Home Page Replica
Discontinuous research on Captain Beefheart and the Magic Band since June 1994.

Albums - Lyrics - Messylaneous - People - Vendors - About HPR - FAQ - Links



2012/01/01:
Don Van Vliet, AKA Captain Beefheart, died Dec. 17th. Before you start feeling too bad about the loss, go look for music from all the people he worked with. It's still happening.

Also, this.

Grant O'Neill sent along some links to articles he's written about Captain Beefheart:

The Amazing Vanishing Spotlight Kid
The Spotlight Kid Revisited
Live from Carolside
Brave New Twirl
My Human Gets Me Blues (new)

John "Drumbo" French has a new book out: Beefheart: Through the Eyes of Magic. The website has excerpts, and it's available on Amazon and on Ebay, signed. Look at the first review on Amazon...

11/02/2008:
John "Drumbo" French is releasing a new CD of Beefheart-influenced music, "City of Refuge", on Proper Records. The Proper Records page and the MySpace page have more details, including song clips and a story of how the album came together. A number of other Magic Band veterans - Bill Harkleroad AKA Zoot Horn Rollo, Mark Boston AKA Rockette Morton, Greg Davidson AKA Ella Guru, and John Thomas all play on the album.

I've been able to hear this album myself. It has the same discombobulated rhythms and distant blues influence as Trout Mask Replica without being a rehash of the same songs. I'd recommend "To the Loft of Ravenscroft" and "The Withered Hand of Time" for anyone looking to focus on that influence. If you bought "O Solo Drumbo" or "Grow Fins" and liked the shape of the songs, you will enjoy this too.

10/31/2008:

A Mary Fleener comic illustrating "Golden Birdies", from WFMU.

The Vanity Project sent along word that they have a interview of John French, AKA Drumbo, now on www.vanityproject.co.uk. (direct link on Vanity Project's interview blog)

John Peel, famous UK DJ and also an early and constant supporter of Captain Beefheart and the Magic Band, has died at 65.

Chrome Dreams is releasing a recording of an interview of Captain Beefheart, by Steven Rosen, conducted in the 1970s, on Nov. 15th.

I happened to notice United Mutations has a rather nice Beefheart page.

03/2004 (approx)

Moris Tepper, Magic Band member in the later 70s-early 80s, passed along info on where and where he's performing:

March 4th, Thursday - w/ Deerhoof
The Echo (Echo Park)
all ages EARLY SHOW-solo
Moris-7pm Deerhoof-8pm
1822 Sunset Blvd. (just East of Alvarado on the South side of Sunset)
213-413-8200

March 8th, Monday - w/ Dengue Fever
Club Spaceland (Silverlake)
LATE SHOW w/Band
1717 Silver Lake Blvd.
323-661-4380

March Northwest Tour Dates:
March 16th- San Francisco-The Hemlock
March 17th- Sacramento-The Capital Garage
March 18th- Portland-Berbati's Pan
March 19th- Hood River-River City Saloon
March 20th- Bellingham,Wa-3B's Tavern
March 21st- Eugene-Sam Bonds
March 22nd-Seattle-Sunset Tavern
March 23rd- Seattle-Greenroom
March 24&25-Vancouver-The Legacy Theatre
March 26th- Salem-Reed Opera House
March 27th- Oakland-Larry Blake's

It's more expensive than the albums, but certainly cheaper than the art: http://www.rhinohandmade.com/artistink/.

01/01/04: (approx)
Rob DeNunzio passed along a link to the reinstated 1997 interview he did of Zoot Horn Rollo AKA Bill Harkleroad.

Patrick Grant mailed along some corrections to the lyrics for Dropout Boogie. (01/03/2004)

12/01/03: (approx)
Page 96 of the Dec. 5th Entertainment Weekly notes that Jeff Tweedy of the band Wilco enjoys listening to Clear Spot "just about anytime".

I've cleaned up the individual Albums, and some other material on the site. Since this site is relatively static, I'm working slowly on stripping it down to a good reference format.

11/01/03: (approx)
Ted Alvy sent along mail noting that The Magic Band is at All Tomorrow's Parties performing at Long Beach, California, on the 8th of November, 2003. Tickets are on sale now, at Ticketmaster. Catch it, if you can, as I don't know how many more dates they will play.

Looking at the lineup, Moris Tepper is playing the next day, on the 9th. Moris was in the Magic Band from the Bat Chain Puller album onwards, and is also a decent guy. I don't know if he'll be participating in the Magic Band performance, but you should catch him wherever he shows up.

10/01/03: (approx)
John French helpfully sent a link to a short review of "Back To The Front", the recent album from he and other Magic Band members. You should be able to buy it online, if not at your local store. Note: Samples are at Amazon, Barnes & Noble (Realaudio), and FYE (Windows Media).

Rockette Morton, now playing with the reformed Magic Band, has a new solo album out, called Love Space. Details are available at his website.

It's been something like 3-4 years, but I'm finally doing some cleanup on the site... If it's gone missing from this site, it's probably replicated elsewhere.

09/22/03:
I'm slowly cleaning up the Albums section - some pages may be messy until all pages and stylesheets are set correctly. Until then: A recent issue of Entertainment Weekly had a shot from the upcoming Jack Black movie, School of Rock. In the shot was a "rock family tree", which listed Captain Beefheart in the "?" category. Also, there's this Covers Project Beefheart page.

Bob Johnson of the Knitting Factory in New York City sent this along:

Fast 'n Bulbous, The Captain Beefheart Project, featuring Gary Lucas, arranged by Phillip Johnston w/ A screening of very rare Beefheart footage.
Friday August 1st Two Shows 9 and 11PM
Tickets on sale now at www.knittingfactory.com.

Two Knitting Factory alum return to celebrate the music of Van Vliet better known to legions of fans as Captain Beefheart.
Beefheart's music was genre jumping, extreme, at times absurdist but more than anything influential to scores of musicians that are carrying on traces of his style today. Gary Lucas was a member of Beefhearts Magic Band and went on to become a Knitting Factory favorite before forming his band, Gods and Monsters which has over time had Jeff Buckley and Matthew Sweet in its line up. Phillip Johnston's Microscopic Septet was one of the defining bands of the early days of The Knitting Factory. A mainly self-taught soprano saxophonist and composer, Johnston has went on to gain much fame in scoring films. Last time we did this show it sold out fast, so get your tickets now.

I've cleaned up the main sections of Albums and Vendors sections.

12/01/98:
Zoot Horn Rollo/Bill Harkleroad now has his own domain at http://www.zoothornrollo.com/.

Robert Williams has updated his Devil's Playground site with some original Beefheart sketches.

Paul Brown's continuation of the magazine that started my site, Steal Softly Thru Snow, is now available. I strongly recommend it - he has an exclusive interview with John French/Drumbo, gobs of pictures, data for record collector fanatics, etc. Issue #7 is a faithful continuation of what Gerry Pratt started. Back issues may be available soon.

