Whirligig

"Pennsylvania snow is pretty thick
Michigan ain't where I get my kicks
Texas is fine but it gets too hot
and New York City's not a place to stop
New Orleans is the home of the blues
but California's my home with Mary Hughes"

...so sang Jeff Beck on the last recorded instance of the vaunted Beck/Page double guitar axis, the B side of the Yardbirds' "Happenings Ten Years Time Ago", Mary Hughes being Beck's inamorata at the time, the blonde surfer bunny featured extensively in the early AIP beach party and teen sci-fi movies-COWABUNGA!

Overlook the lyric's churlish slur on New York for the moment (not always the case in the Yardbird's canon, there was also Keith Relf's "they got such pretty little girls in that big town/make a man wanna jump around and shout" in "New York City Blues"), and marvel at the compressed lightning of Beck and Page's dazzling twin fretboard attack..

But it was New Orleans the home of the blues I want to write about here now, name-checked in the above song, specifically the wild weekend Caroline meself Peter and his wife Betsy just spent there, Peter and I ostensibly to record a new Du-Tels album with our old friend producer Mark Bingham, Caroline and Betsy to soak up some of that good down home vibe (and shop...and shop...and shop)...

Peter and I basically spent 3 days inside Mark's ultra-cool Piety Street Studios (attention musicians--such cool vibes there, an old reconverted post office set up with the latest and greatest of comfortable recording gear, ultra nice hang, gigantic room sound in studio A, we had a ball recording there, you will too, check 'em out here, call up Mark and tell him I sent ya, you won't regret it--great sounds, great engineering, great location right next to a coffeeshop that places old jazz and blues and swing records all day and serves the best damn pancakes I ever et, of the sweet potato variety, great vibes all around yessir) while the girls shopped and rubber-necked...we worked our collective asses off only to get out one morning for a tour of the devastated 9th ward, what a shame and stain on the Bush administration to see such heartbreaking wreckage still gone unattended for lo these 3 years now...another night we explored the banks of the Mississippi levee right down the street, me Caroline and Mark's lovely artist girlfriend Shawn,frolicking along the tracks that run along riverbank at midnight dodging rather large waterbugs scuttling everywhere under an enormous mist-enshrouded tobacco-coloured moon that hung 'oer creation like a gigantic bloodshot eye winking at us high up in the star-spangled empyrean...

Our one day off as a foursome was spent shvitzing at noon in the French Quarter in a search for the ultimate geegaw (found a fantastic 30's deco lamp for a pittance at Quarter Past Time on 606 Chartres Street, go say hi to Julio who runs the joint, super nice guy, amazing stuff there), tried to hook up with my old Kennebec camp mate Ben Sandmel, local music scribe/Grammy-nominated producer for the Hackberry Ramblers, now writing a book about Ernie K. Doe (just hooked him up with my pal Yardbirds' producer Giorgio Gomelsky to discuss their recording of Ernie K's "A Certain Girl" on their first album for his new book)...

We cut a HELLUVA good album down there in 3 jam-packed days--

and a real highlight of the session was our (more or less) a capella version of "Obama", as sung to the tune of Leadbelly's field holler "Looky Looky Yonder", an ode to our favorite candidate which I was inspired to begin working on the last time Peter and I played Bob Fass' WBAI show "Radio Unnameable" way after midnight last winter, which was the same night Obama won the first Democratic primary--here's a rough mix of "Obama" in all its glory, a teaser from our forthcoming Du-Tels album "The Wilderness Brothers"...

Then it was home for more sweltering fun, sat in on National steel with my pal Dusty Wright from www.culturecatch.com at the Lakeside Lounge with his new roots music project GDM...recorded a blistering solo acoustic set for podcasters Breakthru Radio which is up online now, check it out, we recorded out of producer Steve Addabbo's studio Shelter Island Sound on West 27th Street, I've known Steve for years, great guy, great producer (Shawn Colvin, Suzanne Vega to name a few artists he's worked with)--and great studio...thanks to DJ Mojo for setting this one up...

