GZ: “No matter what I do/release you hate it.”

Last Saturday, in a topic related to Joe’s Menage, Gail Zappa posted the following in this zappa.com forum thread:

Ok. So the simple truth is that I have been trying to figure out how to respond to the meanies that infest this Forum. But I am at a loss. No matter what I do/release you hate it. Go hate somewhere else please. And kindly do it usefully – without messing up your neighbor’s thrill. The way you “use” your brains is just another fine example of the reason why democracy is being stifled by things called choices like Sarah Palin. Ahhh, but yes, there is something I do want to say: 1. I will NEVER make a Frank Zappa record. You will not see any continuation of YCDTOSA or anything approximating any other Master Recording by FZ – as though it is something he would have made – as if you have any right to think I would respect you for being anywhere near having that opinion. I do not dream through the night of holding anything near you near me. 2. To suggest you read liner notes is redundant. 3. Much as I might – no, nevermind – FZ told me long ago to NOT waste any energy on people who don’t get it so, you don’t get to know anything more about what I might want to say here. I love my tongue so much I am going to be the only one who gets to hold it.

Well I for one never said I hated everything she’s released in the last years. There’s no Zappa music one can “hate” as far as I’m concerned. There are merely variable degrees of “excellent” to “good” to “not so good” — which are relative terms to begin with, when speaking about Zappa music.

As for the overall tone of the above comment, I dunno: is she saying that to criticize an FZ release is proof that one is prone to voting for Sarah Palin?

What say ye?

46 thoughts on “GZ: “No matter what I do/release you hate it.””

  1. what can you say… Gail is not the artist, Frank was. Artists should not listen to the haters. She is obviously bugged by them. Haters are epidemic to any on-line forum. It’s part and parcel of this form of communication. The anonymity and speed of getting thought to page all ease the flow of negativity. Gail needs to leave the forum. Why is she there anyway, not enough memories? Looking for tips? Forget it.

  2. Yeah, she’s not reflecting my opinion, that’s for sure! I *love* Joe’s Corsage, thought OZ was very interesting and think that Buffalo is as important and magnificent a live performance as anything that came out in Frank’s time.

    I have quibbles (i.e. they screwed up my order so my name isn’t in OZ, and I am disappointed that, by ordering months earlier directly from Barfko that I wasn’t offered the “fan pack” DVD/CD of ZPZ that’s available at retail, i think that nearly $30 including shipping is too much for a single CD), but I have bought and plan on continuing to buy everything that they put out. Most of it has been a complete delight.

  3. I’ve never been to the zappa.com forum, but my two favorite years for live FZ/Mothers are 1973 and 1974. Two years which have not been represented (in any depth) by any of Gail’s releases. (excluding the FZ edited version of “Yellow Snow” from Australia ’73 on One Shot Deal, and the live excerpt from ’74 on Plays The Music Of, etc.)

    So I guess i would be one of the disappointed “haters” as well. quite simple really..

  4. If everybody “hates” the releases, why are they buying them? And of course we’d hate to see ROXY, too…

  5. What’s this incomprehensible code she’s talking in? Perhaps all this has affected her mental health?

  6. [quote post=”492″]Rancemuhamitz says:

    October 6th, 2008 at 5:35 pm » Quote
    What’s this incomprehensible code she’s talking in? Perhaps all this has affected her mental health?[/quote]

    [quote post=”492″]Sloatman says: Go hate somewhere else please. And kindly do it usefully – without messing up your neighbor’s thrill. The way you “use” your brains is just another fine example of the reason why democracy is being stifled by things called choices like Sarah Palin. Ahhh, but yes, there is something I do want to say:[/quote]

    [quote post=”492″]as though it is something he would have made – as if you have any right to think I would respect you for being anywhere near having that opinion. I do not dream through the night of holding anything near you near me.[/quote]

