Ghost Riders

A new special edition of our radio show is available today.

It's a psychedelic fire-ball of over 6 hours of music from Spacemen 3 and Spiritualized and their various off-shoot bands which have emerged over the years.

Spacemen 3 / Spiritualized are one of my all-time favourites and, inspired by Erik Morse's Spacemen 3 and The Birth of Spiritualized, a new book about the psychedelic scene in Rugby during the 1980s/90s, I felt this special edition was long overdue.

Drawing on the great psychedelic drones of Suicide, The Stooges, Velvet Underground, Silver Apples, MC5, Sun Ra and 13th Floor Elevators, Jason Pierce and Peter Kember created some of the most thrilling and original music I have yet encountered.

This special edition of the Radar Station's web-radio show features over 6 hours of music from Spacemen 3 / Spiritualized and from the host of musicians who have passed through their ranks over the last 20 years, including:

• Alpha Stone
• The Darkside
• Experimental Audio Research
• Freelovebabies
• The Guaranteed Ugly
• Lupine Howl
• Slipstream
• Sonic Boom
• Spacemen 3
• Spectrum (with one tune featuring Silver Apples)
• Spiritualized (with one tune featuring Suicide)
• Spring Heel Jack
• Thigpaulsandra

The tune featuring Suicide was recorded live at a gig which I was lucky enough to witness. Completely unannounced and unexpected, I flipped my lid when I saw Alan Vega and Martin Rev stride out and, with Spiritualized, proceeded to produce this mind-bending, kaleidoscopic throb.

If your dreams at night are 3 sizes too big... tune in now.

The Mike Barnes book competition has closed, five winners have been picked and 20 detailed answers to 20 fiendish questions are now available to satisfy your thirst for Beefheart trivia.

Many thanks indeed to Derek Laskie for preparing both questions and answers, and for arranging for the competition to take place in the first place. Great stuff!

Competition:

As a special new year gift to beefheart.com visitors Omnibus Press have kindly offered to give a copy of their new edition of Mike Barnes' book Captain Beefheart: The Biography to five lucky winners of our Beefheart trivia competition.

In addition to this, Freddy Bannister's Knebworth boxed set There Must Be A Better Way will also be sent to the person who answers more questions than anyone else (or whose tie-breaker best breaks a tie). That prize weighs in at two and a half kilos (or five and a half pounds), costs £75.00 and has various Beefheart-related items included in it.

See the questions and entry details on the competition page.

You may need Google to help you with your answers! Have fun.

Magic Band DVD

One piece of excellent news has just come in from Denny Walley (co-star) and Elaine Shepherd (director) who say that the Magic Band DVD was released yesterday and can be ordered from www.subdiva.com

Although I haven't seen the final version of the DVD complete with John Peel's commentary yet, I have been very lucky to sneak a peak at a preview version of both the documentary and concert film which were really excellent.

If you saw the Magic Band on their recent tours or heard the Peel session, you'll know just how good this is and will need no further persuasion to order your copy. If you didn't see them, this is a good chance to find out what you missed. Don't miss out twice.

Really, every person with even a glimmer of interest in Beefheart's music should get this DVD and see just how great the Magic Band sound in the 21st Century. It's mind-bogglingly great and they're all splendid people too.

As a festive thank you to everyone who showed the Magic Band such tremendous support during this year's triumphant tour, John French has kindly sent along his account of the tour, along with some snaps from his personal photo album. John writes:

To all the fans who showed up and offered support in our June/July tour - have a wonderful Christmas.  Hope to see you next year.

Sincere thanks to John for his time and effort with this excellent piece.

Should you be in need of something both festive and good to listen to over the next few days, our regular Christmas special is beaming out from beefheart.com's web radio station. Including Beefheart, Loudon Wainwright III, Louis Armstrong, Sun Ra, John Lee Hooker, Nina Simone, Robyn Hitchcock, Tipsy, Nico, Louis Prima, Rory McLeod, John Fahey and os many more, you're unlikely to hear a Christmas special quite like it anywhere else. Tune in now.

