Anchor ads are not supported on this page.
Print Edition
Classifieds
Stories
Events
Contests
Music
Movies
Theater
Food
Life Events
Cannabis
May 15, 2024
May 8, 2024
May 1, 2024
April 24, 2024
April 17, 2024
April 10, 2024
April 2, 2024
March 27, 2024
March 20, 2024
March 13, 2024
March 6, 2024
February 28, 2024
Close
May 15, 2024
May 8, 2024
May 1, 2024
April 24, 2024
April 17, 2024
April 10, 2024
April 2, 2024
March 27, 2024
March 20, 2024
March 13, 2024
March 6, 2024
February 28, 2024
May 15, 2024
May 8, 2024
May 1, 2024
April 24, 2024
April 17, 2024
April 10, 2024
April 2, 2024
March 27, 2024
March 20, 2024
March 13, 2024
March 6, 2024
February 28, 2024
Close
Anchor ads are not supported on this page.
R.I.P., Larry "Wild Man" Fischer, Frank Zappa's Discovery
Hearing about Larry's death and reading Jay's article and comments brings back a lot of memories. When he was in his prime, Larry was a force to be reckoned with! There are thousands of Wild Man Fischer anecdotes, as he made a strong impression on everyone he encountered. The comic stories that J.R. Williams and I crafted contain some of them, but here's one that I heard from Jeff Simmons, who played both guitar and bass with the Mothers of Invention, and was for a time one of Frank Zappa's underlings...Jeff recalled that he and some other musicians were living in an apartment in Los Angeles, when Wild Man Fischer, whom they'd never met before, dropped by to visit. While exploring their apartment, Wild Man found a styptic pencil in the bathroom medicine cabinet. He proceeded to chew it up like a piece of pepperoni, and performed a couple of tunes at full velocity with white styptic spittle spewing from his mouth as he roared out the lyrics. After that, Jeff and his friends always referred to Larry as "Wild Man Styptic."— June 19, 2011 7:32 a.m.