The Feuding Zappas

got have some controversy to get articles written to sell tickets after 12 years of the same thing. this should help a little.

 

I can only HOPE that THAT'S what this is!

 

To me, it is alarming - it makes you wonder if interactions like this shaped his rest-of-life views or if his rest-of-life view was already in place and he was just putting on. I've read his bio (or one of his bio's) but that was a long time ago and I don't recall much from his early years.

(At first I thought, may Steve Allen is being arrogant, but then again, he was trying to play a bicycle!)

p.s. 1962, 2 years before the Beatles hit the U.S.

 

Uh...no.

As a matter of fact, information websites and free sharing of bootlegs was one of the only things that she was actually fine with (or at least tolerated).

 

Frank, you left us far too soon.

 

Let's see...Dweezil is a working musician who plays Frank's music.

The rest of the kids do something, but it isn't music.

More to the point: If Dweezil tours using the Zappa name, does it hurt anyone else in the family? Does it diminish their estate? Unless they have a competing offer by someone who's willing to pay to have exclusive use of the Zappa name for touring, I can't see how. And if they do, how come Ahmet hasn't mentioned that as the real reason?

 

Unfortunately, the post to which you replied was correct, at least to an extent. Mike Keneally has said that after he left the ZFT, they ordered him to remove Zappa album artwork from his discography page.

 

But, to be fair, the eyebrows that got passed on by Frank are still a close second.

 

Crazy

 

Astounding... surely there is a Zappa song somewhere that would perfectly ridicule this kind of behaviour...

 

This!

 

That isn't what the article says. It only says that Dweezil Zappa needs to change the name of his tour. The fact that he has to pay to play the music is part of the business, family or not. Mike Love pays Brother Corp for playing the Beach Boys music (and also pays for the right to use the name The Beach Boys). Just because it's family is irrelevant and frankly (no pun intended) if Dweezil is profiting from something owned by the four children then he should pay.

What I'm confused about is why Dweezil is worried that the name change will confuse people. The new name is actually far clearer. So what that he can't use Frank's picture? People know what Frank Zappa looks like and the trust does have the right (apparently) to control that image.

 

I'm having a hard time finding the controversy. It can be viewed as sad that the family had to turn Zappa into a business but that is the only way to keep the money flow fair and on the books.

 

I saw Zappa Plays Zappa and met Dweezil, and he was a really nice guy (and obviously super talented). I never thought much of Ahmet, and this story seems to confirm my feelings.

 

It's pathetic...what would Frank think?

 

I'm sure that some of you know more about Frank and Gail Zappa than I do but are you really buying into this article? It's such a nothing story. It tells you nothing about Ahmet and how he runs the business since his mother died. It tells you nothing of the legal arrangements. In short it tells you nothing at all except that DZ has to pay for the name and is controlled by the trust when he uses the name. It also says that he IS NOT paying grand rights. So he's free from the family business by changing the name. That's all we know from this article, no?

 

What's the ugliest...part...of your family?

 

This whole episode is so sad and unexpected. Jeez, Gail, it seems, really kept things together. She's barely cold and the progeny are going at it big time already. Not good.

 

No, nobody has to pay to play the music of somebody else. Anybody can cover a song by anybody, anytime they want. They can do a whole set of songs by somebody else. It happens every day here in the US, via a phenomenon known as "cover bands". It's up to music venues to pay the appropriate fees for the rights of performers to perform copyrighted music. Gail Zappa went after Zappa cover bands when she had absolutely no legal leg to stand on. Now, if a cover band uses somebody's likeness, or image, or name, in some manner, that's a separate issue. But nobody has to pay for the right to simply play other people's music.

 

At least his girls didn't get the facial hair...

 

Fair enough. I got bunched up trying to explain that the article does not say that he's paying for the music. What Gail went after with cover bands doesn't seem to have a lot of bearing on what the article is talking about and it even says that she wasn't fully successful.

 

The argument seems absurd the Zappa Family Trust can protect the Trademark by contracturally agreeing to let Dweezil to use the name, and as consideration Dwezil can sell ZFT merchandise at his gigs. Everyone would benefit and they would keep family peace.

Something deeper is amiss here, and Gail sewed the seeds of division by giving two siblings control over the other siblings interest. It might get worse before it gets better.

 

That's the tendency, but it's really pointless to take sides.

If Dweezil comes to town, I'll go see him. If the ZFT releases a CD, I'm buying. Their beef is with each other, not us.

 

Do you know how Gail ruled things before she died? The 2 kids are just carrying in her tradition, but taking it a few steps further. Abhorrent behavior.

 

I'm wont to boycott companies and brands based on their politics. I'll have a hard time supporting Ahmet after hearing about this BS.