    She sounds like a Zappa record overdosed on prozak. And though I sympathize with her viewpoint and must say that I enjoyed the MUSIC on the releases, the releases themselves, at times, were questionable. It’s funny she relates the fans bitching about the releases to America’s “democracy”, to suggest that the ZFT is somehow a democracy and that the fans have any other vote but a boycott and an angry post on their main forum (which is more than what you Yanks got now! (McCain and Obama)).
    If the fans truly had a say, we would have Roxy and, more importantly, the litigations would stop. Which, is where a lot of the bad blood is coming from, IMHO- does she address that in any other way aside from the need to secure royalties and ‘composer’s intent’?
    Speaking of witch, if she thinks she isnt trying to replicate what Zappa was doing, she could have fooled me: the one, the only ZPZ?
    You know what Gail, if you’re tired of how your customers treat you? You feel like you only make the wrong decisions? Is there no more Zappa lyrics you can rape to communicate your frustration? Well, sell the tapes and get out of the business…

  7. No comment.

    really…

    No Comment.

    Ahhh, but yes, there is something I want to say…

    NO COMMENT!!!

  8. I’ve read that several times now in various states of cognition and simply cannot fathom either what is being asserted or why. I recognize some Frank phrasings, but the intent is fairly opaque.

    It certainly doesn’t sound very friendly, though.

  9. Maybe the reason she feels paranoid is because, actually, nobody likes her or what she’s been doing.

  10. No matter what I do/release you hate it.

    First off, many of the posthumous releases have been quite excellent and very well received, such as: MOFO – 4 disc version (fantastic archival release and an example to follow in all future archival-type releases), Buffalo, Wazoo, Imaginary Diseases…

    I will NEVER make a Frank Zappa record. You will not see any continuation of YCDTOSA or anything approximating any other Master Recording by FZ – as though it is something he would have made.

    Frank is dead. He won’t be making any more records in the style we have all grown to love. To expect the ZFT to do so is foolish thinking. As a fan, all I ever expect of Gail and the ZFT is to uphold the standards, or attempt to, found in the releases mentioned above. Anything less simply makes FZ look cheap and sloppy (which we all know he is not).

    Much as I might – no, nevermind – FZ told me long ago to NOT waste any energy on people who don’t get it so, you don’t get to know anything more about what I might want to say here.

    Just because I don’t always agree with Gail and the ZFT doesn’t mean that I “don’t get it.” I have an opinion, a criticism, which is a very far cry from being termed as “hate”.

    Just imagine. The Joe’s Corsage series bundled as an archival-type release under the title, Joe’s Bazaar. Any Zappa fan can read the conceptual continuity in that idea. It’s just an idea, though. A criticism. An opinion. Like assholes, we all have one, just as Gail does. It doesn’t mean I hate her, her business, her family, or her dog…

  11. Saying this is hate helps her look like the victim. Psych 101, but there you have it.

    You know, she’s the ‘victim’ of cover bands wanting to play Frank’s music –

    the horror, the horror…

  12. I hate sounding like a broken record, but for the love of GOD can they not just put out full concerts on CD and (when applicable – I’m looking at YOU, Roxy and the 1973 Sweden show) DVD. If there truly is a vault chock full of mixing-board quality concerts, they didn’t need a fan’s bootlegged tape.

    If I remember correctly, ‘The Lost Episodes’ was assembled and ok’d by FZ. And yet on the zappa.com FAQ page, the question of whether or not we’d get a second ‘TLE’ is answered with “…there will, and there is.” So much for them not replicating Zappa’s style.

    Whatever. Play the victim, Gail. Make your case, call the fan-made busts “ugly” while you bless the one in Baltimore, threaten legal action against “tribute bands” featuring ex-Zappa band members while you push ZPZ because the Dweez wants to be just like Daddy, send cease and desist letters to true fansites keeping the legacy alive while your crappy site remains updated semi-monthly with cryptic horseshit about frost being on the pumpkins, Danishes, and “order now to avoid disappointment” without track listings.

    No one outwardly said they hated you or even harbored said feelings. Until now.

    Step aside. Sell the tapes and get out of the business is what you were told, not “milk my legacy for every nickel it’s worth. Treat the real fans like shit while you pander to the sycophants.” Let actual musicians and fans of Zappa’s music handle the catalog. Give it to Ike (fat chance, I’m sure…), Art Barrow, SOMEONE else but you. Or Dweezil.

    Better yet – give the vault to Rykodisc. They’ll know what to do with it.

  13. “Mine arrived yesterday and I’ve listened to it twice. I have to say that I am disappointed in this release. The sound quality is average at best. There are no songs we haven’t already heard a thousand times already. No solos on the same level as Occam’s Razor. It’s pretty much like a low budget OZ. I really don’t get this one at all.

    For me the highlight is Frank’s solo on Zoot. But even that is interupted presumable because they had to change tapes mid-song.

    It’s really more for official release completists than anything else. Or for those who fetish over this particular era or band.”

    Is this what set her off? This is honest and, frankly, pretty mild-mannered.

  14. What Alex says pretty much sums it up for me….

    The zappa forums are pretty bitchy and nasty though… she should hang around some other fansites where there is a bit better banter.

  15. [quote post=”492″]What Alex says pretty much sums it up for me….

    The zappa forums are pretty bitchy and nasty though… she should hang around some other fansites where there is a bit better banter.[/quote]
    Why thank you, Chuck!

    At forums all across the web, whether it’s imdb.com, zappa.com, DailyKos, here (*ahem* I’m a prime suspect…*coughs*), you’ll get the radical lunatic fringe who in spite of their small numbers speak volumes.

    More importantly, it’s not like we’ve been misled by the zappa.com FAQ’s that there will “soon…” be another early Mothers release. It’s not like we’ve been tossed a line since 1999 that Roxy will be on DVD. It’s not like Gail told me in an email she was making 200 Motels on DVD a top priority.

    Oh, wait.

    The Zappa forums are a mix of ZFT-defending slaves and, like ANY OTHER FORUM, the lunatic fringe. I came across a thread there with the all-important question of whether or not FZ was circumcised. Apparently one of the lady users had “a fantasy” and “wanted to know if anyone knew”. Enlightening.

  16. I don’t hate Gail but I don’t like her manners. Not that I know her at all, but I remember bumping into Gail and Smothers at The Barbican in London after the LSO concert in 1982. I said Hi! – but Gail just looked through me and turned away, whereas Smothers smiled and and said Hi! back to me. Moreover, when I glimpsed Uncle Frank through the door to the side of the stage and waved at him he nodded back. So I concluded; Frank and Smothers – nice guys; Gail – a tad frosty!

    This experience has not left me with permanent emotional scars but courtesy costs us nothing, Gail!

  17. Gail’s clear desire to be seen as a victim is at one with her apparent contempt for Sarah Palin.

    Lefty feminoids hate La Palin because she has done it all on her own terms; a loving family, doting husband, professional accomplishments – and still a babe!.
    And she has done it by never having to play the victim card or pretend that she is an underdog who had to break the “glass ceiling” of patriachal oppression.

    Feminism, which is rooted in resentment, cannot stand or tolerate such a woman. Sarah Palin threatens their very reason for existence. Hence the unhinged and demented contempt for SP among leftists like Gail Zappa.

    After all what has Gail achieved? Like Hillary, if she had not married the man she had, we would never have heard of her. Both are entitlement princess’s pretending to be victims.

  18. Caribou Barbie is not a viable candidate for any office let alone the presidency. She has never traveled, she keeps company with radical secessionists and racists, she fired people who she didn’t like, she illegally billed AK for her family’s travels, she knows nothing about the world, economics, foreign policy…shall I go on?

    She is a joke of a candidate for right wing knuckle-draggers who only like her because of their fantasies they have about her and because they also know nothing of the world, so she is one of them.

    A president needs character, intelligence, integrity and strength. McInsane and Caribou Barbie have shown that they have none of those qualities. Obama has.

  19. [quote comment=”2558″][quote post=”492″]What Alex says pretty much sums it up for me….

    The zappa forums are pretty bitchy and nasty though… she should hang around some other fansites where there is a bit better banter.[/quote]
    Why thank you, Chuck!

