Tropical Hot Dog Panel
Austin Convention Center, Wednesday, March 16It’s accepted that the late Don Van Vliet, aka Captain Beefheart, was a visionary in both the music and art worlds. By exploring his history and methods, this hourlong discussion did a fine job of explaining his humanity as well. Led by veteran music writer and longtime Austinite John Morthland, all stages of Beefheart’s life were represented. His cousin Victor Hayden, known as Mascara Snake and a respected visual artist in his own right, claimed that “growing up together the only purpose in life was to enjoy art and music,” while also recalling the impressionistic art they were making at the age of 7. Langdon Winner, credited with expanding the understanding of Beefheart with an 1970 interview in Rolling Stone, explained that he sought “to set the story straight, to remove him from the freak show” that surrounded the Captain due to his association with Frank Zappa. Guitarist Gary Lucas, who was Beefheart’s band leader and manager in the 1980s, offered insight into how difficult the music was (“He was an impossible taskmaster”) and spun anecdotes about the Captain’s oddly humorous side. A well-done overview of a topic that could taken days to fully scrutinize.
This article appears in March 18 • 2011.