Netflix knows I like a music documentary. This one was suggested recently and I watched it this week.
I do like Frank Zappa's music, but there is plenty I do not know about him. From this film I learned about how he went on tour in Europe in 1982 and did lots of dates in Italy before a final show in Palermo, Sicily. Frank's father came from there and moved to America. He had an Italian friend called Massimo who showed him the town his father came from and the small, run-down house he had lived in.
The documentary was made by an Italian who had been a Zappa fan, but was serving with the army in the north. He drove all the way home with his father, but ended up just missing the show. The show itself was a disaster as it ended in a riot with the police firing tear gas. This may have been due to a combination of factors. It was the local saint's day, so the police were stretched, there was a mafia war going on with lots of killings and the gig was badly organised with the audience a long way from the stage. The band only played for an hour and the fans would not even have been able to enjoy all of that.
It includes lots of footage I had not seen including plenty from that fateful gig where you can see the band are uncomfortable. They could not actually see the audience and could only hear the tear gas being fired before it got blown their way. They ended up taking shelter backstage with some people putting on bullet-proof vests as they did not know how dangerous the situation could get. Luckily nobody died that night.
The other element is that the Zappa family visited Sicily in 2012 to meet people Massimo and visit places Frank went. That was obviously quite emotional for them, especially when a classroom and road were named after Frank.
I really enjoyed this. Some of the narration and interviews are in Italian, but a lot of people talk in English. Guitarist Steve Vai who was on that tour talks about it. It gives a great insight into what it was like for those involved and the more recent footage is quite touching. Frank's wife Gail died a few years later.
I will warn you that here are some gruesome shots of the mafia killings.
The music lives on.
