Sorry Dweezil, didn’t mean for YOU to be offended.

Dweezil read my blog and emailed me; he is disappointed by my comments, which were aimed at Gail, not him.

It is a fine line I walk, trying to speak (write) my thoughts without hurting anyone, but yet, I am not one to brown-nose either. Most of my blogs are very complimentary, but sometimes they hurt and disappoint. I strongly believe in the words and music of Frank Zappa and believe bands and fans have the right to play his music (they should pay the royalties of course).

I hope someday the whole mess between Mrs. Zappa and the Zappa fans and festivals comes to a peaceful solution. I think Dweezil should headline at the famous annual Zappa festival in Germany, like Ozzy headlines his Ozfest, but that's just a dream I guess.

I adore Dweezil and always will. I have yet to do an interview without mentioning Frank Zappa. I do more PR for ZAPPA then anyone around. I have done since 20 years.

A few Zappa fans (one is actually a Zappa alumni that wishes to remain anonymous) have responded to this blog today and I thought I would share that with you….

My favorite line is when Bobby called Gail "mean spirited, untalented and money-hungry." In my opinion the most horrible thing Gail does is alienate the kids from their aunt and uncles. I know you keep in touch with Dweezil. Ask him why he hasn't spoken with Candy in 14 years, even though Candy has tried to get in contact with him. Ask him why Carl had to sell his jacket on Ebay two years ago just to pay rent. IT'S FRANK'S BROTHER FOR GOD'S SAKE! I was a mild supporter of Gail until this. For Christ's sake it's just a goddamn street! I don't know. Take care, James.

Gail= Mommy Dearest

Thank you Dot,

You brought it to the point!

All we want is cooperation, our biggest dream is to have Dweezil on stage,
and I'm shure he knows this deep in his heart.
He never will have the chance to find a better promoter for his music in the
zappascene than us.

These are my true words and wishes! I love what he's doing, I went to his
shows in Germany and will go again this year.
He needs to get undepentend from his mother, to realize a career he's
supposed too.

Tell him!

Thomas ARF Society

3) (from the Zappa alumni)

Fuck that!!
EVERYONE has asked over and over and over for 'permission'
bottom line--- YOU CAN RELEASE MUSIC and the ARTIST
GETS paid, period. they cannot control it!!

Like you said -- that's why the beatles music, zeppelin etc can be
covered...
you simply pay the publishing amounts, it's all legally worked out, you
simply look it up (online) enter all the info about your cd sales,,,,and
PAY..

This (Dweezil's response) is a lame response on his part- very naive. and he

NEVER addresses your very good points

He Dweezil, if you can't beat 'em, JOIN 'EM!

MOOOOOOO WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!

4)

The one thing I agree with Dweezil in his letter is that Gail has every
right to protect Frank's music, but why is she so determined to
alienate his fans? I know that when ZPZ plays a concert the money goes
back to the ZFT. But, like you suggested, if Gail could give a little
I'm sure Arf-Society would gladly give a percentage of their profits to
Gail. It just take a little cooperation on both ends.

Steve.

5)

I hate this unholy war, but your response to Dweez was pretty cool. It does
seem that he (too) is somewhat misinformed. I'm not sure what he means by the
"many inappropriate things" the Arf Society have done, but I'm pretty sure they
haven't ever made a profit from staging Zappanale. Not ever.

As regards the t-shirts, for the last four events these haven't
featured any trademarks that I can discern (I'm wearing last year's right now,
which simply says "2006 Zappanale" on the front, and lists the bands that played
on the back). A few years ago, they had what I thought was a psychedelic bird,
that was probably in fact an abstract tache and imperial, but certainly nothing
like the copyrighted ZFT version (took me a year to work out that's what it
might be). Prior to that, for the star-studded Zappanale #13, they had a bad
drawing of Frank on the toilet, which I'm pretty sure the ZFT does not have any
claim to and which, if they did, their attorneys would be knocking on your door
about right now! In any event, as you rightly point out, fans wearing these
shirts simply promote FZ's music. As for the festival discs, I compiled last
year's in my precious spare time for NOTHING and I know that the Arfs ensure
both the CDs and DVDs are officially
registered by the German GEMA to keep the composers rights and the ZFT
paid.

The
bottom line is: Zappanale is put on by fans for the fans. The Arfs may be a
little naive, but if they were to get totally professional the event would
lose most of its charm and probably a lot of its hard-core fans.

Half of Ahment, Frank and 3/4 of me ^