Dweezil Zappa: Trademark Battle Update

My family is also embroiled in a legal battle related to my music... namely, who has to act interested and listen occasionally to my performances and recordings!

In all seriousness though, this is sad. I suppose there is some room for negotiation on the topic of Frank's legacy - who gets the proceeds from sales of Frank's recordings, merchandise related to his name. But the long and short of it, for me, is just that it's a shame that a family be brought to the point of having to settle in court over the legacy of an iconic father. I don't think Frank would want that, and I would hope that the family could recognize that Dweezil has worked very hard to keep the legacy of his father's music going. Just being able to play at that level is such an achievement. To be a father, and have a child honor your life's work that way, would be such an honor. And I think his family should recognize that.

Music is emotional, relational. I understand why it also has to be financial and legal, but it's really a drag. To abuse the latter aspect, ruins the spirit of the former, and that's what it should be all about.
 
Here's the comment I just left there...

Hi Dweezil,

I'm one of many that met you at the first Dweezilla Boot Camp sessions in June 2010. That was a WONDERFUL 5 days!

I came to expect some musical, social, and educational experience there. After meeting you and speaking to you I came away with much more than that along with the knowledge that you are a very open, and real/natural human being. IMHO you don't have a mean bone in your body.

To read the things you have HAD to write truly saddens me. There is something maddening in the world when jealousy and greed take precedence over family, reality, and fairness. I do not know, nor have I ever met the other people involved with the ZFT, and after reading these things I guess I don't need or want to, except perhaps to give them a piece of my mind peppered with a few choice expletives.

Stay strong my good man. "Learn and Destroy!"

Support from Canada,

Dave M
 
I bet $50 that if we could get Frank's take on this he'd be honored that Dweezil wanted to play his music on tour, and he'd say "the trust gets royalties from all my music from the past, but you (Dweezil) can do whatever you want with it and it's all yours." That ONLY seems fair. If he saw what the parties in the trust were doing now, he'd cut them out of the trust altogether.
 
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interesting line from the release...

"Or to see Dweezil side by side with our father playing dueling guitar solos?"

Seems contradictory to previous statements by the ZFT...
Maybe it will be a hologram of Dweezil too, since apparently he doesn't own the trademark to his own name, according to ZFT, so maybe they own his whole image.

I wish I was completely joking...

The ZFT folks sound like a bunch of shady money-grubbing jerks who care nothing for the music. There were other words I typed, but I erased before I hit Post.
 
In legal documents they claim the ZFT has the sole right to use our family name in the entertainment industry and that when I use my full legal name, Dweezil Zappa in connection with live musical performances, there is a “likelihood of confusion” because “it is likely that consumers will believe that [my] services originate and/or are affiliated with [the Zappa Family Trust].”

The ONLY confusion for me is why this is even happening. I guess I can understand Frank leaving the keys to the two kids who have no talent, assuming the other two had enough talent to fend for themselves. Then again, he knew how dirty everything was, so he had to be aware that it would come to this. But maybe FZ was not this short-sighted, but his wife was.

It's all so very complicated and sad.

It reminds me of the Martin Luther King, Jr. "I have a dream" speech. It's not available for fair use, and anyone who wants to use it for anything has to pay big bucks, something like $100,000.

While I don't know either Frank Zappa or Martin Luther King, Jr., I think it would be fair to suggest that neither of them wanted to be locked up in a vault, so that the curious might spend $100 in order to peek inside and have a gander. I think they may have wanted more to become of what they offered the world, in a way that transcends money and profits.

Seems Ahmet and Diva are getting either desperate or greedy, with the "fake Frank."

It's just so genuinely sad to me.
 
So, no matter how cool you think the holograph shows might be (I'd go see one of Jimi!) who would pay money to see that show, knowing the profit is going to those two idiots? Trying to pull trademark infringement on Dweezil to keep him from playing??? That is WAY WAY beyond low. That's below sleezy!

Iconic musician breeds a musician that is carving his way to being an icon musician as well. Breeds other kids who want to keep the real musician from playing music under his own family name? Freakin unbelievable. (yes, it does actually tick me off). FZ would be ASHAMED of them!
 
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Ahmet and Diva should be spanked with an court order stripping them of their power. Frank would be most displeased to see how his siblings (not to mention Gail) have tarnished his family's name and the music that he dedicated his life to.
 
In my mind, a lot of this is on Gail. Going back to the beginning of Zappa Plays Zappa, I've had a lot of disdain for how the ZFT has conducted itself. Especially in regard to their treatment of Zappa tribute bands and festivals. I was in a room before one show when Ike Willis was on the phone discussing how the ZFT had tried to get that particular show shut down - they were claiming that the venues had to pay a special licensing fee.

One of the things I really disliked was the ZFT's insistence that only ZPZ played Frank's music "right". I thought ZPZ was rather stiff until the tour when they appeared at Experience - by then, they seemed to have a comfort with the music and seemed to be giving it a bit of what Frank called the "eyebrows".

While Dweezil was the public face for a lot of that, I've come to believe that it was actually Gail pulling strings behind the scenes. The statements from Dweezil and especially Moon after her death - they both sounded blindsided by the decision to give the power to Ahmet and Diva, especially Moon. She said she thought she had patched things up with Gail while she drove her to her treatments.

I'm disappointed with some of the names associated with the hologram tour - some are names I would have never thought would be involved with something like this.

I can't see myself buying a ticket to this spectacle. I love Frank's music and his playing, but he's gone. Give me DVDs, CDs, etc., but this? No thanks. I saw Dweezil's last tour - he was playing the music better than ever. It was Frank's music but with a bit of Dweezil in it. Much more in the spirit I want in music.
 
I'm a bit young to have gotten into Zappa when he was still around; it was probably ten or so years after his death that I learned about him and his music. I actually was aware of Dweezil and Ahmet before their father simply because of my age group and their show on one of the music television channels.

I have read both sides of the story (from both brothers), and what I can find is that everything Ahmet has said publicly can be disputed by legal documents presented by Dweezil and his attorney's. The whole situation is genuinely sad because I honestly believe that Frank would have probably loved to see what Dweezil has done with his music. Without ZPZ, I probably wouldn't have the same kind of appreciation for the genius that is Frank Zappa. The whole situation is a case study on what not to do when left with a legacy.
 

Wow - I had not seen that.

What got me was that this appeared to be a deliberate attempt by Gail to drive a stake in the hearts of Dweezil and Moon. Dweezil apparently had some disagreements w/her about ZPZ that were ongoing, but Moon was quoted in one story as saying she thought she and Gail had patched up their differences and grown closer while Moon took her to her treatments. Moon was seemingly caught off-guard by the terms of Gail's will.
 
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