Gary Lucas At Joe's Pub
By tristero
I've known the extraordinary guitarist and songwriter Gary Lucas before I knew him. It's somehow fitting.
Back in early 1971, Captain Beefheart and the Magic Band was on tour after the release of their masterpiece Lick My Decals Off, Baby. They played 4 gigs in New York City at a long-closed and forgotten club called Ungano's. The gig is notorious among Beefheart fans because their equipment (Don's sax, I think) got stolen and they had to borrow stuff from Ornette Coleman in order to go on. It didn't matter: they sounded incredible. Because I had a radio show on WFMU then, I had managed to wrangle an interview with Don Van Vliet (Beefheart), Artie Tripp (Ed Marimba), and Mark Boston (Rockette Morton). Even better, I got a pass to all four shows. It changed my life.
Also there was a young guitarist who'd haj'd down to Manhattan from Syracuse expressly for the show: Gary Lucas. We didn't meet then. Six or seven years later, I was the only person in the CBS Records company box at Carnegie Hall for an awesome but sparsely attended performance of Pierre Boulez's music - the one and only time I was in there (dammit!). After the first piece, I heard some sound behind me and a thin intense fellow entered the box, followed by a stunning woman. Never seen either of them before but Gary introduced himself, said he worked in marketing (I was in classical A&R) and we quickly figured out that we had a lot in common, especially a love for Don's awesome music. We were in different, almost mutually exclusive, departments of the company, and we were both unspeakably busy, but we became friends. Gary played on one of my film scores - I shamefully underused him but he played beautifully. And somewhere along the line, Gary began to manage Don Van Vliet and even play in the Magic Band. I was thrilled for him - and not a little jealous. I was incredibly lucky one day, walked into Gary's office and Don was on the phone. We spoke briefly, he said he remembered me (I wasn't sure I believed him but he was Beefheart after all, so anything was possible). It was as thrilling to hear that bass boom of a voice again as it had been back in Ungano's.
Another time, Gary pulled me into his office, whipped out a cassette and said, "Listen to this, man!" It was Don playing the piano, the demo tape for Flavor Bud Living. It sounded impossible and probably was. Gary learned it anyway, perfectly, and when Doc At The Radar Station came out with Gary's amazing performance, every musician I knew in New York perked up their hairy jaded ears and took the measure of this new guy on the block. Lucas has been a member of the Real Ones ever since, one of the few musicians who - to allude to another aspect of Gary's work - truly matter.
Gary Lucas has a new album out, with his band, Gods and Monsters. It's called The Ordeal of Civility and it's one of his greatest (the title, which could easily refer only to how difficult it is to suffer all the fools in the music industry, is actually a reference to this book: as always, Lucas's got multiple fish a'frying). The songs are unforgettable and the band is amazing with guitar work from Gary so fiery it puts blisters on the blisters.
Gary Lucas with God And Monsters will be performing this Friday at Joe's Pub with special guests Jerry Harrison of the Talking Heads (who produced The Ordeal of Civility) and other notables.
If you're in New York, go.