RIP Gail – you were the best thing that ever happened to Frank, but maybe just a wee bit overprotective of him after his death.
I don't know - I think a lot of artists would like to know that someone would be so fierce a guardian of their work after they're gone.
― the top man in the language department (誤訳侮辱), Thursday, 8 October 2015 15:17 (eight years ago) link
I'm sure they would! That's the main reason my feelings about Gail are so conflicted. No fan of an artist is owed a warts-and-all look into that artist's psyche to try to figure out what made them tick. We'd love to have it, but we don't deserve it just by virtue of our interest. I don't even know if, without Gail's dogged protectiveness, we would have gotten that look at FZ by now, or if Alex Winter's film will give us any insight we don't already have.
I admire the hell out of her while acknowledging my frustration.
― Exit, pursued by Yogi Berra (WilliamC), Thursday, 8 October 2015 15:41 (eight years ago) link
feeling your take on that, WmC
hay at least she released Bat Chain Puller!
― sleeve, Thursday, 8 October 2015 15:44 (eight years ago) link
RIP.
― Turrican, Thursday, 8 October 2015 18:08 (eight years ago) link
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/09/business/media/frank-zappas-house-can-be-yours-for-9-million.html?_r=0
― Now I Know How Joan of Arcadia Felt (C. Grisso/McCain), Tuesday, 8 March 2016 21:27 (eight years ago) link
Damn my bad Powerball luck.
― WilliamC, Tuesday, 8 March 2016 21:30 (eight years ago) link
Interview with Alex Winter about the doc he's making
http://audio.californiareport.org/archive/R201604291630/a
― that's not my post, Saturday, 30 April 2016 06:21 (eight years ago) link
Schism:http://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/30/business/media/whats-in-a-name-just-ask-frank-zappas-feuding-heirs.html
― kills 1.8 percent of household germs (WilliamC), Saturday, 30 April 2016 11:38 (eight years ago) link
jeez, what a miserable bunch
― Check Yr Scrobbles (Moodles), Saturday, 30 April 2016 14:03 (eight years ago) link
The zapples don't fall far from the tree.
― Radio Free European Son (James Redd and the Blecchs), Saturday, 30 April 2016 15:27 (eight years ago) link
If you'd told me 2 of the kids would be on the inside running the trust and 2 on the outs, peeved, I would have had the groups switched.
― kills 1.8 percent of household germs (WilliamC), Saturday, 30 April 2016 15:34 (eight years ago) link
Easy to tell who Gail's favourites were.
― (Henry) Green container bin with face (Tom D.), Saturday, 30 April 2016 15:42 (eight years ago) link
oh man I bet Frank would've loved to see this
― frogbs, Monday, 2 May 2016 12:32 (eight years ago) link
he would've sued all of them
― Check Yr Scrobbles (Moodles), Monday, 2 May 2016 13:23 (eight years ago) link
Yeah, even when Gail was alive it sounds like she was just doing Dweezil a favor, and he still had to pay a shitload of licensing. I dunno, I think if you name your kid Dweezil you pretty much owe him whatever he wants.
― Josh in Chicago, Monday, 2 May 2016 13:44 (eight years ago) link
― kills 1.8 percent of household germs (WilliamC), Saturday, April 30, 2016 10:34 AM (2 days ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
Yeah no kidding...the split between Dweezil & Ahmet is weirdly depressing to me
― chr1sb3singer, Monday, 2 May 2016 14:57 (eight years ago) link
Frank is still outsmarting his public from beyond the grave.
― The WLS National Batdance (James Redd and the Blecchs), Monday, 2 May 2016 15:03 (eight years ago) link
There's a Zappacast (available on iTunes) called "remebering Gail Zappa" that discusses what happened before this became public. The good news is that there´s a new release announced for May (Road Tapes 3, a recording from 1970 Flo&Eddie band before they became "Vaudeville"(.
― EvR, Monday, 2 May 2016 15:28 (eight years ago) link
http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/611vGp3jKDL.jpg
Can someone photoshop this into the shape of a broken heart?
― how girl's (how's life), Monday, 2 May 2016 15:35 (eight years ago) link
can anyone succinctly explain the gail problem? can't mess with the podcast now and am having trouble finding a straight account of the relevant events since 1993 …she was overzealous in protecting the FZ legacy? if anyone knows of a comprehensive account as such, would be grateful.
