thumb|left|19th century engraving of George Fox, a prominent founding friend The Religious Society of Friends comprises religious organizations which arose out of a Christian movement in mid-17th century England. This movement focused on ordinary individuals' own experience of Christ, led by over 50 itinerant preachers known as the Valiant Sixty, including James Naylor, George Fox, Margaret Fell and Francis Howgill. Developments and splits in the 19th and 20th centuries have resulted in a divergent range of independent organizations today, called ''Yearly Meetings'', with a diverse range of theological positions and practices. There is no single international authority as each ''Yearly Meeting'' has full autonomy. The names Quaker or Friends Church are used by some of these organizations. Some Yearly Meetings (termed ''conservative'') have retained Friends' beliefs of relying on the guidance of the eternal Christ; other Yearly Meetings have embraced evangelicalism, with a stress on biblical inerrancy and salvation; whilst other Yearly Meetings have accepted liberalism, with an emphasis on individual interpretation, with some members in these Yearly Meetings now holding universalist or non-theistic beliefs.

Friends worship in a variety of forms. Some meet for silent worship with no leader and no fixed program (mainly in Europe, Australia, New Zealand and parts of North America). Some meet for services led by a pastor with readings and hymns (mainly in Africa, Asia and other parts of North America). Some have a form of worship which incorporates elements of both styles.

Most branches of the Religious Society of Friends are known to the public by testifying to their faith in their actions and the way they live their lives. Such testimony may vary according to how different individuals are led and events in the wider world at the time; however, well known examples of ways in which Friends have acted historically in many yearly meetings in North America and the UK have included refusing to participate in war; social action aimed at promoting social justice and equality including participating in the anti-slavery movement in North America during the mid-19th Century and the women's rights movement; wearing particular, simple (''plain dress''); using the same form of address to refer to everyone (e.g. using ''thee'' and ''thou'' to talk to anyone and not using titles such as Mr, Mrs, etc.); and refusing to swear oaths.

The Religious Society of Friends has been categorized as one of the peace churches, alongside the Church of the Brethren, Mennonites and Amish, because of all of these churches' emphasis on Christian pacifism. These other churches also share similarities in terms of theology including a literal interpretation of the Sermon on the Mount, an emphasis on simplicity in speech and dress, and a lack of creedal statements.

Name

The name "Religious Society of Friends", dates from the 18th century and remains the most widely accepted name to this day, although often "Quakers" is added in parentheses for the sake of clarity.

During the seventeenth century they often referred to themselves as the 'Saints'. Other common names in the early days were 'Children of the Light' and 'Friends of the Truth', reflecting the central importance of Christ as an Inner light that showed individuals' true condition. The term 'Religious Society of Friends', harks back to the 'Friends of the Truth'.

The origin of the name "Quaker" is disputed. In 1650, a prominent Friend, George Fox, was brought before Justice Bennet of Derby on a charge of blasphemy. According to Fox's ''Journal'', Bennet "called us Quakers because we bid them tremble at the word of God", a scriptural reference (''e.g.'', Book of Isaiah 66:2, Ezra 9:4). Therefore, what began apparently as a way to make fun of Fox's admonition by those outside the Society of Friends became a nickname that today many Friends use for themselves.

However, there are some Friends who prefer other names: some evangelical Friends' organizations use the term "Friends Church", and some monthly and yearly meetings (usually in the unprogrammed tradition) do not use the term 'Religious' and refer to themselves as part of the "Society of Friends" (e.g. London Yearly Meeting, until the mid-twentieth century).

History

Beginnings

The Religious Society of Friends began in England in the late 1640s, during the English Civil War in a context of political, social, and religious upheaval which included increasing dissatisfaction with the established church, the execution of the king Charles I of England in 1649, and the rise of Nonconformist movements.

George Fox was a prominent Quaker in the 17th century. His central teaching that ''Christ has come to teach his people himself'' forms the basis of modern Quaker faith and practice. He became convinced that it was possible to have a direct experience of God without the mediation of clergy. He began to spread this message as an itinerant preacher and found several pre-existing groups of like-minded people; he felt called to gather them together, and was arguably the most prominent of the early Society of Friends.

In the first few years of the movement, Quakers thought of themselves as part of the restoration of the true Christian church after centuries of apostasy.

Women

One of their most radical innovations was a greater, nearly equal, role for women, as Taylor (2001) shows. Despite the survival of strong patriarchal elements, Friends believed in the spiritual equality of women, who were allowed to take a far more active role than had ordinarily existed before the emergence of radical civil war sects. Early Quaker defenses of their female members were sometimes equivocal, however, and after the Restoration of 1660 the Quakers, became increasingly unwilling to publicly defend women when they adopted tactics such as disrupting services. Women's meetings were organized as a means to involve women in more modest, feminine pursuits. Some Quaker men sought to exclude them from church public concerns with which they had some powers and responsibilities, such as allocating poor relief and in ensuring that Quaker marriages could not be attacked as immoral. In spite of legal persecution the Quakers continued to meet openly, even in the dangerous year of 1683. Heavy fines were exacted and, as in earlier years, women were treated as severely as men by the authorities.

American colonies

As the movement expanded, it faced opposition and persecution. Friends were imprisoned and beaten in Great Britain, Ireland and the British colonies. In the Massachusetts Bay colony, Friends were banished on pain of death — some (most famously Mary Dyer) were hanged on Boston Common for returning to preach their beliefs. In England, Friends were effectively banned from sitting in Parliament from 1698 to 1833. Friends were most welcome in Rhode Island and composed half of the population (the other half were Baptists), with 36 of the governors for the first 100 years being Quaker. Roger Williams, in addition to his Baptist affiliation, was one of the Seekers, a diverse group that attended George Fox in Cumbria before becoming organized by him as the Quakers, in County Durham. After the Burlington, Yorkshire migration to West Jersey, the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania was founded by William Penn in 1682, as a safe place for Friends to live in and practice their faith. Indeed, the British crown had granted Pennsylvania outright to Penn, a Quaker, in settlement of a large debt to his father, so Friends governed it for over 80 years. Anne Hutchinson's exile to Eastchester (town), New York, was part of the general journey outwards from Puritan hostility, while East Jersey, Barbados and the Province of Carolina (under John Archdale) were also regions of Quakerism, with the latter also having Baptists, just as in Rhode Island. Quakerism was also clearly preceded in the Mid-Atlantic by the Maryland Toleration Act, until Anglicanism was forced upon Maryland by the Virginians. In the New Amsterdam colony, efforts by Peter Stuyvesant to suppress Quaker worship on Long Island led to the Flushing Remonstrance by Quakers and others. This led the Dutch to force Stuyvesant to allow Quaker worship and is one of the earliest bases of religious toleration in the United States.

The Quaker leader William Penn had signed a peace treaty with Tammany, leader of the Delaware tribe, beginning a long period of friendly relations between the Quakers and the Indians. Additional treaties between Quakers and other tribes followed. The treaty of William Penn was not violated in his lifetime, but his heirs (who were not Quakers) displaced the Delaware Indians through the infamous Walking Purchase.

Friends had no ordained ministers and thus needed no seminaries for theological training. As a result they did not open any colleges in the colonial period, and did not join in founding the University of Pennsylvania. The first major Quaker colleges were all founded much later: Haverford College (1833), Earlham College (1844), Swarthmore College (1864), and Bryn Mawr College (1885).

Beaconite Controversy

The Beaconite Controversy arose in England from the book ''A Beacon to the Society of Friends'', published in 1835 by Isaac Crewdson. He was a Recorded Minister in the Manchester Meeting. The controversy arose in 1831 when doctrinal differences amongst the Friends culminated in the winter of 1836–1837 with the resignation of Isaac Crewdson and of 48 fellow members of the Manchester Meeting. About 250 others left in various localities in England including prominent members. A number of these joined themselves to the Plymouth Brethren and brought influences of simplicity of worship to that society. Notable among the Plymouthists who were former Quakers included John Eliot Howard of Tottenham and Robert Mackenzie Beverley.

Beliefs and doctrine

Generally, Quakerism has had no creed but always had doctrines, for example George Fox dismissed theologians as "notionists" but accepted the ''Catechism and Confession of Faith'' by Robert Barclay. As a public statement of faith today, many Yearly Meetings publish their own Book of Discipline - often called Faith and Practice - that expresses their senses of truth and purpose.

The theological beliefs of different Yearly Meetings vary considerably, ranging from evangelical Christianity to universalist and new thought beliefs. In addition, there is wide variation in a meetings' acceptance of dissent expressed by individuals and local constituencies. While the predominant theological beliefs of different Yearly Meetings do not tally exactly with the style of service, there is often some correspondence, with Yearly Meetings that employ programmed worship tending to have more evangelical theologies, and those with unprogrammed worship tending to have more conservative or liberal theologies.

Most Friends believe in continuing revelation, which is the idea that truth is continuously revealed directly to individuals from God without a need for any intermediary, objective logic or systematic theology. For this reason, many Quakers reject the idea of priests, believing in the priesthood of all believers. Some Friends express this idea of God revealing truth to them directly using the phrase Inner Light, or Inward Light of Christ, whilst others talk of the Holy Spirit or use other phrases. George Fox, an early Friend described it as "Christ has come to teach His people Himself.". Friends often focus on trying to hear God. As Isaac Penington wrote in 1670, "It is not enough to hear of Christ, or read of Christ, but this is the thing — to feel him my root, my life, my foundation..."

Conservative / "Wilburite"

Conservative Friends share the beliefs of early Friends, stressing their trust in the immediate guidance of the inward Christ, with authority with the Holy Spirit rather than the Bible. Prior to the mid-eighteenth century, all Quakers were what would now be described as ''Conservative'', but splits and developments in the nineteenth and twentieth century have resulted in the majority of Friends moving away from this branch.

During the nineteenth century, the conservative position was defended by John Wilbur, an American Friend who worked to prevent what he saw as the dilution of the Friends' tradition of being led by the Holy Spirit. Wilbur was expelled from his yearly meeting in a in 1842, and he and his supporters went on to form their own separate Yearly Meeting. In the UK, some Friends split off from London Yearly Meeting, as they felt this organization was becoming too evangelical and abandoning traditional Quaker ways, forming the separate Fritchley General Meeting in 1868 which remained separated from London Yearly Meeting until 1968. Similar splits also took place in Canada.

Today, Conservative Friends exist in the US as the conservative yearly meetings of Ohio, Iowa, and North Carolina; Ohio Yearly Meeting (Conservative) is generally considered the most traditional in this regard, retaining more rural Quakers who use the plain language and continue wearing plain dress more than the other two. There are also groups of Conservative Friends in the UK (Ripley Quaker Meeting) and Greece (Athens Meeting), and Canada.

Sacraments

Conservative Friends completely reject all forms of religious symbolism and outward sacraments, such as water baptism or the Eucharist. Conservative Friends do not believe in the reliance upon practice of the outward rites and sacraments, believing that holiness can exist in all the activities of one's life — that all of life is sacred. Many Friends believe that any meal with others could be a form of communion.

Bible

Conservative Friends have continued early Friends' rejection of the mainstream Protestant idea of sola scriptura, that the Bible is self-authenticating, clear and its own interpreter; instead, they believed that Christ, instead of the Bible, is the Word of God. Robert Barclay wrote in his Apology that the scriptures "are only a declaration of the fountain, and not the fountain itself, therefore they are not to be esteemed the principal ground of all Truth and knowledge, nor yet the adequate primary rule of faith and manners". Similarly, George Fox recounted an incident in his Journal in which when a minister claimed that the Scriptures were authoritative, Fox "...was commanded to tell them God did not dwell in temples made with hands. But I told them what it was, namely, the Holy Spirit, by which the holy men of God gave forth the scriptures, whereby opinions, religions and judgments were to be tried; for it led into all Truth, and so gave the knowledge of all Truth". Like early Friends, conservative Friends believe that Christ would not lead them in ways that contradicted the Bible.

Creed

Conservative Friends reject any formal written creed. Statements of faith made by early Friends include the ''Catechism and Confession of Faith'' by Robert Barclay, and George Fox's ''Letter to the Governor of Barbados''.

Relationship to the wider Christian community

All Quakers prior to the 20th century considered the Religious Society of Friends to be a Christian movement, however did not feel their faith fitted within categories of Catholic, Orthodox, or Protestant., Britain Yearly Meeting is a member of Churches Together in Britain and Ireland, and Friends General Conference is a member of the World Council of Churches..

There are some Christian churches who do not recognize Friends as fellow Christians as liberal Friends do not practice baptism with water, however the majority of other Christian groups are happy to recognize Friends amongst their fellow-Christians.

There are now some Friends in liberal unprogrammed Meetings in parts of the United States and Europe who no longer feel happy to call themselves ''Christian'' and instead consider themselves universalist, agnostic, atheist, secular humanist, postchristian, or nontheist. Calls for Quakerism to include non-Christians go back at least as far as 1870, and there is a small minority of Friends in liberal meetings who actively identify as members of a faith other than Christianity, such as Judaism, Islam, Buddhism or Paganism, although this is controversial, even in liberal Yearly Meetings.

Gurneyite

The Orthodox Friends in America were exercised by a transatlantic dispute between Joseph John Gurney of England and John Wilbur of Rhode Island. Gurney emphasized scriptural authority and favored working closely with other Christian groups. Gurneyite Friends today (especially those in parts of the US and Africa affiliated to Friends United Meeting) regard Christ as their teacher and Lord. Over the next several decades, a number of Wilburite-Gurneyite separations occurred.

Bible

Gurneyite Yearly Meetings tend to put more emphasis on the authority of the Bible over the direct experience of God, often seeing the Bible as the direct word of God.

Sacraments

Beginning in the 1880s, some Friends began using outward sacraments, first in Evangelical Friends Church - Eastern Region (then known as Ohio Yearly Meeting [Damascus]). This practice differs from Friends in liberal and conservative Yearly meetings.

Creeds

Orthodox Friends have enumerated and subscribed to a set of doctrines, such as the Richmond Declaration. While there has been conflict over the role of the Richmond Declaration in subsequent years, it was "adopted," "accepted" or "approved" by nearly all of the Gurneyite yearly meetings at the time. The Five Years Meeting of Friends reaffirmed the Richmond Declaration in 1912 but specifically stated that it was not to constitute a creed.

Relationship to the wider Christian community

All Guerneyite Friends would see themselves as part of a Christian movement, and work closely with other Christian groups. Friends United Meeting (the international organization of Gurneyite Yearly Meetings) is a member of the National Council of Churches and the World Council of Churches., which are pan-Christian organizations which include Protestant, Orthodox and Anglican churches.

Evangelical

The largest proportion of Friends worldwide are in the evangelical group of yearly meetings (mainly in the US, Asia and Central America which are affiliated with Evangelical Friends Church International). They regard Christ as their Lord and savior., and have similar theological views to other evangelical churches.

Bible

Evangelical Friends regard the Bible as the literal and self-authenticating word of God.

