From a documentary by the Wrecking Crew, – originally found on Dweezil’s (relatively) new homepage. A nice story, huh?
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Is Dweezil finally cutting the cord?
Th.
The term, “The Milli Vanilli’s of the day” couldn’t describe these guys any better. In fact, they are completely antithetical to everything Frank Zappa stood for and believed. It doesn’t surprise me one bit that they laughed at FZ and his music. FZ was always the outsider, throughout his career. As he continuously pointed out, even if a song sold a million copies, it still didn’t make that song any good – just popular.
[quote comment=”8840″]Is Dweezil finally cutting the cord?
Th.[/quote]
Not as long as there is money to be made playing FZ’s music. Still, I think Dweezil’s choice in posting a clip of this documentary on his website says more about him that it does about his Father, Thinman.
Hey, Urb, don’t be so hard! 😉
To me it’s a REAL nice story about people who didn’t care about a man, but after seeing his scores and his enthutiasism they were eager to work with him and respect him. That is this story is about. So – “these guys” are the same guys like us – not counting that we (or at least me) never played with FZ. 🙂
(BTW: my first FZ-experience was “Weasles Ripped My Flesh” on a small local radio – that was NOT the moment I became a fan.. 🙂 )
The other thing: this video was not posted by Dweezil, but by the guy who made the movie. On this new homepage everyone is free to post anything, and Dweezil seems to BE there really, he answers almost on a daily basis.
I really don’t know what this new homepage is for (DZ), but yesterday I had the idea that maybe he wants to be more independent from the ZFT, keeping the distance his mother and zappa.com. Here he seems to be more personal, more opened, etc. But that’s just a guess.
(What does the phrase “cutting the cord” mean? Is’t it the same thing?)
The “cord” is the navel-cord, of course (I always have to look up those things in a dictionary).
I had read somewhere that Dweezil had to start his own website. He “couldn’t do anything with zappa.com because that one is run by his mother”. I presume the family could be showing cracks sooner or later …
Th.
[quote comment=”8858″]Hey, Urb, don’t be so hard! 😉
To me it’s a REAL nice story about people who didn’t care about a man, but after seeing his scores and his enthutiasism they were eager to work with him and respect him. That is this story is about. So – “these guys” are the same guys like us – not counting that we (or at least me) never played with FZ. 🙂
(BTW: my first FZ-experience was “Weasles Ripped My Flesh” on a small local radio – that was NOT the moment I became a fan.. 🙂 )
The other thing: this video was not posted by Dweezil, but by the guy who made the movie. On this new homepage everyone is free to post anything, and Dweezil seems to BE there really, he answers almost on a daily basis.
I really don’t know what this new homepage is for (DZ), but yesterday I had the idea that maybe he wants to be more independent from the ZFT, keeping the distance his mother and zappa.com. Here he seems to be more personal, more opened, etc. But that’s just a guess.[/quote]
You know me, Balint, always the cynic. Perhaps it’s just me, but at very least, musically speaking, I don’t feel there was very much to celebrate about “The Wrecking Crew”. Yes, the story about FZ is priceless. Yet it proves that even after several albums he was still considered an outsider by the industry insiders.
To put it simply, The Wrecking Crew were good at what they did, but they weren’t no motherfuckers.
Re: Dweezil. If Dweezil didn’t post it, then who? Does he control his own site? Very confusing. Who is pulling the strings?
BTW, Balint, speaking of fandom, I recall the very instant I became a fan. It was 1972. My older, hippie cousin had left his copy of ‘Just Another Band From L.A.’ on his stereo turntable when he went for a shower. By the time he got out of the shower, “Dog Breath” had just begun. By the end of “Billy the Mountain” I was a bona fide Zappa freak. I was eight years old. I drove my poor dear Mother nearly mad listening to the Mothers for the next seven years until I – along with my record collection – moved out.
[quote post=”2952″]Re: Dweezil. If Dweezil didn’t post it, then who? Does he control his own site? Very confusing. Who is pulling the strings?[/quote]
Folowing Thinman’s thoughts: I think this is a website that the ZFT was always talking about, though they never made it: (as I see it) it’s more user-friendly, more opened, visitors might register and chat and upload stuff – this video above was also uploaded by a simple visitor.
Dweezil also says somewhere that he’s “auditioning” keyboard-players online, so he welcomes videos about musicians.
Another new thing is that unauthorised audience-recordings are also there without banning, so that is the reason I tend to thing that this is DZ’s one step towards independence. He answers almost every day, he’s kind and communicative – which he was not on his previous (though still working) page.
Sampes of the to-be-released album are also there.
I’m inclined to side with Bálint on this.
The very fact that his personal voice never really truly rang through on the zappa.com domain (zpz.com included), combined with Dweezil’s new very own shiny domain (with its low-threshold, inclusive, community-feel attitude), seems to indicate that he is looking to separate his (online) persona from GZ’s.
It is in any case an interesting development, if only from an armchair freudian psychological point of view. 😉
Speaking of freudian, did you see his pedalboard on the tour dates section? WTF, no wonder he can’t pay his singers.
It is also remarkable, that on zappa.com there is no official hint or link to dweezilzappaworld.com
Th.
Damn, I’d hate to be the vaultmeister stuck between those two. And you think the guy has a dream job, eh?
It’s funny: I got looked on that TV show, “Lost”, and, in one episode, one characters dad died, and the mother told her that since all his money was put in a living trust, she gets NOTHING w/o moms ‘say-so’!
Maybe Dweez took a out loan to make ZPZ happen?
[quote comment=”8882″]Damn, I’d hate to be the vaultmeister stuck between those two. And you think the guy has a dream job, eh?[/quote]
I think the ratio is
1 min of the first ‘Peaches’ jam : 1 day of Gail’s redunzel
a stray moment (more or less) from this formula will lead to a brutal whipping with the Roxy reels.
My God, those bathroom photos! The lad has abs of steel!
Fresh new Imperial, too. Yikes.
Now that I’ve gotten most of my foot out of my “knee-jerk-cynical” mouth, Balint – I didn’t realize that visitors to Dweezil’s site could register and chat and upload stuff. I wish the site well. I might not always agree with it, yet it’s ultimate aim seems admirable.
[quote comment=”8881″]It is also remarkable, that on zappa.com there is no official hint or link to dweezilzappaworld.com
Th.[/quote]
Not even a friendly cease and desist order?
[quote comment=”8886″]Now that I’ve gotten most of my foot out of my “knee-jerk-cynical” mouth, Balint – I didn’t realize that visitors to Dweezil’s site could register and chat and upload stuff. I wish the site well. I might not always agree with it, yet it’s ultimate aim seems admirable.
[quote comment=”8881″]It is also remarkable, that on zappa.com there is no official hint or link to dweezilzappaworld.com
Th.[/quote]
Not even a friendly cease and desist order?[/quote]
And if that weren’t enough: I couldn’t find an official link or connection from dweezilzappaworld.com to zappa.com and ZFT. I wish Dweezil good luck because his attitude in communication with the public seems to be different from the official ZFT line. Hope he doesn’t get sued by his mother.
Th.