Captain Beefheart: Some Notes Toward Appreciating a Difficult Artist

(At some point in my last few weeks on Twitter I found myself talking to one of my Internet pals about the legendary “outsider” rock star Captain Beefheart, and how intimidating he is, and how hard his music is to actually enjoy. I promised to write something about how I came to honestly like the experience of listening to — not just thinking about — Tr…