Difference between revisions of "Dweezil Zappa"

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Second child of four, first son, born September 5, 1969.
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[[File:Frank Zappa and Dweezil.jpg|500px|thumb|right|Frank Zappa and Dweezil, 1980.]]
  
[[Dweezil Zappa|Dweezil]] was originally named '''IAN''' ([[Ian Underwood]]) '''DONALD''' ([[Don Van Vliet]] - a.k.a. [[Captain Beefheart]]) '''CALVIN''' ([[Cal Schenkel]]) '''EUCLID''' (Euclid James [[Jim "Motorhead" Sherwood]])...
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'''Dweezil Zappa''' (September 5, 1969) is  Frank and [[Gail Zappa]]'s second child and oldest son. He is the brother of [[Moon Zappa]], [[Ahmet Zappa]] and [[Diva Zappa]]. Dweezil was named after one of Gail's toes. He was originally named '''IAN''' (after [[Ian Underwood]]) '''DONALD''' (after [[Don Van Vliet]]) '''CALVIN''' (after [[Cal Schenkel]]) '''EUCLID''' (after  [[Jim "Motorhead" Sherwood|Euclid James Sherwood]]).
  
As a baby, appeared on the Dutch VPRO documentary, the video of "[[True Story Of 200 Motels]]", and can be heard on the interview disc "[[Incredibly Frank]]".
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He is a musician having played guitar from an early age. [[Eddie Van Halen]] was a personal friend since the 1980s. In 2005 Dweezil married Lauren Knudsen.  
  
"[[My Guitar Wants To Kill Your Mama (The Album)|My Guitar Wants To Kill Your Mama]]", album (1988, Chrysalis Records VK 41633) and single.
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==Frank Zappa and Dweezil==
  
"[[Havin' A Bad Day]]" (LP, Barking Pumpkin ST-74204, August 22, 1986), produced by FZ.
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Zappa dedicated ''[[Hot Rats]]'' to his one month old son Dweezil in the credits. Moon and Dweezil can be seen in the Dutch documentary ''[[Frank Zappa (1971 Documentary)|Frank Zappa]]'' by [[Roelof Kiers]].  
  
Shot the front cover photo for "[[Zappa In New York]]".
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Dweezil is a star in the ''[[One Size Fits All]] [[:Category:One Size Fits All (The List)|universe]]'' (1975).  
  
Plays guitar solos on "[[Sharleena]]" (probably not on the 1970 [[Chunga's Revenge]]) and "[[Stevie's Spanking]]" on "[[Them Or Us]]".
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Dweezil photographed the album cover of ''[[Zappa In New York]]'' (1977). He sang on the album ''[[Frank Zappa Meets The Mothers Of Prevention]]'' and played a guitar solo during ''[[Stevie's Spanking]]'' on ''[[Them Or Us]]'' (1984) and  ''[[Whipping Post]]'' on ''[[Does Humor Belong In Music?]] (1986)''. Dweezil also played guitar on some tracks of ''[[You Can't Do That On Stage Anymore Vol. 3]]''. He provided barks on the track ''[[Waffenspiel]]'' on ''[[Civilization Phaze III]] (1994)''.
  
Guest vocals on "[[Frank Zappa Meets The Mothers Of Prevention]]".
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Zappa played a guest role on ''[[Miami Vice]]'', because Dweezil liked to watch the series. Dweezil is also mentioned during ''[[A Few Moments With Brother A. West]]'': ''"I ask you, Mr. Frank Zappa, what kind of man can name a child Moon Unit?"''.  
  
Guitar solo on "[[Whipping Post]]" on "[[Does Humor Belong In Music?]]".
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Dweezil played lead guitar on ''[[Dirty Love]]'' and ''[[Chunga's Revenge]]'' on ''[[Zappa's Universe]] (1991)'' and during ''[[Chunga's Revenge]]'' and ''[[Bavarian Sunset]]'' on ''[[Trance-Fusion]]''. He produced and wrote liner notes for ''[[Frank Zappa Plays The Music Of Frank Zappa]]'' (with [[Spencer Chrislu]]) (1996).  
  
