Hi all,

I was a flight attendant for TWA for 26 years (now I'm with AA) and early
one morning I found myself in the doorway of a L-1011 greeting boarding
passengers when I notice a few musicians boarding.  A minute later I see
Frank Zappa and a manager heading down the jetway towards me.  I greeted him
by name which seemed to surprise him, that I would know who he was.  I knew
that he had performed the night before in St. Louis and was now flying with
TWA to Kansas City for a another concert that night.

Later on while in-flight I served them beverages and we chit-chatted and
then while on approach to K.C. I was summoned to his seat.  Other
crewmembers had told him that a few of us F/As we were staying in K.C that
night.  He asked if I would be staying there, and promptly offered us
tickets and backstage passes to that evenings show at Kemper Arena.  Long
story short, it was an amazing night, a GREAT and inovative show (we enjoyed
it from the 3rd row center), and the highlight was being invited afterward
to hang out backstage in their lounge while local K.C. radio folk and
celebrities passed through to "meet and greet" with Frank and the band.
Everytime we'd get up to leave to make room for others, he'd insist that we
should stay and hang out.  So we did and had a great evening and lots of fun
memories.  It was sad to hear that he had passed away, and I still have his
autograph on his TWA boarding card as well as the backstage passes mounted
under glass on the roll-top desk that I'm typing this e-mail from.  This
topic brought back some warm memories!  I've flown a lot of celebrities, and
quite a few musicians over the years, but none were more memorable than
Frank!

Bill Bowman