The Fire Party is the Radar Station's discussion list devoted to all things Beefheart. While the Captain is the main focus of the list, threads relating to other artists tend to crop up very frequently as well - the Beach Boys are one of the most commonly mentioned, incidentally! Most topics are related to the arts in some way, predominantly music, but members are free to talk about virtually anything that interests them.

There are several Magic Band members on the list which gives you a unique opportunity to find answers to your questions or just to chew the fat about any aspect of Don's life and work that you care to talk about.

It's also an excellent way to find out more about other artists who appeal to Captain Beefheart fans - so many of my record purchases over the last few years have been made following an informed and enthusiastic recommendation at the Fire Party.

The list can generate anything between about 10 and 60 messages everyday. We have a list of guidelines which all members must read and abide by. If we stick to the guidelines it makes the volume of mail much more manageable and the content more interesting for everyone.

If you have any comments or queries about the guidelines, drop me a line.

The list archive is a useful resource if you want to catch up on any past messages that you may have missed.

Please note that the archives are available to members only. If you want to access them but don't want to receive messages from the list you can still subscribe as usual and then just disable mail delivery (select "nomail" when you subscribe). You will then have access to the archives but will not receive any mail. If you need help with this, drop me a line.

The pre-2006 archive from before the site and list move is still available.

There are normally between 110 and 130 subscribers, and you can find out about many of us (past and present) at Benjamin Horrendous' site Fire Party People. If you'd like your details included on the Fire Party People site, please email Ben for a form.

If you are interested in hearing music recorded by members of the online Beefheart community (predominantly from the Fire Party) then have a listen to Music From The Other Side Of The Fence. You can also visit the Fire Party Musicians Index of members who have CDs of original music available to trade or mp3s to download, hosted and maintained by Benjamin Horrendous.

To subscribe to this list, please head towards the list info page and click "Join or leave the list (or change settings)". Fill out the simple form and click the button.

You will then receive an automated reply asking for confirmation. Click the link in the message to confirm that you do want to join and you should then receive two messages welcoming you to the list and filling you in on anything that you need to know. Please save the welcome messages as they will be useful for future reference.

Once you've subscribed and read the guidelines, we'd really like you to send an introduction to fireparty@listserv.heanet.ie telling us a bit about yourself, how you came by the Captain, etc.

Having subscribed and read the guidelines, simply send your e-mail to fireparty@listserv.heanet.ie which will then be forwarded to all the list members.

Please note that it is important to send messages to the list from the same e-mail account as the one you used when you subscribed. This is how the system identifies you as a member and will assume that you are not a member if you use a different address.

If you have multiple e-mail addresses, keep a note of which one you need to use for list messages.

If you choose to unsubscribe, please head towards the list info page and click "Join or leave the list (or change settings)". Then click the "Leave Fire Party" button.

Alternatively, you can send a message to

listserv@listserv.heanet.ie

with the words "SIGNOFF FIREPARTY" in the message body (without the inverted commas).

Do not send unsubscribe request to the list itself! You won't be automatically unsubscribed and everyone will think that you can't read instructions properly.

If your e-mail address changes, please head towards the list info page and click on "Join or leave the list (or change settings)" and then update your email address.

Rather than receive each individual message as it is sent out by the list, you may prefer to subscribe to a daily digest version which contains a whole day's worth of messages.

If you wish to receive the digest version please head towards the list info page and click on "Join or leave the list (or change settings) " and then set your membership type to digest.

If you want access to the archives, but don't want to receive email messages from the list, please head towards the list info page and click on "Join or leave the list (or change settings)" and then either:

• subscribe and check the "nomail" box, or if you're already subscribed
• scroll down the page and check the box labeled "Mail delivery disabled temporarily"

You will then still be a member and will have access to the archives but won't receive all the messages in your inbox.

Members who are going on holiday and don't want to receive their messages for a while may also want to use this option.

Feel free to ask me any further questions that you may have about the list, and I hope you enjoy the Fire Party.

I'd like to thank the late Mikael Djurvall for his help in gathering members for this list in its very early days, and for the picture below; Stewart Osborne for collecting the Fire Party Census info; and Benjamin Horrendous for his excellent work hosting the Fire Party People page, where you can also find the information from Stewart's census.

Most of all, I owe a big thank you to Raindog Conor McMahon for hosting the whole thing since February 2006 and assisting greatly with the list-move at that time.

Many thanks all.