***Captain Beefheart***

[Kalo]

Vanity Fair, '83.

The old 'fheart was having a real cultural moment back then. Wasn't that around the same time he was on Saturday Night Live?

The Radar Station says 22nd November 1980.

I remember seeing that "live" back when I was in college. Forgot it was 1980!

[7/4]

I saw it the first time it ran too!

[Kalo]

And now, through the magic of the internet, we can see it again!

[BruceH]

...And we can also see Paris Hilton holding up a copy of Trout Mask Replica. What an amazing, wonderful modern age we live in.

[7/4]

She's Too Much For My Mirror.

[7/4]

[mjzee]

I just noticed that Amazon mp3 has added a number of Beefheart titles, including the long-unavailable "I'm Gonna Do What I Wanna Do:"

Beefheart on Amazon

[7/4]

Happy Birthday Don Van Vliet.

[7/4]

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/showb...ticle707093.ece

Zep ace no fan of new music

VETERAN LED ZEPPELIN rocker ROBERT PLANT doesn’t have a Whole Lotta Love for all this new music nonsense.

And the grumpy singer made his feelings well known in a bar in Camden, North London, last week.

Wrinkly Robert showed his age with the rant at two of the world’s biggest bands as they were played over the stereo at Fifty Five Bar.

He rubbished RADIOHEAD and the RED HOT CHILI PEPPERS — and then demanded to hear weirdo rocker CAPTAIN BEEFHEART instead.

A source said: “He was drinking with a woman and didn’t like the choice of tunes playing.

“Radiohead was on and he started complaining. He said, ‘What’s this rhyming c**p?’

“The staff were obviously keen to please him so they changed the music. They put on the Red Hot Chili Peppers, who they thought might be more up his street. But he didn’t like their stuff either and said it was like a ‘nursery rhyme.’

“He then said he wanted to listen to Captain Beefheart.”

Led Zep’s brilliant reunion at London O2 Arena last year won them a new generation of fans.

I was gutted when I had to miss it to watch the SPICE GIRLS launch their tour in America. But it seems Robert doesn’t have much time for modern-day musical heroes.

Okay, so he might not like po-faced Radiohead and I don’t think they and Led Zep have much in common.

The 1970s rockers travelled the world in their fuel-guzzling jet — while THOM YORKE’s lot would probably prefer transport fuelled by recycled teabags.

But comparing Chili tracks to nursery rhymes? Has old Percy finally lost the plot?

You’re unlikely to hear Beefheart — AKA DON VAN VLIET — in your average bar. He wrote strange songs with odd timings and surreal lyrics.

His best-known album was 1969’s Trout Mask Replica, considered a masterpiece by fans.

He recorded with his Magic Band and also collaborated with fellow oddball FRANK ZAPPA.

But if Radiohead and ANTHONY KIEDIS and the Chilis, are c**p, I would hate to hear what Robert has to say about most of the rest of the current chart. He obviously judges everyone by his own band’s high standards.

My source added: “Radiohead and the Chilis are two of the biggest and best groups in the world. But it seems they don’t compare to Beefheart in Plant’s mind.”

Edited January 21, 2008 by 7/4

[clifford_thornton]

Thanks - the world feels a little more right today.

[mjzee]

This is the oddest Beefheart mention I've seen in a while. In the current (Spring 2008) issue of Travel + Leisure Family, there's an article titled "The United States of Snacks." It says "Turn your next road trip into a nosh fest! Brake at farm stands and convenience stores for the quirky tastes that put each region on the food map. Here, a sweet-and-salty sampler of our nation's standout nibbles." Check out the entry for California:

Also, does the border around the candy bar match the border around the back cover of Safe As Milk?

[7/4]

Also, does the border around the candy bar match the border around the back cover of Safe As Milk?

I think so!

[Spontooneous]

The stuff isn't made from baby baboons, is it?