Sacraments

Friends Church Southwest approved the practice of outward sacraments. In places where Evangelical Friends have done mission work, including in Africa, Asia, and Latin America, baptism with water is carried out.

Creeds

The "Beliefs of Friends" statement by Evangelical Friends International, is comparable to other evangelical churches' confessions of faith.

Relationship to the wider Christian community

Evangelical Friends work closely with other evangelical churches from other Christian traditions. The North American branch of Evangelical Friends Church International is a member church of the National Association of Evangelicals. Like other evangelical churches, evangelical Friends tend to be less involved with ecumenical work with non-evangelical churches, and are not members of the World Council of Churches or National Council of Churches.

Testimony

Quakers try to ''bear witness'' or ''testify'' to their beliefs in their every day life — an expression of "spirituality in action", drawing on James' advice that ''faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead''.

They may do this in many ways, according to how they are led by God, however there are some shared ways in which many Quakers relate to God and the world. These ways of acting often mirror common Christian ethical codes, e.g. the Sermon on the Mount or the Sermon on the Plain, however Friends would argue that they feel personally moved by God or Christ to act in these ways rather than simply following an ethical code.

Some theologians have attempted to classify the ways in which Friends commonly testify to their faith into categories of common ways in which Friends behave - these are known by some as ''testimonies''. As these are not centrally drawn up in any way but are simply individuals' descriptions of the way in which many Friends are currently led to act, lists of testimonies are continuously evolving, and vary between different theologians and traditions. In his book ''Quaker Speak'', the British Friend Alastair Heron lists the following ways in which Friends do, or have, witness(ed) or testify/testified to God:

Testimony which opposes:

betting and gambling

capital punishment

conscription

hat honor

oaths

slavery

times and seasons

tithing

Testimony which promotes:

integrity (or truth)

peace

penal reform

plain language

relief of suffering

simplicity

social order

Sunday observance

sustainability

temperance and moderation

In the USA, children and Friends school students are often taught the acronym SPICES, which stands for Simplicity, Peace, Integrity, Community, Equality and Stewardship. In the UK, the acronym STEP or PEST is used, for Peace, Equality, Simplicity and Truth.

It should be stressed that there is no central list or rule of testimony, and each Friend acts simply as he or she is led by God, which may or may not be in the ways listed above. Some Friends are against giving a list of testimonies, stating that to do so is credal, and against the basic concepts of Quakerism.

Several groups of Quaker meeting houses in the US, particularly Delaware and Pennsylvania, have extended the testimony opposing hat honor to include an opposition to modern-day honorifics bestowed to corporate officer titles, corporate hierarchies, and publicizing salary history for employees.

Calendar and church holy days

The "plain calendar," sometimes called the "scriptural calendar," differs from what Friends referred to as the "world's calendar" in that it uses numbers to denominate the names of the months and days of the week. The plain calendar does not use names of calendar units derived from the traditional names due to their derivation from pagan deities. Instead, it uses ancient terminology as found in the bible where the days of the week were numbered; for example, Jesus' followers went to the tomb early on the First Day of the week. From this, the plain calendar week begins with First Day (Sunday) and ends on Seventh Day (Saturday). Similarly the calendar's months run concurrently with the traditional months albeit named First Month, Second Month, etc. The calendar emerged in the 17th century in England in the general non-conformist movement but became closely identified with Friends by the end of the 1650s and was commonly employed into the 20th century. However, most Friends today regard its continued usage as somewhat pedantic and it is rarely encountered, except in certain parts of the Society. The term "First Day School" is still in quite common among Quakers, for what is called by most churches "Sunday School".

Friends have also eschewed the traditional church calendar of holy days, not observing religious festivals such as Christmas, Lent, or Easter at particular times of the year, but instead believing that Christ's birth, crucifixion and resurrection should be commemorated every day of the year. For example, many Quakers feel that fasting at Lent but then eating in excess at other times of the year is hypocrisy, and therefore many Quakers, rather than observing Lent, live a simple lifestyle all the year round (''see Testimony of Simplicity''). These beliefs tie in with Quakers' beliefs on sacraments and the belief that all of life is sacred.

Similarly, Friends traditionally are non-Sabbatarians, holding that "every day is the Lord's day", and that what should be done on a First Day should be done every day of the week. Meeting for Worship is often held on a First Day, however this is more because of convenience rather than because it is believed that Sunday is Sabbath(or the appointed day), and many Friends hold Meeting for Worship on other days of the week.

These beliefs are often referred to as the ''testimony against time and season''.

Mysticism

Quakerism differs from other mystical religions in at least two important ways. For one, Quaker mysticism is primarily group-oriented rather than focused on the individual. The Friends' traditional meeting for worship may be considered an expression of that group mysticism, where all the members of the meeting listen together for the Spirit of God, speaking when that Spirit moves them.

Additionally, Quaker mysticism as it has been expressed after the late 19th century includes a strong emphasis on its outwardly directed witness. Rather than seeking withdrawal from the world, the Quaker mystic translates his or her mysticism into action. They believe this action leads to greater spiritual understanding — both by individuals and by the Meeting as a whole. This view of mysticism includes social and political activities.

Worship

Most groups of Quakers meet for regular worship. There are two main types of worship worldwide: ''Unprogrammed worship'' - This, constituting about 11% of Quakers worldwide, is based in silence. It is practiced in yearly meetings in Europe, Asia, southern Africa, Oceania and parts of the US. It is usually held with others, and those who feel "moved to speak by God" can minister for as long as they feel is right. There is usually space to reflect between spoken contributions, and the meetings normally last for one hour. There is no (human) leader in such a service, Quakers who worship in this tradition often believing that each person is equal before God and is capable of knowing "the light" directly. The event where this happens is usually called meeting for worship ''Programmed worship'' - this makes up around 89% of Friends worldwide. The event is sometimes called a meeting for worship or sometimes called a Friends Church service. In many yearly meetings in Africa, Asia and parts of the US, worship is programmed. Here there is often a prepared message, which may be delivered by an individual with theological training. There may be hymns, a sermon, Bible readings and prayers, and a period of silent worship. There is often a paid pastor responsible for pastoral care of the members of the local church. This style of worship is particularly common with meetings affiliated to Friends United Meeting (who make up around 50% of Friends worldwide) and Evangelical Friends International, who make up around 30% of Friends worldwide.

While the different styles of worship are often associated with the theological splits, with conservative (Wilburite) and liberal (Hicksite) Friends generally worshiping in unprogrammed meetings, and Gurneyite and evangelical Friends worshiping in programmed Friends church services, this is not a strict rule. Many meetings hold both programmed and unprogrammed services or other activities.

Unprogrammed worship

''Unprogrammed worship'' is the more traditional style of worship among Friends and remains the norm in Britain, Ireland, continental Europe, Australia, New Zealand, Canada and parts of the United States (particularly Yearly Meetings associated with Friends General Conference). During an unprogrammed meeting for worship, Friends gather together in "expectant waiting" for God's leading. Sometimes a meeting is entirely silent, sometimes quite a few people speak. Meeting for Worship generally lasts about an hour.

When they feel they are led by the spirit of God a participant will rise and share a message (give "vocal ministry") with those gathered. Typically, messages, testimonies, ministry, or other speech are not prepared as a "speech". Speakers are expected to discern the source of their inspiration — whether divine or self. After someone has spoken, it is expected that more than a few moments will pass in silence before further Ministry; there should be no spirit of debate.

Unprogrammed worship is generally deemed to start as soon as the first participant is seated, the others entering the room in silence. The Meeting for Worship ends when one person (usually predetermined) shakes the hand of another person present. All the members of the assembly then shake hands with their neighbors, after which one member usually rises and extends greetings and makes announcements.

Meetings for worship for specific tasks

Birth

Within the unprogrammed tradition, Friends do not practice water baptism, Christening ceremony or other ceremony for the birth of a child. The child is welcomed into the meeting by everyone present at their first attendance. Formerly, it was the practice that children born to Quaker parents automatically became members of the Religious Society of Friends (sometimes called ''Birthright membership''), but this is no longer the case in most areas, and most parents now leave it up to the child to decide whether to become a member when they are an older child or adult.

Marriage

A ''meeting for worship for the solemnisation of marriage'' in an unprogrammed Friends meeting is similar to any other unprogrammed Meeting for Worship. The meeting for worship is conducted exactly as a normal meeting for worship, and the pair marry one another before God and gathered witnesses. After exchanging vows, the meeting returns to open worship and guests are free to speak as they are led. At the rise of meeting all the witnesses, who comprise everyone present at the meeting including the youngest children, are asked to sign the wedding certificate as a record of the event. In Britain, Quakers have their own registrars who keep a separate record of the union and notify the General Register Office.

In the early days of the United States, there was doubt whether a marriage solemnized in such a manner was entitled to legal recognition, so that over the years each state set its own rules for the procedure. Most US states (Pennsylvania being the prominent exception) expect that the marriage document filed with local authorities will be signed by a single officiant (a priest, rabbi, minister, Justice of the Peace, etc.). Quakers routinely modify the document to allow several Friends to sign as the officiant. Often these are the members of a committee of oversight of the marriage ceremony, 3 or 4 individuals that have helped the couple plan their marriage. Usually a separate document containing their vows and the signatures of all present is kept by the couple, and often displayed prominently in their home.

In many Friends meetings, the couple will also have met with a "clearness committee" prior to getting married. This committee's purpose is to discuss with the couple the many aspects of being married and being a couple. If the couple seems clear in their commitment to marry, then the couple will be recommended to the meeting for marriage and the marriage will take place. "Clearness committees" are used in other contexts as well, where individuals or groups need to obtain guidance on a particular action to be taken.

In recent years, Friends within the liberal, unprogrammed meetings in Australia, Britain and some meetings in North America have celebrated weddings or civil unions between partners of the same sex. Britain Yearly Meeting decided in 2009 to recognise marriages between same-sex couples, making them the first mainstream religious body in the UK to do so. As true same-sex marriage (as distinct from civil partnership) is not recognized in law or by civil authorities in the United Kingdom these marriages will not be recognized in civil courts. However, they stated that the law does not preclude Friends from "playing a central role in the celebration and recording" of marriage between same-sex couples, and asked the government to change the law so that marriage between same-sex couples would be recognized in the same way as opposite-sex marriages. In parts of the United States where same-sex marriages are not legal, some meetings follow the practice of early Quakers in overseeing the union without reference to the state at all. Many Friends meetings in the US have celebrated "union" ceremonies for same-sex couples; sometimes other Friends meetings geographically nearby have quite different views on the topic. Many Friends in the US are also involved in the movement to allow same-sex marriage legally.

Memorial services

Traditional Quaker memorial services are also held as a form of worship and are known as memorial meetings. Friends gather for worship and offer remembrances about the person who has died. In some traditions, the coffin or ashes of the deceased are not present, and these memorial meetings are often held many weeks after the death, which can enable wider attendance and can also allow spiritual reflection and celebration of life, rather than emotional grief, to dominate. However in some traditions memorial meetings take place immediately after death and may occur prior to burial or cremation with the coffin present in the meeting for worship. Memorial meetings can last over an hour, particularly if there are a large number of people in attendance. Memorial services give everyone a chance to remember the lost individual in his own way, thus bringing comfort to those present, and re-affirmation of the larger community of Friends.

Decision making

Business decisions on a local level within unprogrammed meetings are conducted at a monthly meeting for worship which may be variously called a "Meeting for Worship with a Concern for Business", "meeting for worship for church affairs" or simply "Business Meeting". A business meeting is a form of worship, and conducted in the manner or meeting for worship, all decisions are reached so that they are consistent with the guidance of the Spirit.

Instead of voting, the Meeting attempts to gain a sense of God's will for the community. Each member of the meeting is expected to listen to that of God within themselves and, if led, to contribute it to the group for reflection and consideration. This ministry is, unlike in meeting for worship, regulated. A friend will stand if they feel moved to speak but must wait to be called upon by the Clerk of the meeting before speaking. Each member listens to others' contributions carefully, in an attitude of seeking Truth rather than of attempting to prevail or to debate. Direct replies to someone's contribution are not permitted and all contributions must be addressed to the clerk or the meeting as a whole.

A decision is reached when the Meeting, as a whole, feels that the "way forward" has been discerned (also called "coming to unity") or there is a consensus. On some occasions a single Friend will hold up a decision because they feel the meeting is not following God's will; occasionally, some members of the Meeting will "stand aside" on an issue, meaning that these members do not share in the general sense of the meeting but are willing to allow the group to move forward.

Many Quakers describe the search for unity as the gathering of believers who "wait upon the Lord" to discover God's will. When seeking unity, Friends are not attempting to seek a position with which everyone is willing to live (as is often the case in consensual models) but in determining God's will. It is assumed that if everyone is listening to God's Spirit, the way forward will become clear.

The business conducted "in the manner of Friends" can seem time-consuming and impractical. The process can be frustrating and slow, but Friends believe it works well, allowing the group to come to decisions even around the most difficult matters. By the time a decision is recognized, the important issues have been worked out and the group supports the decision; there is no "losing" side.

Many non-Friends express doubts as to whether this process of decision making can work in a large group, although many yearly meetings have successfully employed this practice for generations. Some Quaker-related organizations, such as Haverford College near Philadelphia, Guilford College, in Greensboro, North Carolina, Wilmington College, in Wilmington, Ohio and Earlham College in Richmond, Indiana, also use traditional Quaker form practices of governance.

Programmed worship

''Programmed worship'' resembles a typical Protestant worship service in the United States. This tradition arose among Friends in the United States in the 19th century in response to large numbers of converts to Quakerism during the national spiritual revivalism of the time. Typically there are readings from scripture, hymns, and a sermon from the pastor. A period of silence (similar in practice to that of unprogrammed meetings, though generally shorter) is included in some Programmed Friends worship services. Most Friends in the southern and central United States worship in this way.

The Friends meetings started in Africa and Latin America were generally started by Friends from programmed elements of the society, therefore most African and Latin American Friends worship in a programmed style.

Some Friends also hold what is termed Semi-Programmed Worship, which brings programmed elements like hymns and readings into an otherwise unprogrammed worship service.

National and international divisions and organization

Like many movements, the Religious Society of Friends has evolved, changed, and split into various smaller subgroups.

Since its beginnings in the United Kingdom, Quakerism has spread to other countries, chiefly Australia, Bolivia, Burundi, Costa Rica, Ireland, Japan, Kenya, Philippines, Rwanda, South Africa, South Korea, Taiwan, Uganda, and the United States. Although the total number of Quakers is relatively small, around 360,000 worldwide, there are places, such as Philadelphia, Pennsylvania;Kaimosi, Kenya; Newberg, Oregon; Greenleaf, Idaho; Whittier, California; Richmond, Indiana; Friendswood, Texas; Birmingham, UK; Ramallah, Palestine and Greensboro, North Carolina in which Quaker influence is concentrated.

Unlike many other groups that emerged within Christianity, the Religious Society of Friends has tended away from creeds, and away from hierarchical structure.

