Zappa Gone 32 Years

Frank Vincent Zappa (December 21, 1940 – December 4, 1993) passed away 32 years ago today. My cousin Scott and I attended one of his performances at The Pier, an outdoor theater in New York City, in 1984. I have a DVD of that concert tour that was filmed at The Pier. There were two shows that year at that venue, so there is a 50-50 chance that we attended that exact concert. I don't remember the exact date we attended. I am a huge Zappa fan. He is one of my favorite guitarists. I have many of his CDs, and, long ago, I used to collect his vinyl albums.

In the late 1980s, when I was studying for my master's degree in journalism at the University of Missouri in Columbia, I wrote an essay on the record labeling hearings in Congress, when Frank Zappa, Bob Denver, and Dee Snider testified against music censorship against Al and Tipper Gore and the lot of them Congress-type people (the Parents Music Resource Center/PMRC committee) on September 19, 1985. I orally presented my essay to my professor and my classmates by first playing on a cassette tape recorder the beginning two or so minutes of Zappa's song "Porn Wars," which starts with dialog from the hearings. I had also sent a letter to the United States government, requesting a transcript of the hearings. I got the address from Zappa's 1985 album "Frank Zappa Meets The Mothers Of Prevention." I received a letter informing me that I would need to pay for the transcript, so I just passed the letter around to everyone during my presentation. (I received my master's degree in May 1988.)

Many years ago, I called on the phone to Zappa's Barking Pumpkin office in Los Angeles and asked to speak with Frank. I was told that he wasn't there.

This video exemplifies just how amazing Zappa is as a guitarist and a composer.

https://youtu.be/wXFxwMAIBYc?si=ROqYnDfan7JKJfpI

December 4, 2025, Cascades at Delray Beach (my physical rehabilitation facility)

Today Is ...

My Favorite Cookies

Homemade: chocolate chip

Boxed: Pim's Orange (photo in comment section below) ... I first tasted Pim's on a three-week-long, university, French-language-study trip in France during the summer of 1984. Pim's are created in Belgium.

December 4, 2025, Cascades at Delray Beach (my physical rehabilitation facility)

I have liked to wear argyle socks since the 1980s, when I was in my 20s.

December 4, 2025, Cascades at Delray Beach (my physical rehabilitation facility)

Disability & Roof

I have been officially disabled since April 2017.

December 3, 2025, Cascades at Delray Beach (my physical rehabilitation facility)

Stitches Removed: Video

I created and uploaded a video onto my YouTube channel, explaining my two recent surgeries and my appointment at my podiatrist's office yesterday afternoon (December 1, 2025) to have the stitches removed from my left foot. It hurt quite a bit. (length: 7'14")

On November 4, 2025, I had a six-hour-long surgery to remove a long vein within my right leg (about 3 feet long) to bypass an occluded (blocked) artery within my left leg. The blockage is/was three feet long. Basically, my right vein was reversed and put within my left leg to restore circulation.

On November 8, 2025, I had two of my toes amputated on my left foot (the third and fourth) due to the artery blockage.

My daily, six-week-long intravenous antibiotics regimen is finished on December 12: bone infection in the big toe of my left foot. I have done this regimen many times for bone infections and skin infections in both of my feet and legs.

Stitches Removed Yesterday: Left Foot (Dec. 2, 2025)

https://youtu.be/FFn12RCg8ig?si=uigfjU33U0wjVj0C

December 2, 2025, Cascades at Delray Beach (my physical rehabilitation facility)

***

Stitches Removed Yesterday: Left Foot (Dec. 2, 2025)

I created and uploaded a video onto my YouTube channel, explaining my two recent surgeries and my appointment at my podiatrist's office yesterday afternoon (December 1, 2025) to have the stitches removed from my left foot. It hurt quite a bit.

On November 4, 2025, I had a six-hour-long surgery to remove a long vein within my right leg (about 3 feet long) to bypass an occluded (blocked) artery within my left leg. The blockage is/was three feet long. Basically, my right vein was reversed and put within my left leg to restore circulation.

On November 8, 2025, I had two of my toes amputated on my left foot (the third and fourth) due to the artery blockage.

My daily, six-week-long intravenous antibiotics regimen is finished on December 12: bone infection in the big toe of my left foot. I have done this regimen many times for bone infections and skin infections in both of my feet and legs.

