Gail Zappa and I visited Captain Beefheart in this house, June 1968. As they were starving, as stated in this film, we took bread,, cereal, milk, fruit, beers, chocolate. Don broke open one of the beers and, fully dressed, climbed into the empty bath so Gail sat on the bathroom floor but I remained standing as I couldn't sit on not-clean floors. Gail managed to communicate with Don which was an achievement as he often spoke in riddles. He complained about Frank constantly working.
@@jp5d366 Do be warned this episode and a couple of others when Beefheart visits Frank Zappa's home, are the only mentions of him in my book. It is my story and what happened to me from that lucky day I met FZ in London in 1967 and ended up living and working in his house till 1971. It reveals Frank's home life and Beefheart is in and out.
Frank Zappa’s widow Gail Zappa has trademarked the name “Captain Beefheart,” which was the alias of her late husband’s collaborator-competitor Don Van Vliet. To those who’ve followed the latter-day activities of the Zappa estate executrix, this latest move may seem a bit worrisome. In 2008, Gail led the charge against a small German festival with a deep love of Frank’s work, suing them to change the name of their Zappanale gala, to remove the Zappa-esque mustache from their promotional materials, and to knock down the statue of Frank that stood in the city’s center. Thankfully, the court then found in the Germans’ favor, but the acquisition of the Beefheart name could mean more litigiousness is on the way. According to Yahoo!, Frank actually sued Vliet, his high-school buddy, for the moniker many years ago. The deceased experimental rock icon filed a few lawsuits in his time. As for the fine print, the trademark language is pretty extensive, falling under the category of “Computer & Software Products & Electrical & Scientific Products,” and including such possible Beefheart products as sunglasses, journals, video games, and mobile phone graphics.
Thank you Jordan, that was fantastic! It's great to know that the Trout House and grounds is still there and in such beautiful condition. You should phone to see what they are asking for it.
1.2M - there’s another vid where a gentleman visits and knew the asking price yet due to the bubble (May 2021) it may go higher. Thanks for this awesome vid! That house **needs** to be placed on the Historic Site register. I know that “everybody’s doing it, please don’t let them ruin it all...” Hope the house gets bronzed.
I have looked for vid to take me around to LA off the beaten track and here you are! Thank you! Liked and subbed. Liked Zappa and LOVED you vlog on his house. Best ever. Thank you.
This is really amazing !! I would love to go to the Trout House too !!! What is the situation with it ? Who lives there now ? Can it not be bought and preserved, turned into a museum ? Trout mask replica is one of my favourite albums ! "neon meat dream of an Octafish" is absolutely AMAZING !!! Thank you for sharing this !!
This is just plain fantastic. Thanks for taking the time. I have what I hope is perceived as a respectful question. Do you scout a place out then read up on it? Or, in this case, are you a fan with all this info under your belt already? No matter. The video is wonderful.
+Patrick Brown I usually only go find places that I am a fan of and have some knowledge of... usually, if I watch a documentary for fun, it may inspire me to go find a place.. I am a beefheart fan, and had been reading Zappa's book, and the more he talked about his "friendship" with don, the more it made.me want to find this place..
They gave him tranquilizers at the hospital because his heart attacks were really panic attacks!I used to have trout mask replica, it's really pretty good.
Hve to say Electricity is an aquired taste lol. Lazy songs is doable. Never heard of Captain Beefheart so i too got to know somethibg new today thanks jordan. I checked his sound out after i watched the vlog.
Great job and a fascinating watch. I was surprised at how large the property is. Must be worth a pretty penny these days for all that acreage. I like all the hills and gullys.
This is fascinating. I described it as being lopsided (1968) but it doesn't look it in that picture. Perhaps they've done work on it and prettied it up. Also, there was more foliage all around it.
Beefheart suffered from panic attacks big time. Trout Mask Replica was actually a genius album. Matt Groening said when he first heard it he though it was shit, but he gave it a listen and realized they meant to sound that way. Zappa wanted to mix the record but Beefheart wanted it as is. Beefheart couldn't really play very many instruments so he would mouth guitar and drum patterns. I love Zappa since I was 17 and I feel Beefheart was brilliant.
Here is how I described the house in my book: 'It was hidden down a dirt-track road in a dark area, so heavily wooded I half expected Hansel and Gretel to wander out of their cage. Our car bounced to a halt on burrowed earth in front of his shack, a dried out, lop-sided, wooden dwelling, an upstairs veranda held up by stilts which looked like they might fall over if pushed. He lived in this habitat of aromatic plants with three members of his band, starving, surviving on bread and water, as he’d told us so many times. Gail brought goodies: fruit, cereal, milk, chocolate bars and a few beers which they’d clicked open.
Dude ! Your image quality is great ! What camera do you use ? Your mic quality is clean and crisp ! Thanks for not only great content but for a presentation to match.