All the best, see you next year.

The Romancing of a Pathological Liar Comes to an Inspired End and other stories

The election special of beefheart.com's web radio show is now beaming out - it's either 101 tunes to listen to while waving goodbye to the toxic Texan, or 101 tunes to listen to while waving goodbye to the next four years. Personally my hope is the former, however likely the latter may be.

Hope you enjoy it, if you find this offensive then just be glad that I didn't include King Missile's "The President". I really wanted to.

1. Alexander 'Skip' Spence - War In Peace
2. Amy Martin - Consequences
3. Bantha Fodder - George W. Bush Can Suck It
4. Billy Bragg - Help Save The Youth Of America
5. Bob Dylan - Talking World War III Blues
6. Bonzo Dog Band - We Were Wrong
7. Brain Donor - Get Off Your Pretty Face
8. Bunny Sigler - Great Big Liar
9. Burning Spear - No More War
10. Charlie Haden - Song Of The United Front
11. Charlie Haden - We Shall Overcome
12. Country Joe & The Fish - Johnny's Gone In The War
13. Country Joe & The Fish - Kiss My Ass
14. Country Joe McDonald - The 'Fish' Cheer - I Feel Like I'm Fixin' To Die Rag
15. Daniel Johnston - I'd Like To Say Goodbye
16. David Byrne - Bastard
17. David Peel And The Lower East Side - Hey, Mr. Draft Board
18. David Peel And The Lower East Side - I Want To Kill You
19. David Peel And The Lower East Side - Mother Where Is My Father?
20. David Rovics - After We Torture Our Prisoners
21. David Rovics - Guantanamo Bay
22. David Rovics - Moron
23. David Rovics - The War is Over
24. David Rovics - What if You Knew
25. David Rovics - Who Would Jesus Bomb?
26. Dead Kennedys - Bleed For Me
27. Dead Kennedys - Dead End
28. Dead Kennedys - Rawhide
29. DJ Shadow - War Is Hell
30. Elliott Smith - Stupidity Tries
31. Eugene Chadbourne and Evan Johns - George Bush's Bones Jig
32. Frank Zappa & The Mothers of Invention - The Idiot Bastard Son
33. George and Julius - I Don't Want To Be a Soldier
34. Gil Scott Heron - The Revolution Will Not Be Televised
35. Grateful Dead - Cream Puff War
36. Harry Partch - The Romancing of a Pathological Liar Comes to an Inspired End
37. Holy Modal Rounders - Bully of the Town
38. Holy Modal Rounders - Indian War Whoop
39. John Lee Hooker - War Is Over (Goodbye California)
40. King Tubby - War Dub
41. Lee Scratch Perry - Mr. President
42. Lester Flatt & Earl Scruggs And The Stanley Brothers - Poison Lies
43. Lou Reed - Busload of Faith
44. Lou Reed - Sick of You
45. Lou Reed - Strawman
46. Matt Turk - Dear Mr. President
47. Max Romeo & The Upsetters - War Ina Babylon
48. MC5 - Kick Out The Jams
49. Monks - I Hate You
50. Musical Graffiti - Peace Inside
51. Neil Young - Rockin' In The Free World
52. Neil Young - Revolution Blues
53. Neil Young - Vampire Blues
54. Old Time Relijun - War Is Over
55. Original Five Blind Boys of Alabama - You Got To Move
56. Pan Sonic - The Whore Of Babylon
57. Phil Ochs - That Was The President
58. Primal Scream - Blood Money
59. Public Enemy - Son Of A Bush
60. Rabih Abou-Khalil - Grateful Parting
61. Radical Dance Faction - Can't Stand No More
62. Radical Dance Faction - Hope
63. Radiohead - 2 Plus 2 Equals 5
64. Rickie Lee Jones - Tell Somebody (Repeal The Patriot Act)
65. Rickie Lee Jones - Ugly Man
66. Robert Wyatt - Lullaby For Hamza
67. Roland Kirk - Get Out of Town
68. Rory McLeod - Criminals Of Hunger
69. RX - I'm John Kerry
70. Sex Pistols - Liar
71. Slumdwellaz - Little G.W.B.
72. Sonic Youth - Youth Against Fascism
73. Steve Earle - The Truth
74. Sun Ra - Nuclear War
75. Suns Of Arqa - World Peace A.D?
76. The Beastie Boys - An Open Letter To NYC
77. The Beastie Boys - Right Here Right Now
78. The Beastie Boys - Time To Build
79. The Clash - The Guns of Brixton
80. The Fugs - War Song
81. The Fugs - Kill For Peace
82. The Hives - Hate To Say I Told You So
83. The Magnetic Fields - How To Say Goodbye
84. The Mule Boom - Drunken President
85. The New Amsterdams - Four More Years
86. The Publicity Seekers - Georgy Bush
87. The Rum Diary - Killed by the Cowboy President
88. Tom Waits - Day After Tomorrow
89. Tom Waits - Soldier's Things
90. Toots and the Maytals - Give Peace A Chance
91. Van Morrison - Goodbye George
92. Wang Inc. - GWB No War
93. Wilco - War On War
94. William S. Burroughs - A new standard by which to measure infamy
95. William S. Burroughs - Love your enemies
96. William S. Burroughs - No more Stalins, no more Hitlers
97. William S. Burroughs - A One God Universe
98. Willie Williams - Armagideon time
99. Yikes McGee - Bad President
100. Yikes McGee - Propagandy
101. Youcef Boukella - Salam (Peace)

