The title says it all really. The Radar Station now has a presence on Facebook. Find us at: https://www.facebook.com/CaptainBeefheartRadarStation/ We will be using the Facebook page as a way of advertising this website and its contents. Any new blog postings (except this one!), new pages added or updates made will be linked to from there. We shall also highlight some of the great material we have on the website that you might have overlooked, some of the more unusual items of information tucked away in the furthest reaches of the site… It will be another way for you to keep up to date with whatRead More →

Now here ya come baby With yer tail draggin’ the gravy Y’ know yer P’s ‘n Q’s What ya don’t know baby Is you givin’ me the blues Ya got juice on your chin Eggs on the drain-board Pie on the wall Dirt on the rug I come home late ‘N I stumbled ‘n swore Ya won’t even give me a hug Ya had my things all laid out by the door I’m leavin’ I’m gonna take up with ah mermaid ‘N leave you land lubbin’ women alone ‘N leave you land-lubbin’ women alone Ya said ya had it together once Now yer head’s aroundRead More →

Song List Disc 1 Hair Pie Nowadays A Woman’s Gotta Hit A Man I Wanna Find A Woman That’ll Hold My Big Toe Till I Have To Go Hot Head Ashtray Heart Dirty Blue Gene The Smithsonian Institute Blues (or The Big Dig) Best Batch Yet Safe As Milk One Red Rose That I Mean China Pig Disc 2 Sue Egypt Doctor Dark Bat Chain Puller My Human Gets Me Blues Sugar ‘N’ Spikes Sheriff Of Hong Kong Kandy Korn Veteran’s Day Poppy Big Eyed Beans From Venus Notes From the sleevenotes: One of the last concerts of what would turn out to be Beefheart’sRead More →

On the train on the way home from the Magic Band gig at Under The Bridge I was browsing through one of the free newspapers that can be found littering the carriages these days. I got to page 51 of the London Evening Standard and I did a double-take. There, under the ‘City Spy’ column was a photo of Don on stage from 1972. How bizarre is that? Was a fan on the paper desperate for an excuse to get a picture of Don in the paper? Is Tim Martin’s tongue well and truly stuck in his cheek?    Read More →

It’s amazing the things that suddenly appear as if from nowhere. R. Michael DeChellis was a photographer in Los Angeles at the end of the 1960s and into the 1970s. He photographed many of the groups playing live at that time. On the 31st March 1969 he as at the Aquarius Theater on Sunset Boulevard, which he knew as the Hullabaloo Club. On the large bill that night was Captain Beefheart And His Magic Band fresh from recording the staggering Trout Mask Replica album. Michael took a few photographs and we’re pleased to present them here on the Radar Station. Just a pity there aren’t more!Read More →

A few photographs have surfaced taken at the Trout Mask Replica band’s only live gig. This was at the Aquarius Theater in Los Angeles on 31st March 1969. Find out more about the Aquarius show. Thanks to R. Michael DeChellis for permission to post his photographs here on the Radar Station. You can get good quality copies at his website and while you’re there check the other bands’ photos too – https://www.dechellisphotography.com/ (Note: website address updated July 2022) Here are two of Don with his sax: And here in all his sartorial splendour is Jeff Cotton (aka Antennae Jimmy Semens):    Read More →

The Magic Band rehearsed for months to perfect their parts for the Trout Mask Replica album but they only once performed any of the album live together as a band. And that was on 31st March 1969 at the Aquarius Theater as part of a fund-raiser for the L.A. Free Clinic. The Mothers were also on the bill. The band had recorded the Trout Mask album at Whitney Studios earlier in the month so were well rehearsed and ready to go. The Earl Carroll Theatre on Sunset Boulevard in Los Angeles became the Hullabaloo Club in 1965 and was given a psychedelic makeover in 1968Read More →

Okay here’s a reminder of a few forthcoming Beefheart-related happenings: The Magic Band on tour John French will be leading The Magic Band for two shows next week: Thursday 14 July (Mark Boston’s birthday!) – Under The Bridge, Fulham, UK – underthebridge.co.uk Friday 15 July – Zappanale #27, Bad Doberan, Germany – www.zappanale.de Don Van Vliet Art Exhibition Flora, Fauna and Other Forms of Life opens on the 8 July at Michael Werner Gallery in London and remains on view until 17 September. Gallery hours are Tuesday through Friday, 10AM to 6PM. For more information please contact the gallery at www.michaelwerner.com This is  a group exhibition which will includeRead More →