To Protect And Serve

With Zappanale #19 right around the corner this August, I figured people will need some appropriate apparel.

Say for instance, a long sleeve T-shirt (click image for details):

stop-gail-cafepress.jpg

… or how about a nice trucker hat (click image for details):

stop-gail-hat.jpg

Now, we have no idea who this Gail person is, but it just sort of sounded right in a mysterious way — and the “to protect and serve” only makes it more intriguing…

Hungry for more? Check out the store!

31 thoughts on “To Protect And Serve”

  1. Never seen anything this stupid in my life. What a waste of time! Get a life! Can’t wait for the new Zappa Plays Zappa concerts!

  2. [quote comment=”231″]Never seen anything this stupid in my life. What a waste of time![/quote]
    I would think posting a comment like that is what constitutes a “waste of time” — from your perspective, of course 🙂

  3. I think there’s better ways to approach the problem than this. If I put on one of those garments I’d feel like I’d joined a mob, or a club of some kind. Then I’d be a follower, and that’s not what Frank espoused.

    Just found the quoute on Wiki Jawaka: “Usually, when a trend starts, once you’ve assessed from photographs what the clothing style is supposed to be, you’re in. That’s what constitutes the bulk of the participants in any movement: this army of people wearing the uniform.”

  4. [quote comment=”234″]I think there’s better ways to approach the problem than this.[/quote]
    With all due respect: I do not think there are better ways. I wouldn’t be posting something like this if there were any. Besides, it’s not like I’m calling for a boycott, now is it? Breathe in, breathe out… that’s it…

  5. I don’t think everyone has to live according to Frank’s evangely. He was a genial composer and a very smart man but I have my own frame of mind and i don’t agree with many things he said/wrote.

    He used to wear a t-shirt that said “Pipco”. Does that mean he belonged to a mob?

  6. I agree that we needn’t follow Frank’s dictums, or anyone else’s.

    However, there is value to the point he’s making. It makes sense for me; others will chart their own path.

    Are these garments really helpful? I don’t see how, really. Just because her approach is overbearing, I don’t need to single out this individual for scorn and mockery, no matter how counterproductive her judgments and behavior might be.

    The Pipco analogy doesn’t seem valid. That didn’t name a person as something that needed to be “stopped.”

    All I’m saying is that, as Barry said, we take some deep breaths – and use our brains rather than our emotions to respond to the problem.

  7. Kevin, you know I and the rest of us here for that matter, value your point of view. However:

    [quote comment=”237″]Are these garments really helpful? I don’t see how, really. Just because her approach is overbearing, I don’t need to single out this individual for scorn and mockery, no matter how counterproductive her judgments and behavior might be.[/quote]

    Are these garments helpful? Is that “sign the petition” banner to the right (and the petition itself) helpful? Perhaps a better question to ask would be: why are we (by which I mean fan-sites, festivals such as zappanale, various tribute bands, etc) being singled out by the ZFT? Why has there never been the slightest attempt at a form of communication that does not involve lawyers, C&D letters, and lawsuits? Why does the ZFT’s one-way “message” consistently boil down to the proverbial “shut it down, or else?”

    [quote comment=”237″]I don’t need to single out this individual for scorn and mockery, no matter how counterproductive her judgments and behavior might be.[/quote]
    The Emperor wears no clothes, but we should not point this out. Yes?
    On the flip side: it is of course okay to send C&D’s and court orders to people, no matter how astute and well-meaning their judgments might be. Yes?

    [quote comment=”237″]The Pipco analogy doesn’t seem valid. That didn’t name a person as something that needed to be “stopped.”[/quote]
    The Pipco analogy refers to FZ saying that “we all wear uniforms (and let’s not kid ourselves)”. As such, it still stands in my view.

  8. One thing I’d like to point out is that I’m something of a nurturing-holistic Earth-biscuit Northern California hot-tub dipshit. so you might want to factor that in. Bit of a pedant and scold, too.

