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151-605: Don Van Vliet ( / v æ n ˈ v l iː t / ; born Don Glen Vliet ; January 15, 1941 – December 17, 2010) was an American singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and visual artist best known by the stage name Captain Beefheart . Conducting a rotating ensemble known as the Magic Band , he recorded 13 studio albums between 1967 and 1982. His music blended elements of blues , free jazz , rock , and avant-garde composition with idiosyncratic rhythms, absurdist wordplay,

302-542: A Pepsi . His parents tolerated such behavior under the belief that their child was truly gifted. Vliet's "Pepsi-moods" were ever a source of amusement to band members, leading Zappa to later write the wry tune "Why Doesn't Someone Give Him a Pepsi?", that featured on the Bongo Fury tour. After Zappa began regular occupation at Paul Buff's PAL Studio in Cucamonga he and Van Vliet began collaborating, tentatively as

453-691: A child prodigy . Van Vliet said that he was a lecturer at the Barnsdall Art Institute in Los Angeles at the age of eleven, although it is likely he simply gave a form of artistic dissertation. Accounts of Van Vliet's precocious achievement in art often include his statement that he sculpted on a weekly television show. He said that his parents discouraged his interest in sculpture, based upon their perception of artists as "queer". According to one of Van Vliet's versions of this story, they declined several scholarship offers, including one from

604-433: A housewarming party , invites none of the builders and tells the guests he built the whole thing himself. Most of the group quit after the recording of Unconditionally Guaranteed in 1974, owing to years of allegedly abusive treatment by Beefheart, lack of compensation, and dissatisfaction with his new crossover direction. Beefheart's subsequent recordings in the late 1970s would enlist a new cast of younger musicians under

755-586: A 28-track double album in June 1969 on Frank Zappa 's newly formed Straight Records label. First issues, in the US, were auto-coupled and housed in the black "Straight" liners along with a 6-page lyric sheet illustrated by the Mascara Snake . A school-age portrait of Van Vliet appears on the front of this sheet, while the cover of the gatefold shows Beefheart in a modified Pilgrim hat , obscuring his face with

906-430: A Pepsi. —Frank Zappa Van Vliet said that he never attended public school, alleging "half a day of kindergarten" to be the extent of his formal education and saying that "if you want to be a different fish, you've got to jump out of the school". His associates said that he only dropped out during his senior year of high school to help support the family after his father's heart attack. His graduation picture appears in

1057-475: A Plain Brown Wrapper (which has two tracks that are missing from the former release). Both Blue Thumb and the stamps on the cover of Strictly Personal have LSD connotations, as does the track "Ah Feel Like Ahcid", although Beefheart himself refuted this (claiming that this is a rendering of "I feel like I said"). Critically acclaimed as Van Vliet's magnum opus , Trout Mask Replica was released as

1208-497: A Tesla coil and a "Camera Obscura", which uses mirrors and lenses to focus light onto a flat surface. The Ahmanson Hall of the Sky, located in the west wing, focuses on objects that are normally found in the sky, like the Sun and Moon. The main centerpiece of this section is a large solar telescope projecting images of the Sun, using a series of mirrors called coelostats. Exhibits here include

1359-530: A completely different, almost soft rock sound from any other Beefheart record. Neither was well received; drummer Art Tripp recalled that when he and the original Magic Band listened to Unconditionally Guaranteed , they "...   were horrified. As we listened, it was as though each song was worse than the one which preceded it". Beefheart later disowned both albums, calling them "horrible and vulgar", asking that they not be considered part of his musical output and urging fans who bought them to "take copies back for

1510-501: A distance. On display at the Observatory is a large Tesla coil , named for its inventor, Nikola Tesla . Dubbed "GPO-1", it is one of a pair which were built in 1910 by Earle Ovington . Ovington, who would go on to fame as an aviator, ran a company which built high voltage generators for medical X-ray and electrotherapy devices. In public demonstrations of his generators, the spectacular displays drew crowds. Ovington designed

1661-518: A few days, press coverage and public outcry resulted in the band being permitted to re-enter the UK, where they recorded material for John Peel 's radio show and on Friday January 19 appeared at the Middle Earth venue, introduced by Peel, where they played tracks from Safe as Milk and some of the experimental blues tracks from Mirror Man . The band was met by an enthusiastic audience; French recalled

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1812-405: A girl in the audience turn into a fish, with bubbles coming from her mouth. This aborted any opportunity of breakthrough success at Monterey, as Cooder immediately decided he could no longer work with Van Vliet, effectively quitting both the event and the band on the spot. With such complex guitar parts there was no means for the band to find a competent replacement in time for Monterey. Cooder's spot

1963-794: A gravelly voice, and a wide vocal range . Renowned as an enigmatic persona, Beefheart frequently constructed myths about his life and was known to exercise an almost dictatorial control over his supporting musicians. Although he achieved little commercial success, he sustained a cult following as an influence on an array of experimental rock and punk -era artists. A sculpting prodigy in his childhood, Van Vliet developed an interest in blues, R&B , and jazz during his teen years in Lancaster, California , and formed "a mutually useful but volatile" friendship with musician Frank Zappa , with whom he sporadically competed and collaborated. He began performing in his Captain Beefheart persona in 1964 and joined

2114-486: A half-flight of stairs by his employer". The musicians also resented Van Vliet for taking complete credit for composition and arranging when the musicians themselves pieced together most of the songs from taped fragments or impressionistic directions such as "Play it like a bat being dragged out of oil and it's trying to survive, but it's dying from asphyxiation." John French summarized the disagreement over composing and arranging credits metaphorically: If Van Vliet built

2265-491: A high-resolution immersive video projected by an innovative laser system developed by Evans and Sutherland Corporation, along with a short night sky simulation projected by the Zeiss Universarium. A team of animators, directed by observatory art director Don Dixon who also co-wrote the script, worked more than two years to create the 30-minute program. Actors, holding a glowing orb, perform the presentation, under

2416-404: A house like he wrote music, the methodology would go something like this ... The house is sketched on the back of a Denny's placemat in such an odd fashion that when he presents it to the contractor without plans or research, the contractor says "This structure is going to be hard to build, it's going to be tough to make it safe and stable because it is so unique in design." Van Vliet then yells at

2567-440: A lack of commercial success, he pursued a more conventional rock sound, but the ensuing albums were critically panned; this move, combined with not having been paid for a European tour, and years of enduring Beefheart's abusive behavior, led the entire band to quit. Beefheart eventually formed a new Magic Band with a group of younger musicians and regained critical approval through three final albums: Shiny Beast (1978), Doc at

2718-720: A live session for him at his home "Peel Acres". They played over 30 shows throughout the United Kingdom and Europe, and one in the United States. They also released two albums: Back to the Front (on the London-based ATP Recordings , 2003) and the live album 21st Century Mirror Men (2005). The group disbanded in 2006 but re-formed in 2011, with Lucas and Traylor replaced by Eric Klerks and Craig Bunch respectively, to play at ATP once again (which

2869-557: A mask by Schenkel. Trout Mask Replica incorporated a wide variety of musical styles, including blues, avant garde/experimental, and rock. The relentless practice prior to recording blended the music into an iconoclastic whole of contrapuntal tempos , featuring slide guitar , polyrhythmic drumming (with French's drums and cymbals covered in cardboard), honking saxophone and bass clarinet . Van Vliet's vocals range from his signature Howlin' Wolf -inspired growl to frenzied falsetto to laconic, casual ramblings. The instrumental backing