APOCALYPSE FANZINES, c/o 21 Windsor Avenue, Walthamstow, London, El7 5NA UK.
COST:- UK 3.50 UKPounds + 40p p&p
EUROPE & ROW 3.50 UKPounds + l.50 UKPounds p&p (or 7.00 US Dollars + 3.00 US Dollars or 3 IRC.s p&p)
(An IRC is a sort of international stamp, in this case. Ask at your local post office.)

Subscription for Next 3 Issues of "SSTS":
UK = 10.50 UKPounds + 1.20 UKPounds p&p.
EUROPE /ROW = 10.50 UKPounds + 4.50 UKPounds p&p AIR MAIL (or 30.00 US Dollars)

(Please make cheques payable to "P. Brown". If you are sending cheques or International Money Orders from outside the UK , PLEASE MAKE THEM PAYABLE IN STERLING. Cash is fine, but send it RECORDED DELIVERY for your own peace of mind)

Several people helpfully sent details on the Out There Over There bootleg, probably found over at Midnight Records. I also heard tell that Beefheart video is available at http://vidcom.tierranet.com/c.html, though I have no testimonials as yet on how good a source it is.

There's a Don Van Vliet show on now in NYC:

Don Van Vliet
New work November 11 - December 5
Knoedler & Company
19 East 30 St, NY, NY 10021
212- 794- 0550

John French sent along an addendum to his recent interview I posted.

"Waiting on the Flame was a project I did for Demon. My "Solo Project" so to speak. It was basically a collection of outtakes from CBA (Henry Kaiser Band with Andy West, Bob Adams, Michael Maksemenko) mixed with two different sets of Demos I did on a twelve track Akai. It was mixed poorly and put out as representative of what I would do. "

My final project for my master's degree in Information Technology, using Home Page Replica, has been approved! This means I'll be working on programming more than updates. Also, my immediate supervisor at work just left, and I'm taking over his job. That's great, except I still have to do my old work too, so I'm busy, busy, busy. Updates will be irregular for a while, so please be patient with me - I'll still check email, and there is of course the always excellent Radar Station...

Next update: When I can. See above.

11/05/98:
This update's a bit late, but it's got a gem: I just got a email interview with John French - It was a quick ten questions, but he packed a lot into the response.

Nobody's said anything on the "Out There Over There" bootleg. It must be very new, or rare. Anyone know about it?

10/27/98:
Midnight Records reportedly has some bootlegs available.

I was passed along news about the upcoming Beefheart box set: 5 CDs, The first will be early stuff. The second live 1968, the third and fourth the original TMR recordings, and the 5th, a sort of "everything else". There will also be 30 minutes of video on the 4th CD.

Anyone heard of the "Out There Over There" bootleg? What's on it?

10/20/98:
Anyone willing to dupe their Beefheart videotapes for someone who needs them? Contact me and I'll get you in contact with the person who needs them. It needs to be in NTSC format - soon..

Here's my writeup proposing to work on Home Page Replica as my final project for my Master's degree in Information Technology. This is the first draft.

10/6/98:
If you're looking for a copy of John French's recent "O Solo Drumbo" cd (and you should!), check these addresses:

Koch International - distributor for the US. Their main number is 516-484-1000.
Downtown Music Gallery, 800-622-1387, dmg@panix.com
Forced Exposure, http://www.forcedexposure.com, Wayside, #301-589-6047

Writing a search engine... You can try it, but it probably won't work yet.

9/29/98:
Zoot Horn Rollo/Bill Harkleroad passes along this news about his biography/story of Captain Beefheart and the Magic Band:

"I now have books. Signed copies are $25 (U.S. currency only please) Send cash, check or money order to

Bill Harkleroad
P.O. Box 51106
Eugene OR. 97405
USA

Don't forget to include your name and return address!"

I've read his "Lunar Notes" book - very good, written conversationally. It certainly has a lot of odds and ends of information on the Magic Band I never heard before. He also touches on some of his guitar concepts, so if you play guitar, it's an extra treat. You can also buy "Lunar Notes" at Amazon.com or Barnes & Noble. (Get the signed copy - it's more cool.)

An alert reader (sorry, lost your name) pointed out http://www.musicmailexpress.com/ as a good, though ugly, source for Beefheart CDs. (They have Safe As Milk on vinyl, of all things...) Ever-vigilant Cody Vanderver noted Yahoo! Music has a Beefheart link - http://artists.music.yahoo.com/muze/performer/CaptainBeefheart.html, complete with historical inaccuracies. Also, pulled from the Fire Party mailing list -> http://210.8.25.3/sharkfiles/ -> Warning: high contrast!

John French said this recently:
"Although, by sheer coincidence, Zoot Horn Rollo was originally my stage name. I was christened that in late 1967 and then after Bill joined the band, Don came up with the name Drumbo for me, and Zoot went to him. It never felt right on me anyway. I believe Alex actually made up the name Zoot Horn Rollo as a joke one day."

On a side note - I appreciate when people transcribe lyrics for me. However, to save duplicated effort, you may want to check the lyrics archive (in alphabetical order) or else it won't do much good.

Would a search engine that covered Beefheart specific sites (like the ones listed below in "Ongoing Issues") be useful for you? Tell me...

9/24/98:
Things are slightly delayed while I read the new Lunar Notes book from Bill Harkleroad/Zoot Horn Rollo, kindly sent to me by the Ant-Bee. In the meanwhile, peruse young and very active fan Cody Vanderver's new site Woe Is A Me Bop.

9/14/98:
Cody Vanderver, passed along a bunch of items: Horizons Music apparently has a lot of Beefheart music for under $10. He also noted that Zoot Horn Rollo has his own web pages up at: http://www.teleport.com/~zhr/

Zoot Horn Rollo/Bill Harkleroad's book Lunar Notes is out. A signed copy of the book is available from the author at zhr@teleport.com.

9/8/98:
Zoot Horn Rollo/Bill Harkleroad's book Lunar Notes is out. A signed copy of the book is available from the author at zhr@teleport.com. (If the Amazon link says the book is not yet available, they just haven't updated their pages yet - they sent me email about it.)

Cody Vandever kindly sent along lyrics to "Nowadays a Woman's Gotta Hit a Man" and a correction on lyric placement for the actually lyricless Hair Pie: Bake 2, moving them to Pena.

A Beefheart theme for Windows was helpfully passed along by Duckstab. (1.4M)

8/31/98:
Dean Blackwood sends along this news about the amazing soon-to-be-released Revenant CD box set:

Could each of you post that we are looking for good quality versions of the following live performances from any era:

Suction Prints/Pompadour Swamp
Peon
Dali's Car
Old Fart
Well
The Dust Blows Forward And The Dust Blows Back
Apes Ma
Odd Jobs
Best Batch Yet
Owed T'Alex

And, since the BBC has erased its tapes and Peel himself has no tapes, we are auditioning versions of the Peel Sessions (all 8 tracks) to see who has the best set.