Contributed to "[[Sharleena]]" on "[[You Can't Do That On Stage Anymore Vol. 3]]"
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He performed ''Rhythmatist'' on ''[[The Frank Zappa AAAFNRAA Birthday Bundle]]'' (2006) and ''[[The Deathless Horsie]]'' and ''[[Peaches En Regalia]]'' on ''[[The Frank Zappa AAAFNRAAAA Birthday Bundle]]'' (2010).  
  
Barks on the track "[[Waffenspiel]]" on "[[Civilization Phaze III]]".
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He organized the ''[[Zappa Plays Zappa]]'' tours.
  
Played lead guitar on "[[Dirty Love]]" and "[[Chunga’s Revenge]]" on the "[[Zappa's Universe]]" video.
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==Documentary appearances==
  
Produced the "[[Frank Zappa Plays The Music Of Frank Zappa]]" CD, and sequenced and edited the tracks with Spencer Chrislu; also wrote the liner notes.
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Dweezil was interviewed in ''[[BBC Television Tribute]]'' (1993), ''[[Ein Leben Als Extravaganza - Das Genie Frank Zappa]]'' (1994) and [[Frank Scheffer]]'s documentaries ''[[Frank Zappa: The Present-Day Composer Refuses To Die]]'' (2000), ''[[Frank Zappa Phase II: The Big Note]]'' (2002) and ''[[Frank Zappa: Pioneer Of Future Music, parts 1 & 2]]'' (2007), as well ''[[Cry Baby:The Pedal that Rocks the World]]''.  
  
Voice of Ajax, son of Duckman, in the "[[Duckman]]" cartoon (1994).
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==Own recordings==
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[[Image:Fredzep.jpg|right|thumb|Fred Zeppelin rehearsal (Dweezil on right)]]
  
"DWEEZIL (auriga Ra6b 46m145d47º6')" is one of the stars in the "[[One Size Fits All]]" (1975) "[[:Category:One Size Fits All (The List)|universe]]".
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As a 12 year old he was rehearsing in a band called ''Fred Zeppelin''. Dweezil recorded solo albums, as well as collaborated with his brother [[Ahmet Zappa]] in [[wikipedia:Shampoohorn|group named "Z"]]. Dweezil Zappa tied the Frank Zappa tribute band named "[[Zappa Plays Zappa]]" from 2006 on. He played on [[Diva Zappa]]'s ''When the Ball Drops'' (1999).  
  
FZ in [[The Real Frank Zappa Book]] (1989): "''When Dweezil was born, Gail decided to have 'natural childbirth.' At that time, the only hospital in Los Angeles that would allow this process to occur with a Dad in the delivery room was Hollywood Presbyterian Hospital. When it was time for the Big Delivery, we experienced a slight delay - we had to fill out a mass of papers before they'd let us in, riddled with irrelevant questions like: 'What religion are you?' Gail looked at me and said, 'What do we put?' I said, 'Musician.' That was the first thing that upset the admitting nurse. The second thing to spoil her afternoon was when she asked: 'What are you going to name the child?' Gail said, 'Dweezil.' Gail's got a funny-looking little toe which had been the source of family amusement so often that it had acquired a 'technical name': it wasn't really a toe - it was a 'Dweezil.' I thought then, and continue to think today, that Dweezil is a nice name. Fuck the nurse if she didn't like it. The nurse pleaded and pleaded with us not to name the child Dweezil. Labor pains and all, she was going to make Gail stand there unless we gave her another name to put on the form. I couldn't see letting Gail suffer just to argue the point, so I rattled off an assortment of first names of guys we knew: IAN (Underwood) DONALD (Van Vliet) CALVIN (Schenkel) EUCLID (James 'Motorhead' Sherwood). As a result, Dweezil's original birth certificate name was Ian Donald Calvin Euclid Zappa. The nurse thought that was okay. In spite of this harrowing experience, we always called him Dweezil. He was five years old when he discovered the real names on his birth certificate. Dweezil was very upset, and demanded that steps be taken to rectify this tragedy. We hired an attorney and had his name legally changed to Dweezil.''"
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* ''My Mother is a Space Cadet''(1982)
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* ''[[Havin' A Bad Day]]'' (1986)
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* ''[[My Guitar Wants To Kill Your Mama (The Album)|My Guitar Wants To Kill Your Mama]]'' (1988)
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* ''Confessions (1991)
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* ''Automatic (2000)
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* ''[[Go with What You Know]]'' (2006)
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* ''[[Via Zammata']]'' (2015)
  
