1. Oboist Earle Dumler did not play double bass (i.e. bass viol) on the Grand Wazoo and Petit Wazoo tours. He did play contrabass sarrusophone, which is like a metal contrabassoon in Eb. For more information on sarrusophones, see Grant Green's website.
Soundclip: excerpt from Dumler's sarrusophone solo in "Approximate" (9/10/72 Los Angeles)
2. Tom Malone played tuba on the Grand Wazoo and Petit Wazoo tours, not Bruce Fowler or Malcolm McNab.
3. The Petit Wazoo band did not play a concert in Washington, DC, on 12/31/72. The tape circulating with that date is edited from the two 11/11/72 concerts. Moreover, one of the two tapes circulating as 11/11/72 is edited as well, since the incomplete "Farther Oblivion" on the early show tape is identical to the corresponding section of the complete "Farther Oblivion" on the late show tape.
4. The tape of "Little Dots" circulating as 10/28/72 is actually from the 11/11/72 early show.
5. "Cosmik Debris" was never played as an instrumental on the Petit Wazoo tour (or any other FZ tour, as far as I know).
6. There is no evidence that "Big Swifty" was played on the Petit Wazoo tour. The tune labeled "Big Swifty" on some setlists in circulation for 10/29/72 and 11/10/72 is actually "Farther Oblivion". The error is understandable when you consider that the first line of "Farther Oblivion"--if it weren't played as an instrumental--would be "Swifty, this is Big Swifty"!
7. There is no evidence that "For Calvin" was played on the Petit Wazoo tour. The tunes labeled "For Calvin Medley" on some setlists in circulation for 12/3/72 are actually "Farther Oblivion" and "Imaginary Diseases".
8. Four officially-released recordings are incorrectly identified as having been recorded in 1972. The YCDTOSA 6 track listed as "Farther Oblivion", is actually "Father O'Blivion", and it was recorded in June 1973. The Lost Episodes versions of "RDNZL" and "Inca Roads" were recorded in April 1973. Since "Kung Fu" (also on Lost Episodes) features Chester Thompson as well as Ralph Humphrey, it must date from late 1973 or early 1974.
9. Tapes of the Portland concert are sometimes identified as 12/12/72, but 12/9/72 is the correct date.
10. Some setlists for 11/10/72 list "Little Dots". However, the head of this tune cannot be heard at either the beginning or the end of the improvised instrumental on the tape of this show.
11. Some tapes of the early show from 11/11/72 Washington contain songs ("I'm Not Satisfied", "Farther Oblivion", and/or "Don't You Ever Wash That Thing?") from the late show on that date.
concert tapes
Buxton, Eric, Rob Samler, Den Simms, and Frank Zappa. "They're Doing The Interview Of The Century", Part Two. Society Pages [US] 2, 16-38.
Craig, Jamie. "Turn On Zappa And You Hear America". Vancouver Sun, December 9, 1972, 41.
Des Barres, Pamela. Rock Bottom.
Gossard, Jason, We're Only In It For The Touring.
Gray, Michael. Mother! The Frank Zappa Story. London: Plexus, 1993.
Harrington, Richard. "Zappa Genius on Horn". Washington Star-News, circa November 13, 1972.
Heederik, Robbert. St. Alphonzo's Pancake Homepage.
Lennon, Nigey. Being Frank: My Time With Frank Zappa. Los Angeles: California Classics Books, 1995.
Miles, [Barry]. Frank Zappa: A Visual Documentary. London: Omnibus Press, 1993.
Naurin, Jon. FZShows.
Tomsett, Fred. "Touring Can Drive You Crazy (Part Four, I think)". T'Mershi Duween 43: 14-15.
Tomsett, Fred. "Touring Can Drive You Crazy (Part Five)". T'Mershi Duween 44: 12-13.
Tomsett, Fred. "Two Thousand Motels: Zappa On The Road (Part Two)". T'Mershi Duween 43: 16-17.
Watson, Ben. Frank Zappa: The Negative Dialectics of Poodle Play. New York: St. Martin's Press, 1995.
Wendeborn, John. "Zappa's Mothers give flawless show". Portland Oregonian, December 10, 1972.
Zito, Tom. "Zappa: New Directions". Washington Post, November 13, 1972, B1.
I am particularly grateful to my fellow affz-ers and tape traders, including Jon Naurin, Bill Lantz, Drew Fignar, Jason Gossard, Aad Hoogesteger, ninja, Patrick Neve, Biffy the Elephant Shrew, Robert Garvey, Steve Roche, Tony Pfarrer, Keith Shiner, Joe Travers, and Mike (themoog).
At the late show in Kansas City (12/2/72), an audience member yelled out the request "Shit on stage!" Frank Zappa replied,
a) "No, no. Go see Alice Cooper."
b) "Spend fifteen years learning to play a musical instrument, you come to Kansas City and the guy says 'Shit on stage!'"
c) "The name of this song is 'Cosmik Debris', which is as good as shitting on stage."
d) "I just did shit on stage, and you missed it."
e) all of the above
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Hunchentootin' by Charles Ulrich.