Name a genius.

[BurtWorm]

My genius of the day is Captain Beefheart, ne Don Vliet, self-renamed Don van Vliet. Once a child prodigy as a sculptor, now an artist living in relative obscurity. Most famous for far-seeing experiments in rock music, most notably Trout Mask Replica, which many find unlistenable. Vliet thought of music as a kind of sculpture, which explains its utter originality. Despite his reputation for "weirdness," some of his compositions--many of them, actually--are things of utter beauty. As I write this, I'm listening to "Abba Zaba," allegedly a paean to evolution --or a candy bar--from his first major album, Safe as Milk. Vliet's lyrics are also famously opaque. Actually, they're more about sound than meaning. Record companies didn't know what to do with him, but even they recognized his 7 and a half octave range and uncannily authentic(for a white middle class kid) blues voice and rued not being able to mine him for profit.

Don van Vliet makes me proud to be an American.

[MrScorpio]

1. OK, I get it. You guys think he's a genius

I still can't feel his music though

[BurtWorm]

2. You haven't been listening then.

;)

If you like Blues, check out Safe as Milk.

[Cooley Hurd]

3. Robert Smigel - SNL/Conan writer...

...and creator of Triumph, the insult comic dog. Also responsible for the TV Funhouse cartoons on SNL.

Utterly brilliant!

[MrScorpio]

5. Now that guy I get!!

Capt B-H was cool enough for my doper buddies, but since I've done dope, I couldn't relate.

Just give me some James Brown instead.

[BurtWorm]

9. Interestingly, Captain Beefheart was all natural.

No dope he. So he said. Zappa was the same way. And they went to high school together. In the Mojave desert!

[mitchum]

58. ...and The Anipals!

Smigel is the funniest man alive

[DrWeird]

4. George Clinton

He's been smoking crack since before the CIA invented it. And not only that, he showed you can be a pioneering and inovative musician while doing it. He's inspiration to drug fiends everywhere that, you too, can have it all.

Shine on, you crazy mothership.

I would be getting it done in both eardrums here in this vanilla suburb without you, C.C. Ya dig?

[MnFats]

6. Jimi Hendrix

The Coen Brothers
Bob Dylan
John Lennon
Einstein

Me? I did pretty well on the ACT. Does that count?
' course, I have not lived up to expectations.

[caledesi]

7. Kahil Gibran. *profound* eom

On Freedom
And an orator said, "Speak to us of Freedom."

And he answered:

At the city gate and by your fireside I have seen you prostrate yourself and worship your own freedom,

Even as slaves humble themselves before a tyrant and praise him though he slays them.

Ay, in the grove of the temple and in the shadow of the citadel I have seen the freest among you wear their freedom as a yoke and a handcuff.

And my heart bled within me; for you can only be free when even the desire of seeking freedom becomes a harness to you, and when you cease to speak of freedom as a goal and a fulfillment.

You shall be free indeed when your days are not without a care nor your nights without a want and a grief,

But rather when these things girdle your life and yet you rise above them naked and unbound.

And how shall you rise beyond your days and nights unless you break the chains which you at the dawn of your understanding have fastened around your noon hour?

In truth that which you call freedom is the strongest of these chains, though its links glitter in the sun and dazzle the eyes.

And what is it but fragments of your own self you would discard that you may become free?

If it is an unjust law you would abolish, that law was written with your own hand upon your own forehead.

You cannot erase it by burning your law books nor by washing the foreheads of your judges, though you pour the sea upon them.

And if it is a despot you would dethrone, see first that his throne erected within you is destroyed.

For how can a tyrant rule the free and the proud, but for a tyranny in their own freedom and a shame in their won pride?

And if it is a care you would cast off, that care has been chosen by you rather than imposed upon you.

And if it is a fear you would dispel, the seat of that fear is in your heart and not in the hand of the feared.

Verily all things move within your being in constant half embrace, the desired and the dreaded, the repugnant and the cherished, the pursued and that which you would escape.

These things move within you as lights and shadows in pairs that cling.

And when the shadow fades and is no more, the light that lingers becomes a shadow to another light.

And thus your freedom when it loses its fetters becomes itself the fetter of a greater freedom.

[pasadenaboy]

8. Thomas Jefferson

no explanation needed.

[WannaJumpMyScooter]

10. Dr. Hunter S. Thompson, Esq.

With his quick wit, and faster eye, he chronicled some of the weirdest scenes imaganation ever had.
Imagine how wonderful his work would be if he had not killed all those brain cells.
Only the Good Doctor could discuss football with Nixon in a men's room, or debate Nelson Rockefeller about drug sentancing while triping his face off.

[mikehiggins]

11. Hermann Hesse

Steppenwolf
Siddhartha
Magister Ludi
and so forth.

