Over on the music board I monitor there was a story about Gail Zappa, Frank Zappa's late widow, charging her son Dweezil Zappa an exorbitant fee to play his father's music in his "Zappa Plays Zappa" touring shows. By all accounts they are stellar performances with a hot band -- but paying a fee?
Since Gail's passing apparently the two Zappa children who DO NOT perform (Ahmet and Diva) have forced Dweezil to change the name to "Dweezil Zappa Plays Frank Zappa" and have prevented him using ANY IMAGE of his famous father's face. The Zappa Family Trust continues to sue every tribute band (Gail forced The Grandmothers, a group of ex-Mothers of Invention, to stop performing Frank's compositions).
Astounding pig-headedness.
So, I've been listening to old MOI and Zappa tribute bands, and I've read/reading a couple books by ex-members about their time with Frank. He was a stern taskmaster, who did not believe in sharing the profits with the band, but he was not a royal dick like his wife & kids.
Some people are astonishingly unreasonable.
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