Veteran rocker Dr John has abolished theories about Frank Zappa's lifestyle by insisting his collaborator never touched hard drugs.

According to Dr John - a past abuser of heroin - the late Zappa was so anti-narcotics when everyone was getting high in the 1970s, he once threatened to ruin a chemical-fuelled New York party by reporting the revellers' bad behaviour to police.

Dr John recalls, "Me, JESSE HILL and ALVIN ROBINSON were staying at this rundown hotel on Venus and Melrose for $17 (GBP9) a month.

"I got two rooms and one of them had a lot of hot s**t in it, and the other was a music room.

"Neither one was for sleeping, basically. It was nuttin' (nothing) but characters in this place: pimps, and ho's, and dope-dealers and pickpockets, there was no legit people in there.

"The guy that was working the desk said, 'Somebody's about to put the heat on this building.' And it was Frank!"

31/03/2005 02:28