Dweezil Refuses

Starting off the real posting in the two weeks before Zappadan, I figure I would set the bar up with something written a year ago about 'Zappa Plays Zappa.' It was the second time around that the act came to the state of Connecticut. Having missed the first (ticket prices. yowza!) I had the scratch to get a decent seat for this showing. ZPZ has been around twice more since then. I haven't gone to either showing.

I've always worry about kids of famous people, or at least, the kids of famous people whose work I enjoy. I can't imagine talking to them, saying "Hey, how about your mom? Ain't she something?" or "Wow, your dad - like, your dad was so cool." It's a bit unfair for those kids, having a handicap when it comes to developing their own persona. Look at Hank III. At least, he's having fun. And I think all the Zappa kids are having fun, too. They seem to be doing alright for themselves. I was happy to see Dweezil and Ahmet do their thing on the couple of cable-tv shows they had. Diva, I found out, has a unique hat business on the side. And Moon's been acting, writing, and living happily (I hope.)

So, when ZPZ came about, with the Zappa kids (Dweezil, and if my memory doesn't fail me, Ahmet did some appearances on the first run. I know Diva has a tour diary you can purchase at zappa.com) starting to take up THE MUSIC and THE MANTLE, it kind of freaked me out. What came out of it was the piece below the cut: an attempt at racid fraudulent literary journalism, I guess.


November 2, 2007
Dweezil Refuses

"Man, I'd love to play 'Watermelon,' but that song's a little too heavy for me right now," said Dweezil Zappa to the crowd attending the second showing of 'Zappa Plays Zappa' at the Chevy Theater in Wallingford, Connecticut. "Maybe in a few years, we'll see." During the few breaks in the straight three-hour set, the stage is pelted with requests as everyone calls out the song they want to hear, from 'Montana' to 'My Guitar wants to Kill Your Mama.'

The shouted song request Dweezil notes is for 'Watermelon in an Easter Hay,' the climax of 1979's 'Joe's Garage.' In context of the rock opera, it is the last song ever played, before the final musician conforms to life without music. It's a high point of the album musically as Frank's guitar playing is never more beautiful than in the quick flowering of notes in between the slow, repeated theme. On the surface, it's a pretty song to listen to. With further knowledge about how Frank was invested in music, specifically in the type of 'air sculpture' guitar solos that comprise songs like 'Watermelon,' it becomes more than just a pretty sound. It’s a way to know what made Frank happy and sad, to better understand another human being - the utmost goal of art.

'Watermelon..' also shares a distinction from Frank's body of work. With two other songs, 'Black Napkins' and 'Zoot Allures' from the '76 album of the same name, Frank considered 'Watermelon' a summation of his life's work. Despite gaining radio play and national fame with songs like 'Don't Eat the Yellow Snow,' 'Dancin' Fool' and 'Valley Girl,' Frank wanted his work to be represented by three highly orchestrated, instrumental pieces. Frank Zappa always wanted to be considered a serious musician with a funny side, not a comedy group that occasionally quit fooling around. The posthumous release 'Frank Zappa plays the Music of Frank Zappa' explains this in the liner notes, notes written by Frank's son Dweezil.

Seeing Dweezil on stage play the rhythm sections along with the audio track from one of his father's concerts was a swell of mixed joys. Dweezil watches the screen just like how everyone else watches, with head titled and eyes raised in attention. In that, it was strange, as to anyone else in the building, they are watching footage of a favorite musician play, dead for nearly 15 years but immortal. But for the eldest Zappa son, it's home movies time. He's watching his Dad. With that are all the moments he shared with his father, from growing up with the man until the very last days before his death in '93.

For the last fourteen years, Dweezil Zappa has lived without his father. He was seventeen when his first album, 'Havin' a Bad Day' came out. He's spent time as an actor and a television personality, or simply as the only kid in the world named ‘Dweezil.’ Though they all have collaborated together musically, of the four Zappa children, Dweezil has taken to Frank the most. As a musician, Dweezil's guitar is tight and noted. During the concert, he performs an effortlessly rendition of 'Ship Ahoy,' a trance-fusion piece where the drums and bowing of an electric upright bass barely detract the attention away from Dweezil's light-fast hands. The song is Dweezil and Dweezil alone.

