Dweezil Zappa rebrands upcoming shows as Cease And Desist tour

Dweezil Zappa (Image credit: Getty)

Dweezil Zappa will perform his father Frank’s music under the banner of the Cease And Desist tour as the family feud over copyright infringement rumbles on.

Dweezil has toured under the banner Zappa Plays Zappa for 10 years but recently renamed it as Dweezil Zappa Plays Frank Zappa amid legal disputes between the guitarist and the Zappa Family Trust over trademarks and music licensing.

In a blog post, Dweezeil says: “I understand there may be some public confusion about all of this. Multiple name changes etc. I also understand that this drama may be a turn off to people.

“At the end of the day, I believe my father’s music deserves to be heard not silenced. I will now be playing it with an even stronger resolve than ever before under the name my father gave me – Dweezil Zappa.

“I would like to thank everyone for their support. Because of the absurdity of it all I have named our upcoming tour the Cease And Desist Tour 2016.”

All four of Zappa’s children are beneficiaries of the Zappa Family Trust. Following the death of their mother Gail last year – who managed Zappa’s musical legacy since his death in 1993 – Ahmet and Diva were left in charge of the organisation as its trustees.

Their threatened legal action has fuelled tension with their siblings, Dweezil and Moon.

The trust claims that they own the Zappa name, and that Dweezil risked copyright infringement damages of $150,000 each time he played a song without proper permission.

Meanwhile, two previously unreleased Frank Zappa albums will be released on July 15.

Frank Zappa For President and The Crux Of The Biscuit will be issued by Universal Music and are the latest in a long line of posthumously released Zappa albums.

Frank Zappa For President features mainly composed on the Synclavier, an instrument Zappa turned to in 1990 when he was diagnosed with terminal prostate cancer.

The Crux Of The Biscuit features music recorded during the same sessions for his 1974 album Apostrophe.

Dweezil Zappa Cease And Desist tour dates 2016

Jul 01: El Prado Taos Mesa Brewing, NM
Jul 02: Morrison Red Rocks Amphitheatre, CO
Jul 05: Royal Oak Royal Oak Music Theatre, MI
Jul 06: New Buffalo Four Winds Casinos, MI
Jul 08:Port Chester Capitol Theatre, NY
Jul 09: Montclair Wellmont Theater, NJ
Jul 10: Huntington Paramount, NY
Jul 14: Pori Jazz 66 Ry, Finland
Jul 16: Montreux Jazz Festival, Switzerland
Jul 18: Milan Auditorium Di Milano, Italy
Jul 19: Lorrach Burghof Lorrach, Germany
Jul 20: Vienna porgy & Bess, Austria

Frank Zappa In His Own Words film to be released

Artists

Stef wrote close to 5,000 stories during his time as assistant online news editor and later as online news editor between 2014-2016. An accomplished reporter and journalist, Stef has written extensively for a number of UK newspapers and also played bass with UK rock favourites Logan. His favourite bands are Pixies and Clap Your Hands Say Yeah. Stef left the world of rock'n'roll news behind when he moved to his beloved Canada in 2016, but he started on his next 5000 stories in 2022.