Here in the midst of our Mothers Of Invention rehearsal hall, at 5831 Sunset Blvd., Hollywood, California.
Frank [Zappa] had pumped a lot of money into the company in a few years, enough to buy a large recording studio/rehearsal complex at 5831 Sunset Boulevard near Vine. Much of the larger pieces of technical equipment needed to manufacture the developing Project/Object were owned by DiscReet and housed there, the corporate stash, so to speak.
When I asked [Napoleon Murphy Brock] where rehearsals were held, he said (without hesitation) "5831 Sunset Boulevard."
DiscReet Records Inc., 5831 Sunset Blvd., Hollywood, Cal. 90028
DiscReet Records Inc., 5831 Sunset Blvd., Los Angeles, CA. 90028
Direct from San Jose, California, by way of The New Red Noodle Club in Hawaii, Napoleon Murphy Brock on tenor sax and lead vocals.
As for Napoleon, Zappa had met him in Hawaii. He recalled: "He was working in a club called The New Red Noodle. I went in there one night while I was on vacation and just happened to see him and I thought he was a really good performer and I asked him to join the group. He said he'd like to but he couldn't as he still had a seven-week contract at the bar. And so I said 'well, here's an honest musician', and after his contract ran out at the bar he came over and rehearsed with us and he's been in the band ever since."
Now, Dick, I know that you might not be able to hear me at this time, but while he's doing that, why don't you take the video shader and make him look dramatic.
We're just getting started again after having a little break while we went in there and look at Calvin's goat and the parrot and everything.
For those of you who might not know (and I only just found this out myself from Cal Schenkel): Meatball in the Cheaper Than Cheep art studio is Lynn Lascaro (aka Napoleon) who worked with Cal to create the upholstery effect for the sofa on the cover of One Size Fits All. And as if that weren't enough, Gus the goat belonged to Cal and the parrot was named Donald Duck and belonged to Cal's girlfriend, Katy.
Research, compilation and maintenance by Román García Albertos