Yellow Matter Custard

The Big Thaw: Caroline Sinclair and Gary Lucas, Sunday in New York, 1/23/05

photo by Gib Smith | Click on the photo to enlarge (hosted by flickr)

Manhattan is snowed under in the first blizzard of this year, the newspapers scream of snow-plows, stranded flyers, freezing families, the usual urban disruptions but as a weather-savvy son of Syracuse (the Salt City) born way up yonder in the snow-belt 'tis much ague about nothing; in fact, I love it when it snows here and was sorely disappointed when the white flake riverboats didn't arrive on cue a couple months ago in Switzerland as promised, nay advertised, by my friend the avant-guitarslinger Gerald Zbinden...speaking of which, Gerald just sent me rough mixes of our Lausanne guitar duels and they sound pure and absolutely hypnogogic, dripping silvery notes as icy and deliquescent as a mountain stream...now I am plowing through 4 days of tapes worth trying to select the best moments, of which there are a surfeit.

Meanwhile I'm working again slaving over a hot console at Loho Studios on the fabulous Lower East Side in the company of eternal rhythm kings Ernie Brooks and Billy Ficca plus fiery young men with horns Joey Hendel and Jason Candler (angels both of them)--with guest pop-ins (a Larry David-ism) courtesy of Ellis " The Godson of Soul" Hooks, who stopped off to sing a storming twisted blues with us and rang a few changes or three on the venerable form-- and sensitive rock-god -in-the-making Michael Schoen, who graced the stage with Gods and Monsters recently performing a heart-stopping version of "Mojo Pin" (one of my most famous collaborations with the late Jeff Buckley); now he's done it for the world and posterity on tape and damn if my wife didn't sit up and take notice (my harshest critic!...which is to say, Caroline loved Michael's new interpretation...)

BTW, there is a worldclass Chinese bakery down the block from Loho on Clinton Street that is quite worthy of your attention all ye who pass through these blog portals (if you ever plan to motor east), dunno the name but MAN do they make a hell of a savory barbecue pork bun...also luscious pineapple rolls, coconut and mango smoothies laden with translucent tapioca pearls, and best of all, little yellow-matter custard pies...

G'night!

xxGary

Moose and Squirrel and Miles and Me

Two winners to announce for my latest contest (see the previous posting): Robert Jacobson from an unspecified location on the Indian subcontinent correctly identified the cartoon show whose theme resembles Miles Davis's "Nefertiti" as Rocky and Bullwinkle (to tell you the truth, Robert listed a plethora of Jay Ward shows in his submission, said scattershot answer indicating that he probably didn't actually extrapolate his reply through actual close listening to the Miles piece but based his guesswork on the hint given about the merchandise store in LA near the Chateau Marmont, which--now it can be revealed--was owned by Jay Ward, producer of R&B, Dudley Do-Right, Hoppity Hooper, Sherman and Peabody, Fractured Fairytales, and other beloved cultural folderol...oh well). The second correct entry submitted following hot on Bob's electronic vapor trail was from Kevin Davis of Vanderbilt University in Nashville, and he correctly came up with Rocky and Bullwinkle, with no extra guesswork thrown in. So congrats, gentlemen--a copy of Dylan's snarky WBAI radio appearance circa '66 and the new Fast 'n Bulbous album will be winging their way to Robert and Kevin, respectively.

Gary Lucas with the Yale Marching Band, Yale Bowl, New Haven Connecticut, 10/1972 (photo hosted by flickr)

Photo by Jeff Johnson | Click on the photo to enlarge

Also appearing on this page soon (thanks Tanya!) is a shot of me in full 70's regalia taken at the Yale Bowl in 1972 during a season when I played with the Yale Marching Band--I used to set up on the sidelines at halftime and crank my Epiphone through a Jim Dunlop wah-wah and a 200-watt Marshall stack, pumping out the Theme from Shaft and other goodies in tandem with my marching cohorts under the baton of Keith Brion (who conducted a wonderful album of Percy Grainger's symphonic band music on the Delos label a few years back; "To the Fore!"--in fact, Keith turned me on to Grainger's sublime, heartbreaking "Children's March", my solo guitar arrangement of which appears on my "Operators Are Standing By" album, recently reissued through Evolver/Rykodisc). It was nearly the Yale Marching Banned that year, as some of the elderly alumni brought heat down on us for various scabrous halftime hijinx, the most memorable being a Salute to the proposed Yale/Vassar merger, wherein half the boys in the band made a giant Y formation on the field and the other half a giant V, and the two formations kind of...merged...use your imagination here (helpful hint--the trombone player in the vanguard at the base of the giant Y donned a rubber shower cap as the entire Y formation marched into the apex of the giant V). Thanks to Stuart Rohrer for sending me the photo, taken by our fellow classmate Jeff Johnson--I ran into Stuart last week for the first time in about 30 years at the Gibson Epiphone showroom at the Hit Factory, where the winner of the Magrack Guitar Face competition was feted, and it was synchronicity in more ways than one--I'm a Fender guitar guy for years now, at least on electric, but back in the day, as you can see in the photo, I was sportin' that Epiphone (I painted it chocolate brown, it had only one pickup, but did it ever hum...)


