Persuasions bring Zappa's words to life

By JOHN FLEMING

© St. Petersburg Times, published August 7, 2000

ST. PETERSBURG -- Words or music -- which is more important? It's a perennial songwriting debate, and in the case of Frank Zappa, the music is what people remember, because the powerhouse bands he led often overwhelmed his lyrics in concert.

But fans could have their cake and eat it at Saturday night's concert by Bogus Pomp and the Persuasions at Mahaffey Theater.

With Tampa Bay's own Zappa band, featuring vocalist Napoleon Murphy Brock, who sang with Zappa in the '70s, and the legendary a cappella group from Brooklyn, N.Y., it was a double bill made in Zappa heaven.

Zappa signed the Persuasions to their first record deal, and the six-member group has a great feel for his music. Perhaps the best thing about hearing them perform Zappa was that you could make out the lyrics more clearly than when the songs are pounded out by an electric band.

And Zappa's lyrics are worth hearing because he turned pop songwriting on its head. He had a knack for beautiful melodies, but instead of combining them with sentimental words on sappy stuff like love, he wrote incredibly acerbic lyrics.

Take the Persuasions' opening number, The Meek Shall Inherit Nothing, which savages everything religious from Jesus freaks to Billy Graham, Moses to Abraham ("They're all a waste of time") in a ravishing gospel arrangement.

In songs like Any Way the Wind Blows, Zappa paid homage to the doo-wop harmonies of the '50s. The Persuasions are one of the last living links to that great American tradition.

As lead singer Jerry Lawson said, "When we started, they told us there was no way we would last in show business without a band . . . and that was 40 years ago."

Actually, the Persuasions have sung with bands from time to time, and members of Bogus Pomp backed them on several numbers. Guitarist Jerry Outlaw added some tasty licks on My Guitar Wants To Kill Your Mama.

Saturday was the first time the group has given a concert of selections from their delightful new album, Frankly A Cappella: The Persuasions Sing Zappa. The venerable group still sounded in good, if occasionally strained, voice after all these years, though it sang for less than an hour to open the program. At the end of the night, the Persuasions joined in with Bogus Pomp on a sensational hard-rocking version of Hot Plate Heaven at the Green Hotel.

Bogus Pomp, which has previously appeared at Mahaffey with the Florida Orchestra, gave one of its tightest performances.

The 10-piece band jammed on long, continuous chunks of Zappa, flowing from one song to the next without pause. If you don't know the Zappa catalog backward and forward, as hardcore fans do, it was hard to know exactly what was being played.

Brock is a dazzling, elfin stage presence, but his vocals were sometimes buried in the sound mix, which emphasized the high-energy rhythm section.

A highlight was Outlaw's soulful solo in Watermelon in Easter Hay. Strangely, saxophonist David Pate didn't show up until halfway through the set (he had another gig), but when he did arrive midway through Dupree's Paradise, he nailed the sax solo.

Saturday's concert was something special, but it drew paid attendance of only about 500.