Gary Lucas and the Breakthru Radio.com crew at the taping of his solo acoustic set at Steve Addabo's Shelter Island Sound, NYC, 7/24/08 | Click to enlarge


Went up to the Rose Theater in Lincoln Center to catch Laurie Anderson Friday night, she was in superb form performing with her "Homeland" show with a crack band including my friends Greg Cohen and Steve Bernstein, I remember the first time I saw Laurie at the Academy of Music on 14th Street many years right after "O Superman" had come out and was struck then by her fantastic poise and artistry, she has only gotten better and more concise over the years, amazing sonic tapestries commingling with ironic/funny and ironic/chilling apercus and epiphanies, Joey Baron was amazing as always on percussion, and my pal Lou Reed really rocked out on his duet with Laurie, "The Lost Art of Conversation", always a pleasure to hear Lou perform in any context (haven't seen Julian Schnabel's film of Lou's "Berlin" show yet but I mean to soon)...said hello to Didi Gutman from Brazilian Girls in the lobby before the show, didn't recognize him at first as he has recently cut off his dreadlocks, he told me they have a new album out this week, can't wait to hear it as BG's are one of the best bands around...also ran into the lovely Claudia Gould who is back in NYC now after a stint curating the Philly art institute, and also Janine Nichols, who used to co-curate Arts at St. Ann's with Susan Feldman and who was in fact partly responsible with hooking me up with Jeff Buckley in the first place (along with my pal the producer Hal Willner)...Janine is now an artist in her own right, looking forward to checking out her music...

Saturday night I played solo acoustic up in Woodstock at the Boiceville Inn, ostensibly a Stones tribute on Mick's birthday ("Howbout those Rollin' Stones!"--indeed--a fifteen million dollar payday from Universal makes a helluva 65th birthday gift), I managed to get some healthy licks of my own in there, beautiful crowd, beautiful beautiful night that ended in a wild hail storm out of the humid mist driving back 'oer the foggy road over to my guy Fred Perry's house (Fred curated the gig, check out his Reservoir Music store on Route 28 if you're in the area) with his lovely wife Amparo and Caroline...

okay Caroline just rang and "The Dark Knight" beckons...

xxLove

Gary

ps Really sad news today at the passing of Mike Berniker, he was one of the good guys, a real mensch and a true music lover in a biz full of weasels whom I first befriended when I was first starting out working for CBS Records in 1977, a legendary producer (he produced the first 3 albums by Barbra Streisand, all fantastic must-hears), a & r guy and jazz aficionado, he won a Grammy co-producing Cuban fireball's Irakere's first record, and is associated with a host of terrific Broadway show albums, and much much more... he used to hang out in my office in Black Rock (as a floating consultant to the Columbia Records jazz department, he didn't have an office of his own then) and we really bonded...Stephen Holden has a nice obit in today's Times.

Climb the Highest Mountain

Ahhhhh, a midsummer night's scream high in the beautiful Austrian Alps, Gods and Monsters had the most amazing gig as part of the Salzkammergut Festival last Saturday night at the Ebensee Kino where I had last performed with "The Golem" many many years ago--beautiful, scenic Ebensee (just down the road apiece from Berchtesgaden)...

Getting there was half the fun (not) (but whatcha gonna do about it, it's all part of the load, and I am a road warrior), sitting on the ground at Newark airport for oh maybe 2 hours waiting for an incoming connecting flight to funnel passengers onto our jumbo jet, thus we of course ever so paradoxically missed our connecting flight in Frankfurt (a curiously newly smoke-free Frankfurt airport, which useta be the most fetid wheezebag in Europe with myriad choking smoke-filled corridors), and were re-routed to Munich, where Gary's gang (Jason, Ernie, Joey, and Billy--Jerry was MIA, family medical emergency over Carol's gammy leg--get well soon, Carol!) were soon trucked in an airport van over hill and dale on a bouncy 2 hour plus sun-dappled drive out of Germany into Ostereich to lovely Salzburg (Gisburg's ancestral home)-- we tried sleeping along the way but it was tough what with all the sunlight (I'm a photophiliac on the best of days but still), eventually made it to our hotel okay only about 3 hours past due, skipped the Lippizaner Stallion show (just kidding), and spent a hilarious night in the old town eating bratwurst and frankfurters and drinking the local weissbeer before it was time for coffee, brandy, and Sacher(masoch)tortes at the Hotel Sacher, Salzburg branch (the one in Vienna useta have a permanent 365 days a year suite reserved for the master, Leonard Bernstein--my original hero in music, my inspiration--"Music's Monarch" is how the NY Times described him in their front page lead upon his death some years ago--Lenny spoke very highly of my playing when I met him at the American ambassador's residence in Vienna in 1973, and encouraged me to "really wail" on my guitar at the European premiere of his "Mass" at the Vienna Konzerthaus (hi Eva), where I was holding down the electric guitar chair with the Yale Symphony Orchestra)...