The various branches have widely divergent beliefs and practices, but the central concept to most Friends is the "Inner Light" or "Light of Christ within". Accordingly, individual Quakers may develop individual religious beliefs arising from their personal conscience and revelation coming from "God within"; Quakers feel compelled to live by such individual religious beliefs and inner revelations. Throughout their history, Quakers have also founded other charities or organizations for many causes they felt are in keeping with their faith. Within the last century there have been some 100 organizations founded by either individual Friends, groups of Friends or Friends working with or amongst others: Amnesty International, Greenpeace, OXFAM, Peace Action, WILPF. (''SEE List of Quaker Businesses'')

A worldwide list of yearly meetings is at http://www.fwccworld.org/find_friends/index.php. Many (mostly US) meetings are listed at http://www.quaker.org/meetings.html. A geographic locator of local meetings and smaller worship groups in North America is at http://quakerfinder.org/.

International organization

Friends World Committee for Consultation (FWCC) is the international Quaker organization which loosely unifies the diverse groups of Friends; FWCC brings together the largest variety of Friends in the world.

There are various organizations associated with Friends including a U.S. lobbying organization based in Washington, D.C. called the Friends Committee on National Legislation (FCNL); several service organizations like the American Friends Service Committee (AFSC), the Quaker United Nations Offices, Quaker Peace and Social Witness, Friends Committee on Scouting, the Quaker Peace Centre in Cape Town, South Africa and the Alternatives to Violence Project.

Friends World Committee for Consultation is divided into four Sections to represent different regions of the world: Africa, Asia West Pacific, Europe and Middle East, and Americas.

Africa

The highest concentration of Quakers is in Africa. The Friends of East Africa were at one time part of a single East Africa Yearly Meeting, then the largest Yearly Meeting in the world. Today, this region is served by several distinct Yearly Meetings. Most of these are affiliated with the Friends United Meeting, practice programmed worship, and employ pastors. There are also Friends meetings in Rwanda and Burundi, as well as new work beginning in North Africa. Small unprogrammed meetings exist also in Botswana, Ghana, Lesotho, Namibia, Nigeria, South Africa and Zimbabwe.

Australia and New Zealand

Friends in Australia and New Zealand are based around the unprogrammed tradition, similar to Britain Yearly Meeting

Considerable distances between the colonies, and a low immigration of Quakers, meant that the organization of Friends in Australia was quite dependent on London until the 20th century. The Society has remained unprogrammed and is constituted as the Australia Yearly Meeting, with local organization around seven Regional Meetings: Canberra (which extends into southern New South Wales), New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia (which extends into Northern Territory), Tasmania, Victoria and Western Australia. There is an annual meeting each January hosted by a different Regional Meeting over a seven year cycle, with a Standing Committee each July or August. The 2006 Australian Census recorded 1984 Quakers in Australia, which was an increase of 11% since the 2001 Census.

Meetings for worship in New Zealand started in Nelson in 1842, and in Auckland in 1885.

Asia

There are Quaker meetings in India, Hong Kong, Korea, Philippines, Japan and Nepal.

India has four Yearly Meetings - the unprogrammed Mid-India Yearly Meeting, programmed Bhopal Yearly Meeting and Mahoba Yearly Meeting. Bundelkhand Yearly Meeting is an evangelical Friends Church affiliated to Evangelical Friends International. There are also a number of separate programmed and unprogrammed worship groups not affiliated to any yearly meeting.

There are also evangelical Friends Churches in the Philippines and Nepal, affiliated to Evangelical Friends International.

Europe

In the United Kingdom, Quakers follow unprogrammed worship and are part of Britain Yearly Meeting, where there are 25,000 worshippers in around 500 Local Meetings.

These meetings used to be called Preparative Meetings, and the groups they formed were previously known as Monthly Meetings: now they are Area Meetings. This change, made in Britain Yearly Meeting 2007, was intended to simplify Quaker jargon. The structure extends into several Area Meetings becoming a General Meeting — formerly Quarterly Meeting — Some General Meetings now call themselves Regional Gatherings (e.g. Bristol & Wessex Regional Gathering, was Bristol & Somerset GM) which each continue to meet up to three times per year, but now play no direct role in church government. Instead, Area Meetings are represented directly in ''Meeting for Sufferings'', which meets in between Yearly meetings.

There is also small groups of Conservative Friends meeting in Ripley and Greenwich in England, and Arbroath in Scotland, and Athens in Greece, who follow Ohio Yearly Meeting's Book of Discipline.

The first French Quaker community was founded in Congénies, in the south of France in 1788.

Friends meetings also exist in the Netherlands http://www.vriendenkring.info/, Russia http://quakers.ru/english.htm, Germany. Some of these meetings are small and do not meet weekly.

North America

Quakers can be found throughout the provinces of Canada, with some of the largest concentrations of Quakers in Southern Ontario.

Friends in the United States have diverse practices, though united by many common bonds. Along with the division of worship style (see "Quaker Worship" above) come several differences of theology, vocabulary and practice.

A local congregation in the unprogrammed tradition is called a ''meeting'', or a ''monthly meeting'' (e.g., ''Smalltown Meeting'' or ''Smalltown Monthly Meeting''). The reference to "monthly" is because the meeting meets monthly to conduct the business of the meeting. Most "monthly meetings" meet for worship at least once a week; some meetings have several worship meetings during the week. In programmed traditions, the local congregations are often referred to as "Friends Churches".

Several local monthly meetings are often part of a regional group called a ''quarterly meeting'', which is usually part of an even larger group called a ''yearly meeting''. Again, quarterly or yearly refers to the frequency of "meetings for worship with a concern for business."

Some yearly meetings belong to larger organizations to help maintain order and communication within the society, the three chief ones being Friends General Conference (FGC), Friends United Meeting (FUM), and Evangelical Friends Church International (EFCI) (in all three groups, most member organizations, though not necessarily people are from the United States). FGC is theologically the most Liberal of the three groups, while EFCI is the most Evangelical. FUM is the largest. Friends United Meeting was originally known as "Five Years Meeting." Some monthly meetings belong to more than one of these larger organizations, while others are independent, not joining any.

Notes and references

Further reading

Bacon, Margaret Hope. "Quakers and Colonization," ''Quaker History'', 95 (Spring 2006), 26–43.

Barbour, Hugh; Frost, J. William. ''The Quakers.'' (1988), 412pp; historical survey, including many capsule biographies online edition

Benjamin, Philip. ''Philadelphia Quakers in an Age of Industrialism, 1870-1920'' (1976),

Bill, J. Brent, ''Holy Silence: The Gift of Quaker Spirituality'' ISBN 1-55725-420-6

Boulton, David (ed.) 2006. ''Godless for God's Sake: Nontheism in Contemporary Quakerism.'' Dales Historical Monographs. ISBN 0-9511578-6-8

Birkel, Michael L., ''Silence and Witness: The Quaker Tradition'' ISBN 1-57075-518-3 (in the UK, ISBN 0-232-52448-3)

Braithwaite, William C. ''The Beginnings of Quakerism'' (1912); revised by Henry J. Cadbury (1955) online edition

Braithwaite, William C. ''Second Period of Quakerism'' (1919); revised by Henry Cadbury (1961), covers 1660 to 1720s in Britain

Brinton, Howard H., ''Friends for 350 Years'' ISBN 0-87574-903-8

Brock, Peter. ''Pioneers of the Peaceable Kingdom'' (1968), on Peace Testimony from the 1650s to 1900.

Bronner, Edwin B. ''William Penn's Holy Experiment'' (1962)

Burnet, G.B., ''Story of Quakerism in Scotland'' The Lutterworth Press 2007, Cambridge. ISBN 978-0-7188-9176-3

Connerley, Jennifer. "Friendly Americans: Representing Quakers in the United States, 1850-1920." PhD dissertation U. of North Carolina, Chapel Hill 2006. 277 pp. Citation: DAI 2006 67(2): 600-A. DA3207363 online at ProQuest Dissertations & Theses

Cooper, Wilmer A., ''A Living Faith: An Historical and Comparative Study of Quaker Beliefs. 2nd ed.'' ISBN 0-944350-53-4

Dandelion, Pink, ''The Quakers: A Very Short Introduction'' ISBN 978-0-19-920679-7

Davies, Adrian. ''The Quakers in English Society, 1655-1725.'' (2000). 261 pp.

Doherty, Robert. ''The Hicksite Separation'' (1967), uses the new social history to inquire who joined which side

Dunn, Mary Maples. ''William Penn: Politics and Conscience'' (1967)

Frost, J. William. ''The Quaker Family in Colonial America: A Portrait of the Society of Friends'' (1973), emphasis on social structure and family life

Frost, J. William. "The Origins of the Quaker Crusade against Slavery: A Review of Recent Literature," ''Quaker History'' 67 (1978): 42-58,

Gillman, Harvey, ''A Light that is Shining: Introduction to the Quakers'' ISBN 0-85245-213-6

Guiton, Gerard, ''The Growth and Development of Quaker Testimony' ''ISBN 0-7734-6002-0''

Hamm, Thomas. ''The Quakers in America.'' (2003). 293 pp., strong analysis of current situation, with brief history

Hamm, Thomas. ''The Transformation of American Quakerism: Orthodox Friends, 1800-1907'' (1988), looks at the impact of the Holiness movement on the Orthodox faction

Hamm, Thomas D. ''Earlham College: A History, 1847-1997.'' (1997). 448 pp.

Hubbard, Geoffrey, ''Quaker by Convincement'' ISBN 0-85245-189-X and ISBN 0-14-021663-4

Illick, Joseph E. ''Colonial Pennsylvania: A History.'' 1976. online edition

Ingle, H. Larry, ''First Among Friends: George Fox and the Creation of Quakerism'' ISBN 0-19-507803-9 and ISBN 0-19-510117-0

Ingle, H. Larry, ''Quakers in Conflict: The Hicksite Reformation'' ISBN 0-87574-926-7

James, Sydney. ''A People among Peoples: Quaker Benevolence in Eighteenth-Century America'' (1963), a broad ranging study that remains the best history in America before 1800

Jones, Rufus M., Amelia M. Gummere, and Isaac Sharpless. ''Quakers in the American Colonies'' (1911), history to 1775 online edition

Jones, Rufus M. ''Later Periods of Quakerism,'' 2 vols. (1921), covers England and America until World War I.

Jones, Rufus M. ''The Story of George Fox'' (1919) 169 pages online edition

Jones, Rufus M. ''A Service of Love in War Time: American Friends Relief Work in Europe, 1917-1919'' (1922) online edition

Jordan, Ryan. "The Dilemma of Quaker Pacifism in a Slaveholding Republic, 1833-1865," ''Civil War History,'' Vol. 53, 2007 online edition

Jordan, Ryan. ''Slavery and the Meetinghouse: The Quakers and the Abolitionist Dilemma, 1820–1865.'' (2007) 191pp

Kennedy, Thomas C. ''British Quakerism, 1860-1920: The Transformation of a Religious Community.'' (2001). 477 pp.

Larson, Rebecca. ''Daughters of Light: Quaker Women Preaching and Prophesying in the Colonies and Abroad, 1700-1775.'' (1999). 399 pp.

LeShana, James David. "'Heavenly Plantations': Quakers in Colonial North Carolina." PhD dissertation: U. of California, Riverside 1998. 362 pp. DAI 2000 61(5): 2005-A. DA9974014 Fulltext: ProQuest Dissertations & Theses

Minear, Mark., "Richmond, 1887: A Quaker Drama Unfolds" ISBN (0913408980) ISBN (9780913408988)

Moore, Rosemary, ''The Light in Their Consciences: The Early Quakers in Britain 1646-1666'' (2000) 314pp ISBN 0-271-01989-1

Moretta, John A., ''William Penn and the Quaker Legacy'' ISBN 0-321-16392-3

Mullet, Michael, editor, ''New Light on George Fox'' ISBN 1-85072-142-4

Nash, Gary. ''Quakers and Politics: Pennsylvania, 1680-1726'' (1968)

Punshon, John, ''Portrait in Grey : a short history of the Quakers'' (1994) ISBN 0-85245-180-6

Punshon, John. ''Portrait in Grey: A short history of the Quakers.'' (Quaker Home Service, 1984).

Rasmussen, Ane Marie Bak. ''A History of the Quaker Movement in Africa.'' (1994). 168 pp.

Russell, Elbert. ''The History of Quakerism'' (1942). online edition

Smuck, Harold. ''Friends in East Africa'' (Richmond, Indiana: 1987)

Steere, Douglas. 1967. On Being Present Where You Are. Wallingford, Pa: Pendle Hill Pamphlet No. 151.

Tolles, Frederick B. ''Meeting House and Counting House'' (1948), on Quaker businessmen in colonial Philadelphia

Tolles, Frederick B. ''Quakers and the Atlantic Culture'' (1960)

Trueblood, D. Elton ''The People Called Quakers'' (1966)

Vlach, John Michael. "Quaker Tradition and the Paintings of Edward Hicks: A Strategy for the Study of Folk Art," ''Journal of American Folklore,'' Vol. 94, 1981 online edition

Walvin, James. ''The Quakers: Money and Morals.'' (1997). 243 pp.

Yarrow, Clarence H. ''The Quaker Experience in International Conciliation'' (1979), for post-1945

Primary sources

Bill, J. Brent, ''Imagination and Spirit: A Contemporary Quaker Reader'' ISBN 0-944350-61-5

Gummere, Amelia, ed. ''The Journal and Essays of John Woolman'' (1922) online edition

Jones, Rufus M., ed. ''The Journal of George Fox: An Autobiography'' online edition

Mott, Lucretia Coffin. ''Selected Letters of Lucretia Coffin Mott.'' edited by Beverly Wilson Palmer, U. of Illinois Press, 2002. 580 pp

Smith, Robert Lawrence, ''A Quaker Book of Wisdom'' ISBN 0-688-17233-4

West, Jessamyn, editor, ''The Quaker Reader'' (1962) ISBN 0-87574-916-X collection of essays by Fox, Penn, and other notable Quakers

Children's books

De Angeli, Marguerite ''Thee, Hannah!'' ISBN 0-8361-9106-4

Turkle, Brinton

* ''The Adventures of Obadiah'' ISBN 0-670-10614-3

* ''Obadiah the Bold'' ISBN 1-893103-19-6

* ''Rachel and Obadiah'' ISBN 1-893103-18-8

* ''Thy Friend, Obadiah'' ISBN 0-14-050393-5

External links

Information

Exhaustive list of links, websites, mailing lists, and other information on Quakers

FWCC: Worldwide umbrella group, with information on different types of Quakers

QuakerMaps: a directory of Friends Meetings and churches, complete with embedded Google maps

QuakerFinder: online locator tool for local meetings and worship groups in North America

Quaker Quaker: daily magazine, discussion boards, Convergent Friends

Quaker Library at Friends General Conference (FGC)

Ohio Yearly Meeting of Conservative Friends

Christian Quaker Internet Mission

Primitive Quakers

Quaker Information Center

About Quaker Worship – explanation for non-Quakers

Quakers in the Deep South

Quaker Electronic Archive

Quaker Heritage Press Online Texts

U.S. Friends/Quakers map, by county

Religious Society of Friends. Records, 1828-2009

Argenta Friends Press - information about Quakers and publication of the Canadian Quaker Pamphlet Series

University of Tasmania Library Quaker Resources Collection

LiberalQuakers.org: Fostering understanding of liberal Quakerism and helping people find their way to a liberal Friends meeting.

