Captain Beefheart Up Sifter

Our news-editor Derek follows his yellow brick road

2010-01-10T12:15:00.007Z

I'd like to offer a sincere big thank you to Derek, our erstwhile news editor, for all his help and close attention to detail over the last few years.

He's conducted an impressive Big Dig through anything with even a faint whiff of Beefheart about it and brought us some really interesting and illuminating stories. Who could forget Derek's interview with Herb Bermann; a character so mysterious in the Beefheart universe that many have even posited he didn't exist. Derek tracked him down, interviewed him and delivered the results to you here at beefheart.com

I'm sure Derek will still pop up here occasionally in the future with a few scrupulously chased tid-bits of Beefheart trivia / import but in the main I'm going to resume news-editor duties due to competing claims on Derek's time.

Thanks Derek, you've kept thinks moving on here at beefheart.com so beautifully. I'm sure our regular and occasional readers will miss your contributions greatly and I'm very grateful for all of your efforts.

Beefheart Through The Eyes Of Magic in UK press

2010-01-10T11:51:00.002Z

I've just got my copy of John French's beautiful massive tome and have been keenly devouring it in every spare moment. It's also had some favourable coverage in the UK press this morning.

Life Under Captain Beefheart's Regime appears in The Times and makes the book sound as fascinating and revelatory as it appears to be from what I've read so far.

If you spot any other interesting reviews or articles related the book please post links to them below.

Beefheart: Through the Eyes of Magic goes on sale tomorrow.

Blood-drenched rock stars run amok at the Vliet place: Captain Beefheart's celebrity gate-crashers bring gift of beetle bones

2009-12-29T12:11:00.005Z

While we at The Radar Station are waiting to get our hands on a finished copy of John French's long-awaited book, Beefheart: Through The Eyes of Magic, published on January 11th, I have assembled some Beefheart-related news items and trivia which we didn't get round to mentioning in 2009.

Captain Beefheart's final album, Hoboism

Head of No. 6 Records Terry Tolkin recollected Captain Beefheart and Bob Krasnow in an interview with Warped Reality Magazine. Talking of gaps in the No.6 catalogue Tolkin said:

The last one was a Captain Beefheart EP called Hoboism, a fantastic track left over from the Bat Chain Puller sessions. I had become quite friendly with Don Van Vliet through my years at Rough Trade and then especially Elektra. Elektra's CEO was Bob Krasnow, the last of the great 1960's A&R guys to run a major label........I went out to Don's house in Eureka, California. Kras had produced Beefheart’s Safe As Milk LP and then signed him to WB. Things somehow turned acrimonious after that and they hadn't spoken in 15 years. I had persuaded Don to let me back up a mobile studio onto his front lawn and we were going to record a LP of old blues songs. I had flown out there to meet him face-to-face for the first time and kinda seal the deal. Well, instead of coming together over the next three days, it mostly fell apart. Don used his wife, Jan, to say that they didn't want Hoboism to be the last word on his career and that they couldn't find anyone they like to play on the blues album.

Bob Krasnow's memories of working with Captain Beefheart on Safe As Milk, can also be found at Warped Reality's interview with Terry Tolkin.

Don Van Vliet in Chelsea

Four small works by Don Van Vliet are showing at Zach Feuer Gallery in Chelsea until January 23rd. Part of a group exhibition entitled Jr. and Son’s, Don's creations hang next to the work of S. Clay Wilson and are pictured in situ here at the Zach Feuer Gallery website.

Zach Feuer Gallery, 530 W. 24th Street, New York, NY 10011
Tel: +1 212 989 7700 info@zachfeuer.com www.zachfeuer.com
Exhibition dates: December 12, 2009 – January 23, 2010
Gallery hours: Tuesday – Saturday, 10-6

Blood-drenched rock stars run amok at the Vliet place

Captain Beefheart's celebrity gate-crashers bring gift of beetle bones

It would be hard to find two rock stars who are more fixated on Captain Beefheart than Alison Mosshart of The Kills and Jack White of The White Stripes.

Both groups have recorded Beefheart songs and continue to play them live. Jack White dressed up as Captain Beefheart on the photo shoot for Get Behind Me Satan and in interviews Alison Mosshart regularly expresses her yearnings to be with Don Van Vliet.