[JSngry]

[AllenLowe]

at the risk of unleashing the wrath of Clementine (and everybody else here), I gotta say that I find Beefheart a one-time-listen. Once you hear what he has/had to say, everything else appears to be a re-hash. He seems to me the epitome of what I have complained about ad-nauseum, something which I have called, in the past, formalism, but which is really an obsession with process that characterized a lot of "new" music - as though once you have solved the problem of form and basic technique, the rest is random - and not that Beefheart is random, but that he has a limited idea of what to do with his own innovations - and by the way he's a terrible graphic artist -

Edited March 30, 2008 by AllenLowe

[7/4]

at the risk of unleashing the wrath of Clementine (and everybody else here), I gotta say that I find Beefheart a one-time-listen. Once you hear what he has/had to say, everything else appears to be a re-hash. He seems to me the epitome of what I have complained about ad-nauseum, something which I have called, in the past, formalism, but which is really an obsession with process that characterized a lot of "new" music - as though once you have solved the problem of form and basic technique, the rest is random - and not that Beefheart is random, but that he has a limited idea of what to do with his own innovations - and by the way he's a terrible graphic artist -

bah.

[AllenLowe]

sorry - I GOTTA BE ME WHAT ELSE CAN I BE?

[AllenLowe]

THIS IS THE STRAIGHT TALK LOCAL -

[JSngry]

Once you hear what he has/had to say, everything else appears to be a re-hash. ... not that Beefheart is random, but that he has a limited idea of what to do with his own innovations...

Not necessarily to compare the two too deeply, but the same could be said about Monk, cumulatively, applying one type of "objective perspective".

Trout Mask, Decals, and the later Virgin sides..."narrow", perhaps/probably, but also deep, if you have the inclination to go looking.

[mjzee]

A friend of mine picked this book up in England in the early '80's. It's a collection of articles from various sources (rock magazines, etc.). Front cover:

Back cover:

[7/4]

I have that book!

.

[7/4]

Maybe I should scan it and stick it in a pdf file.

.

[stuartjewkes]

Beans...

Lazer beans.

Fast and bulbous!

And genius, life changing to say the least.

[7/4]

this has been floating around the net for a while....

Captain Beefheart's Ten Commandments For Guitarists:

1. LISTEN TO THE BIRDS...That's where all the music comes from. Birds know everything about how it should sound and where that sound should come from. And watch hummingbirds. They fly really fast, but a lot of times they aren't going anywhere.

2. YOUR GUITAR IS NOT REALLY A GUITAR...Your guitar is a divining rod. Use it to find spirits in the other world and bring them over. A guitar is also a fishing rod. If you're good, you'll land a big one.

3. PRACTICE IN FRONT OF A BUSH...Wait until the moon is out, then go outside, eat a multi-grained bread and play your guitar to a bush. If the bush doesn't shake, eat another piece of bread.

4. WALK WITH THE DEVIL...Old delta blues players referred to amplifiers as the "devil box." And they were right. You have to be an equal opportunity employer in terms of who you're bringing over from the other side. Electricity attracts demons and devils. Other instruments attract other spirits. An acoustic guitar attracts Casper. A mandolin attracts Wendy. But an electric guitar attracts Beelzebub.

5. IF YOU'RE GUILTY OF THINKING, YOU'RE OUT...If your brain is part of the process, you're missing it. You should play like a drowning man, struggling to reach shore. If you can trap that feeling, then you have something that is fur bearing.

6. NEVER POINT YOUR GUITAR AT ANYONE...Your instrument has more power than lightning. Just hit a big chord, then run outside to hear it. But make sure you are not standing in an open field.

7. ALWAYS CARRY YOUR CHURCH KEY...You must carry your key and use it when called upon. That's your part of the bargain. Like One String Sam. He was a Detroit street musician in the fifties who played a homemade instrument. His song "I Need A Hundred Dollars" is warm pie. Another church key holder is Hubert Sumlin, Howlin' Wolf's guitar player. He just stands there like the Statue of Liberty making you want to look up her dress to see how he's doing it.

8. DON'T WIPE THE SWEAT OFF YOUR INSTRUMENT...You need that stink on there. Then you have to get that stink onto your music.

9. KEEP YOUR GUITAR IN A DARK PLACE...When you're not playing your guitar, cover it and keep it in a dark place. If you don't play your guitar for more than a day, be sure to put a saucer of water in with it.

10. YOU GOTTA HAVE A HOOD FOR YOUR ENGINE...Wear a hat when you play and keep that hat on. A hat is a pressure cooker. If you have a roof on your house the hot air can't escape. Even a lima bean has to have a wet paper towel around it to make it grow.

[Hot Ptah]

Has anyone else read the book by Bill Harkleroad (Zoot Horn Rollo)?

It gave me a different perspective on Beefheart. I am wondering if any members have first hand knowledge of anything in this book which is either accurate or inaccurate.