Gary Lucas :: the golem

<BODY BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF" TEXT="#000000" LINK="#3F3F3F" VLINK="#444444"><HTML> <HEAD><TITLE>Untitled</TITLE></HEAD> <BODY BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF" TEXT="#222222" LINK="#000000" VLINK="#444444"> <TABLE WIDTH=100% BORDER=0> <TR> <TD NOWRAP ALIGN=LEFT VALIGN=TOP><FONT SIZE=6><B>The Golem</B></FONT></TD> <TD NOWRAP ALIGN=RIGHT VALIGN=middle><IMG BORDER=0 WIDTH=180 HEIGHT=36 ALT="Gary Lucas" SRC="http://www.garylucas.com/www/grfx/gl_head.jpg"></TD> </TR> </TABLE> </BODY></HTML><HR><BR><HTML> <HEAD> <TITLE>Gary Lucas :: the golem</TITLE> </HEAD> <body bgcolor="#FFFFFF" TEXT="#000000" LINK="#3F3F3F" VLINK="#444444"> <BLOCKQUOTE> <table CELLSPACING=5 align=left> <tr><td valign=top align=left> <IMG WIDTH=150 HEIGHT=150 BORDER=1 align=TOP SRC="/www/pict/image/GLM2.JPG"></td></tr> </table> Videoclip from "The Golem" with Gary Lucas' solo guitar score on the soundtrack, 5 min. <FONT SIZE=2><A HREF="/www/media/video/GolemWeb.mov" TARGET="_blank">Quicktime clip</A></FONT><br><br> <HR NOSHADE><BR> <B>Featured Reviews for "The Golem":</B><BR><BR> Gary Lucas Plays "The Golem" a <A HREF="http://garylucas.com/www/grfx/t-globe-article.jpg" TARGET=_blank>Top Pick at Canadian Music Week</A> in the Toronto Globe and Mail on 3/6/08.<BR><BR> Read a feature on Gary's Golem performances in Australia at the 2007 Australian Jewish Film Festival from Sydney Life/The Australian Jewish News <A HREF="http://garylucas.com/www/rvw/sydn_life.html" TARGET="_blank">here</A>. To read more stellar international reviews of Gary's Golem project, click <A HREF="/www/quots/qtsGOLEM.shtml" TARGET="_self">here</A>.<br><br> See a review of Gary's amazing sold-out Golem show in a spectacular old church opening Pop Montreal this year <A HREF="/www/rvw/rvw_06.html#MONGAZ" TARGET="_self">here</A>. Cited as one of the <A HREF="http://garylucas.com/www/rvw/mongaz10-06.jpg" TARGET="daughter">Best Events of the Festival in the Montreal Gazette</A> with over 800 folks filling the church, this was the 4th sold-out show in a row for Gary's Golem project this year, including performances at the Bristol UK Media Centre, the Rubin Museum in NYC, and the Flynn Theater in Burlington Vermont.<BR><BR> <BLOCKQUOTE> <FONT SIZE=2>"CAPTAIN BEEFHEART GUITARIST GARY LUCAS HAS BEEN INSPIRING YOUNGER PLAYERS SINCE THE 80'S. HE RECENTLY RELEASED A DVD OF HIS MOMENTOUS SCORE OF THE 1920 GERMAN EXPRESSIONIST SILENT HORROR-FANTASY FILM 'THE GOLEM', THE TALE OF A 16th CENTURY RABBI WHO MADE A MAN OUT OF CLAY TO SAVE THE JEWISH COMMUNITY OF PRAGUE FROM TERMINATION. HAUNTINGLY BRILLIANT AND METICULOUSLY TIMED."<BR>—VILLAGE VOICE, 5/2005</FONT> </BLOCKQUOTE> In March 2007 Gary returned triumphantly from Italy after playing the Bergamo Jazz Festival with "The Golem" in a spectacular old art-deco cinema. With over 600 capacity selling out the overflowing auditorium, it was a definitely popular and artistic highlight of the festival. Then Gary did it again at Austin Texas' famed SXSW Festival, where he held the crowd spellbound at the old Presbyterian church with his haunting score and haunting film. Check these 2 reviews from the Austin Chronicle: <BLOCKQUOTE> "While everyone else was enjoying the Stooges late Saturday night, I decided to go to church. The Central Presbyterian Church on Eighth Street was an official venue, but I don't think it had been totally prepared for Gary Lucas. First, the New York City guitarist provided a stunning solo live soundtrack to the 1920 silent film Der Golem, a German horror classic. With an incredible rack of effects pedals, Lucas proved he could make a guitar sound like almost anything on the planet."