The Feuding Zappas

It's not just that. We have no idea if Dweezil has a head for business or not. As many have pointed out, Dweezil is a nice guy. The music business is not nice.

If Ahmet can say, "Look. I'll sue my own brother. Don't f*** with me!", that may be what is needed in order to preserve and promote Frank's music, sad as that may be.

(Yankee fans may have hated Steinbrenner, but the Yankees won.)

I don't know if Gail minded the arrows or now, but she took them, nevertheless. Maybe she saw that Ahmet didn't mind being the bad guy and that Dweezil did.

Many did not approve of Gail's methods, but what was the alternative? "FZ-approved master, 1993", that's what.

 

Bring on de Uncle Meat box !

 

One possible reason for appointing Diva and Ahmet to the positions that Gail did may have been that out of the Zappa kids Dweezil and Moon seem to have their own things going on, they've got a focus and an income, whilst Ahmet and Diva don't appear to. Maybe Gail 'anointed' the youngsters because she was concerned about their futures more than she needed to be about Dweez and Moon's. I'm just trying to see it from her point of view and I can't see why she'd have a problem with Moon and Dweezil but I can see why she'd have concerns about Ahmet and Diva.
The bottom line is, though, that whatever the situation I'm only in it for the music. As long as more Zappa stuff gets released I don't really care about who hates who and why.

 

Looks to me like Ahmet is planning to put some sort of "official" Zappa band together. Why else would he want to restrict the use of the name and likeness?

 

Of Frank and Gail's four kids only Dweezil has spoken to the media much about Frank's music and Gail's business decisions, and he has been contradictory, voicing opposition to Gail's approach recently while seeming to support it in the recent past. I don't think we have the information to come to any useful conclusion about why Gail ended up favoring Ahmet and Diva. The speculation is getting out of control.

 

Don't forget that when Frank knew he was dying his instructions to Gail were sell it all and get out of the business. I think he knew what she was in for, though I doubt he could have known that it would partially be his own family.

I hate to keep bringing up Keneally, but he's one of the few people who used to be on the inside of the ZFT and got out without losing their trust. When he was in Z with Dweezil and Ahmet he was a full time paid employee and expected to be at Dweezil's beck and call 24/7. They'd rehearse endlessly, record full albums, scrap them and start over. Mike made it clear that while he was grateful to have a paying job, he felt like he was being held captive without any freedom to create things of his own. He finally had enough and walked, with their blessing I believe. Bottom line is that the ZFT has a bit of a cult mentality and you certainly don't want to be on their bad side.

For reference...

INTERVIEW WITH MIKE KENEALLY, 4.6.97 »

 

I was trying to stay neutral in all this but the revelation that Ahmet and the ZFT are now blocking Dweezil from touring using the "Zappa Plays Zappa" moniker he's used for a decade is nothing short of despicable. Alex Winter and crew are now also taking fans on "tours" of the Zappa family home, including letting them wander around in the vault and peruse the collection of rare master tapes. That's both morbid and irresponsible.

 

Why is is morbid and irresponsible? Sounds like you have a bone to pick. Did you see the list of audio artifacts that are being backed up/restored thanks to Alex Winter's Kickstarter?

 

True, and I'm as guilty as anyone else.

Unfortunately, thanks to the NYT article, a pro-Dweezil faction has already picked up its pitchforks and torches on social media.

It's really too early to tell how Ahmet's tenure is going to play out based on this one situation.

Putting a black hat on one brother and a white hat on the other is the act of a simpleton. There is a lot that the public just doesn't know.

 

Yup. And a tour was one of the promised perks for bigger donors. I don't see the problem, unless there was a unified family consensus on keeping Vault contents A Big Secret. Which is sorta counterproductive. Why keep the Vault in limbo to outlast the relatively few fans who follow this music? I have high hopes, but no illusions, for the Zappa legacy to be visible to, or at least remembered by, music-heads a few generations down the road.

The biggest issue is that Dweezil doesn't have a huge hand in Vault management; he's obviously the musician of the bunch. He and Joe should be heading this part up. Other sibs should be involved with whatever abilities they bring. Ahmet appears increasingly able to create and market his own IPs. The ladies don't seem particularly capable and/or interested.

But...

It's becoming increasingly evident that there was some kind of rift between Gail and Dweezil that could stall everything, at the very least.

And we've got nothing to say about it, policy-wise.

 

Not to mention outrageous and frustrating to a loyal fanbase that's clamored for Gail to unlock that @#*&ing vault for decades.

