I'm a Stranger Here Myself...
...doin' time on planet earth. A wandering minstrel, aye, who likes to commingle with other like-minded folk, strange kin peoples of the outer and inner circle (Whitman-sampler like, I contain multi-kulti 'tudes)... traveling the globe to bring you the thrill of victory...and the agony of de feet (o my achin' pieds)...
And 'twas a glorious evening well spent last Sunday at the KGB Bar over on East 4th Street wherein yours truly improvised an accompaniment on National steel for my pal Steve Beeber (renowned expert on all things Jewpunk--author of must-read "The Heebie Jeebies at CBGB's", editor of the recent Soft Skull Press anthology "AWAKE! A Reader for the Sleepless") who was a'reading my story "Me and the Golem" from same said book to a largish crowd...Steve's an excellent reader, story went down well, but the real fun part for me was digging the other turns by some fantastic writers, including the hilarious and foxy Catie Lazarus, Catie's a sharp dresser (wore a little red-riding hoody ensemble with a half a bear visage over her hard skull--Caroline would have loved this) who also is a stand-up practitioner of commedia del pahty, she's written for Heeb, The Forward, Time Out NY, lots of tony publishing houses too, she read from Steve's anthology a thing called "Insomnia" (a trademark symbol should go next to the a, don't have this key on my G4, sorry Catie) and had us all smiling and giggling, sometimes howling, she is quite a kosher cut-up for sure (are there any female mohel's allowed out there?)...
Bud Parr, who writes a regular blog with the provocative title "Chekhov's Mistress", delivered a strong reading of a piece entitled "I Wish I Were an Insomniac" (careful what you wish for, bud, I've been there, and a long night of the soul is oft not a pretty story)...and the lovely Priscilla Becker read a very very funny piece entitled "Taking Out the Trash", Priscilla won the Paris Review's book prize with her first book of poems "Internal West" a couple years ago, she is also a freelance music critic, I thought she looked kinda glamorously familiar when she got up to read--turns out she used to work at my pal Johnny Rocket's Rockit Scientist store down on Carmine Street, one of the best music emporiums in the city, now located on St. Mark's Place, a real good place to haunt for all sorts of genre rarities like my good friend and collaborator the writer par excellence David Dalton's ancient psychedelique arcana/waxing, "How to Blow Your Mind and Have a Freak-Out Party", possibly his only foray into recorded music which he'd probably rather forget about but which I'm told is a good 'un (wonder if my pal Julian Cope is hep to this album? Memo for further investigation!) (it's not Rockit Scientist's link, but will have to do for the nonce, they got it there, believe me!)...sure is a funny old world--hope David is getting sent his royalties from this reissue in a timely way!
Thursday Gods and Monsters had a wonderful gig at Oberlin College outside of Cleveland, never been to that school before until Michelle Cable of Panache Agency booked us (Oberlin was considered one of my "safe schools" along with Antioch back in the day, oy vey), and I brought the full industrial strength Gods and Monsters supergroup lineup with me (Jerry Harrison, Ernie Brooks, Billy Ficca, and Jason Candler--Joe Hendel was occupado with his Downtown.tv show thingy)...Oberlin treated us royally, special thanks to Brandon Adler and his crew who made the whole thing effortless, worthwhile, and big Fun--the guys played their asses off (considering Jerry was out pahtying with David Byrne at Del Posto the night before till the wee small hours of sixpence, he played like an angel), the attending student body at the 'Sco proved outstandingly receptive to the collective cut of our jib, and we're doing it to death all over again here at the Bowery Poetry Club NYC on my birthday, June 20th, with Joe Hendel hoisting his mizzenmast (well, trombone) at this one...
Saturday night Caroline and I went up to Zankel Hall to hear the Yale Symphony Orchestra perform at the Musical Olympus Festival Concert, which featured First Prize winning young international prodigies joining the orchestra, including Romania's Mihai Marica on cello, the Russian Nikita Lyutikov on clarinet, and the Hungarian French horn whiz Szabolcs Zempleni playing Strauss' Horn Concerto No. 1...our favorite though was Georgian pianist Khatia Buniatishvili who played Chopin's Concerto No. 2 for Piano and Orchestra--an incredibly difficult finger-buster--in a blissed-out, rapturous trance that had the audience weeping for joy, she brought out nuanced lines and passages with such passion and fire there was nothing more to say at the end but Bravo, which the audience, did, loudly...I am an alumnus of this very same orchestra, having played electric guitar with them under the baton of John Mauceri in 1973 in the European premiere of Leonard Bernstein's "Mass" at the Vienna Konzerthaus...and I must say, the 2008 YSO is a marvel of sophistication under the baton of Singapore's Darrell Ang--and a beautiful thing to hear, indeed...you really should try and catch them...
C and I then went downtown to meet our friend Richard and enjoy a fine Middle Eastern meal at Mamlouk on East 4th Street between A and B, where we beheld the miracle of my friend the very gifted vocalist Anath bellydancing up a storm, she got the crowd up and swaying with her immediately, including Caroline, who cut a mean boogie (while Richard averted his eyes-- for shame!), Anath's going to be at Drom in the East Village on May 8th, and I should be there that night also sitting in with her and her partner, ace Chilean keyboardist/sampler extraordinaire Pablo--you really should check their music out-- together they weave an exotique tapestry of sounds Middle Eastern and otherwise (I love their version of Blondie's "Rapture", it's on Youtube), they make shimmering trancelike musique nonstop, extremely hypnotic and danceable...Anath's a good friend of Yael Naim's, who may well be there too (btw, I'm sitting in with Yael and David Donatien at Central Park Summerstage the night of June 22nd--please come and check Yael out live-- she is simply Incroyable!)
