Los Angeles Council tribute to Don Van Vliet

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On the 5 January 2011 at the request of Los Angeles City Councilmember Paul Koretz, the City Council unanimously agreed to adjourn its meeting early in memory of Don Van Vliet. The Council member also spoke at some length about Captain Beefheart, when making his adjourning motion. Adjourning certificates are created following such an adjournment, to be sent to loved ones. In this case the certificate was passed to Gary Lucas (at his Beefheart Symposium on 13 January) for him to send on to Jan. Click the image for a larger view.Read More →

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In March 2000, John French sent me a message commenting on Angel’s photographs of the house in Woodland Hills where the Magic Band lived and rehearsed Trout Mask Replica. I asked him if he would like to write a paragraph about the house that I could include at the Radar Station. This is what he sent me, many thanks, John. Actually, I know the people who live there and had their email address for a time. They allowed me to come in during August of 1998 and take pictures inside and out. However, the shots of the outside didn’t show as much detail because: itRead More →

Ensenada Drive road sign

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Many thanks indeed to Angel for sending along these splendid pictures and story of her and husband Chris’ visit to Woodland Hills to see the house where the Magic Band lived and Trout Mask Replica was endlessly rehearsed. See also John French aka Drumbo’s response to these photographs! Angel writes: [wp_quote] Well the whole thing was more exciting than I thought it would be. Just getting to the house is an adventure. It’s tucked away in a canyon(!) with very steep, narrow windy roads (not yer typical LA neighborhood, to be sure). We made a right off Canoga Avenue onto Arcos which took us straightRead More →

Eazy Teeth

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A one-off collaboration between Magic Band drummer Robert Williams and roadie Paul Young. The 7″ single was released in 1980 on Dental Records. The tracks being Car Noise and Her Blade are both synthesizer based. ‘Eazy Teeth’ was a nickname given to Paul Young by Don because he was always smiling. It’s not known if Don drew this specifically for the cover or whether it had been done at some earlier point and given to Paul.Read More →

Blorpe Esette cover

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Blorp Esette was the name of some legendary releases on vinyl, and later gathered together on a four CD set, by LAFMS (the Los Angeles Free Music Society). The artwork included some sketches by Don Van Vliet. See the booklet See the CD labelRead More →

Sketch in Conjunctions #3 1982

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Appeared in Conjunctions, a bi-annual publication of new writing. This one may be familiar because it was also published to accompany Lester Bangs’ article in Musician. However, on this version there are whiskers on the cat’s right side as well as Don’s signature and a date. Why are they missing on the other one?Read More →

Sketch in Conjunctions #3 1982

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Unknown tite, unknown year. Appeared in Conjunctions, a bi-annual publication of new writing. In this edition not only are there four poems by Don – Hollow Smoke, Dopedinstunnedmirages, Popplin’ Gas Hearts and The Smith That Cleans Our Stars – there are three drawings and a painting in full colour on the cover.Read More →

Sketch in Conjunctions #3 1982

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Unknown title, unknown year. Appeared in Conjunctions, a bi-annual publication of new writing. In this edition not only are there four poems by Don – Hollow Smoke, Dopedinstunnedmirages, Popplin’ Gas Hearts and The Smith That Cleans Our Stars – there are three drawings and a painting in full colour on the cover.Read More →

A message to Zigzag readers (Jan 78)

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This appeared in the legendary UK music mag, Zigzag (named after the Safe as Milk song) – Issue 80, January 1978. It accompanied an interview with Don by Kris Needs when he was passing through London in November 1977 having performed a single show in Paris. Kris Needs wrote about this ‘close encounter’ in Record Collector #359 (Feb 2009).Read More →