GENERAL INFO
edited press note

In 1978, CAPTAIN BEEFHEART & THE MAGIC BAND were signed to Warner Bros. Records in the USA. With a previously recorded album (called Bat Chain Puller and produced by Frank Zappa) caught up in legal proceedings and the disposition of those unissued masters still up in the air, Don Van Vliet began the recording process anew. This Warner Bros. album would be a collection of new recordings of some of the compositions from the missing-in-action 'Bat Chain Puller' combined with many never-before-recorded compositions. This new album was then accordingly and hybridically christened Shiny Beast (Bat Chain Puller).

In support of the US release of this album Don and the Band undertook a promotional club tour. On Saturday 18 November 1978 Captain Beefheart & the Magic Band performed at My Father's Place in Roslyn, Long Island, New York City. My Father's Place was located under a motorway bridge, held about 200 people and the patrons sat at long tables and could dine whilst listening if they wished. This astounding show was recorded and mixed directly to two-track tape. And this two-track tape was then later broadcast by WLIR-FM on 11 December 1978.

NOTE
the show has been bootlegged several times before its
official release as i'm going to do what i wanna do

rollin' red (paul brown) told about this vinyl item in the 'big bad but beautiful book of beefheart bootlegs #2':

19?? Single FRENCH bootleg LIVE AT MY FATHER'S PLACE VOL. I on Chameleon Records 0040. This is another one of those Beefheart bootlegs that seem to make little or no sense at all! Taken from the 1978 WLIR FM Radio Broadcast in the  New York club of the same name - in the village of Roslyn, Long Island, USA. As I mentioned elsewhere (see the german bootleg ceedee further on - t.t.) the show must be mastered way too slow (Her Eyes Are A Blue Million Miles is a dead give-away and just about shuffles along and the talking between tracks makes Don sound 'stoned out of his brains')!! I once heard a source tape apparently taken direct from the radio and apart from sounding correct, the majority of the songs played seem in key with the elpee versions. Saying that, the last few numbers on the tape were ridiculously slow! So my theory is that the original broadcasts may have only been 60 minutes and the last few tracks on the tape possibly have been dubbed from another source tape?? Anyway, let's get back to the bootleg. The cover reproduced above is the same 'deluxe wraparound' glossy photo of Don as on Vol. II, except this is black and white instead of black on red, and it includes the first half of the show and Vol. II the second and third quarters!?! So even if you have both volumes you still lose the last quarter of the show!! This is possibly the most sought after bootleg next to 'What's All This Booga Booga Music?' and I've only seen copies for trade once (!) in ten years!

additional note by teejo:
the 'made in france' statement on the labels no doubt was meant to mislead all sorts of usa 'officials'...

just like the name of the band on the back of the sleeve...

in the 'big bad but beautiful book of beefheart bootlegs #1' glass finger (gary pratt) wrote:

198? French LIVE AT MY FATHER'S PLACE VOL. II on Chameleon No. 0041. This is the 1978 My Father's Place, Roslyn, Long Island show broadcast live by WLIR - I was told that 'WLIR used to broadcast a lot of strange concerts, and this would be in character, considering the club mentioned was on Long Island and so was WLIR'. The date is November 18th in 'Hot Wacks'. Cover is just a wraparound and has black on red photo of Don Vliet in a hat and scarf looking like a cornered animal and DON VAN VLIET & HIS MAGIC BAND LIVE AT MY FATHERS PLACE VOL.II on the back. labels are cyan on white with A and B and feature a cyan chameleon (see above). Side 1 of this is the third quarter of the show while side 2 is the second quarter! This features another cranked-up audience with yells of 'we love you, Captain Beefheart!... Do you love me?' and endless requests for 'I Want To Booglarize You'!. This bootleg also features Beefheart bravely attempting some spoken poetry - Old Fart At Play and Well - but during Well he is interrupted by clapping and says: 'Cut it out, man...: this is not in 4/4 time... Some things are sacred', but at the end says: 'Thank you... Very difficult it is to do poetry in this world of constant Dennys staying open all night... ánd McDonalds!'. The band line-up is [as given above - t.t.]. Also Mary Jane Eisenberg gets a credit for 'shake bouquet' on Tropical Hot Dog Night and 'the mummy' on When I See Mommy I Feel Like A Mummy.

