Vaclav Havel; FZ as Special Ambassador to the West

There is certainly a unique relation between Frank Zappa and the Czech Republic. Zappa's songs belongs to a repertoire once-banned by the communist censors. During the communist regime rock music was prohibited, particularly The Velvet Underground, The Rolling Stones and Frank Zappa because of their rebellious character. In the 1970s and 1980s Czechs listened to Zappa as a result of albums that were smuggled into communist Czechoslovakia by secret networks that delivered literature, music, as well as musical instruments.

Lots of people bootlegged the albums and were arrested or defeated up if they got caught having or listening to these records. A Czech underground group known as "The Plastic People Of The Universe" was directly influenced by the track Plastic People, that was considered a revolutionary anthem.

In January 1990 Zappa was invited to Prague by Vaclav Havel, who was a Czech playwright, essayist, dissident and politician. He became the final President of Czechoslovakia from 1989 to 1992 and the first President of the Czech Republic (1993-2003).
During the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s Havel's poetry and plays were extremely political and focused against the communist regime in Czechoslovakia. In 1977 he started to be globally renowned because of his human rights manifesto "Charter 77", which additionally resulted in his imprisonment. In 1989, after the Velvet Revolution Czechoslovakia grew to be a democracy and Havel was elected as its first democratically elected president.

Zappa was apparently stunned at his quick popularity, as well as by how well people knew his music."Never in my 25 years in rock 'n 'roll have I experienced anything like this, and I don't have the slightest idea of why this is happening," Zappa told journalists on arrival.

So,Vaclav Havel approved Frank Zappa as "Special Ambassador to the West on Trade, Culture and Tourism," much to the disgruntlement of U.S. Secretary of State, James Baker, who is well-known for declaring: "You can do business with the United States or you can do business with Frank Zappa."

However, Vaclav Havel's companionship with Frank Zappa grew, and Zappa shared his suggestions about improving tourism to Czechoslovakia, and described the idea of credit cards which were then an unfamiliar quantity in this particular part of the globe. It was Frank Zappa's brief interlude on the planet of worldwide trade and diplomatic relations—and the vantage-point was Prague.


Asked by Czechoslovak TV what he thought of communism after the dramatic democratic changes that have happened in much of Eastern Europe, Zappa replied with acid brevity - "The same."
If you have forgotten Frank's quote about it; Communism doesn't work because people like to own stuff.