As you're probably already aware the Radar Station has the largest collection of images of Don's artwork on the web and we continue to add to it whenever we can. As we're obsessives we don't want to miss out on the other doodles and sketches of his that turn up all over the place so we've started trying to capture these all in one place too.

Take a look at the Pictures, photos, bits & bobs page and check the Assorted sketches by Don section which includes a great piece of grafitti on a wall of the Armadillo as well as photos of Don displaying pages from his sketchbook. If you know of any others please let us know.

One of the myths surrounding Don has been his supposed early training with a sculptor called Agostinho Rodrigues. Little is known about what really happened but I've put together an article that covers everything we do know - read it here: Don Vliet and Agostinho Rodrigues

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You can now follow beefheart.com on Twitter and get all of our Up Sifter updates and anything else Beefheart-related which we decide to shunt your way. Find us and follow us: @CaptBeefheart. We also have an RSS feed available too if you prefer.

I also have my own personal Twitter account - @prawntot - so feel free look me up and say hi. I tend to use it more to see what others are up to than to tell the world when my left buttock cheek needs a scratch so there's not much going on there apart from the occasional passing tumbleweed. Perhaps you like tumbleweeds, pop by if so.

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Gary Lucas (Magic Band and Fast 'n' Bulbous guitarist) is playing with Gods And Monsters this Thursday night at the Gramercy Theatre, NYC:

Click the image for a bigger, readable version.

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Chrome Dreams have just released Captain Beefheart’s Jukebox, a collection of songs (mainly blues) that have been an influence to Don and the Magic Band – read our review of it. You may remember their previous Beefheart offerings – the Under Review DVD and the Classic Interview CD.

A (very belated) review of the most recent Fast n Bulbous CD Waxed Oop is also now available. Apologies to the band for taking so long getting this on the site.

We’ve had a few more cover versions brought to our attention. Dimthingshineon has taken on Beatle Bones n Smokin Stones and Magazine who recorded a version of I Love You You Big Dummy back in 1979 have been playing it again, 30 years on, as part of their recent reunion tour.

Copies of the catalogue from Don’s art exhibition Paintings and Poems with a foreword by P J Harvey have sold like the proverbial hotcakes at Other Music. Not surprising considering the very cheap price … I wouldn’t be surprised if some start turning up on eBay soon at much higher prices. They've sold out once but seem to have some new stock in ... get it while you can!

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John French revisits the Trout House

We received a mail from John French who recently went back to the house where Trout Mask Replica was created.

I thought beefheart.com might be interested in a picture of Ian McArthur, my Scottish friend, and I up by the "Trout House" as I call it. We visited the place on February 3rd and as you can see, it was a beautiful day. The present owner was aware of the house's history and kind enough to take this picture and send it to me.

The house was built on the middle lot of three adjoining lots that was part of the original property. The present owner is building a new 3-story home down and to the right of the original house. He's living in the original house with his wife and showed us around. They are doing extensive repairs and the place is really looking a lot better. I think the paint on it is the original paint that was on it forty years ago, but they are re-painting.

We are very grateful to John French, and to the present owner who readily agreed that we could use his photograph here (click on the photograph to enlarge it). The owner tells us that he may be doing a website on the Trout House at some point, with photos and stories that he's gathered since living there.


Gary Lucas is performing again

Great news from Gary Lucas who recently fractured his right elbow in a fall on ice in Montreal. Luckily his hands were unscathed and his injured arm is mending so well that he has already been back at work, conducting a guitar masterclass at The New School, and even performing in concert again last night in New York, with another appearance scheduled for City Winery on April 6th.

Among Gary's forthcoming gigs is a headline solo appearance at The Jazz Cafe in London on Saturday 16th May, with Southampton based electronic duo The Dark Poets sitting in on his set. Tickets will be on sale from Tuesday, April 7th.

Other appearances include the world premiere of a new silent movie score for Abel Gance's silent anti-war film "J'accuse" at the Holland Festival in Amsterdam on June 23rd and June 24th
A two hour retrospective of Gary's work will be broadcast on German national public radio Deutschlandfunk on June 6th midnight to 2am GMT. This will be available on the internet on the "Nachtradio-Soundcheck" programme and includes interviews, live recordings,and selections from forthcoming releases. http://www.dradio.de/ (click on Deutschlandfunk)

All of Gary's tour schedule is available at his website and his MySpace page, as are links to all sorts of downloads of his music, such as a video for the Wild Rumpus Rock the Joint single now on YouTube, which was hand animated by Tabitha O'Connell.


"Beefheart's work ... used to make me feel ill" - PJ Harvey

PJ Harvey's new album A Woman A Man Walked By, recorded with long-time musical collaborator John Parish, features former Magic Band member Eric Drew Feldman on keyboards.

