2. DATE OF BIRTH:                   1978

3. OCCUPATION:               Girl Friday to the SMT in an independent school

4. PLACE OF RESIDENCE:                    UK

5. WHAT YEAR DID YOU BECOME A FAN?:            1997

SAFE AS MILK : _______________________3
MIRROR MAN : _____________________
STRICTLY PERSONAL : ______________= 6
TROUT MASK REPLICA :  ____________= 1
LICK MY DECALS OFF BABY :________ = 4
SPOTLIGHT KID :___________________  = 6
CLEAR SPOT :________________________  8
UNCONDITIONALLY GUARANTEED : __ 9
BLUE JEANS & MOONBEAMS :  ______
SHINY BEAST :   _____________________= 1
DOC AT THE RADAR STATION : _____  = 4
ICE CREAM FOR CROW : ___________

7. TOP 10 OTHER ACTS:
I'm very bad at collating Top Tens, but some of my favourites are:

Frank Zappa...
Todd Rundgren...
Sparks...
The Stooges/Iggy Pop...
The Ramones...
The Residents...
Some of Julian Cope...

9. HOW DID YOU FIRST DISCOVER CAPTAIN BEEFHEART & THE MAGIC BAND,
AND WAS THERE A PARTICULAR SONG THAT MADE YOU SEE THE LIGHT?:

First glimpse: on some clip show or other (TOTP2?  Old Grey Whistle Test compilation??) of the Captain singing "Big Eyed Beans from Venus", whilst wearing a very fetching cape.  It stuck in my mind for some reason.  Later, the documentary was shown on the BBC.  It was thanks to my mum's persistence ("That looks interesting, shall I tape it for you?") that I actually watched it ("some weird bloke in a cape" was my impression up to that point!!), but the rest is history...  Suffice to say, I found the whole thing intriguing and went off shortly afterwards to get me a copy of TMR.  After a little immersion in the music, I came to love it and it has changed the way I listen to all music.

10. NUMBER OF BEEFHEART  GIGS SEEN,  AND WHICH YEARS:
I have seen the reformed, reconstituted Magic Band (Shepherd's Bush 2003), but not the Captain himself.  Once again, as with so many things, I was "born out of my time"...
 

11. ART SHOWS VISITED:
None 

12. ANY CONTACT WITH DON?:
No

13. MUSICAL ABILITY / TRAINING:
Unlike most small children who make up songs, nobody told me to shut up.  Instead, they pressed "record".  I continued to write songs, throughout my childhood and into adulthood - I enjoy singing immensely, despite not being very hot on the proper technique!  I also play the piano badly, although it fools a lot of people.  I have not really done a lot lately (partly because of life events!) and feel far less confident in my musical abilities than I ever have.  But now that my life is pointing more towards the direction I'd like it to, hopefully the poor old overworked muse will return from her sabbatical...

14. ANY OTHER INFO YOU WISH TO ADD?
It's lovely to return to the list and see familiar names, still gently (and not so gently!) passing the conversational baton around.  Glad to be back!