December 2, 2025, Cascades at Delray Beach (my physical rehabilitation facility)

Today Is ...

December 2, 2025, Cascades at Delray Beach (my physical rehabilitation facility)

Today Is ...

I enjoy many pies: peach, cherry, blueberry, apple, mincemeat, lemon meringue, key lime, banana cream with chocolate pudding, pecan, and, specifically pumpkin pie except on Thanksgiving Day as per my decades-old personal tradition. (Never strawberry: Yuck)

December 1, 2025, Cascades at Delray Beach (my physical rehabilitation facility)

I like apples in all forms, except for raw. I like apple cider, apple cider vinegar, apple juice, apple sauce, baked apples, apple strudel, apple pie, apple crumb cake, apple crisp, apple butter, apple rugelach, Apple Jacks cereal, even dried apples, but give me a raw apple, and I will see how far I can throw it. It's probably because I hate the texture of a raw apple, and it's definitely because I absolutely HATE that "CRUNCH" sound when eating it. It's like fingernails on a chalkboard. So, if you eat an apple near me, don't be offended when I run away. LOL ... I do like eating raw pears. Go figure.

My favorite apple is the Granny Smith because it is sour, and, more importantly, it adorns millions of Beatles records.

December 1, 2025, Cascades at Delray Beach (my physical rehabilitation facility)

I wear progressive lenses: upper for distance, middle for computer screen, and lower for reading.

December 1, 2025, Cascades at Delray Beach (my physical rehabilitation facility)

Today Is ...

November 30, 2025, Cascades at Delray Beach (my physical rehabilitation facility)

Hurricane Season Over

Today is the last day of Hurricane Season.

November 30, 2025, Cascades at Delray Beach (my physical rehabilitation facility)

Qatar Grand Prix

I am watching live coverage of the 23rd race of the 2025 Formula 1 racing season on November 30, 2025. The Qatar Grand Prix is being broadcast on ESPN2 from a feed from Sky Sports F1. The 57-lap race started at 7 p.m. local time (11 a.m., Eastern Time, here in southeastern Florida, United States).

Below is a diagram of the Lusail International Circuit, also known as the Losail International Circuit, located just outside of the city of Lusail, north of Doha, Qatar (capacity: 52,000). Each circuit (track) around the world has a different configuration, therefore a different dynamic, regarding turns and elevation fluctuations.

This season's 24-race schedule is as follows: Australia, China, Japan, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Miami (U.S.), Italy, Monaco, Spain, Canada, Austria, Great Britain, Belgium, Hungary, The Netherlands, Italy (different circuit), Azerbaijan, Singapore, Austin (U.S.), Mexico, Brazil, Las Vegas (U.S.), Qatar, and Abu Dhabi.

Before each race, there are two or three days of practice/qualifying. The races run every week or every other week from March into December, with a month-long summer break.

In Formula 1 racing, there are 20 (male) drivers, with ZERO drivers from the United States.

There are 10 teams (with two drivers on each team), so not only do drivers compete against their rivals, but they also compete against their teammates. There are two championships: one for the drivers and one for the constructor teams.

The 10 constructors are Alpine, Aston Martin, Ferrari, Haas, Kick Sauber, McClaren, Mercedes, Racing Bulls, Red Bull Racing, and Williams. McClaren already won the constructors championship for the 2025 season.

Again, this season, there are three races in the United States. In fairly recent years, there were no drivers from the United States and no races in the United States.

Formula 1 racing is the only sport that I actively follow. I have been a fan for decades. I watched my first F1 race decades ago on television at the home of one of my many Austrian cousins while on vacation in Austria.

Personal Trivia: When I was a young kid in the 1960s, for school, I wrote an essay about Qatar. Each of us had to pick a country, write our essays, and then present them to our classmates. I picked Qatar because it was the smallest country that I could find.

November 30, 2025, Cascades at Delray Beach (my physical rehabilitation facility)

Greetings & Shopping

November 29, 2025, Cascades at Delray Beach (my physical rehabilitation facility)

24 Years Since George

George Harrison, my favorite Beatle (February 25, 1943 - November 29, 2001), left his body (passed away) 24 years ago today. Hare Krishna !!!

November 29, 2025, Cascades at Delray Beach (my physical rehabilitation facility)

Thanksgiving in 1963

Here I am at the age of two-and-three-quarter years old with my mother outside of my paternal grandparents' house in Lindenhurst, Long Island, New York, on Thanksgiving Day, November 28, 1963.

