The Petit Wazoo Tour

The Petit Wazoo was the nickname of Frank Zappa's band that toured in October, November, and December of 1972. It was not their official name; publicity for the tour billed the concerts as being performed by "Frank Zappa" and/or "The Mothers Of Invention". FZ did not refer to the band as the Petit Wazoo on any of the concert tapes I have heard. However, he did use the name in a 1989 interview.

For many years, no Petit Wazoo recordings were officially released.

Thirty-three years later, the Zappa Family Trust released a Petit Wazoo CD, entitled Imaginary Diseases! And there's also one Petit Wazoo track on One Shot Deal.

Petit, as in petit larceny or petit fours, is from the masculine form of the French adjective. It rhymes with "Twisted Sister". Petite is from the feminine form of the French adjective. It rhymes with "nothing to eat". Based on the one token I've heard, FZ seems to have pronounced it as Petite Wazoo. I have no evidence how he spelled it. I plan to keep the spelling Petit on this website until I get better evidence.

At the late show in Kansas City (12/2/72), an audience member yelled out the request "Shit on stage!" Frank Zappa replied,

a) "No, no. Go see Alice Cooper."
b) "Spend fifteen years learning to play a musical instrument, you come to Kansas City and the guy says 'Shit on stage!'"
c) "The name of this song is 'Cosmik Debris', which is as good as shitting on stage."
d) "I just did shit on stage, and you missed it."
e) all of the above

Table of Contents

The Planet Of My Dreams
1972 Big Band Projects

Hunchentootin' by Charles Ulrich.