Next day it was another drive 'oer the Alpine ridges up the mountain and past turquoise lakes so pure you can drink from them with impunity and we settled in at our pensione, really nice woman running it, then Ernie, Jason and I were driven over to a nearby lake by the propietoress and we sat lakeside taking in the views and sipped and supped on the local brew and more grilled bratz (ever since the 2000 European Gods and Monsters tour with Ernie and Jonathan Kane, Ernie and I have been on a quest in search of the perfect grilled brat--Thuringen probably has the best of the wurst) and later Ernie ventured a swim in the icy waters but soon retreated due to major shrinkage, we then slept for a few hours and around 5pm began loading the promoter's van (Klaus Wallinger, he and his brother Konrad were 2 of the nicest and most gracious promoters I've ever had the pleasure of meeting) in the middle of a sudden drenching rain bordering on hail (a meteorlogical phenomenon it's hard to describe, but I recall something similar once in Palermo where Jonathan, Rhys Chatham and I had to take cover on the veranda of an outdoor restaurant on one of the hottest days of the summer to dodge an icy douche of sudden incoming hail whizzing down as big as marbles--puries, poppers, all sizes, a sudden stop and the deadly crystals melted on the hot patio but only after piercing and wrecking several deckside table umbrellas, you want to get out of the way of these)...

When we loaded the van Billy was missing for a few tense minutes but happily was found walking down the road back to pensione a bit later by the promoter, he'd been caught out in the rain after a solitary stroll through the village and was thus delayed, no matter, we soundchecked together, went to dinner at a lovely local restaurant, and feasted on fresh grilled seibling, a happy surprise was the arrival of my friend Martin Tiefenthaler and his lady who had driven up for the gig all the way from Vienna (I played at Martin's 50th birthday party last year)...

we then went to the venue and hit the stage around 9pm to a very gratifying full house, folks of all ages...

Gods and Monsters at the Salzkammergut Festival, Ebensee Austria 7/12/08

photos by Werner Haider | Click to enlarge

and yes we did kill 'em, no lie...we were on fire...such a good rush of energy and group cameraderie, I love to play with these guys, and we really excel on the road--highlights were the horn and guitar interplay on "Foggy Road" and "One Man's Meat" ( Joe Hendel was all over the keys and bone, Jason Candler the incendiary sax maniac played a beautiful unaccompanied solo with fx before my solo version of "Hellhound on my Trail", the rhythm section of Ernie and Billy never sounded more locked and grooving), also the howls of delight from the crowd at the conclusion of our journey into the pre-Raphaelite mystic "The Lady of Shalott", and the rapturous reception we received after we closed with a newie called "Climb the Highest Mountain" which we dedicated (natch) to the people of Ebensee surrounded as they are by such sumptuous misty alpine vistas, the rain had tapered off and the crowd was so super enthusiastic we could have played for them all night, we cut it short though after the 3rd encore though (always leave 'em wanting more my father once told me, and damn good advice), plus Ernie had broken a string, always a sign of a great gig for us...I sold all the merch I'd brought with me, people were clamoring too for "the cd with the last song on it" (we're still putting finishing touches on that one), the fans were so warm and friendly afterwards and the promoters called it "the most brilliant concert there in years" (yes) (blush blush)...this was one of the Great gigs for us--I am more determined than ever to get our band in front of a whole lot more people in the next year--step out of New Yawk and play and it's a whole other world out there (ie, not jaded)...

Off in a few hours with Caroline to New Orleans, heading down there to record a new album with producer Mark Bingham as The Du-Tels with my longtime friend and pardner the great Peter Stampfel an American treasure...

Speaking of American treasures check out the writings of my pal the fantastic Nick Tosches, who I've been hanging with lately--Nick's latest "The King of the Jews" (Ecco/HarperCollins) about fabled NYC crime boss Arnold Rothstein is an incredible read, one of the best damn book I've read in years...