I've pieced together a page of your tributes to John Peel who died this week, along with links to various tributes and obituaries elsewhere on the web.

Mike Barnes (Resonance FM DJ, Wire writer and Beefheart biographer par excellence) has kindly sent along a touching eulogy for Peel entitled "If I'd had a job I would have given it up - I'd heard myself on Peel" which I recommend that you read. Many thanks Mike.

Do not miss tomorrow night's tribute to John Peel from Andy Kershaw which you can hear over the web live from the Radio 3 website, and for one week after the show. Friends for years and true kindred spirits, this will be unmissable.

I must say, sad as this loss is, it's heartening to discover just how many people cared so deeply about him and his contribution to their lives. Thank you so much for everyone who's been in touch about this over the last few days, it's been great to hear from you.

Some very sad news has stunned me today - John Peel has died.

You can read the coverage elsewhere - The Guardian, BBC, Telegraph, Independent, NME or on Google News. You can also listen to this afternoon's "PM" programme from BBC Radio 4 which contained a tribute from friends, colleagues, fans, everyone. Today's edition of BBC Radio 4's Front Row (19.15 BST) will also focus on the life of John Peel. In the words of Jon Snow, "If ever a day of national mourning was justified, surely it was so for John Peel."

There is one historical item in particular here at beefheart.com worth drawing your attention to today. I said this was my favourite thing on the site when I first put it up several years ago, and it still is today - an audio stream of John Peel interviewing Don Van Vliet in 1973.

You can read the tributes to Peel and leave your own at the BBC site or on the Radio 1 site. If you have anything which you'd like to say here, please do send it along.

It's always a sad day when we lose someone with genuine integrity but John Peel was uniquely humble and an inspiration to millions. For generations he's touched so many people's lives and there's no one else equipped to take his place - as of today there's nothing on the radio for the teenage misfits (however old they may actually be).

John - thank you for bringing such great music (Captain Beefheart especially) to our attention, with a dead-pan self-deprecating wit which will always be missed. You were a wonderful man.

I've made a few tweaks to the radio show and added some new tunes - Motorpsycho's delightfully bonkers "Captain Geebheart", Everything But The Girl's somewhat coffee-table-but-still-pleasing version of "My Head Is My Only House Unless It Rains" and Deus' "My Wife Jan" which is not only about Don and Jan but also contains a sample from "Wild Life".