― veronica moser, Monday, 2 May 2016 20:30 (eight years ago) link
All I know is that apparently she had been giving Dweezil, her own son, special dispensation to tour Frank's music, and even then he had to pay. Or as reported in Rolling Stone:
Gail Zappa had previously allowed Dweezil to use the Zappa Plays Zappa in exchange for an "exorbitant fee."
Also notes:
In the wake of matriarch and longtime estate executrix Gail Zappa's death in October, son Ahmet Zappa was tasked with handling the day-to-day operations of his father's estate with help from youngest daughter Diva Zappa. Dweezil and Moon Unit Zappa are not trustees, but remain equal beneficiaries of their father's estate with their other two siblings.
So for whatever reason, Dweezil and Moon Unit make money from Zappa but are not trustees, and the other two are, and all four - or both pairs - are at odds.
― Josh in Chicago, Monday, 2 May 2016 20:54 (eight years ago) link
Also, other long time tribute bands like project/object and the grandmothers were pretty much put out business by the Zappa family.
― Check Yr Scrobbles (Moodles), Monday, 2 May 2016 21:34 (eight years ago) link
http://zappacast.podomatic.com/
― EvR, Tuesday, 3 May 2016 13:30 (seven years ago) link
I think a great way to keep Frank Zappa's legacy alive to to stop people from playing his music live (since he never gave a shot about live performance, anyway) and to put all your efforts into reissuing the back catalog for the 30th time.
― Josh in Chicago, Tuesday, 3 May 2016 13:36 (seven years ago) link
since he never gave a shot about live performance, anyway
A shit or a shot? Either way, I'm not sure that's true.
― (Henry) Green container bin with face (Tom D.), Tuesday, 3 May 2016 13:44 (seven years ago) link
It was an autocorrected joke. Zappa repeatedly more or less dismissed his records as snapshots, and promoted live music as where it was at. So it's ironic that his estate is so stuffy about letting people play his music. It would be like the Dead limiting live performances.
― Josh in Chicago, Tuesday, 3 May 2016 13:48 (seven years ago) link
Yeah there's definitely something very sad about it. I've seen ZPZ and they are definitely not a cash-in, they clearly try very hard to get things right and I always thought Dweezil was doing his old man proud.
― frogbs, Tuesday, 3 May 2016 13:58 (seven years ago) link
Gail ran the whole ZFT until Ahmet took over. Gail supported ZPZ but at one point Dweezil and her fell out with each other. Frank told Gail to sell the back catalog, but she decided not to and protect the whole image of FZ and everything that came with it. This is discussed extensively in the podcast about Gail (again).
I put my hopes on Alex Winter. He understands that the vault needs to be catalogued and conserved. Joe Travers can´t do everything by himself.
― EvR, Tuesday, 3 May 2016 14:10 (seven years ago) link
Ahmet's side of things in the wake of the NYT story:
https://www.facebook.com/notes/ahmet-zappa/an-open-letter-to-my-brother/10153667213097309
― contains less than 2 percent of the following (WilliamC), Wednesday, 4 May 2016 23:33 (seven years ago) link
That $1 a year thing sounds fishy. If it sounds too good to be true ...
My guess is that yeah, it is $1 a year, but that a big percentage of tour profit gets rolled back in to the trust. So Dweezil can play Zappa for $1, but he may indeed be losing hundreds of thousands in profits going back to the trust. Which does sound a little greedy on Dweezil's part, but I guess the only way to know would be to see the breakdown of his costs.
― Josh in Chicago, Wednesday, 4 May 2016 23:52 (seven years ago) link
My take: I saw these two bros a couple of times together, playing their own material. It was brilliant and a lot of fun. Saw the ZPZ tour and thought it was pretty boring. Dweezil and Frank have totally different guitar styles and I'd rather see Dweezil shredding his ultra-heavy Spinal Tap stylings than hammering out Baby Snakes etc for three hours. They should wise up and forget about the $$$, which I doubt they need.
