s going to put the diorama I made for him on the second floor of the hotel above the mantle in Marwencol. I was so happy to meet him. It was a lovely evening!
On Saturday, I went to Harrisburg, PA, to the Whitaker Center to see my hero Steve Vai. He’s touring to support his Inviolate album. If you’ve spent anytime with me at all, I have probably mentioned him.
I’ve always loved guitar. I’ve played drums since elementary school (thanks to the no-name blue sparkle drums dad brought home from a garage sale one day). But, my dad observed that I seemed to be a “frustrated guitarist” stuck on the drums.
When David Lee Roth hung his own shingle out after stepping away from Van Halen, my pals and I were curious as to how he’d deal with the red, black and white striped elephant in the room.
Edward Van Halen during his Kramer endorsement period. Note the “No Bozos” shirt.
I picked up the Yankee Rose 7″, and while the intro to that song was cool and novel, I was stupefied by Shyboy on the b-side. I was an instant fan of both Steve Vai and Billy Sheehan. By now, Vai had already filled Yngwie Malmsteen’s shoes in Alcatraz, and worked extensively with Frank Zappa. I picked up a bunch of Zappa records in college. I knew some Zappa records because of Terry Bozzio, but went way deep after 1986.
I worked in a kitchen washing dishes during my high school years, and I had saved up some money to buy a guitar. This next part is something I regretted for many years. My neighbor had an Ibanez Les Paul copy. According to him, it had the words Les Paul on it, and Ibanez got sued over this. He offered to sell it to me for $150, and for another $150, I could get his Fender twin reverb. Instead, I gave my money to Hugh Welton’s older brother Griff for a sunburst Cortez, which, according to him, had borrowed and used by the Residents on stage.
Here I am with said crappy guitar. If you look closely, I’m wearing a “no bozo’s” 3/4 sleeve shirt that we found on a close-out sale rack. I wanted it because Eddie Van Halen had one (above).
Aside from that last, unverified feature, that guitar was truly junk. It wouldn’t stay in tune, and the pick-ups were crap. I do believe I chose poorly, and certainly overpaid. I recorded Whisker Biscuit with it, and I took it to college with me, but I’ve always viewed that purchase as a set back, rather than a step forward. EDIT: after posting this, Paul Gilbert shared a picture of himself holding “the one that got away.” Here it is:
At the end of my freshman year, or maybe in the fall of my sophomore year, I took a trip to Chuck Levin’s music store and bet the farm on a black Kramer focus guitar that was a scratched up floor model. I traded to the Cortez and forked over all my dough – it was as much guitar as I could afford at the time. It had a humbucker pickup, two single coils and three toggle switches to turn them on/off. It also had a floating Floyd Rose tremolo with locking nut, which is really why I bought it. Kramer + Floyd Rose invoked Van Halen.
I used GHS Boomer 009 strings because that’s what Brad Gillis preferred. I had this guitar until 2013.
Following a winding academic pathway, I ended up being a music major, and primarily focused on composition and theory. The college did not offer instruction for percussionists or guitar players, so I had to plunk along on piano as best as I was able. [To this day, I’ve never had a formal guitar or bass lesson.] In order to graduate, you had to do one of three things (besides accumulate the required credits with passing grades):
Write some extensive composition and perform it
Pass a comprehensive exam on everything learned over 4 years. It would take the better part of a day to complete. Maybe is was a two day exam – I can’t remember.
Write a thesis.
I opted for the exam.
The tiny music department consisted of three professors, was very conservative, and had focused mostly on early music and the theory of the Classical period. I didn’t have the confidence to present my compositions at that time. I had written a great deal of music. I had written some quartets, some 12 tone serial pieces, and I was learning orchestration. Most of my writing was for my rock band, and I suspected that it would not be well received at a stuffy recital.
I attended my first review session with my professor, mentor, and dear friend Garry Clarke. As he began asking questions, I froze, and then panicked. I recall walking back to my room thinking “This isn’t going to work.” I had no desire to revisit this material, and I wasn’t sure I would ever pass this test. This was a nightmarish realization. In that moment, an idea for a thesis struck me. I could write a paper on the history and development of the electric guitar in the rock idiom. I’ll never forget that moment – it was truly a gift. From where that inspiration came, I’ll never know.
I rushed breathlessly into Garry’s office the next morning and pitched the idea to him. Garry was a little stern with me, noting that I should have presented this idea a month before, I missed the deadline, etc. Yet, he could see my enthusiasm, and admitted he had concerns about my passing the comprehensive exam as well.
I started the paper with the very first electric guitars, and wrote about Les Paul. I explained how pick-ups function, and how guitars are made. I connected players innovations to improvements in the instrument, and discussed how each affected the other. Ibanez had released the JEM guitar, and Steve Vai represented the peak of innovation and virtuosity.