additional note by teejo:
mary jane eisenberg was a professional modern dancer hired by don van vliet to illustrate some songs during several gigs of the tour.

label of the a-side(s)

it appears that - when the misprint of the double album was discovered - (some of) the songs intended for the second side of the second record have been used as 'bonus tracks' for a bootleg release containing an incomplete version of bat chain puller. and according to the reports the song 'bat chain puller' on it seems to be a live version - if it is, it must be from this very same concert.

somewhere else in the 'big bad but beautiful book of beefheart bootlegs #1' glass finger (gary pratt) deals with a ceedee version:

THE NEW YORK HOT DOG NIGHT on HallMark (HM 011 CD) says on the back 'Recorded live at MY FATHER'S PLACE in New York on December 11th 1978 together with the MAGIC BAND' (This date is wrong I think and should be November 18th 1978). The announcer at the start of the set says: 'Historic performance... first time on live radio... WLIR FM'. This show has the guitarist breaking a string during Nowadays A Woman's Gotta Hit A Man, after which Beefheart says: 'He played that on a broken string... which - if you think about it - is narrowing it down a little bit... because there's six strings and four fingers!'. Sound is Excellent Stereoish. The set is exactly 90 minutes. Someone who saw a performance with the same mime artist (mary jane eisenberg - t.t.) says: 'They did a version of When I See Mommy I Feel Like A Mummy that has stuck in my head to this day. The band is doing a flawless, live fade-out with the Captain chanting 'mommy, mommy, mommy... mommy, mommy, mommy' down to a whisper, with the mime alternately washing dishes and vacuuming - miming these activities - under a spotlight. Still sends shivers up my spine.'.

additional notes by teejo:

* gary forgot to mention that this full show version still has a distorted overall sound with regular flutters. it also appears that the equipment was in a dip during 'moonlight on vermont', 'bat chain puller' and 'apes-ma' (the latter with too much audience noise). but in general it sure is a joy to listen to this, one of beefheart's top 10 (!) concerts.
* later investigations brought to light that the end of 'moonlight on vermont' is abruptly cut off after 2:50 minutes.
* the liner notes only consist of the track list - no band line-up given.
* another great incident takes place when don announces: 'we'd like to do, uh, 'suction prints' from the album 'shiny beast (bat chain puller)'...', and a visitor shouts (probably tired of all the new album's stuff): 'do an other one!'. to which don with real amazement answers: 'do another one?!?... man, we haven't even done thís óne yet!'

later, rollin' red (paul brown) told about another release in ceedee form in the news section of fanzine 'steal softly thru snow #6' first, and reprinted the text in beefheart bootlegs #2:

Nicely packaged single ceedee version of the 1978 show at My Father's Place, Roslyn Park, New York and broadcast live by WLIR Radio is a nice addition to the Beefheart library. At just over 75 minutes it omits a couple of tracks from the double ceedee version (the new york hot dog night - teejo), but has a much better design. However, it is still mastered at the wrong speed (drawn-out vocals between tracks give it away) which means it was probably mastered from the original French vinyl version. It's amazing that the tape wasn't speeded up to give a proper result. But the band were hot that night and it boasts a great version of When I See Mummy I Feel Like A Mummy at whatever speed.

additional notes by teejo:

* the sound has been remastered and is more stable than on the 'new york' version, though indeed it's still not perfect (but mainly to ears that have other beefheart live recordings to compare it with). the new producers - for i think they just edited the double bootleg - made a right decision by dropping the three tracks with the worst sound quality.
* the professionally looking shiny plate and full colour lay-out of the insert (with the three hand-written poems and a picture from the 1993 book 'stand up to be discontinued') are the reason why this product eventually was mistaken for an official release and ended up at several honourable shops a few years after it was brought out.
* by terrible printing error eric drew feldman is not mentioned in the line-up, and the liner notes wrongly state: 'recorded december 11, 1978'.

