"I don't know" or not, Wilson allowed the Mothers' project to grow from a single into an album, and then from an album into an extravaganza that cost $21,000 at a time when the average rock album ran $5,000. Wilson funded a 22-piece orchestra. The editing was nightmarish. According to Zappa, "Wilson was sticking his neck out. He laid his job on the line by producing the album."

After Freak Out sold surprisingly well, Wilson went even farther into the unknown with Zappa on Absolutely Free, which dispensed with token pop songs entirely in favor of jazzy meanderings, pseudo-operatic singing and exposition upon Zappa's recurrent themes of cheese, shoes, the government and his abstemious attitude toward mind altering substances.

While working on Free, Wilson was simultaneously supervising the Velvet Underground's first album, an album that reveled in the sensory-based hedonism that the puritanical Zappa railed against. Both "art" bands - the garish Mothers and the somber Velvets - shared a surface freakiness that masked the underlying gulf between them.

The fact that both bands performed in Andy Warhol's Exploding Plastic Inevitable at the Trip in Los Angeles is one of Warhol's greatest ironies. It is not known how Wilson felt about this juxtaposition, but it is clear that his mind was large enough to encompass both points of view; perhaps the bands were even the personifications of his own internal contradictions.

PROJECT/OBJECT Concert Dates

Tue. Oct. 15
32 Bleu
32 South Tejon
Colorado Springs, CO
www.32bleu.com
Doors 7pm / Show 9:30pm
Tix $12 adv and dos
Ages 21+
For tix and all info, check website

Wed. Oct. 16
Sherpa & Yeti's
320 S. Main St.
Breckenridge, CO 80424
Venue Phone 970-547-9299
Doors 9pm / show 10 pm
Tix $10
Tix at 1-800-594-TIXX
Ages 21+

Thurs. Oct. 17
Linden's
214 Linden St.
Ft. Collins, CO 80524
Venue phone 970-482-9291
www.lindensbrewing.com
Doors 8pm / Show 9:30pm
Tix $15 adv and dos
Tickets at venue phone 970-214-3139
Ages 21+

Fri. Oct. 18

TBA........

Sat. Oct. 19
Fox Theater
1135 13th St.
Boulder, CO 80302
Venue Phone 303-443-3399
www.foxtheater.com
Doors 8:30pm / Show 9 pm
Tix $13 adv / $15 dos
For Tix, call 303-443-3399 or ticketmaster
Ages 21+

Mon. Oct. 21
Grand Emporium
3832 Main St.
Kansas City, MO
Venue Phone 816-531-7557
www.grandemporium.com
Doors 6pm / PO 8:30pm
Tix $10 Adv. / $12 dos
Tix at Ticketmaster or at club
Ages 21+

Tue. Oct. 22
Cicero's
6691 Delmar
University City, MO
Venue Phone 314-862-5999
www.ciceros-stl.com
Doors 8pm / Show 9pm
Tix $15
Tix at www.musictoday.com and website
Ages 18+

Wed. Oct. 23
High Dive
51 Main St.
Champaign, IL
Venue Info: 217-359-4444
www.thehighdive.com
Doors 8pm / Show 9pm
Tix $12 adv / $14 day of show
Tix can be purchased at www.thehighdive.com , Record Shop, Record Service, Dandelion Vintage Clothing, Skins-n-Tins Drum Shop.
Ages 19+

Thur. Oct. 24
Beachland Ballroom
15711 Waterloo Rd.
Cleveland, OH
Venue Phone 216.383.1124
www.beachlandballroom.com

Doors 7:30pm / Show 8:30 pm
Tix $12 adv. / $14 dos
Tickets onsale at venue phone and website
Ages 18 +