Longtime friend and band mate (Ty Grimes) played drums with Captain Beefheart back in the 70's, prior to that he was with Rick Nelson and the Stone Canyon Band....
Big fan of Don Van Vliet and the magic band..Very odd stuff for sure..Trout Mask Replica is a one of a kind album..Apparently, Tom Waits got alot of inspiration from him..
thank you thank you, JTL! curious, my bother and I live din Wood;and hills 92-97, im wondering what street this house was on? I did not know the cd we had in the apt on Califa was made there!! I heard it was somewhere @ Topanga, but you are quite funny on this.
It's on Ensenada Drive. I went with a friend of mine, several years ago, and I don't know if anyone was home, but obviously it's private property so we couldn't wander about the place. I'm sure the owner gets lots of requests from Beefheart fans to look around there, so you'd probably have to be a BBC film crew or something equally grand.
Good for you. You tried. yes i used to walk by it,, lived within 3 miles of here back in 92-97, and would walk(i never had a car) between Canoga and Topanga o weekends, im not very social...and i think i recall the place, i more recall bends in the road and hills etc, seeing that from JTL vid, no, there was no sign or plaque acknowledging the Great Beefheart, o well. A cultural landmark nevertheless.
Adam Findlay One video poster stated that the house sat vacant for years, later to sell for one million dollars. Hearsay or truth (dollar amount)? Uncertain.
Thank you for doing that ! I take it you had permission to "shoot" the houses or your tour might have taken a different turn, with flashing lights... I enjoyed going those other places with you guys too !
woa woa woa, hold on there boy, you'ze igno-rat! he wrote his own music, taught it to the Magic Band, and had some of the most intriguing lyrics/poetry this side of John Lennon, who was a fan, early on. But itz ok, it takes a lot to get into it, I know, but try, try, try again. Hang in there. Or listen to Britney. Doh!
Adam Findlay Sorry but your wrong ,Don AKA beefheart was musically illiterate & could not read or write music ,below is a copy & paste excerpt from Captian Beefhearts Bio . Quote. Unable to read or write music, Beefheart developed a method for imparting his constant output of musical ideas to other band members. They were taught to be on hand with a tape recorder day and night in case inspiration struck ,END QUOTE. Don could play the Saxophone & other horns but for composing he was illiterate ,in fact his best known & reviewed albums were composed after Don visited Frank Zappas house to borrow some money ,he saw Frank sitting at his grand piano going through musical passages he had in his mind on the piano ,then transcribing to sheet music ,the very next day Don demanded the record company supply him a piano which he couldn't play ,how the piano was used was by beefheart was to have classical music conservatory trained musician Art Trip formerly of the Mothers of invention to play the ideas beefheart had so he could hear them ,Beefheart was also illiterate when it came to understanding which piano keys made each note . If you want to know more about beefheart & learn his true musical identity I suggest you stop reading anything beefheart wrote,or told to interviewers, he was known as a huge liar & told outlandish story's about going without sleep for an entire 365 days ,then single handedly composing Trout Mask Replica in a single 8 hour session after taking a nap lol
I was speaking about writing words(His, that is DonVanVliet) from an original unique perspective probably as advanced if not more than Dylan, maybe even Ginsberg. IN terms of music, you will hardly find a more immediately distinctive style than his and since rocknroll is based on blues and country folk forms, he is about as far from Main street(if you want a medaphor(sorry my typing and spelling is not Harvard quality-obviously), in any case i speak of Vliet the artist, which i do not expect Americans to appreciate or understand-it's ok maybe in the next life. He's no McCartney, but one is enough.
Wow! Can't believe the Weider building is still there. I grew up with all the old Weider mags. I have always loved how there was so much artistic freedom in the early rock days in LA and Zappa was the coolest.
Thanks for this one Jordan. My husband, son and I all enjoy Captain Beefheart. I hope whoever buys the house doesn’t demolish it or change it too much.
As a longtime CB&MB fan, I’ve gathered all the info from YT that I can, so time to go buy some books on the topic. Thanks for this content. I truly hope California puts this house on its historic registry - I hope it stands for another hundred years. It’s that important.
The band WAS really good until Don Van Vliet ruined the band during the recording of this Trout Mask Replica nonsense. All the live recordings I heard (even after Ry Cooder left) sounded great, there's a great live recording of Electricity on youtube from 1968. 1969 seems to have been a turning point for The Magic Band, partially due to drug use by Van Vliet. They partially recovered from this travesty and the band always sounded good, especially a 1972 live recording from Germany with Arthur Tripp and Roy Estrada from Zappa's Mothers as the rhythm section. But Van Vliet only realized his vision much later with Bat Chain Puller and Ice Cream for Crow. Trout Mask Replica was a failure across the board and pretentiousness is all that keeps this LP alive at all.