    In my work at the newspaper I encounter a lot of misdirected energy surrounding issues (and have been responsible some of it). Generally this has to do with people personalizing issues and attacking each other, consuming vast amounts of energy that ends up not really doing anything to resolve the controversy.

    From a practical standpoint, my sense is that calling Gail names as some have done, or producing garments that blare her name in ugly ways will only steel her resolve to continue down this road of needless hostility.

    [quote comment=”238″]Kevin, you know I and the rest of us here for that matter, value your point of view.[/quote]

    That might be a mistake.

    [quote comment=”238″]Why does the ZFT’s one-way “message” consistently comes down to “shut it down, or else?”[/quote]

    Look, I didn’t say ZFT’s policies aren’t obnoxious and counterproductive. As someone who has operated some sort of Zappa-celebrating radio show, I well know that it would be much easier not to be walking on eggshells, living in fear and worrying about getting sued just for promoting Frankness.

    In considering whether or not to continue Zappa’s Grubby Chamber as a podcast or something, I’m finding all sorts of needless complications pursuant to Gail’s prohibitive policies. I’m not even sure it’s worth doing because of that. How that helps her and the ZFT is beyond me.

    It would be so much better if Gail would be warm and embracing to the Zappa community. She could have everything she wants in terms of protecting propriety material while still building the Zappa brand and culture.

    Her big mistake is pushing when she could be pulling. Using force instead of friendliness. Does that mean I have to descend to that level too? I don’t.

    [quote comment=”238″]The Emperor wears no clothes, but we should not point it out. Yes?[/quote]

    My argument is that one can do that without objectifying Frank’s wife as a villainess. I don’t believe she is an evil person, just making a terribly counterproductive choice. Reacting rather than acting.

    [quote comment=”238”]The Pipco analogy refers to FZ saying that “we all wear uniforms (and let’s not kid ourselves)”. As such, it still stands in my view.[/quote]

    That’s fair enough. It’s just that the garments above I don’t feel compelled to wear, for the reasons I’ve explained. Your choice may differ.

  9. Hi all – thanks for sharing your views. Kevin: I see your point, though this thing is not as rude as you see it – in my opinion. It is not about “blare her name in ugly ways”, it is a message, in a partly funny way. (It’s not even close to “Warner Brothers sucks!” on rudeness 🙂 ).

    Its also one way of comunication: if G could not (=did not want to) answer ANY of the questions regarding the tribute bands, the fan sites or the petition, this is one more try to get the message to her. Okay, she might not be happy to see it… but it still is not that rude, I think. Anyway, everyone has the choice to like it or not. 🙂

  10. Gail spoke recently at a college about her need to protect & serve…Does anybody have a summary of her comments (or did she copyright them, too)?

  11. Barry: Thanks, but this was posted before her talk. I’d like to hear what she told the crowd & hear some Q & A from the audience.

  12. All good music just keeps coming back.

    Great musicians are the mirror image of ( in dogs world) golden retrievers. For some it’s 20, for others it’s 80 years, or even more, in the light of musical history.

    When will it happen to come back?

    Scholars , so far, didn’t yet invent / develop a Kondratiev curbe / wave , http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kondratiev_wave
    relating to that subject. It’s the opposite of the alpha sciences:( like mathematics, etc. ) where the truth is The Truth.

    In this case it’s about stubborn Art, the Humanities. Thus: about people. You simply can’t predict their ( amongst others ) musical behaviour.

    And that’s very good, all too human.

    Don’t care – personally – about the FZ heritage/ legacy.
    Even GZ isn’t thinking along that line.

    It will come back, reappear, in a deconstructed way.

    All other nonsense belongs to the lawyers world.

  13. just look at the evidence people. there is only one word to describe this gail person:

    N*U*T*S

    and if I’ve learned one thing in my travels, it’s that you should never, ever, argue with someone who is both

    a) mentally unbalanced

    and

    b) extremely rich

    the result can only prove catastrophic to one’s wallet and one’s peace of mind

    (though i must say, Barry, that t-shirt and cap is very attractive).

