| what's new |
Gary's Festive (and Fruitful) Summer
The summer of 2002 was particularly fruitful for Mr. Lucas, getting his
music out live before thousands of folks around the world. Beginning with
a Knitting Factory show that was taped for the BET networks's "Live at
the Knitting Factory", featuring guest vocalist Elli Medeiros who came
all the way from Paris with her new beau, the legendary film director
Brian De Palma, plus the Austrian chanteuse Gisburg, featured on Gary's
accalimed Chinese pop album "The Edge of Heaven". They were joined by his
regular Gods and Monsters crew of Jonathan Kane and Ernie Brooks, here
joined by trombone prodigy Joey Hendel and alto sax monster Jason
Candler. Gary then was off for a week of performances in Krakow Poland,
one of the world's most elegant cities and one of Gary's favorite places
to play, at the famed Jewish Culture Festival. After several appearances
playing his original music with the Golem film and favorable writeups in
several national Polish newspapers (including the famed intellectual
newspaper Gazetta Vybroska) and late night jams with klezmer stars David
Krakauer, Sophie Solomon, Paul Brody, Frank London, Matt Dariau and
Michael Alpert, Gary took to the mainstage solo on the last night before
20,000 revelers in the Old Jewish Quarter of Kazimierz to deliver an
incendiary acoustic set, including his new anthem "Jedwabne", dedicated
to the Jewish victims of the massacre in Jedwabne in July 1941 (victims
including all his European relatives on his mother's side)—and then
joined all the musicians for a frenzied midnight klezmer jam televised
all over Poland on the national tv, which literally had the crowd dancing
wildly in the streets.
Then it was off to Quebec almost immediately where Gary was the
artist-in-residence at the Quebec City Summer Festival, where he played
in a series of concerts over the week in collaboration with the pipa
virtuoso/vocalist Min Xiao-Fen, DJ Spooky, the French band Tanger (Gary
produced their last album for French Mercury/Universal), his own boys
Gods and Monsters, and with the Golem film. Highlights included Gary and
Min receiving a standing ovation from the 600 folks outdoor in d'Youville
Square for their afternoon concert of Chinese pop from the 30's, Gods and
Monsters tearing it up at the Periscope venue, and DJ Spooky and Gary
going off in a wild psychedelic improv rave on the last night to an
overflow crowd. It was a thrilling week for Gary with much media and one
on one exposure in one of the loveliest cities in the world...special
thanks to Jean Beauchesne for making the dream real.
Home again but not for long as Gary headed out to the beautiful
Berkshires in earlly August to play the Massachusetts Museum of
Contemporary Art (Mass MOCA) to a capacity crowd with his live scores for
3 famous surrealist silent classics: Fernand Leger's "Ballet Mecanique",
Rene Clair's "Entr'acte", and Ladislaw Starowicz's "The Cameraman's
Revenge". He opened and closed the program with a min-solo concert of new
pieces and old to the delight of the overflow crowd of 600 or so eager
spectators, and broke his own record for post-gig CD sales afterwards in
the museum foyer, where he met many old friends from his last appearance
there 2 years ago with The Golem.
Then it was off to Europe once again, where Gary performed with his new
7-piece Captain Beefheart project band Fast 'n Bulbous to 5000 cheering
fans at the Saalfelden Jazz Festival in the gorgeous Austrian Alps. Fast
'n Bulbous proved to be one of the absolute highlights of the festival
which also boqasted luminaries such as John Scofield and Sussan Deyheim.
and Gary received much media attention there for his crack, cracked band
of madmen co-led by Phillip Johnston.
Next to London where Gary performed a solo acoustic set at the Kashmir
Klub, scene of his last BBC appearance on Charlie Gillett's anniversary
show. Before a packed, sweaty and adoring throng Gary played his heart
out, and was later joined by amazing young vocalists Siobahn and Martin
Grech, who did wonderful versions of 3 of his songs co-written with Jeff
Buckley, Martin Grech particularly bringing the house down with an
impassioned version of "Grace".
Gary flew to Atlanta on Labor Day weekend to play at Dragon Con, the
largest American science fiction convention. Before a crowd of 4 thousand
crazies decked out in Star Wars regalia and other costumes Gary delivered
a definitve Golthen em show in the main auditorium, and a space guitar
fantasia played to slides of devastating science fiction art the
following day. He also reacquainted himself with ace Zappa slide
guitarist Denny Walley, also a fellow Beefheart alumnus, now living in
Atlanta with his lovely wife Janet. The program book for the Dragon Con
Convention featured Gary's original short story "Me and the Golem" in the
front of the program (to be published in Ed Kramer's upcoming anthology
of Jewsih-themed science fiction, "Kaballah: The Wisdom of
Solomon")—plus several photos of Gary playing his score in front of the
projected Golem image on the movie screen. Gary was also interviewed and
featuredin a long article that ran that week in Atlanta's weekly arts
paper Creative Loafing under the headline "Guitars Gods and Monsters."
Gary came back to NYC long enough to catch his breath and deliver a
concert on Sept. 6th at the Knitting Factory of music from his socre for
the upcoming tv documentary "Lalee's Kin", which will premiere on HBO on
Wednesday Sept. 18th at 7:30pm. In attendance were co-directors Susan
Froemke and Debora Dickson, Maysles production chief Xan Parker, and
Gary's pal and fan Bishop Paul Moore, former Episcopal bishop at the
Cathedral of St. John the Divine in NYC, where Gary filmed some of the
sequences for his video for "Vampire Circus".
Next up for Gary—a solo acoustic tour of Holland, midwest dates for Fast
'n Bulbous, and a solo acoustic tour of Ireland in early October—check
the calendar for dates and venue info.