Dweezil on FZ (at http://www.musicforpets.com/dweez.html) under the heading "Dweezil's Favorite Solos by Dweezil's Favorite Guitar Players": "''Besides being inspirational in my life by virtue of being my father, Frank's playing has had a profound affect on me. Of course he influenced me early on but it wasn't until I had several years of playing experience that I could truly appreciate what he was doing with the guitar. When I first started playing I was 12. Frank's music seemed impossible to play. It was amazing to listen to but horrific to try and learn. His imagination was so powerful and so musical it was devastating. There are so many things about his music that I love but mainly I've always admired his soloing style. I think he was fearless when he played. I loved his description of his solos... He called them '[[Air Sculptures]]'. My favorite 'Air Sculptures' of Frank's are: 1. '[[Ship Ahoy]]' from '[[Shut Up 'n Play Yer Guitar Some More|Shut Up And Play Yer Guitar]]'. (That whole album actually deserves a mention... especially '[[The Deathless Horsie|Deathless Horsie]]') 2. '[[Watermelon In Easter Hay]]' from '[[Joe's Garage Acts II & III|Joe's Garage]]'. That coincidentally is also one of my Mom's all time favorites. 3. '[[Black Napkins]]' from '[[Zoot Allures]]'.''"
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==Other appearances==
  
See more of the Zappa Household:
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He voiced the character Ajax in the animated TV series ''[[Duckman]]'' and presented [[wikipedia:Dweezil & Lisa|a TV food show]] with his then girlfriend Lisa Loeb. Dweezil and Moon appeared in the film ''Behind The Seams'', along with [[Soupy Sales]].
* [[Gail Sloatman]] ([[Gail Zappa]])
 
* [[Moon Zappa]] (Moon Unit Zappa)
 
* [[Ahmet Zappa]] (Ahmet Emuukha Rodan Zappa)
 
* [[Diva Zappa]] (Diva Thin Muffin Pigeen Zappa)
 