There's still more to come.

The Magic Band's tour is over and there are plenty of very happy memories scattered round here in the UK. Listening to their recent John Peel session, I'm still flabbergasted.

The Liverpool Echo's review for their Liverpudlian gig finishes with what has become a common observation at the shows on this excellent tour: "Grown men laughed and cried. This was Magic indeed." Obvious fans, the paper also ran a preview of the gig the week before.

Along a similar tack, Manchester Online described their "brilliant success" of a show as being "... enough to make a Manchester audience believe in magic."

The Western Mail described their Glastonbury gig as "mind boggling".

The BBC Radio 1 website has a good series of photos of the Magic Band's Peel session.

If you know of any other reviews published on the web, please let me know.

The Guardian recently referred to a "Beefheart inspired" track by jazz trio Max Nagl, Otto Lechner and Bradley Jones from their recent album Flamingos called "Bat Chain". As soon as I can track down this CD, I'll add it to the broadcast.

Gary Lucas has cropped up in an unlikely setting recently in announcements for a guitar gurning contest to see which guitarist can pull the best rock face while at play. You can see all stories relating to this at Google.

A chapter by Jason Gross (editor of Perfect Sound Forever) about Trout Mask Replica is featured in a new book edited by Jim DeRogatis (author of Let It Blurt, the Lester Bangs biography) and Carmel Carrillo entitled Kill Your Idols: A New Generation Of Rock Writers Reconsiders The Classics. The New York Press review enquired:

"When Jason Gross compares Captain Beefheart to Coleman, Beckett, Joyce and Willie Dixon and criticizes his Trout Mask Replica for creating its own bizzaro world, all you can ask is: That's wrong?"

You can read the full Trout Mask Replica chapter at Perfect Sound Forever.

A recent interview in The Guardian with Polly Harvey stated that she is still in regular contact with Don and that he liked her new album (Uh Huh Her) a lot better than her last one (me too, btw). Unfortunately the interview is no longer available on The Guardian website, but she did go on to say that Don is one of four people whose opinion she thoroughly trusts. Two of the others were Vincent Gallo and John Parish though my poor memory lets me down when remembering the fourth.

In their review for the album, however, The Guardian kicks off with a tiresome cliche: people who buy Beefheart albums don't actually listen to them.

"Most record collections contain only two kinds of album: albums you like and albums you feel you ought to like.

The latter have sat on your shelf since the day you bought them, taunting your shallow taste every time you reach for something less difficult. They are often by Captain Beefheart, or Sun Ra, or Faust.

You bought them because you read somewhere that they were seminal and groundbreaking or because they came recommended by Lester Bangs or Kurt Cobain, or some other semi-mythic avatar of musical taste with ears apparently made of Teflon."

Personally I listen to Sun Ra, Beefheart and Faust just as frequently as I read The Guardian. Not because someone said I should but because life just wouldn't be the same without them.

Meanwhile, Polly was asked in an interview in smh.com.au what she had been listening to recently:

"... it's been the Fall!" Harvey almost hoots, as if that's the maddest thing ever. "But I go back to my staple diet since I was a kid and that's Howlin' Wolf, Captain Beefheart and Hendrix. If I go on tour, I make compilation tapes of those people because I have to play it all the time. It reminds me of who I am and what I'm doing."

In between producing The LIbertines albums, Mick Jones from The Clash has formed a new band, Carbon/Silicon, who sample Beefheart. The Independent have an excellent interview with him.

Gavin from Jet Johnson tells a familiar story in Drowned In Sound about one of his favourite albums:

"My father borrowed [Trout Mask Replica] from a weird librarian he worked with when I was 15, it was laughable, I thought it was so bad... and then gradually you play it more and more and you start to hum things and see the intricacies and you realise that it is the most inventive and intense guitar album ever made.

A school teacher interviewed in her local paper recently quoted Captain Beefheart when illustrating her philosophy:

"I want to create the perfect environment for them. I want to be the person who provides them with entertainment," she said. She quotes musical legend Captain Beefheart as saying "You can tell by the kindness of a dog how a human should be." "I really believe that," she said.