(Wipe that smile off your face, Lucas!)
No way...
xxLove
Gary
And 'twas a glorious evening well spent last Sunday at the KGB Bar over on East 4th Street wherein yours truly improvised an accompaniment on National steel for my pal Steve Beeber (renowned expert on all things Jewpunk--author of must-read "The Heebie Jeebies at CBGB's", editor of the recent Soft Skull Press anthology "AWAKE! A Reader for the Sleepless") who was a'reading my story "Me and the Golem" from same said book to a largish crowd...Steve's an excellent reader, story went down well, but the real fun part for me was digging the other turns by some fantastic writers, including the hilarious and foxy Catie Lazarus, Catie's a sharp dresser (wore a little red-riding hoody ensemble with a half a bear visage over her hard skull--Caroline would have loved this) who also is a stand-up practitioner of commedia del pahty, she's written for Heeb, The Forward, Time Out NY, lots of tony publishing houses too, she read from Steve's anthology a thing called "Insomnia" (a trademark symbol should go next to the a, don't have this key on my G4, sorry Catie) and had us all smiling and giggling, sometimes howling, she is quite a kosher cut-up for sure (are there any female mohel's allowed out there?)...
Bud Parr, who writes a regular blog with the provocative title "Chekhov's Mistress", delivered a strong reading of a piece entitled "I Wish I Were an Insomniac" (careful what you wish for, bud, I've been there, and a long night of the soul is oft not a pretty story)...and the lovely Priscilla Becker read a very very funny piece entitled "Taking Out the Trash", Priscilla won the Paris Review's book prize with her first book of poems "Internal West" a couple years ago, she is also a freelance music critic, I thought she looked kinda glamorously familiar when she got up to read--turns out she used to work at my pal Johnny Rocket's Rockit Scientist store down on Carmine Street, one of the best music emporiums in the city, now located on St. Mark's Place, a real good place to haunt for all sorts of genre rarities like my good friend and collaborator the writer par excellence David Dalton's ancient psychedelique arcana/waxing, "How to Blow Your Mind and Have a Freak-Out Party", possibly his only foray into recorded music which he'd probably rather forget about but which I'm told is a good 'un (wonder if my pal Julian Cope is hep to this album? Memo for further investigation!) (it's not Rockit Scientist's link, but will have to do for the nonce, they got it there, believe me!)...sure is a funny old world--hope David is getting sent his royalties from this reissue in a timely way!
Thursday Gods and Monsters had a wonderful gig at Oberlin College outside of Cleveland, never been to that school before until Michelle Cable of Panache Agency booked us (Oberlin was considered one of my "safe schools" along with Antioch back in the day, oy vey), and I brought the full industrial strength Gods and Monsters supergroup lineup with me (Jerry Harrison, Ernie Brooks, Billy Ficca, and Jason Candler--Joe Hendel was occupado with his Downtown.tv show thingy)...Oberlin treated us royally, special thanks to Brandon Adler and his crew who made the whole thing effortless, worthwhile, and big Fun--the guys played their asses off (considering Jerry was out pahtying with David Byrne at Del Posto the night before till the wee small hours of sixpence, he played like an angel), the attending student body at the 'Sco proved outstandingly receptive to the collective cut of our jib, and we're doing it to death all over again here at the Bowery Poetry Club NYC on my birthday, June 20th, with Joe Hendel hoisting his mizzenmast (well, trombone) at this one...
Saturday night Caroline and I went up to Zankel Hall to hear the Yale Symphony Orchestra perform at the Musical Olympus Festival Concert, which featured First Prize winning young international prodigies joining the orchestra, including Romania's Mihai Marica on cello, the Russian Nikita Lyutikov on clarinet, and the Hungarian French horn whiz Szabolcs Zempleni playing Strauss' Horn Concerto No. 1...our favorite though was Georgian pianist Khatia Buniatishvili who played Chopin's Concerto No. 2 for Piano and Orchestra--an incredibly difficult finger-buster--in a blissed-out, rapturous trance that had the audience weeping for joy, she brought out nuanced lines and passages with such passion and fire there was nothing more to say at the end but Bravo, which the audience, did, loudly...I am an alumnus of this very same orchestra, having played electric guitar with them under the baton of John Mauceri in 1973 in the European premiere of Leonard Bernstein's "Mass" at the Vienna Konzerthaus...and I must say, the 2008 YSO is a marvel of sophistication under the baton of Singapore's Darrell Ang--and a beautiful thing to hear, indeed...you really should try and catch them...
C and I then went downtown to meet our friend Richard and enjoy a fine Middle Eastern meal at Mamlouk on East 4th Street between A and B, where we beheld the miracle of my friend the very gifted vocalist Anath bellydancing up a storm, she got the crowd up and swaying with her immediately, including Caroline, who cut a mean boogie (while Richard averted his eyes-- for shame!), Anath's going to be at Drom in the East Village on May 8th, and I should be there that night also sitting in with her and her partner, ace Chilean keyboardist/sampler extraordinaire Pablo--you really should check their music out-- together they weave an exotique tapestry of sounds Middle Eastern and otherwise (I love their version of Blondie's "Rapture", it's on Youtube), they make shimmering trancelike musique nonstop, extremely hypnotic and danceable...Anath's a good friend of Yael Naim's, who may well be there too (btw, I'm sitting in with Yael and David Donatien at Central Park Summerstage the night of June 22nd--please come and check Yael out live-- she is simply Incroyable!)
(Wipe that smile off your face, Lucas!)
No way...
xxLove
Gary
posted by Gary Lucas at 12:59 PM
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