Son of pop culture icon brings music to fans

Zappa traveled to Italy earlier this year to help a Sicilian filmmaker put the finishing touches on a film about his late father, Frank Zappa.

“It’s been quite a revelation to actually go back to where your family is from,” he says during a recent interview. “I’ve met so many relatives that I never knew existed and learned so much about our family’s history. It’s been really inspiring.”

	Dweezil Zappa Plays Zappa WHEN: 8:30 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 15 WHERE: Sunshine Theater, 120 W. Central HOW MUCH: $28 at www.holdmyticket.com or 886-1251

Zappa says he also visited an elementary school in Sicily where the music room was dedicated to Frank, and the area where his grandfather grew up has a street named after him.

“Frank was much bigger in other areas,” he says. “I told the music teacher that you would never see an entire room dedicated to Frank in the United States. People are still discovering his music to this day.”

Dweezil Zappa grew up one of four children and was influenced by his father’s jazz, rock and experimental music. For the past five years he has gathered musicians together and toured under the name Dweezil Zappa Plays Zappa.

“I wanted to give Frank’s music back to many of his fans,” he says. “Since Frank is no longer here with us, a lot of his fans figured they would never hear his music live again. I wanted to be able to do this for the fans.”

Frank Zappa died of prostate cancer in 1993.

While Zappa is paying homage to his father, he admits that fans are often surprised when it comes to the live shows.

“Frank made more than 100 albums of music, so even the most hard-core fan hasn’t heard a lot of these songs,” he explains. “I’m trying to give the fans a glimpse of Frank’s career during this tour. There is material that spans the ’60s, ’70s and ’80s. It’s quite an accomplishment for us to get all of this together.”

When it comes to arranging the music, Zappa says it’s done rather quickly.

“Frank would rehearse for three or four months before taking his music out on tour,” he says. “We only have a couple weeks to get all the music together. I have to say that we’re pretty good at defining our roles. We also do all of our homework before we actually get together to play.”