The Feuding Zappas

...if you can afford the fee.

 

ZFD
Zappa Family Distrust, just wait for the musical, I'm currently discussing with Ahmet about the rather high fees though.

 

The only reason she had some success in getting promoters to cancel some gigs by cover bands (like Project Object) is because some people were easily intimidated by her bullying... I know Andre in P.O. and he said he eventually had a form email he would send out to clubs/promoters whenever they got threatened by Gail, it basically said, you're legally in the clear, as long as you've paid the appropriate venue license fees....

 

Simple….call it Dweezil Plays Frank. I think pretty much everybody would understand that.

 

I think I will go next time to support Dweezil though.

 

I understand Gail wanting to keep everything above board and fair/legal with bands performing Frank's work. But I never understood how she could complain that no one was keeping his music alive while at the same time making it difficult if not impossible for people to do so.

I know Mike Keneally has been very public (or as public as he dares) about his dealings with Dweezil and the Zappa family on the whole. He said he got to a point where he was starting to think they way they do and realized their attitudes were not healthy for him. The family did sort of live in a bubble where Frank's work was the be all end all and nothing else ever happened in the music biz.

 

Agreed. I've seen Project/Object a few times and chatted with Andre (they played my university quite a bit back in the 2000-2006 period when I was in graduate school) and they do a damn fine job of keeping the Zappa legacy alive. Shame she felt the need to go after them for what is clearly a labor of love on their part.

 

The fact that Frank has not come back to fix this situation is proof there is no afterlife!

 

WOW!
Bay Shore?!?!?!
I was born and raised in East Islip!

 

You are wont to believe I am. Boycott away my friend.

 

I'm a huge Zappa fan and I always thought their vilification of tribute bands like Project/Object was asinine. IMO, that probably started when people like Ike Willis (persona-non-grata with the ZFT) started playing with them. And I think it's petty that the only other musician in the family (Dweezil) is essentially being taxed by his own flesh and blood.

Dweezil has always seemed to be a positive cat. If I were him I'd pull the plug on the branding and just do my own thing, or call it "Dweezil Zappa, Frankly Speaking" or something like that. I think his target audience can get the drift of what music he is playing at gigs.

 

Dweezil is lucky his name isn't copyrighted by the trust and he has to pay royalties to use it..sheesh

 

Note that MK's leaving Ahmet and Dweezil's band Z and the ZFT happened in 1996, less than three years after FZ's death. I think you are referring to comments and observations by Mike made in and shortly after 1996. Twenty years ago.

Also, from as early as the seventies the name Zappa equals lawsuit. Whether in the right or not, most often some sort of lawsuit or legal argument was in the near future. After FZ's death this continued. From what I understand, when GZ went looking for a distribution deal for the post-1993 releases, it meant that most distributors just didn't want to get into business with the ZFT. It hurt the ZFT business model, cash flow, and quite possibly whatever momentum was left after the Ryko bulk release.

Antal

 

Not to get all sarcastic, but... To me, the most crucial part of the article was the fact that two of the children are part of the trust and two are not... Does not this guarantee years and years of disputes? Is this issue with DZ merely not the first of many?

Two kids in the trust, two kids out... that's a fire starter for years to come.

 

So sad that this is what it all boils down to , Ive seen ZPZ a few times Dweezil seems a thoroughly decent chap . Heres hoping he finds a way of profitably continuing .

 

It appears that there already was a rift between GZ and DZ for some years.

Antal

 

Keneally made comments along the lines of what Jeff mentioned in an interview I did with him, in 2000. However, as I recall one of the main reasons he left was that he wanted to do his own music, and Dweezil was paying him to sit at home while Z had few gigs and Dweezil tinkered endlessly with a CD that found a minimal audience when it was finally released.

 

Sorry to say, no. If you've been following the ZFT vs. Project/Object and similar stories over the last ten years, Dweezil has been an energetic participant in their condemnation of other bands playing Frank's music.

 

Like I said, in and shortly after 1996.

Antal

 

Yes I understand that MK left 20 years ago, but I think he could see the writing on the wall...they had a very 'circle-the-wagons' mentality where they shut out all outsiders and when Mike started shutting people out too he got scared and jumped ship.

 

I don't believe its uncommon for a trust to run that way. We talked about putting my mother's house in a trust to protect it from a future nursing homes (obviously nothing like what the Zappa's have) and we were told by the attorney that we'd have to pick one of us to be the trustee. It didn't mean the others would not be beneficiaries but the person who controls the trust can make decisions on their own. So if my sister, in this case, decided it was best to sell the house we'd have to abide by her decision. A trust does automatically guarantee good behavior on the part of the family members and I assume that while it can protect things it also can cause big issues.

So the article does say that all 4 kids are beneficiaries which means they do, in theory, benefit from the decisions of the trust. If Dweezil pays for something he could essentially be paying himself.

 

Bottom line for me: if Gail and ZFT spent a tenth of the effort curating and releasing Frank's enormous backlog as they've devoted to suing people, I wouldn't care. If there's a crime here it's the fact that so much of Frank's astounding output will never see the light of day.

 

Is it possible that Ahmet is actually the most qualified in the family to run the trust and the business? Also is it possible that the others agreed that he should run it? Just wondering.

 

Would FZ have been OK with musicians, even more one of his sons, playing his music note for note every night for years ? As much as I love Dweezil - he looks like a good guy, isn't this attitude kind of anti-Zappa ?

 

Too early to know, I think.