Not a stunt. Just fighting over money. Greed. Plain and simple. Without Dad, they are just a bunch of kids.
The sole difference is that Dweezl plays guitar and can do a Zappa Plays Zappa show. I don't see people lining up to see Moon Plays Zappa.
He should pay to the fund an they should all profit to a degree. How much is the question? Ahmet avoids in his honest statement how much that is. He does mention the $1 a couple of times as that legal angle makes him look good.
It is all sad.
There is a similar but completely different thing going on in the Dale Earnhardt family.
Dweezil responds to Ahmet's response.
This keeps getting worse. Pick up a damn phone.
http://www.dweezilzappaworld.com/posts/1982286-response-to-my-brother-s-open-letter
Sad situation all the way around...
I can't help but wonder why Frank didn't establish the trust in such a manner that upon Gail's death, all four siblings would be trustees with equal shares. Or maybe he entrusted Gail to do exactly that and she somehow changed the conditions of the trust once Frank died and she became the sole trustee....Very intriguing.
Not that having all four siblings equal trustees would somehow change what sounds like a bankrupt and possibly mismanaged trust since Gail took over, but I would bet Dweezil would at least have the power to get an accurate accounting of the value and status of the ZFT.....
[Edited on 5/16/2016 by Chain]
It seems that Dweezil has his doubts about the negative net value of the trust judging by his (according to you) every time it comes up in his response.
Dweezil Zappa - WTF Podcast with Marc Maron #688
Dweezil Zappa - WTF Podcast with Marc Maron #688
He is back on there again this week as well with a more recent interview.
Dweezil mentioned he thought the name recognition would be a problem. I seriously doubt that, zappa fans are a rabid and faithful cult, and they all know who Dweezil is. If they don't, they probably aren't familiar enough with Zappa for it to make any difference.
Name of Dweezil's tour changed, again:
50 Years of Frank: Dweezil Zappa Plays Whatever the Hell He Wants — the Cease and Desist Tour
CEASE AND DESIST TOUR 2016
June 17, 2016 at 5:11 AM
Hello Everyone,
Today was another one of those days WTF kind of days...
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/06/18/business/media/a-twist-in-the-zappa-vs-zappa-spat.html
Questions, questions, questions... flooding into the mind of the concerned young person today! People are asking me, "Why is all this ZFT stuff happening?" The shortest answer is this:
There is a contract dispute that began in 2006 when the Zappa Plays Zappa tour started. My mother reneged on our tour merchandise contract, keeping 100% of the tour merch revenue for herself from 2006-2015. She failed to resolve this injustice in her lifetime. Ahmet and Diva Zappa have the ability to resolve the injustice as trustees of the ZFT. Instead of trying to make things better they have made things worse by demanding to continue to take 100% of the tour merch revenue from me and if I am not agreeable then I am not allowed to continue touring, according to them. I can continue to tour but not as Zappa Plays Zappa. I changed my name to a perfectly legal new name Dweezil Zappa Plays Frank Zappa. Since then they have sent me misguided threats of prosecution and another CEASE and DESIST letter. It has become quite an unfortunate situation. The odd part is I offered them a very fair and generous opportunity to sell ZFT merch on my tour to which I would split 50/50. I didn't have to do that. Surprisingly, they rejected it. I guess they would rather have 100% of nothing than 50% of something. Anyway that ship has sailed...
I can offer you some insight in to the questions I have myself by sharing the conclusion of my lawyer's response to the most recent Cease and Desist letter I received from the ZFT.
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Putting all of the legal issues aside, none of the positions you have taken make sense from a business prospective. Dweezil is an acclaimed musician in his own right. To your own detriment, you have now stopped him from using his father’s name as a fair and accurate description of the music he intends to play. Dweezil has diligently and faithfully maintained a presence of his father’s legendary music within the worldwide public eye for a decade without any cease and desist letters from Gail Zappa. No one benefited greater from Dweezil’s efforts than Gail Zappa and the Zappa Family Trust, yet your client threatened litigation as soon as he became a trustee.
Dweezil has done more than anyone in the family, including Frank’s widow, to promote Frank Zappa as a musician/composer, as a brand and a cultural and musical icon. He has done so with humility and the utmost integrity. Your client has continuously tried to stop him, all the while ignoring the many musicians and bands across the globe who actually infringe on Frank Zappa’s name and likeness. What are you and your client really trying to achieve?
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My final thoughts:
When there is an injustice what do you often see people do? They rally together, make signs and shout in the streets so that people can hear about the injustice they are suffering.
Since the efforts to deal with this ZFT matter privately have been met with threats I have been put into the position to have to share the story publicly and stand up for myself by figuratively walking the picket line with a sign that says ZFT Don't Tread On Me!
The last thing I want is for any of this drama to overshadow my Father's music. His commitment to excellence and his integrity have always been a guiding light for me.
I understand there may be some public confusion about all of this. Multiple name changes etc. I also understand that this drama may be a turn off to people.
At the end of the day I believe my father's music deserves to be heard not silenced. I will now be playing it with an even stronger resolve than ever before under the name my father gave me:
DWEEZIL ZAPPA
I would like to thank everyone for their support . Because of the absurdity of it all I have named our upcoming tour the CEASE AND DESIST TOUR 2016.
We are still celebrating 50 Years Of Frank Zappa Music!
Come and join us on the road this Summer and this Fall!
***YES there will be CEASE AND DESIST 2016 tour shirts and other new NON zft merch.
http://www.latimes.com/projects/la-ca-ms-frank-zappa-legacy/
The Zappa kids in happier times, from left, Diva, Ahmet, Moon and Dweezil Zappa at the Los Angeles premiere of the film “Scream” in 1996.
Moon Zappa on June 21, 2016.