There’s one musician who’s alive but isn’t working anymore that I would do anything to do something with – and that would be Don Van Vliet from Captain Beefheart. And I think it would be surprising just because he doesn’t do music anymore (laughs). That’s my favorite band, you know… yeah, I’d like to just be in the same room as that man. - Alison Mosshart in Sunfiltered, July 2009

Alison Mosshart has even become the latest celebrity collector of paintings by Don Van Vliet, one of which is the showcase piece of her art collection, though Mosshart clarifies: I collect for the money. - Alison Mosshart in Black Book, June 2009

So when Alison and Jack got together this year to record a video to promote Dead Weather, their joint project, it was hardly surprising that they decided to visit Don Van Vliet's old stamping ground of Lancaster, California.

Having just pumped each other full of bullet holes, Dead Weather cohorts Jack White and Alison Mosshart decided to relax with a visit to the childhood home of their shared musical hero, Captain Beefheart.

"We were covered in blood," Mosshart says fondly of the July pilgrimage. "Fake blood from head to toe, with 70 bullet holes through us. You know, we were just totally gross. We showed up at his house and left a bunch of beetle shells — dead beetles we'd found in the desert — and some burned sticks under his tree. It just seemed appropriate!"

Mosshart says the family now living in the Lancaster, Calif., house had never heard of the eccentric musical genius who had spent years there listening to R&B singles with schoolmate Frank Zappa.

"A bunch of dudes with no shirts came out of the house, and they had no idea who he was. And because we were all covered in blood and we had the film crew with us, all these kids were coming out of their houses and were like, 'Is this an episode of Cops?'"

from: Death becomes them: Alison Mosshart and Jack White kill some time with the Dead Weather by Bill Forman in The Colorado Springs Independent, 13 August 2009

New Rockette Morton album

Described as incorporating Jazz, Swing, Blues, Rock and Country in a very unique instrumental collection from two very unique individuals, Bret Short and Rockette Morton, Short n Morton is available at cdbaby.

Gary Lucas

The high point of Gary Lucas' year for me was his collaboration with Najma Akhtar and their winning combination of rock, blues and raga on the album Rishte. You can listen to tracks and samples from Rishte at MySpace and World Village.

And Beefheart saved Craig & other writings

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.

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.

A familiar face in the cosmic matter?

The other day, I was grinding and polishing a stony meteorite (as one does), and after polishing, there, leering out from the polished surface, was the captains face. I know this sounds rather like those names of Allah found in aubergines and such, but I'll get a friend to photo this and send you the image in case you might want to put it on your site - it really is quite astonishing

The image is best viewed small on the screen, about 10 cm x 10 cm, otherwise the detail obscures the image. The meteorite is a piece of one called NWA869.

Thanks to George Wake for sending this in.

An assortment of musical homage

Skeletonbreath - the band at MySpace.

Invincible Czars perform Upon the My-O-My at YouTube.

Ty Segal performs Dropout Boogie at YouTube. Album review of Lemons at Pitchfork.

Snow Patrol include a reworked Observatory Crest in their Late Night Tales compilation. The version Snow Patrol have chosen is not the original Bluejeans and Moonbeams cut but the A Carrot Is As Close As A Rabbit Gets To A Diamond version which is prefaced by Eric Drew Feldman's intro to Making Love To A Vampire With A Monkey On My Knee. Odd.

Bob Dylan's album Theme Time Radio Hour, Season 2 on Ace Records includes Ice Cream For Crow

Cracker give a guest shot on their album Sunrise in the Land of Milk and Honey to Patterson Hood from the Drive-by Truckers. On Friends Hood and David Lowery name check Captain Beefheart. See the video on YouTube here.

Now when you're on a date and you finally bring that girl home,
Put some Captain Beefheart on the stereo and you disconnect the phone
I'll show up drunk and raving, and then I'll pass out on the floor
Cause that's the kind of friend that you've got.

and finally........

According to The Guardian, The Jockey Club's chief executive, Simon Bazalgette was recently interviewed in the racecard at Cheltenham. Bazalgette said that his four ideal dinner guests would be "Richard Feynman, Vaseley (sic) Kandinsky, Archbishop Desmond Tutu and Captain Beefheart."