Around this time, Steve’s self released solo album Flexable was in constant rotation in my walkman cassette player. I listened to The Attitude Song, So Happy, Salamanders in the Sun, etc. over and over. I loved that record. Vai had borrowed some gear from Frank Zappa, and recorded it on an 8-track deck in his home. I had borrowed (and eventually bought) my friend’s ROSS 4×4 tape recorder, and spent countless hours writing and recording, too. Truly inspiring.
Oh a whim, I decided to mail a draft of my chapter on Steve to the P.O. Box on the back of Flexable. About two weeks later, I received a response from Steve saying he’d love to grant me an interview for my thesis, and if I was interested, to please call his sister and set it up. He was on tour with Whitesnake at the time. When he arrived in Maryland, we talked for about 40 minutes or so on the phone. I was starstruck, and he was generous and kind to me.
Steve sent me backstage passes, too, but the Whitesnake people wouldn’t honor the passes and refused to let us backstage.
As a result of this, I graduated with honors. I learned a lot from the experience. When inspiration strikes (thesis idea, sending letters to p.o. boxes, other opportunities), ACT UPON IT. After graduation, I picked up some freelance writing gigs with local music papers because of all this.
Steve had dictated the letter to his sister, who has sent it to me at college. Because he was on tour, and because the creepy Whitesnake people were actual creeps, he had not gotten to sign the letter. In 2005, I attended an EVO experience at the Ram’s Head in Baltimore, and showed Steve the letter. He said “I remember this! I remember you,” and he signed the letter for me.
Another aside about my thesis: Steve Via played the devil’s own guitarist (Jack Butler) in the movie Crossroads. William Kanengiser had performed the classical guitar parts for Ralph Machio, and Steve did the electric non-blues parts. As my luck would have it, Kanengiser gave a concert at my college and I was able to interview him about Steve, too. All this went into my thesis, which ended up being 126 pages long.
So, that’s my big Steve Vai story. I can’t over emphasize the importance of that event in my life. And he’s continued to inspire me, both as a musician and as a person.
I first learned about Eckhart Tolle from him. And, partly through his example, I’ve found my own weird musical voice and identity.
Okay, so back to Saturday. I arrived in Harrisburg at 3:00, and found my way to the Whitaker Center with the help of Daniel, a PhD economist+guitar aficionado who passed the time with me until we made it inside. No phones/videos/photos were allowed, so I don’t have any pics of the Q&A session with Steve, nor the soundcheck. They have sought to create an intimate and safe place for this exchange, and I think it works. I also really enjoyed talking with the attendees. It was friendly and warm.
Steve came out, and took a few moments to look everyone in the eye. “Better than a handshake,” he said. Before answering each question, he paused the thought about how best to respond. It was lovely.
I’m going to leave the conversation in that room, as they requested. What I will share is that during the Q&A, and even while performing on stage, he was completely present and giving us his full attention. Not just looking “at” us, but really seeing us. He gave me a lot to think about. After about 45 minutes, he posed for phots with us that his son Julian took, We shook hands and he signed my guitar strap for me.
Then, we attended the sound check. He warmed up by playing a looping staccato melody that he handed off to his guitarist. He instructed Jeremy Colson as to the beat he wanted, and then they improvised for five+ minutes or so. It was great. Then, he played Little Pretty, and wrapped up with The Teeth of the Hydra. I was about 15 feet away! I appreciated that all the lights were on, and the volume was reasonable (it was much louder during the main concert). I was very moved. It was excellent.
I bought a hat from his son, Fire, and managed to “fire off” a dad joke about… dad hats. So good!
While we are on the subject, I want to share one other bit of trivia. When I explained that Steve Vai had played with Zappa and transcribed his music, Garry softened to the idea of my paper. We had some of Frank Zappa’s albums in the music department record library (namely Weasels Ripped my Flesh), and he appreciated Zappa’s reputation as a composer and performer. I even loaned Garry my copy of The Real Frank Zappa Book.
Zappa lived in Baltimore for a time. My late sister-in-law had worked with his grandmother, and the Zappa family lived very close to my current home in Baltimore City (below). I was able to attend his statue dedication back in 2010.
I recently found a letter that 16-year old Frank Zappa wrote to Edgard Varèse 1957 (accessed at https://orchestra2001.org/inner.php?pageid=1468).
Mr. Edgard Varèse 188 Sullivan St. New York, New York
Dear Sir:
Perhaps you might remember me from my stupid phone call last January, if not, my name again is Frank Zappa Jr. I am 16 years old … that might explain partly my disturbing you last winter. The reason for my letter at this time is that I am visiting relatives in Baltimore and as long as I am on the East Coast I hope I can get to see you.