Amazing writer and philosopher.

And I found the Magic Theatre.

I'm better now, though.

[Bucky]

12. Jeaneane Garofalo

minus 20 points for spelling

[PurityOfEssence]

13. I useta play songs like "roughneck and thug", opaque melodies that would

bug most people...

(from "Man with a Woman Head", to be found on an album with Frank Zappa called "Bongo Fury")

He had his flirtations with fame; "Harry Irene" was a bit of a minor hit, and he has his fans, all right.

Who could not like a guy who calls an album: "Lick My Decals Off, Baby"?

As for naming my own genius, I presume you mean a living one, or I'd say Preston Sturges. Oops, I just said that, didn't I? How sneaky...

Okay, how's this for living genius: Randy Newman?

He's been a major recording artist for 35 years now, and has been covered by Three Dog Night (Mama Told Me Not to Come), Joe Cocker (You Can Leave Your Hat On), Leonard Cohen (And I Think It's Gonna Rain Today), Harry Nilsson (a whole album) and many others. He wrote music for Dobie Gillis when he was still in his teens, and has written countless movie scores, songs, an opera and co-wrote the screenplay for "Three Amigos" with Steve Martin and Lorne Michaels.

I especially liked it how he fluffed the question of not thanking god when he won his Oscar.

One of a kind.

[BurtWorm]

18. Dead geniuses are okay.

[VOX]

14. Muhammud Ali in his prime, and perhaps even now.

Highly intelligent, *extremely* clever, creative as hell; never at a loss for words, and an expert at psychology. A brilliant showman and an artist. Dominated his sport and popular culture during a chaotic era.

All these gifts were his without any formal training or schooling -- a true genius.

Ali is an American original. We will not see his kind again.

[BurtWorm]

21. Captain Beefheart's favorite percussionist.

No joke.

[economic justice]

15. Colin Wilson <eom>

[BurtWorm]

17. Who?

Okay I did say "name a genius," but could you say a little more about him?

[Bridget Burke]

34. He's a British writer....

Subjects include philosphy, mysteries, politics & the occult. Here's a piece he wrote about his friendship with Robert Graves. (I just finished the 3-volume biography of Graves by his nephew, so it resonates.)

http://members.tripod.com/abrax7/rg.htm

Whatever you think about Wilson's theories, he's a highly entertaining writer with an interesting mind.

[Spider Jerusalem]

16. William Seward Burroughs.

Visionary prophet and literary genius whose writings are an acid-etched portrait of a world gone horribly wrong. A bit much for most people, maybe, with his graphic and disturbing depictions of drug addiction, homosexuality, and general nastiness; but once you grasp his metaphors you see that the world he's talking about is ours, where those in power ensure they keep it by using all the sinister control methods they can think of. Were Burroughs alive now, to see the post-9/11/01 insanity of America and the world, he'd say "I've been telling you bastards about this for fifty years, and you didn't fucking listen."

Burroughs has had a wide and deep influence on the culture; he coined the phrase "heavy metal"; originated the cut-up technique David Bowie later used in writing his lyrics; inspired the key members of the so-called "Beat Generation", the Beatles, Tom Waits, the Velvet Underground, and hundreds of others in the fields of literature, art, music and film. I'd be hard pressed to name an American novelist of the past half-century of whom as much could be said.


Here's to you, Bill...wherever you are.

[Digger]

57. Agreed

Very well written and accurate post. He's one of my literary heroes.

[Hubert Flottz]

19. George Booooosh!

Just ask him!

[Screaming Lord Byron]

20. Elisabeth Fraser, formerly of the Cocteau Twins.

Most extraordinary voice since...well, since anything.

[Character Assassin]

51. This is the correct answer

Although the material in the albums after "Heaven or Las Vegas" started to suffer greatly.

[northzax]

22. Steve Spurrier

c'omn, he's gotta be a genius, you have to really try to have a team that fucking bad.

[northzax]

26. ok, fine. a real, and obscure one...

Brutus de Villeroi.

[BurtWorm]

27. I totally agree.

That is obscure. ;)

[northzax]

52. invented the first submarine used by the Union

in the civil war. The Alligator. but it sank.



I'll take obscure maritime history for 200. please alex"

[ProfessorGAC]

23. Had Me, Had Me, Lost Me

While i actually do like Trout Mask. . . i have never heard anything to make me believe that Don had a 7+ octave vocal range.

If you had just left that piece of apocrypha out of your post, i would have concurred.
The Professor

[ProfessorGAC]

24. Oh, And About Naming A Genius

1. Thelonious Monk - Jazz Piano
2. Roger Penrose - Theoretical Physics
3. Bertrand Russel - Mathematician and Philosopher.

