One More Time For The World Tour

By Adrian Coen

T'Mershi Duween, #50, April 1996

Sheer trivia here – and I wouldn't be surprised if something like this hasn't already been done in one of the issues of TD I don't own yet (no, you're the saddest person out there, Adrian mate. We all have real lives -Ed). I was figuring out how to use FileMakerPro (Database) on my Mac... (sure)

Zappa played approximately 912 gigs between 1970 and 1988, not including the classical ones (the two show days would add another 124, but these are not counted here). There are twenty-three musicians who played with him more than a hundred times. Before 1970 – well, it's just too difficult. Why not challenge your readers (the ones with nothing better to do) to send in estimates for 1964-69? Number of gigs, most frequently appearing Mothers, etc. A complete waste of time of course, but then again... (The film '200 Motels' was supposedly called thusly to reflect the number of shows the original Mothers played, so how about an estimate of ooh, one hundred and ninety-three? -Ed)

I was surprised to find that Ray White was the sideman who appeared most often (1970-1988). You never know; this gunk might come in handy for filling up pages in the fiftieth anniversary TD. Maybe you'll even receive horribly revealing (with respect to the mental health of your readership (I know how bad that is -Ed)) letters questioning the accuracy of my count (I can dream...). Anyway, here it all is:

Vocalists
Musician	Gigs
Ray White	365
Ike Willis	340
Bobby Martin	299
George Duke	203
Napoleon M Brock	163
Denny Walley	101
Mike Keneally	82
Flo and Eddie	69
Adrian Belew	51
Bob Harris	50
Captain Beefheart	27

Keyboard players
Musician	Gigs
Tommy Mars	333
Bobby Martin	299
George Duke	203
Ian Underwood	151
Peter Wolf	125
Alan Zavod	112
Don Preston	70
Andre Lewis	55
Bob Harris	50
Eddie Jobson	45

Drummers / Percussionists
Musician	Gigs
Ed Mann	312
Chad Wackerman	299
Terry Bozzio	175
Ruth Underwood	160
Vinnie Colaiuta	116
Ralph Humphrey	109
Chester Thompson	77
Dave Logeman	61

Guitarists
Musician	Gigs
Ray White	365
Ike Willis	340
Steve Vai	147
Denny Walley	101
Mike Keneally	82
Jeff Simmons	63
Adrian Belew	51
Warren Cucurullo	44

Bassists
Musician	Gigs
Scott Thunes	299
Arthur Barrow	177
Tom Fowler	175
Patrick O'Hearn	100
Jeff Simmons	63
Roy Estrada	55
Jim Pons	41

* Jeff Simmons played bass on 27 and guitar on 36; AC has lumped the two together.
** Where is Aynsley on the drummers list?
*** Other musicians who played more than a hundred times: Bruce Fowler 236; Walt Fowler 117.

AC concludes with 'I'm not a completely sad case – I'm just steeped in irony, that's all'. Personally I don't believe a word of it...

Read by OCR software. If you spot errors, let me know afka (at) afka.net