3020-524: A periodic table of the elements, a Hertzsprung-Russell diagram, and several alcoves showing exhibits about topics like day and night, the paths of the Sun and stars, the seasons, the phases of the Moon, tides, and eclipses. The W. M. Keck Foundation Central Rotunda features several Hugo Ballin murals on the ceiling and upper walls restored since 1934, a Foucault pendulum that demonstrates the Earth's rotation, and

3171-454: A playful undertone, repulsive and engrossing and slapstick funny." Due to licensing disputes, Lick My Decals Off, Baby was unavailable on CD for many years, though it remained in print on vinyl . It was ranked second in Uncut magazine's May 2010 list of The 50 Greatest Lost Albums . In 2011, the album became available for download on the iTunes Store . He toured in 1970 with Ry Cooder on

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3322-449: A profound effect on the quality of the Safe as Milk work, as the former studio was 8-track and the subsequent studio a 4-track. To support the album's release the group had been scheduled to play at the 1967 Monterey Pop Festival . During this period, Vliet had severe anxiety attacks that made him convinced that he was having a heart attack, possibly exacerbated by his heavy LSD use and

3473-493: A public bond issue, restored the building, as well as replaced the aging planetarium dome. The building was expanded underground, with completely new exhibits, a café, gift shop, and the new Leonard Nimoy Event Horizon Theater. On May 25, 2008, the Observatory offered visitors live coverage of the Phoenix landing on Mars . Ed Krupp has been the director of the Observatory since 1974. He has been responsible for updating

3624-475: A refund". By the fall of 1975 the band had completed their European tour, with further US dates in the New Year of 1976, supporting Zappa along with Dr. John . Van Vliet now found himself stuck in a web of contractual hang-ups. At this point Zappa had begun to extend a helping hand, with Vliet already having performed incognito as "Rollin' Red" on Zappa's One Size Fits All (1975) and then joining with him on

3775-410: A sharp broomstick . Eventually Beefheart, French says, threatened to throw him out an upper floor window. He admits complicity in similarly attacking his bandmates during "talks" aimed at them. In the end, after the album's recording, Beefheart ejected French from the band by throwing him down a set of stairs, telling him to "Take a walk, man" after not responding in a desired manner to a request to "play

3926-405: A single 8 + 1 ⁄ 2 -hour session at the piano, an instrument he had no skill in playing, an approach Mike Barnes compared to John Cage 's "maverick irreverence toward classical tradition", though band members have stated that the songs were written over the course of about a year, beginning around December 1967. (The band did watch Federico Fellini 's 1963 film 8½ during the creation of

4077-506: A small exhibit dedicated to Griffith J. Griffith, after whom the observatory is named. The Cosmic Connection is a 150 ft long hallway connecting the main building and the underground exhibition areas (see below) that depicts the history of the universe, and dramatizes the amount of time that has passed from the Big Bang to the present day, using hundreds of individual pieces of astronomy-related jewelry. The Gunther Depths of Space Hall

4228-477: A strawberry" on the drums. Beefheart replaced French with drummer Jeff Bruschel, an acquaintance of Hayden. Referred to as "Fake Drumbo" (playing on French's drumset) this final act resulted in French's name not appearing on the album credits, either as a player or arranger. Bruschel toured with the band to Europe but was replaced by the next recording. According to Van Vliet, the 28 songs on the album were written in

4379-438: A strong influence on young Vliet, as it was a short distance from his home on Waverly Drive. The track "Observatory Crest" on Bluejeans & Moonbeams reflects this continued interest. A portrait photo of school-age Vliet can be seen on the front of the lyric sheet within the first issue of the US release of Trout Mask Replica . For some time during the 1950s, Van Vliet worked as an apprentice with Rodrigues, who considered him

4530-424: A truncated version of the original Beefheart vision of a double album. Thus "25th Century Quaker" became a track and a potential band-name became a label . In overview, the works for the double album in this period were intended to be packaged in a plain brown wrapper, with a "strictly personal" over-stamp and addressed in a manner that could have connotations of drug content, pornographic or illicit material; as per

4681-490: Is likely to have "passed through" the studio with a weapon.) Moon was present during the early demo sessions at Original Sound studio , above the Kama Sutra /Buddah offices. The works Moon laid down did not see the light of day, as he was replaced by Cooder when they continued on material at Sunset Sound with Marker. Marker then fell by the wayside when recording was moved by Krasnow and Perry to RCA Studio. This would have

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4832-627: Is probably that work." It was inducted into the United States National Recording Registry in 2011. Lick My Decals Off, Baby (1970) continued in a similarly experimental vein. An album with "a very coherent structure" in the Magic Band's "most experimental and visionary stage", it was Van Vliet's most commercially successful in the United Kingdom, spending twenty weeks on the UK Albums Chart and peaking at number 20. An early promotional music video

4983-508: Is simpler and slower than on the group's two previous releases, the uncompromisingly original Trout Mask Replica and the frenetic Lick My Decals Off, Baby . This was in part an attempt by Van Vliet to become a more appealing commercial proposition as the band had made virtually no money during the previous two years—at the time of recording, the band members were subsisting on welfare food handouts and remittances from their parents. Van Vliet offered that he "got tired of scaring people with what I

5134-739: Is split up into six sections: The Wilder Hall of the Eye, the Ahmanson Hall of the Sky, the W. M. Keck Foundation Central Rotunda, the Cosmic Connection, the Gunther Depths of Space Hall, and the Edge of Space Mezzanine. The Wilder Hall of the Eye, located in the east wing of the main level focuses on astronomical tools like telescopes and how they evolved over time so people can see further into space. Interactive features there include

5285-657: Is the lower level of the observatory, dominated by "The Big Picture," and scale models of the Solar System . The planets (including dwarf planet Pluto) are shown relative to the size of the Sun, which is represented by the diameter of the Leonard Nimoy Event Horizon Theater. Below each planet are listed facts, as well as scales indicating a person's weight on planets having a solid surface (or weight at an altitude where atmospheric pressure would equal one bar otherwise). In addition, beneath

5436-891: The Bongo Fury album and its later support tour. Two Vliet-penned numbers on the Bongo Fury album are "Sam with the Showing Scalp Flat Top" and "Man with the Woman Head". The form, texture and imagery of this album's first track, "Debra Kadabra", sung by Vliet, has 'angular similarities' to the work he would later produce in his next three albums. On the Bongo Fury album Vliet also sings "Poofter's Froth Wyoming Plans Ahead", harmonizes on "200 Years Old" and "Muffin Man", and plays harmonica and soprano saxophone. In early 1976 Zappa put on his producer hat and, once again, opened up his studio facilities and finance to Vliet. This

5587-724: The Delta blues of Son House and Robert Johnson , jazz artists such as Ornette Coleman , John Coltrane , Thelonious Monk and Cecil Taylor , and the Chicago blues of Howlin' Wolf and Muddy Waters . During his early teenage years, Vliet would sometimes socialize with members of local bands such as the Omens and the Blackouts, although his interests were still focused upon an art career. The Omens' guitarists Alexis Snouffer and Jerry Handley would later become founders of "the Magic Band" and

5738-585: The Million Volt Oscillator , was installed in the band balcony overlooking the arena. At the top of each hour the lights in the main hall were shut off, and sparks would shoot from the copper ball atop the coil to a matching coil 122 inches away, or to a wand held by an assistant. The chief engineer of the General Electric Company estimated that the discharges were at least 1.3 million volts. Ovington, who died in 1936, gave