Cal Schenkel is offering beautiful archival quality Giclée Prints of his acrylic on paper study of the Trout Mask Replica album cover artwork, 2009, hand-signed. 13x13in Personalized at no extra charge--specify inscription when ordering. See ralf.com

Old Skool Hooligans have a selection of Captain Beefheart t-shirts for sale.

Be quick if you want to see the video of Captain Beefheart's telephoned contribution to American Bandstand in June 1966 at YouTube. You can also read the story of Captain Beefheart's first TV broadcasts at Captain Beefheart Up Sifter

Impatient souls can whet their appetites for the revelations of John French's book at Proper Records website where there are twelve pages of extracts and photographs.

John French book reviewed

2009-12-27T13:07:00.002Z

Due to be published on 11 January 2010 here is the first review of John's book Beefheart: Through the Eyes of Magic.

No secrets are given away in this review so feel free to read it without it spoiling your enjoyment of the book.

Read the review here

The Magic Band at Minehead

2009-12-15T19:50:00.002Z

These photographs show The Magic Band playing at 'Ten Years of ATP', a music festival in Minehead, on Sunday 13th December. Click on the images to enlarge them.

In the annotated set list keen followers of The Magic Band will spot some interesting differences between this concert and previous appearances.

The Magic Band MySpace page contains lots of interesting information including brief biographies of new members Eric Klerks and Craig Bunch and some notes which John French wrote about recent Magic Band rehearsals.

Samples from a recording of a previous Magic Band show, one of three scheduled to be released in February on Vinyl, CD, and mP3 downloads can also be heard there.

We hope to bring you news of more Magic Band activity in 2010.

Thanks to Louis Mills for his photographs and invaluable help.

Update 26 December: John French has posted his recollections of Minehead at The Magic Band MySpace page and a short review of The Magic Band set has appeared at Drowned in Sound

Greg Ladanyi

2009-12-11T19:24:00.005Z

Grammy Award winning producer, engineer and mixer Greg Ladanyi died in a fall from a stage in Cyprus in September. He was 57. His first job as an engineer was with Captain Beefheart.

In 2005 Greg Ladanyi described working with Captain Beefheart on Bluejeans and Moonbeams.

It was the most bizarre, twisted experience for me. This was before I was an engineer and before I went to the Sound Factory. I was the business side of Stronghold Studios, and my partner, Al Thomas, owned the studio. I found the job, brought them in, and they paid us $5,000 for studio time. We spent the money in two days paying our bills. But there was a clash with Al and the producer, and they wanted their money back. There was no way, but we didn't say that. I just said [to producer Andy DiMartino], "I'll do this." I had this personality that was effective that way. So I was on the phone with Al every 20 minutes. "How do I patch this thing in?" I knew what things were and I had live mixing experience, but never in a studio. And it was weird because Beefheart was out of his mind. He was trippin', the band was trippin', and I was only 21 years old. We were there all night and they were doing this stuff that all sounded like spaghetti to me. But I loved the feeling of being in the studio. Oh, that was amazing. So I had a pretty big crash course in personalities, the studio, delivering, and that was when I got the job at the Sound Factory as a second engineer.

Interview with Greg Ladanyi at Sony Creative Software
Greg Ladanyi memoriam at Studio Expresso

Messin' with the Kid

2009-11-29T15:08:00.002Z

I have great respect for anyone who attempts to cover any of Beefheart's songs.

So what do you say when someone decides to cover a whole Beefheart album!

Well, that's just what Benjamin Horrendous has done. Singlehandedly, he's (in his own words) 'messed' with each song from The Spotlight Kid to come up with his own vision of this great album.

Find out more about it here

Through The Eyes Of Magic - finally!

2009-11-16T19:32:00.003Z

The following press release about the publication of John's long awaited book has just come to our notice:-

John “ Drumbo” French

Beefheart: Through The Eyes Of Magic

The ultimate book about Captain Beefheart written by the man who spent more time with him than most.

Published in hardback

880 pages, including 16 pages of amazing photographs, many published for the first time.

Includes reminiscences from key members of The Magic Band and The Mothers Of Invention.

Cover price £19.95.

Out 11 January 2010

Few names carry such formidable mystique and rabid cult status as Captain Beefheart, who led various lineups of his Magic Band to make some of the

most startling, ground-breaking albums of the last century. In 1982, he

retired to concentrate on painting, leaving the mythology he’d stoked

himself to grow untamed over the years.

