BACK TO SCHOOL SEASON

I’M REALLY HAPPY to have snagged William Zabka — aka Johnny Lawrence from The Karate Kid and Cobra Kai — for this issue of Guitar World. Sure, I enjoy the hell out of Cobra Kai, but Zabka also happens to appear in my favorite Eighties movie (and one of my four or five favorite movies of all time), 1986’s Back to School. Ironically, Back to School is the movie I’d watch when I’d cut class — or cut school altogether — back in ancient times, and I watch it about three times a year to make sure I can still recite the dialog — just like a crazy person — and I can! In terms of our feature, I actually considered interviewing Zabka myself, just so I could ask him to say, “Screw you, Fanelli!” (He says, “Screw you, Melon!” to Jason Melon — played by Keith Gordon — in the movie), but I’m pretty sure Richard Bienstock did a much better job than I would’ve done. Come to think of it, I’d also ask him: Why is Grand Lakes University hosting diving practice between semesters? Why are all the characters dressed in fall or winter coats, except for in the diving scenes, where it’s suddenly warm and sunny? How could Buzzy the contractor enlarge, redesign, paint, spackle and redecorate the Melon/Lutz dorm room in just a few hours? Yeah, it’s probably better that Bienstock did the interview…

SHUT UP ’N WRITE YER HEADLINES: As you make your way through this issue, you might notice that the headlines on two features — Frank Zappa and Steve Vai — make obvious references to Shut Up ’n Play Yer Guitar, Zappa’s 1981 live album. Hopefully you’ll understand why when you read both stories, although I don’t want to give away any spoilers here on silly ol’ page 14. What isn’t mentioned, however, is the fact that Vai’s guitar work is all over that classic Zappa album, so it was an obvious tie-in. (To me, anyway!) Yeah, I normally don’t discuss GW headlines (It doesn’t make for the most colorful reading, you see), but it needed to be mentioned. As always, here’s hoping you enjoy this issue of GW!