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It has long been rumoured that this tour financed by Warner Records had a film crew following it but no footage has ever surfaced. However, John French has confirmed that parts of this tour were filmed and that a film does exist: There was a cameraman, Larry Sechrist, and a sound man, John Fizzdale. They brought the film up to Santa Cruz for us to see. I wasn’t very impressed, but I’m sure fans will love it. I did a cancer benefit with Henry Kaiser in Ventura, and the guy who owned the club said that he owned the film. He promised to send aRead More →

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Are you looking for some live Beefheart music? Well, there’s some coming up in New York … THE WORLD OF CAPTAIN BEEFHEART featuring GARY LUCAS and NONA HENDRYX — with Fast ’N Bulbous and Gods and Monsters vets Jesse Krakow on bass, Richard Dworkin drums, and Jordan Shapiro keyboards — will perform for the first time in several years as part of Bang On a Can’s Long Play Festival in Brooklyn the last weekend in April. The group will perform at Roulette, the venerable avant-garde music club at 509 Atlantic Avenue at 8:30pm on Friday April 29th More about the festival and tickets here: https://bangonacan.org/longplay/Read More →

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In: Blog, Memorabilia
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I’m very sad to say that my old friend and fellow Beefheart fan Paul Brown has passed away. Paul was probably THE Beefheart fan, a fervent collector and the most knowledgeable of all things Beefheartian that I have ever known, he always knew what was shakin’ in Vlietland. He was a great mate, kind and generous and a good laugh. Many longtime fans will have probably come across Paul at some point and others will have benefited in one way or another, even if they don’t know about it, by his involvement in collecting all things Beefheart. I first met him back in the daysRead More →

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Gary Lucas has sent us some previously unseen drawings by Don. These were drawn in a large notebook (8.5 x 11 inches) which Gary carried everywhere during 1980 to 1984 and used for Beefheart related business — “dictated lyrics, poems, observations he wanted me to write down, business contacts etc.” (click on the image for a larger version) #1  “Untitled Abstract “ Don drew this in November 1980 towards the back of the notebook using a black marking pen. #2 “Growlin Poeé” (dated 11 / 11 / 82) #3 “Early Phoe Faux Thump” (11-11-82) The last two drawings Don drew in NYC during a periodRead More →

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In: Blog, Music, Sun Zoom Spark 1970 to 1972
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In my original review of the Sun Zoom Spark : 1970 to 1972 box set I looked at each track on the Out-takes album and related them, where possible, to previous released versions. However what I didn’t do was compare them to the versions on the classic bootleg 3CD set Spotlight Kid Outtakes which contains all these tracks and more, although I think I presumed the same versions were on both compilations. Anyway, my omission was spotted by Elias Rost, who sent me the article below in which he does the comparison between the two box sets … over to Elias … —————————————————————– I got theRead More →

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In: Blog, Music, Safe As Milk
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You’ve probably seen the photographs of John Lennon and George Harrison behind whom are copies of the Safe as Milk bumper sticker and wondered what the story is. As far as I know The Beatles have not committed to record their views on the album Safe as Milk or whether they liked the band but it does look like they have had copies in their possession … or least copies of the bumper sticker. What is obvious is that to have copies of the bumper sticker they would have had to have the American release of the album because the UK release on Pye InternationalRead More →

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In: Videos and DVDs
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In April 1972 the band were part of the way through their extensive European tour when on the 12th they stopped off at Germany’s Radio Bremen studios. Most fans will be familiar with the cracking video of Don and the boys performing ‘I’m Gonna Booglarize You Baby’ broadcast on the German music show ‘Beat Club’ and many have wondered if they recorded anything else at this session. Well, yes they did and here’s the proof! In excellent audio and video quality we get to see and hear Rockette Morton’s ‘Bass Solo’ and the full band on ‘Click Clack’, ‘Golden Birdies’, ‘Steal Softly Thru Snow’ asRead More →

