Gary Lucas at CBS



click to enlarge

Photo by Hank Frisch

Thanks to Hank Frisch for the photo. I met Hank my first day in Taipei in 1975, he heard me playing guitar in the apartment I was staying in and knocked on the door. A Jewish kid from Shaker Heights, Hank was a nifty harmonica player, and we jammed all over Taipei and Hong Kong, including the infamous "Go Down" club in Kowloon—where unbeknownst to me at the time old China hand Andrew Bull was the club DJ. Andrew is one of my besties, his wife Sally Kwok, a former Miss Hong Kong, sang with me in THE EDGE OF HEAVEN at BAM 2 sold out nights and at the Holland Festival in Amsterdam's Bimhuis (also sold out). Not long ago I played at Andrew and Sally's wedding anniversary cum birthday event in Shanghai at the Peace Hotel. Guests at this (literally) million dollar bash included legendary UK manager/author Simon Napier-Bell (The Yardbirds and WHAM to name a few).

I started working at CBS Records in summer of '77 thanks to Susan Blond. It wasn't a bad gig being a copywriter in their "Creative Services" Department actually, they loved my ads and also allowed me to shut the door and mastermind resuscitating the career of CAPTAIN BEEFHEART (Don Van Vliet ). But after 13 years of this bullshit I grew way, way bored...and in 1990 up and quit and transitioned into being a full time musician for 32 years now. 50 albums under my belt as a leader or co-leader or solo artist, and appearances in 40 plus countries including the UK, Ireland, Mexico, Costa Rica, Brazil, Colombia, India, Taiwan, Russia, China, Cuba, South Korea, Scandinavia, Finland. Morocco, Serbia, all over Eastern and Western Europe, Canada, Japan, and oh yes, the United States 😜

Those cool portraits of me on the wall were courtesy of my brilliant friend Steve Byram. I used the top one for an UPSIDE RECORDS ad that ran in Spin Magazine when our indie label released a slew of Rough Trade Records releases including Vic Godard, Float UP CP (Nena Cherry). The Woodentops, and Jonathan Richman-- also Mark Stewart and Maffia, and most importantly, Arthur Russell.