Friday 4/11, The Paramount Theater
Maybe it’s unfair to say that Dweezil Zappa has made a lifelong career of being the child of a legendary musician. At 55 years old, he has amassed a decent list of solo records and even won a Grammy for his guitar playing, a good deal of which he’s lent to other people’s music.
Going back to the ’80s, he wailed on tracks from hairy fake metal bands like Winger and the group’s sleazy hit “Seventeen,” and like-minded practitioners including Extreme, parody act Steel Panther, and comic metal originators Spinal Tap. Yet it’s the complex, inimitable humorous music of his father Frank that Dweezil has committed to recreating live, particularly over the last 20 years.
This time around, under the terribly worded tour name Rox(postroph)y, Dweezil continues what he started last year—commemorating the half-century anniversary of two Frank Zappa records, Apostrophe and Roxy & Elsewhere. The former boasts one of his visionary dad’s minor hits (“Don’t Eat the Yellow Snow”), and the latter is a live album recorded with The Mothers of Invention.
Keeping your father’s music alive to share with new audiences is all well and good—perhaps it’s even admirable, especially when the man was such an original and influential figure. But I’ve yet to meet a single person who’s said that Dweezil Zappa is one of their favorite musical artists, favorite guitarists, or even that they liked how he played. I’ll admit I don’t know that many people, but I do know someone who has the logo of half-naked barbarian metal band Manowar tattooed across his back, so…
The question remains as to how long anyone can toil in the imposing shadow of his widely respected and beloved ancestor. Long enough to keep the money rolling in, I suppose. Though Dweezil did make music with his siblings over the years, he’s apparently never fully reconciled with them after a schism left him cold-shouldered from a stake in the family trust. He’s also had public battles connected to a divorce, and accusations of unpaid legal fees.
Such troubles may be far in the past for him now, and admittedly, this type of gossip has no bearing on the man as a musician or his abilities to entertain, but I’ll say this: The Ultimate Experience Package for what’s being billed as a premium ticket that comes with entry to soundcheck, a Q&A, and a Dweezil-led tour of the stage and gear, a photo op with one of Frank Zappa’s guitars, and a commemorative pick, signed postcard, and VIP laminate, costs just shy of $300—before any fees. If people are ponying up for that, it’s got to be enough to keep someone convinced to borrow the shine of a relative’s much brighter spotlight.
Supplied photo
