Frank Zappa’s music and legacy featured Saturday at the Radford Theatre

The words, sound and legacy of rock musician and composer Frank Zappa will be featured Saturday at noon at the Radford Theatre.

The informal Zappa-fest will feature a performance by a tribute band, a screening of a documentary about the iconoclastic Zappa and a panel discussion featuring a remote conversation with the documentary’s producer. 

St. Alphonso’s Pancake Breakfast Club, a Frank Zappa tribute band, will open the festivities with a performance at noon.

"Eat That Question: Frank Zappa in His Own Words" will show at 12:30 p.m. "Eat that Question," directed by Thorsten Schutte, is a documentary about Zappa that includes wide-ranging interviews with the artist.

At the conclusion of the movie, Schutte is scheduled to remotely join the panel discussion about Zappa and his art, music and activism.  "Eat That Question" is rated R.

The event is free and doors open at 11:30 a.m.  Sponsors include Public Radio WVRU, Scholar-Citizen Initiative, McConnell Library and the College of Visual and Performing Arts.

Schutte, an accomplished documentary-maker, discovered the event from his German home via social media. He then volunteered for the post-screening panel discussion and connected with the event, according to Public Radio WVRU General Manager Ashlee Claud.

"I appreciate that Radford and WVRU are doing this, because this is what a director dreams of – that things happen like this,” said Schutte. “It’s nice to bring 'Eat That Question' to a younger audience and discuss it in the United States, especially in the current political climate.”

For more information, call WVRU at 831-6059.