John French, aka Drumbo, is currently writing his own book about the Magic Band, which is likely to take the form of a greatly extended version of his contribution to the book in the Grow Fins box-set, featuring numerous and extensive interviews with other Magic Band members interspersed with his own commentary. Provisionally titled Beefheart: Through The Eyes Of Magic this will cover the history of the Magic Band from the inside.

The author recently called on Radar Station visitors to send him their questions and suggestions for the book, to ensure that he included the details that you wanted to know. Many of you responded to this appeal and John French would like to pass on his thanks.

Many of the questions were of a very specific nature and couldn't be easily covered in the format of a biographical book. Since they were also very interesting questions well worth addressing, John suggested that his answers could be made available at the Radar Station as a preview to the book.

True to his word, here they are:

Burundo Drumbi! - John French's Series of Q&As answered exclusively for Radar Station visitors 2000/1.

The pictures on this page are stills from the BBC documentary The Artist Formerly Known As Captain Beefheart. John French writes:

"This interview was done at Whites Cafe in Mojave, where Don's parents used to take him as a child. He drove up there all the time in the seventies and early eighties when he lived here. I think it was a nostalgic look at his childhood. He may have grieved the loss of his father more than he cared to admit. I recently drove up to Mojave to go to Whites, in search of my own nostalgia, and was saddened to find that the restaurant, a local landmark, had been recently demolished."