5889-692: The Safe as Milk material was honed and arranged by the arrival of 20-year–old guitar prodigy Ry Cooder, who had been brought into the group after much pressure from Vliet. The band began recording in spring 1967, with Richard Perry cutting his teeth in his first job as producer. The album was released in September 1967. Richie Unterberger of Allmusic called the album "blues–rock gone slightly askew, with jagged, fractured rhythms, soulful, twisting vocals from Van Vliet, and more doo wop, soul, straight blues, and folk–rock influences than he would employ on his more avant garde outings". John Lennon displayed two of

6040-651: The Solar System , and eclipses. The planetarium theater was renovated in 1964 and a Mark IV Zeiss projector was installed. The Café at the End of the Universe, an homage to Restaurant at the End of the Universe , is one of the many cafés run by celebrity chef Wolfgang Puck . One wall inside the building is covered with the largest astronomically accurate image ever constructed (152 feet (46 m) long by 20 feet (6.1 m) high), called "The Big Picture", depicting

6191-475: The Virgo Cluster of galaxies; visitors can explore the highly detailed image from within arm's reach or through telescopes 60 feet (18 m) away. In 2006 the 1964-vintage Zeiss Mark IV star projector was replaced with a Zeiss Mark IX Universarium. The former planetarium projector is part of the underground exhibit on ways in which humanity has visualized the skies. Centered in the Universe features

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6342-539: The Woodland Hills suburb of Los Angeles. With only two bedrooms in the house, band members would find sleep in various corners of one, while Vliet occupied the other, and rehearsals were accomplished in the main living area. Van Vliet implemented his vision by completely dominating his musicians, artistically and emotionally. At various times, one or another of the group members was "put in the barrel", with Van Vliet berating him continually, sometimes for days, until

6493-478: The 12-inch (30.5 cm) Zeiss refracting scope , making it the most viewed telescope in the world. The space theme prevails in the interior. On December 16, 1896, 3,015 acres (12.20 km ) of land surrounding the observatory was donated to the City of Los Angeles by Griffith J. Griffith . In his will he donated funds to build an observatory, exhibit hall, and planetarium on the donated land. Griffith's objective

6644-712: The Blackouts was considered, the role was filled by Bill Harkleroad . Bassist Jerry Handley had also departed, with Gary Marker stepping in. Thus the long rehearsals for the album began in the house on Ensenada Drive in Woodland Hills, L.A. that would become the Magic Band House. The Magic Band began recordings for Trout Mask Replica with bassist Gary "Magic" Marker at T.T.G. (on "Moonlight on Vermont" and "Veteran's Day Poppy"), but later enlisted bassist Mark Boston after his departure. The remainder of

6795-491: The Blackouts' drummer, Frank Zappa, would later capture Vliet's vocal capabilities on record for the first time. This first known recording, when he was simply "Don Vliet", is "Lost in a Whirlpool" – one of Zappa's early "field recordings" made in his college classroom with brother Bobby on guitar. It is featured on Zappa's posthumously released The Lost Episodes (1996). He had dropped out of school by that time, and spent most of his time staying at home. His girlfriend lived in

6946-613: The Buddah label, it was released later in pieces in 1971 and 1995. After rejection from Buddah, Bob Krasnow encouraged the band to re-record four of the shorter numbers, add two more, and make shorter versions of "Mirror Man" and "Kandy Korn". Krasnow created a strange mix full of "phasing" that, by most accounts (including Beefheart's), diminished the music's strength. This was released in October 1968 as Strictly Personal on Krasnow's Blue Thumb label. Stewart Mason in his Allmusic review of

7097-568: The Cannes beach performance the band returned to the US. Moves were already in the air for them to leave Buddah and sign to MGM and, prior to their May tour – mainly in the UK – they re-recorded some Buddah material of the partial Mirror Man sessions at Sunset Sound with Bruce Botnick . Beefheart had also been conceptualizing new band names, including 25th Century Quaker and Blue Thumb , while making suggestions to other musicians that they might get involved. The thought-process of 25th Century Quaker

7248-538: The Earth's model, there is a small room containing a large model Earth globe, an older Zeiss planetarium projector, and a set of seismograph rolls, including one tracking room motion caused by occupants. The other rolls are attached to seismographs monitoring movement at the bedrock level, and indicate actual seismic activity. On the north wall of the Depths of Space is "The Big Picture", a 150 feet (46 m) by 20 feet (6.1 m) photograph (the largest astronomical image in

7399-457: The Eyes of Magic describes some of the "talks", which were initiated by his doing such things as playing a Frank Zappa drum part ("The Blimp (mousetrapreplica)") in his drumming shed and not having finished drum parts as quickly as Beefheart wanted. French writes of being punched by band members, thrown into walls, kicked, punched in the face by Beefheart hard enough to draw blood, being attacked with

7550-565: The Grunt People , the first appearances of the Beefheart name. It has been suggested this name came from a term used by Vliet's uncle Alan, who had a habit of exposing himself to Don's girlfriend, Laurie Stone. He would urinate with the bathroom door open and, if she was walking by, would mumble about his penis, saying "Ahh, what a beauty! It looks just like a big, fine beef heart ". In a 1970 interview with Rolling Stone , Van Vliet requests "don't ask me why or how" he and Zappa came up with

7701-599: The Life " to be ridiculous and conceited. Tiring of their "lullabies", he lampooned them with the Strictly Personal song "Beatle Bones 'n' Smokin' Stones", that featured the sardonic refrain of "strawberry fields, all the winged eels slither on the heels of today's children, strawberry fields forever ". Vliet spoke badly of Lennon after getting no response when he sent a telegram of support to him and wife Yoko Ono during their 1969 " Bed-in for peace". Doug Moon left

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7852-498: The Magic Band as guitarist for Trout Mask Replica and stayed with Beefheart through May 1974. While appearing humorous and kind-hearted in public, by all accounts Van Vliet was a severe taskmaster who abused his musicians verbally and sometimes physically. Vliet once told drummer John French he had been diagnosed as a paranoid schizophrenic and thus he would see nonexistent conspiracies that explained this behaviour. The band were reportedly paid little or nothing. French recalled that

8003-431: The Magic Band as the "Tragic Band", a term that has stuck over the years. Mike Barnes said that the description of the new band "grooving along pleasantly", was "...   an appropriately banal description of the music of a man who only a few years ago had composed with the express intent of shaking listeners out of their torpor." The one album they recorded, Bluejeans & Moonbeams (1974) has, like its predecessor,

8154-476: The Magic Band heading. Receiving only a "grumpy" reception from Van Vliet, the Magic Band re-formed in 2003 with John French on drums, lead vocals and harmonica, Gary Lucas and Denny Walley on guitars, Rockette Morton on bass, and Robert Williams on drums for the vocal numbers. The initial impetus came from Matt Groening , who wanted them to play at the All Tomorrows Parties festival he

8305-400: The Magic Band simply letting go and cutting loose." The album's "miss-credit errors" also state band members as "Alex St. Clare Snouffer" (Alex St. Clare/Alexis Snouffer), "Antennae Jimmy Simmons" (Semens/Jeff Cotton) and "Jerry Handsley" (Handley). First vinyl was issued in both a die-cut gatefold (revealing a "cracked" mirror) and a single sleeve with same image. The UK Buddah issue was part of

