Ragged Claws Network

I recommended Beefheart and his Magic Band to the adult son of my wife’s sister, a young man who is heavily into music both as a listener and as a working muscian and songwriter, but he would have none of it. In fact, he sent me the CD he bought for himself, so now I have two copies of Clear Spot/The Spotlight Kid, a double-album CD which isn’t exactly hardcore Beefheart but which is a good entry point for people who want to ease into the oeuvre. Cool thing is, I’ve played Beefheart enough around the house and in the car that my fourteen-year-old son is a fan. Maybe that’s the trick: repeated exposure. Or maybe it’s just parental influence/approval. No matter. Whatever it is, BEEFHEART LIVES!

PART 1:

PART 2:

PART 3:

PART 4:

PART 5:

PART 6:

“Rock ‘n’ roll is a fixation, that bom, bom, bom, bom, bom, momma heartbeat. I don’t like hypnotics, you see, I’m doing non-hypnotic music to break up the catatonic state. And I think there is one right now.” –Captain Beefheart

“It’s a way of coping with the world. You know, in the same way that somebody copes with it by being a stamp collector or a sports addict or a titan of industry or an alcoholic or something. My way of coping with the horrors of existence is to put my nose to the grindstone and work and not look up.”

–from “The Director’s Craft: Woody Allen reflects on ‘Vicky Christina Barcelona,’ love and his life,” by Rachel Abramowitz, Los Angeles Times, August 10, 2008.