|
All news is attributed to the source from which it was received so that readers may judge the validity of the statements for themselves.
Have Joan Jett news to report? Email us at jettfc@aol.com, and please include the source of the information so it can be validated.
Arrest stirring memories in Seattle's rock circles
from: The Miami Herald
Mia Zapata was on her way home from a Seattle bar on July 7, 1993, when she disappeared. The body of the 27-year-old singer for up-and-coming rock band the Gits was found two hours later; according to The Seattle Times, the brutalized corpse was left in the position of a crucifix.
The case remained a mystery, covered on national news programs and a cause celebre for members of such popular acts as Pearl Jam, Nirvana and Soundgarden -- until Jesus C. Mezquia of Marathon was arrested Friday and charged with Zapata's rape and murder, based on DNA evidence.
"I was almost dumbfounded that something has finally come of it and extremely relieved," singer JOAN JETT said in a phone interview. Singer of such classics as I Love Rock 'n' Roll and Bad Reputation, Jett was active in efforts to raise funds for the search for Zapata's killer and recorded an album, Evil Stig (Gits Live backward), with the surviving members of the band.
Zapata's death galvanized Seattle's tightly knit music scene, which at the time was hot under the spotlight of the grunge craze. Fellow musicians organized a self-defense group, Home Alive, in her honor; Jett, Pearl Jam, Soundgarden and others contributed tracks to the Home Alive benefit CD.
"They were about to finish their second album," Seattle-based journalist Gillian G. Gaar, author of She's a Rebel: The History of Women in Rock & Roll, said. ''They were poised for more national prominence. There was such a feeling of camaraderie here, and then this happened . . . . "
Among many musicians, Zapata's death also fed growing awareness of violence against women. The Pacific Northwest music scene was a hotbed of feminism. "7 Year Bitch already had a song called Dead Men Don't Rape before the tragedy," Gaar says. That band titled its '94 album Viva Zapata!
Jett never knew Zapata but was working with some of Seattle's "riot grrrl" musicians. "'The fact that she was a musician, I could relate to the whole thing," says Jett. 'It made me realize how easily that could have been any one of us. How many times are you out late at night and thought, 'I'm OK.' She thought it too. That fragility of life; I had to be involved."
According to the arrest warrant, Zapata was strangled with the drawstrings of her hooded Gits sweat shirt. Mezquia has been charged with first-degree murder and is being held in Miami-Dade County Jail pending extradition to Washington. Bail is $4 million.
Gaar recalls seeing Daniel House, owner of the Gits' record label, C/Z, a few nights after Zapata's murder. 'I remember he said, 'If they ever catch the guy that killed Mia, I'm going to haul him on stage at a 7 Year Bitch show and say, 'This is the guy who killed Mia,' and throw him into the crowd."
|
| |
This Week:
No shows scheduled this week.
Click on the LIVE DATES link for upcoming shows |
Item Of The Month:
|