If you've got a recording that you think can be a contender, Dean can be contacted at revenant1@earthlink.net

(as posted before...)
Zoot Horn Rollo/Bill Harkleroad's book Lunar Notes is due out this week, according to Zoot's brother, Bob Horn Rollo. He also notes that anyone wishing to obtain a signed copy of the book right from the author should email Zoot at zhr@teleport.com. Please be patient, though, as ZHR/Bill has a lot on his plate right now, having just released a book. (Figure there will be some turnaround time on any signed volumes.)

8/21/98:
Theo Tieman helpfully sent along the words to the never-released (or recorded) "Brown Star".

Zoot Horn Rollo/Bill Harkleroad's book Lunar Notes is due out Sept. 1, according to Zoot's brother, Bob Horn Rollo. He also notes that anyone wishing to obtain a signed copy of the book right from the author should email Zoot at zhr@teleport.com. Please be patient, though, as ZHR/Bill has a lot on his plate right now, having just released a book. (Figure there will be some turnaround time on any signed volumes.)

It will also be available at Amazon.com, Helter Skelter (an excellent British bookstore in London I've visited myself, Barnes & Noble, and probably other places, too. Theo's got some other local links...

I'll mention here again excellent musician and Beefheart fan Henry Kaiser's website at http://php.indiana.edu/~mpiper/HKMain.html. He has done a mindbending amount of musical work that includes some excellent Beefheart covers and work with ex-Magic Band members.

Dave Chichura helpfully updated his version of "Harry Irene".

Moris Tepper's art show is in its final days; catch it before it ends... See below in "Ongoing Issues" for details.

Bill Haines has set up a tape tree of Beefheart recordings; contact him to find a way to get copies through the tree.

Graham Johnston's got excellent documentation of just what will be in that amazing Beefheart box set from Revenant... (note that there will be 5! CDs and computer-accessible video...)

8/10/98:
Dave Chichura helpfully transcribed the lyrics to "Harry Irene".

The upcoming book "Lunar Notes" from Bill Harkleroad/Zoot Horn Rollo, long time Magic Band guitarist, is available for preorder from Amazon.com. Here's a direct link to it. The details there mention it will be here in September with 192 pages. I may eventually have an address from which one can order it direct, if anyone would prefer. (It may make more money for the authors, which is always a nice thing.)

The upcoming highly-anticipated CD set from Revenant gets a mention here: http://www.muzic.com/cgi-bin/news/634a9669-0-0/daily.html/3Aug1998#3. The article places the release date a little farther off then I previously knew... :(

8/3/98:
"This Is Your Captain Speaking" - a pile of RealAudio clips with Beefheart dialogue - is up now at the following URL: (much thanks to Marc Wielaert for this)

http://www.omroep.nl/nps/radio/4FM/captain.html

I posted a transcript helpfully typed by Steve Froy and posted to the FireParty (check the Radar Station for details) of a page of the "Captain Beefheart Vs. the Grunt People" movie script. That's a darn long sentence.

The Revenant project (Beefheart CD set) is underway. More news as I hear it - should be out by the end of the year.

7/27/98:
The Captain Beefheart RealAudio show is on tonight - did anyone capture it to a file?

http://www.nps.nl/supplement/

TAN Mitsugu sent along several neat items which now reside in the Messylaneous section:
Doctor Dark tab
Golden Birdies MIDI
Flavor Bud Living MIDI
Peon MIDI
Dali's Car MIDI

And for the last time, from Dean Blackwood at Revenant:

"Revenant's 4-cd hardcover book set of unissued/rare Beefheart tracks has now been scheduled for November release through our distributor Koch. This means that we need to have all tracks, texts and materials in hand and squared away by August 1, which is only 5 weeks away [a few days, now - Justin]. This will give us the full month of August to do the layout and mastering, so that we can submit everything to press by the beginning of September, allowing 8 weeks for pressing, printing and bindery. The 4 cds will be housed in a foil-stamped, cloth-bound hardcover 64+ page book, so it'll take a bit of time to lay it out but should prove to be a whopper."
If you want to contribute, contact Dean at revenant1@earthlink.net. If you have specific material such as photos, recordings, concert posters, etc., contact timmdaly@aol.com as he's managing those materials for Dean.

7/14/98:
Sent by Marc Wielaert, among others:
"4 hours of Captain Beefheart in RealAudio. Hear the Captain talk! NPS/VPRO Supplement, the Dutch radioshow on alternative music on Radio 4, will dedicate 4 hours of radio to the music of Captain Beefheart. Large parts of the program have previously been broadcast on the 16th of august 1993.
In 1993, Co de Kloet had a long telephone conversation with Don van Vliet, and this bizarre conversation formed the base of the broadcast then, including of course the unique record and CD-material that Captain Beefheart produced in his career.
On request: Lick My Decals Off, Baby, 4 hours of Captain Beefheart, Juli 27th, 20.02 - 00.00 hours (CET) on Radio 4 in the Netherlands. During the broadcast also in RealAudio all over the world. http://www.nps.nl/supplement/

I was told the incredibly rare (and necessary) album "Lick My Decals Off, Baby" is available in cassette form at Horizon Music

On an unrelated note, local Rochester magazine Computer Link has interviewed me for their "Web PROfiles" section - if you are in the area, give it a read. Shiningsilence, though not HPR, gets a mention.

And for a few more days, from Dean Blackwood at Revenant:

"Revenant's 4-cd hardcover book set of unissued/rare Beefheart tracks has now been scheduled for November release through our distributor Koch. This means that we need to have all tracks, texts and materials in hand and squared away by August 1, which is only 5 weeks away [a few days, now - Justin]. This will give us the full month of August to do the layout and mastering, so that we can submit everything to press by the beginning of September, allowing 8 weeks for pressing, printing and bindery. The 4 cds will be housed in a foil-stamped, cloth-bound hardcover 64+ page book, so it'll take a bit of time to lay it out but should prove to be a whopper."
If you want to contribute, contact Dean at revenant1@earthlink.net. If you have specific material such as photos, recordings, concert posters, etc., contact timmdaly@aol.com as he's managing those materials for Dean.

7/14/98:
Oops - deleted. Sorry. News of John French's new album, O Solo Drumbo, among other things.

7/6/98:
My interview with Robert Williams is still unfinished - I've not managed to get ahold of him again (plus I haven't yet transcribed the 60+ minutes of talking we already did.

John French's (Drumbo) solo album called "O Solo Drumbo" is out. It's an excellent album, with the drums to a number of Magic Band songs (though his version of "The Thousandth and Tenth Day of the Human Totem Pole" is practically the whole song). I'll have a review as soon as I can. Meanwhile, it may be showing at Forced Exposure, Wayside, and Downtown Music Gallery. (Anyone got URLs for the second and third one?)

