Being Frank: My Time With Frank Zappa

Since his untimely death from prostate cancer in 1993, the legend of iconoclastic musician Frank Zappa has continued to grow. The decade following his passing has seen the publication of a number of books, both sacred and profane, which examine his life and work, but the best, and only, up-close-and-personal account of the man and his music remains the original: Nigey Lennonâs Being Frank: My Time with Frank Zappa. Musician/author Lennon maintained a personal and professional relationship with Zappa during the period which is generally agreed to have been the composerâs most creative, and she invests her recollections with considerable musical and emotional insight.
âIrreplaceableâ¦is the word to describe Being Frankâ¦[Lennon's] memoir is both spiky and musically literateâ¦Lennonâs previous books were on Mark Twain and Alfred Jarry, which indicates the kind of cultural perspective required to get a grip on Zappa: something brighter than rock-journo pedantry.â
âBen Watson, author of Frank Zappa: The Negative Dialectics of Poodle Play
With new material by the author, a Preface by David Walley (author of No Commercial Potential: The Saga of Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention), a Foreword by Greg Russo (author of Cosmik Debris: The Collected History and Improvisations of Frank Zappa), and an Introduction by Candy Zappa.
NIGEY LENNON is a composer, performer, and producer and the author of seven published books. She lives in New York.