Moon Unit Zappa Opens Up About Family in New Book Earth to Moon on Hot Flashes and Cool Topics

[@dietpepsivanilla3095]

Ive always been fascinated by Moon and now more so than ever. She deserves nothing but great things. And a hug, and yes, because I had my prostate checked and am alive because of it. Thank you!

[@HotFlashesCoolTopics]

Glad you enjoyed the interview. It was a great conversation.

[@kc23]

Finally! An interview where Moon Unit can dig in and flesh out aspects of her fascinating book, and to have hosts ask well thought out questions - and to listen!. Other interviews with her have been disappointing, unfortunately (bad interviewers). Thank you very much!

[@HotFlashesCoolTopics]

We appreciate your comment. She was great to interview.

[@stevedotwood]

Love her intellect and humor, she's amazing. She is Frank Zappa's daughter. And she's hypersensitive, I can absolutely relate (like totally)

[@HotFlashesCoolTopics]

She's amazing lol!

[@Canyon2023]

This was the best interview on the book! You asked the best questions and Moon gave good answers. Thank you ❤

[@HotFlashesCoolTopics]

Thank you very much. We are so glad that you enjoyed it!

[@Danuta628]

I’m so glad Ahmet is reading the book. I related to so much of that book being that I lived through that time as well - born in 1965. And read the book in just 2 days. And at the end of the book - all I wanted for Moon was for all the siblings to just come together and be there for each other - b/c Moon deserves that.. after making it and coming through the other side. So much to take away from the book but that was my one wish for her 🤞✨✨✨✨❤

[@HotFlashesCoolTopics]

@@Danuta628 my wish for families. I couldn’t put the book down!

[@rosem6861]

What a great interview! Love Moon, love the book!!!

[@HotFlashesCoolTopics]

thanks! It was such fun talking with her.

[@donkkong5551]

She Rocks! I have been binging all her Interviews this week... I had a Mom Bully also, It was tough growing up with her.

[@susanbishop5349]

I bought her book. I cried when I read it. Most times I cried out of sadness for this little girl. Then I cried out of sadness for this woman who had no family to lean on, who just totally screwed her over, even when her own daughter was in such danger and her own mother would not be there for her. Then I cried because of how amazingly strong she is. Moon is an amazing woman who has overcome so much and took control of herself in a way most people cannot. I feel a love for her❤

[@HotFlashesCoolTopics]

@@susanbishop5349 we felt the same way. It’s amazing how strong and loving she is after learning what she endured.

[@Gearhart_Music]

As someone who is currently doing recovery work, her "Step 4" comment is accurate.

[@GoDrex]

I listened to the book and I felt so bad for her. I can't understand how people can be so cold hearted.

[@RoseBlair-m9l]

I read Moon's book. It was fascinating. I really enjoyed it. I feel her mother was jealous of her. Her sibling age variance between ages is exactly as ours was. I liked how she explained about each getting a "different" parent for each child. That made sense to me. My mother was bi-polar and suffered from depression; she sounded like Gail Zappa's personality. My mother would give my one sister money secretly over the years because she was always falling into debt from over-indulging her children. In my mother's will she left 80% to her and 20% to be divided among the remaining 3 of us. We felt lucky to get that $8,000. I didn't care because it wasn't my gift to give. I didn't earn that money. It was only $100,000. I suppose bigger money causes bigger divisions in the family.

[@lusomarga]

I have read the book - it was a great read. I think the central to this is Frank trying to achieve the patriarchal dream of a successful male, i.e. to have creative fulfillment AND fame/power AND unlimited access to females AND have a family at the same time. I am quite sure that he felt genuinely happy, and in the end he shut Moon down because he didn't want her to threaten this picture with her narrative of an unhappy daughter. The problem is that this model does not serve well to accommodate the needs of others, including his children. If Gail really cared for her children she would divorce Frank and live separately creating a stable home environment for them. However, her vanity would never allow her to give up her status of a rock-star wife, knowing pretty well she would be replaced within seconds with a new chick. This would perhaps also mean that she would need to start working (a shocker!) which she never did. Hence better tolerate Frank's girlfriends living in her basement and take out her frustration and jealousy on her kids.

[@HotFlashesCoolTopics]

We really liked that the book raised all these questions. It was so interesting to talk with her.

[@williamfarr8807]

Gail worked very hard running Zappa Records and Barking Pumpkin Records from the late 1970s until her death in 2015. Frank made the music, but Gail ran the business. Frank talked a little about it in his book.

[@morrisalanisette9067]

he didnt shut moon out for any reason, he just was focused and didnt care. whenever moon would say she was afraid of something to him he'd say "just don't think about it'. meaning he followed his own will and want he wanted and was honest about it and didnt care how it affected others. He didnt think about emotions. and youre way wrong on pretty much everything you think. Frank was who moon liked of her parents he wasn't really the main problem, she just wanted to spend more time with him but he was a workaholic autistic person and a freak / degenerate. second Gail was working and very busy keeping the business afloat, and basically doing everything since Frank just wrote music and nothing else. but taking out her frustration on her kids is accurate i think

[@silentsabbath]

great conversation!

[@HotFlashesCoolTopics]

@@silentsabbath thank you! She was great to talk with.

[@meloearth]

Lots of insights. Lots of likeness to my own family and childhood patterns. I was so surprised to see Moon in her brother's internet show. It's my observation that the one who is most mature will try to gather the unit back together and that's a time waster. People will only meet you where they are and I don't feel that her siblings can ever see things from her POV. Eash person has their own and trying to gather up will only cause more hurt, as, in this process, the evidence of this truth will continue to cause hurt. If people can't be fair about money, they can't be fair about anything. I see excuses galore being told by the one sibling that's very talkative. He seems ultra self-entitled.

