Urgent:Captain Beefheart Rushed to the hospital in a critical condition
“He drew in the air with a burnt stick,” Waits said, adding, “He described the indescribable.” Tom Waits, Zola Jesus, and Franz Ferdinand’s Alex Kapranos are among the musicians who have come together to pay tribute to Don Van Vliet, better known as Captain Beefheart, who passed away last week.
“We wish you safe passage and return,” w
rote Akron/Family; “Will be missed by all fans across the globe,” wrote Dave McCabe of the Zutons; “There was only ever one Captain Beefheart,” wrote Billy Bragg; Alex Kapranos described Van Vliet’s work as “very much” an influence; and Ahmet Zappa, son of Frank Zappa, recalled a phone conversation with Van Vliet a few years ago, saying, “He asked me: ‘What about a platypus in a briefcase?'”
In a more detailed response, Nika Roza Danilova, who records under the name Zola Jesus, wrote: “Nothing [Van Vliet] did was a mistake,” she wrote. “There were no accidents in his music. Only sheer invention, passion. Dear God, why does the world keep losing such important people? Who will fill their shoes? My heart is heavy for you, Don Van Vliet.” Gary Lucas, a former member of the Magic Band, also recalled his friend’s peculiar genius in a Wall Street Journal obituary, writing, “Don Van Vliet was an American maverick visionary genius who single-handedly changed the face of music,” stating, “I never met anyone remotely like him.”
Van Vliet was described as “an subterranean stream and a gigantic yellow blimp” by Tom Waits in the LA Times. He resembled a wagon train scout. It was him who took the initiative to lead the way. Alongside Ornette Coleman, Sun Ra, and Miles Davis, he was a demanding conductor and a spiritual composer who focused on the dental. I will miss our phone conversations. We would talk about what we could see outside our windows. He remembered things. The only one who thought to pack matches was him. The alpha and the omega are him. The high water mark. He has left and will not return. Captain Beefheart was never nominated, but Waits was revealed last week to be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
