The L.A. Musical History Tour
Frank Zappa Former residence (now torn down)
NW corner of Laurel Canyon & Lookout Mountain, Laurel Canyon
Frank Zappa lived in a log cabin formerly owned by cowboy actor Tom Mix
on this lot
from 1966 to 1968, when he left because too many weirdos were dropping in
(not
including John Mayall, who lived here with Zappa when he first came to the
U.S.). Eric
Burdon rented it after that. It burned down around 1980.
Zappa's influence both personal and musical cannot be overstated. His concerts
with his
band the Mothers of Invention, originally billed as "freak-outs,"
set the stage for the
performance art of the future and spread a kind of liberating madness around
L.A. that was
far more insidious than what the hippies were doing in San Francisco. Yet
Zappa was a
highly disciplined bandleader and composer, a non-drug user who never hesitated
to mock
the sacred icons and gurus of hippie culture along with the police, the
government, even
war toy manufacturers. To Zappa, California was full of conformist "Plastic
People,"
young and old.
The Mothers of Invention audaciously debuted with a double album which included
a track
about the Watts riots, "Trouble Coming Every Day," that has never
been topped for telling
it like it is about Los Angeles. Zappa was later championed by Los Angeles
Philharmonic
conductor Zubin Mehta, who premiered one of Zappa's orchestral works at
UCLA's Pauley
Pavilion. (The performance included not only adventurous music, but various
Mothers
sticking stuffed giraffes up the skirts of female cellists.)
Because Zappa is also a consummate businessman not averse to going to court
to protect
himself, today he personally owns every significant shred of tape he ever
recorded, and
has been carefully releasing hours of historical performance on his Barking
Pumpkin label.
He's an outspoken advocate of free speech, and has recently been working
on Eastern
European trade issues and become a friend of Czechoslovakian president Vaclav
Havel..