Again, from Dean Blackwood at Revenant:

"Revenant's 4-cd hardcover book set of unissued/rare Beefheart tracks has now been scheduled for November release through our distributor Koch. This means that we need to have all tracks, texts and materials in hand and squared away by August 1, which is only 5 weeks away. This will give us the full month of August to do the layout and mastering, so that we can submit everything to press by the beginning of September, allowing 8 weeks for pressing, printing and bindery. The 4 cds will be housed in a foil-stamped, cloth-bound hardcover 64+ page book, so it'll take a bit of time to lay it out but should prove to be a whopper."
If you want to contribute, contact Dean at revenant1@earthlink.net. If you have specific material such as photos, recordings, concert posters, etc., contact timmdaly@aol.com as he's managing those materials for Dean.

6/29/98:
Here's something from Dean Blackwood at Revenant:

"Revenant's 4-cd hardcover book set of unissued/rare Beefheart tracks has now been scheduled for November release through our distributor Koch. This means that we need to have all tracks, texts and materials in hand and squared away by August 1, which is only 5 weeks away. This will give us the full month of August to do the layout and mastering, so that we can submit everything to press by the beginning of September, allowing 8 weeks for pressing, printing and bindery. The 4 cds will be housed in a foil-stamped, cloth-bound hardcover 64+ page book, so it'll take a bit of time to lay it out but should prove to be a whopper."
If you want to contribute, contact Dean at revenant1@earthlink.net. If you have specific material such as photos, recordings, concert posters, etc., contact timmdaly@aol.com as he's managing those materials for Dean.

A fellow named John Poultney in San Francisco is looking to put together a Beefheart cover CD - he's looking for artists who have covered Beefheart in the past and would be interested in contributing songs.

I'll have a nifty interview with Robert Williams up soon - I need to transcribe it. I already have more than an hour of material, and I'm going to talk more tonight. Don't forget the upcoming chat with Robert Williams at Graham Johnston's excellent Radar Station.

John French's (Drumbo) solo album called "O Solo Drumbo" will be out real soon now. I'll post a review here as soon as I get my copy and also an address everyone can purchase it from.

6/22/98:
Intrepid Graham Johnston has scheduled a chat with Robert Williams in his "Yellow Yap" chat room. Take a Java-enabled browser and check it out. He has notes on the specific times at his site.

I've given Robert Williams' album a new, in-depth review.

Graham has also located 2 prints of Beefheart artwork. I'll take this chance to also point out ArtRock and some other places have been selling Magic Band concert poster reprints for some time.

I recently got email from Vic Mortensen, one of the first members of the Magic Band. He played drums until he was drafted (!) in 1965. If you've got Zappa's "Lost Episodes" album, he's playing drums on that early Zappa/Beefheart song, "Tiger Roach".

6/12/98:
I got the new Robert Williams album just a few days ago in the mail. (He was a drummer in the later incarnation of the Magic Band.) It's titled "Date With The Devil's Daughter". if you haven't noticed me posting about it.

It's a startling mix. On one hand, it's chock-full of rhythms that jump around and should remind you of modern music like the Chemical Brothers. On the other hand, it also has depth of meaning that you don't normally find in that style of music. The first song has an appearance (apparently from Robert's answering machine) of perenially odd person Wild Man Fischer. The second and seventh song have vocals from Mark Mothersbaugh of Devo, and several ex-Magic Band/Zappa band musicians make appearances too - Moris Tepper, Bruce Fowler, Arthur Barrow...

I strongly recommend ordering it now. It really is a good album. His website with Tone Casualties has some sound samples if you still are curious. I plan to get an interview in with Robert Williams as soon as I get a chance, along with a further review of the album.

Be sure to check the Old News section if you missed last week's notes about the spiffy Revenant release.

In other news, I just started a job with Rochester Time-Warner Cable, working as a webmaster for their cable modem division. Lots of fun. I have a cable modem installed now... I'm working on setting up a potential server for HPR files.

6/5/98:
The Revenant album is shaping up like this:

Remember, none of what I just wrote is "official" - I could be completely wrong, depending on how the project goes. exactly what will be on the CDs will be known as soon as I actually hold one in my hands. When it's announced, I'll note it here in a big way - it will be some number of months yet.

Got something to contribute to that project? Contact Dean Blackwood (at revenant1@earthlink.net )

Tomas Flackman of the Swedish "Vi Magazine" passed along a note that he managed to travel to Eugene, Oregon, to interview Bill Harkleroad/Zoot Horn Rollo in person, concentrating on what's happened since the Magic Band. The interview became a 5 page article in "Vi", which hopefully Theo Tieman over at Electricity will be able to translate, since I don't know Swedish. However, Tomas sent along a nice picture of Mr. Horn Rollo: (Note: picture copyright: Magnus Toren.)

5/29/98:
Dean Blackwood (at revenant1@earthlink.net ) of Revenant is putting together a Beefheart collection in the style of their earlier releases - i.e. a small book with a CD. I've seen (and heard) their CD releases on other subjects like Dock Boggs or early American music and it's startlingly well done. Anyone with rare recordings, info, whatever, that would like to help out, should contact Dean at the address above. It looks to be an excellent product when finished.

Graham Johnston's excellent site has now become the slightly less wordy "The Captain Beefheart Radar Station" and is now located at http://www.beefheart.com. He'll also now be hosting "Filtered Thru Dust Speakers", mostly because he got the space for it first.

I've got an external server set up that will soon be going into service, giving me oodles more file space, so I should in theory get new movies and such up soon. See the next paragraph as to why this may change.

I got a new job - I'm the web programmer for Time-Warner's cable modem division in Rochester. This may change where I host HPR (or not) and therefore change the services I offer. It also means I probably won't be working on HPR as my thesis this summer. I'm looking at taking more of a "support" role with HPR, as Electricity and The Radar Station are now doing all the things I used to do (and faster, too). I'm toying with the idea of a "Lyrics archive" that we can all share, and other material along those lines.

If you've sent me material lately, don't fret. I've got it all, but I've been in a tizzy lately with figuring out how I'd be employed.

5/19/98:
Home Page Replica is on break for a short while. I'm applying for several jobs right now. In the meantime, Graham Johnston and Theo Tieman have been furiously updating their pages.

There's good chances of a new Beefheart album... or rather, unreleased tracks being compiled and released as a well-documented retrospective. I'll have more details as time permits.

5/13/98:
In the middle of finishing several grad projects and grading the classes I teach - sorry, nothing much this week. I'll update this weekend, I hope.

Here's a few scraps:

Graham Johnston has the package I sent him containing a vast quantity of Beefheart stuff, so check his site out. He's starting to get a lot of material up, including some '85 photos of Don Van Vliet in Germany, and more...

Robert Williams' new album is on the way out - have you ordered it yet?

My colocated server has been ordered...