8456-492: The Mascara Snake , performed as a bass clarinetist later in the proceedings. Vliet's girlfriend Laurie Stone, who can be heard laughing at the beginning of "Fallin' Ditch", became an audio typist at the Magic Band house. Van Vliet wanted the whole band to "live" the Trout Mask Replica album. The group rehearsed Van Vliet's difficult compositions for eight months, living communally in their small rented house in

8607-600: The Mothers of Invention , played drums and marimba, along with a returning John French. Lick My Decals Off, Baby was the first record on which the band was credited as " The " Magic Band, rather than " His " Magic Band. Journalist Irwin Chusid interprets this change as "a grudging concession of its members' at least semiautonomous humanity". Robert Christgau gave the album an A−, commenting, "Beefheart's famous five-octave range and covert totalitarian structures have taken on

8758-540: The Observatory's coil to surpass a coil made by Elihu Thomson in 1893 which generated a 64-inch spark. ( Tesla had secretly produced much larger sparks in 1899.) The project caught the attention of an Edison Electric Illuminating Company official, who offered $ 1,000 if the coil were displayed at an upcoming electrical show in Madison Square Garden , with the stipulation that the machine would produce sparks not less than ten feet long. The machine, dubbed

8909-643: The Observatory, with views of the Pacific Ocean , the Hollywood Sign and Downtown Los Angeles . The observatory was featured in two major sequences of the James Dean film Rebel Without a Cause (1955), which helped to make it an international emblem of Los Angeles. A bust of Dean was subsequently placed at the west side of the grounds. It has also appeared in a number of other movies, including: The Observatory has appeared in episodes of

9060-596: The Polydor-manufactured "Select" series. During his first trip to England in January 1968, Captain Beefheart was briefly represented in the UK by mod icon Peter Meaden , an early manager of the Who . The Captain and his band members were initially denied entry to the United Kingdom, because Meaden had illegally booked them for gigs without applying for appropriate work permits . After returning to Germany for

9211-493: The Radar Station (1980) and Ice Cream for Crow (1982). Van Vliet made few public appearances after his retirement from music in 1982. He pursued a career in art, an interest that originated in his childhood talent for sculpture, and a venture that proved to be his most financially secure. His abstract expressionist paintings and drawings command high prices, and have been exhibited in art galleries and museums across

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9362-523: The Soots (pronounced "suits"). By the time Zappa had turned the venue into Studio Z the duo had completed some songs. These were "Cheryl's Canon", "Metal Man Has Won His Wings" and a Howlin' Wolf -styled rendition of Little Richard 's " Slippin' and Slidin' ". Further songs on Zappa's Mystery Disc (1996), "I Was a Teen-Age Malt Shop" and "The Birth of Captain Beefheart", also provide an insight to Zappa's "teenage movie" script titled Captain Beefheart vs.

9513-720: The Teenage Fair Battle of the Bands . (The Teenage Fair was an annual event held at the Hollywood Palladium in the 1960s. It was sponsored by radio stations and had rides and various merchandise booths with music- and youth-related items. Bands performed.) In late 1965, the group landed a contract for recording two singles with the newly created A&M Records label with Leonard Grant as their manager. At this time musical relationships had also been struck with members of Rising Sons , who would later feature in

9664-581: The Tubes ' album Now , playing saxophone on the song "Cathy's Clone", and the album also featured a cover of the Clear Spot song "My Head Is My Only House Unless It Rains". In 1978 he appeared on Jack Nitzsche 's soundtrack to the film Blue Collar . The Magic Band The members of the original Magic Band had come together in 1964. At this time Don Van Vliet (later dubbed Captain Beefheart)

9815-555: The Vermont/Sunset Metro Red Line station to the Observatory, including a stop at the nearby Greek Theater, which can be used as a free parking area when there are no concerts. When parking at the Greek Theater parking lot on nights there are no concerts, visitors can choose to take trails up to the observatory (primarily by using the sidewalk along the road that leads up to the observatory) or by taking

9966-659: The age of nine, he won a children's sculpting competition organized for the Los Angeles Zoo in Griffith Park by a local tutor, Agostinho Rodrigues. Local newspaper cuttings of his junior sculpting achievements can be found reproduced in the Splinters book, included in the Riding Some Kind of Unusual Skull Sleigh boxed CD work, released in 2004. The sprawling park, with its zoo and observatory , had

10117-485: The album a B+, saying, "I find it impossible to give this record an A because it is just too weird. But I'd like to. Very great played at high volume when you're feeling shitty, because you'll never feel as shitty as this record." BBC disc jockey John Peel said of the album: "If there has been anything in the history of popular music which could be described as a work of art in a way that people who are involved in other areas of art would understand, then Trout Mask Replica

10268-515: The album described it as a "terrific album" and a "fascinating, underrated release ... every bit the equal of Safe as Milk and Trout Mask Replica ". Langdon Winner of Rolling Stone called Strictly Personal "an excellent album. The guitars of the Magic Band mercilessly bend and stretch notes in a way that suggests that the world of music has wobbled clear off its axis", with the lyrics demonstrating "Beefheart's ability to juxtapose delightful humor with frightening insights". In 1971 some of

10419-496: The album was recorded at Whitney Studios, with some field recordings made at the house. Boston was acquainted with French and Harkleroad via past bands. Van Vliet had also begun assigning nicknames to his band members, so Harkleroad became Zoot Horn Rollo , and Boston became Rockette Morton , while John French assumed the name Drumbo , and Jeff Cotton became Antennae Jimmy Semens . Van Vliet's cousin Victor Hayden,

10570-479: The album's mostly blues rock sound, songs such as "Electricity" illustrated the band's unconventional instrumentation and Van Vliet's unusual vocals. When guitarist Doug Moon complained that the band was "losing its soul", he was fired. In a 1995 interview Moon said that the songs on the album "had evolved to become a little bit more avant-garde and a little bit more hinting at things to come in Don's later albums". Much of

10721-405: The album's promotional "baby bumper stickers" in the sunroom at his home. The Beatles planned to sign Beefheart to their experimental Zapple label (plans that were scrapped after Allen Klein took over the group's management). Vliet claimed to have met Paul McCartney in a Cannes hotel nightclub during their tour of Europe on January 27, 1968, urinated together on a statue outside the hotel at

10872-435: The album). It took the band about eight months to mold the songs into shape, with French bearing primary responsibility for transposing and shaping Vliet's piano fragments into guitar and bass lines, which were mostly notated on paper. Harkleroad in 1998 said in retrospect: "We're dealing with a strange person, coming from a place of being a sculptor/painter, using music as his idiom . He was getting more into that part of who he

11023-459: The all-important and controversial theremin work on " Electricity " by Samuel Hoffman . It was perhaps this track, above the others, which caused A&M to view the band as "unsuitable" for their label with what was seen as weird and too psychedelic for popular consumption. Thus, this album was recorded for Buddah, with the band signed to Kama Sutra , which left them close to penniless after extricating themselves from A&M. A large proportion of

11174-437: The band because of his dislike of the band's increasing experimentation outside his preferred blues genre. Ry Cooder told of Moon's becoming so angered by Van Vliet's unrelenting criticism that he walked into the room pointing a loaded crossbow at him, only to have Van Vliet tell him, "Get that fucking thing out of here, get out of here and get back in your room", which he did. (Other band members dispute this account, though Moon

