For Frank Zappa fans. SOPAC is streaming....

SOPAC will be remote screening ZAPPA. "The First All-Access Documentary on the Life and Times of Frank Zappa." An Alex Winter Film. It begins streaming on November 27th. Tickets $12.

As an ardent Zappa fan, I wouldn't miss this, nor any Zappa artefact. (This, by the way, is not the "first" Zappa biopic. Check IMDB to see all the films made about our hero.) 


while not the first, this is (unless I am mistaken) the first made with the full support of his estate, including contributions of early footage.  So, yeah!


I watched it last night and I enjoyed it very much. Great interviews with interesting people, Ruth Underwood in particular.  My frustration was that there needed to be more actual music. There were also too many minutes taken up with video collages of the “scene,” of freaks and beats and hippies and lights, and buildings and clubs and more freaks and dancing.  It was meant to provide atmosphere for the times Frank lived in. Fine. But all that time could have been used to show one or two or three pieces performed in excerpts or in their entirety. The only tune performed in its near entirety was the classical piece that he composed and conducted.  Fine, but what about all the other fabulous performances and live shows and recordings and studio work? Hot Rats? Never mentioned. His guitar wizardry? Never mentioned or shown.  I saw a Bob Marley biopic a few years ago and I had the same complaint.
Frank was a real original. his music, his persona, his life, his wit, his take on the world, all unique. But...
Show. Me. The. Music.  


"Shut up and play your guitar"


jonesey said:

"Shut up and play your guitar"

 Eggs Ackley 


The_Soulful_Mr_T said:

I watched it last night and I enjoyed it very much. Great interviews with interesting people, Ruth Underwood in particular.  My frustration was that there needed to be more actual music. There were also too many minutes taken up with video collages of the “scene,” of freaks and beats and hippies and lights, and buildings and clubs and more freaks and dancing.  It was meant to provide atmosphere for the times Frank lived in. Fine. But all that time could have been used to show one or two or three pieces performed in excerpts or in their entirety. The only tune performed in its near entirety was the classical piece that he composed and conducted.  Fine, but what about all the other fabulous performances and live shows and recordings and studio work? Hot Rats? Never mentioned. His guitar wizardry? Never mentioned or shown.  I saw a Bob Marley biopic a few years ago and I had the same complaint.
Frank was a real original. his music, his persona, his life, his wit, his take on the world, all unique. But...
Show. Me. The. Music.  

 Wait.....What????  I'm reading this late, but how can you not mention Hot Rats and Frank's guitar wizardry?  Your review made me glad to have missed it.  As a musician, Frank's music was never about the so called 'scene' and all about the music.  I would have much rather had a movie about how he worked the **** out of his musicians and his strive for perfection in life in general.  Did they at least talk about his political life?  Sounds like a complete miss from how you describe it, but thanks for steering me away.  I think that some of the other Zappa films are on Amazon Prime.  Have you seen any of those?  Also, did they talk at all about his famous Halloween shows?  I never got to one, but they were supposed to have been legendary.  

Yuck! 

 I'm going to listen to Halloween 81 on Spotify now and just be sad.....


confused Frank was/is an American Master!


dano said:

confused
Frank was/is an American Master!

 One of my three musical heroes:

Mingus, Kirk, Zappa


What are your fav Zappa albums?

Mine is Roxy and Elsewhere. Love that thing.


drummerboy said:

What are your fav Zappa albums?

Mine is Roxy and Elsewhere. Love that thing.

 Oh, I wouldn't know where to start. Definitely, "Live at the Fillmore" cuz I was there that night. With my mom. Been listening to "Uncle Meat" a lot lately. 

ETA: went back and listened to Roxy & Elsewhere this afternoon. Loved it. Love how tight the band is and the drumming (Ralph Humphrey and Chester Thompson) is fantastic. 


Such a tough question, as the man was so prolific and they are STILL releasing so much of his catalogue.

For live - You Can't Do That On Stage Anymore Volume 3

Recorded - Over-Nite Sensation, because it's probably the first record I ever stole from my older sister and never gave back.  Also, because it still seems fresh (and FRESH) after all this time.  Sort of like the first Penthouse magazine you hid under your bed.  

Now I have a question for y'all - Have you listened to The Hot Rats Sessions? What did you think? A bit excessive? Brilliant or revealing?  Someone went through a lot of tapes and felt it explained a lot about how he composed and directed his music.  I tried to get into it last summer, but it was a tough listen.  How many versions of Peaches En Regalia can you actually listen to? 


TheJmon said:

Such a tough question, as the man was so prolific and they are STILL releasing so much of his catalogue.

For live - You Can't Do That On Stage Anymore Volume 3

Recorded - Over-Nite Sensation, because it's probably the first record I ever stole from my older sister and never gave back.  Also, because it still seems fresh (and FRESH) after all this time.  Sort of like the first Penthouse magazine you hid under your bed.  

Now I have a question for y'all - Have you listened to The Hot Rats Sessions? What did you think? A bit excessive? Brilliant or revealing?  Someone went through a lot of tapes and felt it explained a lot about how he composed and directed his music.  I tried to get into it last summer, but it was a tough listen.  How many versions of Peaches En Regalia can you actually listen to? 

 Yeah, I listened to the first maybe 90 minutes of The Hot Rats Sessions. Fascinating to hear how many times they did the 2-bar drum intro to Peaches before they got it right. But after a while....oy.

For obsessives only. 


The_Soulful_Mr_T said:

 Yeah, I listened to the first maybe 90 minutes of The Hot Rats Sessions. Fascinating to hear how many times they did the 2-bar drum intro to Peaches before they got it right. But after a while....oy.

For obsessives only. 

 Yeah, agree.  I downloaded it on Spotify, but would never have purchased.  It's a challenging listen, really more for hardcore fans.  There is another certain someone who's music is still being released posthumously that I would say has similar things out now (Died at 27, iconic guitarist/musician, goes by the name Jimi?).  When CD box sets were a thing, I purchased that certain someone's Winterland Concerts, which is essentially the same sets over the course of three nights (I think?).  They also did the same thing with Humble Pie.  I would get chewed out for it, but someone also just did it with 800+ hours of live Dead music.

You have to be plenty obsessed, but there is definitely a market for it.  Me? Not so much.  


Wake/Jawaka

Hot Rats

Joes Garage


I've been listening, on Spotify, to a collection called THE MOTHERS 1970. It's 3-CDs worth of never-before heard cuts, unused takes, unedited masters, rehearsals, studio filler, snatches of interviews, etc., of some of tunes we know and some not, from 1970. (An early version of Call Any Vegetable. A pre-Live at the Fillmore of the suite What Kind of Girl Do You Think We Are?) The stunning thing is that so many of these tracks sound both remarkably contemporary and so sophisticated in terms of the range of influences and styles, time signatures and instrumentation, etc. . 


Thanks for the recommendation!  This is a side of Frank I was not familiar with, and it will take some time to digest.  You are way more hard core than I, my friend.  



In order to add a comment – you must Join this community – Click here to do so.

Sponsored Business

Find Business

Advertise here!