Beef art or grafitti – backstage at the Armadillo
It’s well known that Don was always drawing with a black felt tip pen in the sketch pad he carried with him. He famously spent his downtime on stage during the Bongo Fury tour with Zappa and the Mothers doodling away. In 1978 Don and the Magic Band toured to promote the Shiny Beast album. On Saturday 2 December they played the Armadillo HQ in Austin, Texas. At some point Don decided he’d take a break from his sketch pad and draw on the wall backstage instead using the wiring conduits as a makeshift frame … Thanks go to Keith Bardin for sending this photographRead More →
Unknown sketch
Captain Beefheart’s Iridescent Logic was an article written by Lester Bangs that appeared in Musician #29 in 1981. Three of Don’s sketches were scattered through the article.Read More →
Unknown sketch
Unknown year. Captain Beefheart’s Iridescent Logic was an article written by Lester Bangs that appeared in Musician #29 in 1981. Three of Don’s sketches were scattered through the article.Read More →
Unknown sketch
Unknown year. Captain Beefheart’s Iridescent Logic was an article written by Lester Bangs that appeared in Musician #29 in 1981. Three of Don’s sketches were scattered through the article. This one may be familiar because it was also published in Conjunctions in 1982. However, on this version there are no whiskers on the cat’s right side, nor Don’s signature or date.Read More →
Winged Eel Fingerling
From the Spotlisght Kid sleeve, with accompanying poem: No B.O. for this boy… it’s like a winged eel fingerling crawling thru lime jello… it’s like a chrome black eyebrow rolled out real long… a paper brow magnifying glass fried brown, edge scorched, yoked like a squeak from a speaker behing forhead of the time, licorice schtick open tube of valuable JuJuBees.Read More →
Ed Marimba
From the Spotlisght Kid sleeve, with accompanying poem: Marlin’s trot yacht’s wave… billiard’s cue white polas… night ribs day… sacroiliacs jab heaven’s chuckling back… relax armadillo xylophone in zodiac ‘n’ back… marimba’s back… Ed Marimba’s back.Read More →
Rockette Morton
From the Spotlisght Kid sleeve, with accompanying poem: The head catatonic from the roller rink… rank ‘n’ rambunctious are employed in this pleasant pussy… his crabby whiskers above his feet in glass house sleepers… drinks yellow milk from cocker-spaniel still life number paintings… just another nose in this fine leather coat cat howling on green gravel tar paper… the whole world is his walk.Read More →
Zoot Horn Rollo
From the Spotlisght Kid sleeve, with accompanying poem: A triangle fed on a wool table and the velvet home of seven closets chewed zees… mended ‘n’ moved junk ‘n’ caught fur combs over hair caravans… carnivals klans ‘n’ cracked a clay crimped horn on calico cloister.Read More →
