I am writing to you from my home in Colorado around
midnight. I have been a longtime Cap'n B fan (since 1972)
when I first had my reality changed by way of Lick My Decals Off.
I was only 15 at the time and living in Brooklyn, NY, where I was
born and raised. It was my brother who first introduced me to the
Magic Band.
What remains to this day as some of the coolest things
I have ever witnessed are the concerts. I had heard, from my brother
and his crew, fabulous stories of the live Magic Band. How Rockette
Morton would do a real low zoot across the foot of the stage with
the Captain zipping along attached to his shoulder. The super tall
and straight Zoot Horn Rollo. The Artie Tripp drumming, etc etc.
I was just ecstatic when I held a ticket in my hand
to see the Captain at NY's Town Hall. It must have been late '73
or early '74, shortly after Clear Spot had been released. Sadly,
and unbeknown to us in the 5th row center section, was that the
Magic Band which I knew was finished, and some new guys were there
instead. The record companies were messing with CB and pressured
him to try to make commercial music. I sat there crushed and in
a daze. My brother's friends were livid and were very unkind
to the Captain, demonstrating their anger and disappointment with
raised middle fingers, etc. This was no way to treat a genius.
The show was unspecial except for the fact that THERE WAS THE CAPTAIN
AND LISTEN TO THOSE VOCALS!!!
I waited outside the venue for the Captain's emergence.
He looked rather ill. His eyes looked like cracked crystal and he
was being "helped" into the limo as if he couldn't stand on his
own. I learned some weeks later of the Bluejeans and Moonbeams
album (or was it Unconditionally Guaranteed?) and was just demolished
that this could happen. This was the absolute end of any possibility
that I would ever see the Magic Band. Period. May as well end it
all now.
WRONG! About three years later I saw the Captain with
a new band (the Shiny Beast tour!!!!!). Wowee!!! This was very much
the Captain back in his form!! I couldn't believe what I was
seeing and hearing. What a tight group. Bruce Fowler was there,
Eric Feldman, Denny Walley played guitar and that cool drummer Robert
Williams dressed in surgeon's clothing. And yet I knew so few other
people who cared. I bought a Troutmask Replica tee shirt in front
of the venue (The Bottom Line in Greenwich Village).
The Captain returned a couple of years later for the
Best Batch Yet. And then I believe a year or two later for the Ice
Cream for Crow tour. I saw the Captain a total of 6 or possibly
7 times in concert. I am absolutely blessed in this regard, it was
pure musical joy.
I heard that there is a bootleg recording from a club
called "My Father's Place" on Long Island. I was at 2 or 3 of those
shows and you may hear substantial audience noise. If you have this
recording and there is a guy shouting after each song "This is soooo
great! Captain Beefheart is fucking great!" and other such stuff,
that was me. I was delirious and I couldn't help myself.
I am 40 now with two young daughters. I have never
known many girls or women who responded well to the Captain. I can
only hope that they will someday like what they hear.