November 27, 2025, Cascades at Delray Beach (my physical rehabilitation facility)

R.I.P. Fuzzy

"Fuzzy Zoeller, who won Masters in first appearance at Augusta National, dead at 74"

https://www.foxnews.com/sports/fuzzy-zoeller-won-masters-first-appearance-augusta-national-dead-74

November 27, 2025, Cascades at Delray Beach (my physical rehabilitation facility)

No Pumpkin Pie

My decades-long, personal tradition forbids me from eating pumpkin pie on Thanksgiving Day. Also included in my tradition is that I must eat pumpkin pie on Christmas Eve and/or Christmas Day. Actually, I allow myself to eat pumpkin pie on any date throughout the year, except on Thanksgiving Day.

Why? Because pumpkin pie is mentioned in the song "Sleigh Ride," which I considered to be a Christmas song when my age was in single digits in the 1960s. As an adult, I realized, I think in the mentally foggy 1990s, that in reality, this song technically isn't a Christmas song.

"Sleigh Ride" - Mitch Miller and The Gang

https://youtu.be/TWVSS-Fy6dc?si=jkyzfy2gGVuU2Oo3

Now at age 64, I am once again following my childhood tradition today (November 27, 2025) on Thanksgiving Day, as I have done every holiday season since the late 1960s. Of course, I will continue to follow my tradition during every future holiday season.

My mother has often made pumpkin cakes around Thanksgiving and/or Christmas, which is like pumpkin bread but with chocolate chips and, on top, chopped walnuts and a sugar glaze.

November 27, 2025, Cascades at Delray Beach (my physical rehabilitation facility)

Cousins On Thanksgiving

I won't say who these two gents are, but assuredly, they were and still are close cousins and close friends. However, this deed occurred inside a parked car in front of one cousin's brother's home in the 1980s, and it was definitely AFTER Thanksgiving Day dinner.

Then, while indulging, the other cousin's dad startled them by jumping in front of the parked car and yelling "AHHH !!!" Did the dad know what these two gents were doing? Probably. The dad never mentioned it, and neither cousin asked him about it.

November 27, 2025, Cascades at Delray Beach (my physical rehabilitation facility)

Staples Out: Video

Facebook post from yesterday:

I created and uploaded a video onto my YouTube channel, explaining my two recent surgeries and my appointment at my vascular surgeon's office this morning to have the 96 staples removed from my legs: right leg: 70; left thigh: 16; left calf: 10. (length: 11'51")

On November 4, 2025, I had a six-hour-long surgery to remove a long vein within my right leg (about 3 feet long) to bypass an occluded (blocked) artery within my left leg. The blockage is/was three feet long. Basically, my right vein was reversed and put within my left leg to restore circulation.

On November 8, 2025, I had two of my toes amputated on my left foot (the third and fourth) due to the artery blockage.

My daily, six-week-long intravenous antibiotics regimen is finished on December 12: bone infection in the big toe of my left foot. I have done this regimen many times for bone infections and skin infections in both of my feet and legs. 

Surgical Staples Removed (Nov. 26, 2025)

https://youtu.be/m6QiU6cBB7U?si=bjBlkccnv5xjYoit

November 26, 2025, Cascades at Delray Beach (my physical rehabilitation facility)

End of a Tradition

More than several years ago, I decided to write a detailed story about one of our familial Thanksgiving days in the 1970s and how difficult it was to get to Grandma's (Nana's) house for dinner that year. It's a rather long account of our struggle that day, so I am not sure how many people will read it. I just wanted to share it with you, so enjoy.

"The End of a Thanksgiving Tradition"

5 a.m., Thanksgiving Day, mid-1970s, West Islip, Long Island, New York

The alarm clock cried out that it was the morning of Thanksgiving Day, even though it still seemed like nighttime. I awoke with a start, the adrenaline coursing through my teenaged arteries, much faster than on any other day, because I knew that in about an hour, I would board my dad's 30-foot fishing boat and experience yet another nautical adventure. As was our tradition, we were getting ready to embark on our annual Thanksgiving Day fishing trip. The codfish were out there just waiting to be caught.

Dad and I loaded up the boat with our fishing gear, food, soda and beer, and impatiently waited for our usual group of fishing buddies to arrive. All aboard, Dad cranked up Engine No. 1 (port side), then Engine No. 2 (starboard side), unhooked the lines from the dock a few feet from our house, and we were on our way.