My friend Dusty Wright (major domo of Culturecatch.com) and I are hooking up with cellist Matt Goeke next Tuesday when I get back in town for a new roots collaboration called GDM (I'm the G, he's the D, Matt is the M) which we are debuting at the Lakeside Lounge over on Ave. B and 10th in the East Village-- stay tuned...


And if you're in NYC, run don't walk to see "Expatriate", a new two woman drama about race, friendship, sexuality and fame which opened last night at the Culture Project's theater in Tribeca on lower Broome--presented by the Culture Project's Women Center Stage and artistic director Allen Buchman, the play stars the writer/composer Lenelle Moise and Karla Mosley who are both simply phenomenal presences on stage, such fresh talent delivering a live word-jazz-rap-and-otherwise a capella electronic score brimming with ideas and vitality--a real find, this pair, and this production...



xxLove


Gary

July 4th BBQ (Catchup and Moutarde)

Sorry sorry SORRY (sorry!) I haven't been corresponding in a while via ye olde aether interociter (Q: which colorful 50's sci fi flick has this this dubious piece of techno-bling as it's central McGuffin--in Hitchockian parlance--along with a be-pompadoured white-haired alien named after a New England prep school? Correct answers to gary@garylucas.com, the first winning entry will receive a, urr, uh, umm...a trip to Miami!!--well maybe not that exactly, but possibly the next best thing, a copy of my so-far-out-a train-don't-go-there (beyond Miami) some bizzare discus "Beyond the Pale--Gary Lucas Vs. The Dark Poets")...

I know, I know, the phones have been ringing off the hook here, fans demanding a new timely word spew/account of comings and goings written with my usual sippydeedoodahgonzodog alacrity alas and alack (true confession: to pal around with democratic fellows named Mac is mighty fun sometimes, but generally speaking I would much rather be moving my fingers over the strings of my 1946 Gibson J-45 than a computer keyboard), but today being the 4th of July and Caroline is sleeping and it's quiet as hell out on the deserted West Village Streets where I just returned from picking up my am essentials (newspapers and coffee) it's as good a day as ever there was to play pass the catchup before the smoky miasma of charred meats sizzling on rooftop bbq grills begins to waft through my window, a pleasant distraction yes but a distraction nonetheless from the serious bizness of re-cherchezing la temps perdu, scrutinizing various disjecta membra, odds and ends, odds and ends, lost Time's not found again (unless it's in a used magazine bin)...

Okay for starters, just returned from London with Caroline after quite a fine week's sojourn in England's green and pleasant land, ostensibly to visit with Caroline's mum, which was nice...highpoint of the trip though had to be the fabulous Russian party last Saturday night held at the stately old Victoria and Albert Museum just down the road a piece from the Royal Albert Hall, our friend lovely Yuliana Galitskaya invited us along with her new American New York expat boyfriend Alex, a great guy, long may they wave--the art-encrusted glittering central hall of the V&A (they have a Mary Wilson of The Supremes memorabilia fest going on there now btw) was the setting for a glowing high-style bacchanale feting the launch of the new Russian luxury high-end magazine "Snob"--kind of like "Country Life" crossed with "Queen", Russki style, perfect for up and coming young oligarchs, magazine had apparently rented-out the V&A for the launch--in any case, a really beautiful, handsome and very glammed-up assortment of Russian women and men were present from all over the world, the magnums of champagne flowed endlessly, the canapes kept coming on silver trays, one delicacy more delicious than the next, crunchy frogs, lark's tongue in aspic, chocolate-covered bumblebees, you name it, and I had several quite unexpected happy encounters/reunions with folks like my good friend Sasha Cheparukhin, legendary larger-than-life Russian new music promoter who's helped put me on concert stages in Moscow and Saint Petersburg 4 or 5 times now...also Julian Opie's favorite portrait subject Garry Cobain, my old pal who co-leads the Future Sound of London, who I hadn't seen since we'd toured together Down Under a couple years ago , and who's recently relocated to France with his girlfriend Diane, great to see 'em both, they showed us photos of their cute new baby...also my pal the bearded intellectual new music writer and critic/broadcaster for the BBC Russian Service, Alexander Kan, who has run profiles on my work on BBC Russia, he's recently remarried and has a new book coming out soon on the Russian underground music scene...also dapper Joe Boyd, the legendary producer of Nick Drake, Pink Floyd's "Arnold Layne" single, my faves the Incredible String Band, plus Fairport Convention, Maria Muldaur, and so many other great artists, Joe is currently working on the follow-up to his must-read autobiography "White Bicycles", this next volume dedicated to the subject of world music...and last but not least, my old friend Lu Edmonds, world music maven, all around cool guy and great musician whose career has stretched from stints playing with the Sex Pistols, The Damned, and The Mekons, as well as recent world music projects with folks like Ben Mandelson, and whom I last encountered 18 years ago hanging out in his flat in Brixton with The Mekons' Susie Honeyman, I knew I recognized Lu once I spotted his unforgettable hawk-like profile at this V&A gala thingamabobby...

