Don Van Vliet, 1941–2010

by Liz Colville

Don Van Vliet, né Don Glen Vliet, aka the engrossing, uncharacterizable musician and sometime painter Captain Beefheart, died today. He was 69, and according to some sources, including his biographer, he’d been suffering from multiple sclerosis. Here’s Beefheart and his Magic Band performing “Sure ‘Nuff ‘N Yes I Do” in Cannes in 1968.