Documentary films

Quaker Video Collection, QuakerQuaker.org

Art 21: James Turrell, Live Oak Friends Meeting house, PBS Documentary, Biography in text and online clip.

''Quakers – Seeking the Light Within'', 2003. Documentary. In: ''Compass'', TV, ABC (Australia), 2003. September 28. 22:00hrs.

An Introduction to Watford Quakers, 2007.

Category:Article Feedback Pilot Category:Members of the World Council of Churches Category:Mysticism Category:Nonviolence Category:Peace churches Category:Protestant denominations, unions, and movements established in the 17th century Category:Christian groups with universalist beliefs

ar:جمعية الأصدقاء الدينية frp:Égllése Quaker be:Квакеры be-x-old:Квакеры bs:Kvekeri bg:Квакери ca:Societat Religiosa d'Amics cs:Kvakeři cy:Crynwyr da:Kvæker de:Quäkertum et:Kveekerid el:Κουάκεροι es:Sociedad Religiosa de los Amigos eo:Kvakerismo fr:Société religieuse des Amis ga:Cumann na gCarad gd:Comann nan Caraid ka:კვაკერები ko:퀘이커 hy:Քվակերներ hr:Kvekeri id:Kaum Quaker it:Quaccherismo he:אגודת הידידים la:Religiosa Amicorum Sodalitas hu:Kvékerizmus nl:Genootschap der Vrienden ja:クエーカー no:Vennenes samfunn nn:Kvekarane pl:Religijne Towarzystwo Przyjaciół pt:Quaker ro:Quakeri ru:Квакеры scn:Sucità Riliggiusa di l'Amici simple:Religious Society of Friends sk:Kvakeri sl:Kvekerji sh:Kvekeri fi:Kveekarit sv:Kväkare ta:நண்பர்களின் சமய சமூகம் tr:Religious Society of Friends uk:Квакерство zh:貴格會

Allen Wilford Brimley (born September 27, 1934) is an American actor. He has appeared in such films as ''The China Syndrome'', ''Cocoon'', ''The Thing'' and ''The Firm''. Brimley has also done television commercials, including ads for Quaker Oats and Liberty Medical.

Personal life

Brimley was born as Allen Wilford Brimley in Salt Lake City, Utah, where his father worked as a real estate broker.

Diagnosed with diabetes in 1979, Brimley began working to raise awareness of the disease. The American Diabetes Association (ADA) honored Brimley in 2008 with an award to recognize his lifetime of service. Brimley has been active visiting Veterans Administration hospitals and communities to advise patients on how to manage their diseases. The ADA presented the award to the actor at the Port St. Lucie headquarters of Liberty Medical on December 19, 2008.

Brimley is an activist, paying from his own funds for ads to have Utah allow horse-race gambling, He spoke against to the banning of cockfighting in New Mexico on the basis of his support of individual rights. Brimley enjoys playing poker and has played in the World Series of Poker Main Event. Brimley lent his support to John McCain in the 2008 U.S. presidential election. In the days leading up to his selection for vice president, McCain jokingly stated that he would pick Brimley: "He's a former Marine and great guy and he's older than I am, so that might work." Brimley is a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Career

Prior to his career in acting, Brimley worked as a ranch hand, wrangler, blacksmith, and a bodyguard for Howard Hughes. He then began shoeing horses for film and television. He began acting in the 1960s as a riding extra in Westerns and as a stunt man at the urging of his friend, actor Robert Duvall.

Brimley became famous later in life for appearing in such films as ''The Hotel New Hampshire'', John Carpenter's ''The Thing'', and ''Cocoon''. In 2001, he starred in the Turner Network Television film ''Crossfire Trail'' with Tom Selleck. He had an important role in ''The China Syndrome''. He often plays a gruff or stodgy old man, notably on the 1980s drama series ''Our House''. His first characterization was in ''Absence of Malice'', in which he played a small but key role as a curmudgeonly, outspoken James A. Wells, Assistant U.S. Attorney General. He expanded on this characterization as the world-weary manager of a hapless baseball team in ''The Natural'', a film in which his friend Duvall appeared as an antagonistic sportswriter.

Brimley was cast in the 1983 film ''Tender Mercies'' due to the urging of Robert Duvall, who was not getting along well with director Bruce Beresford and wanted "somebody down here that's on my side, somebody that I can relate to." Beresford felt Brimley was too old for the part, but eventually agreed to the casting. Brimley, like Duvall, clashed with the director; during one instance when Beresford tried to advise Brimley on how Harry would behave, Duvall recalled Brimley responding: "Now look, let me tell you something, I'm Harry. Harry's not over there, Harry's not over here. Until you fire me or get another actor, I'm Harry, and whatever I do is fine 'cause I'm Harry."

In a change from his "good guy" roles such as those in ''Our House'', he played William Devasher, the ominous head of security for Bendini, Lambert & Locke in the Tom Cruise film ''The Firm'' (1993), based on the novel by John Grisham.

Brimley has frequently appeared in commercials, notably a series of commercials he did for Quaker Oats Oatmeal throughout the 1980s and 1990s. The Quaker commercials were famous for their slogan: "It's the right thing to do and the tasty way to do it." Brimley is also known for appearing in numerous television advertisements for Liberty Medical, a company specializing in home delivery of medical products such as diabetes testing supplies.

Brimley has also been described as "a fine singer with a warm, rich voice". In 1993, Brimley sang with the Cal State Northridge Jazz Band for a concert benefiting the college's Jazz Endowment Scholarship Fund; in 2004, he released ''This Time, The Dream's On Me'', an album of jazz standards named after the Harold Arlen and Johnny Mercer-penned title track.

Filmography

''True Grit (1969 film) ''Lawman (film) ''The Oregon Trail'' ''The Oregon Trail (TV series) ''The China Syndrome'' ''Brubaker'' ''Absence of Malice'' ''Death Valley (1982 film) ''Tender Mercies'' ''Harry & Son'' ''Cocoon (film) ''Jackals (film) ''End of the Line (1987 film) ''Cocoon: The Return'' ''Eternity (1989 film) ''Where the Red Fern Grows: Part II'' ''The Firm (1993 film) ''Heaven Sent (1994 film) ''Mutant Species (1995 film) ''My Fellow Americans'' ''In & Out'' ''A Place to Grow'' ''Comanche (2000 film) ''PC and the Web'' ''Resurrection Mary (film) ''The Road Home (2003 film) ''The Path of the Wind'' ''Did You Hear About the Morgans''

Year	! Film	! Role	! Notes
1968	''Bandolero!''	Stunts (uncredited)
1969	True Grit'' ||	Stunts (uncredited)
1971	Lawman'' ||	Stunts (uncredited)
1976	|	Ludlow	television movie
1977	The Oregon Trail'' ||	Unnamed role	Episode "Hard Ride Home and the Last Game"
rowspan=2	1979	|	Ted Spindler
''The Electric Horseman''	Farmer
rowspan=2	1980	|	Rogers
''Borderline (1980 film)	Borderline''	Scooter Jackson
1981	|	Asst. U.S. Atty. Gen. James A. Wells
rowspan=2	1982	Death Valley'' ||	The Sheriff
''The Thing (1982 film)	The Thing''	Dr. Blair
rowspan=4	1983	|	Harry
''10 to Midnight''	Captain Maline
''High Road to China''	Bradley Tozer
''Tough Enough (film)	Tough Enough''	Bill Long
rowspan=7	1984	|	Tom Keach
''Ewoks: The Battle for Endor''	Noa Briqualon
''The Hotel New Hampshire (film)	The Hotel New Hampshire''	Iowa Bob
''The Stone Boy''	George Jansen
''The Natural (film)	The Natural''	Pop Fisher
''Country (film)	Country''	Otis
''Terror in the Aisles''
rowspan=4	1985	Cocoon'' ||	Benjamin Luckett
''Remo Williams: The Adventure Begins''	Harold Smith
''Shadows on the Wall''	Theater Owner
''Murder in Space''	Dr. Andrew McAllister
1986	Jackals'' ||	Sheriff Mitchell
1987	End of the Line'' ||	Will Haney
1988	|	Benjamin Luckett
1989	Eternity'' ||	King/Eric
1992	|	Grandpa Will
rowspan=2	1993	The Firm'' ||	William Devasher
''Hard Target''	Uncle Douvee
1994	Heaven Sent'' ||	Security Guard
rowspan=2	1995	Mutant Species'' ||	Devro
''Last of the Dogmen''	Narrator (uncredited)
1996	|	Joe Hollis
rowspan=2	1997	|	Frank Brackett
''Lunker Lake''	The Storyteller
rowspan=5	1998	|	Jake
''Progeny (film)	Progeny''	Dr. David Wetherly
''Chapter Perfect''	Chief Hawkins
''All My Friends Are Cowboys''	Charlie
''Summer of the Monkeys (film)	Summer of the Monkeys''	Grandpa Sam Ferrans
2000	Comanche'' ||
rowspan=4	2001	|
''Brigham City (film)	Brigham City''	Stu
''The Ballad of Lucy Whipple''	Deputy Sheriff Ambrose Scraggs
''Crossfire Trail''	Joe Gill
rowspan=2	2002	Resurrection Mary'' ||	Morty
''The Round and Round''	Governor
2003	The Road Home'' ||	Coach Weaver
2009	|	Harry Caldwell	Completed (to be released)
2009	|	Earl Granger

Television

#161 - The Junk Mail ''The Boys of Twilight'' ''Our House (1986 TV series)

Year	! Show	! Episode	! Role	! Notes
1997	''Seinfeld''	|	United States Postmaster General Henry Atkins	Brimley parodied himself in his role as an assistant attorney general in ''Absence of Malice''
1992	|	All	Bill Huntoon
1986	Our House'' ||	All	Gus Witherspoon

References

External links

Category:1934 births Category:Actors from Utah Category:American film actors Category:American Latter Day Saints Category:American television actors Category:Living people Category:People from Salt Lake City, Utah Category:United States Marines Category:Utah Republicans Category:American health activists Category:20th-century actors Category:21st-century actors

de:Wilford Brimley es:Wilford Brimley fr:Wilford Brimley ja:ウィルフォード・ブリムリー pl:Wilford Brimley ru:Бримли, Уилфорд simple:Wilford Brimley fi:Wilford Brimley sv:Wilford Brimley

Coordinates	°′″N°′″N
name	Don Van Vliet
background	solo_singer
birth name	Don Glen Vliet
alias	Captain BeefheartBloodshot Rollin' Red
born	January 15, 1941Glendale, California, U.S.
died	December 17, 2010Arcata, California, U.S.
instrument	Vocals, harmonica, saxophone, clarinet, oboe, french horn, shehnai, recorder, flute, piccolo, trumpet, percussion, piano
genre	Experimental rock, blues-rock, psychedelic rock, progressive rock, protopunk, spoken word, free jazz, outsider
occupation	Singer, songwriter, musician, artist, painter, sculptor, poet, lyricist, composer, author, arranger, record producer, film director
years active	1964–1982
label	A&M;, Buddah, Blue Thumb, ABC, Reprise, Straight, Virgin, Mercury, DiscReet, Warner Bros., Atlantic, Epic
associated acts	The Magic Band, Frank Zappa, The Mothers of Invention, Gary Lucas, The Tubes, Jack Nitzsche, Zoot Horn Rollo, Jeff Cotton, Rockette Morton, Winged Eel Fingerling, The Mascara Snake, John 'Drumbo' French, Ry Cooder
notable instruments	}}

Don Van Vliet (; born Don Glen Vliet; January 15, 1941 December 17, 2010) was an American musician, singer-songwriter and artist best known by the stage name Captain Beefheart. His musical work was conducted with a rotating ensemble of musicians called The Magic Band, active between 1965 and 1982, with whom he recorded 12 studio albums. Noted for his powerful singing voice with its wide range, Van Vliet also played the harmonica, saxophone and numerous other wind instruments. His music blended rock, blues and psychedelia with free jazz, avant-garde and contemporary experimental composition. Beefheart was also known for exercising an almost dictatorial control over his supporting musicians, and for often constructing myths about his life.

During his teen years in Lancaster, California, Van Vliet developed an eclectic musical taste and formed "a mutually useful but volatile" friendship with Frank Zappa, with whom he sporadically competed and collaborated. He began performing with his Captain Beefheart persona in 1964 and joined the original Magic Band line-up, initiated by Alexis Snouffer, in 1965. The group drew attention with their cover of Bo Diddley's "Diddy Wah Diddy", which became a regional hit. It was followed by their acclaimed debut album ''Safe as Milk'', released in 1967 on Buddah Records. After being dropped by two consecutive record labels, they signed to Zappa's Straight Records. As producer, Zappa granted Beefheart the unrestrained artistic freedom in making 1969's ''Trout Mask Replica,'' ranked fifty-eighth in ''Rolling Stone'' magazine's 2003 list of the 500 greatest albums of all time. In 1974, frustrated by lack of commercial success, he released two albums of more conventional rock music that were critically panned; this move, combined with not having been paid for a European tour, and years of enduring Beefheart's abusive behavior, led the entire band to quit. Beefheart eventually formed a new Magic Band with a group of younger musicians and regained contemporary approval through three final albums: ''Shiny Beast (Bat Chain Puller)'' (1978), ''Doc at the Radar Station'' (1980) and ''Ice Cream for Crow'' (1982).

Van Vliet has been described as "one of modern music's true innovators" with "a singular body of work virtually unrivalled in its daring and fluid creativity". Although he achieved little commercial or mainstream critical success, he sustained a cult following as a "highly significant" and "incalculable" influence on an array of New Wave, punk, post-punk, experimental and alternative rock musicians. Known for his enigmatic personality and relationship with the public, Van Vliet made few public appearances after his retirement from music (and from his Beefheart persona) in 1982. He pursued a career in art, an interest that originated in his childhood talent for sculpture, and a venture which proved to be his most financially secure. His expressionist paintings and drawings command high prices, and have been exhibited in art galleries and museums across the world. Van Vliet died in 2010 after many years of suffering from multiple sclerosis.

Biography

Early life and musical influences, 1941–1962

Van Vliet was born Don Glen Vliet in Glendale, California, on January 15, 1941, to Glen Alonzo Vliet, a service station owner of Dutch ancestry from Kansas, and Willie Sue Vliet (née Warfield), who was from Arkansas. He claimed to have as an ancestor Peter Van Vliet, a Dutch painter who knew Rembrandt. Van Vliet also claimed that he was related to adventurer and author Richard Halliburton and the cowboy actor Slim Pickens, and said that he remembered being born.

