Don Van Vliet, a/k/a Captain Beefheart, died on Friday, reportedly of complications from a decades-long battle with multiple sclerosis. He was 69. Long a cult hero, with a critical fan base rivaling ...

No one’s ever accused Captain Beefheart of being easy to swallow. From 1967’s Safe As Milk to 1982’s Ice Cream For Crow, the late avant-rock icon’s catalog draws on everything from the discordant ...

Beefheart may have been the last beatnik, the way he epitomized the “outsider” in his expression and behavior. He was the last rugged individual in the truly American sensibility, someone who just ...

Don Van Vliet, whose avant-garde rock-and-roll recordings and performances under the name Captain Beefheart in the 1960s and 1970s made him a cult favorite and a powerful influence on later ...