11325-551: The band's recordings. The A&M deal also brought some contention between members of the band, torn between a career as an experimental "pop" group and that of a purist blues band. Working with young producer David Gates also opened up horizons for Vliet's skills as a poet-cum-lyricist, with his "Who Do You Think You're Fooling" on the flip side of the band's first single, a cover of the Ellas McDaniel / Willie Dixon -penned hit "Diddy Wah Diddy". Fate and circumstance, not for

11476-497: The bill to promote the album. The next two records, The Spotlight Kid (simply credited to "Captain Beefheart") and Clear Spot (credited to "Captain Beefheart and the Magic Band"), were both released in 1972. The atmosphere of The Spotlight Kid is, according to one critic, "definitely relaxed and fun, maybe one step up from a jam". And though "things do sound maybe just a little too blasé", "Beefheart at his worst still has something more than most groups at their best." The music

11627-419: The building and grounds of Griffith Observatory is free of charge. Planetarium shows at the Observatory are offered eight times a day on weekdays and ten times a day on weekends. A nominal fee is charged for admission to the planetarium shows. As long as the weather permits, the Observatory offers free public telescope viewing every night the observatory is open - usually beginning at 7:00 p.m. This includes

11778-409: The bus that runs up the road and drops visitors off right outside the observatory grounds. The bus can be quite congested at peak times of the day but only takes about 5 minutes to reach the top. Walking the distance from the parking lot at the Greek Theater to the top would take approximately 15–20 minutes. The observatory is closed on Mondays. There are photo opportunities and scenery at and around

11929-428: The contractor and intimidates him into doing the job anyway. The contractor builds the home, figuring out all the intricacies involved in structural integrity himself because whenever he approaches Van Vliet, he finds that he seems completely unable to comprehend technical problems and just yells, "Quit asking me about this stuff and build the damned house." ...When the house is finished no one gets paid, and Van Vliet has

12080-645: The core of Art Tripp III , Harkleroad and Boston, with the formation of Mallard , helped by finance and UK recording facilities from Jethro Tull's Ian Anderson . Some of French's compositions were used in the band's work, but the group's singer was Sam Galpin and the role of keyboardist was eventually taken by John Thomas, who had shared a house with French in Eureka at the time. At this time Vliet attempted to recruit both French and Harkleroad as producers for his next album, but his pleas fell on deaf ears. Andy Di Martino produced both of these Virgin label albums. Vliet

12231-402: The demo by Doug Moon are therefore taken up by Ry Cooder 's work in the release, as Moon had departed over "musical differences" at this juncture. Drummer John French had now joined the group and it would later (notably on Trout Mask Replica ) be his patience that was required to transcribe Van Vliet's creative ideas (often expressed by whistling or banging on the piano) into musical form for

12382-519: The demo recording was accomplished at Art Laboe 's Original Sound Studio, then with Gary Marker on the controls at Sunset Sound on 8-track. By the end of 1966 they were signed to Buddah Records and much of the demo work was transferred to 4-track, at the behest of Krasnow and Perry , in the RCA Studio in Hollywood, where the recording was finalized. Tracks that were originally laid down in

12533-406: The direction of Chris Shelton. Tickets for the show are purchased separately at the box office within the observatory. Tickets are sold on a first-come, first-served basis. Children under 5 are free, but are admitted to only the first planetarium show of the day. Only members of the observatory's support group, Friends of the Observatory, may reserve tickets for the planetarium show. The observatory

12684-647: The door in the room where he sculpted. When he was thirteen the family moved from the Los Angeles area to the more remote farming town of Lancaster , in the Mojave Desert , where there was a growing aerospace industry supported by nearby Edwards Air Force Base . It was an environment that would greatly influence him creatively from then on. Van Vliet remained interested in art; several of his paintings, often reminiscent of Franz Kline were later used as front covers for his music albums. Meanwhile, he developed his taste and interest in music, listening "intensively" to

12835-537: The end result not fully up to snuff as a result, but those less concerned with pushing back all borders all the time will enjoy his unexpected blend of everything tempered with a new accessibility". The review called the song "Big Eyed Beans from Venus" "a fantastically strange piece of aggression". A Clear Spot song, "Her Eyes Are A Blue Million Miles", appeared on the soundtrack of the Coen brothers ' cult comedy film The Big Lebowski (1998). In 1974, immediately after

12986-448: The event as a rare high moment for the band: "After the show, we were taken to the dressing room where we sat for hours as a line of what seemed like hundreds of people walked in one by one to shake our hand or get an autograph. Many brought imports of Safe as Milk with them for us to autograph ... It seemed like we had finally gained some reward ... Suddenly all the criticizing and intimidation and eccentricities seemed very unimportant. It

13137-554: The fact that his father had died of heart failure a few years earlier. At a vital "warm-up" performance at the Fantasy Fair and Magic Mountain Music Festival (June 10–11) shortly before the scheduled Monterey Festival (June 16–18), the band began to play "Electricity" and Van Vliet froze, straightened his tie, then walked off the 10 ft (3.0 m) stage and landed on manager Bob Krasnow . He later claimed he had seen

13288-406: The first Magic Band and changed his name to Don Van Vliet, while Snouffer became Alex St. Clair (sometimes spelled Claire ). Captain Beefheart and his Magic Band signed to A&M and released two singles in 1966. The first was a version of Bo Diddley 's " Diddy Wah Diddy " that became a regional hit in Los Angeles. The followup, "Moonchild" (written by David Gates , later of the band Bread )

13439-450: The first astrophysical telescope in Los Angeles. As a Works Progress Administration (WPA) project, construction began on June 20, 1933, using a design developed by architects John C. Austin and Frederic Morse Ashley (1870–1960), based on preliminary sketches by Russell W. Porter . The observatory and accompanying exhibits were opened to the public on May 14, 1935, as the country's third planetarium. In its first five days of operation

13590-399: The first lunar missions. Griffith Observatory Foundation was chartered in 1978 as Friends of the Observatory. It was founded by Debra Griffith and Harold Griffith (the grandson of the observatory's benefactor) with Dr. E.C. Krupp (the current Observatory Director) and a small group of dedicated partners. The foundation supports the observatory in its mission of public astronomy and advocated

13741-533: The first time, would befall the band's success upon its release – which coincided with a singles cover of the same song by the Remains . The initial line-up of the Magic Band that entered the studio for the A&;M recordings was not that which emerged by the second release, "Moonchild", also backed by a Vliet-penned number, "Frying Pan". A 12" vinyl 45rpm mono EP/mono mini-cassette tape was later released in 1987, with

13892-463: The following year. He once worked as a door-to-door vacuum cleaner salesman, and sold a vacuum cleaner to the writer Aldous Huxley at his home in Llano , pointing to it and declaring, "Well, I assure you sir, this thing sucks." After managing a Kinney's shoe store, Van Vliet relocated to Rancho Cucamonga, California , to reconnect with Zappa, who inspired his entry into musical performance. Van Vliet

14043-497: The four tracks of the two singles, plus "Here I Am, I Always Am" as a fifth previously unreleased song. This release was titled The Legendary A&M Sessions , with a red-marbled cover and (later) members Moon, Blakely, Vliet, Snouffer and Handley seated in a "temperance dance band" photo-pose. The original Magic Band was primarily a rhythm and blues band, led by local Lancaster guitarist Alexis Snouffer , along with Doug Moon (guitar), Jerry Handley (bass), and Vic Mortenson (drums),