Van Vliet began painting and sculpting at age three. His subjects reflected his "obsession" with animals, particularly dinosaurs, fish, African mammals and lemurs. At the age of nine he won a children's sculpting competition organised for the Los Angeles Zoo in Griffith Park by a local tutor, Agostinho Rodrigues. Local newspaper cuttings of his junior sculpting achievements can be found reproduced in the ''Splinters'' book, included in the ''Riding Some Kind Of Unusual Skull Sleigh'' boxed CD work, released in 2004. The sprawling park, with its zoo and observatory had a strong influence on young Vliet, as it was a short distance from his home on Waverly Drive. The track "Observatory Crest" on ''Bluejeans & Moonbeams'' reflects this continued interest. A portrait photo of the school-age Vliet can be seen on the front of the lyric sheet within the first issue of the US release of ''Trout Mask Replica''.

For some time during the 1950s Van Vliet worked as an apprentice with Rodrigues, who considered him a child prodigy. Vliet made claim to have been a lecturer at the Barnsdall Art Institute in Los Angeles at the age of eleven, He claimed that his parents discouraged his interest in sculpture, based upon their perception of artists as 'queer'. They declined several scholarship offers, including one from the local Knudsen Creamery to travel to Europe with six years' paid tuition to study marble sculpture. Van Vliet later admitted personal hesitation to take the scholarship based upon the bitterness of his parents' disencouragement.

Van Vliet's artistic enthusiasm became so fervent, he claimed that his parents were forced to feed him through the door in the room where he sculpted. When he was thirteen the family moved from the Los Angeles area to the more remote farming town of Lancaster, near the Mojave Desert, where there was a growing aerospace industry and testing plant that would become Edwards Airforce Base. It was an environment that would greatly influence him creatively from then on. Van Vliet remained interested in art; his paintings, often reminiscent of Franz Kline's, were later featured on several of his own albums. Meanwhile he developed his taste and interest in music, listening "intensively" to the Delta blues of Son House and Robert Johnson, jazz artists such as Ornette Coleman, John Coltrane, Thelonious Monk and Cecil Taylor, and the Chicago blues of Howlin' Wolf and Muddy Waters. During his early teenage years Vliet would sometimes socialize with members of local bands such as "The Omens" and "The Blackouts", although his interests were still focused upon an art career. The Omens' guitarists Alexis Snouffer and Jerry Handley would later become founders of "The Magic Band" and The Blackouts' drummer, Frank Zappa, would later capture Vliet's vocal capabilities on record for the first time. This first known recording, when he was simply 'Don Vliet', is "Lost In A Whirlpool" - one of Zappa's early 'field recordings' made in his college classroom with brother Bobby on guitar. It is featured on Zappa's posthumously released ''The Lost Episodes'' (1996).

Van Vliet claimed that he never attended public school, alleging "half a day of kindergarten" to be the extent of his formal education and saying that "if you want to be a different fish, you've got to jump out of the school." His associates said that he only dropped out during his senior year of high school to help support the family after his father's heart attack. His graduation picture appears in the school's yearbook. While attending Antelope Valley High School in Lancaster, Van Vliet became close friends with fellow teenager Frank Zappa, the pair bonding through their interest in Chicago blues and R&B;. Van Vliet is portrayed in both ''The Real Frank Zappa Book'' and Barry Miles' biography ''Zappa'' as fairly spoiled at this stage of his life, the center of attention as an only child. He spent most of his time locked in his room listening to records, often with Zappa, into the early hours in the morning, eating leftover food from his father's Helms bread truck and demanding that his mother bring him a Pepsi. His parents tolerated such behavior under the belief that their child was truly gifted. Vliet's 'Pepsi-moods' were ever a source of amusement to band members, leading Zappa to later write the wry tune "Why Doesn't Someone Give Him A Pepsi?" that featured on the ''Bongo Fury'' tour.

After Zappa began regular occupation at Paul Buff's PAL Studio in Cucamonga he and Van Vliet began collaborating, tentatively as "The Soots". By the time Zappa had turned the venue into Studio Z the duo had completed some songs. These were "Cheryl's Canon", "Metal Man Has Won His Wings" and a Howlin' Wolf styled rendition of Little Richard's "Slippin' and Slidin". Further songs, on Zappa's ''Mystery Disc'' (1996), "I Was a Teen-Age Malt Shop" and "The Birth of Captain Beefheart" also provide an insight to Zappa's 'teenage movie' script titled ''Captain Beefheart vs. the Grunt People'', the first appearances of the Beefheart name. It has been suggested this name came from a term used by Vliet's Uncle Alan who had a habit of exposing himself to Don's girlfriend, Laurie Stone. He would urinate with the bathroom door open and, if she was walking by, would mumble about his penis, saying "Ahh, what a beauty! It looks just like a big, fine beef heart." In a 1970 interview with ''Rolling Stone'', Van Vliet requests "don't ask me why or how" he and Zappa came up with the name. He would later claim in an appearance on ''Late Night with David Letterman'' that the name referred to "a beef in my heart against this society." In the "Grunt People" draft script Beefheart and his mother play themselves, with his father played by Howlin' Wolf. Grace Slick is penned in as a 'celestial seductress' and there are also roles for future Magic Band members Bill Harkleroad and Mark Boston.

Van Vliet enrolled at Antelope Valley Junior College as an art major, but decided to leave the following year. He once worked as a door-to-door vacuum cleaner salesman, during which time he sold a vacuum cleaner to the writer Aldous Huxley at his home in Llano, pointing to it and declaring, "Well I assure you sir, this thing sucks." After managing a Kinney's shoe store, Van Vliet relocated to Rancho Cucamonga, California, to reconnect with Zappa, who inspired his entry into musical performance. Van Vliet was quite shy but was eventually able to imitate the deep voice of Howlin' Wolf with his wide vocal range. He eventually grew comfortable with public performance and, after learning to play the harmonica, began playing at dances and small clubs in Southern California.

Initial recordings, 1962–1969

In early 1965 Alex Snouffer, a Lancaster rhythm and blues guitarist, invited Vliet to sing with a group that he was assembling. Vliet joined the first Magic Band and changed his name to Don Van Vliet, while Snouffer became Alex St. Clair (sometimes spelled ''Claire''). Captain Beefheart and his Magic Band signed to A&M; and released two singles in 1966. The first was a version of Bo Diddley's "Diddy Wah Diddy" that became a regional hit in Los Angeles. The followup, "Moonchild" (written by David Gates) was less well received. The band played music venues that catered to underground artists, such as the Avalon Ballroom in San Francisco.

''Safe as Milk''

After fulfilling their deal for two singles the band presented demos to A&M; during 1966 for what would become the ''Safe as Milk'' album. A&M;'s Jerry Moss reportedly described this new direction as "too negative" and dropped the band from the label, although still under contract. Much of the demo recording was accomplished at Art Laboe's Original Sound Studio, then with Gary Marker on the controls at Sunset Sound on 8-track. By the end of 1966 they were signed to Buddah Records and much of the demo work was transferred to 4-track, at the behest of Krasnow and Perry, in the RCA Studio in Hollywood, where the recording was finalized. Tracks that were originally laid down in the demo by Doug Moon are therefore taken up by Cooder's work in the release, as Moon had departed over 'musical differences' at this juncture.

Drummer John French had now joined the group and it would later (notably on ''Trout Mask Replica'') be his patience that was required to transcribe Van Vliet's creative ideas (often expressed by whistling or banging on the piano) into musical form for the other group members. On French's departure this role was taken over by Bill Harkleroad for ''Lick My Decals Off, Baby''.

Many of the lyrics on the ''Safe as Milk'' album were written by Van Vliet in collaboration with the writer Herb Bermann, who befriended Van Vliet after seeing him perform at a bar-gig in Lancaster in 1966. The song "Electricity" was a poem written by Bermann, who gave Van Vliet permission to adapt it to music.

Much of the ''Safe as Milk'' material was honed and arranged by the arrival of 20-year–old guitar prodigy Ry Cooder, who had been brought into the group after much pressure from Vliet. The band began recording in spring 1967, with Richard Perry cutting his teeth in his first job as producer. The album was released in September 1967. Richie Unterberger of Allmusic called the album "blues–rock gone slightly askew, with jagged, fractured rhythms, soulful, twisting vocals from Van Vliet, and more doo wop, soul, straight blues, and folk–rock influences than he would employ on his more avant garde outings".

Recognition

Among those who took notice were The Beatles. Both John Lennon and Paul McCartney were known as great admirers of Beefheart. Lennon displayed two of the album's promotional 'baby bumper stickers' in the sunroom at his home. Later, the Beatles planned to sign Beefheart to their experimental Zapple label (plans that were scrapped after Allen Klein took over the group's management). Van Vliet was often critical of the Beatles, however. He considered the lyric "I'd love to turn you on", from their song "A Day in the Life", to be ridiculous and conceited. Tiring of their "lullabies", he lampooned them with the ''Strictly Personal'' song "Beatle Bones 'n' Smokin' Stones", that featured the sardonic refrain of "strawberry fields, strawberry fields forever". It should also be noted that 'strawberry fields' could also be an oblique reference to a form of LSD circulating at the time. The album's five 'acid stamps' and first track "Ah Feel like Ahcid" may underline this, whilst 'Smokin' Stones' is probably a 'pro comment' on the contrasting rhythm and blues style of the Rolling Stones. Vliet spoke badly of Lennon after getting no response when he sent a telegram of support to him and wife Yoko Ono during their 1969 "Bed–In for peace". Van Vliet did meet McCartney in Cannes during the Magic Band's 1968 tour of Europe, though McCartney later claimed to have no recollection of this meeting.

The flipside of success

Doug Moon left the band because of his dislike of the band's increasing experimentation outside his preferred blues genre. Ry Cooder told of Moon becoming so angered by Van Vliet's unrelenting criticism that he walked into the room pointing a loaded crossbow at him, only to be told "Get that fucking thing out of here, get out of here and get back in your room", which he obeyed. (Other band members have disputed this account, although Moon is likely to have 'passed through' the studio with a weapon.) Moon was present during the early demo sessions at Original Sound studio, above the Kama Sutra/Buddah offices. The works Moon laid down did not see the light of day, as he was replaced by Cooder when they continued on material at Sunset Sound with Marker. Marker then fell by the wayside when recording was moved by Krasnow and Perry to RCA Studio. This would have a profound effect on the quality of the ''Safe as Milk'' work, as the former studio was 8-track and the subsequent studio a 4-track.

To support the album's release the group had been scheduled to play at the 1967 Monterey Pop Festival. During this period Vliet suffered severe anxiety attacks that made him convinced that he was having a heart attack, probably exacerbated by his heavy LSD use and the fact that his father died of heart failure a few years earlier. At a vital 'warm-up' performance at the Mt. Tamalpais Festival (June 10/11) shortly before the scheduled Monterey Festival (June 16/18), the band began to play "Electricity" and Van Vliet froze, straightened his tie, then walked off the ten–foot stage and landed on manager Bob Krasnow. He later claimed he had seen a girl in the audience turn into a fish, with bubbles coming from her mouth. This aborted any opportunity of breakthrough success at Monterey, as Cooder immediately decided he could no longer work with Van Vliet, effectively quitting both the event and the band on the spot. With such complex guitar parts there was no means for the band to find a competent replacement in time for Monterey. Cooder's spot was eventually filled for a short spell by Gerry McGee, who had played with The Monkees. According to French the band did two gigs with McGee, one of which was at ''The Peppermint Twist'' near Long Beach. The other was at Santa Monica Civic Auditorium, 7 August 1967, as opening act to The Yardbirds. McGee was in the group long enough to have an outfit made by a Santa Monica boutique that also created the gear worn by the band on the ''Strictly Personal'' cover stamps.

''Strictly Personal''

In August, guitarist Jeff Cotton filled the guitar spot vacated, in turn, by Cooder and McGee. In October and November 1967 the Snouffer/Cotton/Handley/French line–up recorded material for what was planned to be the second album. Originally intended to be a double album called ''It Comes to You in a Plain Brown Wrapper'' for the label, it was released later in pieces in 1971 and 1995. After rejection from Buddah, Bob Krasnow encouraged the band to re–record four of the shorter numbers, to add two more, and make shorter versions of "Mirror Man" and "Kandy Korn". The music was already weakly recorded with a trebly thin sound; Krasnow then implemented a strange mix full of "phasing" that by most accounts (including Beefheart's) diminished the music's strength; this was released in October 1968 as ''Strictly Personal'' on Krasnow's Blue Thumb label. Stewart Mason in his Allmusic review of the album described it as a "terrific album" and a "fascinating, underrated release", "every bit the equal of ''Safe as Milk'' and ''Trout Mask Replica''". Langdon Winner of ''Rolling Stone'' called ''Strictly Personal'' "an excellent album. The guitars of the Magic Band mercilessly bend and stretch notes in a way that suggests that the world of music has wobbled clear off its axis," with the lyrics demonstrating "Beefheart's ability to juxtapose delightful humor with frightening insights". Van Vliet furthered his own mythology through interviews.

''Mirror Man''

In 1971 some of the recordings done for Buddah were released as ''Mirror Man'', bearing a liner note claiming that the material had been recorded "one night in Los Angeles in 1965". This was a ruse to circumvent possible copyright issues; the material was actually recorded in November and December 1967. Essentially a "jam" album, described as pushing "the boundaries of conventional blues–rock, with a Beefheart vocal tossed in here and there. Some may miss Beefheart's surreal poetry, gruff vocals, and/or free jazz influence, while others may find it fascinating to hear the Magic Band simply letting go and cutting loose". The album's 'miss-credit errors' also state band members as "Alex St. Clare Snouffer" (Alex St. Clare/Alexis Snouffer), "Antennae Jimmy Simmons" (Semens/Jeff Cotton) and "Jerry Handsley" (Handley). First vinyl was issued in both a die-cut gatefold (revealing a 'cracked' mirror) and a single sleeve with same image. The UK Buddah issue was part of the Polydor-manufactured 'Select' series.

During his first trip to England in January 1968, Captain Beefheart was briefly represented in the UK by mod icon Peter Meaden, an early manager of The Who. The Captain and his band members were initially denied entry to the United Kingdom, because Meaden had illegally booked them for gigs without applying for appropriate work permits. After returning to Germany for a few days, the group was permitted to re-enter the UK, when they recorded material for John Peel's radio show and appeared at the ''Middle Earth'' venue, introduced by Peel on Saturday 20 January. By this time, they had terminated their association with Meaden. On January 27, 1968, Beefheart achieved one of his most memorable live performances, when the band performed in the MIDEM Music Festival on the beach at Cannes, France.

Alex St. Claire left the band in June 1968 after their return from a second European tour and was replaced by teenager Bill Harkleroad; bassist Jerry Handley left a few weeks later.

