Music

Captain Beefheart, 1941-2010

by Sam Sutherland

The musician-hungry soul of 2010 (Mark Linkous! Solomon Burke! Dio!) isn’t done with us yet; Don Van Vliet, known to most of the world as Captain Beefheart, passed away this morning due to complications from multiple sclerosis, reports Entertainment Weekly. Best known for his work with the collective of musicians known as the Magic Band, along with his 1969 art-rock masterpiece Trout Mask Replica, Vliet produced multiple genre-defining works during the late ’60s and ’70s, later shifting his focus to visual art. He was 69.