5/6/98:
Sorry for the late update, but I'm in the last two weeks of my academic quarter and I'm finishing a lot of work. Here's some news scraps.

My "captain's treasure trunk", as Theo Tieman dubbed it, is the 21 pounds of clippings and photos that I had been keeping in my "Beefheart file cabinet". It's going out tomorrow to Graham Johnston in the UK and then to Theo Tieman in the Netherlands, and then back to me. This should mean that more of this material I've been not putting up will finally make it online, as three webmasters can outperform one any day.

I found Robert Williams' phone number again, and talked to him. I've already ordered his new album (have you ordered it yet?) and will have a review of it along with an interview of Robert Williams next chance I get. I'll also be giving him some space on shiningsilence to use as he likes. (This is an offer open to any Magic Band member, if there's any reading this right now.)

My colocated server should be up in a few weeks, which means lots of filespace...

4/28/98:
Gary Lucas (former Magic Band guitarist) has another CD out and an online shop from which you can order his material.

As mentioned previously, Robert Williams (former Magic Band drummer) has a CD coming out soon, called "Date With The Devil's Daughter", available for purchase through Tone Casualties. Anyone have his phone number? I lost it...

My old boss over at Internet Headquarters has graciously agreed to let me colocate on his leased line - as soon as I get another computer together to use. This means much more filespace, which means I should start putting up more movies, as soon as I can make them.

Speaking of movies, the videos I ordered from Dave Jones arrived - nicely packaged. Several people have written in to note that he is quite reliable. Check the FAQ for ordering info. The contents, as written on the tapes:

Tape 1:
Live French TV 1980:
   Nowadays A Woman's Gotta Hit A Man
   Best Batch Yet
   Dirty Blue Gene
   Safe As Milk
   Flavor Bud Living
   Bat Chain Puller
   Big Eyed Beans From Venus
1980 NBC TV profile (8 min)
Interview David Letterman 11/11/82
Interview David Letterman 1982
Live Belgium TV 1974:
   Mirror Man
   Upon The My Oh My
   Full Moon, Hot Sun
   Crazy Little Thing
   Sweet Georgia Brown
   Peaches
   Let Me Be Your Heart
I'm Gonna Booglarize You Baby (Beat Club 72)
Upon The My Oh My (BBC TV 74)
Saturday Night Live 1980:
   Hot Head
   Ashtray Heart
Peaches (BBC Whistle Test 74)

Tape 2:
1997 BBC Documentary (51 min)
1974 Pinkpop Festival (1 min)
1968 French TV:
   Electricity
   Sure Nuff N' Yes I Do
1974 Whistle Test:
   This Is The Day
   Upon The My Oh My
1968 Rome Festival (1 min)
1971 Washington DC:
   When Big Joan Sets Up
   Bellerin' Plain
   Woe Is A Me Bop
   Feet Press Conference
1972 Whistle Test:
   Big Eyed Beans From Venus
1972 Bataclan Paris:
   Click Clack (clip)
1985 Art Exhibition opening interview

4/21/98:
Graham Johnson over at "The Artist Formerly Known As Captain Beefheart" has been updating furiously, including the contents of both U.K. magazine articles Theo Tieman of Electricity recently noted. If you aren't checking these two sites often, you should.

Robert Williams, former Magic Band drummer, has a new album arriving soon, along with a website soon to be at http://www.willlbr.com. The CD can be ordered online, as I have already done, at Tone Casualties. Here's the blurb he sent me:

"Got a new CD coming out called "DATE WITH THE DEVIL'S DAUGHTER" (Casual Tonalities) a division of Tone Casualties a subsidiary of Klasky-Csupo the animation famous for The Simpsons, Rugrats, Duck Man, and Aah! Real Monsters. Release date is April 14th and was written, arranged, produced, and performed by Robert Williams with guest artists: Mark Mothersbaugh (DEVO), Stevie Salas (BOOTSIE, ROD STEWART, SASH JORDAN, and NICKEL BAG), Greg Araguine (SEAL, CHRIS ISAAC, and STAN RIDGEWAY), Mike Miller (CHICK COREA and BANNED FROM UTOPIA), Wild Man Fischer, Arthur Barrow (ZAPPA, BILLY IDOL), Bruce Fowler (ZAPPA/BEEFHEART etc.) and Morris Tepper (CB, TOM WAITS)."

"Filtered Thru Dust Speakers", Mike Shecket's spiffy Beefheart .mp3 soundfile site, recently added the Original Bat Chain Puller. There's a good chance I'll be hosting "Filtered" over the summer, along with a lot more filespace, while Mike is away from school.

Henry Kaiser sent along this news:
"The American country blues guy, ALVIN YOUNGBLOOD HART's 2nd and newest CD scheduled for release in 2 months on Hannibal/Ryko has a band version of ICE ROSE (aka BIG BLACK BABY SHOES) on it. Unusual for Hart as his last CD was all just acoustic country blues and that's what he's known for. ICE ROSE is one of two electric tracks."

I'm still going through old files - expect a master "todo" list to appear here soon. My contact info has changed, now with my address and phone, for those who need it. Remember, always try email first.

4/14/98:
Theo Tieman over at Electricity has noted several UK magazines with Beefheart articles coming out. (Check there for details.) It may take some searching in the States to find these magazines; they probably will be arriving in shops soon.

I bought an issue of Goldmine and an issue of Discoveries the other day, and I found a few interesting items. Midnight Records has the excellent boot "The Early Years" for US$28. There are other nifty items scattered through the magazines, but the important one is this...

Page 74 of Discoveries lists a video seller who is selling these two videos:

I haven't ordered from this person before, so I don't know how reliable he is, but this is the only source I know for this material. I'll order these videos real soon now, however. Here's the order info, copied straight from the magazine ad.

"All tapes are recorded in SP mode and in Hi-Fi [the Beefheart tapes are not in stereo] and they all come on TDK extra high grade VHS tape. All are professionally filmed EX- to Mint quality. All come with custom labels (most with full track listings). Fast and Reliable service. (Most tapes go out within 24 to 48 hours.) Prices and postage: Each title is $25 postpaid in the U.S. (special 4th class rate) U.S. Priority and Canadian air mail ad an extra $2 for first 3 tapes and an extra $1 for each additional 2 tapes. Foreign $5 extra per tape for air mail postage and $2 extra for conversion to another country's format. (PAL, SECAM, etc.) U.S. funds only. Also available on TDK XP tape for $4 extra (S-VHS format also available on this. S-VHS recordings can only be played back on a S-VHS deck). Or you can supply your own blank and deduct $3 per title."

Send check or money order to:
Dave Jones
P.O. Box 9364
Wyoming, MI 49509-0364
U.S.A.
(Include 2 32-cent stamps or 2 IRCs to get a catalog, or get a free catalog with an order.)

