Someone on social media shared a clip of this guy on CNN’s Crossfire in the 1980s, and it opened my eyes to what an awesome individual he really was. All I remembered was making fun of his choices of child names—turns out that’s just one more way in which he was way ahead of his time. His breezy, freewheeling memoir grinds many axes (most with good reason!), but also incorporates delectable specifics about how music works, the practical considerations of recording and producing music so it sounds its best, and fantastic details about his creative inspiration and the economic and contractual logistics of a recording career. Zappa would have had an easier go of things in today’s music marketplace (he literally invented the iTunes Music Store at a time before widespread internet access was available, but couldn’t get the financial backing) but he had a semi-successful career doing things his own way, against his share of zany obstacles, and that’s something to admire. He devolves into a bit of conspiracist blathering now and then, but he’s moving fast so there’s always something more digestible up soon. You can’t expect a free thinker to rein himself in based on what might seem more palatable. Sure, his worldview may dip into lunacy here and there, but at least it’s an ethos.