Eric Drew Feldman, as well as producing the new Polyphonic Spree album, has also been "personally chosen" by Charlotte Hatherley from Ash to do the honours on her forthcoming solo album, Grey Will Fade.

More Beefheart trivia / profundia very soon.

Celebration of Captain Beefheart web-radio special

At long last, the Beefheart covers / influences / related special is live on our streaming web-radio show. There are over six hours worth of music related in some way to Captain Beefheart and it's a great listen.

Sincere thanks to everyone who has sent along tunes or tip-offs over the years, and to Steve Froy for his tireless research. If you have produced something great which isn't listed below, send it along for inclusion in a future broadcast (or for a last minute addition to this show).

See below for a rough track listing, but please note that you won’t hear the tunes in this order. If you'd like to see Steve's excellent notes about most of these tunes, please visit his "Beefheart related releases" discography and "Blues roots of Captain Beefheart".

Covers:

• Mike Watt - Dirty Blue Gene
• Beat Science - The Blimp (mousetrapreplica)
• Erik 4-A & Friends - Frying Pan
• Freddie Wadling & Co - Nowadays A Woman's Gotta Hit A Man
• Stephan Mathieu - Clear Spot
• Lewis Taylor - Dachau Blues
• Sexy Death Soda - Plastic Factory
• Racebannon - Electricity
• Eugene Chadbourne & Jimmy Carl Black - Sure 'Nuff 'n yes ah Do
• Eugene Chadbourne & Jimmy Carl Black - Clear Spot
• The Fourfathers - Witch Doctor Life
• Kill Me Tomorrow - Hot Head
• Blacktop - Here I Am (Here I Always Am)
• Lewis Taylor - Pachuco Cadaver
• Jonestown - I Love You Big Dummy
• Scientists - Clear Spot
• Gary Lucas - Oat Hate
• Nel Aspinal - Sugar N' Spikes
• Brian McMahon - I Got Love On My Mind
• Eugene Chadbourne & Jimmy Carl Black - The Dust Blows Forward and the Dust Blows Back
• Lewis Taylor - Hair Pie (guitar)
• The Fourfathers - Ice Rose
• Azalia Snail - Abba Zaba
• The Nomads - Frying Pan
• Old Time Relijun - Wild Life
• Great Plains - Call On Me (Live)
• Clawhammer - Moonlight On Vermont
• David Gogo - Click Clack
• Dr Dark - Blabber n Smoke
• Dr Dark - Sun Zoom Spark
• Faye Davis w/ The Next Skip Heller Generation - Her Eyes Are A Blue Million Miles
• Hoppy the Frog - Safe as Milk (Take 3)
• Jane Gilday - Sugar Bowl
• King of Siam - Orange Claw Hammer
• Lisa Christ Superstar - Plastic Factory
• Magic Band - Abba Zaba
• Magic Band - I'm Gonna Booglarize You Baby
• Magic Band - Alice In Blunderland
• Mark Lanegan Band - Clear Spot
• Nou Rock w/ Interplay - Well
• Suburban Terror Project - Ashtray Heart
• Dream & Shadow Huntsman Group - Hot Head
• The Fall - Beatle Bones 'N' Smokin' Stones
• Tintinabulus - When I See Mommy I Feel Like a Mummy
• Tom Barman & Guy van Nueten - Harry Irene
• Voices of Africa - Abba Zaba
• The White Stripes - Ashtray Heart
• The White Stripes - China Pig
• The White Stripes - Party of Special Things To Do
• Juicy Lucy - Willie The Pimp
• Everything But The GIrl - My Head Is My Only House Unless It Rains

Samples and quotes:

• Suns Of Arqa - Govinda's House In The City Of Nine Gates (Kopeikin Captain Beefheart Mix)
• Bulbous Boy Slim - Blimp N Bass
• Bulbous Boy Slim - Sugar Fart Atomiser
• Norman Brewerton - Electrical Jazz
• Amen Andrews - Fast and Bulbous

