200 Motels

The boredom of the road. This is already an antithetical concept, but “showfolk fags” are always complaining of it, or suffering it mutely. Plenty of time to think and observe, plenty of ennui.

Redneck bars, absurd towns, orchestral re-education camps, performance anxiety, the devil of fame, the great sea of popular music.

Dullsville, as though life were a dull book everyone has to read. You write your own.

Everything is a satirical defense against the mutual snobbiness of the self-absorbed and the asinine, every dead-end trap is sprung and loosed, the benediction when it comes is general and, as Beckett would say, “blanket”.

The prodigious sound inventions of Zappa include the Royal Philharmonic for some beautiful harmonies and snappy effects. Rafelson takes the cake for creating the overall style in The Monkees and Head, Palmer & Zappa carry through with a vigorous analysis, perfect comic zest, and every beauty the video technique can afford.

Duke Ellington once said he had a “gimmick” for keeping his band together from one year to the next on tour, “I pay them.”