Monday, December 20, 2010

Don Van Vliet, 1941-2010


















I was about ten years old when I innocently took a flyer on Clear Spot after I spotted it in a four-for-a-dollar cassette bin. The album changed by perception of "music." I was aware of the blues, but this baffling outsider music was something entirely different. It raised several questions.

Did the band sound like this on purpose? What's wrong with this "Captain Beefheart" guy? What color is his skin? Why would Reprise issue an album by this deranged blues man? Did I waste a quarter? What in the world is going on here, anyway?

The battered condition of the cassette indicates that I spent a lot of time seeking answers to those questions.

Don Van Vliet, a.k.a. Captain Beefheart, died December 17.

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Grieves is perfect for Warped Tour.

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Enrique Morente has died. (Tip via BGO.)

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Blues artist Robin Rogers has died.

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Nick Hunter has died. (Via C.C.)

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Kansas City Click: Joe Satriani returns to the Uptown Theater on Monday.

New Jazz Order performs at Harling's on Tuesday.

(Original image by There Stands the Glass.)

2 comments:

Gary said...

Wow, a quarter...I had an older mentor that played me his copy of "Safe as Milk" and I quickly asked him to tape it for me. If I had heard this stuff before I was a teen I would be so different.

Happy In Bag said...

Sure enough- I'm "different."