''The Mirror Man Sessions'' and new ''Buddha''

In 1999 the defunct Buddah label emerged with a new look, a correct title spelling and relevant 'deity' image - replacing the silhouetted 'Shiva' image and Buddah name for Beefheart material. The Bertelsmann Music Group (BMG) now had the Buddah catalogue, producing both a remastered CD of ''Safe as Milk'' and a CD titled ''The Mirror Man Sessions'', the latter providing an insight to the ''Mirror Man'' and ''Strictly Personal'' albums, and recordings relating to the 'Brown Wrapper' project. The tracks are presented as "Original Masters" and provides further insight to the interpolating material that also appears on ''It Comes To You In A Plain Brown Wrapper''. The insert also shows the entire band in Quaker hats and outfits.

''The 'Brown Wrapper' Sessions''

After their Euro tour and the Cannes beach performance the band returned to the USA. Moves were already in the air for them to leave Buddah and sign to MGM and, prior to their May tour - mainly in the UK - they re-recorded some Buddah material of the partial ''Mirror Man'' sessions at Sunset Sound with Bruce Botnick. Beefheart had also been conceptualizing new band names, including "25th Century Quaker" and "Blue Thumb", whilst making suggestions to other musicians that they might get involved. The thought-process of "25th Century Quaker" was that it would be a 'blues band' alias for the more avant-garde work of the Magic Band. Photographer Guy Webster actually photographed the band in Quaker-style outfits, and the picture appears in ''The Mirror Man Sessions'' CD insert. It would later transpire that much of this situation was transient and that Buddah's Bob Krasnow was to set up his own label. The label that was unsurprisingly named ''Blue Thumb'' launched with its first release ''Strictly Personal'', a truncated version of the original Beefheart vision of a double album. Thus "25th Century Quaker" became a track and a potential band-name became a label.

In overview, the works for the double album in this period were intended to be packaged in a plain brown wrapper, with a 'strictly personal' over-stamp and addressed in a manner that could have connotations of drug content, pornographic or illicit material; As per the small ads of the time; "It comes to you in a plain brown wrapper". Given that Krasnow had effectively poached the band from Buddah there were limitations on what material could be released. ''Strictly Personal'' was the result, contained in its enigmatically-addressed parcel sleeve. The raft of material left behind eventually emerged, firstly on CD as ''I May Be Hungry, But I Sure Ain't Weird'' and later on vinyl, implemented by John French, as ''It Comes To You In A Plain Brown Wrapper'' (which has two tracks that are missing from the former release). Both ''Blue Thumb'' and the stamps on the cover of ''Strictly Personal'' have LSD connotations, as does the track "Ah Feel Like Ahcid".

''Trout Mask Replica'', 1969

Critically acclaimed as Van Vliet's magnum opus, ''Trout Mask Replica'' was released as a 28 track double album in June 1969 on Frank Zappa's newly formed Straight Records label. First issues, in the USA, were auto-coupled and housed in the black 'Straight' liners along with a 6-page lyric sheet illustrated by The Mascara Snake. A school-age portrait of Van Vliet appears on the front of this sheet, whilst the cover of the gatefold enigmatically shows Beefheart in a 'Quaker' hat, obscuring his face with the head of a fish. The fish is a carp - arguably a 'replica' for a trout, photographed by Cal Schenkel. The inner spread 'infra-red' photography is by Ed Caraeff, whose Beefheart vacuum cleaner images from this session also appear on Zappa's ''Hot Rats'' release (a month earlier) to accompany "Willie The Pimp" lyrics sung by Vliet. Alex St. Clair had now left the band and, after Junior Madeo from The Blackouts was considered, the role was filled by Bill Harkleroad. Bassist Jerry Handley had also departed, with Gary Marker stepping in. Thus the long rehearsals for the album began in the house on Ensenada Drive in Woodland Hills, L.A., that would become the infamous 'Magic Band House'.

The Magic Band began recordings for ''Trout Mask Replica'' with bassist Gary 'Magic' Marker at T.T.G. (on "Moonlight On Vermont" and "Veteran's Day Poppy"), but later enlisted bassist Mark Boston after his departure. The remainder of the album was recorded at Whitney Studios, with some field recordings made at the house. Vliet's girlfriend Laurie Stone, who can be heard laughing at the beginning of "Fallin' Ditch", would also became an audio typist at the Magic Band house.

Van Vliet wanted the whole band to "live" the ''Trout Mask Replica'' album. The group rehearsed Van Vliet's difficult compositions for eight months, living communally in their small rented house in the Woodland Hills suburb of Los Angeles. With only two bedrooms the band members would find sleep in various corners of one, whilst Vliet occupied the other and rehearsals were accomplished in the main living area. Van Vliet implemented his vision by completely dominating his musicians, artistically and emotionally. At various times one or another of the group members was "put in the barrel," with Van Vliet berating him continually, sometimes for days, until the musician collapsed in tears or in total submission. Drummer John French described the situation as "cultlike" and a visiting friend said "the environment in that house was positively Mansonesque." and eventually of Beefheart threatening to throw him out of an upper floor window. He admits complicity in similarly attacking his bandmates during "talks" aimed at them. In the end, after the album's recording, French was ejected from the band by Beefheart throwing him down a set of stairs with violence, telling him to "Take a walk, man" after not responding in a desired manner to a request to "play a strawberry" on the drums. Beefheart replaced French with drummer Jeff Bruschel, an acquaintance of Hayden. Referred to as 'Fake Drumbo' (playing on French's drumset) this final act resulted in French's name not appearing on the album credits, either as a player or arranger. Bruschel toured with the band to Europe but was replaced by the next recording.

According to Van Vliet, the 28 songs on the album were written in a single 8½ hour session at the piano, an instrument which he had no skill in playing, an approach Mike Barnes compared to John Cage's "maverick irreverence toward classical tradition", though band members have stated that the songs were written over the course of about a year, beginning around December 1967. (The band did watch Federico Fellini's 1963 film ''8½'' during the creation of the album). It took the band about eight months to mold the songs into shape, with French bearing primary responsibility for transposing and shaping Vliet's piano fragments into guitar and bass lines, which were mostly notated on paper. Harkleroad in 1998 said in retrospect: "We're dealing with a strange person, coming from a place of being a sculptor/painter, using music as his idiom. He was getting more into that part of who he was instead of this blues singer." The band had rehearsed the songs so thoroughly that the instrumental tracks for 21 of the songs were recorded in a single four and a half hour recording session. Van Vliet spent the next few days overdubbing the vocals. The album's title came from its cover artwork, which was photographed and designed by Cal Schenkel; Van Vliet wearing the raw head of a carp, bought from a local fish market and fashioned into a mask by Schenkel.

''Trout Mask Replica'' incorporated a wide variety of musical styles, including blues, avant garde/experimental, and rock. The relentless practice prior to recording blended the music into an iconoclastic whole of contrapuntal tempos, featuring slide guitar, polyrhythmic drumming (with French's drums and cymbals covered in cardboard), honking saxophone and bass clarinet. Van Vliet's vocals range from his signature Howlin' Wolf inspired growl to frenzied falsetto to laconic, casual ramblings.

The instrumental backing was effectively recorded live in the studio, while Van Vliet overdubbed most of the vocals in only partial synch with the music by hearing the slight sound leakage through the studio window. Zappa said of Van Vliet's approach, "[it was] impossible to tell him why things should be such and such a way. It seemed to me that if he was going to create a unique object, that the best thing for me to do was to keep my mouth shut as much as possible and just let him do whatever he wanted to do whether I thought it was wrong or not."

Van Vliet used the ensuing publicity, particularly with a 1970 ''Rolling Stone'' interview with Langdon Winner, to promulgate a number of myths which were subsequently quoted as fact. Winner's article stated, for instance, that neither Van Vliet nor the members of the Magic Band ever took drugs, but Harkleroad later contradicted this. Van Vliet claimed to have taught both Harkleroad and Boston to play their instruments from scratch; in fact the pair were already accomplished young musicians before joining the band. Last, Van Vliet claimed to have gone a year and half without sleeping. When asked how this was possible, he claimed to have only eaten fruit.

Critic Steve Huey of Allmusic writes that the album's influence "was felt more in spirit than in direct copycatting, as a catalyst rather than a literal musical starting point. However, its inspiring reimagining of what was possible in a rock context laid the groundwork for countless experiments in rock surrealism to follow, especially during the punk and New Wave era." In 2003, the album was ranked fifty-eighth by ''Rolling Stone'' in their list of The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time: "On first listen, ''Trout Mask Replica'' sounds like raw Delta blues", with Beefheart "singing and ranting and reciting poetry over fractured guitar licks. But the seeming sonic chaos is an illusion—to construct the songs, the Magic Band rehearsed twelve hours a day for months on end in a house with the windows blacked out. (Producer Frank Zappa was then able to record most of the album in less than five hours.) Tracks such as "Ella Guru" and "My Human Gets Me Blues" are the direct predecessors of modern musical primitives such as Tom Waits and PJ Harvey". BBC disc jockey John Peel said of the album: "If there has been anything in the history of popular music which could be described as a work of art in a way that people who are involved in other areas of art would understand, then ''Trout Mask Replica'' is probably that work." It was inducted into the United States National Recording Registry in 2011. '''

Later recordings, 1970–1982

''Lick My Decals Off, Baby''

''Lick My Decals Off, Baby'' (1970) continued in a similarly experimental vein. An album with "a very coherent structure" in the Magic Band's "most experimental and visionary stage", it was Van Vliet's most commercially successful in the United Kingdom, spending twenty weeks on the UK Albums Chart and peaking at number 20. An early promotional music video was made of its title song, and a bizarre television commercial was also filmed that included excerpts from "Woe-Is-uh-Me-Bop", silent footage of masked Magic Band members using kitchen utensils as musical instruments, and Beefheart kicking over a bowl of what appears to be porridge onto a dividing stripe in the middle of a road. The video was rarely played but was accepted into the Museum of Modern Art, where it has been used in several programs related to music.

On this LP Art Tripp III, formerly of the Mothers of Invention, played drums and marimba. ''Lick My Decals Off, Baby'' was the first record on which the band was credited as "''The'' Magic Band", rather than "''His'' Magic Band"; journalist Irwin Chusid interprets this change as "a grudging concession of its members' at least semiautonomous humanity." Robert Christgau gave the album an A-, commenting that "Beefheart's famous five-octave range and covert totalitarian structures have taken on a playful undertone, repulsive and engrossing and slapstick funny". Due to licensing disputes, ''Lick My Decals Off, Baby'' was unavailable on CD for many years, though it remained in print on vinyl. It was ranked second in ''Uncut'' magazine's May 2010 list of "The 50 Greatest Lost Albums". In 2011, the album became available for download on the iTunes Store.

''The Spotlight Kid'' and ''Clear Spot''

The next two records, ''The Spotlight Kid'' (simply credited to "Captain Beefheart") and ''Clear Spot'' (credited to "Captain Beefheart and the Magic Band"), were both released in 1972. The atmosphere of ''The Spotlight Kid'' is "definitely relaxed and fun, maybe one step up from a jam." And though "things do sound maybe just a little too blasé," "Beefheart at his worst still has something more than most groups at their best." The music is simpler and slower than on the group's two previous releases, the uncompromisingly original ''Trout Mask Replica'' and the frenetic ''Lick My Decals Off, Baby''. This was in part an attempt by Van Vliet to become a more appealing commercial proposition as the band had made virtually no money during the previous two years—at the time of recording, the band members were subsisting on welfare food handouts and remittances from their parents. Van Vliet offered that he "got tired of scaring people with what I was doing... I realized that I had to give them something to hang their hat on, so I started working more of a beat into the music." Magic Band members have also said that the slower performances were due in part to Van Vliet's inability to fit his lyrics with the instrumental backing of the faster material on the earlier albums, a problem that was exacerbated in that he almost never rehearsed with the group. In the period leading up to the recording the band lived communally, first at a compound near Ben Lomond, California and then in northern California near Trinidad. The situation saw a return to the physical violence and psychological manipulation that had taken place during the band's previous communal residence while composing and rehearsing ''Trout Mask Replica''. According to John French, the worst of this was directed toward Harkleroad. In his autobiography Harkleroad recalls being thrown into a dumpster, an act he interpreted as having metaphorical intent.

''Clear Spot'''s production credit of Ted Templeman made Allmusic consider "why in the world [it] wasn't more of a commercial success than it was," and that while fans "of the fully all-out side of Beefheart might find the end result not fully up to snuff as a result, but those less concerned with pushing back all borders all the time will enjoy his unexpected blend of everything tempered with a new accessibility." The song "Big Eyed Beans from Venus" is noted as "a fantastically strange piece of aggression." A ''Clear Spot'' song, "Her Eyes Are A Blue Million Miles", appeared on the soundtrack of the Coen brothers' cult comedy film ''The Big Lebowski'' (1998).

''Unconditionally Guaranteed'' and ''Bluejeans & Moonbeams''

In 1974, immediately after the recording of ''Unconditionally Guaranteed'', which markedly continued the trend towards a more commercial sound heard on some of the ''Clear Spot'' tracks, the Magic Band's original members departed. Disgruntled and past members worked together for a period, gigging at Blue Lake and putting together their own ideas and demos, with John French earmarked as the vocalist. These concepts eventually coalesced around the core of Art Tripp III, Harkleroad and Boston, with the formation of Mallard, helped by finance and UK recording facilities from Jethro Tull's Ian Anderson. Some of French's compositions were used in the band's work, but the group's singer was Sam Galpin and the role of keyboardist was eventually taken by John Thomas, who had shared a house with French in Eureka at the time. At this time Vliet attempted to recruit both French and Harkleroad as producers for his next album, but his pleas fell on deaf ears. Andy Di Martino produced both of these Virgin label albums.

Vliet was forced to quickly form a new Magic Band to complete support-tour dates, with musicians who had no experience with his music and in fact had never heard it. Having no knowledge of the previous Magic Band style, they simply improvised what they thought would go with each song, playing much slicker versions that have been described as "bar band" versions of Beefheart songs. A review described this incarnation of the Magic Band as the "Tragic Band", a term that has stuck over the years. Mike Barnes said that the description of the new band "grooving along pleasantly", was "an appropriately banal description of the music of a man who only a few years ago composed with the expressed intent of shaking listeners out of their torpor". The one album they recorded, ''Bluejeans & Moonbeams'' (1974) has, like its predecessor, a completely different, almost soft rock sound from any other Beefheart record. Neither was well received; drummer Art Tripp recalled that when he and the original Magic Band listened to ''Unconditionally Guaranteed'', they "were horrified. As we listened, it was as though each song was worse than the one which preceded it." Beefheart later disowned both albums, calling them "horrible and vulgar", asking that they not be considered part of his musical output and urging fans who bought them to "take copies back for a refund".

