Just heard the news that he has died from complications from Mulitple sclerosis. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-12024652. Fantastic musician will be missed.
Captain Beefheart was definitely an acquired taste and effectively died ,as far as the music world is concerned ,in the early Eighties when he retired from making music and concentrated on his art . A sad , but not wholy unexpected ,loss .