It was quite a night--musical entertainment was by Zemfira, a fiery whirlwind of a female singer dressed all in black, who had the pale intensity and luminous punk energy of a Russian Patti Smith, and whom Sasha claimed was the "5th most popular Russian after Putin"(!)...the acoustics were lousy, and her band's catchy arrangements were sadly reduced to a muddy thud, but Zemfira was great, check the video of her song "Traffic" here...

Afterward Zemfira performed, many of the guests repaired to the central V&A courtyard to party hearty along the perimeter of the moon-lit outdoor wading pool, which shimmered with the ghostly reflections of the imposing Victorian Gothic museum buildings festooned with friezes and white marble sculptures which surround the courtyard...a Russian dj played midnight chill-out grooves (many Exotica Records sides, no doubt) as we got happily sloshed on vodka-flavored jello served up in paper cups by the endlessly circulating waiters...

We then cabbed it down to Cheyney Walk on the Thames off the King's Road in Chelsea, where our friends John and Anne were hosting a party on their merry mega-houseboat, the tide was out so the boat lay tilted slightly askew at a near 45 degree angle on the rocks and gravel below the hull, perfect for our own slightly askew condition, I picked up an old acoustic and jammed with the Celtic music makers present (a glorious fiddle player and a raucous vocalist improvising madly) and then I attacked the acoustic guitar solo for a half hour or so while Sasha, who was at this point sprawled horizontal on the floor, thumped his bongo playing hand on the wooden deck in time with me while the improvising male vocalist and I duetted on some fierce off-the-cuff acoustic music...Caroline and I made it back to our beloved Swiss Cottage hotel around 4am--truly a glorious wild night of the Van Morrison variety, the kind that makes one glad to be alive, alive o....

Lessee now, peering back over the misty shoals of memory, had a faux birthday party on June 19th at the fabulous West Village boite the Cafe Loup where it turns out our favorite Runyonesque raconteur maitre d' Phillip, late of the recently gutted and sadly disfigured Hudson Street landmark bistro The Sazerac House, has providentially relocated (my bellwether--when Katz's Deli on Ludlow and Houston goes, I'm outta here)...Knowledge Brother Bob Strano was there, as were cine-scribes/editors Glenn Kenny and Richard Porton, Pakistani pistol Shaista Husain's guy Silver Age comic book magnate Gus Parakas, who gifted me with a rare copy of Famous Monsters of Filmland with Dwight Frye on the cover (yeah!) (Shaista was MIA), and the "Medicis of Larchmont" Steve and Ruth Hendel, who just copped mucho Tony Awards by proxy as backers of Broadway hits "In the Heights" and "Passing Strange"...

Gods and Monsters, Bowery Poetry Club NYC, 6/20/08, l to r: Jason Candler, Ernie Brooks, Gary Lucas, Billy Ficca, Joe Hendel

Gary Lucas, Chinese rock artist Fang Ke, and Felice Rosser tell it like it is, Gods and Monsters at the Bowery Poetry Club NYC, 6/20/08

Gary Lucas and Felice Rosser (Faith), Gods and Monsters, Bowery Poetry Club NYC, 6/20/08

Gary Lucas and poet Bob Holman tear down the walls at the Gods and Monsters gala at the Bowery Poetry Club NYC, 6/20/08

