tonight there’d be ice cream/ ice cream for crow

Even though he’s been a recluse for 25 years or so,  it’s hard to imagine a world without Captain Beefheart. 

I LOVE this video. Oddness, amusing dancing by the musicians, and lots of  Don Van Vliet’s paintings. And how weirdly appropriate is that ending??

"That’s it. Now you can go."

Trout Mask Replica was his magnum opus, way back in 1969. Frank Zappa produced it (they’d been friends since they were teenagers), and Captain Beefheart apparently forced the Magic Band to live in squalor and be mistreated for eight months until it was finished. He was a little, ummm, odd. I don’t really recommend listening to this. Well, I do, but I don’t expect it to catapult to anyone’s top three list. 

He was a master of the bizarre and the experimental. And he was a huge influence on a whole lot of musicians. Like — what a surprise! – Tom Waits. According to that Wikipedia article I linked up there, Tom Waits’ wife introduced him to Captain Beefheart’s music back in the early 80s. He said, "Once you’ve heard Beefheart, it’s hard to wash him out of your clothes. It stains, like coffee or blood."  

Critics aside, Doc at the Radar Station was always my favorite because it got me hooked on Captain Beefheart.

Baker B had Doc At the Radar Station when we first got together. The actual vinyl album; that’s how old WE are. He and Kim and I all lived in the same very teeny little house for several months, after I’d left First Husband and moved back to Boone from DC, and Kim moved back to Boone to go to grad school, and Baker B was here because he’d never left  to begin with. We rented this teeny little shack for $200 a month, which even in the mid-80s was ridiculously cheap. Possibly because it was teeny and a shack and the bathroom floor was falling in. Literally. There was a very small shed with an "apartment" upstairs where Baker B supposedly lived. It was not part of our rent deal, so we were not supposed to be using it, and there was no water or heat, which just made it all the more appealing to Baker B. Which has nothing to do with Captain Beefheart, other than we all three loved Doc At The Radar Station and played it a LOT. I especially remember playing Run Paint Run very loudly for the painters who (surprisingly) came to paint the outside of the shack one day, way too early in the morning. 

Good times! 

I always wanted to use Telephone for my answering machine message. But I didn’t want people (especially prospective employers) thinking I was insane.

It would make a fantastic ring tone now. Sadly Verizon doesn’t offer any Captain Beefheart ringtones. Stupid Verizon.

His early stuff wasn’t quite so bizarre. But it’s still very Beefheart. And I love this video too. 

He kind of disappeared in the 80s. He quit music to spend all his time painting. We saw a documentary quite a few years ago about him, and at the time there were lots of rumors that he was very ill. Apparently he’d had multiple sclerosis for a long long time. 

I was going to do another London Installment tonight, but I’m too sad about Captain Beefheart.