John French is better qualified than anyone to talk about Beefheart, joining

the Magic Band in 1966 at the age of 17 just before recording their *Safe As

Milk *debut album, finding himself plunged into a tyrannical regime which

would dominate his life for the next 14 years as he played a major role in

eight subsequent albums, including translating the mindblowing avant-blues

assault of 1969’s *Trout Mask Replica *into readable music for the Magic

Band from the Captain’s piano poundings under torturous conditions he likens

to a cult.

Spanning nearly a thousand pages, French’s remarkable memoir starts with a vivid description of the rarely-documented early 60s Lancaster garage-rock scene which also spawned names like Ry Cooder and Beefheart’s childhood friend and later nemesis Frank Zappa, whose appearances in the book will enthrall his own legion of fans. As his spellbinding, often shocking tale unwinds, he encounters names including jazz giant Ornette Coleman, Jim Morrison and Paul McCartney, writing with dry, sometimes surreal humour and disarming honesty about his old boss and even himself, occasionally bringing in his old Magic Band comrades to jog his memory. The book is packed with new revelations, many previously-unseen photos and enough anecdotes to keep the Beefheart faithful ruminating for years, French finally crystallising and bringing to life over 40 years of legend and speculation in what has to be the ultimate book on the mercurial genius of Captain Beefheart.

---------------------------------

Also check out John's blog for some more tantalising extracts:-

www.myspace.com/drumbojohnfrench

The Magic Band - more concerts and albums planned

2009-08-13T13:13:00.002Z

John French has confirmed that The Magic Band will perform at All Tomorrows Parties' Ten Years Of ATP Festival in December. In mails to us this week he has given some details of the line-up and the expected content of the set. John has also confirmed that more live shows are being planned and that several albums of live recordings from the 2005 tours will be released in various formats. This is what John wrote:

About 6 weeks ago, Barry Hogan unexpectedly sent me an email inviting The Magic Band to play at their tenth anniversary Festival.

I was very happy to accept on behalf of the group. We decided to stick with drummer Michael Traylor and to replace Gary, who was booked in Eastern Europe during this period, with one of the guitarists from my Drumbo band, Eric Klerks. Eric is a fantastic player, in his twenties. He employs metal finger picks and also plays slide. He spent a lot of time in New Orleans and came to Southern California to finish his music education at Cal Arts.

Eric seemed like a perfect fit to me for inclusion into the lineup, and he is a man well-acquainted with Beefheart music, so should do a fantastic job. I am VERY excited about this. Other dates are pending, but we wanted to get confirmation on this event first, which just happened.

I’m planning on playing sax to at least one composition: Hair Pie. Back in 2005, I bought a student sax, which I barely had a chance to play until probably a year later. I spent about a half-hour a day going through children’s music books and reading simple basic songs to re-acquaint myself with the fingering ( I used to play flute, so the fingering is similar) and then started improvising to my own music on “City of Refuge.”

I am approaching Hair Pie with two concepts: One is the instinctual — whereas I hear ideas that work and sort of “learn” them by playing along with the sections of the piece. The other is the analytical — where I actually analyze the chord structure and tone center so that rather than just blurring the entire piece in a frenzy of notes, I can switch gears with the song and compliment the music. I have listened to the first results and am excited, because it adds a completely new flavor to the music. Probably my biggest dream in life has been to play the soprano — right after being introduced to John Coltrane by Van Vliet. Jeff Cotton and I bought Don his first soprano — a King saxophone — from Wallich’s Music City ( long gone ) in Hollywood — with our studio fees from “Strictly Personal.” We went right down the street from Sunset Sound to Sunset and Vine to get drum sticks and strings. I saw the soprano sitting on a high shelf. It was used, and cost $180 as I recall. Jeff and I split the price and gave it to Don as a gift.

So, we will be updating and re-vamping our set list. Also, we are going to attempt “extending” a few pieces a bit — just to savor the delicacies that usually fly by so quickly.

Sundazed records last year put out a vinyl release of out takes from the Mirror Man Sessions. I suggested the Title “It Comes to You in a Plain Brown Wrapper” because I overheard Don suggesting that title to Bob Krasnow back while we were recording. Krasnow thought it was too long, as I recall, and so they settled for “Strictly Personal” with the same packaging concept. I was approached to write the liner notes for “Wrapper,” which was a nice, easy gig.

