How do you look someone in the eye and say, ‘Thank you for the foot rub’ and be plotting against that human? It’s unconscionable.”Īccording to one insider, Gail’s decision had to do with her perceived roles of the children. For a whole year I was taking care of my mother – bringing her green juice and driving her to her doctor appointments. “We’re like shareholders who have no say in anything,” says Dweezil. Dweezil and Moon found out that their two siblings – Ahmet, 42, who runs a film and TV production company and created Disney’s Star Darlings franchise, and Diva, 36, a clothing designer – had been put in charge of the family business.Īccording to Gail’s wishes, Ahmet and Diva each receive 30 percent of the estate Dweezil and Moon each get 20 percent. “She said, ‘Do you forgive me for what I’ve done?’ I said, ‘Sure,’ not knowing what she was referring to.” When Gail died in October, Moon learned what her mother may have meant. Last year, Gail Zappa – Frank’s widow, who had controlled his estate since his death – was dying of lung cancer, and began to say “weird things,” according to Moon. “I was hoping to keep the fact that we were a Grey Gardens family a secret,” says oldest daughter Moon, 48, an actress and novelist. But instead of celebrating, the four Zappa children are locked in a drama that has bitterly divided a once-close family and exposed its quirks. Dweezil’s tour features songs from Frank’s landmark debut, Freak Out!, released 50 years ago this summer. A new, acclaimed Zappa documentary, Eat That Question, is in theaters, and a series of deluxe reissues and archival releases just hit shelves.

This should be a year for honoring the legacy of Frank Zappa, who died in 1993. “Sometimes people in the crowd yell things out, so I talk about it onstage,” he says. Unplugging his guitar, Dweezil looks out at the empty hall. Dweezil, 46, has been regularly performing his dad’s music for a decade, but his current tour is stranger – and more tense – than any before it.

It’s soundcheck time at the Capitol Theatre, just north of New York, and Dweezil Zappa is leading his band through the songs of his father, Frank.

Family feud set 1975