14194-423: The front lawn of the Observatory that pays homage to six of the greatest astronomers of all time: Hipparchus (about 150 BC); Nicolaus Copernicus (1473–1543); Galileo Galilei (1564–1642); Johannes Kepler (1571–1630); Isaac Newton (1642–1727); and William Herschel (1738–1822). The 1934 New Deal artwork , which was a collaboration between six local artists, is topped with an armillary sphere . Admission to

14345-485: The gear worn by the band on the Strictly Personal cover stamps. In August 1967, guitarist Jeff Cotton filled the guitar spot vacated, in turn, by Cooder and McGee. In October and November 1967 the Snouffer/Cotton/Handley/French line–up recorded material for what was planned to be the second album. Originally intended to be a double album called It Comes to You in a Plain Brown Wrapper for

14496-407: The group barely survived and were even arrested for shoplifting food (Zappa bailed them out). French has recalled living on no more than a small cup of beans a day for a month. A visitor described their appearance as "cadaverous" and said that "they all looked in poor health". Band members were restricted from leaving the house and practiced for 14 or more hours a day. John French's 2010 book Through

14647-409: The group. In the period leading up to the recording the band lived communally, first at a compound near Ben Lomond, California and then in northern California near Trinidad . The situation saw a return to the physical violence and psychological manipulation that had taken place during the band's previous communal residence while composing and rehearsing Trout Mask Replica . According to John French,

14798-408: The head of a fish. The fish is a carp – arguably a "replica" for a trout, photographed by Cal Schenkel . The inner spread " infra-red " photography is by Ed Caraeff , whose Beefheart vacuum cleaner images from this session also appear on Zappa's Hot Rats release (a month earlier) to accompany "Willie The Pimp" lyrics sung by Vliet. Alex St. Clair had now left the band and, after Junior Madeo from

14949-456: The historic 12" Zeiss Refracting Telescope on the roof, and up to four portable telescopes placed outside offering views of visible celestial objects for the night. At 9:30 p.m., the doors to the Zeiss dome close, and lines for the portable telescopes outside stop allowing guests into the queues - though the lines may close earlier on the busier nights. In poor weather, the roof may be closed to

15100-404: The house, and his grandmother lived in the house, and his aunt and his uncle lived across the street. And his father had had a heart attack; his father drove a Helms bread truck, part of the time Don was helping out by taking over the bread truck route [and] driving up to Mojave. The rest of the time he would just sit at home and listen to rhythm and blues records, and scream at his mother to get him

15251-430: The last being rotated with and finally replaced by Paul "P.G." Blakely. For the first A&M recording Mortenson had been called up for active service and Snouffer stood in on drums, with a recently recruited Richard Hepner taking up the guitar role. By the time the single was aired on a pop television show, P.G. Blakely was back in the drum seat. He then left for a career in television and was replaced by John French by

15402-468: The local Knudsen Creamery to travel to Europe with six years' paid tuition to study marble sculpture . Van Vliet was deeply disappointed by their denial of this opportunity for him to realize his potential as an artist. He later claimed that the experience made him so bitter that he never listened to music and abandoned his art until he was twenty-three. Van Vliet's artistic enthusiasm became so fervent, he said that his parents were forced to feed him through

15553-487: The matching Tesla coils to his old electrotherapy colleague Frederick Finch Strong, who in 1937 donated them to Griffith Observatory. The Observatory had room to exhibit only one of the pair. By this time the machine was missing parts, so Observatory staffer Leon Hall restored it with the notable assistance of Hollywood special effects expert Kenneth Strickfaden who designed the special effects for Frankenstein (1931) among many other movies. The Astronomers Monument on

15704-450: The musician collapsed in tears or in total submission. Guitarist Bill Harkleroad complained that his fingers were a "bloody mess" as a result of Beefheart's orders that he use heavy strings. Drummer John French described the situation as "cultlike" and a visiting friend said "the environment in that house was positively Mansonesque ". Their material circumstances were dire. With no income other than welfare and contributions from relatives,

15855-609: The musicians' contract with Van Vliet's company stipulated that Van Vliet and the managers were paid from gross proceeds before expenses, then expenses were paid, then the band members evenly split any remaining funds—in effect making band members liable for all expenses. As a result, French was paid nothing at all for a 33-city US tour in 1971 and a total of $ 78 for a tour of Europe and the US in late 1975. In his 2010 memoir Beefheart: Through The Eyes of Magic French recounted being "...   screamed at, beaten up, drugged, ridiculed, humiliated, arrested, starved, stolen from, and thrown down

16006-546: The name referred to "a beef in my heart against this society". In the "Grunt People" draft script Beefheart and his mother play themselves, with his father played by Howlin' Wolf. Moreover, the young Van Vliet used to go out with wet hair to catch a cold so that he could get a lower tone of voice as Howlin' Wolf. Grace Slick is penned in as a "celestial seductress" and there are also roles for future Magic Band members Bill Harkleroad and Mark Boston. Van Vliet enrolled at Antelope Valley College as an art major, but decided to leave

16157-432: The name. Johnny Carson also asked him the same question to which Van Vliet replied that one day he was standing on the pier and saw fishermen cutting the bills off pelicans . He said it made him sad and put "a beef in his heart". Carson appeared nervous and uncomfortable interviewing Van Vliet and after the next commercial break Van Vliet was gone. He would later say in an appearance on Late Night with David Letterman that

16308-462: The observatory include a display on evolution which was accomplished with the Cosmochron exhibit which included a narration from Caltech Professor Chester Stock and an accompanying slide show. The evolution exhibit existed from 1937 to the mid-1960s. Also included in the original design was a planetarium under the large central dome. The first shows covered topics including the Moon, worlds of

16459-532: The observatory logged more than 13,000 visitors. Dinsmore Alter was the museum's director during its first years. The building combines Greek and Beaux-Arts influences, and the exterior is embellished with the Greek key pattern . During World War II, the planetarium was used to train pilots in celestial navigation. The planetarium was again used for this purpose in the 1960s to train Apollo program astronauts for

16610-509: The original Magic Band line-up, initiated by Alexis Snouffer , the same year. The group released their debut album Safe as Milk in 1967 on Buddah Records . After being dropped by two consecutive record labels they signed to Zappa's Straight Records , where they released 1969's Trout Mask Replica ; the album would later rank 58th in Rolling Stone magazine's 2003 list of the 500 greatest albums of all time . In 1974, frustrated by

16761-506: The other group members. On French's departure this role was taken over by Bill Harkleroad for Lick My Decals Off, Baby . Many of the lyrics on the Safe as Milk album were written by Van Vliet in collaboration with the writer Herb Bermann , who befriended Van Vliet after seeing him perform at a bar-gig in Lancaster in 1966. The song " Electricity " was a poem written by Bermann, who gave Van Vliet permission to adapt it to music. Unlike

16912-479: The pair bonding through their interest in Chicago blues and R&B . Van Vliet is portrayed in both The Real Frank Zappa Book and Barry Miles ' biography Zappa as fairly spoiled at this stage of his life, the center of attention as an only child. He spent most of his time locked in his room listening to records, often with Zappa, into the early hours in the morning, eating leftover food from his father's Helms bread truck and demanding that his mother bring him

17063-443: The pair were already accomplished young musicians before joining the band. Lastly, Van Vliet claimed to have gone a year and half without sleeping. When asked how this was possible, he claimed to have only eaten fruit. Critic Steve Huey of AllMusic writes that the album's influence "was felt more in spirit than in direct copycatting, as a catalyst rather than a literal musical starting point. However, its inspiring reimagining of what

