|
 1990
May
Volume 3 Number 5 Das Capitalist
Frank Zappa's surprising new gig: He's a Marco Polo of commerce in
Eastern Europe and the U.S.S.R.
By Neil Cohen, 8 pp
The face seems to be everywhere. In wire-service
photos from Prague, meeting with new Czechoslovakian President
Vaclav Havel. In New York, lunching with new Yugoslavian vice prime
minister Zivko Pregl.On television's Financial News Network,
adroitly fielding phoned-in questions from business people on how
they can do business in the new Soviet Union. The hair, mustache,
and signature chin duster are moving from black to gray. And a
blue business suit has replaced the black T-shirt. But it is
unmistakably Frank Zappa, rock and roll musician/composer/maverick,
founder of the Mothers of Invention, producer of albums called "Weasels
Ripped My Flesh" and "We're Only In It For The
Money," composer of songs called "Don't Eat the Yellow
Snow" and "The Meek Shall Inherit Nothing." For a
quarter of a century, creator of the weirdest, most satirical, most
provocative music you couldn't find on the radio.
The music is still coming, but now pushing 50,
Zappa has entered a new phase in his life. Always a fancier of the
Dada-esque approach to life as random and absurd, Zappa has jumped
in to the most Dada-esque scene today, the ever-changing political
and economic situation in the Soviet Union and Eastern Bloc nations.
He is a self-described Marco Polo, traveling through Eastern
Europe, helping to open the new Orient to trade from the West. He
meets with heads of state, with newly enfranchised entrepreneurs,
and tries to set up joint ventures and licensing arrangements
between Soviet and American business people. If something clicks,
he'll take a commission, usually 5 percent. He's formed an
international licensing, consulting, and social engineering company.
It's name: Why Not? "Public diplomacy is very big these days, and
Frank is becoming like an economic public diplomat." says Vladimir
Zvyagin, bureau chief of Soviet television in New York. "He is a
person genuinely concerned about how he can contribute to expanding
trade relations between the two countries." To those who have know
Zappa in his previous life, the metamorphosis is not a surprise.
"Frank's got a brilliant mind," says Howard Kaylan, Eddie of the duo
Flo & Eddie, who played with the Mothers in the early 70s and now
does a radio show on WXRK in New York. "And all the way back, he's
been a political animal. He's been challenging the system. Now, he's
using his savvy to work from inside and affect a change. It's not
strictly financial. As far as Frank's concerned, he's a citizen of
the world."
(read more @
Continental Profiles: 1990)
|