In other news, Bill Harkleroad/Zoot Horn Rollo sent out this email to all that have mailed him:

"This is to let you know that your e-mail hasn't fallen on deaf ears. I've kept thinking I would have time to respond individually but right now it just can't happen. I've definitely received a ton more responses than I had expected. So for now everyone will get this, and as time allows I'll try to get back to the e-mails that asked for specific responces.

MOST OF ALL THANKS FOR ALL YOUR KIND THOUGHTS.

As I'm writing this I'm waiting for the manuscript of " LUNAR NOTES " (the book) for the re-write. I hope it will be of interest to the Beefheart fans.

Bye for now, Zoot"

Note that his forthcoming book is now titled "Lunar Notes". It should be out within a month or so. (And yes, I'll definitely announce it here as soon as I know.) This incidentally puts to rest some debate about the lyrics to "Big Eyed Beans From Venus".

I posted the Langdon Winner article "The Odyssey Of Captain Beefheart" in Articles. An excellent article, but take what it says with a grain of salt. Thanks to Bill Bamberger and Mike Shecket for typing large chunks of this article and saving my wrists, and to Mark Chandler for sending the cover scan.

Craig Chalone is the new owner of my bass. My new computer is set up, obviously. I'm running mostly the Intel version of BeOS, if you're technically curious. Lots more to come in the next few weeks.

3/27/98:
There's a spiffy new Beefheart site that covers a lot of the material I haven't, called The Artist Formerly Known As Captain Beefheart. There's a lot of Beefheart sites popping up lately. Finally, I'm no longer the only game in town.

Nolan's site is another new one, mentioned last week.
http://members.tripod.com/~RocketteMorton/. And of course, Theo Tieman's Electricity is an excellent resource.

Thanks for the offers - Bill Bamberger has sent along the rest of the Langdon Winner article I needed, and I'll have it up soon. There's several people wanting to buy my bass (which I am now spelling correctly) but if you are curious, I have pictures here.

I'm selling my current computer and buying a new set of equipment. I may be late on the next update, as I have to backup all my data (mostly Beefheart stuff, of course) and won't easily answer email for a bit. I'm planning to put up a "todo" list on the site - this will let people know what's coming, and what the status of mailed info is. (I'm permanently behind on covering material.) Meanwhile, there are those excellent sites mentioned above...

3/21/98:(updated)
Anyone want to buy my base? It's a US-made Fender P-Base. A wire needs to be resoldered, and it has a few dings. It's bright red, from the mid 80's, and comes with a hard shell case, a medium sized Gorilla base/keyboard amp, and the old 5-string bridge if you want to put that back on. (Has 4 strings now.) A measly $200 is all I ask, plus shipping. If anyone is actually interested, I'll take a picture and put it online.

A fellow named Nolan is starting another Beefheart site - take a look at
http://members.tripod.com/~RocketteMorton/.

Bob Horn Rollo (Bill Harkleroad's brother) sent along a picture of the early Magic Band, which shows Rich Hepner's name in the caption. (link now fixed)

Uncle Fester's "Fast and Bulbous" music reviews has a review of the band "Cul De Sac"'s album "The Epiphany Of Glenn Jones (Thirsty Ear)". Glenn Jones (who is in that band) is a nifty guy in Boston who some years ago gave me a pile of Beefheart clippings, tapes, and has the most amazing collection of music in his house I've ever seen.

I updated a little bit of the info on the recent NME cartoon.

Apparently there is a bookshop in Cardiff (South Wales) called "Troutmark" - the owner is named Mark, and you can guess what music they play in the store.

A favor request: anyone who has a copy of the Rolling Stone number 58 Langdon Winner interview of Captain Beefheart ("I'm not even here I just stick around for my friends") - could you type the fourth or fifth page out for me and email it? I'm trying to type it out to include in the Articles section, and it's loooong.

I'm down to only 16 things in my "to do for HPR" list - woo! Of course, I have a big pile of material from a few months ago that I misplaced and have to reassemble, and a hefty pile of images and paper clippings to sort through. HPR will probably become some or all of my thesis project for my Master's degree in InfoTech. I might even graduate someday!

3/15/98: (lots of news)

NME magazine has put up an entertaining cartoon about "Trout Mask Replica" being in (I assume Mojo's) top 100 albums of all time. Chris Hardman kindly scanned it and sent it along - it's here in the Articles section.

Chris James has sent along the tab to "Moonlight On Vermont", and it can be found in the Messylaneous section.

I added Apes-Ma and When I See Mommy I feel Like A Mummy to the Lyrics section, both contributed by Petr Ferenc, and "The Thousand and Tenth Day of the Human Totem Pole", contributed by Eric Holmes. Also, Big Eyed Beans From Venus, annotated by Neil Scranton. (I added a picture.)

The spiffy Bill Harkleroad/Zoot Horn Rollo interview at Hi-Fi Mundo has been completed in its third and final installment. I put a note about getting the Guitar Player issue with an interview of Bill Harkleroad on his page.

Mike Shecket is adding even more .mp3 format sound files to his excellent Beefheart sound site "Filtered Thru Dust Speakers". If you didn't know, that title is taken from an unreleased Beefheart song "Odd Jobs" - one of my favorites.

Added the link to Rik Walton's photo of Captain Beefheart in the Links section.

I forget if I asked this before - has anyone heard of Rich Hepner, apparently a Magic Band guitarist from 1965-6, who apparently also went on to Mu with Jeff Cotton?

I've updated some of the "Ongoing Issues" down below. Nothing new there, but check them if you haven't been visiting HPR too frequently.

A more specific question: Has any reader had experience with the various CD-R mechanisms and can recommend one?

3/11/98: (Long update today...)
My recent honeymoon in London for the first week of March went very well - my wife and I saw the Tower of London, Westminster Abbey, St. Paul's, several museums, took a trip to Oxford (the Pitts Rivers museum is neat), saw Cats at the New London Theatre, etc., etc. We plan to go to the UK again in a few years - I'd be glad to meet some of the UK readers of HPR then. (This time... well, it was a honeymoon, after all.)

While in London, I tried to locate the Beefheart book Stand Up To Be Discontinued while poking around the many bookstores in Charing Cross, but no luck. I did locate the Mojo issue that identified Trout Mask Replica as one of the greatest albums ever, at a store called "Helter Skelter", who also claimed to have once had Beefheart T-shirts. I compensated by purchasing the only Beefheart CDs I didn't have - Unconditionally Guaranteed and Bluejeans and Moonbeams.

I've included another transcription from the helpful Mark Steven Brooks - this time of "One Red Rose That I Mean", from "Lick My Decals Off, Baby". It's in the Messylaneous section. I'm going to have to create a separate transcriptions section soon.

Henry Kaiser, who has worked with a number of magic Band members and has covered a number of Magic Band songs, (and done about a million other things - does this man sleep?) has a set of web pages up at http://php.indiana.edu/~mpiper/HKMain.html.

