Guest Post by Bob Zappa, author of Frankie and Bobby: Growing Up Zappa
On Monday night when my wife, Diane, and I met up with her daughter, Anna, at the Landmark Theater we went to the ticket booth to ask for Gary Springer, the man in charge of PR for the movie.
The young woman in the booth did not know Gary so I explained that we were there to see the preview of the SONY movie and she said, you mean the one about Frank Kafka? And therein lies the mystery that is Frank Zappa.
It’s not that people can’t pronounce our last name, it’s that too many people still don’t know how brilliant, talented and outspoken Frank was. But for the many, many fans who still revere his memory and who are finding that his musical legacy lives on through his talented son, Dweezil Zappa, this amazing bio picture, Eat That Question, will help correct that.
The first thing you need to know about the movie is that it is extremely well organized. It revolves around a series of comments and events that give viewers an intimate look into Frank’s passion for artistic integrity, free speech and his utter disdain of religious intolerance, political and social oppression and any bias against free thought.
The next thing you will find is that the film accurately depicts how Frank had the verbal agility and intellectual depth to back up his convictions. He was self-taught in so many areas, so well read and so technically sophisticated that it was a challenge for Thorsten Schutte, the film’s director, to convey those elements in a 90-minute documentary. But he did so, and brilliantly. Finally, my niece, Moon Zappa, who has been helping promote the film, asked if I was ready to see it. She wanted to know if in some way I might be saddened by parts of the film (when you see it you’ll know which ones I mean…) and I told her that I wouldn’t miss it, and besides, I planned to bring a box of Kleenex with me just in case.
Happily, I didn’t need too many tissues and I was very glad we saw it. Over the years Frank has become the inspiration for the hopes, expectations, and source of courage for so many who were, or are now, the hungry freaks he so ably championed.
I am, of course, biased in favor of the film, but when you see it I think you’ll share my feelings. I hope that Frank’s many fans, and friends of those fans, including their mothers, fathers, brothers, sisters, uncles, aunts, cousins, priests, rabbis and anyone else looking for an experience that will live long after the popcorn is gone, get the chance to see this wonderful movie.
Bob Zappa, New York
Video excerpts from my interviews with Bob Zappa: