All language subtitles for Summer.82.When.Zappa.Came.To.Sicily.2013.1080p.WEBRip.x264.AAC5.1-[YTS.GG - YTS.BZ].en

[gentle acoustic guitar music]

- Got that down.
- Mm-hm.

["Sleep Dirt" by Frank Zappa]

[upbeat rock music]

["Joe's Garage" by Frank Zappa]

♪ Wasn't very large

♪ It was just enough
room to cram the drums

♪ In a corner over by the Dodge

♪ It was a '54 with
a bashed up door

♪ And a cheesy little amp

♪ With a sign on the front
that said Fender champ

♪ And a second-hand guitar

♪ It was a Stratocaster
with a whammy bar

♪ We could jam in Joe's garage

♪ His mama was screamin'

♪ His dad was mad

♪ We was playin'
the same old song

♪ In the afternoon

♪ And sometimes we would
play it all night long

♪ It was all we
knew and easy, too

♪ So we wouldn't get it wrong

♪ Even if you played
it on a saxophone

♪ We thought we was pretty good

- The memory of Frank
is so clear in my mind.

That's why I say--

- Every time I read the
news or watching the news,

I'm his friend,
because, you know?

But, that's the way life
is, and I smile, my brother.

I met Frank in 1972.

I was a young kid
in high school.

And my schoolmates, you know,
we were spending our summer

driving around Europe.

We ended up in Paris.

So my friend called
his brothers in Rome.

And he asked us, he
said, "Where you guys?

"Who you are?

"Frank Zappa Play
Rome tomorrow night."

So we got a shot at seeing
Frank Zappa in Italy.

["Florentine Pogen"
by Frank Zappa]

In less than a day,
we drove all the way

from Paris down to Rome.

We drove all day and all night
and we arrive at the gig.

So we saw the show, we loved it.

At the end of the show,
we went to the backstage.

At that time you could do that.

[crowd cheering]

There was no security
and no nothing.

It was very simple.

And so we were there like
regular fans, you know,

outside the door of
the dressing room,

waiting for Frank to come out.

And Frank went out,
he was really polite.

And that's the
way the friendship

between me and Frank started.

He invited me over to the
house, and I was so shy.

- Massimo is not an Italian
language instructor.

Massimo is, tell them.

- A live publisher.

- When he came to visit us,

I think the deal was
cemented because if your

kids don't run away screaming
and your cat doesn't run away

and your dog doesn't growl
or attempt to bite them,

then they kind of
already passed the test.

- Mingas aren't dirty, unless
you don't wash the minga.

But if you ever
washed your minga--

- He brought a special
sort of amusement

along with his
friendship for Frank.

I mean, Frank was amused.

- This is my last single.

That fucking single,
that Cuban word.

I was there so many times.

I stayed with the
kids, you know.

Real kids, small kids,

full of energy, did
a lot of things.

- My memories of Massimo are
of him visiting the house,

spending time with my
father in the basement.

He made my father laugh.

I remember him as an avid
nosepicker, of course.

♪ Are we moving too slow

- To me, as a kid, he was
like my dad's gross friend.

But they were like two
Italians on a stoop,

like those guys together.

They turned into
like a comedy duo.

And again, I just thought
I feel like Massimo

is leading my
father into trouble.

He is a troublemaking friend.

That was my sense of him
as a teenager. [laughs]

- Hey man.

♪ When it's froze

♪ And it's hard if
it hits on your nose

- And I had a chance
to see the man working,

the genius working
in his own place.

He was a workaholic,
he was working hard,

very hard, you know.

He was able to stay home
for hours, for days, weeks.

["Don't Eat the Yellow
Snow" by Frank Zappa]

♪ Strictly commercial

♪ Have the unmitigated audacity

♪ To jump up from
behind my igloo

♪ Peek-a-boo

- When my father was home,
he would sleep during the day

and work at night.

