The Man: End of the 60s

In 1968 Zappa and his family made another move. This time they settled into a massive 18-room log cabin in Laurel Canyon. There they were joined by Zappa’s ‘entourage’ and the number of people residing in The Log Cabin stayed at around twelve. This included Ian Underwood and Motorhead Sherwood of The Mothers as well as The GTOs (a groupie band Zappa 'put together' and produced) and Pamela Zarubica (a close friend who had introduced him to his wife, Gail). Other than the regulars it soon became a hot stop for megastar musicians passing through the U.S., such as Eric Clapton and Mick Jagger. Building a recording studio in his basement, Zappa never had to leave home. Throughout his life, Zappa's basement studios would be his sanctuary. He would spend entire nights smoking cigarettes, drinking black coffee and composing, playing and editing.

Another thing that remained constant throughout his life, as mentioned earlier, he remained straightedge and was “never a druggie. Frank openly made fun of the very counterculture he was helping to sustain,” says Grace Slick in her autobiography [Miles p. 168] It is almost as if he surrounded himself by what he ‘forbid’ and subconsciously encouraged it so that he could have further inspiration and interesting subject matter for his music.

On September 5th 1969 his family expanded with the addition of Ian Donal Calvin Euclid Zappa – to be known as Dweezil from the age of five when he insisted to have his name changed to what his parents had originally wanted, but had been forbidden to use by hospital staff.