John Parish and PJ Harvey are both Captain Beefheart fans and significant musical similarities to the work of Captain Beefheart have been noted by most reviewers. Even the publicity material for the album at PJ Harvey's MySpace page flags the Beefheart connection.

In a video at Island Records website John and Polly can be heard talking about their musical influences. Polly explains how she first came to appreciate Captain Beefheart:

I'd heard Beefheart when I was really young through my father and my mother ... they had all of Beefheart's work, but when I was a child it just used to make me feel ill. I didn't understand it. And then when I met John when I was sixteen / seventeen he introduced me to many things, one of which was re-introducing me to Captain Beefheart, and he gave me a cassette of Shiny Beast which I still have.


Lowside of the Road

An extract from Barney Hoskins' new biography of Tom Waits has appeared at The Quietus. It deals with the change in Waits' music which happened at the time of his marriage to Kathleen Brennan, and Swordfishtrombones the album which resulted. Here Hoskins skates over the vexed question of Captain Beefheart's influence on Waits:

Waits has even claimed he'd never really listened to Captain Beefheart before meeting Kathleen – that, despite being signed by Beefheart's manager Herb Cohen and supporting the Captain's mentor Frank Zappa on tour, he was oblivious to the gruff-voiced Dadaist genius born Don Van Vliet. Where the bruising 'Heartattack and Vine' hinted at Beefheart's influence, Waits' new songs made the debt clearer still.

Whether or not it was Kathleen who turned her husband on to Beefheart matters less than the fact that she was the catalyst for change. "It was certainly not the first time that a relationship with a strong and well-organized woman has had that kind of effect on an artist's life," says Mike Melvoin, keyboard player on The Heart of Saturday Night (1974) and Nighthawks at the Diner (1975). But Melvoin also believes Brennan "put a stake through the heart of various things" in order to free Waits from his past.

Barney Hoskyns' Lowside of the Road: A Life of Tom Waits is out now, published by Faber & Faber


How To Be

Back in August I wrote about the inclusion of Clear Spot on the soundtrack for the British indie film How To Be. The soundtrack album has now been announced and is available for pre-order through Dreamboat Records.

The film itself will be showing at a few screenings in the US leading up to a wider release on IFC Festival Direct. For full information see the How To Be website.


The Spring Collection

A new collection of shirts from New York design house Rotter and Friends features several variations on the Trout Mask Replica cover.

Here modelling one of them are Gustav Ejstes from the Swedish band Dungen and Susannah Lipsey designer for Windy Freda.

All of the shirts from the collection can be seen and ordered at Rotter and Friends website where there is even a video showing how well the shirts perform to Zig Zag Wanderer.

photo taken by Jeaneen Lund (click on photo to enlarge it)

And finally....

Dirty Blue Gene - the videogame version.

Posted by derek@beefheart.com at 7:42 PM  - 1 comments - post a comment

I'm afraid we've had bad news about the publication of John French's book. It's now no longer going to be published this June.

Proper Records have not taken the decision lightly. But as this was their first foray into the world of book publishing they have now realised that a book cannot be turned around as quickly as a CD and marketed effectively in that short time. Ultimately they want to do what's best for John and his book ... but it's still a bummer none the less!

The book's now likely to be published next year. We'll bring you news, of course, as soon as we hear any.

We've been told that a new website will be appearing with photos and extracts from the book to whet our appetites (as if they weren't already whetted, I've been drooling like a rabid dog for months!) ... details will appear on this blog when we get them.

Posted by Steve at 7:15 PM  - 6 comments - post a comment

For several years here on the Radar Station we’ve been telling you that Drumbo has written a book about his time with the Magic Band called 'Beefheart: Through The Eyes Of Magic'.

It's taken him a while to finish it and, at last, we can finally say there’s not much longer to wait.

Proper Records (who released his recent solo album) have taken on the publication of this two volume masterpiece and plan to release Volume One on 1 June 2009.

They’ve set up a some ‘teaser’ pages here … http://www.propermusic.com/epk/teaser/vol1.html
and here ... http://www.propermusic.com/magic/utter_chaos.html

For more information … and a review (when we get are hands on a copy) check out this page http://www.beefheart.com/zigzag/books/french.htm

Update 24 March 2009: the latest 'teaser':-
http://www.propermusic.com/magic/resentment.html

Posted by Steve at 8:43 AM  - 4 comments - post a comment

We've just received an announcement about the Fast 'N' Bulbous performance scheduled for Tuesday, March 10th in New York.

Fast 'N' Bulbous performs at (Le) Poisson Rouge Tuesday March 10th 2009.