― everything, Thursday, 5 May 2016 00:12 (seven years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cv3sAFe1FCM
― The WLS National Batdance (James Redd and the Blecchs), Thursday, 5 May 2016 00:18 (seven years ago) link
yeah, basically the idea is that the profits from any performance using Zappa's name and songs gets shared with the family, which would make sense if they were all going out there and doing this, but it's really only Dweezil, so I can see why it pisses him off.
― Check Yr Scrobbles (Moodles), Thursday, 5 May 2016 00:24 (seven years ago) link
i kinda don't get this story. the $1 thing seems entirely reasonable. it is common with legal proceedings, titles, contracts, etc. to involve such a fee. if you buy a used car you may pay this fee to buy the title.
it makes sense that they would want all the money to stay in the family. it is Frank's songs after all. i assume Frank set that up?
so it sounds like Dweezil just doesn't want to share the money w his family? or could it be more complex than that, maybe a legal attempt to restructure the family estate?
― AdamVania (Adam Bruneau), Thursday, 5 May 2016 00:40 (seven years ago) link
― Check Yr Scrobbles (Moodles), Wednesday, May 4, 2016 7:24 PM (24 minutes ago)
OTM. He's doing the heavy lifting and taking on a lot of touring expenses and the other 3 kids get to sit back and be handed free money.
― contains less than 2 percent of the following (WilliamC), Thursday, 5 May 2016 00:52 (seven years ago) link
adminning the business end of things even on a rinky-dink operation ilke the joan crawford loves chachi band is a goddamn 8 hour a day job minimum and nobody comes up to the biz end ppl at the end of their shift and says "you kicked ass today." adminning the zappa operations is, I am 100% sure, a fucking lot of work and a shitload less glamorous than touring.
― The bald Phil Collins impersonator cash grab (Joan Crawford Loves Chachi), Thursday, 5 May 2016 02:15 (seven years ago) link
― contains less than 2 percent of the following (WilliamC), Wednesday, May 4, 2016 8:52 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
only if he plays THESE SPECIFIC SONGS. he has the option to play his own music and keep all the money.
― AdamVania (Adam Bruneau), Thursday, 5 May 2016 10:54 (seven years ago) link
he has the option to play his own music and keep all the money.
All the money from the eight people interested in hearing "Blonde Hair, Brown Nose" and "Bang Your Groove Thang"?
― Don Van Gorp, midwest regional VP, marketing (誤訳侮辱), Thursday, 5 May 2016 12:15 (seven years ago) link
And there it is.
― (Henry) Green container bin with face (Tom D.), Thursday, 5 May 2016 12:22 (seven years ago) link
yeah I feel Ahmet is being a little disingenuous bringing up the $1/year thing (like an infomercial..."less than a cup of coffee! hell, I'll pay it myself!") but having ZPZ touring is beneficial to everyone so part of me doubts they're trying to put the screws to him or anything
― frogbs, Thursday, 5 May 2016 13:11 (seven years ago) link
i finally get why Ariel Pink is compared to Zappa all the time:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YMdhWRO4-dQ
― flappy bird, Thursday, 5 May 2016 17:37 (seven years ago) link
what a horrible song
― rockpalast '82 (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Thursday, 5 May 2016 18:44 (seven years ago) link
Think of all the hard work so many people are doing to preserve the legacy of songs like that!
― everything, Thursday, 5 May 2016 19:16 (seven years ago) link
I'm all choked up about it.
― (Henry) Green container bin with face (Tom D.), Thursday, 5 May 2016 19:27 (seven years ago) link
Dweezil was doing that song with the Zappa Plays Zappa thing a few years back.
― everything, Thursday, 5 May 2016 19:31 (seven years ago) link
is comedy r&b really so bad
― AdamVania (Adam Bruneau), Friday, 6 May 2016 03:56 (seven years ago) link
Haven't heard that one. What album's it on?
― everything, Friday, 6 May 2016 06:20 (seven years ago) link
^^^ Joe's Garage
― Double Nickels on the Pecunidigm (Dan Peterson), Friday, 6 May 2016 14:10 (seven years ago) link
Jerk's Garbage morelike.
― how's life, Friday, 6 May 2016 14:12 (seven years ago) link
Try sitting thru all 3 sides of that, one of Frank's better albums, so Zappa fans tell me.
― (Henry) Green container bin with face (Tom D.), Friday, 6 May 2016 14:13 (seven years ago) link