Pribek

If you are new here, you may not know that I have always been a big Frank Zappa fan. If you root around through the archives, you will find various little quotes and other non food items concerning Mr. Zappa.

See, I think that Zappa was a great musician and composer…band leader, recordist, all of that music stuff. He also was the first person, that I was aware of, that made his record making and music related activities into a truly functioning cottage industry. He was way ahead of his time on that.

Way way back, I read an interview with Zappa probably, in Guitar Player magazine. The things he said were a lot different than the normal, “I use Ernie Ball strings” and, “so and so modifies all my Deluxe Reverb’s but, I don’t know what he does to them”, kinds of things that often take up space in those interviews. He was….well-philosophical-he was a philostopher.

Anyway, after reading that interview, I made it a point to seek out more of his wisdom. He was a pretty candid guy and was not shy about doing interviews or, spouting opinions. The things he said, even if he was off the mark a little, or when he was making a joke, carried weight. That’s because he spoke the truth as he knew it.

One of the first records I bought, around the same time I started playing guitar, was Sheik Yerbouti. I think KSHE was actually playing “Dancing Fool”.

This is from Amazon’s review of the record.

One of his most popular and infamous albums, Sheik Yerbouti finds Frank Zappa unleashing his unique brand of sociological documentation on the disco-injected culture of the late ’70s

“Disco-injected”, heh, heh…Have you had your Disco Injection yet? “Sociological documentation”!!?? I love these Amazon reviews.

Great cover photo. From a distance, Frank looks like a handsome cat. You can’t tell from this small photo but, up close-you realize that he missed a few spots shaving. Now, I was 13-14 years old when I got this record and when I looked at the photo closely, I was very surprised to see that he had hair growing on his upper cheeks, forehead, the bridge of his nose-these weren’t the normal spots that guys usually miss with the razor you know. It really kind of freaked me out. Now, at 43, there are a lot of days that I don’t get too close to the mirror. I find that, if I do have the need to make some kind of appearance, I have to shave my upper cheeks and occasionally even touch up the bridge of my nose. No forehead stuff but, the wild rogue eyebrow thing pops up too. Unlike Frank, I don’t think I will ever sport this kind of growth on an album cover.

Here is what I think when I see this photo now; Frank new that he wasn’t one of the pretty people. From a distance we can all look pretty good but, up close…engh.

Like I said, Frank when he spoke, there was underlying hard truth, even when he was being funny. A lot of people got the joke and not the truth. That’s OK when that happens. This dialogue is from the “Tinsle Town Rebellion” version of “Dance Contest”.

I have an important message to deliver to all the cute people all over the world. If you’re out there and you’re cute, maybe you’re beautiful. I just want to tell you somethin’ — there’s more of us UGLY MOTHERFUCKERS than you are, hey-y, so watch out.

That is a truth. Most of us are not “pretty people”. Very, very few are the truly beautiful people. Yet, instead of looking at this fact, which is really inconsequential in the grand scheme, and accepting it for what it is, we idolize the pretty people merely because they are pretty people. The lesson-if you are pretty, you get everything and don’t have to do anything. So, the majority of us either, spend lots of money, lots of time trying to become one of the pretty people or, carry guilt and shame because we are not. I think that it is-The Great Mind Fuck-of our time.

I’m not against “self improvement”. In fact, I think everybody should make some effort to be a better human. Here’s a question; Is cosmetic surgery self-improvement?

This is from a website called, Breast Augmentation Resource.

Despite the FDA approval, the risks of any surgical procedure should be thoroughly investigated and reviewed prior to choosing to undergo the surgery, and this includes breast augmentation. The most common risks for a breast augmentation include:

* Deflation
* Detection of breast cancer becomes more difficult
* Capsular contracture
* Calcium deposits
* Infection
* Delay of wound healing
* Neuroma
* Additional surgeries to replace or remove the implant
* Hematoma
* Changes in breast sensation, including the nipple and breast
* Implant shifts
* Bleeding
* Breast Asymmetry
* Excessive scarring
* Reactions to anesthesia

Seems like a lot of risk to undertake.

What’s the upside, Breast Augmentation Resource?

Breast Augmentation Benefits

Breast augmentation carries many risks with the surgical procedure, but the benefits of breast augmentation can be very satisfying to women who were unhappy with their current breast size. The breast augmentation procedure results in larger and fuller breasts that can drastically improve the self-confidence and self esteem of women who felt self conscious about their breast size.

OK-OK, now we are at the heart of the issue-self-confidence and self esteem. If you can improve self-confidence and self esteem then, you truly are improving your “self”; I guess. Seems like there would be other ways to do that though. Maybe some ways to improve self-confidence and self esteem that don’t involve “Neuroma”, “Capsular contracture”, and “Excessive scarring”.

That is a photo of Serena Kozakura. She is in the news today. From AFP…

A Japanese pin-up model says that her big breasts have not only boosted her career — they also helped her overturn a court verdict.

The bikini model, who goes by her professional name Serena Kozakura, was cleared after a court decided she was too well-endowed to squeeze into a room through a hole, as she had been found guilty of earlier.

“I used to hate my body so much,” Kozakura, who has appeared in product commercials on television, told the private Asahi network in an interview aired Tuesday.

“But it was my breasts” that won in court, she said.

Well, there you have it right there, Serena had self-confidence and self esteem issues. In fact, she, used to hate her body so much but, those days are gone because, now her breasts won in court. Hunh!!??

“The judges were very good-mannered as they showed no expressions on their faces. I guess they’re well-trained,” Kozakura said

“I guess they’re well-trained”!!?? What the hell does that mean? Does that mean that the judges were unusual because they didn’t grin, nudge nudge, wink wink in acknowledgment of her unusually disproportionate breasts?

The world is a funny place.

Good for you Serena, glad you won a case in which you were falsely accused. But, I think you may still have a few self-confidence and self esteem issues. You are still one of the ugly people and that has nothing to do with the size of your breasts. But, that’s OK, ya’ know, it’s not so bad. Old Frank had it right; there are more of us than there are of them.

You know, your “self” has nothing to do with size of your appendages, or facial growth, or getting older, or weight, or illness, or any of those kind of things that occur naturally and, that we are constantly told are “bad” and “ugly” in order to sell us all more crap. Your “self” doesn’t have anything to do with any of that. But, your self esteem, self confidence, that stuff really does have to do with the condition of the “self”. So, do whatever you can to improve the self. Whatever you think is right.

***Special Bonus, FZ Quote***

“Jazz is not dead, it just smells funny.”