Influences:

• Steve Reich - Come Out (Ken Ishii Mix) - a new mix of a Reich classic
• Howlin' Wolf - Spoonful
• Howlin' Wolf - The Natchez Burnin'
• John Lee Hooker - Black Snake
• John Lee Hooker - Tupelo Blues
• Mississippi John Hurt - Candy Man Blues
• Son House - My Black Mama
• Big Joe Williams - Rollin' & Tumblin'
• Blind Willie Johnson - You're Gonna Need Somebody On Your Bond
• Bo Diddley - Diddy Wah Diddy
• Chuck Berry - Almost Grown
• Howlin' Wolf - Three Hundred Pounds of Joy
• Howlin' Wolf - Down In The Bottom
• Muddy Waters - Hoochie Coochie Man
• Five Blind Boys of Alabama - Old Time Religion
• Robert Johnson - If I Had Possession Over Judge
• Robert Johnson - Terraplane Blues
• Robert Pete Williams - I've Grown So Ugly
• Sam Butler - Some Scream High Yellow
• Slim Harpo - Baby Scratch My Back
• Slim Harpo - I'm A King Bee
• Howlin' Wolf - Evil
• Howlin' Wolf - Smokestack Lightnin'

Related:

• The Angel Brothers and Ian McMillan - Captain Beefheart & Mr Neal
• Frank Black - Eighty Five Weeks
• Juliana Luecking - Beefheart
• PJ Harvey - Rid of Me
• Ruby - Beefheart (Solex remix)
• The Band Of Blacky Ranchette - Rusty Tracks
• The Fall - Fortress/Deer Park
• The High Llamas - Rotary Hop
• Deus - My Wife Jan (also contains a sample from "Wild Life")
• Motorpsycho - Captain Geebheart

..and from Captain Beefheart:

• Hard Workin Man
• Light Reflected Off The Oceands Of The Moon
• Little Scratch
• Tiger Roach
• Alley Cat
• Metal Man Has Won His Wings
• Obeah Man
• Just Got Back From The City
• Triple Combination
• Somebody In My Home

Tune in to the show now, hope you enjoy it.

New on site today are some excellent snaps of the Magic Band's recent tour. Stephen Griffiths kindly sent along his top quality photos of the Magic Band playing in the sunshine last weekend at the Glastonbury Festival. There are also some crackers from Jan Townsend at Bristol, many thanks to both for allowing me to reproduce them here.

After the hefty break of the last few months, I want to get back to a bit of Beefheart weblogging and let you know what's been going on Beefheart-wise whether on the web, in the wider world or elsewhere.

Here goes...

A new CD compiled by BBC Radio 3 DJ Andy Kershaw entitled More Great Moments Of Vinyl History has recently been released. Among many other delights, it includes a tune by The Angel Brothers and Ian McMillan called "Captain Beefheart & Mr Neal". It's a hilariously deadpan account of a youth discovering Beefheart on the John Peel show and asking his dad to buy Lick My Decals Off Baby for his birthday.

Andy Kershaw writes in the sleeve notes:

In late 2002, Barnsley Football Club's poet-in-residence and regular broadcaster on Radios 3 and 4, Ian McMillan, sent to me a CD of instrumentals by his south Yorkshire buddies, The Angel Brothers and Satnam Singh. Punjab To Pit Top was an engaging combination of British folk and Indian traditional.

As I was listening to it, I couldn't avoid imagining Ian's fruity delivery intoning over the top so I suggested this to him on a postcard. Within a few weeks, Ian and the band were in BBC Maida Vale studios to record what we realised instantly was an historic Kershaw session for Radio 3. This was one of four pieces recorded that afternoon. The collaboration worked so well, Ian now does occasional gigs with the Angel Brothers. The ecstatic response to the session prompted one band member to mutter "We're stuck with the bugger now..."

