in the year 2000 the rosa ensemble, a company of musicians playing modern and contemporary music, took up the idea of a tribute to captain beefheart, a composer from quite a different direction. and in march of the next year the group announced their work in progress as the theatre show A FLOPPY BOOT STOMP. a few cites from the press message:

Next season the RosA EnSEmBle from Utrecht, Holland will present its second full production. In an arena like setting with super sized video screens on all sides RosA plays the brilliant and sometimes daredevilish works of Captain Beefheart alias Don van Vliet. Beefheart had his roots in the blues, from which he landed up in the avant-garde of the seventies. RosA, familiar with the language of the new music, peels off the rind of his music and, like a x-ray scan, examines the inside of this big bang in the music history.

Over the years Beefheart's music has been disposed of as the work of a disturbed mind, or the brilliant sounds of a visionary. Of course the truth lies somewhere in between. Beefheart's role in music history has been underexposed compared to his pal Frank Zappa. Wrongly, according to RosA. Beefheart's music style is an adventure in itself. It's a fact that till now his music hasn't lost any of its topicality and expressiveness.

A Floppy Boot Stomp is a combination of a concert and an audio visual plant. The music will be performed as instrumentals, video images replace the voice and words of Don van Vliet. The RosA EnSEmBle, complemented with a few guests, faces the challenge to pick up the odd way of playing of The Magic Band. According to The Explosive Note Theory, every note should be played with maximum intensity, as if it had nothing to do with the previous and the following note.

A Floppy Boot Stomp will be produced in fall 2001 and the playing period covers January, February and March 2002. Foreign concerts will follow next.

but first, circumstances turned against them in the form of unwilling subsidy suppliers and other obstacles, so for a long time it seemed like nothing was happening. not in 2002, and not in 2003 too...

in spring 2004 it suddenly appeared that the rosa ensemble had re-animated their tribute project. but many changes had been made to the 'floppy boot stomp' concept. first of all, the title of the shows had become SELLING HOOVERS IN MOJAVE (something the captain once did, as you know), and next the content of it was completely different to the original idea:

Except that the performance contains classics of the Captain, it also deals with translating: [it are] translations in music and text. Hans Dagelet speaks, raps, sings, and plays trumpet.

although it will confuse you, i like to mention that 'selling hoovers in mojave' was a part of rosa's 'the spinroom 03' project, and the two first performances where part of a bigger program called 'cross linx 4 - spoken word meets new music'. why would i? because, despite all these english titles, 'de teksten zijn in het nederlands' - or translated: the texts are in DUTCH!.... that was a brave idea, but unfortunately also decreased the potential foreign interest.

nevertheless, that hadn't withheld the dutchmen from already planning a second series of similar shows the following year. although, it was different enough to give those 2005 performances a separate name: BLUNDERLAND (beefheart phase 2).
later note:
but due to organizational circumstances and the success of the 'selling hoovers in mojave' concerts, this 'extended theatrical program' was abandoned...

daniel cross en hans dagelet tijdens een werkbespreking
over het klaarmaken van een vleestomaat
daniel cross and hans dagelet during a discussion of progress
about the preparation of a beefheart

A PROBLEM
as a consequence to the language used in the program and the restricted area to perform it in
the information at this website might have an overdose of dutch words
but i'll do my utmost best to tell something about it in english

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