So many times it was
just putting food trays

on the dumbbell,
lowering the food down

to the dungeon, basement
where he was working,

and then hearing the music
throughout the house.

["Father O'Blivion"
by Frank Zappa]

♪ Dominus vobiscum

♪ Et cum spiritu tuo

♪ Won't you eat
my sleazy pancakes

♪ Just for saintly Alphonzo

♪ They're so light
and fluffy white

♪ We'll raise a
fortune by tonight

♪ They're so light
and fluffy white

♪ We'll raise a
fortune by tonight

♪ They're so light
and fluffy brown

♪ They're the finest in the town

♪ They're so light
and fluffy brown

♪ They're the finest in the town

- When we would be
together at home with him,

in the rare moments when
he would come upstairs,

it was like the sun coming out.

- He was one of those people,

you meet a few in your
life if you're lucky,

where when they're
looking at you,

there's nothing else
in the universe.

You feel like, wow, I'm alone
here, except for this person

who's looking at me and
paying attention to just me.

And Frank was like that.

You would have
100% of his focus.

If you were a munchkin
and you were in need,

he was right there for you.

So that's the luxury of being
a dad who's out and about.

- [Frank] Why look at
me, I'm a family guy.

- [Narrator] When
he's not on the road,

Frank Zappa is very
close to his wife Gail,

his son Dweezil, and the rest
of the four little Zappas.

- Didn't think any of
them wanna make music

like I make music,

but Dweezil is a guitar player,

very excellent guitar player,

even though he's
only 12 years old.

[mellow electric guitar]

- When I got to spend
time with my father,

I didn't feel like the
time we spent together

was a distraction from his work.

And a lot of the
things that we did

generally were
about thinking and

having fun with creative
thought processes,

whether it was games with words,

or when I started to get
really involved in music,

being able to discuss
music and recording,

and the science of sound,
and all kinds of things

that were just
fascinating subjects,

that I'm still
interested in today.

- Well, right now
we're in the Dublin

shooting another
television special.

- So in 1982, I was 14.

And I was frustrated because
I had a father who toured

nine months out of the year.

He was gone so very much
and so I was really missing

having a dad around.

And so I had written
a note and slid it

under the studio door
basically saying,

hey I've got an idea.

Maybe we should record
something together.

That we could get to
spend some time together.

And so he woke me up one
night, he was like okay.

And he brought me down to
the studio and he said,

"Do that funny voice you
do at the dinner table."

Now, enough is enough, okay,

I've like had it
up to here, okay.

So like barf out,
gag me with a spoon,

get the picture?

♪ Valley girl,
she's a valley girl

♪ Valley girl,
she's a valley girl

♪ Okay fine, for sure, for sure

♪ She's a valley girl

♪ In a clothing store

♪ Okay fine, for sure,
for sure, she's a

♪ Like oh my God

♪ Valley girl

♪ Like totally

♪ Valley girl

♪ Encino's like so bitchin'

♪ Valley girl

♪ There's like the Galleria

♪ Valley girl

- Recording "Valley Girl" and
then the subsequent success

of that song I think
was very strange for me,

and I think also for my father,

because all of a sudden
he had an AM hit.

And this is not representative

of the total body of his work.

- Well, what's to
take seriously?

Because you know that everything
that goes on the radio

is destined to go off the radio.

So it goes on, it goes
off, big crazy deal.

- And then of course, we
had to do many press things

together, so I was excited
because I got to travel

with my father and
have some photo shoots.

He hated having his photo taken.

And then he left to go on tour.

[upbeat classical music]

- One day Frank called
me and he told me,

he said, "They offered
me a tour in Italy."

And I say, "Wonderful,
it's a great thing."

- In 1982, Frank went on
an international tour.

It was a new band, new
drummer and a new bass player,

so completely new
rhythm section.

They rehearsed so much material.

So it was one of those
supergroups of Frank's,

where it was just like
they were so mighty

and so strong in that area.

And they spent the
better half of 1981

touring in the States.

So '82, starting in May,
was the international tour.

The Italian visit was the
last section of that tour.

- And so they arrive from
somewhere in New York to Turin.

Once we were there, at the
airport, there was a bus

for the crew, for the band.

And there was no car for Frank.

So he jumped in my car, you
know, him and John Smothers,

and that was it.

And then the tour started.

And for the entire tour,

Frank and John was
always on my car.

[upbeat electric
classical music]

- We play Turin, Milan, Genoa.

We played Pistoia and at
the stadium at Pistoia,

we arrived and
the guard general,

the stadium didn't know
there was a concert tonight,

and he didn't let the
crew walk and drive in.

And then we played in Rome,
then we played Naples.

And so it was a real adventure.

- It was so nice to be in Italy,

because I grew up
Italian-American,

and finally I was there.

And we went to so many places,
you know, with two weeks.

And the audiences were
huge, really huge.

Tens of thousands of people,
much bigger than most places.

And for me, the
Italian tour with Frank

is one of the
highlights in my career,

because it was the
first time in Italy.

[upbeat electric
classical music]

- The day after Rome
was the same days

where the Italian soccer time
won the World Championship.

And so it was really strange
atmosphere, really electric.

And Frank loved it
because all the noise

and he taped it on
his recording machine.

- So Saturday he say this
is a great adventure,

and I wanna make an
album from this tour.

So he was asking me about if
I knew some Italian artist

to do the cover,
because he wanted to put

all experience that he had.

- He loved Ranxerox,
the character Ranxerox.

Actually Frank told to
Nino that he believed

that the power of this
drawing was comparable

to Michelangelo drawing.

- And the last show
was in Palermo,

you know, the infamous
concert in Palermo.

- Hi Tom, welcome to Palermo.

[speaking in a foreign language]

- Why don't you come over
and film my discussion

with the taxi driver.

I think this is going
to be very eventful.

- All right, this is witness,
I'm paying the taxi driver

and Larry has to give
me the money, okay.

This is on film.

["Son of Mr. Green
Jeans" by Frank Zappa]

- So we ended up in Palermo
the last gig of the tour.

And I had this idea of
giving Frank a surprise.

And I say, "Frank, what
are you doing there?

"Come with me, I drive
you around the town,

"and you see Palermo.

"Actually, that's
where you come from,

"from Sicily, you're Sicilan."

["Twenty Small Cigars"
by Frank Zappa]

So he agree and I
immediately left the town,

took him highway.

So Frank's looking around
and say, "Where we going?"

I say, "Actually, we're
going to Partinico,

"and I wanted to show you
the town of your father."

- So we're going to,
we're doing the same trip

that we did with Frank.

- Now how did you get
Frank to get into the car?

- Yeah, that is a good question.

- Well, there was,
it was my charm.

- Yeah, your charm,
you got him in there?

- Because I had the idea, I say,

"You wanna see the prison?"

And Frank say, "What
are you talking about?"

I say, "Well, you'll love this,
I believe you'll love this.

"The main prison of Palermo,
the famous Ucciardone.

"The prison where they
locked Eldar Mafioso,"

and blah blah blah.

And Frank suddenly
say, "Okay, let's go."

And he was in the
car and he say,

"I can't believe it."
- Because normally Frank

didn't wanna to go too many
places when he was on tour.

- Yeah right, absolutely.
- Pretty much.

- Stay at the hotel, relax.
- I can't believe he was

by the pool.
- Yeah, that's kind of rare

for him to do, anyway.

- That's why I told you, he
was at the pool with the band.

And also,
- The south of Italy

was the end of the adventure,
is very nice.

in Italy, you know?

- And it was also unusual for
a rock band to come and play

in Sicily, right, I
mean at that time,

you didn't have things like
Frank Zappa playing in.

- Not only, on the 14 of July,

it's the anniversary of
the saint of the city,

the Santa Rosalia.

[rhythmic military drumming]

- We were, without
knowing, in the middle

of one of the
worst Mafia battle.

They were killing each other.

[intense horn music]

- Yeah, if you use a computer
and you Google Partinico,

criminals come up, and then
a picture of Frank as a baby.

- [laughs] Really?

["Chunga's Revenge"
by Frank Zappa]

- Did he ever talk to you
about his experience, Frank?

- You know, he never
told me the story,

but I had heard, you know,
the little bits of legend.

- I can't remember
how Frank decided

to spend his time in Sicily.

But Sicily, of course,
has special meaning,

because his father
is from there.

And it's just a
part of his cultural

heritage, and I don't mean
in the sense that, you know,

it's in his genes.

I mean in the sense that

the way the world
was explained to him

was through the eyes of
some Sicilian people.

At least at some point.

It wasn't the only influence,

but certainly it was part of it.

["Sofa No. 1" by Frank Zappa]

- Here we are.

[speaking in a foreign
language] Partinico.

During the Italian tour, it
was the only time that Frank

told me a lot about
his childhood.

- I remember my father talking
about his father coming over

from Italy and having a sense
that there was a very big gap

between how my
grandfather was raised

and how my father was so
different than his father.

And just how the
changes of exposure

to another culture continued to

morph and inform
you of who you are.

But again, that sense that
that was our bloodline,

and that we were Italian.

I mean, we've been
claimed by many cultures,

but I definitely
self-identify as a Sicilian.

Not just Italian, but Sicilian.

- Most people, when they
examine where they came from

or their relatives, like okay,
you're Sicilian-American.

What is that about
your grandfather,
why is he like that,

and how do I fit in somehow?

That's not the kind of a
question that Frank Zappa

would ever ask himself.

That's not interesting to him.

What is interesting to him is

how you come by an education
by virtue of contrast material.

["Sofa No. 1" by Frank Zappa]

- So here we are.

I mean, I drove your
father and John here.

I think we probably,
if I remember well,

we parked over
there and went out.

Your father was looking
around in sunglasses,

very surprised, just
like you are now,

you know, looking around.

- Just the way Massimo tells
the story is so funny, anyway.

So for us to experience
it and know that they went

into this place and probably
seemed like complete,

you know, aliens from
another planet to the people

in town at that time.

- Nobody was here, nobody.

And Frank look around and,

no, John Smothers look up
and say, "It's a ghost town."

I tell us, "Don't worry
everybody's behind the shades,

"watching us."
- All these shutters.

- Yeah right.

They still shut down, you see?

But there are people
behind there watching us.

And then we moved to
the bar down there.

It was the only bar.

Didn't look like this.

- I know it was probably
different when my dad visited,

but it was just great to
see that here's this town,

still with its own
personality in a modern time,

but it's almost a town
where time stood still

for Partinico, you know.

I liked that people were
coming to the fountain

with their plastic jugs
to fill their water.

That, to me, was remarkable
that that's happening now.

- Your father was here,
we took a coffee here.

And there was a
phone booth here.

I believe there was
a phone booth there.

And we checked the phone book.

- Looking for Zappa.

- Looking for Zappa.

I was really on
the name, you know,

trying to find some
relatives of him,

but he didn't know anybody.

So we saw the town.

And Frank make a question.

"I would like to know how in
the beginning of the century,

"my father was able to leave
from here and hit New York."

[gentle instrumental music]

- There was this ceremony
that the town set up

in the mayor's office.

And we weren't really sure
what was going to happen

when we went there.

We told that there was
a bit of a surprise.

Here's the mayor, who's dressed

in like a very slick black suit,

kind of shiny,
almost Miami Vice.

- Thank you so much.

- Down this way?

So this is the street.

This was, number 13?

Go check on that.

Can't really, no doorknob.

Hello?

- It's such a small space.

It's the size of a
shoe, like the shoe box,

like so small of a
space that they left it.

It's incredible.

I don't even have
words to explain what,

what seeing that was for me.

- [Diva] There's a
water bottle in there.

- There's a water
bottle in there.

- [Diva] And what looks
like a nitrogen like...

[woman speaking in
a foreign language]

- A butane tank or something?

- [Diva] But it's
like, it looks like a--

- Is there a kitchen?

- [Diva] But it's not, no.

- You don't see a kitchen?

- [Diva] Well, now, no.

- To see this place, see that
they walked out of this door

and got on a boat
to go to America,

it's a crazy journey.

I thought about could I
right now leave my whole life

and go to some other
place with nothing

and rebuild a life with having
to learn a new language,

and maybe not be able to use
the skill you already know.

Could I do it, I don't know.

I mean, that's a heroic
effort for anyone to do.

But now you reverse time
and you think about it

in terms of the
uncertainty of travel,

how did anybody do it?

["Peaches en Regalia"
by Frank Zappa]

- So, on the way
back from Partinico,

we went straight to the
Favorita, to the city.

There was no organization.

There was no security waiting
for artists and everything.

So we have to walk with the
car inside the Favorita.

- [Man] How do I get,
knock right here.

["Peaches en Regalia"
by Frank Zappa]

- That's old.
- Aw man, I wish I could

have seen it.

- Yeah, but I'll tell you
one thing was really amazing.

We stopped to get
a cup of coffee

at this place called
the Tropical Bar.

Desolation, right?

They've got a room
with video games.

I mean, like five of these
things all going full blast.

The town doesn't
have enough water.

The streets are all rocks.

This is the city where the guy,
the Mafia boss of New York,

is from there.
- Originally?

- Maybe he still lives
there and runs the world

from this place.

And when you see it,
if you ever see it,

you cannot imagine how anybody
could even get out of there.

It's just total
trash and rubbish.

- [Man] Are there any traces
of your family still there?

- No, we looked in the
phone book, there's nothing.

- [Man] Of course, there
might not be anything.

- Yeah, maybe they have
an unlisted number.

- Play in a dumpster.

- Oh, it was a dumpster.

The streets were
like, no pavement.

- Fourth world.
- Yeah, fourth world.

- Fifth world.
- Last world.

- Eh, they're all
having a good time.

Okay, let's do soundcheck.

Is Vince ready?

- Yeah [mumbles].

- The footage reveals
a lot of the setup.

So you get a general vibe
about how everybody was feeling

at that time.

It was the last
show of the tour.

It was a nice sunny day,
the weather was good.

It was an exciting
feeling around there.

The band was onstage
and they were playing,

and everyone's kind
of in a good moods.

And then they start
playing in the sound check,

and that all goes well.

And the prospect of having
Massimo come on stage that night

and play was a biggie
and that was fun.

- Maybe Frank's, maybe
Frank's wants you camera me

about I don't know exactly what.

Maybe he wants some better
Italian expression to tell.

I don't know.
- Oh yeah, yeah, we'll do it

before the show.
- Yeah.

[upbeat rock music]

- The Italian language
is famous for bad words.

He was fascinated by
Italian bad words.

He wanted to know
all of the bad words.

So when we were going
to Palermo he asked me,

"So what are the bad
words of Palermo?"

And I told him that the
king of the bad words,

of Palermo, of course, minchia.

And he laughed and he loved
the way the words sounds,

and he was repeating himself.

So he had the idea, immediately
he called me up and say,

"Now that we're doing
the sound check,

"can you write some lyrics
with the minchia word

"on the songs that we use,
on the music that we use

"for the soundcheck for the
warmup, to warm up the band?"

That's the way that Tengo
na Minchia Tanta was born.

["Tengo na Minchia
Tanta" by Frank Zappa]

- The soundcheck with Frank
was always interesting,

because he's always doing
something, writing something,

recording something.