In 2005, I had taken along my new laptop and a couple of audio interfaces and recorded most of The Magic Band performances on about 15 tracks of digital recording using a program called “Digital Performer” by MOTU. We hired Chris Constable, a young musician who lives near me, to go over as “soundman” and “onsite recording engineer.” He was not only able to help the in-house engineer at the venues with cues, but monitored the recording. Some places do not allow releases of any recordings done without getting a fee ( these folks are known as tightwads!!!). Others simply did not have the facility to give direct lines of each channel. The tracks were made directly from the board ( or “desk” as it’s called in UK) into my audio interfaces. The hard drive sat around for four years gathering dust, and I finally, out of curiosity, decided to open up the files and see what the music sounded like. The first thing I listened to was Mirror Man, and I made a rough mix of the performance from Portsmouth ( which I recalled as being one of our best ) along with one or two others and sent them to Bob Irwin, of Sundazed. He sent me back an email saying “these sound SO good, let’s put them out.”

The deal we settled on was for me to mix three shows — my choice. Sundazed will release each show as a separate double-vinyl album, a CD, and mP3 downloads. They will all be available next February.

I worked hard on these mixes, as I’ve never actually mixed music before, but since Bob had said they “sounded great ” I plunged in with my usual fervor. With a lot of help from “Magic” Dave Roberts at MOTU, I was able to master the techniques needed. The company was very pleased with the mixes. I used a few “micro-surgery” techniques to clean up the mixes and avoid some of the “stage sound” coming through the vocal mic, which makes the tracks a lot cleaner. I had one instance where there was about 3 beats of music just missing — as though someone shut off the equipment and then turned it back on — so I just clipped a section out and put it back together at the next turnaround

To my ear, some of these mixes are probably the clearest “official” releases of the material: such as the Trout Mask Stuff. I am really excited to get this stuff heard, and it really was pleasant to re-visit these great compositions once again. Thanks to Sundazed, Beefheart enthusiasts will be able to enjoy concerts they may have attended, or perhaps wanted to attend and couldn’t. I am expecting that they will be pleased with the results. There may be the possibility of more being released if these do well.

Some tickets are still available for TEN YEARS OF ATP via the atp festival website.

A round up of recent Beefheart-related news

2009-08-08T14:40:00.003Z

Viper have released an expanded CD version of their vinyl best of live - Magneticism: the best of Captain Beefheart and His Magic Bands Live 72-81 - twenty tracks of magic.

As part of their Complete Roots series, Snapper Music have released The Roots of Captain Beefheart. An interesting collection of 18 tracks. Read our review and see if it is what it claims to be!

Don continues to be name checked by new artists. The latest to claim him as an influence are Victoria Hesketh (aka Little Boots) and White Denim. I'll leave it up to you to decide if that influence can be heard ... San Franciscan lo-fi psych guitarist Ty Segall has gone one step further and covered Dropout Boogie on his latest album called Lemons.

And if you fancy a trip across to Youtube you can catch Herman Tulp doing a reading of Don's Brown Star poem. Keep an eye out for the related images that appear discreetly around the screen!

Tom Wilkes - designer of Safe As Milk cover dies

2009-07-23T18:16:00.004Z

The graphic designer and photographer Tom Wilkes died on 28 June from a heart attack. He was 69.

Most well known to Beefheart fans for his work on the Safe As Milk album he was involved in the design of many, many others.

For more detailed obituaries check out the LA Times and the Independent.

Thanks to 'anonymous' for the heads up about this sad news.

Through the Eyes of Magic - update

2009-07-04T15:56:00.002Z

The Radar Station just been told that John French's book is still on course for a Spring 2010 release ... although the exact date has yet to be confirmed.

However, what's new is that Proper has decided that it'll now publish Through the Eyes of Magic as ONE BIG book instead of the two volumes they had originally planned. This probably make more financial sense. It also means we'll get the whole book without the danger of the second volume never seeing the light of day!

They've also promised that no editing will be done to make it fit one volume ... which is good news too.

Now roll on spring 2010...

More Beef Art

2009-06-28T10:45:00.005Z

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

Follow beefheart.com on Twitter

2009-06-09T19:34:00.005Z

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.

