It's nice to hear when someone gets something and the sincerity is enough to tickle you. They can have the wrong notes but the essence of it is there, so it makes you laugh, because even when Frank [Zappa]'s music is sad, it makes me laugh.

I think ingenuity is part of our DNA. That plus curiosity, plus the willingness to commit.

Frank [Zappa] always wanted to do a sound library - he sampled so many great musicians. For piano, for example, he sampled every octave, not just one (that you could just transpose electronically), and he did all different types of attack, with and without pedals, all that kind of stuff.

Frank [Zappa]'s music was never for the mass audience. His music contains specific kinds of information that you won't find elsewhere in rock and roll.

It's one thing to write the music, it's another thing to write it down, it's another thing to play it, and something else altogether again to learn how to play it. These are the elements that are fascinating, and, you know, move my world.

My obligation is to release the music the way Frank [Zappa] released it.

The problem with composers is that they are the most unrequired job in America.

Frank [Zappa] was not a big fan of having lyrics, but sometimes he had things to say that lent themselves to lyrics.

When I put out the records, when I make a distribution deal, those distributors tell me who they sell it to and how many copies. So I want nothing less.

It's the ultimate identity theft when you start messing with somebody's work. Thinking that you could edit the work, or mix it differently, or re-EQ it, or make claims about it that aren't true.

I never dreamed that my future would be my husband's past. But it's such a huge past in terms of the recorded content.