  
[[Category:Supporting Cast]]
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Dweezil played ''The Last Sound Love Makes'' on Don Johnson's album ''Heartbeat'' (1986). He played on ''Love Emergency'' on the album ''Show Me'' (1987) by The Covergirls, ''Jingo'' on ''Just Visiting This Planet (1987)'' by Jellybean, ''Sleep Won't Come'' on Maria Vidal's eponymous 1987 album, ''Wipe Out'' on ''Wipe Out'' (1988) by The Fat Boys, ''Purple Haze'' on Winger's 1988 eponymous album, ''Under My Thumb'' on ''Leader Of The Banned'' (1990) by Sam Kinison, ''Pornograffiti'' (1990) by Extreme, ''Diva Fever'' on ''Break Like the Wind'' (1992) by Spinal Tap, ''Moscow Calling'' on Gorky Park II (1993) by Gorky Park, ''Chewing On CCrayons'' on ''Hairpick'' (1994) by Blues Saracino, ''English Channel'' on Guitarland (1994) by Tim Pierce, ''Dead Wrong'' (1997) by Carmine Appice, ''I Whish'' by Lisa Loeb's ''Anywhere But Here'' (1999), ''Peaches'' on ''California Screamin' '' (2000) by Dixie Dregs, ''Genius In France'' on ''Poodle Play'' (2003) by [["Weird Al" Yankovic]], ''Hungry Freaks, Daddy'' on ''My Weekly Reader'' (2015) by Nellie McKay.
[[Category:Zappa Family]]
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[[Category:Bandmembers]]
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He played on ''Heart Like A Gun'' (1989) by Fiona, ''Your LLast Orison'' (1992) by End Amen, ''Crazy Enough To Sing To You'' (1996) by Warren Demartini, ''Angelica'' (1997) by Angelica, ''In A Metal Mood - No More Mr. Nice Guy'' (1997) by [[Pat Boone]], ''Bumblefoot: 9.11'' (2001), ''Cake and Pie'' (2002) and ''Hello Lisa'' (2002) by Lisa Loeb, ''Todd Rundgren & His Friends'' (2002) by Todd Rundgren, ''Prince of Darkness'' (2005) by [[Ozzy Osbourne]], ''Guitar Zeus: Conquering Heroes'' (2009) by Carmen Appice, ''Stardust'' (2010) by Thierry Deruelle, ''A Kiss Before You Go'' (2011) by Katzenjammer, ''Freak Guitar - the Smorgasbord'' (2013) by [[Mattias Eklundh]], [[Morgan Ågren]]'s ''Conundrum'' (2013), ''Who Gives a Funk'' (2016) by Oz Noy, ''Grand Architects Of The Universe'' (2017) by Carl King and Derek Smalls' ''Smalls Change'' (2018). He and Moon played on ''Fear Of A Punk Planet'' (1991)
[[Category:Musicians]]
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[[Category:Side Projects]]
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He, Ahmet and Gail performed backing vocals on ''[[Black Tongue]]'' on [[Gene Simmons]]' album ''[[Asshole]]'' (2004).
[[Category:Tributes & Cover Bands]]
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[[Category:One Size Fits All (The List)]]
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Dweezil wrote one track on ''bbg elements'' (2002) by X-Ray Dog. He wrote the foreword to [[Co de Kloet]]'s book ''[[Frank & Co]]''.
[[Category:The Real Frank Zappa Book (The List)]]
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==Zappa about Dweezil==
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''"When Dweezil was born, Gail decided to have 'natural childbirth.' At that time, the only hospital in Los Angeles that would allow this process to occur with a Dad in the delivery room was Hollywood Presbyterian Hospital. When it was time for the Big Delivery, we experienced a slight delay -- we had to fill out a mass of papers before they'd let us in, riddled with irrelevant questions like: "What religion are you?" Gail looked at me and said, "What do we put?" I said, "Musician." That was the first thing that upset the admitting nurse. The second thing to spoil her afternoon was when she asked: "What are you going to name the child?" Gail said, "Dweezil." Gail's got a funny-looking little toe which had been the source of family amusement so often that it had acquired a 'technical name': it wasn't really a toe -- it was a "Dweezil." I thought then, and continue to think today, that Dweezil is a nice name. Fuck the nurse if she didn't like it. The nurse pleaded and pleaded with us not to name the child Dweezil. Labor pains and all, she was going to make Gail stand there unless we gave her another name to put on the form. I couldn't see letting Gail suffer just to argue the point, so I rattled off an assortment of first names of guys we knew: IAN (Underwood) DONALD (Van Vliet) CALVIN (Schenkel) EUCLID (James "Motorhead" Sherwood). As a result, Dweezil's original birth certificate name was Ian Donald Calvin Euclid Zappa. The nurse thought that was okay. In spite of this harrowing experience, we always called him Dweezil. He was five years old when he discovered the real names on his birth certificate. (I was in my mid-twenties when I found out! Up until the time I had to get a passport for the first European tour, I thought my name was Francis -- a name I had always hated. In order to get the passport, I had to present my birth certificate -- a mysterious document I had never seen before. My mother mailed it to me from California, and on it, much to my delight, was a name OTHER THAN FRANCIS -- well, it wasn't that good -- "Frank" isn't much of a bargain -- but I had thought for years, even printing it on album covers, that I was Francis Vincent Zappa Junior. How could I be such a fool?) Dweezil was very upset, and demanded that steps be taken to rectify this tragedy. We hired an attorney and had his name legally changed to Dweezil."'' - ''[[The Real Frank Zappa Book]]''.
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==See also==
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* [[Dweezil Goes Out To Lunch.]]
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==External links==
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* [[Wikipedia:Dweezil Zappa]]
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* [https://www.united-mutations.com/z/dweezil_zappa.htm United Mutations page.]
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[[Category:Actors|Zappa, Dweezil]]
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[[Category:Singers|Zappa, Dweezil]]
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[[Category:Photographers|Zappa, Dweezil]]
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[[Category:Cover Artists|Zappa, Dweezil]]
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[[Category:Guitarists|Zappa, Dweezil]]
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[[Category:Zappa Family|Zappa, Dweezil]]
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[[Category:Bandmembers|Zappa, Dweezil]]
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[[Category:Side Projects|Zappa, Dweezil]]
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[[Category:Tributes & Cover Bands|Zappa, Dweezil]]
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[[Category:One Size Fits All (The List)|Zappa, Dweezil]]
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[[Category:The Real Frank Zappa Book (The List)|Zappa, Dweezil]]
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[[Category:Rock Artists|Zappa]]

Revision as of 16:09, 29 October 2020

Frank Zappa and Dweezil, 1980.

