A previously unheard two and a half hour audio tape of Don Van Vliet conducting a press conference to promote Ice Cream For Crow is about to be to released at Houseplant Picture Studios website.
The tape was recorded by Kurt Benbenek in Los Angeles in 1982 for his college newspaper. About twenty other student newspaper representatives were present during the four hour meeting. Don did not like the fluorescent lighting in the room so Kurt remembers that most of the conference took place in the dark. Subjects discussed include pygmies, tumbleweeds, Ronald Reagan and lack of sleep.
Kurt wrote to me:
I was literally right in front of Beefheart for most of the press conference, so his answers are fairly clear and easy to hear. Most of the audio I have was taped on HIS tape recorder, which he loaned to me (because mine squeaked) – he was very mellow and actually kind of scatterbrained throughout.
At the time I was illustrator for our paper. I showed Beefheart a drawing I’d done of him and he said:
“You made me look sad!…Well, I AM sad!”
As far as I know it was the last time he “appeared” in Los Angeles – he was promoting Ice Cream for Crow and he showed the famous desert video for the song.
To be able to listen to this audio it is necessary to register at houseplantpicturestudio@charter.net before May 1st when the first extract will be made available. Kurt intends to change the URLs for this material from time to time over the following two days.
Note: see the Apologies blog post for more