17214-580: The premise that Captain Beefheart had "magic powers" and, upon drinking a Pepsi , could summon up "His Magic Band" to appear and perform behind him. The strands of this logic emanated from Vliet's Beefheart persona having been "written in" as a character in a "teenage operetta" that friend Frank Zappa had formulated, along with Van Vliet's renowned "Pepsi moods" with his mother Willie Sue and his generally spoilt teenage demeanor. The name "His Magic Band" changed to "the Magic Band" in 1972. The group played numerous car-club dances and juke joint gigs, and won

17365-496: The prodding of journalists and photographers,and participated in a jam session together with McCartney and Penny Nichols . Producer attempts to convince McCartney to switch labels to Kama Sutra obstructed the possibility of a pleasant evening. McCartney later said he had no recollection of this meeting. Van Vliet was often critical of the Beatles, however. He considered the lyric "I'd love to turn you on" from their song " A Day in

17516-561: The public, but if still accessible under overcast skies, the Zeiss Telescope can still be visited as an exhibit during viewing hours. There is a small parking lot next to the Observatory, plus more spaces along Western Canyon Rd, which require payment of $ 8–10 an hour, depending on the season. During busier times, the roads can get congested and limit access to the top. The Los Angeles Department of Transportation (LADOT) operates daily low cost DASH Observatory public bus service from

17667-420: The recording of Unconditionally Guaranteed , which markedly continued the trend towards a more commercial sound heard on some of the Clear Spot tracks, the Magic Band's original members departed. The disgruntled former members worked together for a period, gigging at Blue Lake and putting together their own ideas and demos, with John French earmarked as the vocalist. These concepts eventually coalesced around

17818-613: The recordings done for Buddah were released as Mirror Man , bearing a liner note stating that the material had been recorded in "one night in Los Angeles in 1965". This was a ruse to circumvent possible copyright issues. The material was recorded in November and December 1967. Essentially a " jam " album, described as pushing "the boundaries of conventional blues–rock, with a Beefheart vocal tossed in here and there. Some may miss Beefheart's surreal poetry, gruff vocals, and/or free jazz influence, while others may find it fascinating to hear

17969-400: The restoration and expansion of the observatory. The foundation continues to promote the observatory as an agent of science literacy, education, and experiential astronomy. The observatory closed on January 6, 2002, for renovation and a major expansion of exhibit space. It reopened to the public on November 2, 2006, retaining its Art Deco exterior. The $ 93 million renovation, paid largely by

18120-501: The school's yearbook. His statements that he never attended school – and his general disavowals of education – may have been related to his experience of dyslexia which, although never officially diagnosed, was obvious to sidemen such as John French and Denny Walley , who observed his difficulty reading cue-cards on stage, and his frequent need to be read aloud to. While attending Antelope Valley High School in Lancaster, Van Vliet became close friends with fellow teenager Frank Zappa ,

18271-586: The seeming sonic chaos is an illusion—to construct the songs, the Magic Band rehearsed twelve hours a day for months on end in a house with the windows blacked out. (Producer Frank Zappa was then able to record most of the album in less than five hours.) Tracks such as 'Ella Guru' and 'My Human Gets Me Blues' are the direct predecessors of modern musical primitives such as Tom Waits and PJ Harvey ." Guitarist Fred Frith noted that during this process "forces that usually emerge in improvisation are harnessed and made constant, repeatable". Critic Robert Christgau gave

18422-604: The set as "a play which should be rolled out from time to time". With Captain Beefheart: The Magic Band solo: The Magic Band (2003–2017) Griffith Observatory Griffith Observatory is an observatory in Los Angeles, California , on the south-facing slope of Mount Hollywood in Griffith Park . It commands a view of the Los Angeles Basin including Downtown Los Angeles to

18573-468: The small ads of the time: "It comes to you in a plain brown wrapper." Given that Krasnow had effectively poached the band from Buddah there were limitations on what material could be released. Strictly Personal was the result, contained in its enigmatically addressed parcel sleeve. The raft of material left behind eventually emerged, firstly on CD as I May Be Hungry, But I Sure Ain't Weird and later on vinyl, implemented by John French, as It Comes To You in

18724-523: The southeast, Hollywood to the south, and the Pacific Ocean to the southwest. The observatory is a popular tourist attraction with a close view of the Hollywood Sign and an extensive array of space and science-related displays. It is named after its benefactor, Griffith J. Griffith . Admission has been free since the observatory's opening in 1935, in accordance with the benefactor's will. Since its opening, over 9 million people have looked through

18875-499: The technology and the building for over 45 years. The first exhibit visitors encountered in 1935 was the Foucault pendulum , which was designed to demonstrate the rotation of the Earth. The exhibits also included a 12-inch (305mm) Zeiss refracting telescope in the east dome, a triple-beam coelostat (solar telescope) in the west dome, and a thirty-eight foot relief model of the moon's north polar region. Griffith requested that

19026-588: The time the band cut their first album, as the first release on the new Buddah Records label. Personnel in the Magic Band for Beefheart's first album, Safe as Milk , were Alex St. Clair, Jerry Handley and John French. Earlier meetings with the Rising Sons had also secured them the guitar and arranging skills of Ry Cooder , which also brought about input from Taj Mahal on percussion and guitar work from Cooder's brother-in-law Russ Titelman . Further guests to this line-up included Milt Holland on percussion and

19177-509: The tracks on this album were co-written with Van Vliet by Herb Bermann , whom Vliet initially met up with at a bar gig near Lancaster. Part-time Hollywood television actor and budding scriptwriter Bermann and his then wife Cathleen spent some time in Vliet's company prior to this release. Bermann would later write for Neil Young and script an early Spielberg -directed television medical drama. Gary "Magic" Marker (the "Magic" added by Beefheart)

19328-480: The visual area of space that is captured in The Big Picture. The Edge of Space Mezzanine, which overlooks the Depths of Space Hall, focuses more on astronomy related topics that involve celestial bodies much closer to Earth, with exhibits including meteorite displays, an asteroid impact simulator, cloud and spark chambers, a large globe of the Moon, and telescopes that allow inspection of The Big Picture from

19479-415: The world) showing a portion of the Virgo Cluster of galaxies at an angular scale of 0.1 degree per foot. This image was taken over the course of 11 nights by the 48-inch Samuel Oschin telescope at Palomar Mountain . There is also a bronze statue of Albert Einstein sitting on a bench in the Depths of Space. Einstein is holding his index finger about 1 foot (0.30 m) in front of his eyes, to illustrate

19630-485: The world. Van Vliet died in 2010, having had multiple sclerosis for many years. Van Vliet was born Don Glen Vliet in Glendale, California , on January 15, 1941, to Glen Alonzo Vliet, a service station owner of Dutch ancestry from Kansas , and Willie Sue Vliet (née Warfield), who was from Arkansas . He said that he was descended from Peter van Vliet, a Dutch painter who knew Rembrandt . Van Vliet also said that he

19781-415: The worst of this was directed toward Harkleroad. In his autobiography Harkleroad recalls being thrown into a dumpster, an act he interpreted as having metaphorical intent. Clear Spot 's production credit of Ted Templeman made AllMusic 's Ned Raggett consider "why in the world [it] wasn't more of a commercial success than it was", and that while fans "of the fully all-out side of Beefheart might find

19932-516: Was a glorious moment, one of the very few I ever experienced". By this time, they had terminated their association with Meaden. On January 27, 1968, Beefheart performed in the MIDEM Music Festival on the beach at Cannes , France. Alex St. Claire left the band in June 1968 after their return from a second European tour and was replaced by teenager Bill Harkleroad; bassist Jerry Handley left a few weeks later. After their Euro tour and

