Viva Mia Zapata

August 25 is Mia Zapata's birthday. In the male-dominated world of historical grunge, there appears to be some awareness of female music - beyond the Hole. People are remembering Mia Zapata and the Gits. And Joan Jett is one of the most significant covert advocates.

Mia Zapata was born August 25, 1965. She was the singer of the Seattle indie band The Gits, a gritty, passionate, followed band. Zapata had spent her childhood in Louisville, Kentucky, and founded the Gits in Yellow Springs, Ohio, in 1986. Yellow Springs, home of Antioch College, was an intellectual oasis in a Bible Belt fringe wasteland. Zapata made the best of her time there, and then relocated to Seattle to became a powerful female voice in the Grunge movement in the area. She burned like fire in Seattle.

In too short of time, Zapata's flame was turned off. She was murdered in Seattle.

At around 2:00 a.m. on July 7, 1993, Mia Zapata left the Comet Tavern in the Capitol Hill area of Seattle. She stayed at a studio space in the basement of an apartment building located a block away, and briefly visited a friend who lived on the second floor. This was the last time she was seen alive. She may have walked a few blocks west, or north to a friend's apartment, or may have decided to take the long walk south to her home.

She was beaten, strangled, and raped in the Central District of Seattle. It is believed she encountered her attacker shortly after 2:15 a.m. Her body was not initially identified as she had no identification on her when she was found. 

Zapata’s body was found with her arms out and her legs crossed, and she was placed between two Roman Catholic buildings on either side of the street. Zapata’s body was found, as Unsolved Mysteries noted, "lying face up in an almost Christ-like pose."

Yes, the sync to the "Jesus Christ Pose," which would become so symbolic of Chris Cornell and Chester Bennington, is there.

In "Joan Jett and the Jesus Christ Pose," I detail how Joan Jett in an episode of Law & Order: Criminal Intent takes on the pose that Zapata was found in her (Jett's) role on that program.

"Joan Jett sings the music of murdered lead singer Mia Zapata"

Evil Stig = Gits Live

On August 25th this year, Zapata would have been 52. 25/52.

She left too young.