Don Van Vliet, born Don Glen Vliet, aka Captain Beefheart was born January 15th, 1941, in Glendale, CA. He recently passed away on December 17, 2010, of complications from multiple sclerosis. He was an American musician, singer-songwriter, and artist who's status was always cult instead of commercial, and for most of his career he was broke. Yet, he remained a hero to most of the musical avant garde, such as the Grateful Dead, Jefferson Airplane, and Jethro Tull. He was noted for his powerful singing voice that had great range. Van Vliet also played the harmonica, saxophone, and many other wind instruments. His music blended rock, blues, and psychedelia with elements of free jazz. This is a video of Captain Beefheart and his Magic Band in 1974, performing "Upon the My-O-My," from the album Unconditionally Guaranteed.
The Magic Band were Beefheart's backing musicians from 1965-1982. the name of the band was an extension of the "Captain Beefheart" persona that Frank Zappa, Vic Mortenson and others helped Van Vliet create; the idea being that Captain Beefheart was magic, and thus would have a "magic band." He would simply drink a Pepsi, and the band would appear behind him. His relationship with Frank Zappa began when they were teenagers and was described as "mutually useful but volatile." ABBA ZABA!
http://www.beefheart.com
Smelly Dog
*The numbers are in from the December 2010 poll "Who Would You Invite to Dinner." The winner with 64% is Frank Zappa. I am sorry for all of the U2 fans out there because Bono managed to receive 0 votes.
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