- That's the other reason
this also explains,

when you see this, you'll
understand why he chose Massimo

out of the millions of
Italians he could have picked,

go on the stage and
make an announcement,

because Massimo was going
to perform with them.

And he didn't get his chance.

So this is as close as he gets.

[cheering and applauding]

- [Man] What's this called?

- It says I have a
big bunch of dick.

- I started in '77 with Frank,

so that was my first intimate

big-time rock-n-roll
event period.

And then when we came
to Italy, in particular,

it was, this is again
way back in time,

so it was new, big
rock-n-roll shows and stuff,

as he then played
out in Palermo to a,

it wasn't really
a standard routine

to put on a show like that.

And Frank had his own
sounds, his own lights.

Plus to see other countries'
crews to deal with this

and adapt to a big
show like that,

that's, I think, why all
the confusion happened.

Though I was filming it
and Joe Travers told me

that there's a lot of footage,

he mentioned it to me.

He said, "Oh, I want to
see it hopefully one day."

- One, two, three, four.

["No, No Cherry" by Frank Zappa]

♪ Well, I found out baby

♪ You told me a great big lie

- I got onstage and I looked out

and there was more people than
I've ever seen in my life,

ever, in one place.

And it was a big soccer stadium.

And they were all lined up.

["Outrage at Valdez"
by Frank Zappa]

- What happened at
the gig in Palermo,

at that time we did not know.

["The Mammy Anthem"
by Frank Zappa]

So the only thing that
we knew that the stage

was very strange, because
they set the stage

in the middle of the field.

- [Joe] Oh they noticed it.

There you go, look.
- They could probably hear it.

- [Joe] See, that's
the beginning

of the concert right there.

- We couldn't really
see that was going on,

but we see some
movement or something.

- And we were very high.

The stage was very
high off the ground.

All of a sudden, somebody
got over the barrier,

and they ran up to the
front of the stage.

And you know, I'm
looking down at them,

and they were just one
little person there going,

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah,
hi, I'm here, I made it."

- [Joe] I wonder why they
wouldn't let them in the field.

- It was a wrong
setting, to begin with.

I guess they wanted
to save the lawn.

But that's how it all happened.

That's how it all went down.

- And the guards beat
the shit out of them.

["The Mammy Anthem"
by Frank Zappa]

- Hello.

Welcome to the last show

of the last European tour.

- You can actually
tell what's going on,

because you as you see,
when Frank goes out

onto the stage, I'm so used
to seeing this kind of footage

from being at a concert.

And the sound of the
audience comes up.

And it's got a
special quality to it.

And when Frank goes
out onto the stage,

the sound is different.

You know right away
something is wrong.

You can sense it, you
can see it in their gait.

In Frank's gait I can see it.

There's something
going on out there.

- Scott Thunes.

Steve Vai.

And our special guest
star, Massimo Bassoli.

Are you ready?

I hope so.

["Dancin' Fool" by Frank Zappa]

- And then of course
when you realize

they can't see anything.

They have no idea if there's
five people or 10,000 people.

♪ One of my legs is
shorter than the other

♪ And both my feet's too long

♪ Course now right
along with them

♪ I got no natural rhythm

♪ But I go dancin' every night

♪ Hopin' one day I
might get it right

♪ Dancin' fool

♪ Dancin' fool

♪ Dancin' fool

♪ Dancin' fool

♪ Dancin' fool

♪ The disco folks all dress up

♪ Like they's fit to kill

♪ Walk on in and see them there

♪ Gonna give them all a thrill

♪ He's a dancing fool

♪ Chop a line now

♪ Cocaine decision

♪ You are a person
with a snow job

♪ You got a fancy gotta go job

♪ Where the cocaine
decisions that you make today

♪ Will mean a million
somewhere else

♪ We'll do it your way

♪ Cocaine decisions

♪ You are a person
not in my class

- They had the armed
forces, the National Guard,

with shields and guns
around the whole perimeter.