    At forums all across the web, whether it’s imdb.com, zappa.com, DailyKos, here (*ahem* I’m a prime suspect…*coughs*), you’ll get the radical lunatic fringe who in spite of their small numbers speak volumes.

    More importantly, it’s not like we’ve been misled by the zappa.com FAQ’s that there will “soon…” be another early Mothers release. It’s not like we’ve been tossed a line since 1999 that Roxy will be on DVD. It’s not like Gail told me in an email she was making 200 Motels on DVD a top priority.

    Oh, wait.

    The Zappa forums are a mix of ZFT-defending slaves and, like ANY OTHER FORUM, the lunatic fringe. I came across a thread there with the all-important question of whether or not FZ was circumcised. Apparently one of the lady users had “a fantasy” and “wanted to know if anyone knew”. Enlightening.[/quote]

    The sad thing is, Alex, these forums and FZ tribute sites have become less and less about Frank and his music, and much much more about Gail and her weird, narcissistic behavior. Such an irony to leave the brilliant musical musings of such a genius as Frank Zappa in the tepid hands of such a tone deaf executor as Gail Sloatman (who apparently is far more interested in achieving some modicum of fame by proxy than actually releasing any relevant material the fans might actually enjoy, and add to the legacy of FZ rather than that of his second wife). Personally, I am sick and tired of talking about her. I don’t hate her, either. I am indifferent to her. She is best ignored.

  20. I hardly think Sloatman can be tarred with the epithet “leftist”. Her late husband had some extreme anti-leftist things to say (which is why they loved him so much in Czechoslovakia) and there is no reason to presume she has deviated from his position. One of the few things Ben Twatson got right in his terrible “Poodle Play” book was that Zappa’s was an anti-Marxist stance, even though all he hated about America were things Marx claimed were endemic to capitalism.
    r

  21. [quote comment=”2582″]I hardly think Sloatman can be tarred with the epithet “leftist”. Her late husband had some extreme anti-leftist things to say (which is why they loved him so much in Czechoslovakia) and there is no reason to presume she has deviated from his position. One of the few things Ben Twatson got right in his terrible “Poodle Play” book was that Zappa’s was an anti-Marxist stance, even though all he hated about America were things Marx claimed were endemic to capitalism.
    r[/quote]

    I think you have to distinguish between the left in America and the left in Europe (or anywhere else, really). In America, as many others (e.g. Chomsky) have pointed out, what we call “the left” would be considered centrist or even slightly conservative. What we call “the right” in America is usually just called “fascism” elsewhere. There is no Marxist party in the United States and I don’t think you’ll ever see any mainstream candidate espousing Marxist views (or even admitting to having read Marx).

    As for Zappa, I reckon his anti-Marxism was primarily borne out of seeing Marxist activists like those “student leaders” in Berlin in 1968. Same reason he avoided doing drugs – he observed the behavior of people who were into that stuff and didn’t like what he saw.

  22. It’s such a pity that you guys don’t have a sex life. C’mon, get a little fun – you seem way to distressed.

  23. The thing that really stuck out for me in what Gail said, is that there won’t be a continuation of the YCDTOSA series. DAMN!! I’m sure there’s enough stuff in the vaults to make it to Vol. 10. I’m expecting her to say she’ll NEVER EVER release the Roxy DVD as the next press release.

  24. [quote comment=”2634″]The thing that really stuck out for me in what Gail said, is that there won’t be a continuation of the YCDTOSA series. DAMN!! I’m sure there’s enough stuff in the vaults to make it to Vol. 10. I’m expecting her to say she’ll NEVER EVER release the Roxy DVD as the next press release.[/quote]

    Jamez, I think the myth of the so-called “VAULT” has been debunked by GZ’s own words.

  25. [quote comment=”2633″]It’s such a pity that you guys don’t have a sex life. C’mon, get a little fun – you seem way to distressed.[/quote]

    Have you been peeking into my bedroom late at night, Mr. Kenyon?

