Dweezil Zappa
Photo by Andrew Greenaway 1991 in Swiss Cottage, London

In the story I wrote in 1994 based on this interview with Dweezil Zappa, the lead paragraph summed up the conversation pretty well: “His father treated life as if it were a wave of stupidity he could somehow contain. Dweezil Zappa prefers to smirk and ride the tide.”

“There’s not much use in being negative 24 hours a day,” he said. “I can spend a few minutes of my day being negative, but ultimately I like to enjoy things more than I like to promote my disdain for things.”

Dweezil was 24 at the time. He was touring with his band Z in support of the record Shampoohorn, and he also has been acting, with roles in a sitcom called “Normal Life” and a cartoon called “Duckman.” We talk about those things, as well as his love for terrible TV shows and movies, and the state of the music industry. Of course, there’s also some discussion about his father, Frank, who died in December 1993, a couple of months before this interview was recorded.

“You had to be on your toes to talk to him,” Dweezil said. “You didn’t want to just talk to him about something unless it was goofy and guaranteed for a laugh. He wanted to learn something every time you talked to him. He was great for that.”

More about Dweezil is at https://www.dweezilzappa.com/.

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