Keith and Zappa??!!

Keith, of "98.6" fame says in the link that Steve H. posted:

"The 70's were awesome!!! My family and I moved to Southern California as I was recruited to sing lead for Frank Zappa and The Mothers of Invention. What a great man and what a great time for me !!! I did that until the mid 70's where at this point I spent most of my time writing and performing locally and at the same time helping to raise a family."

Oh, really?! I've got every FZ album, and there's no Keith there. And for several years in the early seventies, FZ didn't tour because of his getting thrown off a stage in England.
And I saw FZ regularly before and after the accident. Which leads me to believe that
Mr. Keefer is telling a fib!

JD

 

No sign of Keith or James Keefer here, either:

http://www.united-mutations.com/123/musicians_timeline.htm

He was signed on Zappa's Discreet label for a single, though. Maybe he did some uncredited work for Zappa, who knows.

 

Markus sez:
"He was signed on Zappa's Discreet label for a single, though. Maybe he did some uncredited work for Zappa, who knows."

Didn't know about the Discreet single. I suspect, however, that we have a serious case of resume padding here!

Thanks,
JD

 

No, no resume padding. Keith, aka James Barry Keefer, aka Bazza Keefer, performed with Zappa and band on a few occasions, but never recorded with them.

 

Father MacKenzie opines:
No, no resume padding. Keith, aka James Barry Keefer, aka Bazza Keefer, performed with Zappa and band on a few occasions, but never recorded with them

Hi FM!
When I say "resume padding, I mean that he takes a few appearances with FZ and makes it sound like he was with him the whole first half of the 1970s.
Cheers!
JD

 

I understand where you are coming from, but I don't think so. Considering Zappa's style of recording and performing, Frank may just have had Keith hang around for a few years, kept him on a retainer of some sort and used him as he saw fit.

Frank did this with a lot of musicians depending on his own picadillos and cash flow. By picadillos, I mean Frank may have had some plans for Keith, but for various reasons, they didn't work out. I'm assuming here, but I bet Frank saw the usual combination of seriousness and comic potential in using someone like Keith.

I knew Alan Zavod fairly well and he addressed these kind of arrangements with me.

 

Father Mackenzie explained:

I understand where you are coming from, but I don't think so. Considering Zappa's style of recording and performing, Frank may just have had Keith hang around for a few years, kept him on a retainer of some sort and used him as he saw fit.
Frank did this with a lot of musicians depending on his own picadillos and cash flow. By picadillos, I mean Frank may have had some plans for Keith, but for various reasons, they didn't work out. I'm assuming here, but I bet Frank saw the usual combination of seriousness and comic potential in using someone like Keith.
I knew Alan Zavod fairly well and he addressed these kind of arrangements with me

Hi again, FM:
Thanks for your further comments. This certainly could be the case. Maybe I'm just pessimistic after years of seeing musicians exaggerating their past in interviews.
I appreciate your thoughts on the matter.
JD