It is now 10 degrees outside, the streets are dark and deserted... Caroline and I just came back from seeing "Closer" (I dig Natalie Portman so it was definitely worth the ten fifty--hey in London a movie is about sixteen, seventeen bucks, these days). I am going to play my Gibson J-45 now, I've been fine-tuning a furious new fantasia I've written for Gods and Monsters...

xxlove

Gary

Spirits of the Living

Cold weather lives again in New York Town, a sudden pressure drop from 64 (same age of Don Van Vliet as of today) to freezing in the near blink of an eye by the pale fire of a wintry afternoon, a chill is in the air yet the bloom is on the rye (ergot mold maybe?), hard times living herein as sung by Dylan on album one and writ large in the first chapter of his essential "Chronicles" can be usually dispelled effortlessly by blowing yer top musically, which I did full stop Thursday night at CBGB's 313 Gallery in the excellent company of my friend Dee Pop, the original drummer for the Bush Tetras and now a titan of free drumming. We were joined in this joyous blowing session by my Gods and Monsters mates Ernie Brooks on bass and Jason Candler on alto, keyboard colossus Mark Plakias on synths, and special guest goddess Felice Rosser on bass and vox, scatting and wailing blues and the abstract truth with obeisance paid put to Mama Africa...it was such a liberating gig, we did a version of Abdullah Ibrahim's "Bra Joe from Kilimanjaro" that grooved so deep, a room full of happy faces glowing before us out of the darkness as I summoned ghosts from my guitars and sent them dancing about the room in company with the spirits conjured up by my likeminded sojourners...jazz, blues, rock, folk, electronic, it's all music, folks, and as the good Captain sayeth: Lick My Decals Off, Baby.

Pop quiz: what recurring beloved cartoon series from the 60's has a theme song resembling a speeded up version of "Nefertiti", from the Miles Davis album of the same name? The first emailer to correctly identify this series (hint: there was a store selling merchandise related to the show right by the Chateau Marmont in LA for many years) wins a rare copy of an air check of Dylan's legendary 1966 appearance on Bob Fass's WBAI midnight radio show "Radio Unnameable", where Dylan takes on all comers and then some fielding live on the air phone-ins from gushing fans, befuddled academics, jaded hipsters, and wiseass pranksters--recorded when Dylan was back briefly in NYC from Nashville on a break from cutting "Blonde on Blonde". Second correct emailer wins a copy of the new Fast 'n Bulbous album, which just got a rave from David Fricke in Rolling Stone. (Happy Birthday Don!)

love
xx

Gary

Top 10 of 2004 thingy

I notice the lag between posts is growing longer, so one of my New Year's resolutions is to do my best to keep the pace from slackening...and hereby vow come hell or highwater (a saying freighted with a chilling resonance after recent tragic events) to post at least two a week.

Herein is a Top 10 list I was asked to submit to Dusted Magazine, it was really done on the spur of the moment and like all such lists I could have provided alternate choices to the nth power (same is true of the blogger profile I was asked to submit to help personalize these postings, I could list an infinite number of favorite things, and have resisted the temptation to modify or update my first choices on the theory that you the reader should hopefully get the general drift of my sensibility from my music first and foremost)...bear in mind there is no hierarchy involved:

