Zappa's Family

[paligap]

I imagine that many people on this forum already know much of the information contained in this article, but I found it interesting:
https://wapo.st/3LW8O7s

 

[jhw59]

Frank was a genius but a real jerk, a sad article.

 

[jaap74]

Would like read the article but can't be bothered to create yet another account..........

 

[DuncanS]

There was an interview with Moon Unit in the UK Times over the weekend, she has a book coming out. Gail Zappa came over as bad as Frank but in different ways, especially after she altered the will so the children got non-equal shares, thus pitting them against each other. Doesn't sound like a pleasant life when they were growing up .... or after.

 

[~dave~~wave~]

Would like read the article but can't be bothered to create yet another account..........

Your loss, it's one of the best depth reporting stories I've ever read, for anyone with knowledge and interest in the Zappa family saga.

Has anyone managed to see it without creating an account?
There are some techniques, maybe browser dependent?
Such as:
"Click on the AA symbol and you get the story without subscribing. Works on many sites
Don’t know if this is just safari.."

I got into a small kerfuffle with the Washington Post writer on the hoffman forum when I posted the "gift" link over there.

Another curmudgeon decided to "look a gift horse in the mouth" & couldn't be bothered to create an account to see it.
I foolishly pasted the entire article to appease a random stranger on the internet.

The author promptly busted me and got it deleted for copyright violation, quite rightly.
He was a good sport about it, now we're fine.

Geoff Edgers: "...appreciate the “screw the Washington Post” sentiment BUT here’s the thing.
I went to LA twice and NY and did like 30 interviews for this piece on the Zappas.

A yearlong Post subscription is like four lattes at Starbucks.
Feel free NOT to get one but we pay for our journalism through our generous readers.

Ok, lecture completed and thanks for reading!"

 

[Sonik Wiz]

There was an interview with Moon Unit in the UK Times over the weekend, she has a book coming out. Gail Zappa came over as bad as Frank but in different ways, especially after she altered the will so the children got non-equal shares, thus pitting them against each other. Doesn't sound like a pleasant life when they were growing up .... or after.

I couldn't read the WAPO article either. But I did find the one you mentioned:

https://www.thetimes.com/culture/books/article/earth-to-moon-memoir-moon-unit-zappa-review-m36m3xc3d

I'm pretty naive & poorly informed about the Zappa's other than his musical content. I read elsewhere that by the time he died too young, he had released 62 albums, and 66 more after his death!!

 

[paligap]

Would like read the article but can't be bothered to create yet another account..........

I think I shared the story as a "gift," but I admit I'm not sure whether that allows the story to be accessed multiple times when linked on a forum such as this. Perhaps jhw59 was able to read it because he was the first.

 

[ArmyOfQuad]

If you use Brave as a browser (highly recommended by me, doing a good job of staying ahead of google/youtube's war against ad blockers so they can cram more ads down your throat), when visiting the article in the link, you can click the "brave shield" icon to the right of the address bar of the browser, toggle on the setting for "block scripts", and the paywall disappears leaving the article free to read.

 

[Fourplay]

Imagine if the Washington Post was doing a profile on your family for the world to read. That would suck - I think. Fame seems to me to be a curse. When I was young I wanted to famous. They don't tell kids (or even most adults) what being famous is really like. Thank God I never pursued that path.

 

[Sonik Wiz]

Imagine if the Washington Post was doing a profile on your family for the world to read. That would suck - I think. Fame seems to me to be a curse. When I was young I wanted to famous. They don't tell kids (or even most adults) what being famous is really like. Thank God I never pursued that path.

Andy said everyone would be famous for 15 minutes. Still waiting for mine. I could deal with that. Not much more.

 

[paligap]

Imagine if the Washington Post was doing a profile on your family for the world to read. That would suck - I think. Fame seems to me to be a curse. When I was young I wanted to famous. They don't tell kids (or even most adults) what being famous is really like. Thank God I never pursued that path.