NOTE: GUITARIST GARY LUCAS HAS FALLEN ON THE ICE AND INJURED HIS ELBOW. HE IS EXPECTED TO MAKE A FULL RECOVERY, BUT WILL NOT BE ABLE TO APPEAR AT TUESDAY'S PERFORMANCE. HOWEVER FAST 'N' BULBOUS WILL STILL PERFORM AS SCHEDULED, AND PLAY MUSIC FROM THE NEW RECORD. GUITARIST PAT IRWIN (B52s, Raybeats. Eight-Eyed Spy) WILL FILL IN FOR GARY FOR THIS GIG. COME ON DOWN FOR A GREAT SHOW!

Celebrating the release of their new CD, Waxed Oop (an impetuous stream bubbled up) on Cuneiform Records, F&B makes a rare New York appearance on the eve of a European tour.

Here is what Troy Collins had to say about it in All About Jazz:"In addition to nuanced precision and shrewd arrangements, the ensemble's most impressive feat is their ability to excavate the tuneful kernels buried in Beefheart's labyrinthine tunes. Translating the Captain's raspy diatribes into pithy horn charts, they transpose oblique tendrils of melody into opulent sketches of timeless, surreal Americana..."

(Le) Poisson Rouge, 158 Bleeker Street, New York City(212) 796 0741 Tickets: $15 - buy tickets.

Information/audio samples/video clips:

• Fast 'N' Bulbous web page
• Myspace

Opening will be Sxip Shirey w/Adam MattaDoors open: 6:30PMSxip Shirey/Adam Matta: 7PM Fast 'N' Bulbous: 7:45PM, promptly

Fast 'N' Bulbous: (for tonight)

• Pat Irwin - guitar
• Jesse Krakow - bass
• Richard Dworkin - drums
• Phillip Johnston - alto saxophone
• Rob Henke - trumpet
• Jacob Garchik- trombone
• Dave Sewelson - baritone saxophone

In a subsequent mail which we received from Phillip Johnston we have learned that although Gary Lucas will be out of action throughout the Fast 'N' Bulbous European tour he will make a full recovery.

It is hoped that the tour will go ahead with Pat Irwin on guitar, although some promoters want to cancel the gigs if Gary is not able to play. Fast 'N' Bulbous hope to do all of the gigs.

While Gary is undoubtedly the star soloist of the band, there are a lot of other good reasons to see Fast 'N' Bulbous: the arrangements, the many other formidable musicians in the band, who are quite well-known and well-regarded in their own right, and the great music of Captain Beefheart. It's possible that this could be the last chance to hear the band live in any form. If any fans are in areas near the venues and want to come, they should contact the venues and show support.

• Tuesday March 10th Le Poisson Rouge, NYC
• Saturday, March 14th Venster, Rotterdam Holland
• Sunday, March 15th Barcelona, Spain
• Monday, March 16th Stadtgarden, Koln Germany
• Tuesday, March 17th Grand Theatre, Groningen Holland
• Wednesday, March 18th Centre Culturel du Charlie Chaplin, Vaux-en-Velin, France
• Sunday March 22nd Porgy and Bess Jazz Club, Vienna Austria

See the band's MySpace page for more information.

Posted by derek@beefheart.com at 11:28 PM  - 2 comments - post a comment

Captain Beefheart at The White House

The next time you're visting The White House please do have a glance at your hosts vinyl record collection. According to Rolling Stone magazine The White House Record Library includes at least one Captain Beefheart album, Trout Mask Replica. Whether The White House copy of Trout Mask has ever been played, or whether the collection has been added to since 1981 is not mentioned.

Mighty Boosh and the £23,000 Van Vliet

Noel Fielding of Mighty Boosh has reportedly bought his parents a painting on canvas by Don Van Vliet. The Sun newspaper writes that he paid £23,000 for the work, whose title is not disclosed.

Hot Rats vinyl re-issue

A re-issue of Hot Rats on 200g vinyl is out now. According to Classic Records, who are issuing it, this release is mastered and cut directly from the original analog master tape.

Captain Beefheart article in Record Collector

I'm told by Mike that there is a 9 page article about Captain Beefheart in Record Collector magazine for February 2009. It seems that there is input from John French and Gary Lucas, and there is mention of a CD reissue of Safe As Milk by Rev-Ola.

The Oxford American Book of Great Music Writing

Captain Beefheart is the subject of an article by Mark Richard in The Oxford American Book of Great Music Writing. Univ. of Arkansas. 2008. c.466p. ed. by Marc Smirnoff. ISBN 978-1-55728-887-5. $34.95

I got a brand new Cadillac, I got a Ferrari too...



...but click on the picture here for a magnified view of the customised backside of Gerard's Opel Kadett.

Posted by derek@beefheart.com at 7:18 PM  - 3 comments - post a comment