There's more of course, but i just picked a few i figured others might forget to mention.
The Professor

[BurtWorm]

25. It seems like more a lateral range to me.

As opposed to a vertical one. If you know what I mean.

PS: The more you read about Beefheart, the more you notice the phrase "and a half" tied onto time and other measurements: "seven and half octave" or "four and half octave" vocal range; "eight and a half hours" to write Trout Mask Replica ; "eleven and a half hours" to create the whole freak-out myth with Zappa; "one and a half year" period Beefheart claimed he didn't sleep a wink (from 25 to 26.5 years of age!). He's a mythhmaker and a half. A genius and half too, I think.

[Screaming Lord Byron]

28. Arthur Scherbius! n/t

[Zuni]

29. Abraham Lincoln

Was perhaps the most skilled political leader in the history of the Unites States. Managed to preserve the Union and fatally cripple slavery while facing tremendous opposition.
I could go further, but it would take far too long.

[jpgray]

30. Brian Wilson

Milton
Gogol
Mussorgsky
Sturluson
Syd Barrett
Mark E. Smith
Charlie Parker

(plenty of others I can't remember)

[Screaming Lord Byron]

31. Mark E. Smith. Genius or ranting dishevelled maniac? The line is so fine.

;-)

[Zuni]

33. Or Syd barret?

His solo work after he left Pink Floyd was usually accompanied by fellow inmates at a mental institution.

[jpgray]

38. I may have difficulty separating ranting dishevelled maniac from genius

:)

But some of that stuff on Piper--knockout.

[Screaming Lord Byron]

39. I like all Syd's stuff, even The Madcap Laughs / Opal stuff

as for The Fall, it's a constant three-way between shambling, genius and tragedy.

[jpgray]

43. Yeah, the Fall is fascinating like a car wreck is fascinating

Their strongest stuff is *really* strong, but the weakest... can be stomach-turning.

As for Syd, his setting of Joyce's "Golden Hair", the Soft Machine backed "No Man's Land", "Wined and Dined", some great songs in there. Since he was fucking crazy, they sound like nothing else--he had some incredible guitar sounds for 1966-7 on that first album.

But I always like an atonal edge with my catchiness, so these two are great fun for me.

:)

[Zuni]

32. Zuni is a genius

I mean, that guy just rocks!

[Don_G]

35. Me

You have a problem someone with an 180+ IQ individual hanging out at DU?

Excuse me, my cat has other priorites and I think the "litter box" needs to e changed.

Such is the life of a genius.....

[ChoralScholar]

36. Hmm.. I'd have to say Huey Lewis...EOM

[XNASA]

37. DaVinci? Newton? Picasso?

Yeah, sure, they were all geniuses.

But I'm voting for Thom Yorke. :D

[Don_G]

41. Everyone You Admire Is Smarter Than You

Or talented in areas you've havent explored yet....

But smarter?????

[jpgray]

44. Ahh.. Damo Suzuki should beat the shit out of Yorke for stealing his voice

:D

[Guaranteed]

47. Ooo...you said Yorke too...

Great minds...

[Bertha Venation]

40. Jimmy Carter n/t

[YNGW]

45. Billy Carter was the one with the brains.

Billy Beer.

[regularguy]

42. Charlie Parker. Rober Musil.

.

[Guaranteed]

46. Andy Kaufman.

Thom Yorke.

Whoops...I guess that's two. :)

[Drifter]

48. Hello Frank Zappa ...

My first thought was Zappa when I saw your post.

I think we are both in the ballpark here. Genius can not be described by a number on a test (just look at musical sevants). I'm sure the genius flowed freely between these two.

I do have some trouble listening to CBH, but that is only because I have not put in the proper amount of practise.

Note to self: must get some more CBH.

Cheers
Drifter

[BurtWorm]

50. Start with Safe as Milk

It's the kind of record you'll want to start over immediately. Just keep it on loop.

[Red_Storm]

49. Miles Davis

[geniph]

53. Richard Feynman and Steven Hawking

...all others are simply talents.

[alarcojon]

54. Chomsky!

B-)

[BlackVelvetElvis]

55. Rembrant

The first to introduce the psychological and the act of painting into one piece.

[mitchum]

56. Tennessee Williams

this is probably the only thing that James Michener and I agree on

[nuxvomica]

61. Y'know, I've never consider that but I think you're right

When I think of his body of work and the way lightning hit the stage in every single play, I guess he was.

[kixot]

59. James Clerk Maxwell.

Albert Einstein
Richard Fineman
Michio Kaku
Stephen Hawking
Evariste Galois
Isaac Newton
Johann Gauss
Srinivasa Ramanujan
Ptolomy

[BrotherBuzz]

60. Bill Lear

Eight track tapes!