December 17, 2010
Don Van Vliet, aka ‘Captain Beefheart’, dies aged 69
American musician and painter Don Van Vliet, best known by the stage name Captain Beefheart, has died aged 69.
Van Vliet’s death in California, from complications from multiple sclerosis, was announced by the Michael Werner Gallery in New York.
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I’ve had a bad bad day, and this just shreds my soul. I needed to know . . . but this hurts so much that I think I may have to burrow down into a snow drift for the winter.
Thank you for telling, Phil.
Over and out.
I scream for crow.
Bummer.
It’s not a bad thing, but it’s a sad thing. And I have been sobbing now for a couple of hours, and I just can’t stop.
I am so sorry. That’s he’s gone. And now Shelia is broken-hearted. I hate it. I hope he’s out there, free. Give us a call, captain. We’re keeping the phone line open.
Thank you, Carole. Phil. Walt. I’m pretty cracked up. But I’ll be back.
And Don is still in this world. “Just as long as I’m in this world, I am the light of this world.”
Sheila, here’s to better days.
sorry to hear this news. A lot of my heroes died this year. Sorry you are all feeling so sad too. The world will be an emptier place. What an inspiration though. Just have to seize the day and be yourself!
I had not heard till now. This is sad indeed.
I heard about this a few hours ago and wanted to post something but didn’t know what to say, and still don’t lol. When I think about the influence he’s had on me in so many ways regarding attitude to life and music its like losing a best friend who I’ve known for 40 years. My hero is dead.
It’s lovely to see so many people, young and old, expressing similar feelings.
My condolences to all of you that loved him. His words, music and paintings will never die.
That is something to celebrate maybe
The Artist Formerly Known as Captain Beefheart is on YouTube. It’s a 1997 BBC documentary narrated by John Peel.
If you know Captain Beefheart (Don Van Vliet) a little (or even if you don’t know him and wonder what all the fuss is about), it’s a good start.
If, like me, you’re hard-core, you may be annoyed by the clichés about Dada and surrealism, and you may catch the occasional slip that a fact-checker should have caught, but on the whole, it’s a good, solid overview, and it has some fine clips.
What struck me is something I’ve noted before. For decades Don Van Vliet has been everyone’s favorite gnomic uncle (okay, maybe not everyone’s). But you look at the early clips, and you recognize the intense sexuality that Van Vliet projected. Once you get hold of it, you see it and hear it in everything up to and including the 1980s recordings.
Did not see the gnome. Always the hunk o’ gorgeous rocking blues man.
I never saw a gnome neither. I think I was just using “gnomic” in kind of a, well, gnomic sense. Probably misusing.
Hey, hey, hey, all you young girls — wherever you’re at
I got a brand new Cadillac (got a Ferrari, too)
Sure ’nuff, baby
Sure ’nuff ‘n’ yes I do