Dweezil Zappa (September 5, 1969) is Frank and Gail Zappa's second child and oldest son. He is the brother of Moon Zappa, Ahmet Zappa and Diva Zappa. Dweezil was named after one of Gail's toes. He was originally named IAN (after Ian Underwood) DONALD (after Don Van Vliet) CALVIN (after Cal Schenkel) EUCLID (after Euclid James Sherwood).

He is a musician having played guitar from an early age. Eddie Van Halen was a personal friend since the 1980s. In 2005 Dweezil married Lauren Knudsen.

Frank Zappa and Dweezil

Zappa dedicated Hot Rats to his one month old son Dweezil in the credits. Moon and Dweezil can be seen in the Dutch documentary Frank Zappa by Roelof Kiers.

Dweezil is a star in the One Size Fits All universe (1975).

Dweezil photographed the album cover of Zappa In New York (1977). He sang on the album Frank Zappa Meets The Mothers Of Prevention and played a guitar solo during Stevie's Spanking on Them Or Us (1984) and Whipping Post on Does Humor Belong In Music? (1986). Dweezil also played guitar on some tracks of You Can't Do That On Stage Anymore Vol. 3. He provided barks on the track Waffenspiel on Civilization Phaze III (1994).

Zappa played a guest role on Miami Vice, because Dweezil liked to watch the series. Dweezil is also mentioned during A Few Moments With Brother A. West: "I ask you, Mr. Frank Zappa, what kind of man can name a child Moon Unit?".

Dweezil played lead guitar on Dirty Love and Chunga's Revenge on Zappa's Universe (1991) and during Chunga's Revenge and Bavarian Sunset on Trance-Fusion. He produced and wrote liner notes for Frank Zappa Plays The Music Of Frank Zappa (with Spencer Chrislu) (1996).

He performed Rhythmatist on The Frank Zappa AAAFNRAA Birthday Bundle (2006) and The Deathless Horsie and Peaches En Regalia on The Frank Zappa AAAFNRAAAA Birthday Bundle (2010).

He organized the Zappa Plays Zappa tours.

Documentary appearances

Dweezil was interviewed in BBC Television Tribute (1993), Ein Leben Als Extravaganza - Das Genie Frank Zappa (1994) and Frank Scheffer's documentaries Frank Zappa: The Present-Day Composer Refuses To Die (2000), Frank Zappa Phase II: The Big Note (2002) and Frank Zappa: Pioneer Of Future Music, parts 1 & 2 (2007), as well Cry Baby:The Pedal that Rocks the World.

Own recordings

Fred Zeppelin rehearsal (Dweezil on right)

As a 12 year old he was rehearsing in a band called Fred Zeppelin. Dweezil recorded solo albums, as well as collaborated with his brother Ahmet Zappa in group named "Z". Dweezil Zappa tied the Frank Zappa tribute band named "Zappa Plays Zappa" from 2006 on. He played on Diva Zappa's When the Ball Drops (1999).

Other appearances

He voiced the character Ajax in the animated TV series Duckman and presented a TV food show with his then girlfriend Lisa Loeb. Dweezil and Moon appeared in the film Behind The Seams, along with Soupy Sales.