It might seem strange but ever since I was 13 I have been interested in your music. The whole thing stems from the time when the keeper of this little record store sold me your album “The Complete Works of Edgard Varèse, Vol.l.” The only reason I knew it existed was that an article in either LOOK or the POST mentioned it as being noisy and unmusical and only good for trying out the sound systems in high fidelity units (referring to your “IONIZATIONS” [sic]). I don’t know how the store I got it from ever obtained it, but, after several hearings, I became curious and bought it for $5.40, which, at the time seemed awfully high and being so young, kept me broke for three weeks. Now I wouldn’t trade it for anything and I am looking around for another copy as the one I have is very worn and scratchy.
After I had struggled through Mr. Finklestein’s notes on the back cover (I really did struggle too, for at the time I had had no training in music other than practice at drum rudiments) I became more and more interested in you and your music. I began to go to the library and take out books on modern composers and modern music, to learn all I could about Edgard Varèse. It got to be my best subject (your life) and I began writing my reports and term papers on you at school. At one time when my history teacher asked us to write on an American that has really done something for the U.S.A. I wrote on you and the Pan American Composers League and the New Symphony. I failed. The teacher had never heard of you and said I made the whole thing up. Silly but true. That was in my Sophomore year in high school.
Throughout my life all the talents and abilities that God has left me with have been self developed, and when the time came for Frank to learn how to read and write music, Frank taught himself that too. I picked it all up from the library.
I have been composing for two years now, utilizing a strict twelve-tone technique, producing effects that are reminiscent of Anton Webern. During those two years I have written two short woodwind quartets and a short symphony for winds, brass and percussion.
Recently I have been earning my keep at home with my blues band, the BLACKOUTS. We have done quite well and in my association with my fellow musicians I am learning to play other instruments besides drums.
I paint in oils and watercolor and last year produced a cartoon film in school by painting color directly onto a 250 foot reel of cleared 16 mm movie film. I painted on the color in such a way that I managed to closely, but not completely, synchronize their movements to your “DENSITY 21.5” and the second “movement” of “OCTANDRE”. It brought about some amazing results from the audience and my counselors in the office allowed me to make a trip I had planned to Walt Disney studios with the film.
Nothing ever came of my trip, but when I got back to school I was informed I had a chance to be skipped from the Junior year in high school to the Freshman year at the junior college which adjoined the school as an experiment.
I went to the Jaycee and studied harmony and music appreciation and history for one semester and came out of it with A’s and B’s.
I plan to go on and be a composer after college and I could really use the counsel of a veteran such as you. If you would allow me to visit with you for even a few hours it would be greatly appreciated.
It may sound strange but I think I have something to offer you in the way of new ideas. One is an elaboration on the principle of Ruth Seeger’s contrapuntal dynamics and the other is an extension of the twelve-tone technique which I call the inversion square. It enables one to compose harmonically constructed pantonal music in logical patterns and progressions while still abandoning tonality.
Would you please reply as soon as possible because I will not be here much longer. My address here is 4803 Loch Raven Blvd., Baltimore Maryland. Phone Hopkins 77336. Thank you for your consideration.
Sincerely,
Frank Zappa Jr.
[1957]
from Edgard Varèse,Composer, Sound Sculptor, Visionary (ed. F. Meyer and H. Zimmerman, Suffolk, Boydell 2006).
I love that young Zappa wrote to Varèse and struck up a friendship. When Steve Vai was studying at Berkley, he came across a score that he had read Zappa wanted. He made a copy of said score, and sent it along with his transcription of Zappa’s The Black Page and a cassette of him playing. He might have called Zappa – I’m typing this from memory, so the details might be inaccurate. Maybe that’s why Steve was so generous as to help me, too. It certainly set me up as a young man.
Some many years later, though several careers, homes, and musical wanderings, I find myself still obsessed with guitar. I’m fortunate to own a few Ibanez guitars, including a JEM and a Pia.
I love all of this. Thanks for reading, if you made it this far!
Frank Zappa was a lot like Yoda. For example, he said the best things. This weekend’s statue dedication was opened with the following FZ quote:
“If you want to get laid, go to college. If you want an education, go to the library.”
Gail Zappa offered it might be possible to do both, bless her. And this quote, in part, is why the new bust of Frank Zappa has come to rest in front of the new Highlandtown (Southeast Anchor) branch of the Enoch Pratt library in Baltimore City. Zappa was born in Baltimore, adding to the impressive list of unique creative geniuses from this town.
Gail Zappa, the Zappa kids (Diva, Dweezil and Ahmet) and Zappa archivist Joe Travers kindly spent some time answering questions at the Creative Alliance in Patterson Park. Tom Hall from WYPR was on hand to help get things started.