  14. Here’s what Gail said on my blog:

    http://crushallboxes.blogspot.com/2007/12/trouble-in-zappaland-december-14-2007.html

    I’ve attempted to communicate with Gail and observe her concerns while still promoting Frank via the radio show and blog, on the theory that there has to be a way.

    But, responses have been sporadic. I’m not giving up, though.

    I’d like to thank everyone for their views. Please don’t do or not do anything based on my crappy opinions.

  15. [quote comment=”255″]Here’s what Gail said on my blog:

    http://crushallboxes.blogspot.com/2007/12/trouble-in-zappaland-december-14-2007.html

    I’ve attempted to communicate with Gail and observe her concerns while still promoting Frank via the radio show and blog, on the theory that there has to be a way.

    But, responses have been sporadic. I’m not giving up, though.

    I’d like to thank everyone for their views. Please don’t do or not do anything based on my crappy opinions.[/quote]

    Kevin, I must say your attempts are, indeed, courageous. I have come to one unmistakable conclusion, though. Everything that Gail has said, worth repeating, would fill a thimble half way atop the head of a pin.

  16. It kinda reminds me of the clause in Bob Dylan’s contract that said no one back-stage was allowed to make eye contact with him…

  17. Guys, Gail’s right. People have no legal or moral right to redistribute Zappa material without the approval of ZFT. Why is that so hard to understand and comply to?

    Barking Pumpkin/ZAPPA et al are/is a small private company and you are undermining and weakening the perpetuation of their copyright, as well as allowing their lawyers to rack up infinite billable hours to prove that they ARE enforcing their claim.

    I never bought into that whole “information wants to be free” concept to justify liberating an artistic work from the commercial marketplace. And when you take an artist’s work after he’s dead, give it away to everyone with a computer, AND insult his widow and family in the process, you are fucking with Zappa’s life as callously and weasely as the men with the blue paper did.

    It’s nice to pretend you are a part of a great artists’ work. but you’re not. You are the audience. So get your feet off the stage. or go home and write your own music to give away.

  18. Guys, Gail’s right. People have no legal or moral right to redistribute Zappa material without the approval of ZFT. Why is that so hard to understand and comply to?

    Barking Pumpkin/ZAPPA et al are/is a small private company and you are undermining and weakening the perpetuation of their copyright, as well as allowing their lawyers to rack up infinite billable hours to prove that they ARE enforcing their claim.

    I never bought into that whole “information wants to be free” concept to justify liberating an artistic work from the commercial marketplace. And when you take an artist’s work after he’s dead, give it away to everyone with a computer, AND insult his widow and family in the process, you are fucking with Zappa’s life as callously and weasely as the men with the blue paper did.

    It’s nice to pretend you are a part of a great artists’ work. but you’re not. You are the audience. So get your feet off the stage. or go home and write your own music to give away.

    Lou “Please, take the towels” Ming

  19. Lou, you’re wrong. No one ever wanted to redistribute Zappa material with or without the approval of ZFT. Why is that so hard to understand and comply to?

    No one pretended he’s a part of a great artists’ work.

    Dear Lou “please, read again, carefully” Ming: please, read again carefully. Read the petition, read the connecting articles, read Gails “answer” and the responses to that. You’re insinuating people by things they necver said. Shame.

  20. Lou Ming, before you start accusing people of something, know the facts of the case first. Second, know the law on which these facts are based. Just because Gail says a thing does not make it true.

    To suggest that little ole KUR is undermining and weakening the perpetuation of the copyright of the ZFT (aka. Barking Pumpkin/ZAPPA et al) is absolutely ludicrous. If their business is weakened and undermined, it is as a result of their own actions (donating money to the democratic party, for instance), or their own ineptitude at business (hiring advertising agencies to conceive of album covers, and poorly sewn T-shirts made in Honduras, and a badly designed webpage, for example), and their seeming endless intention to insult and dismiss every last alumni and long time fan.