♪ I don't wanna know about
the things that you pull

♪ What you say affects
my heart in such a way

- And then suddenly we
start hearing sounds,

rumors, or riots.

- They have no idea
what's going on.

♪ Cocaine decisions

♪ Cocaine decisions

[tear gas firing]

- And this is what you see
from the stage, nothing.

Just a black hole.

[tear gas firing]

♪ Cocaine decisions

♪ You are a doctor or a lawyer

♪ You got an office with a foyer

[tear gas firing]

♪ Cocaine decisions

♪ You are a movie business guy

- They just, they
overreacted, really.

♪ To Acapulco

♪ Where all your friends go

- Massimo, come here.

Yeah, bring the band on
down behind me, boys.

[tear gas firing]

- Now listen, we want
to continue the concert.

We want to keep playing music.

Will you please be calm?

Sit down and relax
so we can play music.

["Nig Biz" by Frank Zappa]

♪ I signed on the line

♪ For seven long years

- [Moon] And you can
see how stressful

and how scared he
must have been.

- [Gail] But he's also
thinking about the audience.

- Of course.
- Because if they start

running, they're
gonna die out there,

whether they're hit by bullets

or whether they just trip over
and get trampled to death.

- You know he's just so

in the moment,
- Well, he was like a Gandhi.

and on the case.

♪ I could smoke

♪ But now I'm beat up and broke

♪ They said I oughta re-record

♪ The tracks of my tears

♪ They said hey this is it

♪ It's gonna be a big hit

♪ With my name up in lights

♪ Nig biznis, nig biznis

- The policemen was shooting
tear gas inside the stadium.

And the people in the
stadium watching the show

was taking the tear gas
and send it back to them.

♪ Has brought disaster

♪ On this poor heart of mine

- Right now's the time
to play the blues.

- And then when the
tear gas would continue

around the stadium, the
people that were here

were all in a panic and running.

And it came all the way around
and finally it hit the stage.

Now I don't know if
you've ever felt tear gas,

but it's very unpleasant.

And I was, [choking], you know

and starting to tear and choke.

[people screaming]

- I think what happened in
Palermo is just not so uncommon

in those times, especially
with the governments

being what they are
from time to time,

and those attitudes
extending down to people

who are employed by the
state, and also carry guns.

And fortunately, I don't think
anybody died from that event.

- Ray White.

Tommy Mars.

Chad Wackerman.

Ed Mann.

Bobby Martin.

Scott Thunes.

Steve Vai.

Thomas Nordegg.

Thanks for coming
to the concert.

Hope you liked it,
have a good night.

- [Gail] So that's the
premature ending of the show.

- [Joe] We're an hour
and six minutes in.

- We just got off and a
complete riot broke out.

And we were backstage and
there was complete chaos.

- Come on.

- All they're giving
me is one drop.

Whoops, missed.

- So yeah, there's
crazy mayhem going on.

The concert's over,
they can't leave.

So they're stuck there.

- Massimo, [words
drowned out by crowd]

- He's so stressed still.

He's like what do we do
with the time in the bunker.

- [Frank] Italian
language lesson.

This is the desk of an Italian--

- This is just how
friendships are built.

Massimo and Frank in
the trenches together,

this is what happened.

This is certainly the
basis for an ongoing

you know, sort of respect.

- I just want you to,

just like this was a
real language school,

somebody has just paid a
lot of money to come here

to learn how to speak Italian,

and this is an Italian
language school,

give them the works.

You guys back out of the way.

Before we go on.

- The first important words
that you have to understand

of the Italian language
is [speaking in a
foreign language].

That means [speaking
in a foreign language].

- This is not the first time
that Frank has been threatened.

And this is maybe because
they're firing guns out there.

But the reason why he had
the vest in the first place

is from death threats.
- For threats, yeah.

- But this is the occupational
hazard of rock-n-roll

for anyone who is political.