''Bongo Fury'' to ''Bat Chain Puller''

By the fall of 1975 the band completed their European tour, with further U.S. dates completed into the New Year of 1976, supporting Zappa along with Dr. John. Van Vliet now found himself stuck in a web of contractual hang-ups. At this point Zappa had begun to extend a helping hand, with Vliet already having performed incognito as ''Rollin' Red'' on Zappa's ''One Size Fits All'' (1975) and then joining with him on the ''Bongo Fury'' album and its later support tour. Two Vliet-penned numbers on the ''Bongo Fury'' album are ''Sam With The Showing Scalp Flat Top'' and ''Man With The Woman Head''. The form, texture and imagery of this album's first track ''Debra Kadabra'', sung by Vliet, has 'angular similarities' to the work he would later produce in his next three albums. On the ''Bongo Fury'' album Vliet also sings "Poofter's Froth, Wyoming Plans Ahead", harmonizes on "200 Years Old" and "Muffin Man" and plays harmonica and soprano saxophone.

In early 1976 Zappa put on his producer hat and, once again, opened up his studio facilities and finance to Vliet. This was for the production of an album provisionally titled ''Bat Chain Puller''. The band were John French (drums), John Thomas (keyboards) and Jeff Moris Tepper and Denny Walley (guitars). Much of the work on this album had been finalized and some demos had been circulated when fate once again struck the Beefheart camp. In May 1976 the long association between Zappa and his manager/business partner Herb Cohen ceased. This resulted in Zappa's finances and ongoing works becoming part of protracted legal negotiations. The ''Bat Chain Puller'' project went 'on ice' and has remained in the Zappa vaults since. Consequently, the thrust and works of this album had to be reworked and recorded again. Some bootlegs on both vinyl and CD, purportedly containing original tracks, have circulated. After this recording John Thomas joined ex-Magic Band members in Mallard.

Prior to his next album Beefheart appeared in 1977 on the Tubes' album ''Now'', playing saxophone on the song "Cathy's Clone", and the album also featured a cover of the ''Clear Spot'' song "My Head Is My Only House Unless It Rains". In 1978 he appeared on Jack Nitzsche's soundtrack to the film ''Blue Collar''.

''Shiny Beast (Bat Chain Puller)''

Having extricated himself from a mire of contractual difficulties Beefheart emerged with this new album, in 1978, on the Warner Bros label. ''Shiny Beast'' contained re-workings of the shelved ''Bat Chain Puller'' album and still retained this works' original guitarist, Jeff Moris Tepper. However, he and Vliet were now joined by a whole new line-up of Richard Redus (guitar, bass and accordion), Eric Drew Feldman (bass, piano and synthesizer), Bruce Lambourne Fowler (trombone and air bass), Art Tripp (percussion and marimba) and Robert Arthur Williams (drums). Thus, the album was suffixed ''Shiny Beast (Bat Chain Puller)'' and took on new musical directions. It was co-produced by Vliet with Pete Johnson. Members of this Magic Band and the 'Bat Chain' elements would later feature on Beefheart's last two albums. ''Shiny Beast (Bat Chain Puller)'' was described by Ned Raggett of Allmusic to be "''...manna from heaven for those feeling Beefheart had lost his way on his two Mercury albums''". Following Vliet's death, John French claimed the 40-second spoken word track "Apes-Ma" to be an analogy of Van Vliet's deteriorating physical condition. The album's sleeve features the Don Van Vliet painting ''Green Tom'', made in 1976. One of the many works that would mark out his longed-for career as a painter of note in later years.

''Doc At The Radar Station''

''Doc at the Radar Station'' (1980) helped establish Beefheart's late resurgence. Released by Virgin Records during the post-punk scene, the music was now accessible to a younger, more receptive audience. He was interviewed in a feature report on KABC-TV's ''Channel 7 Eyewitness News'' in which he was hailed as "the father of the New Wave. One of the most important American composers of the last fifty years, [and] a primitive genius"; Van Vliet said at this period, "I'm doing a non-hypnotic music to break up the catatonic state... and I think there is one right now." Huey of Allmusic cited the ''Doc at the Radar Station'' as being "generally acclaimed as the strongest album of his comeback, and by some as his best since ''Trout Mask Replica''", "even if the Captain's voice isn't quite what it once was, ''Doc at the Radar Station'' is an excellent, focused consolidation of Beefheart's past and then-present". Van Vliet's biographer Mike Barnes speaks of "revamping work built on skeletal ideas and fragments that would have mouldered away in the vaults had they not been exhumed and transformed into full-blown, totally convincing new material." ''Ice Cream for Crow'', along with songs such as its title track, features instrumental performances by the Magic Band with performance poetry readings by Van Vliet. Raggett of Allmusic called the album a "last entertaining blast of wigginess from one of the few truly independent artists in late 20th century pop music, with humor, skill, and style all still intact"; with the Magic Band "turning out more choppy rhythms, unexpected guitar lines, and outré arrangements, Captain Beefheart lets everything run wild as always, with successful results". Barnes writes that "the most original and vital tracks (on the album) are the newer ones", saying that it "feels like an hors-d'oeuvre for a main course that never came". Soon after, Van Vliet retired from music and began a new career as a painter. Gary Lucas tried to convince him to record one more album, but to no avail.

''Riding Some Kind Of Unusual Skull Sleigh''

Released in 2004 by Rhino Handmade in a limited edition of 1,500 copies, this prestigious signed and numbered box set contains a "Riding Some Kind of Unusual Skull Sleigh" CD of Vliet-recited poetry, the Anton Corbijn film of Vliet ''Some YoYo Stuff'' on DVD and two art books. One book, entitled ''Splinters'', gives a visual 'scrapbook' insight into Vliet's life, from an early age to his painting in retirement. The second, eponymously titled, book is packed with art pages of Vliet's work. The first is bound in green linen, the second in yellow. These colors are counterpointed throughout the package, which comes in a green slipcase measuring 235 x 325 x 70 mm. An onion-skin wallet, nestling at the package's inner sanctum, contains a matching-numbered Vliet lithograph on hand-rolled paper, signed by the artist. The two books are by publishers "Artist Ink Editions".

Paintings

Throughout his musical career, Van Vliet remained interested in art. He placed his paintings, often reminiscent of Franz Kline's, on several of his albums. In 1987, Van Vliet published ''Skeleton Breath, Scorpion Blush'', a collection of his poetry, paintings and drawings.

In the mid 1980s, Van Vliet became reclusive and abandoned music, stating he had gotten "too good at the horn" and could make far more money painting. Beefheart's first exhibition had been at Liverpool's Bluecoat Gallery during the Magic Band's 1972 tour of the UK. He was interviewed on Granada regional television standing in front of his bold black and white canvases. He was inspired to begin an art career when a fan, Julian Schnabel, who admired the artwork seen on his album covers, asked to buy a drawing from him. His debut exhibition as a serious painter was at the Mary Boone Gallery in New York in 1985 and was initially regarded as that of "another rock musician dabbling in art for ego's sake", though his primitive, non-conformist work has received more sympathetic and serious attention since then, with some sales approaching $25,000. Two books have been published specifically devoted to critique and analysis of his artwork: ''Riding Some Kind of Unusual Skull Sleigh: On The Arts Of Don Van Vliet'' (1999) by W.C. Bamberger and ''Stand Up To Be Discontinued'', first published in 1993, a now rare collection of essays on Van Vliet's work. The limited edition version of the book contains a CD of Van Vliet reading six of his poems: "Fallin' Ditch", "The Tired Plain", "Skeleton Makes Good", "Safe Sex Drill", "Tulip" and "Gill". A deluxe edition was published in 1994; only 60 were printed, with etchings of Van Vliet's signature, costing £180.

In the early 1980s Van Vliet established an association with the Michael Werner Gallery. Eric Feldman stated later in an interview that at that time Michael Werner told Van Vliet he needed to stop playing music if he wanted to be respected as a painter, warning him that otherwise he would only be considered a "musician who paints". In doing so, it was said that he had effectively "succeeded in leaving his past behind." Gordon Veneklasen, one of the gallery's directors in 1995 described Van Vliet as an "incredible painter" whose work "doesn't really look like anybody else's work but his own." Van Vliet has been described as a modernist, a primitivist, an abstract expressionist, and an outsider artist. Morgan Falconer of ''Artforum'' concurs, mentioning both a "neo-primitivist aesthetic" and further stating that his work is influenced by the CoBrA painters. The resemblance to the CoBrA painters is also recognized by art critic Roberto Ohrt, while others have compared his paintings to the work of Jackson Pollock, Franz Kline, Antonin Artaud, Francis Bacon, Vincent van Gogh and Mark Rothko.

According to Dr. John Lane, director of the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, in 1997, although Van Vliet's work has associations with mainstream abstract expressionist painting, more importantly he is a self-taught artist and his painting "has that same kind of edge the music has." Lane explained that in contrast to the busied, bohemian urban lives of the New York abstract expressionists, the rural desert environment Van Vliet is influenced by is a distinctly naturalistic one, making him a distinguished figure in contemporary art, whose work will survive in canon. Van Vliet has stated of his own work, "I'm trying to turn myself inside out on the canvas. I'm trying to completely bare what I think at that moment" and that "I paint for the simple reason that I have to. I feel a sense of relief after I do". He has stated of precedent influences that there are none. "I just paint like I paint and that's enough influence." He has however stated his admiration of Georg Baselitz, the De Stijl artist Piet Mondrian, and Vincent van Gogh; after seeing van Gogh's paintings in person, Van Vliet quoted himself as saying that "the sun disappoints me so".

Exhibits of his paintings from the late 1990s at both the Anton Kern and Michael Werner Galleries of New York City received favorable reviews, the most recent of which were held between 2009 and 2010. Falconer stated that the most recent exhibitions showed "evidence of a serious, committed artist." It was claimed that he stopped painting in the late 1990s. A 2007 interview with Van Vliet through email by Anthony Haden-Guest, however, showed him to still be active artistically. He exhibited only few of his paintings because he immediately destroyed any that did not satisfy him.

Life in retirement

After his retirement from music, Van Vliet rarely appeared in public. He resided near Trinidad, California, with his wife Janet "Jan" Van Vliet. By the early 1990s he was using a wheelchair as a result of multiple sclerosis.

Van Vliet often voiced concern over and support for environmentalist issues and causes, particularly the welfare of animals. He often referred to Earth as "''God's Golfball''" and this expression can be found on a number of his later albums. In 2003 he was heard on the compilation album ''Where We Live: Stand for What You Stand On: A Benefit CD for EarthJustice'' singing a version of "Happy Birthday to You" retitled "Happy Earthday". The track is 34 seconds long and was recorded over the telephone.

Death

The Michael Werner Gallery announced on Friday, December 17, 2010, that Van Vliet had died at a hospital in Arcata, California, weeks short of his 70th birthday. The gallery stated him to be "a complex and influential figure in the visual and performing arts," and "one of the most original recording artists of his time". The cause was named as complications from multiple sclerosis. Tom Waits and Kathleen Brennan commented on his death, praising him: "Wondrous, secret... and profound, he was a diviner of the highest order."

Dweezil Zappa dedicated the song "Willie the Pimp" to Beefheart at the "Zappa Plays Zappa" show at the Beacon Theater in New York City on the day of his death, while Jeff Bridges exclaimed "Rest in peace, Captain Beefheart!" at the conclusion of the December 18 episode of NBC's ''Saturday Night Live''.

Relationship with Frank Zappa

Van Vliet met Frank Zappa when they were both teenagers and shared an interest in rhythm and blues and Chicago blues. They collaborated together from this early stage, with Zappa's scripts for 'teenage operettas' such as "Captain Beefheart & The Grunt People" helping to elevate the Van Vliet persona of Captain Beefheart. In 1963, the pair recorded a demo at the Pal Recording Studio in Cucamonga as the Soots, seeking support from a major label. Their efforts were unsuccessful, as "Beefheart's Howlin' Wolf vocal style and Zappa's distorted guitar" were "not on the agenda" at the time.

The friendship between Zappa and Van Vliet over the years was sometimes expressed in the form of rivalry as musicians drifted back and forth between their groups. Van Vliet embarked on the 1975 ''Bongo Fury'' tour with Zappa and The Mothers, mainly because conflicting contractual obligations made him unable to tour or record independently. Their relationship grew acrimonious on the tour to the point that they refused to talk to one another. Zappa became irritated by Van Vliet, who drew constantly, including while on stage, filling one of his large sketch books with rapidly executed portraits and warped caricatures of Zappa. Musically, Van Vliet's primitive style contrasted sharply with Zappa's compositional discipline and abundant technique. Mothers of Invention drummer Jimmy Carl Black described the situation as "two geniuses" on "ego trips". Estranged for years afterwards, they reconnected at the end of Zappa's life, after his diagnosis with terminal prostate cancer. Their collaborative work appears on the Zappa rarity collections ''The Lost Episodes'' (1996) and ''Mystery Disc'' (1996). Particularly notable is their song "Muffin Man", included on the Zappa/Beefheart ''Bongo Fury'' album, as well as Zappa's compilation album ''Strictly Commercial'' (1995). Zappa finished concerts with the song for many years afterwards. Beefheart also provided vocals for "Willie the Pimp" on Zappa's otherwise instrumental album ''Hot Rats'' (1969). One track on ''Trout Mask Replica'', "The Blimp (mousetrapreplica)", features Magic Band guitarist Jeff Cotton talking on the telephone to Zappa superimposed onto an unrelated live recording of the Mothers of Invention (the backing track was later released in 1992 as "Charles Ives" on ''You Can't Do That on Stage Anymore, Vol. 5'' ). Van Vliet also played the harmonica on two songs on Zappa albums: "San Ber'dino" (credited as "Bloodshot Rollin' Red") on ''One Size Fits All'' (1975) and "Find Her Finer" on ''Zoot Allures'' (1976). He is also the vocalist on "The Torture Never Stops (Original Version)" on Zappa's ''You Can't Do That on Stage Anymore, Vol. 4''.

The Magic Band

The members of the original Magic Band had come together in 1965 and, like many rhythm and blues-oriented groups of that era, were influenced by the success of English bands such as the Rolling Stones and the Beatles. At this time Van Vliet was simply the lead singer of the group, which had been brought together by guitarist Alex St. Clair. Like many emerging groups in California at the time, there were elements of psychedelia and the foundation of contemporary hippie counterculture.

Thus, it seemed quite logical to promote the group as "Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band", around the concept that Captain Beefheart had 'magic powers' and, upon drinking a 'Pepsi', could summon up "His Magic Band" to appear and perform behind him. The strands of this logic emanating from Vliet's ''Beefheart'' persona having been 'written in' as a character in a 'teenage operetta' that Zappa had formulated, along with Van Vliet's renowned 'Pepsi-moods' with his mother Willy Sue and his generally spoilt teenage demeanor.