Late notice: Gary Lucas / Gods and Monsters anniversary show

2009-06-09T18:58:00.003Z

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.

Mirror Man Mini Me

2009-06-08T09:54:00.001Z

Two of Beefheart's earliest albums have been given the Japanese mini LP treatment. You can now get exact copies of the original Safe As Milk and Mirror Man vinyl albums but as compact discs. These are exquisite ... you even get a mini version of the SAM bumper sticker and MM comes complete with the gatefold die-cut shattered mirror effect cover.

Although the packaging replicates the original album the tracks on them are the remastered versions with the extra songs that were released in 1999.- so the sound quality is excellent. In fact, SAM sounds even better than the 1999 copy I have.

These are available individually but they can be bought together as part of a 'promo' package. With this you get the two albums and a chunky box to put them in. The box is printed to look like a fat copy of Safe As Milk and is constructed like the Grow Fins box.

The fact that this box is big enough to hold four or five of these mini albums makes me wonder if there's plans to issue some more ... but which other Beefheart albums does BMG Japan have the rights to?

2009-05-23T16:15:00.002Z

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!

the stars up above are runnin' on love

2009-04-05T19:42:00.003Z

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.

Through the eyes closed

2009-04-02T19:15:00.003Z

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.

Seeing thru you to me…

2009-03-14T08:43:00.002Z

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

Fast 'N' Bulbous tour

2009-03-07T23:28:00.010Z

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:

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.

Lemme tell yuh 'bout it

2009-01-25T19:18:00.005Z

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.

Happy Birthday, Don Van Vliet

2009-01-15T00:00:00.010Z

Happy Birthday, Don

We wish many happy returns to Don Van Vliet who is 68 today.

Vliet interview in Zappa archive?

A video tour of Frank Zappa's hoard of audio, film and video treasures has been made available at YouTube. Bearing a marked similarity to bonus material on the Frank Zappa - Classic Albums - Apostrophe And Over-Nite Sensation release, this tantalising tease of a film shows only the packaging and the formats of the recordings, not the contents.

At about four minutes in, the presenter casually flicks his wrist to reveal a package apparently entitled Vliet Interview.

Closer inspection however reveals that the word Vliet has been scored out, and in a seemingly different hand the word Interview has been inserted. Later in the film you can see documents relating to the Trout Mask Replica master tape.

Maybe The Zappa Archive does contain all sorts of Don Van Vliet wonderment and Captain Beefheart rarities. Maybe the original Bat Chain Puller will one day be released by The Zappa Family Trust. Maybe one day Brickbats will fly at my fireplace.

Thanks to Peter Warner for his detective work

City of Refuge reviewed and defended

John French's new album City of Refuge has been gathering some very good reviews, as well as attracting the inevitable comparisons to Captain Beefheart albums.

The Independent review commented, 12 new songs voiced by Drumbo himself in full Beefheart pastiche mode. How can it work? Reasonably well, as it goes, given the absence of the Cap himself. Guitars cut and thrust, time signatures jerk around and the songs stand up for themselves.

Uncut magazine's full page piece about Drumbo's album included this, Does it add up to more than left-overs from a bygone era? If nothing else City of Refuge strikes a blow for musical intelligence and instrumental facility. Yes, it’s a tribute to the inspirational Van Vliet, but it’s also a tribute to the Magic Band itself.

The Sunday Times review pointed out that, The needling guitars of Bill Harkleroad and Greg Davidson, aka Zoot Horn Rollo and Ella Guru respectively, still stun, and Drumbo’s desert-wolf growl is more than passable. Beefheart’s largely unsung collaborators have every right to stake their sonic claims, but this odd exercise will infuriate as many fans as it delights.

One fan who reviewed the album for Smooth Jazz Superstars blog had his misunderstandings straightened out by John French himself at Drumbo's blog.

Among a great many other comments John wrote, Comparing "City of Refuge" to Beefheart albums totally misses the point. It's meant to scratch an itch that can't be reached with anything else – at least that I've heard. It's not meant to be a replacement – Van Vliet is irreplaceable. However, everyone must accept that Beefheart will not record again, but that doesn't mean that I'm going to lie down and die because some unenlightened journalist comes to the ridiculous conclusion that "City of Refuge" is "not Beefheart's."

I'm told that THE WIRE gave an excellent review. So did our resident expert Steve Froy here at The Radar Station.

