July 23, 1968—The Whisky à Go-Go Event
- See also notes on MOI & GTO's, Whisky à Go-Go on the videography.
Los Angeles Free Press, July 19, 1968
MOTHERS OF INVENTION cordially invites you to join them on Tuesday July 23, 1968 when they will be taking over the WHISKY A GO GO for 5 full hours of unprecedented merryment which will be secretly recorded for an upcoming record album.
Dress xxxxxxxxx optional.
Starting sometime in the evening.
R.S.V.D.T.
Pauline Butcher, Freak Out!—My Life With Frank Zappa, 2011, p. 174
Tuesday 23 July, a magical day at the Whisky a Go-Go, a gala performance. Not only were the Mothers on top form again, whipping everyone into a frenzy with "God Bless America" (a portion of which later appeared on the Uncle Meat album); the GTO's sang "Getting to Know You" and "Doo Wah Diddy" to half-hearted applause; Wild Man Fischer wailed out his number to a stunned crowd; while Joseph Peresonti, an Elvis Presley imitator, belted out "Jail House Rock" and brought the house down.
Jimmy Carl Black, For Mother's Sake, 2013, p. 104
We played one or two nights at the Whisky and Frank had it recorded by Wally Heider on his new 8-track mobile studio.
Pamela Des Barres, "Miss Pamela: Mentored By Beefheart And Zappa," Please Kill Me, July 12, 2018
Our first gig was opening for Alice Cooper at the Whisky a Go Go, where we took over the dance floor in our skimpy outlandish ensembles, singing "Getting to Know You," with the Mothers backing us up. When I heard Mick Jagger was in the audience, I was tickled hot pink inside and out.
Some Pictures
Photographer: George Rodriguez
Outside The Whisky #2
Greasy Love Songs booklet, p. 2
[Art Tripp, Roy Estrada, Don Preston, Bunk Gardner, JCB, Motorhead, Ian Underwood, Ray Collins, FZ]
Cache Agency
Frank Zappa & The Mothers of Invention—Los Angeles, CA—1968 (Photo by: George Rodriguez/Cache Agency) [Art Tripp, Roy Estrada, Don Preston, Bunk Gardner, JCB, Motorhead, Ian Underwood, Ray Collins, FZ]
Unidentified source
Rockaway Records Herb Cohen auction
[Ray Collins, FZ, Roy Estrada, JCB]
Cache Agency
Frank Zappa & The Mothers of Invention—Los Angeles, CA—1968 (Photo by: George Rodriguez/Cache Agency) [Ray Collins, FZ, Roy Estrada, JCB]
The same day
Image Collect
Inside The Whisky
Cache Agency
[Ray Collins, Bunk Gardner, FZ, Roy Estrada, Motorhead]
[Ray Collins, JCB, Bunk Gardner, Motorhead, Art Tripp, FZ, Roy Estrada]
Frank Zappa & The Mothers of Invention—Los Angeles, CA—1968 (Photo by: George Rodriguez/Cache Agency) [Ray Collins, Bunk Gardner, FZ, Roy Estrada, Motorhead]
Frank Zappa—Los Angeles, CA—1968 (Photo by: George Rodriguez/Cache Agency)
Kim Fowley performs with Frank Zappa and the Mothers at the Whisky in Los Angeles, CA—1966 (Photo by: George Rodriguez/Cache Agency) [Ray Collins, Bunk Gardner, JCB, Kim Fowley, FZ, Roy Estrada, Ian Underwood]
Shooting Star—Celebrity Photo Syndication
Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention—Photo: Yoram Kahana/Shooting Star
Frank Zappa (circa 1970's) Photo Credit: Yoram Kahana/Shooting Star—ZappaAtWhiskey
Rockaway Records auction
lynxlolita's Bucket
[Miss Sandra, Miss Christine, Miss Cinderella, Miss Mercy?, Miss Sparky, Ray Collins]
drdork, Zappateers, March 10, 2011
The most likely date is July 23, 1968—the day they recorded "God Bless America."
Della's Whipping
- See notes on Shrine Exposition Hall, January 1969.
- See "Della's Whipping Music" on The History And Collected Improvisations Of The Mothers Of Invention (9 LPs version, 1972).
Additional Informants: Al Fresco, Charles Ulrich, Tan Mitsugu