Lonesome Cowboy Burt

On the first official day of the flamboyant festival of Zappadan, before the mad celebration sweeps us all up in its frantic pace of ritual joyous vegetable abuse, lets stop and remember, The Indian of The Group, Jimmy Carl Black, who died this last November 2, 2008 at age 70.

Jimmy was born James Inkanish Jr. in El Paso, Texas in 1938. After a stint in the Air Force, he became a Rock and Roll drummer, playing verious bands starting in 1962 with "The Keys" in Wichita, Kansas. he moved to California in 1964 and met Roy Estrada and Ray Collins and started a band called The Soul Giants. In 1965, the guitarist of The Soul Giants was drafted into the Army and Ray Collins said he knew a guitar player named Frank Zappa. A few months later, Frank was the leader of the band and the name was changed to The Mothers.

Jimmy Carl Black was the drummer of the Mothers until 1969, when Frank disbanded the unit. That was the end of one of the greatest bands ever. Great musicians, but not the greatest that Zappa would ever work with, but as a unit of memorable personalities at odds with each other but in the end working to the utmost of their abilities to play muusic that no one had imagined before. They mixed humor and performance art.

Jimmy never made a lot of money as a musician. At one time he actually formed a house painting company with British musician, Arthur Brown. But he never stopped playing and recording. His own band Geronimo Black and a few others...he continued playing the classic Mothers of Invention music after Franks death with the Grandmothers, which were most of the original members and later as The Muffin Men.

He recorded and played with Eugene Chadbourn in the 90's and a few other projects which he released on his own Inkanish Record lable. The Muffin Men kept playing until earlier this year. In 2004, Jimmy was diagnosed with lung cancer and kept it at bay for a while, but finally died on November 2.
The above clip is his classic performance from the 1971 movie, 200 Motels as Lonesome Cowboy Burt!