"The way Zappa pushed boundaries in music and in life was inspiring to the culturally adrift youth of the newly "liberated" countries of the former Soviet Bloc. Statues of Marx and Lenin had been torn down, and their plinths stood empty. Zappa died of cancer in 1993. The small artist Republic of Uzupis wanted to commemorate their patron saint, but Paukstys, as president of the Frank Zappa fan club, saw it as an opportunity to assert truly democratic independence in the new era. If the government would allow them to erect a statue of the man who sang "The Illinois Enema Bandit," it would truly be a sign of a new era."
Great idiosyncratic post on an idiosyncratic show that few beyond the Zappa cult would attend.
It reminds me of the Frank Zappa statue I saw in Vilnius, Lithuania a decade or so ago - its rationale nicely explained here: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/frank-zappa-memorial
"The way Zappa pushed boundaries in music and in life was inspiring to the culturally adrift youth of the newly "liberated" countries of the former Soviet Bloc. Statues of Marx and Lenin had been torn down, and their plinths stood empty. Zappa died of cancer in 1993. The small artist Republic of Uzupis wanted to commemorate their patron saint, but Paukstys, as president of the Frank Zappa fan club, saw it as an opportunity to assert truly democratic independence in the new era. If the government would allow them to erect a statue of the man who sang "The Illinois Enema Bandit," it would truly be a sign of a new era."
Thanks for this. Love Zappa's autobiography - very worth the read.