This weekend, the legendary avant-garde bluesman Don Van Vleit, better known as Captain Beefheart, passed away. While his distortion-soaked, eccentric take on rhythm and blues was often cinematic in its own right, Beefheart almost had a brush with acting as well. In the early 60s, Frank Zappa and Beefheart holed up and worked on a script for a film called Captain Beefheart vs. The Grunt People, which Zappa rewrote in 1969, inspired by the success of films like Easy Rider. The script was never produced, but a huge chunk of it is available online and it's every bit as fun and weird as fans would hope.
All of the elements you'd expect from a Zappa/Beefheart collaboration are here including (but not limited to): angry-parent caricatures, space travel and a part written for the great Howlin' Wolf. Apparently the duo also painted sets and props for the film, including a cardboard rocket-ship. So put on your Trout Mask Replica record, take a break from holiday stress and imagine the freaky film that could have been.
Check out 58 Pages of the script at The Captain Beefheart Radar Station.