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To say this is long awaited would be an understatement … Magic Band and Mu alumni Jeff Cotton, aka Antennae Jimmy Semens, announces his debut solo album The Fantasy of Reality – available on CD and digital on 12 August via Madfish. Pre-order/Save: https://JeffCotton.lnk.to/FantasyOfReality Trout Mask Replica cover designer Cal Schenkel returns to contribute to the internal artwork to continue the Captain Beefheart canon into the 2020s. Now blending together musical strands such as jazz, delta blues, Hawaiian and the avant-garde to create a melting pot of ideas, Jeff Cotton will astonish fans with his comeback.  Read More →

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In: Evergreen Galleries 1976
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One of the earliest and little known of Don’s exhibitions. This time it’s shared with Cal Schenkel, Frank Zappa’s ‘art engineer’, who also worked for other artists represented by Herb Cohen, including Tom Waits, Tim Buckley and Captain Beefheart. Perhaps one of Cal’s best-known album covers is Trout Mask Replica. Don exhibited 22 drawings and 6 paintings. The venue was an art gallery at the school which Matt Groening was attending at the time: Evergreen Galleries at The Evergreen State College in Olympia, WA. Matt Groening’s interest in Captain Beefheart and the Magic Band is well known. A review of the exhibition was written by oneRead More →

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In: Art, Tenuous
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I was recently sent a photograph of a Beefheart-related Cal Schenkel art work by Peter Warner who was sent the photo by Schenkel himself in 1981. A much larger version is also available. Entitled “Apes Ma”, it was produced in January 1979 and, although labelled “10 in a series” the rest of the series is not Beefheart related (according to Peter a couple of the others are Zappa related and the rest… who knows?). The picture features (l-r) Don, unknown bearded person – possibly John Thomas, Jeff Moris Tepper, Denny Walley, John French and Apes Ma him/herself. Many thanks to Peter for sending this alongRead More →