David Hossack is looking for help on a book project. Essentially, he's looking for information on "overlooked masterpieces" of music, for inclusion in a book he's writing. If you want to write a blurb for him on how you like a particular but mostly unknown album (doesn't have to be a Beefheart album), contact him for details at dhosedin@email.msn.com.

I want to move all my analog bootlegs into digital format on my computer. Anyone have specific recommendations on good audio equipment for this? (Specifically deck and cables to look for.) I have some equipment but it's... poor. I'm trying to get as clean a digital copy as possible. Yes, you would probably all reap the benefits.

Next update: By March 18, but hopefully sooner.

2/25/98:
I'm leaving on the 28th to visit London, England. This is my slightly delayed honeymoon, as I wasn't on an academic break when I got married on the 31st. I'll be gone until March 7th, and I daresay that I will not be making any updates to HPR in that time.

There's an article on Moris Tepper, Magic Band guitarist, in issue 51 of Mojo. I announced it before, but issue 51 should be available to everyone now.

Mark Steven Brooks has sent along yet another transcription, this time of "Flavor Bud Living" from the "Doc At The Radar Station" album. It can be found, along with other transcriptions, in the Messylaneous section.

The third part of Hi-Fi Mundo's excellent interview with Bill Harkleroad (AKA Zoot Horn Rollo) may be up before I return from across the ocean. Harkleroad's book, written with the Ant-Bee, should be out soon, too...

Speaking of the Ant-Bee, he sent me his recent CD "Lunar Muzik", which I quite enjoy. I'll get a review up Real Soon Now, but until then I'd point people at my review of an earlier CD from him, 'With My Favorite "Vegetables" & Other Bizarre Music.'. It's like a wierd mix of early MOI, Beefheart and the Beach Boys.

For the terminally curious, I've stuck together a little CGI script in Perl that tracks the types of browsers hitting HPR. It's a little arcane, since it was mostly for me to use, but you can look at it here.

2/20/98:

Late Update:The band Colorblind James Experience is playing here in Rochester, New York, on Saturday the 21st at 10 PM at Richmonds, at 21 Richmond St. I mention this because the spot in the paper I read about the band has a picture of their latest album, which pictures Captain Beefheart, among others, in a parody of the Beatles "Sgt. Pepper" album. I'll try to go to the performance. Any other Rochester readers able to go?

I uploaded several Quicktime .mov clips that I had been meaning to put up for some time. It includes (most of) the TV commercial for "Lick My Decals Off, Baby" and 2 short clips from the 1980 SNL performance, which are the same ones I had posted before. Thanks to Mark Chandler for reminding me that I had said "coming soon".

Theo Tieman, bringer of Electricity, pointed out I forgot to put a "Van Vliet" section on the People page so that readers could get to the transcription of the 1982 interview on the Late Show with David Letterman. It's fixed now. Also, my counter apparently got eaten, somehow. :( I was nearing 15,000 visits since last August. It's reset now.

Any of our readers in the U.K. able to tell me what the weather will be like in London the first week of March? Mrs. Page Replica and I wll be spending our honeymoon there at that time.

I've been making updates more frequently than my normal 7-day timespan, so be sure to check my Old News page if you haven't been by recently.

2/18/98:
I've (re)added the transcription for "Peon" and added the transcription for "Dali's Car"to the Misc section - thanks, Mark Steven Brooks and Raymond Ricker. Is anyone feeling up to creating MIDI versions of these instrumentals?

I've added a picture of the "What's All This Booga Booga Music" album. Thanks go again to Mr. Ricker. He also sent along some excellent photos of Captain Beefheart and the Magic Band from a 1980 concert that he attended, along with a wonderful story. (Placed in the Articles section.)

As several people have mailed me, the upcoming Coen Brothers movie, The Big Lebowski, has a Beefheart song in the score - it's "Her Eyes Are A Blue Million Miles". The movie has a website with a listing of the songs used in the film, at http://www.lebowski.com/ .

2/12/98:
This is a quick update to let people know I survived the marriage ceremony. :) I'm finishing several projects for grad school in the next week, so I'm a bit busy, but I should be resuming my weekly update schedule. If you have the Shockwave plugin and a relatively speedy net connection, you can look at my Webradio project.

As Theo Tieman again scooped me on Electricity, there's an album called "Electricity" coming out that's apparently another release of the early Magic Band recordings from Buddah. Nothing new except the cover art, I'm guessing... (Though I could be wrong.)

Here's an entertaining Beefheart picture, I would guess from the mid 1970s.

My marriage on January 31st went wonderfully. My wife and I are now happily living together, and we have managed to (mostly) merge our stuff into our apartment. No, we didn't play any Beefheart music at the reception...

1/29/98:
Got a few moments before I leave for Pennsylvania to get married, so here's some quick notes. Hi-Fi Mundo has the second part of their wonderful Bill Harkleroad/Zoot Horn Rollo interview up. Bill Harkleroad also was apparently interviewed on the 27th on 89.1 FM, WFNM. (PA.?) - I know it's a little late to be telling anyone, but I hope for a tape with which to make a transcription. Also, I heard rumors that on Feb. 2, Comedy Central will air the Saturday Night Live episode with Captain Beefheart and the Magic Band playing "Hot Head" and "Ashtray Heart" - get them VCRs rolling.

As Theo Tieman noted on Electricity, Moris Tepper has a spot about the (re)start and end of the Magic Band in issue 51 of Mojo, which should hit the stands here in the U.S.A. soon. There's a mention of Beefheart every time I pick up that magazine, it seems. I'm quite overdue for a review of Moris's recent album and an actual review with him - I'll fix that soon. He told me in a recent conversation that he's thinking about producing an animated piece using some of his artwork.

I'm getting hitched this Saturday in DuBois, Pennsylvania to my girlfriend of these past four years, Lani Masonis. (I realized I hadn't named her recently.) Thanks to all that have sent their good wishes in.

1/22/98:
Big things happening. I'm getting married on the 31st of this month - that's 9 days. (!) Not surprisingly, I'm going to be pretty busy. Go ahead and send email, files, etc, but I may or may not be responsive. Also, my computer's boot disk is slowly chewing itself to bits, so I'm backing everything up, quickly. While I'm at it, I'm switching to using BeOS as my primary operating system on my computer, so everything's in a mess, temporarily.

Mike Shecket has started a neat Beefheart MP3 website called "Filtered Thru Dust Speakers" at http://filtered.ml.org/. (Try this link if you don't go right to it.)

1/17/98:
More and more lyrics, this time from Petr Ferenc. He sent along a bunch of lyrics for The Spotlight Kid - all linked on the page for the album. I put in an entry for the album "One Size Fits All".

I'm working also on a long-overdue search tool for everyone to use on HPR.