Dad piloted the boat out of the short river where we lived, across the bay, out the inlet and into the ocean. Then he gave it the gun, and we sped, cutting through the waves, the sea spray blasting in our faces and the bounce of the boat agitating the recently eaten, and traditional, tuna fish sandwich on white bread within my stomach. Dad had eaten his traditional Western omelette sandwich.

Back on dry land, grandma -- I called her Nana -- was preparing the Thanksgiving feast in anticipation of our arrival around 1 p.m.

Dad slowed the boat to check the depth finder. When the ocean, at a cool 57 degrees, hit 200 feet deep, we knew that it was only a short matter of time. We would just have to continue until it rose back to around 100 feet deep, and we would be set to drop our lines into that mirrored, undulating, somewhat-sullen water and start pulling out some fish.

There it is: 200 feet deep. Now for the agonizing anticipation: 197, 184, 175, 163, 159, 144, 137 ... hurry up ... 123 ... I can't wait ... 118, 103 ... Dad clicked off the port engine, then stopped the starboard engine, relative silence, and the boat continued to rock back and forth, up and down, on yet another cold, pristine Thanksgiving morning.

We had finally arrived, about two miles from land, just like we had done on this day every year for many years. We had everything we needed: rugged camaraderie, lots of fish just waiting to be caught, and, of course, tradition.

We fished for several hours, pulling rather large codfish out of the brine. OK, they weren't all that large, but it is my fish story, right?

Then came the inevitable. It was time to head back. We had to get to Nana's by 1 p.m., just as we had done, like clockwork, in all those prior years. Oh, well. I never wanted to go back, that is until I remembered that there, waiting for us, was turkey and stuffing and mashed potatoes and apple pie and...OK, let's go back.

Dad cranked up the port engine. Success. Then Dad cranked up the starboard engine. Click, Click, Click. Dad tried again to crank up the starboard engine. Click, Click, Click. Dad then opened the hatch to that starboard engine and, to our horror, we all saw what we really didn't want to see or even need to see: Both inboard engines were waist-deep in three feet of water. The electric bilge pump had failed, and we were sinking in rather cold water, 100 feet deep, and two miles from land.

Needless to say, a contagious shock of panic pierced us all, well, all except for Dad. Being a Commander in the Navy, who spent many years aboard ship in the North Atlantic, and, at one time, the youngest Eagle Scout in the United States, I suppose Dad was able to keep a level head about such things. He said, "We have to call the Coast Guard. Where's the radio?" He slid open the black-tinted plastic door of the cabinet under the steering wheel where we usually kept the radio. Empty. Where was the radio?

Dad went down below, into the cabin, found the radio (phew) in a wooden cabinet, plugged it in, and spoke in calm tones for the Coast Guard to save us. The life jackets were a little easier to find than the radio.

In short order, and to their amazing credit, two brave souls clad in diver's wetsuits aboard a Coast Guard cutter arrived beside our boat. One guard, rather young and with a somewhat-unsure look on his face, flew through the air, jumping several feet from his rocking boat to our rocking boat. Then, the other guard dropped a four-foot-high, rather wide, orange-and-white barrel into the drink, and we pulled it to our boat with a rope.

We all then pulled the barrel aboard and, to our surprise, it contained a gasoline-powered water pump with two four-inch-wide black hoses. With one pull of the starter cord, the pump rumbled like a lawnmower, and soon water was spewing out of our bilge and over the side.

Simultaneously, a Coast Guard helicopter was hovering overhead. My immediate thought was: "Wow, we're going to be airlifted back to land. Cool." But, it was not to be.

We were escorted a long two miles back to land, at a snail's pace, making sure that our one working engine wouldn't overheat. When we reached land, Dad just about had enough excitement for one day, rather for one boating season. He threw up his hands and said, "Just put it in dry dock," and walked away disheartened. I was not to see that boat until the following spring.

Needless to say, we were late for Thanksgiving dinner. Dad and I arrived at Nana's at 5 p.m., yes, four hours late. There were no smiles, just worry, on the faces of our family members, who had already finished dinner. I'm not sure how the other members of our crew fared with their families.

We told everyone our rather implausible story as we ate the Thanksgiving feast that Nana had kept warm for us.