Beginning

In late 1965, after numerous car-club dances, juke joint gigs, appearances at the Avalon Ballroom and winning the Teenage Fair 'Battle of the Bands', the group finally bagged a contract for recording two singles with the newly-created A&M; Records label with Leonard Grant as their manager. It was at this time that musical relationships had also been struck with members of Rising Sons who would later feature in the band's recordings. The A&M; deal also brought some contention between members of the band, torn between a career as an experimental 'pop' group and that of a purist blues band. Working with young producer David Gates also opened up horizons for Vliet's skills as a poet-cum-lyricist, with his "Who Do You Think You're Fooling" on the flipside of the band's first single, a cover of the Ellas McDaniel/Willie Dixon-penned hit, "Diddy Wah Diddy". Fate and circumstance, not for the first time, would befall the band's success upon its release - which coincided with a singles cover of the same song by The Remains. The initial line-up of the Magic Band that entered the studio for the A&M; recordings was not that which emerged by the second release, "Moonchild", also backed by a Vliet-penned number, "Frying Pan". A 12" vinyl 45rpm mono EP was later released in 1987, with the four tracks of the two singles, plus "Here I Am, I Always Am" as a fifth previously unreleased song. This release was titled ''The Legendary A&M; Sessions'', with a red-marbled cover and (later) members Moon, Blakely, Vliet, Snouffer and Handley seated in a 'temperance dance band' photo-pose.

The original Magic Band was primarily a rhythm and blues band, led by local Lancaster guitarist Alexis Snouffer, along with Doug Moon (guitar), Jerry Handley (bass), and Vic Mortenson (drums), the last being rotated with and finally replaced by Paul Blakely, known as 'P.G. Blakely'. For the first A&M; recording Mortenson had been called up for active service and Snouffer stood in on drums, with a recently recruited Richard Hepner taking up the guitar role. By the time the single was aired on a pop television show P.G. Blakely was back in the drum seat. He then left for a career in television and was replaced by John French by the time the band cut their first album, as the first release on the new Buddah Records label.

Personnel in the Magic Band for Beefheart's first album, ''Safe as Milk'', were Alex St. Clair, Jerry Handley and John French. Earlier meetings with the Rising Sons had also secured them the guitar and arranging skills of Ry Cooder, which also brought about input from Taj Mahal on percussion and guitar work from Cooder's brother-in-law Russ Titelman. Further guests to this line-up included Milt Holland on percussion and the all-important and controversial theremin work on ''Electricity'' by Dr Samuel Hoffman. It was perhaps this track, above the others, which caused A&M; to view the band as 'unsuitable' for their label with what was seen as weird and too psychedelic for popular consumption. Thus, this album was recorded for Buddah, with the band signed to Kama Sutra, which left them close to penniless after extricating themselves from A&M.; A large proportion of the tracks on this album were co-written with Van Vliet by Herb Bermann, whom Vliet initially met up with at a bar gig near Lancaster. Part-time Hollywood television actor and budding scriptwriter Bermann and his then wife Cathleen spent some time in Vliet's company prior to this release. Bermann would later write for Neil Young and script an early Spielberg-directed television medical drama. Gary 'Magic' Marker (the "Magic" added by Beefheart) was involved in early session work for this release, and his involvement with Rising Sons was also instrumental in acquiring the skills of Cooder, upon an unfulfilled suggestion that Marker might produce the album. Marker would later lay down two uncredited bass tracks for ''Trout Mask Replica'' before being replaced by Mark Boston.

French worked on five more Beefheart albums, while Snouffer worked with Beefheart on and off on three more albums. Bill Harkleroad joined the Magic Band as guitarist for ''Trout Mask Replica'' and stayed with Beefheart through May 1974.

Beefheart takes the lead

While appearing humorous and kind-hearted in public, by all accounts Van Vliet was a severe taskmaster who abused his musicians verbally and sometimes physically. Vliet once told drummer John French he had been diagnosed as a paranoid schizophrenic and thus he would see inexistent conspiracies that explained this behaviour. The band were reportedly paid little or nothing. French recalled that the musicians' contract with Van Vliet's company stipulated that Van Vliet and the managers were paid from gross proceeds before expenses, then expenses were paid, then the band members evenly split any remaining funds—in effect making band members liable for all expenses. As a result French was paid nothing at all for a 33-city U.S. tour in 1971 and a total of $78 for a tour of Europe and the U.S. in late 1975. In his 2010 memoir ''Beefheart: Through The Eyes of Magic'' French recounted being "screamed at, beaten up, drugged, ridiculed, humiliated, arrested, starved, stolen from, and thrown down a half-flight of stairs by his employer".

The musicians also resented Van Vliet for taking complete credit for composition and arranging when the musicians themselves pieced together most of the songs from taped fragments or impressionistic directions such as "Play it like a bat being dragged out of oil and it's trying to survive, but it's dying from asphyxiation." John French summarized the disagreement over composing and arranging credits metaphorically:

Post-Beefheart, receiving only a "grumpy" reception from him, the band reformed in 2003 with John French on lead vocals, Gary Lucas and Denny Walley on guitars, Rockette Morton on bass, and Robert Williams on drums. At the start of their only European tour, Williams left and was replaced by Michael Traylor. The band released two albums and toured before disbanding in 2006.

They toured the UK in 2005, playing a selection of small venues. John Peel was initially skeptical about the re-formed Magic Band. He played a live recording of the band recorded at the 2003 All Tomorrows Parties festival on his radio show; afterwards he couldn't speak and had to put on another record to regain his composure. Later the band did a live session for him. The band's albums are ''Back To The Front'' (on the London-based ATP Recordings, 2003) and ''21st Century Mirror Men'' (2005). They played over 30 shows throughout the United Kingdom and Europe, and one in the United States. They have been chosen by Jeff Mangum of Neutral Milk Hotel to perform at the All Tomorrow's Parties festival that he will curate in December 2011 in Minehead, England.

Influence

Van Vliet has been the subject of at least two documentaries, the BBC's 1997 ''The Artist Formerly Known As Captain Beefheart'' narrated by John Peel, and the 2006 independent production ''Captain Beefheart: Under Review''.

According to Peel, "If there has ever been such a thing as a genius in the history of popular music, it's Beefheart... I heard echoes of his music in some of the records I listened to last week and I'll hear more echoes in records that I listen to this week." His narration added: "A psychedelic shaman who frequently bullied his musicians and sometimes alarmed his fans, Don somehow remained one of rock's great innocents". Mike Barnes referred to him as an "iconic counterculture hero", who with the Magic Band "went on to stake out startling new possibilities for rock music". while John Harris of ''The Guardian'' praised the music's "pulses with energy and ideas, the strange way the spluttering instruments meld together". A ''Rolling Stone'' biography described his work as "a sort of modern chamber music for [a] rock band, since he plans every note and teaches the band their parts by ear. Because it breaks so many of rock's conventions at once, Beefheart's music has always been more influential than popular." In this context, it is performed by the classical group, the Meridian Arts Ensemble. Piero Scaruffi characterize "three basic elements": "the ballad out of tune, with guitar interlaced with jolting rhythm, vocal miasma and a rogue harmonica". Scaruffi ranked ''Trout Mask Replica'' number one on his list of the greatest rock albums of all time. He says that "the distance between Captain Beefheart and the rest of rock music is the same distance that there was between Beethoven and the symphonists of his time". Nicholas E. Tawa, in his 2005 book ''Supremely American: Popular Song in the 20th Century: Styles and Singers and What They Said About America'', included Beefheart among the prominent progressive rock musicians of the 1960s and 70s, while the ''Encyclopædia Britannica'' describes Beefheart's songs as conveying "deep distrust of modern civilization, a yearning for ecological balance, and that belief that all animals in the wild are far superior to human beings."

Many artists have cited Van Vliet as an influence, beginning with the Edgar Broughton Band, who covered ''Dropout Boogie'' as Apache Drop Out (mixed with The Shadows' "Apache") as early as 1970 and The Kills coverage of it 32 years later. The Minutemen were fans of Beefheart, and were arguably among the few to effectively synthesize his music with their own, especially in their early output, which featured disjointed guitar and irregular, galloping rhythms. Michael Azerrad describes the Minutemen's early output as "highly caffeinated Captain Beefheart running down James Brown tunes", and notes that Beefheart was the group's "idol". Others who arguably conveyed the same influence around the same time or before include John Cale of The Velvet Underground, Laurie Anderson, The Residents and Henry Cow. Genesis P-Orridge of Throbbing Gristle and Psychic TV, and poet mystic Z'EV, both pioneers of industrial music, cited Van Vliet along with Zappa among their influences. More notable were those emerging during the early days of punk rock, such as The Clash and John Lydon of the Sex Pistols (reportedly to manager Malcolm McLaren's disapproval), later of the post-punk band Public Image Ltd.

Cartoonist and writer Matt Groening tells of listening to ''Trout Mask Replica'' at the age of 15 and thinking "that it was the worst thing I'd ever heard. I said to myself, they're not even trying! It was just a sloppy cacophony. Then I listened to it a couple more times, because I couldn't believe Frank Zappa could do this to me—and because a double album cost a lot of money. About the third time, I realised they were doing it on purpose; they meant it to sound exactly this way. About the sixth or seventh time, it clicked in, and I thought it was the greatest album I'd ever heard." Groening first saw Beefheart and the Magic Band perform in the front row at the Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall in the early 1970s. He later declared ''Trout Mask Replica'' to be the greatest album ever made. He considered the appeal of the Magic Band as outcasts who were even "too weird for the hippies". Groening served as the curator of the All Tomorrow's Parties festival that reunited the post–Beefheart Magic Band.

Van Vliet's influence on post–punk bands was demonstrated by Magazine's recording of "I Love You You Big Dummy" in 1978 and the tribute album ''Fast 'n' Bulbous - A Tribute to Captain Beefheart'' in 1988, featuring the likes of artists such as the Dog Faced Hermans, The Scientists, The Membranes, Simon Fisher Turner, That Petrol Emotion, the Primevals, The Mock Turtles, XTC, and Sonic Youth, who included a cover of Beefheart's "Electricity" as a bonus track on the deluxe edition of their 1988 album ''Daydream Nation''. Other post-punk bands influenced by Beefheart include Gang of Four, Siouxsie and the Banshees, Pere Ubu, Babe the Blue Ox and Mark E. Smith of The Fall. The Fall covered "Beatle Bones 'N' Smokin' Stones" in their 1993 session for John Peel. Beefheart is considered to have "greatly influenced" New Wave artists, such as David Byrne of Talking Heads, Blondie, Devo, The Bongos, and The B-52s.

Tom Waits' shift in artistic direction, starting with 1983's ''Swordfishtrombones'', was, Waits claims, a result of his wife Kathleen Brennan introducing him to Van Vliet's music. "Once you've heard Beefheart," said Waits, "it's hard to wash him out of your clothes. It stains, like coffee or blood." Guitarist John Frusciante of the Red Hot Chili Peppers cited Van Vliet as a prominent influence on the band's 1991 album ''Blood Sugar Sex Magik'' as well as his debut solo album ''Niandra Lades and Usually Just a T-Shirt'' (1994) and stated that during his drug-induced absence, after leaving the Red Hot Chili Peppers, he "would paint and listen to ''Trout Mask Replica''." Black Francis of the Pixies cited Beefheart's ''The Spotlight Kid'' as one of the albums he listened to regularly when first writing songs for the band, and Kurt Cobain of Nirvana acknowledged Van Vliet's influence, mentioning him among his notoriously eclectic range.

The White Stripes in 2000 released a 7" tribute single, ''Party of Special Things to Do'', containing covers of that Beefheart song plus "China Pig" and "Ashtray Heart". The Kills included a cover of "Dropout Boogie" on their debut ''Black Rooster EP'' (2002). The Black Keys in 2008 released a free cover of Beefheart's "I'm Glad" from ''Safe as Milk''. In 2005 Genus Records produced a tribute to Captain Beefheart titled ''Mama Kangaroos'' - ''Philly Women Sing Captain Beefheart.'' Beck included "Safe as Milk" and "Ella Guru" in a playlist of songs as part of his website's ''Planned Obsolescence'' series of mashups of songs by the musicians that influenced him. Franz Ferdinand cited Beefheart's ''Doc At The Radar Station'' as a strong influence on their second LP, ''You Could Have It So Much Better.'' Placebo briefly named themselves Ashtray Heart, after the track on ''Doc at the Radar Station''; the band's album ''Battle for the Sun'' contains a track called "Ashtray Heart". Joan Osborne covered Beefheart's "(His) Eyes are a Blue Million Miles", which appears on ''Early Recordings''. She cited Van Vliet as one of her influences. PJ Harvey and John Parish discussed Beefheart's influence in an interview together. Harvey's first experience of Beefheart's music was as a child. Her parents had all of his albums; listening to them made her "feel ill". Harvey was reintroduced to Beefheart's music by Parish, who lent her a cassette copy of ''Shiny Beast (Bat Chain Puller)'' at the age of 16. She cited him as one of her greatest influences since. Parish described Beefheart's music as a "combination of raw blues and abstract jazz. There was humour in there, but you could tell that it wasn't [intended as] a joke. I felt that there was a depth to what he did that very few other rock artists have managed [to achieve]."

Discography

{| style="width:100%" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" |- valign="top" |style="width:50%"|

''Safe as Milk'' (1967)

''Strictly Personal'' (1968)

''Trout Mask Replica'' (1969)

''Lick My Decals Off, Baby'' (1970)

''Mirror Man'' (1971)

''The Spotlight Kid'' (1972)

|style="width:50%"|

''Clear Spot'' (1972)

''Unconditionally Guaranteed'' (1974)

''Bluejeans & Moonbeams'' (1974)

''Shiny Beast (Bat Chain Puller)'' (1978)

''Doc at the Radar Station'' (1980)

''Ice Cream for Crow'' (1982)

|}

References

Further reading

Courtier, Kevin (2007). ''Trout Mask Replica''. New York: Continuum. ISBN 0-8264-2781-2

Delville, Michel & Norris, Andrew (2005). ''Frank Zappa, Captain Beefheart, and the Secret History of Maximalism''. Cambrdige: Salt Publishing. ISBN 1-84471-059-9.

Harkleroad, Bill (1998). ''Lunar Notes: Zoot Horn Rollo's Captain Beefheart Experience''. Interlink Publishing. ISBN 0-946719-21-7.

Bamberger, W.C. (1999). ''Riding Some Kind Of Unusual Skull Sleigh: On The Arts Of Don Van Vliet''. ISBN 978-0-917453-35-9

Beaugrand, Andreas and various (1994). ''Stand Up to Be Discontinued''. (Paperback) ISBN 3-9801320-2-1.

Van Vliet, Don (Captain Beefheart) (1987). ''Skeleton Breath, Scorpion Blush''. (All poems in English, preface in German and English). Bern-Berlin: Gachnang & Springer. ISBN 978-3-906127-15-6

Zappa, Frank & Occhiogrosso, Peter; ''The Real Frank Zappa Book'', Poseidon Press (1989), ISBN 0-671-63870-X

External links

Beefheart.com – The Captain Beefheart Radar Station

Captain Beefheart at Rolling Stone

[ Captain Beefheart at Allmusic]

''Some Yo Yo Stuff'' by Anton Corbijn

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