Based on reviews I've read, I suspect Moon Unit's memoir is even more negative than the WaPo story. And three of Zappa's four children spoke with the reporter who wrote the story. I guess their motives and/or ethics could be questioned, but another lesson could be to teach your children well.

 

[Simon A]

Here's a clip showing Ahmet Zappa saying that he'd found surrogate parents in Tom Jones and Dionne Warwick
(Warwicke if played in Quad).

Dweezil preferred instead admitting his obsession with Liv Tyler.

 

[mandrix]

There was an interview with Moon Unit in the UK Times over the weekend, she has a book coming out. Gail Zappa came over as bad as Frank but in different ways, especially after she altered the will so the children got non-equal shares, thus pitting them against each other. Doesn't sound like a pleasant life when they were growing up .... or after.

EDIT: I see that was already posted. mea culpa.

 

[mandrix]

So you're Frank Zappa and on the road a lot. You tell your wife your going to be, uh, having relations with the groupies.
Then you come home with a social disease and send your wife off to the pharmacy to pick up something to fix your problem.
Frank must have been a helluva guy.
But dying of prostate cancer at 52 must have sucked. Karma?

 

[jimfisheye]

Smoking like a chimney and released 66 albums. Constant workaholic. He burned through his life on full blast. Being in his band is held in the same regards as attending the most elite music schools.

 

[Guitmark]

Your loss, it's one of the best depth reporting stories I've ever read, for anyone with knowledge and interest in the Zappa family saga.

Has anyone managed to see it without creating an account?
There are some techniques, maybe browser dependent?
Such as:
"Click on the AA symbol and you get the story without subscribing. Works on many sites
Don’t know if this is just safari.."

I got into a small kerfuffle with the Washington Post writer on the hoffman forum when I posted the "gift" link over there.

Another curmudgeon decided to "look a gift horse in the mouth" & couldn't be bothered to create an account to see it.
I foolishly pasted the entire article to appease a random stranger on the internet.

The author promptly busted me and got it deleted for copyright violation, quite rightly.
He was a good sport about it, now we're fine.

Geoff Edgers: "...appreciate the “screw the Washington Post” sentiment BUT here’s the thing.
I went to LA twice and NY and did like 30 interviews for this piece on the Zappas.

A yearlong Post subscription is like four lattes at Starbucks.
Feel free NOT to get one but we pay for our journalism through our generous readers.

Ok, lecture completed and thanks for reading!"


View attachment 108393

Geoff is a really great guy. He interviewed me once for a piece they were doing on Cyd Bullens, and we got to talking about The Kinks. Turns out we’re both huge fans, and Geoff sent me a private link to the Do It Again doc, which basically tells how he almost ruined his life trying to get The Kinks back together. He’s a true believer. (And yes, I subscribe to the WaPo.)

 

[atrocity]

Smoking like a chimney

It's always been one of my pet peeves that people will swear up and down that they "never take drugs" while constantly smoking cigarettes and guzzling booze. Somewhere just in the last few months I saw a picture of Frank sitting in front of a coffee table with a full ashtray, a bottle of booze and a cup of coffee.

 

[4-earredwonder]

Well, at least he didn't eat the yellow snow

 

[Fourplay]

It's always been one of my pet peeves that people will swear up and down that they "never take drugs" while constantly smoking cigarettes and guzzling booze. Somewhere just in the last few months I saw a picture of Frank sitting in front of a coffee table with a full ashtray, a bottle of booze and a cup of coffee.

Zappa maintained that cigarettes were not drugs, they were food. Excessive consumption of certain foods can also kill you, so it kind of works. And there are those who claim that sugar is a drug, which is commonly found in modern processed food. But your point is very well taken - there was hypocrisy in his anti drug rants.

 

[mandrix]

Smoking like a chimney and released 66 albums. Constant workaholic. He burned through his life on full blast. Being in his band is held in the same regards as attending the most elite music schools.

All musicians don't share those sentiments. I knew a lot of up and coming musicians and I can't say I ever heard Zappa mentioned at all.