Editing Frank Zappa (section)

=== Merchandising ===
Zappa's mail-order merchandise business, Barfko-Swill, established during the 1980s by Zappa's wife Gail, offers t-shirts, videos, posters, sheet music, and collector's recordings, most of them unavailable through other media.<ref>{{Cite web |date=August 4, 2021 |title=Barfko-Swill |url=https://wiki.killuglyradio.com/wiki/Barfko-Swill |access-date=May 2, 2023 |website=Zappa wiki jawaka}}</ref> Gail has explained why Barfko-Swill was founded: "Just piles and piles of fan mail sitting around unanswered or with no response. The first thing that we did was put a list together from the fan mail and made a Barking Pumpkin t-shirt available which we still have – same old shirt, same old logo, same old price – just to see what would happen. Everybody would write to us and ask us if there was something they could get besides records. ... That was really the primary reason for getting into the business – for setting up Barfko-Swill – in those days was to be independent. To not have to rely on a major record company's interest and ability to promote your product. And that was what the challenge was for me. I prefer the autonomy."<ref>{{Cite magazine |last=Wheeler |first=Drew |date=May 1990 |title=Just Plain Folks |url=https://www.afka.net/Articles/1990-05_Billboard_2.htm |magazine=Billboard}}</ref>

From 1983 to 1993, Barfko-Swill was run by [[Gerry Fialka]];<ref>{{Cite book|last=de Kloet|first=Co|title=Frank & Co|publisher=Haver Producties|year=2020|isbn=978-90-821095-3-5|location=Doetinchem, Netherlands|pages=297}}</ref> Fialka also worked for Zappa as archivist, production assistant, tour assistant, and [[Handyman|factotum]],<ref>{{Cite book|last=Wills|first=Geoff|title=Zappa and Jazz: Did it Really Smell Funny, Frank?|publisher=Matador|year=2015|isbn=978-1784623913|location=Leicester, UK}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|last=Rosenfeld|first=Hank|date=February 18, 2001|title=McLuhan's Minion|work=Los Angeles Times|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2001-feb-18-tm-26777-story.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211209120119/https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2001-feb-18-tm-26777-story.html |archive-date=December 9, 2021 |url-status=live}}</ref><ref name=":12">{{Cite journal|last=editorial staff|date=September 13, 2007|title=Gerry Fialka: Questioning the Questions|url=https://argonautnews.com/gerry-fialka-questioning-the-questions/|journal=The Argonaut|access-date=December 9, 2021 |archive-date=December 9, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211209120120/https://argonautnews.com/gerry-fialka-questioning-the-questions/|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref name=":10">{{Cite web |last=Silverman |first=Ted |date=July 27, 2022 |title=Interview: Zappa Band Alum Ike Willis & Stinkfoot Orchestra's Nick Chargin |url=https://www.jambase.com/article/ike-willis-nick-chargin-interview-zappa-tribute-band-stinkfoot-orchestra |website=JamBase}}</ref> and answered the phone for Zappa's [[Barking Pumpkin Records]] hotline.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Watson|first=Ben|title=Academy Zappa: Proceedings of the First International Conference of Esemplastic Zappology|publisher=SAF Publishing|year=2005|isbn=978-0946719792|editor-last=Watson|editor-first=Ben|location=Dundrennan, UK|pages=72|chapter=Houston... Fort... Marcuse: Sin versus Archetype in Zappa's Oeuvre|editor-last2=Leslie|editor-first2=Esther}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last=Gamma|title=Academy Zappa: Proceedings of the First International Conference of Esemplastic Zappology|publisher=SAF Publishing|year=2005|isbn=978-0946719792|editor-last=Watson|editor-first=Ben|location=Dundrennan, UK|pages=208|chapter=Poodles: a Zappological reading of Ulysses|editor-last2=Leslie|editor-first2=Esther}}</ref> The 1987 [[VHS]] release of Zappa's film ''[[Baby Snakes]]'' includes, as an extra feature, Fialka giving a tour of Barfko-Swill. He is credited on-screen as "Gerald Fialka Cool Guy Who Wraps Stuff So It Doesn't Break".<ref>{{Cite web|title=gerry fialka|url=https://www.united-mutations.com/f/gerry_fialka.htm|url-status=live|access-date=July 8, 2021|website=United Mutations|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20040105025331/https://www.united-mutations.com/f/gerry_fialka.htm |archive-date=January 5, 2004 }}</ref> A short clip of this tour is also included in the 2020 documentary film ''Zappa''.