The Note, March 1989

In this issue: Frank Zappa, Patrick Quinn, SXSW, Replacements, John Hiatt, Robert Cray band, Roy Orbison, Mark Hetrick, Violent Femmes, Beth Scalet, Mike Roberts, Billy Pilgrim, Craig Anderson, Mark Stidham, Nace Brothers, Garry Mac, Trip Shakespeare, Matt Wilson, Parlor Frogs, The Pursuit of Happiness, Dr. John, Grand Emporium, Danny Alexander, Mike Mader, Timm Dower, MD Systems, Private Parts, Dawayne Baily Aaron Brown, Rudy Love, Pat McJimsey, Skid Roadie, Milton's, Kelley Hunt, Marvin Hunt, Caribe, Absolute Ceiling, Free State Brewery, and Steve Ozark.

As noted in this issue, March 1989 marked the first year of distributing The Note in Kansas City. Thanks to the initial support of Dave McQuitty and Jack Hanrahan who owned bars in Westport, we were able to come in and build a market.

    Each month publishing The Note was an adventure. I recall sitting with Patrick Quinn in our downtown Lawrence office on cool winter afternoon. We were trying to figure out who or what we could feature on the cover. It was about 3 days before the issue was supposed to come out so there was some tension in the air. We were sitting across from each other at our conference table throwing out a lot of bad ideas that were nixed immediately. I was thumbing through what we called a Rolodex (filing system for contacts) in those days.

     I came across Barking Pumpkins records, a record label started by Zappa. At that time, Tipper Gore and PMRC (Parents Music Resource Center) were leading a charge to label recordings deemed inappropriate for children. Zappa was a vocal opponent.

     "What about Zappa and this anti censorship thing he's got going?" I asked Quinn. I pushed the phone towards Pat and prepared to read out the number to Barking Pumpkin Records. I figured we might as well make a call and see if Frank wanted to talk.

     Quinn punched the numbers as I read them out. "Hi, my name is Patrick Quinn and I write for a music publication The Note in Kansas. I was wondering if we could schedule an interview with Frank Zappa regarding his opposition to the PMRC and music censorship."

      There was a pause. Quinn said "Sure I'll hold on." He looked up at me, put his had over the mouth piece on the phone and said, "I think they're transferring me to a publicist."

       A few seconds passed before Quinn responded to a voice on the other side of the phone line. His face lit up with a very confused look. "Uh, hi Frank. I was wondering if we could set up an interview to talk about your anti-censorship efforts?"

     "Right now?" Quinn said looking across the table at me with very startled eyes. We scrambled for some paper and pen and he launched into the interview with no real research, no formatting the questions  - basically there was no preparation whatsoever. The interview lasted for well over an hour and Pat and Frank had a great conversation that I was fortunate to overhear and our readers were fortunate to read.