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Gary Enjoys Busiest and Best Year Ever—'The Edge of Heaven' Picked as One of The Best Albums of 2001
The year 2001 ended with quite an uptick for Gary as his album of
mid-century Chinese Pop "The Edge of Heaven" (Indigo/Label Bleu) was
cited as one of the Best Albums of 2001 in influential French newspaper
Liberation and also in Jazz Magazine (France). This coincided with the
conclusion of the Du-Tels (Gary and Peter Stampfel) first ever European
tour, which took them to tremendously well-received shows throughout
Ireland, Scotland, England, and Holland and live appearances on the
national Dutch VPRO radio, the BBC's "Mixing It" show live from the
Ocean Club in London, and Charlie Gillet's famed BBC radio show "A World
of Music" where they engaged in a bout of Radio Ping Pong with the
knowledgeable host, swapping rare records from their collection in a bout
of guest DJ'ing (Gary brought along Bob Dylan and the Band's classic
Basement Tapes out-take "Banks of the Royal Canal" among other gems).
Standout Du-Tels gigs was a rowdy show at Whelan's in Dublin (this was
Gary's first ever appearance in Ireland, and Peter Stampfel's first ever
appearance in Europe) and the Cockpit Theatre in London, where the crowd
was heavily salted with rock writers from around the globe eager to catch
this show by the legendary duo (including former Rolling Stone editor and
writer Ed Ward, now an ex-pat freelance journalist in Berlin for The Wall
Street Journal and No Depression Magazine, where he's working on a
Du-Tels feature story... and the legendary Pete Frame, the venerable Rock
Family Tree creator/designer and editor of the famous British 60's music
fanzine Zig-Zag—the prototype for Mojo Magazine—in whose cottage in
Aylesbury Gary stayed for a few days on his very first trip to the UK in
'73, fresh from his appearance in Vienna playing lead guitar in Leonard
Bernstein's 'Mass'). The Du-Tels were rewarded with a laudatory writeup
in the British daily paper The Guardian (see raves and reviews section)
by John Aizlewood, who gave Gary's solo appearance at London's The
Borderline a 4 star review in The Guardian last January.
This tour was but one highlight of a fall season chockablock with
highpoints for Gary. Since the end of August, Gary has flown back and
forth to Europe 5 separate times to take his music to the people...other
standout events included Gary's double- billed solo appearance with the
German band Faust in front of a huge cheering crowd at London's Royal
Festival Hall on October 12th as part of RFH's ongoing psychedelic music
festival Mind Your Head; the European debut of his Captain Beefheart
7-piece horn-driven tribute band Fast 'n Bulbous with extremely well-
received October dates in Italy, Belgium, and Germany (including a
smoking live set broadcast on Radio Bremen—thanks Arne!); a month of
solo dates in Holland, Belgium, and Germany in September, including a
live collaboration with Gary's old friend Kevin Coyne at an outdoor
Captain Beefheart Festival in Holland; and the definite highlight of
them all—an amazing 2 hour Sunday night solo concert in Paris in early
November that drew hundreds of fans who lined up in the street outside
Le Reservoir to get into Gary's highly touted concert (with must-see
picks and previews in Le Monde, Liberation, Le Parisien et al.), a
concert billed to promote his new Label Bleu album "The Edge of Heaven".
With a house packed with new devotees and old French fans, some of whom
had actually seen Gary play in his Paris debut in 1980 at L'Elysee
Montmartre with Captain Beefheart and had followed his career ever since,
the audience sat spellbound while Mr. Lucas unleashed the full effect of
his acoustic and electric playing, dipping heavily into the new Chinese
album for the first half of the concert, and then ranging far and wide
into his limitless solo repertoire, with special guest appearances from
the cream of the French pop and alternative music scenes, including
Tanger (the French band Gary produced and collaborated with last year for
Universal/Mercury ) vocalist Philippe Pigeard, plus his old friend Elli
Medeiros, the legendary French/Uruguayan vocalist and astonishing
beauty whose career in France has spanned singing with the original
French punk rock band The Stinky Toys to solo hits in her own right.
The live performance year ended with Gary bringing it all back home to
NYC with a tumultuous Dec. 20th Gods and Monsters show at his homebase
The Knitting Factory in downtown Manhattan, where Gary, Jonathan Kane and
Ernie Brooks ripped through their G&M bandbook with incendiary versions
of old favorites like "King Strong" (where they were joined by young
rising sax star Jason Candler on alto) and new crowd pleasers like "One
Man's Meat". And the Du-Tels recorded a rousing new song, "We're Still
Here", for inclusion on a Village Voice compilation album to be released
in March to benefit the families of the firemen killed on Sept.
11th—other artists on the sampler include Moby, The Mekons, and more
music luminaries.
All in all, a stellar finish to Gary's busiest and most successful year
in music to date!
And 2002 promises to be even busier and better, with plenty of live
appearances just round the corner—including a rare solo acoustic set at
the Knit on January 19th; a Beefheart Night at the Knitting Factory NYC
Feb. 9th as part of the Knitting Factory's 15th Anniversary celebrations,
where Gary will unleash for the first time in America his Fast 'n Bulbous
band (plus rare Beefheart videos and a live appearance by UK Beefheart
biographer Mike Barnes, who will read selections from his newly-published
-in -America Van Vliet Biography "Captain Beefheart" (Cooper Square
Press); plus a show by Gods and Monsters later that month as part of the
KF anniversary celebrations. In mid-March, Gary returns to Europe for
more solo dates (many gigs are in the process of being confirmed, check
the calendar section periodically for updates, right now there are shows
being planned in Marseille, Paris, Amiens, Fribourg, Modane, Arras,
Bordeaux, and Toulouse, for starters). The tour will also coincide with
new recording dates in Amiens for his followup album for Label Bleu (Gary
is one of only 3 American artists signed to this prestigious French world
music/jazz label, which boasts a rostor of many choice African, Middle
Eastern, and European artists—the other American Label Bleu artists
being klezmer clarinet star David Krakauer and jazz saxophonist and
M-Base founder Steve Coleman).
In conclusion—Gary would like to sincerely thank his fans round the
world for their continued support for his work.
Message from Mr. Lucas: "In these perilous times especially, you guys
just have no idea of just how AMAZINGLY important you are to me...
It's your loyalty, appreciation, and love that has really sustained me
and given me the strength to continue to make music for you for over
twenty one years now...I truly am blessed to have you in my corner.
God Bless You...and may 2002 bring you all better days ahead".