Birthdays on the Tube: 10-16 January

An ongoing series celebrating musicians' birthdays. This week Don Van Vliet, also known as Captain Beefheart, in a fascinating 1997 documentary made by John Peel, master drummer Gene Krupa, singer Long John Baldry on a TV special hosted by the Beatles, producer Jerry Wexler talking about working with Bob Dylan, smooth operator Sade whose first album of new material in ten years is due to be released next month and a brief farewell to producer Willie Mitchell.

15 January 1941: Don Van Vliet, or Captain Beefheart, retired from music in the early 1980s to pursue painting. This 1997 documentary is by  John Peel (the rest is on YouTube), who drove him around on his first tour of the UK. Here is some of his wit and wisdom:

ANIMALS: "I think that most of the things there are to be learned can be learned from animals."
HIS TALENT: "I am a genius and there's nothing I can do about it."
LSD: "An awfully overrated aspirin and very similar to old people's Disneyland."
SHAKESPEARE: "He was out licking the sidewalks to feel the texture of the souls. I've licked a few sidewalks myself."
THE CONSUMER SOCIETY: "A carrot is as close as a rabbit gets to a diamond."
DRUGS: "It's not worth getting into the bullshit to see what the bull ate."
EVOLUTION: "I think that man has the most highly developed intelligence. I think men get so intelligent that they're stupid."
MENTAL HEALTH: "The largest flying land mammal is the absent mind."

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15 January 1909: Drum legend Gene Krupa, in the 1941 film Ball Of Fire, starring Gary Cooper.

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12 January 1941: Long John Baldry gets his mojo working in a TV special called Around the Beatles. Assorted Beatles and Stones are on backing vocals.

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10 January 1917:  Jerry Wexler, on how he produced Bob Dylan's gospel-influenced album Slow Train Coming. The rest of the interview is on YouTube.

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16 January 1959:  Nothing quite conjures up the days of filofaxes, spritzers, The Face magazine and the Wag Club in the 1980s quite like Sade. She gets kudos for being the only singer of African descent (she was born in Nigeria) to appear at Live Aid. Her new album, the first of new material for ten years is released next month.

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A final note:  While not born this week, Memphis-based producer and musician Willie Mitchell died last week. He produced some of the most soulful pop records ever made, such as with Al Green, or, below "I Can't Stand The Rain" by Ann Peebles.

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