    But obviously, Lou, actually reading and informing yourself before speaking is something better suited here than to a Zappa.com forum. Except when you say something “the Gail” doesn’t like at a Zappa.com forum you risk censorship. That never happens at KUR. But I guess when you pick and choose your freedoms…

    So, will the real freak please stand up.

  21. [quote comment=”245″][quote comment=”244″]Gail spoke recently at a college about her need to protect & serve…Does anybody have a summary of her comments (or did she copyright them, too)?[/quote]
    I think you’re looking for this.[/quote]

    I’ve never read so much hokum since the last time I read an interview of Gail Zappa. I mean, protecting “artistic intent”? What the F#%K does that mean anyway? What exactly is the artistic intent of musical notes beyond their being played? I’ve never heard one person muddle the English language as much as she does. You just can’t get a straight answer from her in plain language. It’s obvious to me that she’s quite mad mad mad. A villain, no.

    Kevin Hoover says: It’s like a nightmare the way things have soured. I don’t know why it has to be this way. Krazee!

    As head of the ZFT, GZ is the architect of everything currently “going sour” in the Zappa community. As a community, we have always been there, throughout the years, supporting FZ music and legacy, buying his releases in numerous formats, and providing free promotion “that money can’t buy.” In return, what do we get for our troubles? We’re labeled as thieves, racketeers, copyright enfringers for posting bootleg recordings that the ZFT don’t even have copyright on, interviews from magazines they don’t own or possess copyright for, and thumbnail-size gifs of album covers. Okay. Boo hoo. Be a bully, have your way, Gail Zappa. What exactly has she achieved? A couple thousand less freaks promoting FZ on a daily basis on the web. If this is the ZFT business plan for the 21st Century, we all better take very good care of our FZ collections because I predict by 2016 they will be out of business (and we freaks will the last one’s left to promote the man’s music and legacy). Gail seems to have forgotten that you need a fanbase to sell albums to, not just a catalog to a record company.

    And let me ask, if you had the choice to see Banned From Utopia or Zappa Plays Zappa, which would you chose? Really?

  22. First off, sorry for the double post. Second, I can relate to the frustration all the die-hards have experienced since the ZFT. And third, I doubt that KUR (a really great site which has been unfairly damaged by all the legal wrangling) is the impetus of the legal action.

    Unlike many of you, I am not emotionally invested in this debacle. But I do know that if Gail runs the ZAPPA name into the ground, it’s hers to do with as she will. She was Zappa’s wife, he left his legacy to her and their children.

    Before the internet, there were tape traders that were at least tolerated by Zappa. It was a self-limiting network of fans who already owned every official Zappa release and built the kind of sub-strata that most artists could only dream of. But now that all these music blogs and MegaDataSharing servers available in Europe and elsewhere outside the US have come to be, people throw new releases up the moment they acquire them out of some Robin Hood-ian sense of self-aggrandizement.

    I know that’s not what KUR did, or does, but I know I’ve seen “Corsage,” “Domage,” “Buffalo” and more available for free download. It’s not possible for someone to police all the unauthorized sites and rate them on the degree on infringement. That’s why KUR has been made to suffer for the foolishness of others.

    You can demonize her, and hey, maybe she really deserves it. But as a Zappa fan, no matter how devoted and honest of intent, you cannot deny that Gail Zappa is Zappa now. The music is Frank’s and will always be, but somebody has to take care of business, and Frank said it was Gail’s job. Hell, she did most, if not all, of the business stuff when he was alive.

    I wish everyone well and hope that you can get the compromise from ZFT that lets a site like KUR run full steam as it had before (I’ve been a casual reader for a long time and always thought it was the best looking and best maintained of all the Zappa sites). So I’ll go back to my ugly little room and play one more (not last) imaginary guitar solo…

    Lou Ming

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