This tune will be included in our forthcoming Beefheart covers special for our web radio show which I've decided to broaden to include these kind of Beefheart-related oddities as well.

Absolutearts.com featured an interesting article about an exhibition of The Art of Design: Selections from the Architecture and Design Collection which took place early in the year at the San Francisco Museum Of Modern Art.

Part of the exhibition featured 400 psychedelic concert posters, including the one shown here for Beefheart's legendary Avalon Ballroom show.

This example is typical of the style of the time - a supposed clarion call for the hip / those in the know and confoundingly opaque to everyone else.

OregonLive.com express surprise that Matt Groening can effortlessly recall the date when he first saw Captain Beefheart and The Magic Band live (25th June 1971, by the way). Little do they realise that for Groening, this is probably a more important date than his own birthday.

Eric Drew Feldman has produced the new album for the Polyphonic Spree, Together We're Heavy, released on the 12th July.

Artist David Noonan, painter of atmospheric owls, revealed in The Age that his paintings have an "inaudible soundtrack" of "Morricone, Will Oldham, Gram Parsons or Captain Beefheart".

Check out his paintings at the Roslyn Oxley 9 Gallery.

The Oregon Daily Herald considers Beefheart's "Hair Pie: Bake 1" in it's article exploring the importance of noise: Cacophony, chaos can play viable role in modern music.

Captain Beefheart and the Magic Band, "Hair Pie: Bake 1": One of the noisier efforts off Beefheart's classic "Trout Mask Replica" album. An instrumental piece that starts off with the entire band playing horns simultaneously. About half way through, drums and some atonal guitars kick in. The whole thing ends with what sounds like a member of the band talking to some unsuspecting passersby. Pure dada music.

Also briefly examined are Sonic Youth, John Cage, Ornette Coleman and the Mothers.

Much more very soon.

What better time to post an update to this page than the day after I finally get to see the Magic Band? None.

The first three of the last four months have been somewhat strange, having been homeless for a lot longer than we'd expected and having to move no less than 15 times from one friend's spare room / spare bit of floor to the next friend's.

With all our possessions in storage, updating the site has been impossible for me - sincere thanks to Steve and Derek for keeping things going so well. Now that we're finally in our new and permanent home I hope to be able to get into the habit of doing regular updates again, in-between sitting in our new garden watching the weeds grow.

Last night the Magic Band played the first of their latest round of UK dates here in Brighton. Having heard the recordings, read the reviews and listened repeatedly to Back To The Front, I knew the show would be good but was completely taken aback by what I witnessed.

The sight of John's French's hilariously gleeful face while pounding the life out of his drum kit, Denny Walley hitting that long lunar note, Mark Boston being Superman rather than just wearing the t-shirt, Gary Lucas having the hat size to rival even Richard Snyder and Michael Traylor picking up the sticks so ably and throwing them in every direction "like a red hot iron through the egg white", and the audience yelling its collective heads off in sheer enjoyment. It was an unforgettable occasion.

Possibly the best thing about last night was being in a room full of people so obviously equally thrilled at what was occurring on stage. No, the best thing was the band.

Everybody who has ever enjoyed listening to the music of Captain Beefheart and The Magic Band should see this show. May they come to your town and blow your stacks very soon.

To all of the Magic Band - sincere thanks for such a wonderful night, you're truly outrageous.

I'm currently compiling a Beefheart covers special for the radio show to kick things off again. Any remaining listeners are no doubt sick of the Krautrock special which has been playing 24 hours a day for four months now.

If you have covered any Beefheart tunes which you'd like me to consider for inclusion in the show, please email a good quality mp3 to me at graham@beefheart.com or send a CD-R off to the usual address as soon as you can. Thanks.

Also, if you attend any of the Magic Band shows in this tour, please send me your comments and photos as I would like to include them on site. I'm particularly keen to hear about the Glastonbury Festival show - as a one-time regular visitor to the festival I'm sorry not to be there to see the Magic Band cast its spells.