EARTH TO MOON

A memoir of a nonconformist life raised by rock-world icons Frank and Gail Zappa.

In her introduction, Moon Unit Zappa facetiously promises that her autobiography will remind readers of their own life story—that is, if they had an iconoclastic rock star for a father and grew up in a "chaotic full-throttle household." It's not just the "misfits, sycophants and freeloaders" who hung out at the Zappa home in Laurel Canyon, California, she writes. “It seems like the whole world wants my daddy." She finally got Frank's undivided attention when, at 13, she unveiled her satirical "lazy, lyrical Valley accent,” which Frank recorded in a memorable song. "Valley Girl," studded with Zappa's hilarious impersonations of vapid airheads, was a big radio hit, which garnered his daughter hate mail from Valley girls but also jump-started her performing career. The author recounts how she earned small roles in TV and movies and worked as a VJ for MTV and VH1. She describes attempting to supplant her father's eternal dominance with other charismatic leaders, acting coaches, and spiritual gurus, and she details her vital role in dealing with both parents' deaths from cancer. Other traumatic life experiences include her infant daughter's brush with death, an early divorce, unequal inheritances among the author and her siblings, and eventual family estrangement, with “family friend Steve Vai kindly acting as self-appointed mediator.” Throughout, Zappa is candid about her dysfunctional upbringing, personal insecurities, parents' idiosyncrasies, and the foibles and insanities of the music business world, and she exhaustively catalogs her plentiful experiments with consumer spirituality and popular culture. In her adult life in Taos, New Mexico, Zappa pursues work as a writer and podcaster, and she has learned, as a chapter title reads, "How To Heal in a Hundred Steps."

Life as a Zappa entails both heartbreak and triumph. Interesting reading for fans.