Filmmaker Alex Winter — yes, that Alex Winter of “Bill & Ted” fame — gained unprecedented access to Zappa’s extensive archive of film, video, audio recordings and ephemera to create a portrait of the artist as the man behind the satirical lyrics, cacophonous music and off-the-wall stage shows. He did it, apparently by convincing Gail that he wanted to make the definitive work on Frank that finally revealed his true genius.
His film, titled “Zappa,” is available for screening free through the Taos Center for the Arts’ Big Screen @ Home film series. It can be seen now through Dec. 4, 2020. Just go to tcataos.com.
Whatever magic he conjured up was successful, especially given the hard-core protective shell Gail and their eldest son, Ahmet Zappa, encased over any interpretation of Frank’s work. For background, see my interview with sibling Dweezil prior to launching his “Cease and Desist” tour in Taos back in 2016.
Winter was able to get an extensive interview with Gail in the months before she died of lung cancer in 2015. My interview with Dweezil was the following year. In Gail’s interview, which is shown in sporadic clips through the film, she is surprisingly candid about Frank, his high level focus on his music, the raucous tours, the women, the sexually transmitted diseases, and how he approached fellow musicians as the tools to create his music. This often led people to consider him off-putting because he knew exactly what he wanted from his bandmates and when he didn’t get it, they were gone.
It was fun, though, as the film and video footage of their stage show attests, but Frank kept it all under control. And, while many people saw him as a rock ’n’ roll star, he really wasn’t. He was an artist, a composer in the classic sense who used the rock music idiom as a component to find the sound he was looking for, and when that wasn’t enough he would blend in symphonic orchestras to feed his creative juices. But, it was the sound, that crazy, insane, in-your-face, offensive, profane, loud and mind-bending stuff that made you think without realizing it. Watch his own film, “200 Motels,” and you’ll see what I mean.
And, he did it without being stoned. Although entrenched in the 1960s Laurel Canyon counter-culture life of psychedelic parties, mushrooms, Maui-wowie, and LSD-laced jugs of burgundy wine, he partook deeply of the rock star free-love life with numerous partners, but somehow stayed straight.
Which made it all the more surprising when he inadvertently became the best, most articulate spokesman for freedom of speech when the uptight Reagan-era backlash spawned a movement to slap “”Parental Advisory” stickers on album covers. He even testified before lawmakers and made numerous appearances on TV talk shows and gave a particularly memorable appearance on CNN’s “Crossfire” in 1986. Watch the film and see if he doesn’t send a chill up your spine with his startlingly prescient comments.
The film also takes a look at his relationship with his children and how a certain chilly confrontation actually led to his only big pop music hit: “Valley Girl.” The collaboration with his daughter Moon Unit Zappa happened just because she wanted to spend some time with her dad. Fans knew the Zappas were making a satire of shallow consumer-driven mall-rats, but the MTV denizens ate it up.
In the years after his death in 1993 of prostate cancer, Frank Zappa’s music has been rediscovered and appreciated for its sheer artistry and sharp commentary, even presaging some things we’re only now understanding. You may be a die-hard fan of his music or hate it with a passion, but Zappa was certainly one-of-a-kind.
“Zappa” is not rated, but it does contain language, brief nudity and sexuality.
No comments:
Post a Comment