 

All I know is that shortly after it was announce that Ahmet was taking over the day-to-day operations of the ZFT the long delayed vinyl remaster of OSFA was announced, which made me very excited. We'll see what else comes from this.

 

See also Nissan.com

 

Not necessarily to play Devil's Advocate, but if the purpose of the Zappa Family Trust was to provide for all members of the family, Ahmet may have had no option but to demand payment from Dweezil. Think of this as a family business and the trust says that all the beneficiaries will share in the proceeds of the business. The one member of the family is running the business on a day to day basis is going to think that the others are cashing in on their hard work. The children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren of Henry Ford didn't have his genius at creating a business building cars, but they all benefited from it, and in the same way, none of Franks kids are the composer and musician he was - but he intended them all to continue to benefit from it.

 

Did I imagine this or did Cal Schenkel actually create an illustration of the members of alt.fan.frank-zappa storming the vaults? Does anybody remember this?

 

To derive a paycheck from Dweezil's work?

 

To be fair, both men are deriving a paycheck from Frank's work. Dweezil is playing Frank's music, and his own compositions weren't tremendously successful, were they? So if Amhet is better at the business part, the behind the scenes part, that's still a very legitimate part of getting the music to us. Don't forget Ahmet's namesake.

 

Pardon if someone already pointed it out, but using web.archive.org you can see how, prior to March of 2010, it says Zappa Plays Zappa, not Dweezil Zappa Plays Zappa.

 

I'm ambivalent as to the importance - for Frank Zappa's legacy (not just the hardcore fandom) - of the archives vs. getting out there and performing the actual music from the catalogue to the world's attention. Which is something all the ZFT benefits from in the end. And Dweezil has always done it so well... (Not to mention that he also helped sell the merchandise while he was at it...)

"Play my music" is what I recall Frank asked the fans to do, from his death bed.

 

If nothing else, the thread title here would make a great name for a rock band...

 

Both are important. I'm sure Ahmet will do a better job than Gail.

...which is what made Gail's suing Zappanale and demanding a fee far in excess of what a small music festival could possibly afford so obnoxious. Hopefully Ahmet will have a more sensible approach to things and work with the tribute bands. It occurs to me that the suit against Zappa Plays Zappa may be just a way of saying that the Trust is not going to be playing favorites. Gail's theory that playing an evening of music by a single artist is deserving of "Grand Rights" is legal nonsense, but if they want to assert a trademark on Frank's likeness, legally they have to do so to protect it. Saying that nobody gets it for free, not even family, is harsh but may be necessary.

 

Yep - that namesake who wasn't so good at always paying out royalties to his artists; Ruth Brown sold three million records for her label in the 50s (said label referred to as "The House That Ruth Built) and was shown on the books as still owing her company money in 1983 - I'd say Mama Zappa picked the right namesake to run the company in her image...

 

I don't disagree with some of the speculated justifications for the ZFT to protect the copyrights and make money from use of the Zappa name, but what I don't agree with is the permission to use "Dweezil Zappa Plays Frank Zappa" over "Zappa Plays Zappa". How is one okay while the other is an infringement?

Clearly there is more to the story, because I can't be the only one to assume the ZFT was supportive of Dweezil and ZPZ who were the ONLY active promoters of Frank's music and archive releases for the last 10 years.

I'm not sure how many vault releases they would have sold without the promotional help of a touring band (who sold those releases at the merch tables), but it seems clear to me it would have been much much lower.

The old fans are only getting older, and freaks like me aren't that common, so if they truly don't want someone to get out there and play the music in the name of Zappa, then that is just twisted logic, and new fans will be few and far between.

Such a stubborn family.

 

Using web.archive.org, you can see that the 2010 dates were listed as Dweezil Zappa Plays Zappa as early as December 16, 2009.

Zappa Plays Zappa > Tour Dates »

I received an email from zappa.com with this graphic on November 3, 2009. The subject line reads, "Dweezil Zappa Plays Zappa 2009 and 2010 Tour Dates!"

 

As I said before, the School of Rock program is making sure that kids are learning to play Zappa music; playing a Zappa show is often the pinnacle of a SoR musician's "career" and when the AllStar bands go on tour, the odds are very good that each one will play at least one Zappa song. Paul Green, the founder of the program, is a HUGE Zappa fan, and passed that on as a vital part of the School's DNA. The owner of one of the most successful locations is the keyboard player in Project Object. When I saw the Grandmothers, the guitarist's day job was teaching at the New York School of Rock.