Joe Hendel, Gary, Fang Ke, Billy Ficca, Felice Rosser, Ernie Brooks and Jason Candler rock out, Gods and Monsters at the Bowery Poetry Club NYC, 6/20/08

photos by Shivers | Click to enlarge

Next night Friday June 20th I had an actual birthday gig at the Bowery Poetry Club where Gods and Monsters had one of the best damn shows, special guest poet emeritus and BPC proprietor Bob Holman got down and dirty jamming with me (see photos above), Faith's Felice Rosser tore it up on our original co-written song "Shadow Man", she was later joined by ace Chinese rock guitarist Fang Ke for our finale version of Burning Spear's "Foggy Road" at the end, (I love this song, check out this clip of me performing it solo on Czech national tv)--just part of the 126 plus clips (with more on the way) spanning various highways and byways of my career to date, up now on the OutFromUnderLive channel on Youtube, thanks to Paul Chisefsky for his faithful archiving and booting up of clips...inda Bowery Poetry Clubhouse was Steve Paul, Steve and Ruth Hendel, Gus and Shaista, who was busy filming the proceedings, as was Steve's Downtown tv.com guy Dima Dubson, so between the two of them I should have some video to show you soon...

Sunday night June 22nd my gal the brilliant and lovely French-Israeli singer/songwriter Yael Naim was in town to play Summerstage with her guy percusssionist/producer David Donatien and their crack French band, she played and sang like an angel dressed in bright yellow--and I was so proud to sit in with her on the poignant "Shelcha" (along with virtuosic Israeli cellist Yoed Nir) and raga-esque new hypno-groove "Man of Another Woman"--blessedly the intermittent rain showers that night totally had tapered off by the time of her set, and Yael rocked Central Park in front of an overflowing capacity crowd, who greeted every song--not just "New Soul"-- with delighted cheers, they seemed to know all her songs and hung on every word and melody, her new album on Tot Ou Tard/Arlantic is superb, and in top rotation at our house...Yael definitely had NYC in the palm of her hand that night, and had not the rather boorish sound guy interrupted her show with plug-pulling threats at 11pm, she could have easily gone on all night--and the crowd would have stayed with her, too, transfixed...

Yael Naim, Laurent David, Gary Lucas & Piers Faccini at Yael Naim & David Donatien's Central Park Summerstage show, NYC, 6/22/08

photo © Jack Vartoogian/FrontRowPhotos | Click to enlarge

Backstage I greeted friends Israeli by way of Brooklyn trance dance artist Anath Benais and her guy Pablo Vergara, Tot ou Tard label boss Vincent Frerebeau, lovely French singer/songwriter Anne Warin, who had flown in all the way from Paris specifically to cheer on Yael, and my Gods and Monsters guys Ernie Brooks and Jason Candler (who acted as my guitar tech for the night--thanks J!)...

Opening for Yael was another friend, the UK to France expat singer/songwriter Piers Faccini, who I've written about previously here, and he was in excellent form, strumming up a storm and singing some compelling new songs...the next night I joined Piers at the Living Room down on the Lower East Side on my 1928 National steel at the ungodly early hour of 7pm--but thankfully the house was full, including some new fans Piers made at Summerstage the night before.... Check out his stuff, it's goood...

Wednesday night I had the pleasure of playing with Gods and Monsters at my friend DJ Mojo's birthday party at the Trash Bar in Williamsburg at midnight, we really shook 'em on down, crowd loved us too, and we rocked the house till 3am--Mojo is a great guy and I'm scheduled to do a podcast for him soon, check him out here.

Next up--a thrill-packed excursion by Gods and Monsters to the toppermost of the Austrian alps for the Salzkammergut Festival next Saturday July 12th, just outside Salzburg (Williamsburg, Salzburg--we play all the burgs)--

and I've got a gut feeling it's gonna be a gut one, with Katzenjammer Kinder Jerry Harrison, Billy Ficca, Ernie Brooks, Jason Candler, Joe Hendel rappelling our way up and down the slippery slopes and jamming our way into the hearts of our Ostereich bredren and sistren...

Okay, okay, Caroline is pestering me to go out and over to our old friend Kenny Hurwitz and Mi-Ling Tsui's barbecue now, there's more to relate

but 'twill have to wait...

See ya!

Love,

xxGary

PS My friend the Israeli pop star Ninet has our duo recording of the unreleased Gary Lucas/Jeff Buckley song "No One Must Find You Here" up now on her myspace site.

We recently played this song as a duo in Paris at the French Tribute to Jeff Buckley, after performing "Mojo Pin" with original Jeff Buckley bassist Mick Grondahl and his drummer...

and what can I say--

it brought the house down...