Dweezil Zappa

Hello RWTD Friends,

There's been a lack of communication on my part for a while and I really apologize for that. I know that the RWTD episodes that are behind schedule are the only things you want to know about. I also understand how frustrating it is to feel disconnected and unable to have answers to your questions about the podcast episodes.

Within the RWTD community there has been a healthy debate about the status of the podcast and some people have voiced their concerns about the podcast being over promised and under delivered. I think that is a fair representation of the situation up to a point. I definitely agree that Season 2 has been way under delivered in terms of episode frequency and timeliness. That has been the most challenging part of this endeavor because of extenuating circumstances which I will briefly explain in a moment. On the other side of the coin, I do believe that that the completed and released episode content has been and will continue to be worthy of the described premise of the show.

I know that there are people in this group who are beyond disappointed with the delays and as I have mentioned I agree that there is validity to that frustration. The episodes have been taking way too long to complete. It's not because I've forgotten about any of you or that there is a commitment to creating the content. I truly know that you don't want excuses but I am going to take a moment to fill you in on the back story because it is necessary.

When I started production on the podcast I was using my laptop. In parallel to that I had been working on completing a music studio that had been under construction for about 6 years. At some point during the studio computer set up, unbeknownst to me my laptop started synchronizing files with one of the studio computers. That doesn't sound like a problem but it created a huge problem which is ultimately ground zero for the avalanche of delays.

I'm not a super computer tech and I don't have a staff of people who maintain the computers that I use. In a nutshell the laptop imported many more files than it could handle and then the computer was operating at a snails pace and crashing every few minutes. This escalated to project files showing as missing because somehow things were moving between 2 computers in the background without my knowledge. Once I discovered the source of the problem I sought help from some tech professionals.

With the help of some knowledgeable tech folks a plan was hatched to correct the issues and migrate to a new computer. That sounded like a good solution but my laptop didn't play along. Instead, the battery swelled, effectively turning the computer into a bomb. We got what we could off of it before it was completely dismantled. Long story short, I've been struggling to regain a workflow for RWTD since that problem began last year.

The whole time I have been stressing out thinking about the many ways this problem has been affecting your enjoyment of the podcast and your trust in the delivery of the episodes. I really reached a point of burnout and mental fatigue which ultimately slowed the progress even further.

I feel terrible to that admit that I've become overwhelmed and completely ineffective in my   my attempts to catch up on lost time. As days, weeks and months have passed an assortment of life's other curve balls have added to the mix. As I've been picking up all of the pieces in my life and getting my technical workflow corrected for RWTD and the studio, I've remained hopeful that there will be enough understanding from the community to hang in there with me.

I finally have a new laptop running and a little bit of help to get back on track. Just as a human being it's been a tough time for a long time. I'm very sorry to have disappointed any of you with delays. You've never been forgotten, I've just been in some quicksand trying to get back to you all of you.

The good news is that I am confident that the technical problems are now solved and I will be able to smoothly move forward with production again. Also, the studio is finally functional so I can do the extensive guitar tone work that I need to do. So there will be progress on all fronts.

At the end of the day, I'm working very hard to finish the content for all of you and I appreciate your understanding.

Best, DZ