Here’s what I learned.
Gail and Frank met in an airport in LA. Their first date was a packed Zappa show. At the time, in the mid 1960’s, Folk music was hugely popular and Gail thought to herself, “This is the ballsiest music I’ve ever heard!”
What did Frank like to do when not making music? Write MORE music and tickle people
Frank loved Christmas trees and tinsel (not necessarily Christmas, though). Aside from the huge tree in the living room, he had fully decorated trees in his studio, his office and the kitchen
Ahmet’s favorite Christmas present was a pair of stilts
It was asked if the presence of Do-Whoop vocals in his music was a parody, or did he genuinely like it. Frank truly loved Do-Whoop music.
He had a station wagon he called the yellow submarine (this was pre-Beatles, too). He went to renew his drivers license and was asked to take both a driving test AND written test. He left, and never renewed it
He often asked the kids when they were upset “Do you want a beer?”
Uncle Meat will be re-released
Diva is super cute and a die-hard knitter
There are a lot of die-hard Zappa fans in this world
Dweezil
The real surprise for me today was Dweezil.
I’ve always had a lot of respect for Dweezil. He was the wittiest VJ on MTV and a crazy-good guitarist. As a kid, I was a little dismissive, though – he had access to the best lessons and gear, his dad helped shape the careers of Steve Vai, Terry Bozzio, Warren Cuccurullo, etc. I mean, how could he NOT be awesome?
What I failed to notice as a youngster is how hard he worked to be great. Talent is only a small part of what it takes to be good at anything.
In his adult life, Dweezle has turned into an articulate, super nice guy. And he still has amazing hair. All the Zappas were approachable, gracious and very sweet. But, especially Dweezle. He seems like a truly genuine guy.
Dweezle described how he took two years off to undergo a process most people wouldn’t want to do. He set out to learn how to play as Frank did, ignoring 25 years of musical instincts and developing new ones. While nothing Zappa wrote is easy to play, Dweezle said the real challenge was a mental one – to learn how to think and anticipate like his dad. Frank was an improviser on stage – he would see shapes in his head and express them musically with his guitar. He got choked up while talking about this – I was moved (wiping eyes on sleeve) and can imagine what this must have been like. Not just the task of learning to play like someone else, but learning how to do it like your father.
Dweezil also gave some insight into Frank as a (musical) dad. He said that Frank let him pursue whatever musical path he wanted to, and was eager to office advice and help if asked for it. He said that Frank would advise people to examine what motivated them to make music, and follow their inner musical ear where ever it leads. He wasn’t concerned with academia, or being labeled as a composer, guitarist, producer.
The Statue & Dedication
The statue is a replica of an original that sits in Vilnius, Lithuania. In an act of true democracy, the people of the city signed a petition to have the statue installed there.
It’s very tall, sitting about 20′ off the ground looking out onto Frank Zappa way.
Gail spoke without notes. Dr. Carla Hayden of the Enoch Pratt and mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake proclaimed this a huge win for libraries (Baltimore used to be the city that reads, didn’t it?) and Baltimore. Today will always be Frank Zappa day in Baltimore, and the mayor hinted at future Highlandtown music events to commemorate it.
A faculty member from Peabody was on hand and told the story of how Frank had once reached out to Peabody, and Peabody didn’t know how to react. Pierre Boulez has since proclaimed that Frank Zappa is one of the greatest American composers. Dr. Faculty explained that Peabody would now know how to react. Love it.
There were a lot of wet eyes during the dedication – it was very moving, and the Zappas seemed truly honored.
Finally, Dweezil gave a concert with Zappa plays Zappa. So good. It was a great, great day.
Chas and I caught a Fishbone/English Beat show in DC. Fishbone remains a hurricane of loud, sweaty, mosh-pit dance fun, while English Beat satisfied the easy listening, feel-good swaying needs of gray haired dudes in blazers and their wine sipping dates. Dave Wakeling was in fine voice, and his backing band of slick, highly polished fellows were precise, if not too young to remember when the English Beat records actually came out.
Upon taking the stage, Fishbone’s Angelo Moore walked out into the middle of the audience on the floor and MADE everyone dance like ska-monkeys (which we did) before Fishbone would start their engine. Then it was on to Ma & Pa, Lying Ass Bitch (pointed directly at “anti-Obama, Tea Party mother-f*ck*rs who should just let the man do his job”), Bonin’ in the Boneyard, Cholly, Party at Ground Zero among others. At one point, HR from Bad Brains joined the band on stage – words cannot describe the awesome. I’m so happy I got to experience that.
Post sweaty fun.
@ 9:30
Angelo Moore after coming off stage.
Angelo has long been one of my heroes – he’s unstoppable. Chas is, too, really. It was a great night. Completely Awesome.
