died today aged 69

Remarkable musician and character in the mold of his friend and producer, Frank Zappa. Real name (sort of) Van Vliet and His Magic Band were known for progressive experiments with time signatures, stop and start, at the same time as Led Zep, Jeff Beck, Zappa and others. Cult following with no commercial success. His best to me is "Trout Mask Replica", a double album with a bit of everything. He was one of several rock stars to be thrown out of the group he started -- RIP

Edited December 18, 201015 yr by ThunderDan

RIP, Captain, a weird and wonderful musician

RIP - that band in the sky is getting better and better

Have some of his stuff on Vinyl. RIP

PS. You know how he got the name "beefheart?"

You know how he got the name "beefheart?"

Best I can figure, Vleit and Zappa were trying to make a movie called "Captain Beefheart Meets the Grunt People", and in 1964 Vleit took this stage name.

Here's an interesting bit about his band being denied entry into England in 1968:

and a photo from that day (Captain has the hat):

Edited December 18, 201015 yr by ThunderDan

Have some of his stuff on Vinyl. RIP

PS. You know how he got the name "beefheart?"

Was it inspired by a strange Uncle of Don Van Vliet's who would expose himself, squeeze his penis until the head turned purple, then comment about it looking "like a big ole' beef heart"

I may be wrong... :unsure:

Was it inspired by a strange Uncle of Don Van Vliet's who would expose himself, squeeze his penis until the head turned purple, then comment about it looking "like a big ole' beef heart"

I may be wrong... :unsure:

You're not usually wrong about things like this, Steve!

Sad news, though. Too many of the good guys are going!

Was it inspired by a strange Uncle of Don Van Vliet's who would expose himself, squeeze his penis until the head turned purple, then comment about it looking "like a big ole' beef heart"

I may be wrong... :unsure:

That is what I had heard

This from several webpages:

"Zappa and Van Vliet began collaborating on pop song parodies and a movie script called Captain Beefheart vs. the Grunt People, the first appearance of the Beefheart name. It came from a term used by his Uncle Alan. Alan had a habit of exposing himself to Don's girlfriend, Laurie. Alan would urinate with the bathroom door open and, if she was walking by, mumble about his penis, saying "Ahh, what a beauty! It looks just like a big, fine beef heart."

I suppose Bluebeard's account is a narrow winner over mine, because it goes more to the original inspiration. Now I'm going off to be sick...