more info from dwight bement:
on working with frank:
when i first joined fz, w/ronnie, joe and al, we played in a bar in pomoma. 7 nites a week, for 3 months. $9 a nite each. i guess i'm not sure of the band's name, but ocassionally, we would drive up to lancaster and play a battle against some other bands that fz knew. we would add some different players and this band was the 'blackouts'. the old photos of me were taken at these rehearsals in lancaster, possibly out east at the franklin home in sun valley or sun something...
i eventually moved from ronnie's to monterey park, near east l.a. w/al sarratt and his wife. al got me a job where he worked. abc fairco, an aircraft bolt factory. we still worked w/ fz.
al claimed to be related to mary sarratt, a co-conspirator in the abe lincoln assassination plot. check it out.
on pigeons:
frank lived in this house in ontario a few blocks up the street from ronnie. there were 2 huge palm trees in front that were infested with pigeons. fz made a blow gun out of tv antenna tubing and fitted it w/ a pistol grip and a mouthpiece. he made some darts out of sharpened nails and paper cones. we would sit on his porch in the afternoon and kill pigeons up in the palm trees. we became very good at this sport. we kept score. i don't know who was best at it. i'll bet there are still some pigeon bones stuck up there to this day.
on weenies & poots
when i lived with ronnie, we must have had a lot of time on our hands.we showed fz the benefits of burnt weinie sandwiches. we smoked up ronnie's kitchen pretty good during these sessions. we also enjoyed burning poots (farts). one time fz was over so we decided to show him the fine art of burning poots. we were in the kenny's bedroom, if i remember. ronnie jumped up on the bed and took off his pants. the seat of his underwear a big hole w/ threads hanging down. when he put the zippo to it, there was a nice balloon of blue flame and the threads caught fire. the flame traveled up and set his anal hairs on fire. fz fell against the wall in a fit of laughter. i guess he never forgot that because he wrote a song about it.
on the turd
one time, when i was living w/ ronnie, i was in the bathroom taking a dump. i noticed the turd was not breaking off so i made an effort to keep it in tact as 'long' as possible. when i finished, i yelled at ronnie to come have a look. when he saw it, he let out a whoop, ran and got a rag and lifted the turd out of the toilet, took it outside and laid it on the porch. we measured it at 21", swear to god. he called fz and told him about it. frank rushed over w/ a camera and took a picture.
on "the world's greatest sinner'
it took fz 2 months to write 15 minutes of music for the soundtrack. the recording session took 11 hours w/ the pomoma valley symphony. frank conducted and one mic was used. it was placed above the podium. aside from al sarratt and myself, i don't remember who else played. maybe ronnie, but i can't be sure.
i played several instruments during the session including clarinet, rhythm guitar, marimba, snare drum and contra-bass saxophone, a very rare instrument. i have no idea where frank found it.
i spent a lot of time w/ fz and timothy carey during post production both at carey's home in el monte and in hollywood at the sound company, glen glenn, i think. i'm not sure of that spelling.
while fz was writing the soundtrack, he would dip his pen in the ink and then wipe the excess off on his pant leg. he always wore the same pants, gray w/ thin black stripes. it ended up looking pretty cool. he told me that he cut out the section of pant leg with the ink on it and framed it and sold it for $500.
on the last time
the last time i saw fz was in the late ''70s or early '80s. it was in chicago. flash cadillac opened for him. i talked w/ frank in the dressing room and he told me to call him when we got back to l.a. he said he had always liked my sax playing and wanted to do something together. like a fool, i never called.
when flash cadillac began performing w/ symphony orchestras, i attempted to contact frank seeking advice, but apparently by this time, he was ill and no one would allow me to speak w/ him.
on the nomads
the members included: lew fay, tenor sax - bill riddle, alto sax - clark gault, piano/trombone - artie elam, guitar - merv hyde, bass - bruce ??, drums - and myself on tenor sax.
snippets
jim sherwood and ronnie lived together for a while in a boarding house on 4th street in national city. sometime around 1963-64-65?
i seem to remember being on a local tv show w/ 'captain beefheart'. a saturday music/dance show of some kind. channel 8, kfmb-tv, san diego. regis was w/ the station at the time and may well have been the host, but who knows?
so, jim sherwood is still around, huh? nice to hear that. i always liked him. a good guy. 
on union gap
when two of the original members quit, i decided to hold auditions for trumpet, sax, trombone and hammond b3. this took place at studio instrument rental in hollywood. one of the gardner brothers showed up, i don't remember which. i asked, 'aren't you w/ the 'mothers'? he replied, ' yes, and i'm staying w/ them. i just wanted to sit in and jam'.