Zappa, the Bringer of Parody

Posted at 10:18 AM on December 21, 2006 by Don Lee

I owe a birthday shout out to the late Frank Zappa.

It's not that I often retrieve those old Mothers of Invention LPs from the shelf; I don't. But every time I hear Petroushka or "Jupiter'' from The Planets, I thank Frank for introducing me to Stravinsky and Holst by hiding them in plain sight in the Mothers classics "Status Back Baby" and "Brown Shoes Don't Make It."

Zappa would have been 66 today.