  26. [quote comment=”2635″]I think the myth of the so-called “VAULT” has been debunked by GZ’s own words.[/quote]

    yes, that and the fact they have now resorted to a tape sent to them by a fan for their latest release. i can’t wait for the KompleatUR Friday Boots package! Perhaps ZFingT will send out another invitation for fan mementos to include in the deluxe set.

  27. Man this realease SUCKS. Plain and simple. I just listened to it today, the recording is so thin and shallow. Man, what a waste of 22.00 dollars. Oh well, just waiting for Roxy.

  28. What I imagine people REALLY hate is paying 40 or 50 bucks for a CD in stores (I only wish this was an exaggeration) or still waiting for DVDs of 200 MOTELS or ROXY … either of which could finance several new archival projects if the proceeds from it were handled well.

    Busting cover-bands & tribute-websites isn’t exactly a surefire way to “feel the love” either – in fact it’s mighty fucking stupid. I wonder just how much of the family’s legacy she threw down that particular bog-hole. The phrase “cutting off your nose to spite your face” comes to mind. The damage that such pointless pursuit of idiocy does is ongoing.

    Concur heartily with others here: she should find a buyer for the contents of the Vault while they’re still viable material for remastering.

  29. [quote comment=”2640″]Man this realease SUCKS. Plain and simple. I just listened to it today, the recording is so thin and shallow. Man, what a waste of 22.00 dollars. Oh well, just waiting for Roxy.[/quote]

    I wouldn’t exactly say that Joe’s Menage SUCKS, Ryan, but it’s obvious that GZ and the ZFT are only selling to the diehards now (who else but a diehard Zappa fan — read completist — would be interested in a poorly recorded and mastered recording such as this one, or Joe’s Domage for that matter…). Gail certainly isn’t going to attract any new fans with this one (if that was her aim in the first place).

  30. I signed up at the zeedotcom forums when they first appeared. After a couple of weeks, and seeing who was starting to hang out there, I left – and have not been back…
    I’ve got better things to do than expose myself to the vitriol I knew was coming. Reading Gail’s post, I see things haven’t changed.
    I don’t hate anyone, or anything…

  31. [quote comment=”2644″]I signed up at the zeedotcom forums when they first appeared. After a couple of weeks, and seeing who was starting to hang out there, I left – and have not been back…
    I’ve got better things to do than expose myself to the vitriol I knew was coming. Reading Gail’s post, I see things haven’t changed.
    I don’t hate anyone, or anything…[/quote]

    I’ll have to take you on your word regarding the forums at zeedotcom, SOFA, as I avoid both them and their site proper like the plague these days. Besides the vitriol, and the poor design of their site (or, perhaps because of it), and the sporadic FZ radio, they really have very little to offer an intelligent FZ fan. That is why KUR has been my community of choice since first discovering this site.

  32. [quote comment=”2643″][quote comment=”2640″]Man this realease SUCKS. Plain and simple. I just listened to it today, the recording is so thin and shallow. Man, what a waste of 22.00 dollars. Oh well, just waiting for Roxy.[/quote]

    I wouldn’t exactly say that Joe’s Menage SUCKS, Ryan, but it’s obvious that GZ and the ZFT are only selling to the diehards now (who else but a diehard Zappa fan — read completist — would be interested in a poorly recorded and mastered recording such as this one, or Joe’s Domage for that matter…). Gail certainly isn’t going to attract any new fans with this one (if that was her aim in the first place).[/quote]
    I understand, I am one of those “die hard fans,” but you have to ask yourself why sell it? From a business standpoint it is ridiculous! Good companies don’t sell bad product, and you cannot deny that Joe’s Menage is bad product. We are all waiting on many other things IE Uncle Meat, Roxy, unknown jewels from the vault, and again we don’t get them. Who will buy those releases? Die hard fans, right? Not Joe Six-Pack…

  33. [quote comment=”2646″][quote comment=”2643″][quote comment=”2640″]Man this realease SUCKS. Plain and simple. I just listened to it today, the recording is so thin and shallow. Man, what a waste of 22.00 dollars. Oh well, just waiting for Roxy.[/quote]

