<<< see answers 11 - 15

16) "She's a red hot pig, She's a hobo wire toaster, She's a circle on a spit, She's a Hot Head, Hot Head, Hot Head."

How would you make a hobo wire toaster and what would you do with one?

"A hobo toaster would be a wire coat hanger with an impaled slice of bread on the end of it, dangling near a flame. Also very effective for hot dogs - until the coat hanger starts to get too hot to hold. (This is one cooking utensil unlikely to be found near the late Joan Crawford's kitchen or outdoor barbecue.)" - from a mail to The Fireparty sent by Gary Marker

17) Which university has recently been offering an introductory course on Beefheart and two other American groups?

Andy Hollinden's sixteen week course on The Beach Boys, Beefheart & The Residents was held at Indiana University's School of Music. Mike Barnes' book 'Captain Beefheart' was required reading and the students had on-line access to all of the albums.

18) A beauty product for the dedicated Beefheart guitarist - Sun Zoom Spark™ nail varnish. What colour is it described as?

Sun Zoom Spark™ Metallic with Micro Glitter Nail Polish™.

The manufacturers of these cosmetics products seem to have trade-marked quite a range of names from late 20th century culture - from Strawberry Fields™ and Marmalade Skies™, through Siren's Song™ and Purple Haze™, to Asphalt Jungle™ and Blue Velvet™.

19) In 1976 Don Van Vliet held an art exhibition in conjunction with another artist who is well known for his record album cover work. Name the other artist and the venue of the exhibition.

The other artist was 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’.

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.

It is remarkable that this exhibition, along with Don Van Vliet’s 1972 show at The Bluecoat Galleries in Liverpool, does not appear in published lists of Don’s exhibitions.

Many thanks indeed to Melvin N. de Snoids for alerting us to the fact of this show having taken place and for providing a scan of the poster.

20) 'Opaque Melodies That Would Bug Most People' includes John Zorn, Carl Stalling and Captain Beefheart, among others. Where?

This is an academic essay by Dr Darren Tofts, Associate Professor in Media & Communications, Faculty of Life & Social Sciences, Swinburne University of Technology, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.

It was presented originally as a spoken paper/performance at the (Dis) Locations symposium on new media art, Cinemedia at Treasury Theatre, Melbourne on December 1, 2001. It was then accepted for publication as an online essay in Senses of Cinema. It can also be found at an online publication called Rhizomes. It was never published as a print document.

Thanks to Dr Toft, who signed his e-mail "darren ("...particular about the point he made...")"