If we decline to buy an iPhone or a pair of sneakers made under miserable working conditions, how should we respond when a band leader brutalizes his musicians? Artist Fred Tomaselli and writer Rick Moody took up that question, praised the bleak arid landscapes of the Southwest and had some hard words for gulls when we convened at Planthouse Gallery with the splendid Celtic harp player Maeve Gilchrist.

•  PERSON: Captain Beefheart
•  PLACE: the American desert
•  THING: seagulls
•  RANDY’S THING: a cartoon canary