At least once a year I feel the need to feature the music of Captain Beefheart, particularly since so much cool stuff from him keeps bubbling up on YouTube. Here he is with the Magic Band performing “Sure Nuff ‘n’ Yes I Do” on the beach at Cannes in 1968. It’s like Space Aliens who could eat The Blues came to Earth and stayed a while.

Ed Kilgore

Ed Kilgore is a political columnist for New York and managing editor at the Democratic Strategist website. He was a contributing writer at the Washington Monthly from January 2012 until November 2015, and was the principal contributor to the Political Animal blog.