I don't have to tell you anything about Don Van Vliet, aka, CAPTAIN BEEFHEART (but I will); a statement within itself. Nothing more needs to be said and yet not enough can be said regarding his otherworldly odd and beautiful contribution to music, art and culture. He's worshipped by record-collecting geeks and art-snobs around the Globe and yet my wife shrieks with horror whenever I play any of his music. It's not for everyone and it especially may not be for ovulators. Suffice to say, he began making music in the dance clubs of Lancaster, San Fernando Valley and beach area bars with his first incarnation of the blues & R&B-based sound of "The Magic Band" somewhere around 1965 but then...things started changing shape. Not unlike Coltrane, he found commercial parameters a bit too, uh, constricting. His most challenging, frustrating, disturbing and influential album, TROUT MASK REPLICA, was (and i say this loosly) "produced" by buddy Frank Zappa and released as a double gatefold (!!) album by Reprise Records in 1969. Back in-print (Thank The Good Lord) and regarded for being as much of an indurance test as it is an act/work of art unto itself and an extraordinarily bold move by a major label for having the chutzpah to put it out into the world in the first place. You may want to move directly to LICK MY DECALS OFF, BABY (Reprise/Straight Records '70 - (see the attached TV advert by WB/Reprise here - yes, we were that cool!) and even better, his '72 "pop" album for Reprise, THE SPOTLIGHT KID, intended to make some kind of stab at mass appeal and regular eating. This was his ONLY LP to ever bother the southern regions of the Billboard Top 200 LP's chart. Inventive stuff recorded by nervy musicians with even more inventive stage names. If you've never taken drugs, start slow with the 2-CD compilation, THE WIND BLOWS FORWARD, on Rhino. If you have in fact dabbled with sweets to any degree in your dark past, then you already own the dizzying/dazzling 5-CD set, GROW FINS: Rarities '65-'82, on Revenant Records and enjoy a rich and fully rewarding life. Rumor has it that the idea for box set began when ex-WB A&R man Kevin (how dare-I-forget-his last-name) found some DAT's of unreleased material behind Steven Baker's couch when moving into a new office here at "The Bunny" some years back. More? Read: LUNAR NOTES: Zoot Horn Rollo's Captain Beefheart Experience by guitarist Bill "Zoot Horn Rollo"Harkeroad ('98). Watch: SOME YO YO STUFF on DVD by Anton Corbijin '93 if you like but scour the interwebby for the real shit and weep like a child with wonder & glee. The Don still lives out in the California desert and makes a living as well-respected fine artist and rightly so. His art exhibits are a rare treat - do not miss and if you can actually afford one of his works, I envy you, you clearly in upper mgt. That said, I'm happy just to live on the same plane, for the time being, as Don Van Vliet, CAPTAIN BEEFHEART. Big-Eyed Beans from Venus smile upon you, Captain, my Captain.