Elliot Ingber

• Name — Elliot Ingber • Alias — Winged Eel Fingerling • Died — 21 January 2025 • Occupation — Guitarist • Instrument — Guitar • Past Member Of — * The Gamblers • Fraternity of Man • The Magic Band • The Mothers of Invention

Ingber grew up in Los Angeles, where he attended Fairfax High School alongside such musicians and later music business figures as Phil Spector, Lou Adler, Bruce Johnston and Sandy Nelson. He played guitar in local bands including Kip Tyler and the Flips, and The Gamblers. In 1966, he joined Frank Zappa's band the Mothers of Invention and appeared on their debut album Freak Out!. He was fired from the band by Zappa following an incident onstage (according to drummer Jimmy Carl Black) when he tripped on LSD and was unaware that his amplifier was not switched on. After that he co-founded Fraternity of Man, which released two albums. With singer Lawrence "Stash" Wagner, Ingber wrote the track "Don't Bogart Me", later used (as "Don't Bogart That Joint") on the soundtrack of Easy Rider. He then joined Captain Beefheart's Magic Band under the stage name Winged Eel Fingerling, given to him by Beefheart. In the sleeve notes to The Spotlight Kid (1972), Beefheart likens Ingber to "a chrome black eyebrow / rolled out real long" and also "a paper brow magnifying glass / fried brown, edge scorched, yoked / like a squeak from a speaker / behind forehead of the time." In 1995, Ingber reformed Fraternity of Man with Lawrence "Stash" Wagner, the original vocalist and co-author of "Don't Bogart that Joint", to record and release a third album released under the Malibu Records label. Ingber later abandoned music and worked as a postman in Los Angeles. He died on January 21, 2025, at the age of 83.