    I wouldn’t exactly say that Joe’s Menage SUCKS, Ryan, but it’s obvious that GZ and the ZFT are only selling to the diehards now (who else but a diehard Zappa fan — read completist — would be interested in a poorly recorded and mastered recording such as this one, or Joe’s Domage for that matter…). Gail certainly isn’t going to attract any new fans with this one (if that was her aim in the first place).[/quote]
    I understand, I am one of those “die hard fans,” but you have to ask yourself why sell it? From a business standpoint it is ridiculous! Good companies don’t sell bad product, and you cannot deny that Joe’s Menage is bad product. We are all waiting on many other things IE Uncle Meat, Roxy, unknown jewels from the vault, and again we don’t get them. Who will buy those releases? Die hard fans, right? Not Joe Six-Pack…[/quote]

    No, Ryan, I won’t deny that Joe’s Menage (and the entire piecemeal release of the Joe’s Corsage series, which in my opinion should have been just one release — a la MOFO) is not up to the high standard we as fans of FZ’s music have come to expect from a Frank Zappa release. Then again, look who it’s coming from. In her own words, Gail has stated, not to expect a record like Frank would have made it. Obviously, she is dumbing down the fanbase’s expectation. Why? So she can sell them more releases like Menage, Domage, Corsage, and quite possibly, Garbage, too. Sure, as a die hard fan and a completist, I’ll eat them all up, but what about Zappa’s legacy? How do these releases speak to Joe Six-Pack, as you say? I know what he’d say:

    This sounds like shit — therefore, Zappa is shit.

    Great going, Gail. For all her speeches about the Zappa legacy, these spotty and haphazard releases do more damage to the man’s legacy than any tribute band, festival, or weblog ever could.

    It’s also obvious that neither Gail or Dweezil have the business acumen to run a corporation in today’s world. Releases like Uncle Meat and Roxy would certainly entice new fans. But that is assuming the mythic nature of the vault, itself. Something which I have long given up on. All I hope for now are more releases like Buffalo. Entire concerts of soundboard quality. But, while she throws away money as if it is grown from her own personal orchard, Dweezil is forced to earn it the only way his FZ taught him how: touring, touring, touring…

    Let’s hope the Frank Zappa legacy, as well as his fanbase, can survive the foibles of his heirs.

  34. [quote comment=”2647″][quote comment=”2646″][quote comment=”2643″][quote comment=”2640″]Man this realease SUCKS. Plain and simple. I just listened to it today, the recording is so thin and shallow. Man, what a waste of 22.00 dollars. Oh well, just waiting for Roxy.[/quote]

    I wouldn’t exactly say that Joe’s Menage SUCKS, Ryan, but it’s obvious that GZ and the ZFT are only selling to the diehards now (who else but a diehard Zappa fan — read completist — would be interested in a poorly recorded and mastered recording such as this one, or Joe’s Domage for that matter…). Gail certainly isn’t going to attract any new fans with this one (if that was her aim in the first place).[/quote]
    I understand, I am one of those “die hard fans,” but you have to ask yourself why sell it? From a business standpoint it is ridiculous! Good companies don’t sell bad product, and you cannot deny that Joe’s Menage is bad product. We are all waiting on many other things IE Uncle Meat, Roxy, unknown jewels from the vault, and again we don’t get them. Who will buy those releases? Die hard fans, right? Not Joe Six-Pack…[/quote]

    No, Ryan, I won’t deny that Joe’s Menage (and the entire piecemeal release of the Joe’s Corsage series, which in my opinion should have been just one release — a la MOFO) is not up to the high standard we as fans of FZ’s music have come to expect from a Frank Zappa release. Then again, look who it’s coming from. In her own words, Gail has stated, not to expect a record like Frank would have made it. Obviously, she is dumbing down the fanbase’s expectation. Why? So she can sell them more releases like Menage, Domage, Corsage, and quite possibly, Garbage, too. Sure, as a die hard fan and a completist, I’ll eat them all up, but what about Zappa’s legacy? How do these releases speak to Joe Six-Pack, as you say? I know what he’d say:

    This sounds like shit — therefore, Zappa is shit.

