Brattleboro Literary Festival: Coming of Age - Moon Unit Zappa

What would life be like as the child of rock iconoclast and composer
Frank Zappa? Endless meals of burnt weeny sandwiches washed down
by white port lemon juice? Nothing so amusingly absurd, unless you
consider the very name you were given. Frank’s frequent absences and
endless cavorting with his groupies led to a stormy marriage with his
wife Gail Zappa, and a distant relationship with his daughter, in spite of
Zappa’s biggest popular hit, featuring Moon Unit Zappa as the chattering
“Valley Girl.” Moon Unit spent a long time trying to figure out if her
mother was more abusive or abused. At the end of Frank Zappa’s life
there was a meager, if nonetheless healing reconciliation. “Life as a Zappa
entails both heartbreak and triumph,” said Kirkus Reviews of Moon Unit’s
rollicking memoir.

Sponsored by the Works

Moon Unit Zappa is the daughter of legendary musician Frank Vincent
Zappa and his second wife, Gail Zappa. At the age of fourteen, Moon
Zappa appeared in Frank Zappa’s career defining music video, “Valley
Girl,” which later helped jump-start Moon’s own career. Since then, Moon
has worked as an actress, singer, writer, comedian, businesswoman,
podcaster and as a VJ for both MTV and VH1.

Recorded October 20, 2024 at The Stone Church.