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Gary Triumphs in London

Realizing a childhood dream, Gary devastated Dingwalls club in London with an incredibly well received solo set recorded and broadcast by the BBC 3 Nov. 25th for their Mixing It show. Before a packed house of 300 cheering fans, Gary tore through a selection of his best numbers including "Ghosts", "Level the Playing Field", "Let's Go Swimming", "Rise Up to Be", "Sandman" and more in a one hour tour de force that left the vociferously vocal crowd (which included such British journalistic luminaries as Mike Barnes and Edwin Pouncey from The Wire and Elaine Shepard from BBC TV) demanding multiple encores.

It was definitely Gary's week in London, beginning with a colour photo of Gary in Time Out London plugging his Dingwall's appearance, plus Gary taping an acoustic set and interview for the BBC-owned radio station London Live, which was followed a few days later with a transatlantic phone interview with Gary back home in NYC, to be broadcast this Saturday Dec. 9 in Britain and on the Internet (see the Calendar section for details). And to further cement US/UK relationships vis a vis Mr. Lucas, a live hookup of the man playing solo acoustic from the studios of WNYC-FM here in NYC under the auspices of New Sounds' John Schaefer will take place on New Years' Day afternoon, to be simulcast over BBC 3 in Britain.

All in all, a rousing reception for longtime anglophile Gary Lucas in England, who stated "I haven't received such a rapturous reception for my playing in years...the crowd was so overwhelming and excited I could have played for hours more". And time constrictions aside, the crowd would have easily embraced this gesture.

Gary's triumphant UK appearance followed 2 successful solo French festival dates—one in Normandie with The Pretty Things, and one in Torcy with Wishbone Ash in which Gary was joined by French pop star Elli Medeiros for a duet of "Dulce" (from "Improve the Shining Hour") and a new duo number called "Skin Diving" (recorded for his up and coming Gods and Monsters album). Gary also met Elli's new beau the renowned film director Brian De Palma ("Carrie", "Sisters") backstage, and struck up a new friendship (Gary, the former director of Yale's horror film society Things That Go Bump in the Night, is a big fan of Brian De Palma's oeuvre.)

Plans are now in progress to bring Gary back to Europe for solo dates in March (see Calendar), beginning with a Belgian Captain Beefheart festival March 3rd.