Bizarre Shorts
Description: Bizarre Records, self-identified simply as Bizarre, was a production company and record label formed for artists discovered by rock musician Frank Zappa and his business partner/manager Herb Cohen. Bizarre was originally formed as a production company. In 1967 Zappa's label, Verve Records, missed the deadline to renew their option on Zappa's recording contract after his second album, Absolutely Free, recorded with his group the Mothers of Invention. This gave Zappa and Cohen the upper hand in negotiating their own production deal with Verve.
Description: Local civic celebrations possess a power to transform ourselves into very curious people. You stand on baking asphalt beneath an unforgiving summer sun, inhaling exhaust fumes and jostling for pavement space alongside hyped-up toddlers. When the sirens wail and the heavy municipal vehicles crawl down the boulevard, dignified behavior evaporates. People dive onto dusty concrete, scrambling aggressively to snatch worthless petroleum trinkets hurled from high vehicle windows. You leave with blistered feet and sunburned shoulders, proudly clutching three cents worth of colorful synthetic necklaces. The comedy highlights the bizarre spell of town parades, where sane citizens endure brutal heat and chaos just to gather cheap carnival trinkets.
