The 12-year old anti-hero of Josh Lieb’s new book for young adults is a Captain Beefheart fan.
I point to my beloved Captain Beefheart, a musician so brilliant, so evil, he drove his own band insane. He would not let let them eat. He would not let them sleep. He would not let them leave his house. He made them wear dresses (and they were not girls). He stripped them of their very names and subjected them to hours and hours of abusive group therapy session. When a dejected and desperate member of the band managed to escape the Captain’s clutches, Beefheart snatched him off the street and dragged him back to the practice studio. It was cruel. Assuredly. Inhumane. Undoubtedly. Evil. Disgustingly so. And yet I defy you, today, to listen to Trout Mask Replica and say it was not worth it.
I Am a Genius of Unspeakable Evil and I Want to be your Class President by ‘Daily Show’ Executive Producer Josh Lieb has its own webpage at Sheldrake Industries.
Other writings
The Downbeat 75th Anniversary Anthology: The Great Jazz Interviews includes an interview with Don Van Vliet. The book is reviewed at All About Jazz.
John French’s Limb Independence by W. C. Bamberger is an essay which appears at online music magazine Perfect Sound Forever.
And Beefheart Saved Craig by Jefferson Hansen is a book with an eye-catching title. The author tells me that it concerns a couple of teenage boys who are Beefheart fans in the 70’s. Amazon review here.