Q&A: Scott Thunes

Above Mr Thunes talks about his audition at the Zappa at the Roundhouse event. Below: still him on a) Ike Willis, b) Valley Girl, c) Solitude. Mr Thunes is a Great Guy.

For the hardcore fans: the whole Q&A in 11 parts (!), with Gail, Dweezil, Scott Thunes, Joe Travers, Todd Yvega, Ali N Askin.

George Duke, ZPZ, Gail: Zappa.com News

1st: George Duke will be joining ZPZ in Los Angeles, I think on the 4th of december. Possibly in the Aposrophe tunes. Hey hey.

2nd: Gail Zappa answers 50 questions before Christmas. Follow the link – and ask!

3rd: Here’s an interesting solo by Mathias Eklund with the ZPZ in Gothenburg (from Dark Clothes). Fun. To me.

That’s all for today, folks.

Sieg Zappanale!

Remember a certain lawsuit issued by a certain dead rockstar‘s widow against a certain fan-organized tribute festival? As it turns out, said widow just lost the appeal. Robert who mailed in the story, says:

Sorry, currently only available in german. But the message is simple: GZ had appealed against the negative decision from some time ago, this appeal has now been denied, which completes the lawsuit in favor of Zappanale.

From my understanding, the Zappanale festival even retains the right to use FZ’s trademark imperial in its promotional material.

OJAI Music Festival 2010

OJAI Music Festival artistic director Tom Morris and Doug McLennan of ArtsJournal.com discuss the programming for the 2010 Festival including works by Frank Zappa, Messiaen, Boulez, Stravinsky, and Indian Ragas presented over four days from Thursday, June 10th to Sunday, June 13th.

The World of Zappa symposium featuring speakers Gail Zappa and Ian Underwood are scheduled on Friday June 11th, between 11a.m. and 2:15pm. Concert by the Ensemble Modern in the Libbey Bowl at 8p.m. (June 11th).

For complete Festival details, click here.

Napoleon M. Brock In Der Spiegel

Nice little interview with NMB in der Spiegel where he speaks about touring with Frank Zappa and, of course, Zappanale where he will be performing this weekend. Money quote:

Gail Zappa should recognize that these music enthusiasts, like the initiators of the Zappanale festival in Germany, are not doing this to become millionaires. These friends of Zappa are ensuring that Zappa and his superb work do not fall into oblivion. Anybody playing around with the Zappa logo for T-shirt advertising or toilet seats should be given a warning, I agree. But anybody seriously performing this music should receive backing from the widow. After all, she is earning the performance fees. And her husband collected inspiration from all styles of music and interpreters and was himself a great plagiarist, before making something entirely his own.

A Lumpy Legacy

Yesterday, an eight minute feature aired on NPR entitled Frank Zappa: A ‘Lumpy’ Legacy’. From the intro:

Gail Zappa is going after cover bands she accuses of “identity theft.” Her lawyers have sent scores of cease-and-desist letters. But many of the people who continue to perform Frank Zappa’s music say they don’t need permission.

The mini-docu contains quotes from Andre Cholmondeley, Ike Willis, David Fricke, and of course: Gail Zappa… Happy listening! 😉
(thx John W. & Rick W.)

Update 04/11: From the NPR page: “After our story aired, NPR was asked to take down the two Frank Zappa pieces we had been given permission to stream.” Part of the ZFT marketing department’s effort to further promote Zappa’s music, I reckon?

ZFT Litigation Frenzy: School of Rock Edition

I kid you not.

Incredibly, having just lost the Zappanale lawsuit, the ZFT is now going after Paul Green’s School of Rock — more specifically Napoleon M. Brock’s envolvement therein. Here’s the Berger-Kahn letter (pdf). Quote:

It recently came to our attention that Napoleon Murphy Brock and the Paul Green School of Rock All-Stars are currently scheduled to perform the music of Frank Zappa […] We understand that this tour is billed as “Napoleon Murphy Brock Performs ZAPPA with the Paul Green School of Rock All-stars”. Please be advised that none of you possess any license, permission or authority to publicly perform the songs of Frank Zappa.

Should you wonder where your precious Barfko Swill dollars are headed for, look no further: this is it.

Unbelievable.

ZFT vs Zappanale: Gail Loses

Taken straight from Der Spiegel (and translated to English by yours truly):

His name belongs to me, thought Zappa widow Gail — and so she started a lawsuit against the music festival “Zappanale”, organized each year in his honor by a Fanclub. She has failed however to convince the Düsseldorf civil court.

Yay Zappanale! So. That was money well spent, wasn’t it Gail?

Here’s the article according to Google Translate, if you’re in for a laugh.
Update: here’s the article in English.

Hat tip: Robert Graf-Waczenski!