John French's new group has now performed this material live on a couple of occasions. Let's hope that 2009 will see many more outings for this music. For more details watch John 'Drumbo' French's MySpace page where a complete song from the album, Bus Ticket Outta Town, has now been posted. A live version of Bogeyman, performed by the new band is also to be found there.

Fast 'n' Bulbous live dates

With Waxed Oop, the new Fast 'N' Bulbous album, due out on the Cuneiform label any day now comes news of several concert bookings for the band:

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.

Trout Mask Replica and the Trout House

..the secret, really, to understanding, to dwelling within, Trout Mask Replica is to make sure it’s the first record you ever hear..

Marcello Carlin wrote some excellent music appreciation in his now defunct blog. He dealt with subjects from Laura Nyro to Gnarls Barkley, but what he wrote about Trout Mask Replica at The Church of Me in April 2006 will be of most interest here.

..Trout Mask Replica is really a set of hallucinatory nursery rhymes, thus “Ella Guru” and “Sweet Sweet Bulbs” and “Sugar ‘N Spikes” somersault their way through mathematical rods and make you want to slide down banisters and pass the parcel while chanting “Here she comes walkin’/Lookin’ like uh zoo”..

The house where 'Trout Mask Replica' was made has recently appeared in at least two blogs. At Confluence City you can read about a pilgrimage made to the Trout House and see some photographs taken there, while at unokhan's blog you can see a photograph of a painting of the house commissioned by the writer.

Another blogger, this time at the secret ingredient is water, has made a stab at commenting on Trout Mask Replica through the medium of a criticism of Kevin Courrier's book about the album.

Wedding at East Overshoe

Congratulations to Sandy Dillon and Ray Majors on their recent wedding, which took place on an antique carousel on the seedier side of the beach in East Overshoe. At their reception they entertained the guests by singing Captain Beefheart's 'This Is The Day', Ray on guitar and Sandy playing piano.

Sandy Dillon has often performed 'This Is the Day' and I would have liked to have linked here to the BBC video of a full Sandy Dillon concert which includes this song. That recording, made in 2001 at The Ocean in Hackney for Radio 3's ‘Mixing It’ programme, seems no longer to be available at the BBC website, which is a great pity. Here instead is a link to a recent informative interview with Sandy at Wears The Trousers magazine.

The Adventures of Captain Beefheart and his Magic Band

A new graphic novel, tentatively titled The Adventures of Captain Beefheart and his Magic Band, is under preparation in Germany. This frame is taken from the second chapter.

Continuously updated information about the making of the work should be found on the site of Poste Aérienne

Captain Beefheart covers

Alison Mosshart of The Kills has again been committing her thoughts about Captain Beefheart to the media. This time, in The Independent, she fantasizes about Captain Beefheart dueting on Harry Irene with Kim Gordon, Moe Tucker on drums and Guy Picciotto on guitar. He sounds haunting, forceful, confident and humorous, of the future and of the past, all wrapped up in one whip of the tongue.

The Black Keys version of Her Eyes Are A Blue Million Miles will appear on a new compilation of classic songs taken from Warners back catalogue and covered by present-day Warners artists. Covered, A Revolution in Sound: Warner Bros. Records, is due out on February 24th. See Billboard for details.

Meanwhile Pontiak's version is available right now. As is a Grow Fins by Danish group Grow Fins.

Jimmy Carl Black remembered

2008-11-03T18:28:00.001Z

Jimmy Carl Black died this weekend. He was seventy years old.

Art Tripp, one of the few other musicians to have played with both Captain Beefheart and Frank Zappa, sent the following message:

I hardly know what to say about the demise of the great Jimmy Carl Black. I Emailed Roy Estrada that the world just won't seem the same without The Indian. He was one of those rare guys who lit up the whole room when he walked in. When you met Jim you liked him; and he was your friend for life. Jim was basically a good ole Texas boy with a little flower power mixed in. He was an open book to a fault, and was quick with his praise of others. I had some of the best times of my life around Jimmy Carl Black, all the while learning a little bit about rock n roll drumming. When we spoke on the phone a couple of weeks ago, I had a feeling that would be the last time. I'm very grateful that I had that opportunity.

Art Tripp

The benefit concert planned for Sunday 9th November in London will go ahead, as will another benefit celebration in California on 7th December.