Though eldest daughter Moon Unit was the voice behind the highly successful 'Valley Girl', she has gone on to write a novel and raise a family. Younger brother Ahmet appeared with Dweezil in a handful of related projects but like Moon Unit, he's gone on to write children’s fiction. Youngest child Diva specializes in high fashion knitted goods. For the last two years, Dweezil has taken upon the mantel of his father by organizing the 'Zappa Plays Zappa' tour, a celebration of Frank's music. In viewing, this celebration is bittersweet.

During the concert, Frank is projected upon a screen. Footage of 'Cosmik Debris,' a crowd favorite, is played from 'The Dub Room Special' DVD. Frank is playing an oak brown Gibson SG guitar. It’s the same guitar Dweezil plays. During the solo, the footage of Frank dukes it out with Dweezil in a conversational exchange of guitar solos. Frank whips off a quick barrage of notes and Dweezil responds in kind. It's a wonderful display of technology and legacy mired with metaphor, as a fifteen-foot tall Frank towers over the band, specifically his son in the front.

Watching Dweezil look up to his dad, figuratively and literally, inspires admiration spliced with worry that Dweezil Zappa can't escape his own name. If there's another person named 'Dweezil' out there, they're doing nothing to make themselves known. Being unique with the Dweezil moniker is one, but the last name of Zappa carries the weirdness and the weight of a musically prolific and profound father. Had Dweezil not ventured out into many different projects in all sorts of media, it would be easy to adopt a cyncial view of 'Zappa Plays Zappa' as a child cashing in on a famous name. But looking deeper, this is not the case. It has never been the case.

Frank and Gail Zappa never had any outlandish motive or bizarre parenting habits. When it came to their children, they were always honest, caring and respectful. The Zappa children, despite having far-out names, might have the most grounded and developed childhood available when it comes to their parents. In the end, Frank was a head-of-household who nurtured a sense of individuality within his children. If they developed an interest in music, Frank supported it and helped it but didn't let his children rest on their laurels, or coast by on their name. Frank was known to be a hard teacher and a demanding musician so if anyone wanted to work on music with them, it would have to be out of an honest and sincere desire to do it.

Dweezil is sincere and honest when he talks about his late father, both at the Wallingford concert and on the 'Over-Nite Sensation/Apostrophe(')' DVD that discusses those two albums. Dweezil breaks down the audio tracks of a few songs on the DVD, marveling at the complexity of the arrangement. His appreciation is visible. When he laughs, he maybe going through the five stages of grief at once in less than a second, settling on accepting before, love.

Sincerity keeps Dweezil from playing 'Watermelon'. There's no doubt that he could, physically. But emotionally, Dweezil says he isn't ready yet. There's a line he can't cross, a step he can't take yet. Hearing him say that was the high point of the concert because it was reaffirmation that there's a point where Dweezil stops from becoming Frank. A child with less integrity would have no reservations from playing the song, complying with the paying customer to ensure they come back the next time the tour rolls through town. But turning down the request for such a reason as it being too heavy, to personal, is a sign that Dweezil actually cares about this music. He's not living off the name. He's an active participant in supporting the living being of music.

The concert ends three hours after starting with an encore performance of 'Muffin Man' that brings everyone to his or her feet. By this time, the voice that called out the request is one of the many cheering at the crescendo of sound at the concert's end. Patrons exiting talk, some mournful that their favorites weren't played. One or two voices are caught talking about Dweezil's kind refusal, each marked with a smudge of disappointment that's wiped away at how awesome it was to hear 'G-Spot Tornado' live. One day, Dweezil will play 'Watermelon in an Easter Hay.'

No matter how many are in attendance, it will be an intimate performance ‘tween father and son, two individuals coming together as family, the long divide of death rendered powerless by a the strength of a son’s love wrapped tightly around in music.