Yes, it’s that time of year again, and things have become so dire that it became necessary to make documentaries about Frank Zappa and Shane MacGowan to show us how to do it right.

Look here, brother — we’re not jivin’ you with that cosmik debris. Now is that a real poncho or a Sears poncho?

Frank Zappa’s “Hot Rats” is 50 years old. Great googly moogly!

Read all about it here, and scope out a six-disc anniversary boxed set of the work at Zappa.com.

Writes Jim Farber at The Guardian:

The dense and raucous jams that inspired the final cuts have been fully restored, and assembled in an order that makes the development of the official versions clear. “It provides context for the final product,” said Ian Underwood, who played a plethora of instruments on “Rats” and who is the only musician, besides Zappa, who appeared on every track. “Like ‘process art,’ you can hear all the things leading up to a track, so you get a feel for how it arrived at the end. It’s also interesting to see what didn’t work out along the way.”

Willie the Pimp would be s’proud.

• Editor’s note: This constitutes our official observance of Zappadan 2019.