1/15/98:
I felt bad about my sparse updates lately, so I took care of the pile of lyrics Bill Bamberger sent me - the lyrics for: Grown So Ugly, Rock and Roll's Evil Doll, Twist Ah Luck, Pompadour Swamp, Upon The My O My, New Electric Ride, Party Of Special Things To Do, Too Much Time, Her Eyes Are A Blue Million Miles, My Head Is My Only House Unless It Rains, Long Neck Bottles, and Low Yo Yo Stuff are now online.

My father buys me a variety of blues CDs of various artists, and sometimes he finds really great selections, like the complete 1965 Son House sessions. There's some interesting similarities in style and even lyrics between Son House songs like "Death Letter" and "Grinnin' In Your Face" to Beefheart songs like "Ah Feel Like Ahcid" and "Tarotplane". I plan to explore the lyrics in a future update; until then, I'd recommend purchasing recordings of Son House, Robert Johnson, and Howlin' Wolf to really see where a lot of early musical influence on the Magic Band came from. The less-famous Charlie Patton is another obvious style influence, and worthwhile to track down. (Leadbelly is another favorite of mine, though not apparently related to the Magic Band.)

Misc...
Good reports are still coming in about Music Boulevard... Electricity has some nice new article transcriptions and a new picture up... Bill Harkleroad's book written with the Ant-Bee is due in March/April, titled "Sun Zoom Spark". Speaking of the Ant-Bee, I'll have a review of his most recent album up soon - I'm hoping it will be as excellent as the last one I looked at...

1/13/97:
Music Boulevard has been reported to have excellent service, including to non-U.S. customers. Their prices and selection may make them the place to go when looking for in-print albums.

My "webradio" project is now up. What you see there is a test version for the database. It's not useful yet, and contains nothing Beefheart-related yet. (In fact, it contains close to nothing at all.) I'll be putting samples and controls onto it over the next few weeks. You need the Shockwave plugin from Macromedia to see it.

1/6/98:
Music Boulevard has a wide selection of Beefheart CDs at very low prices; they are at http://www.musicblvd.com/ (and have been added to the Vendors page.) If you order from them, please let me know about the quality of the service.

Several people have mailed me noting that the upcoming Coen Brothers film "The Big Lebowski" is supposed to have Captain Beefheart music in it, as mentioned in trailers for the movie. It's apparently due in March of this year.

Mike Shecket's plot summary, taken from Coming Attractions: "A bowling player and his buddies are the victims of mistaken identity, and find themselves surrounded in a web of lies, gangsters, leather clad germans, torture, porn film stars, acid flashbacks and vietnam vets, among other matters." Sounds much like a Coen Brothers film - they also made Barton Fink and (I think) Fargo.

12/30/97:

(Late Update: the Peon transcription is garbled - A fix is forthcoming.)

I've updated the notation for Peon - Mark Steven Brooks sent me a much cleaner version of his transcription. There's another add-on to the Herb Berman (non?)entity, and added the poem "Hollow Smoke", a possible continuation to "Old Fart At Play".

If you've sent me material in the past few months and I've apparently done nothing with it, please be patient. My updates will be skimpier and less frequent as my marriage on January 31st approaches.

12/21/97:
Hi-Fi Mundo, an interesting web site, has posted the beginning of an excellent interview with Bill Harkleroad, AKA Zoot Horn Rollo, former Magic Band guitarist.

Happy holidays to all. Since it's the season for gifts, here's a few notes:
The Electricity, site has been updated again. (Theo's going to make me look unproductive), Vintage LP has the original Safe As Milk album with sticker for $70. Intergalactic Garage has the bootleg (shh!) album "Puller Man", along with some other gems like the Pearls Before Swine book that I need to review here. Midnight Records has a number of interesting recordings, Saturn Records has some Rolling Stone issues with Captain Beefheart, and Vinyl Vendors has a few items, including the rare "Light Reflected..." release. Buy something for your favorite Beefheart fan. (Or buy it for me :) )

12/18/97:
Minor updates to Herb Berman's entry, fixed Don's age in his entry, added the article from one of the many Safe As Milk releases, and updated the "Hey Garland" lyrics.

I made an index to the Lyrics directory. Songs are still linked through the albums they appear on, of course. I typed from memory, so please tell me if I made any mistakes.

I got my issue of Resonance - it's an excellent magazine, and the two John French tracks on the included CD are good to hear. (Continuation of issue listed below...)

12/11/97:
I've made a "Don Van Vliet" people page, and put in a transcription of his 1982 interview on David Letterman, transcribed by Jamie Gullikson. I've (re)added a link to Ted Alvy's Cosmos Topper pages on the Links page.

Work is proceeding apace on my "web radio" project - chances are I should have several songs in there from a variety of Magic Band members, with permission, along with some rare Magic Band tracks and other musicians. I'll have a prototype up soon, and will post the URL here that happens.

As per some people's suggestions, I'm also working on an "anecdotes" section, where people can type in their own recollections of concerts, meeting band members, etc., and have them posted automatically. I don't know how soon that'll be working, as it's lower priority than the web radio project right now.

12/4/97:
Henry Kaiser kindly sent along the notes for John French's new album, due out in a few months. Currently, I'm placing the album notes in the People section, as the album isn't out yet. The notes are an entertaining read, and this is (as far as I know) a HPR exclusive.

12/1/97:
The latest issue of the CD/Magazine package "Resonance" (Vol. 6, Number 1) has information from John French (AKA "Drumbo") on the creation of Trout Mask Replica, plus two tracks on the CD of John French playing at the Festival of Experimental Music in London, 1996. The full-length CD also has music from other, non-Magic Band folks like Iancu Dumitrescu (from Romania), Faust (from Germany) Altered States (from Japan) and apparently others. The magazine is 60 pages and features even more musicians I don't know.

I've not read this magazine or heard the CD yet. I'll note my impressions as soon as I receive my copy - I am excited about hearing the John French drumming, as I've really liked what I've heard of his non-Magic Band work.

Here's the subscription info, copied from email. As a note to my U.S. readers, use an International Money Order at the Post Office for sending the money via mail - it's probably the easiest way to send money in another currency.

Scott (no last name given) is the 10,000th visitor since shiningsilence came to exist. Congratulations.

A bit of history - I've probably amassed many times more hits since Home Page Replica started in summer 1994, when HPR was running off of my brother's office computer. That was the only way to get webserver access at the time, since my school had no server and it wasn't offered with any local provider that I knew of... You can see some pictures of that early web page if you have an old issue of Steal Softly Thru Snow.

11/26/97:
Terry mailed me that the latest issue of Guitar Player Magazine (January 1998) has four pages on Zoot Horn Rollo, also known as Bill Harkleroad, one of the early Magic Band members who played on a number of albums, including Trout Mask Replica.

Happy Thanksgiving, to all the US readers. I'll be visiting my wife-to-be's family in Pennsylvania for the holiday, and then my father in Buffalo, so I'll be unresponsive to email for a while. I'm even taking my guinea pigs.



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