I Am All Day And Night: The Music Of Frank Zappa

It was tempting to title this post "Weasels Ripped My Flesh," but I thought it might be too distressing for some, so I've buried it in the lede. However, for admirers of Frank Zappa this will instantly trigger curiosity -- and the following shall satisfy.

Tomorrow, Saturday, you can hear the first in a three part series on the iconoclast Frank Zappa, on Inside The Music Saturday Edition (12:00 p.m., 1:00 AT, 1:30 NT). An incredible musician who embraced and kind of repelled (!) many kind of music, including rhythm and blues, do-wop, jazz, classical -- turning them into some of the most unusual compositions you could hope to hear, Zappa made music that definitely fell into the popular music arena, but was both very challenging and very listenable.

This series explores Zappa as a composer, and is told through the memories of some of those who knew him best -- family, his friends, and some of the musicians who worked with him. You'll hear from Zappa's wife, Gail Zappa, Ruth Underwood, the percussionist who first heard him at a famous concert at New Yorks Garrick theatre in 1967; Elliot Ingber, a guitarist in the early Mothers of Invention, and Joe Travers, drummer and vaultmeister of the Zappa archives.

Zappa's influence lives on, in Canada no less.

Concordia in Montreal offers a course called Frank Zappa: Composer and Social Critic. The course is a popular one, filling up whenever offered. Its teacher, Mike Pinsonneault, recently told the Concordia Journal:

"It might even be due to Quebec's strange passion for progressive rock, or it might be totally at random. Whatever it is, his name and work carry weight."

I think Zappa would have liked the explanation -- possibly totally random, possibly not.

I Am All Day And Night: The Music Of Frank Zappa was written and produced by Philip Coulter, whose work you have quite likely heard on Radio 1's Ideas, if you are a fan of that show.