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In: Music info, Related releases
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A collection of assorted compositions or references that have some connection to Beefheart but are not straight covers. Anything missing? Let us know. Acid Mothers Temple 2003 Finland CD St Captain Freak Out & The Magic Bamboo Request on Ektro Records EKTRO-015 This Japanese collective have soaked up most forms of rock music and then blast them back filtered through their own strange consciousness in a bewildering melange of sound. Their song titles are often based on well known songs – on this one the Captain gets a mention, which also includes Beatles, Stones and Mothers references. There is the obvious ‘Captain’ and ‘Magic’ inRead More →

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In: Art, Blog, Exhibition info
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A collection of Don’s paintings and drawings is being exhibited at Michael Werner’s Cologne Gallery from 4 September to 16 October 2021, under the title “Ralf Love Don”. Galerie Michael Werner is pleased to announce a solo exhibition of paintings by American artist Don Van Vliet, also known as Captain Beefheart (1941-2010). Featuring small- and large-format paintings and drawings made between 1979 and 1994, the exhibition reveals the compelling evolution of Don Van Vliet’s oeuvre. The b / w short film from 1993 “SOME YOYO STUFF” by Anton Corbijn will accompany the exhibition. Van Vliet painted throughout his many years performing, and in the mid-1980sRead More →

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In: Life articles and interviews
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Some while ago Terry sent the Radar Station this piece about his experiences working with Bob Krasnow and how he came close to releasing some exciting Beefheart music. For some reason it never got published on the site … so here it is at long last! Apologies to Terry for the delay … Terry has worked in the music business for many years, notably running his own No. 6 Records label and as Head of A&R at Elektra Records in the 1990s. ——————————————————————————— I have a fortunate history of receiving phone calls from people that I don’t know. Probably why my number has always beenRead More →

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Updated 17 August 2021 Gary continues to surprise ! You never quite know what he’s going to do next … but you always know that it’s going to be interesting. His latest adventure – entitled Le Beast Concrete – sees him join forces with David Sisko, an NYC based producer, mixer and remixer to produce some startling and intense soundscapes. Gary’s incendiary guitar forms the centre around which swirl the electronics, beats and rhythms conjured up by David. In the press release it’s described as “combining the elements of the past, present and the near future, it can be considered a “genre-fluid” mix blues, rock,Read More →

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I suppose it had to happen eventually but it has taken a long while for Trout Mask Replica to become available via streaming platforms. Zappa Records have finally made the legendary album available in HiRes 24 bits 96kHz Stereo via the Qobuz streaming service. It will be exclusively available on Qobuz for thirty days before other services get a look in. According to Ahmet the delay in getting the album streamed was due to them being a small team and not getting around to Don’s album because they were so involved in the reissues of Frank’s music. This presumably also explains why they never botheredRead More →

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A four CD set which includes two Zappa shows, one from 1980 and the other from 1981 with a third disc of rare TV appearance recordings. Only one of the discs has any Beefheart interest and that is another recording from the Bongo Fury tour of the Providence College, Rhode Island show, 26th April 1975. Set List Camarillo Brillo Muffin Man Stinkfoot I’m Not Satisfied Velvet Sunrise A Pound For A Brown The Torture Never Stops Montana Penguin in Bondage Willie The Pimp Apparently originally released in 2004 this bootleg was manufactured in the Czech Republic Releases 2017 4CD Stormbird/Coda Publishing CPLCD248Read More →

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In: Blog, New releases, Unconditionally Guaranteed
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One of the Record Store Day releases for 17th July 2021 is the Unconditionally Guaranteed album. Probably not every fan’s first choice for such a event as it was a huge disappointment at the time of its original release but the album has undergone a bit of a re-evaluation in more recent years. Some fans even consider it ‘not too bad after all’… Okay, there are some interesting songs on there but Andy Di Martino’s bland production knocked all the stuffing out of the overall sound. It could have been a much better album if Ted Templeman had produced this one as well as ClearRead More →

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Jerry was the emcee at the Jimmy Carl Black benefit on 7 December 2008 at which John French was debuting his new band Drumbo. Jerry has posted this great interview in five parts, recorded while John was still waiting for his book to be published. The link below will take you to the first part of the interview. Scroll down the page for the other parts. https://anchor.fm/jerry-d-ford/episodes/Rare-interview-with-John-DRUMBO-French-of-Captain-Beefhearts-Magic-Band-et5sd8Read More →