    Great going, Gail. For all her speeches about the Zappa legacy, these spotty and haphazard releases do more damage to the man’s legacy than any tribute band, festival, or weblog ever could.

    It’s also obvious that neither Gail or Dweezil have the business acumen to run a corporation in today’s world. Releases like Uncle Meat and Roxy would certainly entice new fans. But that is assuming the mythic nature of the vault, itself. Something which I have long given up on. All I hope for now are more releases like Buffalo. Entire concerts of soundboard quality. But, while she throws away money as if it is grown from her own personal orchard, Dweezil is forced to earn it the only way his FZ taught him how: touring, touring, touring…

    Let’s hope the Frank Zappa legacy, as well as his fanbase, can survive the foibles of his heirs.[/quote]
    Thank you Urban! That is all folks. I can just hope for the better. As a good business would do, they would absorb feedback and react in an appropriate manner, which is not what is happening. They sabotage their forum by deleting threads and posts, they don’t listen to the wish list on their forum… Zappa could run the USA better than the chumps that are doing it now, yet the ZFTrash couldn’t even run a McDonalds. Oh well. Read em and weep.

  35. For a die hard Zappa fan, no FZ release is a bad release: it’s all gravy spread over the original catalogue, in my opinion.

  36. http://www.harpers.org/archive/2007/02/0081387

    “USEMONOPOLY
    The idea that culture can be property—intellectual property—is used to justify everything from attempts to force the Girl Scouts to pay royalties for singing songs around campfires to the infringement suit brought by the estate of Margaret Mitchell against the publishers of Alice Randall’s The Wind Done Gone. Corporations like Celera Genomics have filed for patents for human genes, while the Recording Industry Association of America has sued music downloaders for copyright infringement, reaching out-of-court settlements for thousands of dollars with defendants as young as twelve. ASCAP bleeds fees from shop owners who play background music in their stores; students and scholars are shamed from placing texts facedown on photocopy machines. At the same time, copyright is revered by most established writers and artists as a birthright and bulwark, the source of nurture for their infinitely fragile practices in a rapacious world. Plagiarism and piracy, after all, are the monsters we working artists are taught to dread, as they roam the woods surrounding our tiny preserves of regard and remuneration.”

  37. Gail, I for one love what the ZFT is doing. Keep on keepin on. That’s my attitude. I also agree, “If you don’t get it, you don’t get it.” I get it and I get all of it. I spoke to you at the Felt Forum on Halloween night a few years back and it was a privilege and a pleasure. I like what you are doing and I also like what ZPZ is doing. All of it is done with integrity and honesty. What more can we ask for? Plus it’s really, in my own opinion, The Worlds Finest Optional Entertainment”, American Blotto not withstanding. Thanks Gail.

  38. Oh-oh… the comment above is really interesting with this addition:
    “About Doug Jackson – On Monday night, October 27, 2008 I won a guitar and was invited to get up on stage and perform a blues number with Dweezil and the Zappa Plays Zappa band.”

  39. [quote comment=”5536″]Gail, I for one love(my guitar)what the ZFT is doing. Keep on keepin on (& 23 Skid Doo!). That’s my(guitar) attitude. I also agree, “If you don’t get (a guitar) it, you don’t get(a guitar) it.” I get (a guitar) it and I get all of(my guitar) it. I spoke to you at the Felt Forum(yes I know it hasn’t been called the Felt Forum in 20 years, it’s just that I’ve been in a constant daze since I won . . . [my guitar]) on Halloween night a few years back and it was a (guitar)privilege and a (guitar)pleasure. I like (my guitar)what you are doing and I also like (my guitar)what ZPZ is doing. All of it is done with (my guitar)integrity and (my guitar)honesty. What more can we ask for?(How about another guitar?) Plus it’s really, in my (guitar’s)own opinion, The Worlds Finest (free guitar)Optional Entertainment”, American Blotto not with(out my guitar)stand ing. Thanks (for the guitar)Gail.[/quote]

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