arthur dyer tripp IIIa.k.a. ed marimba
arthur dyer tripp III
a.k.a. ed marimba
Born
September 10, 1944, Arthur
Dyer Tripp III started music school in 1962 and played with the Cincinnati
Symphony as a student. After moving to New York City, he met Zappa,
and began playing with The Mothers in 1968.
Tripp: "There was a lot of improvisation...I thought I'd died and gone to
heaven."
Art played and recorded with Zappa & The Mothers Of Invention until the end of 1969.
After
leaving Zappa, Tripp played with Captain Beefheart and the Magic Band
for four years as Ed Marimba. In 1974 he joined Mallard,
a band formed by ex-members of the Magic Band.
While musically successful, Arthur found that the business failed to offer financial stability. He briefly worked in his father's insurance business in Pittsburgh, but returned to California, where he eventually gave up music and became a chiropractor in 1983. Tripp: "I just lost interest in music."
discography
chiropractor
from california has a song in his heart
patrick
peterson 8/13/00
© the sun herald.
chiropractor
from california has a song in his heart
patrick peterson
8/13/00 © the sun herald.
A refugee from California has landed on the Coast.
Arthur Tripp, a chiropractor, fled Humboldt County in
March and moved his business to Gulfport to avoid the inspections, regulations
and political correctness that became oppressive.
"I couldn't take it another week," said Tripp, 55. "The
government controls everything about your personal property."
In the 1960s, California had a reputation as a haven for personal expression,
but the state has matured into a crowded, over-orderly and stifling society,
Tripp said.
"You can't go anyplace in California and be free," he said. "The
inmates are running the asylum."
Tripp owned 10 acres of undeveloped land 300 miles north of San Francisco and complained that he couldn't cut a tree or dig a hole without permission from the local government. After a complaint from a former tenant, government inspectors demanded that he pay for expensive tests on his water system, which he said were unnecessary.
"I had ownership, but the state had control," he said.
Since moving to the Coast, Tripp has run across few
regulations to complicate his business or personal life. Coast residents, he
said, still enjoy their personal freedom and aren't paranoid.
"It seems like people have more sense of liberty here," he said.
"People are busy with their own lives. They're not worried about protecting
themselves."
Tripp arrived on the Coast with a fascinating resume. Before he became a
chiropractor in 1983, he was a percussionist with a symphony and a drummer with
several avant-garde rock bands of the 1960s.
Tripp started music school in 1962 and played with the Cincinnati Symphony as a student. After moving to New York City, he met Frank Zappa and began playing with Zappa's band of classically trained rock musicians.
"There was a lot of improvisation," Tripp said. "I thought I'd died and gone to heaven."
The music business led Tripp to California, where he played with Captain Beefheart for four years. While Tripp was musically successful, he found that the business failed to offer financial stability. He briefly tried to work in his father's insurance business in Pittsburgh, but returned to California, where he eventually gave up music and entered chiropractor school while in his mid-30s.
"I just lost interest in music," he said.
After nearly 20 years working as a chiropractor in California, Tripp visited Gulfport about 18 months ago and found he liked the Coast because the residents and the government were willing to let him be.
Tripp also found the South's more traditional roles for men and women are more comfortable than liberated California lifestyles.
"Out there, men and women don't know what they're supposed to do," he said. "Everybody's offended about something."
After setting up his business in May, he began advertising and networking to build a practice. Patients often are surprised to learn of his musical background. He explains that while he no longer plays percussion instruments, the manual dexterity that built his musical career also helps him succeed as a chiropractor.
Said Tripp, "If you can play a xylophone, you can work on a spine."
random notes
* 1944/09/10,
athens, ohio, usa
From: unknown
In an interview with FZ (around 1984) he (FZ) said that he was an insurance salesman.
From: unknown
Yeah, he moved back here to where he grew up and joined his father's business, and I think developed a commercial real
estate business out of it as well. I talked to him some years back, and then
tried to get a hold of him more recently without success. I finally reached
somebody at the business number who told me after a pause that he had passed
away. I was quite shocked to hear this, but later realized that I hadn't been
clear and she must have meant his father. Gerry Pratt says he is now a
chiropractor and Gerry has some other more recent info I believe. I wonder if he
still has his chops.
His work as a chiropractor apparently brought him in to
contact with his ex-employer Don (van) Vliet (Capt Beefheart), who's
supposedly ill with MS, according to Jimmy Carl Black. Interesting, as AT
didn't have many good words to say about CB (or Zappa) while he was a muso.
From: unknown
Art Tripp is a chiropractor in McKinleyville, CA. No joke!
Mike Kolesar sez:
I had the opportunity to interview Art in August of 1975 while I was working at
a community supported FM station in Pittsburgh.
Art was living in the Mt. Lebanon suburb of Pittsburgh and working with
his father at his real estate business as previously mentioned.
At the time he wasn't playing much but said he had a huge drum kit (two 24" bass drums, etc.) that was too big to
play in his house. He also
mentioned that he visited with Zappa and the band after a 1974 concert in Pittsburgh and was asked to rejoin the
band to replace Ruth Underwood, who had given her notice.
He considered but declined. He
told a number of humerous anecdotes during the interview (which was taped but never broadcast), and it
seemed his biggest gripe with Frank was that he appropriated a number of Art's
(and other band members) ideas without giving them due credit.
I didn't get the impression that he was bitter or "down" on
Frank or Beefheart, just tired of dealing with all the crap he experienced. By the way, there's a neat picture of Art
in Mt. Lebanon High School's 1962 yearbook, when he was a senior and, yes, DRUM MAJOR!
From: NudeAdGuy
Art Tripp has moved from California to Mississippi--read about it here:
http://vh60009.vh6.infi.net:80/business/docs/scene081300.htm
filmography
1971 Frank Zappa's 200 Motels
1987 Uncle Meat- (as himself)
1989 The True Story of 200 Motels
|
|