- They won't stop
shooting those tear gases

at the kids.

Before they shoot, you
gotta have the boys

throw rocks back at them.

[conversation drowned
out in the room echo]

They're shooting at them
and now they're loading,

they're caught
being shooting back.

- [Frank] That means I
have to get my zipper in.

[fireworks exploding]

- It's a big one,
it's all the way.

The rainbow, close to the rocks.

- Sicilia to me
opens a doorway to

all the things that I
remember Frank saying

about his family and how
they felt about Sicily.

Frank's father was
always telling him

that all of these inventions,
they were from everywhere,

were invented in Sicily.

That there would be
nothing of culture anywhere

in the entire universe,
were it not for Sicily.

Hearing this when he was a child

has to have opened a
window for him to say,

"Ah, I will fly through here.

"And even though I am
small and insignificant

"and isolated like Isola,

"I can do things that
no one else can do."

[laughing]
[quirky music]

So now I come here and you
know what, I believe it.

[audience applauding]

[upbeat orchestral music]

- In Frank's career, he
took a very difficult path

to do what he wanted to do.

A very singular maverick style

of doing what he did.

And I can recognize
that people from Sicily

definitely have that
sort of independence

and creative thought process.

I think there is a bit
of that Sicilian history

within our family,
whether we are cognizant

of it coming out.

I think it's more
apparent when we're here.

I mean, even just meeting
the relatives we had here,

there are

certain things that we
learned in talking with them.

Last name Zappa.

- His last name is Zappa.

- Not only do we find
a whole bunch of Zappas

that are, in many ways,
characteristic of the family

that I thought I
was looking for.

You know, they are so not
like the family I came from,

so not like the family
that Frank came from,

but they are very representative
of a true family spirit.

And they were here in
Sicily, which is so crazy.

- Wow!
- This is, this is--

- The facial hair, wow!

- [Massimo] This is the
brother of your grandfather.

- Look at the hair, the
mustache, it's amazing.

- My memories of my paternal
grandparents are very strange.

I remember them as small
people in a small house

with stubborn ways.

And there was not a lot of
discussion about feelings.

Feeling became a meal,
usually sweets. [laughs]

So there was always
that sense of like a gap

between what you wanna say
and what could be said.

And this subterranean love,

but with this thing that
you couldn't break through,

which I call that
Italian thing. [laughs]

- It was amazing because the
family was explaining to us

that there were
several siblings.

And the father of
that Zappa family

had purchased land for
the family to live.

And I don't remember if was
five girls and five boys,

or how many children there were.

But all but two of them
live on this street

and live in houses
right beside each other.

And they spend all of
their time together.

["Little Umbrellas"
by Frank Zappa]

- My father had a degree
of that Sicilian thing,

but he was a very emotional
and sensitive person.

I think because
he was an artist,

he was a very soft-spoken,

logical, gentle person.

And it brings tears to my
eyes to think about how

thoughtful he was in his
words and his actions

as a parent.

[mellow rock music]

- As I continue to play music
and play his music for people,

it's a way for me to continue
having a relationship

with something that's
still familiar to me.

And through playing
the music and

the experience that
we had here in Sicily,

where people celebrating
him and being proud

he's from Partinico,
and all of that stuff,

it's a chance for him
to still be here for us.

[upbeat band music]

I noticed you see all
the flamenco stuff.

- I'm sad that there is
nothing, he wasn't here longer.

The silence is horrible.

But I'm grateful for
what he did manage to do.

[applauding]

The two things that I think
that Frank loved the most,

that represented his life,

was first freedom,

and second music.

And through music, and when
you have that experience,

or whatever it is
that you choose,

but for Frank it was music,

you discover freedom.

And you don't want anyone or
anything to have the power

to be in your way
to such a degree

that you cannot do the things
that you are destined to do.

And I am lucky that I have
this thing that I know

that compels me.

And I saw Frank do that
with his life, as well.

[uplifting music]