Dweezil played The Last Sound Love Makes on Don Johnson's album Heartbeat (1986). He played on Love Emergency on the album Show Me (1987) by The Covergirls, Jingo on Just Visiting This Planet (1987) by Jellybean, Sleep Won't Come on Maria Vidal's eponymous 1987 album, Wipe Out on Wipe Out (1988) by The Fat Boys, Purple Haze on Winger's 1988 eponymous album, Under My Thumb on Leader Of The Banned (1990) by Sam Kinison, Pornograffiti (1990) by Extreme, Diva Fever on Break Like the Wind (1992) by Spinal Tap, Moscow Calling on Gorky Park II (1993) by Gorky Park, Chewing On CCrayons on Hairpick (1994) by Blues Saracino, English Channel on Guitarland (1994) by Tim Pierce, Dead Wrong (1997) by Carmine Appice, I Whish by Lisa Loeb's Anywhere But Here (1999), Peaches on California Screamin' (2000) by Dixie Dregs, Genius In France on Poodle Play (2003) by "Weird Al" Yankovic, Hungry Freaks, Daddy on My Weekly Reader (2015) by Nellie McKay.

He played on Heart Like A Gun (1989) by Fiona, Your LLast Orison (1992) by End Amen, Crazy Enough To Sing To You (1996) by Warren Demartini, Angelica (1997) by Angelica, In A Metal Mood - No More Mr. Nice Guy (1997) by Pat Boone, Bumblefoot: 9.11 (2001), Cake and Pie (2002) and Hello Lisa (2002) by Lisa Loeb, Todd Rundgren & His Friends (2002) by Todd Rundgren, Prince of Darkness (2005) by Ozzy Osbourne, Guitar Zeus: Conquering Heroes (2009) by Carmen Appice, Stardust (2010) by Thierry Deruelle, A Kiss Before You Go (2011) by Katzenjammer, Freak Guitar - the Smorgasbord (2013) by Mattias Eklundh, Morgan Ågren's Conundrum (2013), Who Gives a Funk (2016) by Oz Noy, Grand Architects Of The Universe (2017) by Carl King and Derek Smalls' Smalls Change (2018). He and Moon played on Fear Of A Punk Planet (1991)

He, Ahmet and Gail performed backing vocals on Black Tongue on Gene Simmons' album Asshole (2004).

Dweezil wrote one track on bbg elements (2002) by X-Ray Dog. He wrote the foreword to Co de Kloet's book Frank & Co.

Zappa about Dweezil

"When Dweezil was born, Gail decided to have 'natural childbirth.' At that time, the only hospital in Los Angeles that would allow this process to occur with a Dad in the delivery room was Hollywood Presbyterian Hospital. When it was time for the Big Delivery, we experienced a slight delay -- we had to fill out a mass of papers before they'd let us in, riddled with irrelevant questions like: "What religion are you?" Gail looked at me and said, "What do we put?" I said, "Musician." That was the first thing that upset the admitting nurse. The second thing to spoil her afternoon was when she asked: "What are you going to name the child?" Gail said, "Dweezil." Gail's got a funny-looking little toe which had been the source of family amusement so often that it had acquired a 'technical name': it wasn't really a toe -- it was a "Dweezil." I thought then, and continue to think today, that Dweezil is a nice name. Fuck the nurse if she didn't like it. The nurse pleaded and pleaded with us not to name the child Dweezil. Labor pains and all, she was going to make Gail stand there unless we gave her another name to put on the form. I couldn't see letting Gail suffer just to argue the point, so I rattled off an assortment of first names of guys we knew: IAN (Underwood) DONALD (Van Vliet) CALVIN (Schenkel) EUCLID (James "Motorhead" Sherwood). As a result, Dweezil's original birth certificate name was Ian Donald Calvin Euclid Zappa. The nurse thought that was okay. In spite of this harrowing experience, we always called him Dweezil. He was five years old when he discovered the real names on his birth certificate. (I was in my mid-twenties when I found out! Up until the time I had to get a passport for the first European tour, I thought my name was Francis -- a name I had always hated. In order to get the passport, I had to present my birth certificate -- a mysterious document I had never seen before. My mother mailed it to me from California, and on it, much to my delight, was a name OTHER THAN FRANCIS -- well, it wasn't that good -- "Frank" isn't much of a bargain -- but I had thought for years, even printing it on album covers, that I was Francis Vincent Zappa Junior. How could I be such a fool?) Dweezil was very upset, and demanded that steps be taken to rectify this tragedy. We hired an attorney and had his name legally changed to Dweezil." - The Real Frank Zappa Book.

See also

External links