it lasted a few years but in early 1999 a tape with the RIGHT SOUND of the radio broadcast emerged - just somewhere. of course the recording soon was brought out, beit under the fantasy title of CAPTAIN, MY CAPTAIN. as it has the sound quality we were waiting and hoping for, this must be about the original recording by the radio station. all we should do is just get carried away from the start - because it's the perfect music which is important, for the second part of the track numbering is in a mess, and some songs are even presented under dubious titles ('hot dog', 'million blue miles'). no band line-up, and - at closer examination - some familiar pictures on the front and the back... for, in reverse order, those photos can be found on the inlay to the out here over there bootleg brought out by, aha, head records (also responsible for an evening with frank zappa and captain beefheart). never mind!... you know, even 'apes-ma' can be heard loud and clear now! so, it's a pity the storage capacity of ceedees made it impossible to include the two numbers played as encore (or that the manufacturer didn't want to release a double-ceedee set, for that matter).

additional note:

this release includes the complete stage intro of about 40 seconds, but ends with an edited-in minute of applause and end-of-concert yells, totally different from the happenings that actually took place (a 1:50 minutes pause with occasional chat by don) - as the 'right tape' reveals

my CONCLUSION: oof, and wow
my ADVICE: get it

the explosive growth of home-made ceedees has led to a cluttered collection of counterfeits, but also to some very rare 'releases' with material unknown or unheard before. probably using the same source as the 'captain, my captain' ceedee did, someone burned a full version of the show - so wíth the two tracks encore. the maker added: 'at last a version at the correct speed', which almost certainly means he took it from the tape which emerged early 1999 (despite the fact that that recording has the original intro and outro of the broadcast, it doesn't sound like being taped from the radio: is it a master copy, perhaps?). but i don't know for sure, just like i have no further details on things such as front and back of the set - simply because i don't have a copy of it (in case you had the other opinion: i'm nót almighty).

my CONCLUSION: must be great
my ADVICE: get it - but where?

although this double ceedee isn't a bootleg or burnleg but a very OFFICIAL RELEASE by big mother company warner, it belongs to the chapter of 'rare' beefheart records. for not only is this product a one-time LIMITED EDITION of 5,000 copies, but it also can only be obtained at the internet. or more specific: the website and order form at rhino handmade - that is, as long as there's still stock - which offers (sound samples of) this outstanding concert in a version taken from the original reel. so, as the sound has the right speed, at first it seems like the 25 usa dollars charge is reasonable.

however, this exclusive item (which fact should justify the price) comes in a disappointing outfit. you even get better information about this live performance at their cyberstand than in the actual liner notes - 'a twelve page folder' - which are minimal ones. besides, the fold out insert is ridiculously cheap: mainly two big pictures of the 'shiny beast' band (though one being unknown!) printed so badly on such rough paper that the members have got skin diseases and don's eyes hid behind his glasses. like this:

the disappointing result

yes, you're allowed to feel a bit taken in - also because the 'picture plate' of god's golf ball (aka the earth) isn't an imprint but the 'home sticker' variation. probably the best part of the outside of this flatbox is don's hand-written excerpt of the lyrics to 'tropical hot dog night' explaining why he's playing this music.... the marvellous live performance can't take away the unease one feels about the post rates of 12 plus dollars if you're living outside of north america too. especially when - without warning - the customs fine you with ADDITIONAL TAXES - in my 'dutch' case: another sudden five dollars - and sometimes even a FEE for doing so (norway: 15 dollars)!!!

maybe the most clever thing for people outside north america is: get a burned version or a tape, it's worth the saving. that would also give you an opportunity to get a better split version without the strange, footnote like second part.

as there are several possibilities to find suitable spots in the 'audience parts' to divide a live concert into separate tracks, the running times given on the ceedees are no real hold. for example, the length of nowadays a woman's gotta hit a man on the various digital items is as follows: the new york hot dog night - 5:37
live at my father's place - 4:46
captain, my captain - 4:35
i'm going to do what i wanna do - 5:07

so only comparative chronometrics - like on blocks of tracks - can throw light on differences in the speed of the recordings, which in the case of this performance appear to be substantial. some examples (clocked from the start of a song to the first applause):

DROPOUT BOOGIE right: 2:47 minutes - wrong: 3:01
HER EYES ARE A BLUE MILLION MILES right: 3:25 - wrong: 3:40
WHEN I SEE MOMMY I FEEL LIKE A MUMMY right: 5:08 - wrong: 5:32

which means a wrong version is about five seconds SLOWER every minute!

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