Fifteen years after his death, Frank Zappa is undergoing a renaissance. Son Dweezil and band are touring the nation as Zappa Plays Zappa, and Zappa’s rock opera “Joe’s Garage” is receiving its stage premiere, a mere 29 years after the albums’ release. Yes, albums. Act 1 was released as a single LP, shortly followed by Acts 2 and 3 in a two-record set. I bought both (or all) of them when they came out in 1979, for what felt at the time like a healthy chunk of change for a guy still in high school. I haven’t listened to them in years; I remember thinking then that “Joe’s Garage” didn’t have any single song as good as anything on the previous album, “Sheik Yerbouti” (which I still listen to). That said, I have no intention of missing its stage debut, especially because it’s being done at Open Fist, one of my favorite theatres.

While we’re on the subject of Frank Zappa, here’s a piece from today’s LA Times about Zappa’s widow Gail and her efforts to safeguard his legacy. Something I once read that Zappa said about his marriage to her directly led to a play of mine, “Remember Frank Zappa”:  Zappa said the secret to their successful marriage was that they never talked. Hey, whatever works.

Just found this in my spam filter for comments to this blog:

“They could now hear Libby active outside, getting the fire stoked up, heating water, rattling utensils quietly and Don flinched. “Shit Kim, I’ve got work to do, gotta get that fire going, gotta get breakfast ready, that’s my job. Libby normally likes a slow start in the mornin’, else, oh boy, she can be a bit of a grumble bum and we don’t want that, trust me…””Thank you, Chief. Anything else?” I pocketed the communicator.”Can you say a little more about how you were feeling? During the affair, and then after it ended?” Sebastian’s words were gentle, his manner serious but welcoming.”We think he is in Philadelphia. We think he is trying to get to your house.”Kai Espiritu and Abner Espinosa exited the airport terminal. A taxi waited for them as the two Rim-Cat Mercenary Officers entered the cab and told the driver where to go.”

Despite the weakness of the writing, I wondered what this was pulled from. Generally, these snippets found in spam are porn, but this didn’t seem to be. A quick check of Google resulted in this: a “non-erotic” story on a site called Literotica. (The name of the site makes he wonder just how many people reading this are reaching right now for their mouse.) The story above is part of a suite that somehow concerns mercenaries, the KKK, a virgin Arab girl and a gang bang. One doesn’t usually find such a scintillating distillation of melodrama outside Tennessee Williams.

The best U.S. president in my lifetime was President Bartlet. Unfortunately, he was fictional. But that doesn’t mean he doesn’t have excellent advice for fellow Democrat Barack Obama.

Forty-three years ago this month, a friend of mine got his first writing credit. It was in a comic-book, and it was the weirdest (and possibly best) comic book ever: a sophisticated absurdist comic called “Herbie.” Herbie was a fat little boy who was viewed as worthless by his father, but who was capable of seemingly anything, including flight, magic, communicating with animals, traveling in time, serving as lady’s man to Cleopatra, and dryly solving the world’s problems while slowly sucking a lollipop. Given the theme and the audience it spoke to, I’m surprised this comic was ever canceled.

For the September, 1965 issue, the winners were announced of a contest to plot the latest adventure of Herbie. One of the prizes went to a guy named Marv Wolfman, who later created Blade the Vampire Hunter, most of the New Teen Titans, and many of Superman’s more memorable supporting characters of the past 30 years, who created the newly definitive Lex Luthor (not so much an inventor of easily smashed giant robots, but rather a supremely immoral corporate raider who later becomes president), and who at one time was editor-in-chief of Marvel Comics. Marv Wolfman is the guy who came in second. The guy who came in first was my friend Rich Roesberg.

Here is Scott! Shaw’s remembrance of Herbie, and that winning story.

Here’s something from the Times of London that I haven’t see in U.S. media (although I’m sure I just missed it):  background on the “Kenyan witchhunter” who laid hands on Sarah Palin and prayed to God for her gubernatorial election. Don’t snicker:  She won, and she credits him with her victory (with an assist from God).

Also on the same page, note the animated banner on the top, which shows a deranged cartoon George W. Bush riding into the sunset. I take it that, like most Americans, the Brits eagerly await this event.  The cartoon leaves out one salient detail:  the land he’s leaving behind him should look more like a charred ruin.

Chris Wojcieszyn, recalling how excited I was earlier at the prospect of seeing A Flock of Seagulls perform live for the first time in decades, informs me that the band is playing here in LA Friday night and, to quote, Chris, “They are the headline act so maybe they will show up at this one….”

I won’t be there to find out.

Nice to see Alan Moore still out there promoting his films. At various times, he’s been out there for “League of Extraordinary Gentlemen,” “From Hell,” “V for Vendetta,” and now “Watchmen.” In all cases, his pitch has been the same:  Don’t go see it.

This just in. Maybe Obama is winning.

As Nancy Pelosi famously remarked, “Elections have consequences.” This is important to remember:  The contest this fall between McCain and Obama is not just about who will sit in the White House; it’s largely about who will sit beside that person throughout all levels of government — tens of thousands of appointees.

Take the case of Christopher Cox, an unmissed former Congressman from Southern California whom “President” Bush appointed to the chairmanship of the Securities and Exchange Commission. Want to know why Lehman Brothers, Bear Stearns, and Merrill Lynch have collapsed? Look no further than Cox and his predecessor, who removed provisions designed to ensure the stability of these institutions. Is there a direct line of political contributions and favors between the principal players at these failed firms and the powers-that-be responsible for these rules changes? I suspect so.

(In the interest of fair indictment, it’s worth noting that Cox’s nomination was approved unanimously by the Senate. So don’t expect any of those Democrats to come out blazing against him.)

A couple of weeks ago I did finally buy a new iPhone. The video below shows why.

(And by the way, I thought I was buying the product shown in the video. But as every guy learns quickly enough, it turns out I was only renting it.)