Part one of a phone interview with Captain Beefheart (Don Van Vliet) conducted by Gary Lucas over Yale's radio station WYBC FM on Jan. 18th 1972, prior to Captain Beefheart and the Magic Band's performance at Yale University's Woolsey Hall on Jan. 21st 1972. Lucas was Music Director of WYBC at the time, and had seen Beefheart's first gig in NYC at Ungano's in NYC the year before, a show which changed his life--as after witnessing that concert Lucas vowed that if he ever did anything in music professionally, his number one priority would be to join Beefheart's Magic Band--which he eventually did in 1980. This interview was conducted while Don Van Vliet and his band were on tour in the US and had a day off in Boston, before a swing through the Northeast, which would bring them to play at Woolsey Hall. This was the very first time Gary Lucas had ever spoken with Van Vliet, who he was soon to meet and hang out with when Beefheart and the Magic Band came up to Yale to play 3 days later.

Captain Beefheart Interview with Gary Lucas on WYBC FM 1/18/72 part one

gary@garylucas.com