I'm Listening to Safe as Milk by Captain Beefheart.

I just bought it and The Spotlight Kid/Clear Spot today. Anyone else like the Captain?

Budding guitarists take note.

1. Listen to the birds.

That's where all the music comes from. Birds know everything about how it should sound and where that sound should come from. And watch hummingbirds. They fly really fast, but a lot of times they aren't going anywhere.

2. Your guitar is not really a guitar Your guitar is a divining rod.

Use it to find spirits in the other world and bring them over. A guitar is also a fishing rod. If you're good, you'll land a big one.

3. Practice in front of a bush

Wait until the moon is out, then go outside, eat a multi-grained bread and play your guitar to a bush. If the bush dosen't shake, eat another piece of bread.

4. Walk with the devil

Old Delta blues players referred to guitar amplifiers as the "devil box." And they were right. You have to be an equal opportunity employerin terms of who you're brining over from the other side. Electricity attracts devils and demons. Other instruments attract other spirits. An acoustic guitar attracts Casper. A mandolin attracts Wendy. But an electric guitar attracts Beelzebub.

5. If you're guilty of thinking, you're out

If your brain is part of the process, you're missing it. You should play like a drowning man, struggling to reach shore. If you can trap that feeling, then you have something that is fur bearing.

6. Never point your guitar at anyone

Your instrument has more clout than lightning. Just hit a big chord then run outside to hear it. But make sure you are not standing in an open field.

7. Always carry a church key

That's your key-man clause. Like One String Sam. He's one. He was a Detroit street musician who played in the fifties on a homemade instrument. His song "I Need a Hundered Dollars" is warm pie. Another key to the church is Hubert Sumlin, Howlin' Wolf's guitar player. He just stands there like the Statue of Liberty-making you want to look up her dress the whole time to see how he's doing it.

8. Don't wipe the sweat off your instrument

You need that stink on there. Then you have to get that stink onto your music.

9. Keep your guitar in a dark place

When you're not playin your guitar, cover it and keep it in a dark place. If you don't play your guitar for more than a day, be sure you put a saucer of water in with it.

10. You gotta have a hood for your engine

Keep that hat on. A hat is a pressure cooker. If you have a roof on your house, the hot air can't escape. Even a lima bean has to have a piece of wet paper around it to make it grow.

and now I know why.

http://www.beefheart.com/datharp/odyssey.htm

It explains a lot!

My favorites are "Shiny Beast (Bat Chain Puller)", "Doc At The Radar Station", and "Trout Mask Replica". But they are all good, and I love "Safe As Milk"!

:bounce: :bounce: :bounce:

How do I like him?

During my pregnancy my son's in-utero code name was 'Beefheart.'

I keep waiting for the Census Bureau to add 'Semi Multi-Colored Caucausian' to the list of races on the census forms.

There is a Vliet Street in my folks' town. And a Trout Festival, which my father and I always called the Trout Mask Replica Festival.

The past sure is tense!

that I impulsively decided to get these two CDs today for myself while Christmas shopping for other people. My brother was into the Captain when I was a wee lad, and I used to get a kick out of what I heard of him. I especially liked The Spotlight Kid, and it's been on my mind for some time to get it. I feel a Beefheart spree coming on.

So thank you!

My husband and I debated naming our child Antenna Jimmy or Zoot Horn Rollo for months.;

Love Van Vliet. Even that Grow Fins box on John Fahey's label was insane! There as a special DVD in that box, with a perf of "Click Clack" from 72, and it;s just astounding...


When I was 12 years old, my favorite album was "Trout Mask." I was a lonely kid....