There is a brief biography of Jimmy at his website and two recent interviews with Jimmy appear at The Idiot Bastard's website, here and here. At the time of writing the only mainstream obituary to have been published appears at the website of Norwegian broadcasters NRK, although tributes are pouring in at Zappateers, The MuffinMen and Zappa.com

Please feel free to add your memories of Jimmy to the comments section below.

Let go flocks of them

2008-10-28T18:44:00.000Z

Diggin' the Smithsonian Institute news

The Smithsonian Institution investigates the meeting of pop culture and palaeontology in a new blog at its website. In one of the first entries Captain Beefheart's song The Smithsonian Institute Blues (or the Big Dig) has its skeleton made good by a dinosaur expert.

For all you need to know about La Brea Tar Pits and what they contain see the entry Dinosaur Blues at Smithsonian.com's blog Dinosaur Tracking.

From Genesis P. Orridge to Oh Bamalam

I seem constantly to be linking here to Gary Lucas website because of the seemingly endless Captain Beefheart related information to be found there. At his tour page, for example, you can check out how the 2009 Fast 'n' Bulbous tour is shaping up. Three European concerts of Captain Beefheart compositions are so far listed for March - in Holland, Czech Republic and France. There will be more news of that tour later I'm sure.

Gary recently mentioned at his blog that the only punk/new wave band checked by Captain Beefheart/Don Van Vliet as being any good was Throbbing Gristle, which was news to me.

I soon found an interview with Genesis P Orridge in which Genesis placed Don Van Vliet alongside Aleister Crowley, William Burroughs, Brion Gysin, and Brian Jones in his pantheon, so I asked Gary about this mutual admiration.

Gary told me that someone came up to The Magic Band at York University during their soundcheck in November 1980 and asked Don if he rated any of the punk or new wave groups. He scoffed at them all (this was the period of "case of the punks" and Don's general derisive attitude toward the whole thing--ie "the new wave is just an old Toni" (a "toni" was a kind of permanent wave hair application goo for women) but then said the only group he liked and respected was Throbbing Gristle.

Genesis later told Gary that he had heard from someone close to the band that Don used to paint listening to Throbbing Gristle's Second Annual Report.

Now for the plug. Gary is keen for it to be known that his new digital only EP Rise Up To Be is out on digital portals worldwide through IODA (including emusic, rhapsody, and iTunes) . This is a collection of some of his original compositions which he gave to Jeff Buckley (one of Gary's first singers in Gods and Monsters, in 1992), music that became the instrumental basis for some of the well-known Lucas/Buckley songs like Grace and Mojo Pin. More information is available at Promonet and a free track can be downloaded here.

Also, The Du-Tels (Gary Lucas and Holy Modal Rounder Peter Stampfel) salute their favourite presidential candidate in a video clip at YouTube.

John French update

Two more entries have appeared at John French's blog.The third and final part of his story about his new album City of Refuge is supplemented with news about his new band which will soon be touring to promote the album. Go to his MySpace page for all the details.

City of Refuge will be released in Europe on November 10th and in North America on November 18th.

Meanwhile, Sebstian Palmer got in touch to promote an interview he did with John 'Drumbo' French during the 2005 tour of the reformed Magic Band. He has made it available at Sounds From the Funky Goat.

Zoot grows Finnish

Mikko Kapanen, lead singer and guitarist of Helsinki, Finland based "psychedelic hard rock" band Spektriis wrote in. The band is currently finishing up work on its debut album which they are hoping to have released some time in the first half of 2009.

"The reason I'm telling this," Mikko wrote, "is that we had the immense pleasure of getting Bill Harkleroad to record a guitar solo for one of the tracks. We have uploaded five out of the ten tracks on the album to our MySpace profile at http://www.myspace.com/spektriis including the track in question, called "Black Hole Eyes". We made a point of not mentioning Harkleroad's participation on our MySpace at this point, because the last thing we want to do - out of respect to him and ourselves - is to appear to be riding on his name. However, since we have made the track available, I just can't keep this from my fellow diehard Beefheart fans until the album's release."

Just a minuet

That Don Van Vliet's compositions are danceable is without question. Two German comedians, Ulan & Bator, have formalised that pleasure by getting close to a diamond (or a rabbit) at YouTube.