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Anybody know the story behind Bianca's brief tenure w/ FZ in '76? I've deduced that she split mid-tour, but I'd like to know why. I've got a show from Boston that's fucking great. She sings "Dirty Love," "You Didn't Try to Call Me," and maybe some other stuff, and it's delightful. Such a hot band, too: White, Bozzio, Jobson, O'Hearn. ZFT needs to release something from this tour ASAP.

From my rusty memory (no, I have not bothered doing the research; I am off duty), I recall interviews where it was said that she could not cope with the audience's attention towards her female attributes. I have never heard anything suggesting she was fired or anything. I think she split.

But someone on duty could probably elaborate.

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"Everybody in this room is wearing a uniform, and don't kid yourself" - FZ

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"Hello Patrick I am doing fine thanks...I have been raising my family and was singing with van Morrison, until 1985. Then I met my new husband and producer and song writer and have been singing and recording ever since. I am now on the hot and rising stars list in the blues world LOL. I left Frank Zappa because I am a lady. I did not feel I had to be humiliated by taking off my cloths or letting frank use me as a prop on his show. I feel that my vocals and musicianship should have sufficed. That is why I left, it was my choice."

http://www.united-mutations.com/o/bianca_odin.htm

Thanks for the interesting replies. On the show I have, the Boston crowd taunts her, yelling "Take your clothes off!" Bianca replies: "Go suck a rat's dick!" much to FZ's apparent amusement. I think her comment about being used as a "prop" is fascinating. Bozzio seems to have had an opposite reaction. I get the sense from Zappa in New York and especially Baby Snakes that he enjoyed being a prop of sorts while also "beating the shit out of the fucking drums." It's got me thinking about how different personalities in FZ's band have negotiated the level of self-referentiality (that may not be a real word there...) that FZ always seemed to enjoy.

Hmmm....interesting. Id never heard these stories before...

I was there. It was an unruly crowd. Frank starts to play guitar alone and jerks wouldn't stop yelling for "hits". They yelled at her to strip. I think she wanted to be a star and realized Zappa was not a starmaker. Perhaps this show brought it home.

The way I heard the story, when the audience yelled for her to take her clothes off, she replied, "Tell your mama to take her clothes off! And while she's got 'em off, tell her to suck a rat's dick!"

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. . . and then Frank repeated what she had said for the benefit of those in the audience that did not understand her.

I did not know this...being a woman while hard now was even harder then and while Ruth was well protected by her stacks of percussion instruments Bianca was a front (Wo)man...The improvisational entertainer that he was I could even see Frank after this show suggesting working something in to the performances that may not have sat well with her, this would explain the seemingly contradictions in the various retelling of these events...

I forget what show it was, but I've got a recording of it.

Oh, right, Boston. (see above)

the recording is very easy to find, with google. don't even need to download it. (are we aloud to post youtube links here?)

Strongly recommend, btw. Her doing You Didn't Try To Call Me with Frank is one of a kind and incredible. And I wanna note, she doesn't seem to be (on the recording) particularly *distressed* by the yelling or anything---she says her iconic line, Zappa says "alright, you heard right!" and then she immediately goes into a great performance of the song.

Going purely off the audio evidence, I'd say FZ comes off as both better and worse than we might expect him to in the situation. On the one hand, I think it's palpable that he finds it uncomfortable and so rushes into the song---it's a great moment but it doesn't "land" the way a lot of iconic FZ moments do. On the other hand, even if it takes him until the end of the song to do it, he clearly appreciates it and does tell the audience to stop, which might be surprising for some people even if it is comparatively little.

again, really recommend hearing it, for the music if not for the history. Bianca's vocal riffing against FZ's soloing is a unique moment imo. and in the end I imagine everyone'll hear it different anyway and it's ancient now.

Bianca is still active as a blues singer and goes by the stage name of Lady Bianca. She is based in the San Francisco Bay Area. I’ve seen her name pop up on Northern California concert listings from time to time. www.ladybianca.com