Moon Zappa Shares Heartfelt Post About Family Drama
Hello Good People Of Earth,
This week's tales and whiskers from Monday, June 20, 2016 through Sunday, June 26, 2016.
Home from a non-stop press tour for EAT THAT QUESTION, the fantastic documentary by THORSTON SCHÜTTE about my sweetiegenius, First Amendment-loving, American composer dad - in theaters now – the Nuart in LA and Film Forum in New York City. Keep your eyes and ears open for it’s run in your town. 99 per cent AMAZING reviews. Did you see it yet? What did YOU think?
In New York I experienced fast-ball queries, paparazzi blindness, and a street pigeon’s weight of false eyelashes on each eye. That’s what I get for asking a makeup gal for a little cover up for some adult acne and a kicky little cat eye. Totally tuned me in to Cindy Sherman’s work and the fun to be had as a past-her-prime, Vegas showgirl caricature of myself...
Speaking of art, while I was in the city I went to MOMA and got to see beautiful, moving and disturbing work of Nan Goldin in “The Ballad of Sexual Dependency” as well as the fun, absurdist work of Tony Oursler in his show “Imponderable”. Both of these artists appeal to my obsession with human sexuality and play while conjuring my dad’s creative philosophy “Anything, any time, any place for no reason at all.”
Thorston and I walked 60 blocks in sultry summer heat to see Penny Lane’s amazing documentary NUTS. She is a badass who, like Mr. Schütte, worked on her doc for eight long years. Inspiring to see two films born of sheer fascination and completed with passionate, detail oriented endurance. I am sure NUTS will be ETQ’s competition for next year’s Academy Awards.
After buying Mathilda trinkets from Dinosaur Hill in the East Village and some goodies from the Rudolph Steiner Bookshop and Muji and the unparalleled EATALY, I left New York more in love with bearded men and life in general than ever before. Yes, stubble counts. My uncle was clean shaven when I spent time with him and that works for me, too...
I return to the City of Angels ready to finish crushing 2016 personally and professionally. I shall begin by building a proper website since FB mostly gives me the 99 cent store, fluorescent lights, shut your immune system down feeling. Then I will get back to writing a memoir. Thanks to YOU and NY culture and the questions from interviewers and fans and your postings and support here and on Twitter, I am refreshed and re-inspired enough to jump back in. You keep asking me for another book so, I’m a doin’ it. What do YOU want to know? Specifics please.
….
Lastly I have received a slurry of shared sorrow from those of you that heard part two of the DZ/Maron podcast and from those of you that read the LA Times piece. I thank you for your kind words, warmth and good wishes. Thank you for your stories about death and your family shite. I hope my public horror gives you some healing and fodder for carrying on as well… Perhaps I will break that whole Times article down completely at a later date but in the interim…
While Dweezil and I are “beneficiaries”, the ZFT maintains there is no money, hence drastic kickstarters and auctions and Ebay house sale and no guitars for Dweezil and such...So it makes me laugh that Dweezil and I must have “done something” to not receive what isn’t there. Yet…
GZ managed to make 20 million dollars disappear with the team she had in place, the team the ZFT has lovingly kept in place. Does NO-ONE think this is INSANE? Why keep the same team that sank the ship, especially if a secret deal was struck a year earlier with no financial improvements...OR is there secret cash in offshore accounts or secret LLC’s in all their names? I was never paid for Valley Girl...I think that might have brought in a little green...
The writer says Dweezil and I will get paid when the ZFT makes a profit. Bahahahahaha. Does he have this in writing from the ZFT? My Grey Gardens mother and her monetary power grab, shell games were/are a JOKE. See EAT THAT QUESTION and pay particular attention to what my dad said about how “record companies have a peculiar way of making sure your expenses always exceed your profits.” I am certain he’d be HORRIFIED if he knew the wife he entrusted to care for all of us equally turned his homegrown label into the very thing he railed against. I hope my ex sibs wake up and decide to make him proud instead of ashamed. I’d LOVE to be proven wrong about what I am seeing but I tend to share my father’s view that science backs - objects in motion tend to stay in motion.
I wanted to turn our childhood home into a bed and breakfast/museum/retreat center where fans could pilgrimage and artists could record on sacred soil. I wanted to cook meals for you in the real Dangerous Kitchen and teach you yoga in my childhood living room. I wanted Dweezil to give you a master class on music in the home studio playing the guitars he inherited. I wanted Ahmet to give you a tour of his old bedroom and let you slide down his firepole and I hoped you'd watch Bruce Willis movies with Diva in her old bedroom with the glitter floors while she kept steady hands diligently continuing to knit her mile long scarf. I'm sorry the fans will only have "Zappa approved" dry goods and experiences from two of us instead of four. I wanted to write and direct a bio pic and do a 3-D doc on my dad and record an album of songs of my dad's I curated that girls and prudes like me might like with Pharrell Williams producing. I wanted to write and assemble the first four person family memoir about our awesome dad. Just some of my still born ideas...Oh well...
I always gave my mom love because hurt people hurt people, decimated people decimate people. I was clear on that. What I didn’t know was there were other broken people in my family. I can work with and forgive broken if it says sorry and means sorry and does sorry. Here if/when that day ever comes. More than anything I can’t help but wonder how on earth adopting GZ-flavored, rock ‘n’ roll Mommy Dearest, exclusionary and nefarious secret business practices protects OUR father’s legacy or honors HIS wishes? There is no need for secrecy if there is nothing to hide. Getting invited to Prague to hear my father’s music played live is free. Dweezil and I weren’t told about it or invited. Being included is free. Being considered is free. Being respected is free. I guess we really are all grieving in our own ways.
Lokha Samasta Sukhino Bhavantu
Moon!