We never again went fishing on Thanksgiving Day, and while a tradition ended rather abruptly, the memory of that fateful day, and of my dad, who passed away in 1997, will forever fondly linger.

Oh, I forgot to tell you why our boat was sinking. We found out the next day that the vibration of the boat had loosened a quarter-inch-wide screw on a metal plate that secured one of the propellers to the back of the boat. Sea water was slowly seeping into the bottom of the boat during our carefree hours of fishing.

November 27, 2025, Cascades at Delray Beach (my physical rehabilitation facility)

Thanksgiving At Rehab

Happy Thanksgiving !!! My wife visited me at my physical rehabilitation facility today. She took these photos of myself. My wife, my mom, and I will officially celebrate Thanksgiving after I emerge from rehab.

While I am still struggling after my two surgeries earlier this month, I am healing and getting stronger.

November 27, 2025, Cascades at Delray Beach (my physical rehabilitation facility)

Jerky & Pie

I would like to attempt making jerky in our air fryer.

November 27, 2025, Cascades at Delray Beach (my physical rehabilitation facility)

I'm not sure if I ever ate a piece of Bavarian cream pie.

November 27, 2025, Cascades at Delray Beach (my physical rehabilitation facility)

Cake & Jukeboxes

I don't really like cake, except for the frosting. Just give me a tub of frozen chocolate frosting and a teaspoon, and I will be happy. (I don't eat frosting much anymore). I do like ice cream cake.

November 26, 2025, Cascades at Delray Beach (my physical rehabilitation facility)

I loved playing the jukebox at The Pioneer diner in West Islip, Long Island, New York, in the early 1970s, when my parents and I occasionally ate dinner there. Each table had its individual jukebox terminal. I would always play the 45-rpm vinyl record of the Paul and Linda McCartney song "Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey," starting from its release in 1971, when I was ten years old. Could it be that they were using those large magnetic tape cartridges like the radio stations were using?

I also remember playing Side B of the Deep Purple song "Smoke on the Water," which was an alternate version to the radio version on Side A. That song was released in 1972.

I also remember playing the Eric Clapton song "Lay Down Sally" on many wintry Saturday mornings at a diner in nearby Bay Shore, while waiting for a bus to take my friends John and Tommy and me to go skiing in the "mountains" of nearby northern New Jersey. That was when the song was released in 1977, when I was sixteen years old. Actually, we probably played it in 1978, because I was hospitalized with Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever in May 1977, so I likely didn't go skiing that winter.

Also, my cousin Burt had a dog named Sally, so I would laugh whenever he said the title of the song to her.

November 26, 2025, Cascades at Delray Beach (my physical rehabilitation facility)

Staples Out

I have an appointment with my vascular surgeon at his office, 10:15 a.m., today (November 26, 2025), to remove the 96 metal staples in my legs (right leg: 70; left thigh: 16; left calf: 10).

On November 4, 2025, I had a six-hour-long surgery to remove a long vein within my right leg (about 3 feet long) to bypass an occluded (blocked) artery within my left leg. The blockage is/was three feet long. Basically, my right vein was reversed and put within my left leg to restore circulation.

On November 8, 2025, I had two of my toes amputated on my left foot (the third and fourth) due to the artery blockage.

I'm sorry to repost this photo again. I only repost it for context and because it's epic. 🙂

November 26, 2025, Cascades at Delray Beach (my physical rehabilitation facility)

Gas Prices Lower

Many thanks go to President Trump.

"Thanksgiving gas prices fall to lowest levels since pandemic, with nearly 30 states below $3 a gallon"

https://www.foxbusiness.com/lifestyle/thanksgiving-gas-prices-fall-lowest-levels-since-pandemic-nearly-30-states-below-3-gallon

November 25, 2025, Cascades at Delray Beach (my physical rehabilitation facility)

Today Is ...

Blasé is my natural state of mind.

November 25, 2025, Cascades at Delray Beach (my physical rehabilitation facility)

I prefer a regular chocolate parfait.

November 25, 2025, Cascades at Delray Beach (my physical rehabilitation facility)

This is a vital day.

November 25, 2025, Cascades at Delray Beach (my physical rehabilitation facility)

Birthday: Great-Aunt Laura

Happy 104th Birthday to my (Italian) Great-Aunt Laura. She was married to my maternal grandmother's brother. Here she is on her 103rd birthday.

November 24, 2025, Cascades at Delray Beach (my physical rehabilitation facility)