Top 10 of 2004

1. SCTV Vols. One and Two on DVD--the best palliative for existential pain I know
2. "Vampyres" on DVD--superb little known 1974 UK bisexual vampira sex and gore romp starring the fabulous Marianne Morris and pet of the month Anulka, not much in the plausible narrative department but delivers the goods nonetheless
3. "Blood on Satan's Claw" on DVD--this slipped under my radar when it was released by Tigon in the 70's-- one of the greatest of English withcraft films, right up there with "Witchfinder General"-- an exercise in controlled erotic horror featuring superstar Linda Hayden as demoness Angel Blake, only available through Amazon.co.uk unfortunately, but if you invest in a...
4. Phillips DVP 642 DVD player, you can render this cheapo machine (70 bucks) into an all-region DVD player with a couple pushes of the remote control buttons and knowledge of the secret code (surf the web, you'll find it) --and voila! you can then play
5. "Culloden" on DVD--Peter Watkins (The War Game, Privilege) directed this unforgettable 1964 black and white faux documentary re-enactment of the brutal 1746 battle which tore the Scottish highland clan system apart, the last major battle to be fought on English soil--saw this in 1967 and it haunts me still, available from BBC Films (amazon.co.uk)...the well known Monty Python opening of the mad derelict Scotsman careening down a hill was probably inspired by this film (the "if she floats, she's a witch" routine from Monty Python and the Holy Grail was definitely inspired by a scene from "Blood On Satan's Claw")
6. "Popular Electronics--Early Dutch Electronic Music" by Kid Baltan and Tom Dissevelt--a beautiful boxed edition on Basta of the trippiest most haunting and creative electronica I know, from the early 60's ...I was weaned on this music and to hear it again and have it available in all its glory (plus out-takes, film and commercial music, work tapes etc.) has made this a banner year for music lovers
7. "Smile"--Brian Wilson (and Van Dyke Parks!)...as good as the legend would have it, this album would have kicked Sgt. Pepper's ass if it had been released on schedule in 1967--I've seen the live show thrice (at Royal Festival Hall and Carnegie Hall), go and see it if it comes within a thousand mile radius, it is that transcendental, and can make grown men and women weep for joy
8. Super 700--amazing Berlin-based band fronted by the incredible vocalist Ibadet Ramadani and her 2 lovely sisters, check out their website at super700.com and go to projektdemo.com to hear their hypnotic songs
9. "My Guitar Wants to Kill Your Mama" (Lenox 1012)--this has been out for awhile but what the hey... a compilation devoted to obscure electric blues that features little known 50's r&b dude Sly Williams doing Guitar Slim one better with a yowliing psychotic vocal and a manic, twisted guitar solo that sends me every time on the magisterial "Boot Hill" (a re-write of "Look Over Yonder's Wall")--you should buy it just for this track, you also get a couple choice Earl Hooker sides on it as well
10. "Seven Steps: The Complete Miles Davis Columbia Recordings 1963-1964"--what can I say, beautifully recorded ensemble playing featuring Victor Feldman, Herbie Hancock, George Coleman, Tony Williams et al....gorgeous package, lush sounds, slip it on and make the world go away...

Gary Lucas


ps What a weekend for live music here in NYC, both playing and listening!--Gods and Monsters played a couple of excellent, well-attended shows in town--our Bowery Poetry Club on Friday was graced by the presence of my sister Bonnie as well as Ambassador Martin Palous and Consul General Ales Pospisil from the Czech Republic (I will play my arrangement of Dvorak's "Largo" next time, guys, I promise!). Young turk singer Michael Schoen returned after performing with me for the John Lennon tribute in the same cosy venue recently to guest on an incendiary version of "Mojo Pin", the song I co-wrote with Jeff Buckley from an early incantation of Gods and Monsters circa 1991. Saturday Caroline and I went out to check this year's Globalfest offering at the Public Theater and heard beautiful incandescent sets by Juana Molina and Rokia Traore. And last night Gods and Monsters opened the Winter JazzFest at the Knitting Factory and played our hearts out--and then I wandered up and down the club's stairs for hours lost in all the great music spilling out of the club's 3 venues, and was especially taken with NoJazz, a French electronic trance/dance/jazz ensemble that grooved l.a.m.f....lovely to see so many old friends there, and to make so many new ones--it really makes me glad to be alive and making music in this year of our Lord 2005.

xxLove

Gary

Happy Nude Year

...and let's hope the naked new year a'borning is a damn sight better than last year (let me count the ways...no, better not!)

Gary's acoustic alchemy at the 12-Bar Club, London, 12/30/04 (photos hosted by flickr)

photos by John O'Donnell | Click on a photo to enlarge

Just back from London with Caroline, forgive the dilatory lag between blogs but in truth we were enjoying ourselves so much I didn't have time to post for awhile.
But I want to mention what a beautiful gig a hitherto-unknown-to-me UK fan named Peter Johnstone put on for me at the funky little 12-Bar Club in Denmark Street. Pete had emailed shortly before we were set to come over right before Christmas requesting the tuning and chords for "The Mad World", a track from my Edge of Heaven Chinese pop album that had been recently played by John Peel on his show shortly before Peel's untimely death. Normally I usually decline such requests with "a magician doesn't reveal his secrets"...but in the spirit of the season I wrote him back with the arrangement info, and he replied with an invitation to do this gig as he knew the club manager Andy. There was no time to get it listed in the papers over there--but thanks to Andy I did a Resonance radio interview and performance the night before with Kevin Head to promote the show on Thursday Dec. 30th...and lol, the next night came round and there was an absolutely packed house with actual Lucas fans among them, and I sprang onto the stage at 10pm and played like a maniac for 1 hour to the cheering throng who had assembled en masse in this two tiered music room that looked like the Black Hole of Calcutta (it was originally an old forge dating back to 1653)-- and aware of what musical history had been made there (I know heroes of mine like Bert Jansch have passed through its portals) I gave it my all, and then some, and the crowd gave it back, in spades. It was a tremendously satisfying night for me, a really really special once-in-a-lifetime gig, and I thank sound whiz extraordinaire John O'Donnell for snapping the photos that (hopefully) webmistress Tanya will put up here soon after I ply her with more British chocolate (John did the excellent soundmix for the new Magic Band live DVD which is just on sale online, check beefheart.com for more details).

Have to dash, more sooner than later...

xxGary