[@stephanea5364]

I loved the book but it seemed to me Moon also was always staying near her family even though her parents weren't so great. When she had a job in NY, far from them, she came back after two years in a house of his mother near her family home. She also always put herselg in a position where Gail had control over her. I can understand how you want to stay close to your family but sometimes, you must help yourself and not depend on them so much.

[@HotFlashesCoolTopics]

@@stephanea5364 it’s very difficult to cut ties.

[@williamfarr8807]

I’ve been a Zappa fan since the late 1960s. I’m not taking sides with Frank, Gail, or any of their children. However the facts are, Gail worked very hard conducting much of the business involved with running Zappa Records and Barking Pumpkin Records from the late 1970s until Frank’s death in 1993. Frank made the music, but Gail handled much of the unglamorous and tedious business of getting records and CDs manufactured, distributed, promoted, and other things that big record companies do, for Frank’s independent labels. For 22 years (1993-2015) after Frank’s death, Gail and Ahmet ran the business, producing dozens of posthumous albums. For people interested in the Zappa family, and Ahmet’s take on why Gail did what she did, the following are worth watching. Ahmet Answers Hard-Hitting Questions (September 2024): kzbin.info/www/bejne/jZbcn2aHqs2KaZY Ahmet gives some of his thoughts on the subject starting at 25:40 - 36:00. Moon Zappa - THE NEW BOOK (August 2024): kzbin.info/www/bejne/bYqTeZarnN1_iqM Also, a talk with Diva Zappa (September 2024): kzbin.info/www/bejne/opbckKKNgbd9gpo

[@HotFlashesCoolTopics]

Thanks for sharing your insight on some of the back story.

[@MarkKramKarmVI]

Moon🎉🤍

[@meloearth]

Ok, wait. Did she say that she wasn't allowed to sleep with her underwear on? WHAAAT?! @4:41 Oh, ok, another kid. Just wow.

[@HotFlashesCoolTopics]

@@meloearth yes, that is when she was at a friend’s house.

[@OutOnTheTiles]

Gail was clearly a narcissist. Impossible to please.

[@HotFlashesCoolTopics]

The family dynamic was so challenging for Moon Unit.

[@Tom52NJ.]

Gail was a tortured woman. Frank’s infidelity, control and failure to save for the rainy day and fly through the air without a net had to be difficult for any woman. Gail May have held on to old school family traditions living with a very untraditional husband. Being both mom & dad to her children with Frank is on the road had to take some kind of toll on her. Most women would sooner divorce, take the money and run. Moon still suffered despite Frank’s fame. Every family has its issues. Moon’s story is very heart wrenching. Putting her words to paper is both cathartic and painful. But it was her way of getting closure. My heart goes out to her. My mom was also difficult and at times cruel and lacked understanding. I learned to make peace with it and have no regrets. Some never have that ability and with too many words left unsaid, suffer the rest of their lives. Mothers can be very complicated. Ironic that was Frank’s name for his first band.

[@TheKitchenerLeslie]

Moon seems to be looking at it the wrong way. I always looked at the way Gail split the inheritance as a vote of No Confidence in the 2 younger ones. I think Gail knew the 2 older ones could take care of themselves because they had the more famous names and careers of their own. Who doesn't know Frank Zappa had two kids named Moon Unit and Dweezil? Most don't even know Diva and Ahmet exist. Diva knits and it's still unclear what Ahmet actually does. I only know of him because he "sang" in Dweezil's band and did goofy Tom Jones impressions on Late Night with Conan O'Brien, which was mostly just a rip off of The Carlton Dance from Fresh Prince of Bel Air. Ahmet shot himself in the foot when he tried to extort money from Dweezil's playing their father's music and keeping it alive and the fans sided with Dweezil... the only real musician in the family.

[@HotFlashesCoolTopics]

@@TheKitchenerLeslie I recommend reading the book. It really puts things in perspective and is quite surprising when she finds there was actually a will. Moon was a pleasure to talk to and very genuine.

[@danbartciocchetto]

Spero che troveranno pace fra tutti e ognuno dedichi quello che può a chi li ha fatti nascere e crescere con tutte le difficoltà che gli artisti capiscono... Gli ultimi tempi Frank si dedicava a studiare le musiche di etnie lontane e la cosa è molto interessante perché dà fiducia all'eggregora anziché solo a se stessi

[@morrisalanisette9067]

except when you hear what moon says about her final moments with her mother, it wsa clearly manipulative and vindictive. Ahmet basically takes care of the frank zappa business currently. based on ahmet's explanation on his podcast, the money split that way because he says he does the most for the family business so he's the one that is making most money doing that so he deserves a bigger payout, according to him. but that doens't explain Diva. So clearly thats not a good reason. their mother was just cruel and had weird thoughts. i mean the lady thought she was a witch. This isnt some rational thinking person here. she simply preferred ahmet and diva and thought moon and dweezil deserved less. if she was a narcisist, it'd make sense that she likes whoever gives her more attention and praise

[@TheKitchenerLeslie]

@@morrisalanisette9067 But there's always the reality of an unreliable narrator.

[@TheKitchenerLeslie]

@@HotFlashesCoolTopics My last girlfriend was the light of the world... to the public... but that's a front employed by people with NPD. What's interesting is that she and Dweezil were put in the me boat as far as the inheritance... but Dweezil won't talk to her, yet she talks to Ahmet. Doesn't add up.

[@eggman7527]

A lot of religious people are very hypocritical and this is because most religions have some kind of standards of conduct to be hypocritical about.