From Moon Unit Zappa, the daughter of musical visionary Frank Zappa, comes a memoir of growing up in her unconventional household in 1970s Los Angeles, coming of age in the Hollywood Hills in the 1980s as the “Valley Girl,” gaining momentum as an accidental VJ on a new network called MTV, and finding herself after losing her father, then her mother, and the testing of her most important relationships.
How can you navigate life as the “normal” child of an extraordinary creative? What is it like to live in a hothouse of individuality that on one hand fosters freedom of expression, and on the other tamps down the basic desires of a child for boundaries and affection? Should you call your parents Frank and Gail from birth?
For Moon Unit Zappa, processing a life so punctuated by the whims of genius, the tastes of popular culture, the calculus of celebrity, and the nature of love, was at times eviscerating, at times illuminating—but mostly deeply confusing. Yes, this is a book about growing up in the shadow of Frank Zappa. Moon and her family were a source of constant curiosity, for their unique names and for their father’s reputation as a musical savant and fierce protector of the First Amendment, even though he was never a commercial success.
Searching for her own path, first as her father’s inadvertent musical collaborator and public sidekick with their surprise mega radio hit, then as an actress, an artist, a spiritual person, a wife and mother, Moon Unit calculates ever-changing equations of fame, family, death and ultimately legacy when dealt the shocking news that Gail’s will established an unequal distribution among the remaining, tight-knit Zappas, catalyzing a quest for meaning and redemption.
With love, humor, and humility, Earth to Moon reminds us that every family is faced with problems that are unique to their particular makeup, but the journey to growing into yourself with grace is as universal as it gets.
From daughter of musical visionary Frank Zappa. Moon Unit Zappa, comes a memoir of growing up in her unconventional household in 1970s Los Angeles, coming of age as part of the MTV generation in the 1980s as the ?Valley Girl,? and finding herself after losing her father, then her mother, and the fracturing of her longest relationships.
WELCOME
I got my first journal as a Christmas gift when I was five. It was hardbound, black leather with gold embellishments on the cover and along the paper edges. It was very fancy. The same books followed every year and they felt very important.
And yet, even as a small girl, every time I stared down the page to draw and express myself, I felt I came up short against my father's music, handwriting, drawings. Still, I persevered, and just surrendered to how it felt to be swept away by the creative urging.
I used my journals like secret best friends to which I could say anything. For a time, when I still lived at home and had no privacy, I'd write in code about my most private feelings. The saying goes that ?God only gives you what you can handle.? Well God didn't grow up in my atheist, Wiccan, celebrity-focused, oversexed, teetotalling, drug-free, cloistered, undiagnosed mental illness ridden, non-communicative, shaming, workaholic, feral-feeling house.
For Moon Unit Zappa, processing a life so unique, so punctuated by the whims of creative genius, the tastes of popular culture, the calculus of celebrity and the nature of fractured love has at times been eviscerating, at others, illuminating. Yes, this is a book about growing up in the shadows of Frank Zappa, in the sexually free, wild world of 1970s Laurel Canyon. And as we careen into the 1980s, the style and the music and the tone changes?but Moon remains the constant, trying to find herself in a very confusing, ever-changing equation?that of her family and the relationship with fame.
It is Moon's deep sense of humor and humilty that keeps her grounded, and keeps this memoir pinned to the ground. Earth to Moon is a creative, colorful, and wonderful lesson in growing into oneself.