20083-400: Was curating. For their subsequent European tour, Williams left and was replaced by Michael Traylor. John Peel was initially skeptical about the re-formed Magic Band. However, after he aired a live recording of the band playing at the 2003 All Tomorrow's Parties festival on his radio show, he was at a loss for words and had to put on another record to regain his composure. In 2004 the band did

20234-431: Was doing ... I realized that I had to give them something to hang their hat on, so I started working more of a beat into the music. It's more human that way". Magic Band members have also said that the slower performances were due in part to Van Vliet's inability to fit his lyrics with the instrumental backing of the faster material on the earlier albums, a problem that was exacerbated in that he almost never rehearsed with

20385-562: Was due to take place in November, curated by Jeff Mangum). The festival was postponed until the following March but they honoured the other UK and Ireland dates which had been booked to coincide with it, the new line-up being dubbed "The Best Batch Yet" by Beefheart song-title-referencing commentators. They returned to play the rescheduled ATP and more UK gigs in March 2012, followed by a European tour in September and October. They toured Europe again in 2013 and 2014. The re-formed band's repertoire

20536-509: Was effectively recorded live in the studio, while Van Vliet overdubbed most of the vocals in only partial sync with the music by hearing the slight sound leakage through the studio window. Zappa said of Van Vliet's approach, "[it was] impossible to tell him why things should be such and such a way. It seemed to me that if he was going to create a unique object, that the best thing for me to do was to keep my mouth shut as much as possible and just let him do whatever he wanted to do whether I thought it

20687-519: Was eventually filled for a short spell by Gerry McGee, who had played with the Monkees . According to French the band did two gigs with McGee, one of which was at The Peppermint Twist near Long Beach. The other was at Santa Monica Civic Auditorium , August 7, 1967, as opening act for the Yardbirds . McGee was in the group long enough to have an outfit made by a Santa Monica boutique that also created

20838-904: Was for the production of an album provisionally titled Bat Chain Puller . The band were John French (drums), John Thomas (keyboards) and Jeff Moris Tepper and Denny Walley (guitars). Much of the work on this album had been finalized and some demos had been circulated when fate once again struck the Beefheart camp. In May 1976 the long association between Zappa and his manager/business partner Herb Cohen ceased. This resulted in Zappa's finances and ongoing works becoming part of protracted legal negotiations. The Bat Chain Puller project went "on ice" and did not see an official release until 2012. After this recording John Thomas joined ex-Magic Band members in Mallard . Prior to his next album Beefheart appeared in 1977 on

20989-423: Was forced to quickly form a new Magic Band to complete support-tour dates, with studio musicians who had no experience with his music and in fact had never heard it. Having no knowledge of the previous Magic Band style, they simply improvised what they thought would go with each song, playing much slicker versions that have been described as "bar band" versions of Beefheart songs. A review described this incarnation of

21140-479: Was initially drawn mainly from the Clear Spot and Trout Mask Replica albums, with some of the latter's songs performed as instrumentals, allowing the intricacy of the instrumental parts to be heard, where they had previously been obscured by Beefheart's vocals or sax. During subsequent tours the setlist has been expanded to include a more representative selection of Beefheart's repertoire. French has described

21291-430: Was instead of this blues singer. The band had rehearsed the songs so thoroughly that the instrumental tracks for 21 of the songs were recorded in a single four-and-a-half-hour recording session. Van Vliet spent the next few days overdubbing the vocals. The album's cover artwork was photographed and designed by Cal Schenkel and shows Van Vliet wearing the raw head of a carp, bought from a local fish market and fashioned into

21442-477: Was involved in early session work for this release, and his involvement with Rising Sons was also instrumental in acquiring the skills of Cooder, upon an unfulfilled suggestion that Marker might produce the album. Marker would later lay down two uncredited bass tracks for Trout Mask Replica before being replaced by Mark Boston . French worked on five more Beefheart albums, while Snouffer worked with Beefheart on and off on three more albums. Bill Harkleroad joined

21593-612: Was less well received. That year the band began to play some larger west coast venues, such as the Avalon Ballroom in San Francisco. After fulfilling their deal for two singles the band presented demos to A&M during 1966 for what would become the Safe as Milk album. A&M's Jerry Moss reportedly described this new direction as "too negative" and dropped the band from the label, although still under contract. Much of

21744-564: Was made of its title song, and a bizarre television commercial was also filmed that included excerpts from "Woe-Is-uh-Me-Bop", silent footage of masked Magic Band members using kitchen utensils as musical instruments, and Beefheart kicking over a bowl of what appears to be porridge onto a dividing stripe in the middle of a road. The video was rarely played but was accepted into the Museum of Modern Art , where it has been used in several programs related to music. On this LP Art Tripp III , formerly of

21895-430: Was possible in a rock context laid the groundwork for countless experiments in rock surrealism to follow, especially during the punk and new wave era." In 2003, the album was ranked sixtieth by Rolling Stone in their list of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time : "On first listen, Trout Mask Replica sounds like raw Delta blues ", with Beefheart "singing and ranting and reciting poetry over fractured guitar licks. But

22046-488: Was quite shy but was eventually able to imitate the deep voice of Howlin' Wolf with his wide vocal range. He eventually grew comfortable with public performance and, after learning to play the harmonica, began playing at dances and small clubs in Southern California. In early 1965 Alex Snouffer , a Lancaster rhythm and blues guitarist, invited Vliet to sing with a group that he was assembling. Vliet joined

22197-434: Was related to adventurer and author Richard Halliburton and cowboy actor Slim Pickens , and he said that he remembered being born. Van Vliet began painting and sculpting at age three. His subjects reflected his "obsession" with animals, particularly dinosaurs , fish, African mammals and lemurs . Considered a child prodigy, at age four he was featured with his animal sculptures on a weekly Los Angeles television program. At

22348-476: Was simply the lead singer of the group, which had been brought together by guitarist and former classmate Alex St. Clair . As in many emerging groups in California at the time, there were elements of psychedelia and the foundations of contemporary hippie counterculture. In this early incarnation they were a blues-rock outfit. The group was therefore promoted as "Captain Beefheart and his Magic Band", on

22499-600: Was that it would be a "blues band" alias for the more avant-garde work of the Magic Band. Photographer Guy Webster photographed the band in Quaker-style outfits, and the picture appears in The Mirror Man Sessions CD insert. It would later transpire that much of this situation was transient and that Buddah's Bob Krasnow was to set up his own label. The label that was unsurprisingly named Blue Thumb launched with its first release Strictly Personal ,

22650-414: Was to make astronomy accessible to the public, as opposed to the prevailing idea that observatories should be located on remote mountaintops and restricted to scientists. Griffith drafted detailed specifications for the observatory. In drafting the plans, he consulted with Walter Sydney Adams , the future director of Mount Wilson Observatory , and George Ellery Hale , who founded (with Andrew Carnegie )

22801-465: Was wrong or not." Van Vliet used the ensuing publicity, particularly with a 1970 Rolling Stone interview with Langdon Winner , to promulgate a number of myths that were subsequently quoted as fact. Winner's article stated, for instance, that neither Van Vliet nor the members of the Magic Band ever took drugs, but Harkleroad later contradicted this. Van Vliet claimed to have taught both Harkleroad and Boston to play their instruments from scratch; in fact,

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