Director Alex Winter looks at the lives and times of musical genius Frank Zappa in the documentary “Zappa.” Originally scheduled to premiere during South By Southwest but released by VOD because of Covid 19. Winters interviews key members of Zappa’s band The Mothers of Inventions and The Mothers.
After watching the movie, we discovered 10 things we learned about Zappa from those who knew him well.
- Frank created a girl group called GTOs. Pamela Des Barres was a member of the GTOs, which was an all-girl groupie “musical” group sponsored by Frank Zappa. The group was short-lived because of their drug use, something that he was dead set against.
2. He helped give Alice Cooper his start. At one point in the film, Alice Cooper, who Zappa helped get his start in the music business by singing Cooper to his first record deal.
3. Zappa had a tense relationship with Warner Bros, leaving the label after they rejected his proposal for a box set release
4. Zappa was an advocate fighting against censorship for music artists during the parental advisory movement era.
5. He was a film composer as well as a composer of orchestras.
6. Celebrated guitarist Steve Vai and R&B legend George Duke played in Zappa’s bands.
7. Zappa sent 8 months in a wheel chair after a fan threw him off stage during one of his concerts in London
8. Frank had his first hit in 1982 with a hit with then 13 year old daughter Moon called “Valley Girl.”
9. Zappa, a bonafide rock star didn’t do drugs. When he visited “Saturday Night Live” as a musical guest and host in the 1978s. He participated in a sketch that made light of the fact that he didn’t do drugs, something he hated. He felt that he was being made of and couldn’t write any of the sketches he participated in.
10. Zappa kept an extensive library of his work, including his masters, films and tv appearances
11. Zappa and wife Gail had four children, Moon, Dweezil, Ahmet and Diva.
Zappa died in 1993 after a four-year battle with prostate cancer at the age of 52
ZAPPA
Magnolia Pictures
In Theaters & On Demand: November 27, 2020
Directed by: Alex Winter
Produced by: Alex Winter, Glen Zipper, Ahmet Zappa, John Frizzell, Devorah DeVries, and Jade Allen
Executive Producers: Robert Halmi and Jim Reeve of Great Point Media
“With unfettered access to the Zappa family trust and all archival footage, ZAPPA explores the private life behind the mammoth musical career that never shied away from the political turbulence of its time. Alex Winter’s assembly features appearances by Frank’s widow Gail Zappa and several of Frank’s musical collaborators including Mike Keneally, Ian Underwood, Steve Vai, Pamela Des Barres, Bunk Gardner, David Harrington, Scott Thunes, Ruth Underwood, Ray White and others.”
129 Minutes
