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First the comments:
I completely agree with JA that Courrier's book is very worthwhile.
I am a bit confused by PM's seemingly conflicting comments. First he states that he was located in England (at least in 1967) and later he tells us how he saw the Captain and the Magic Band several times in concert during the early 1970s. Did Beefheart play in England that many times in the early 1970s or did these performances take place somewhere else?
I also had the good fortune of seeing Beefheart live on several occasions. The first time I was mere teenager when CB&TMB opened for the J. Giles Band at a NYC concert in 1972 (could also have been 1973). I do know that he was with the original Magic Band and played his normal out there material. The audience was not amused and booed throughout the show. In spite of the constant booing, or maybe because of it, Beefheart sent out bassist Rockette Morton to do a bass solo for the encore. A good if somewhat under appreciated show.
I had to wait until around 1980 to get another chance to see Beefheart perform (I refused to even acknowledge the ill fated 1974 band, records and tour) and then managed to see at least three more shows. Each of these shows featured the newly formed Magic Band and each show had it's own special highlights. A stellar version of "My Human Gets Me Blues" and an unbelievable totally rocking rendition of "Nowadays A Woman's Gotta Hit a Man", which was dedicated to the late John Lennon, who had been slain the previous night.