<BR><BR> "In the Central Presbyterian Church's wood interior, towering arches and reverent ambience, Lucas provided a mesmerizing soundtrack to the 1920 German Expressionism classic, Der Golem. Donning his customary wide-brimmed hat and switching back and forth from an amplified acoustic guitar to an aqua-green Fender Stratocaster, both channeled through an armada of foot pedals, Lucas created a spectacular melange of eerie and otherworldly sounds that ricocheted dramatically around the room." </BLOCKQUOTE> <HR NOSHADE><BR> <B>Gary Lucas Plays "The Golem" (How it Came Into the World):</B><br><br> <B>Gary Lucas'</B> music for the silent 1920 German Expressionist classic film <B>"The Golem,"</B> written in collaboration with Gary's childhood friend, ace keyboardist/composer <B>Walter Horn</B>, was premiered in November of 1989 at the <B>American Museum of the Moving Image</B> in Astoria, New York as a commission for the <B>Brooklyn Academy of Music Next Wave Festival</B>.<BR><BR> A seamless sonic web of themes and improvisations composed for electric and acoustic guitars and synthesizers, the project was immediately hailed by <B><I>EAR Magazine</I></B> as the evening's "Best Work."<BR><BR> Since then, Gary and Walter (who used to have a "combo" together going back to playing elementary school assemblies in 1963 in their hometown of Syracuse, New York — as well as preparing taped <I>musique concrete</I> to frighten trick-or-treaters at Halloween) have performed the work together at a sold-out performance at the Walker Arts Center in Minneapolis in August of 1990, at John Zorn's <B>Radical Jewish Culture Festival</B> in Munich in August 1992 and at the <B>Knitting Factory</B> in New York City in October 1995.<BR><BR> As Walter Horn had a day job which prevented him to continue performing, and Gary Lucas is most assuredly in the Golem business, Gary then prepared a critically acclaimed solo guitar version of the score (click <A HREF="http://garylucas.com/www/quots/qtsGOLEM.shtml" TARGET="_self">here</A> for press raves) which he has subsequently performed in over 15 countries all over the world — as part of the <B>Knitting Factory's Jewish Avant-Garde Music Tour</B> (including performances in <B>Prague</B>, <B>Budapest</B>, <B>Berlin</B>, <B>Vienna</B> and <B>Sevilla</B>); at the <B>Toronto, St. Louis, Phoenix,</B> and <B>Miami Jewish Film Festivals</B>; as part of the <B>Knitting Factory's Loud Music/Silent Film Festival</B> in San Francisco and Chicago; to sold-out performances in front of 1000 people honoring the new <B>Washington D.C Jewish Community Center</B>; opening the <B>7th New York Jewish Film Festival at Lincoln Center</B>; performing the work at <B>London's Royal Festival Hall</B> as part of Nick Cave's <B>Meltdown Festival</B>; and delivering a stellar solo performance at the <B>2003 Venice Biennale</B>.<BR><BR> The film, a forerunner of the Frankenstein series, dovetails nicely with Gary's lifelong interest in horror films and the macabre (he founded a midnight movie society called "Things That Go Bump in the Night" while at Yale in the early '70s with fellow conspirator Bill Moseley, a horror film actor himself — note his portrayal of "Chop-Top" in "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre II").<BR><BR> Directed by Paul Wegener and Carl Boese, and starring Wegener in makeup and a performance that has influenced every Frankenstein portrayal from Karloff to DeNiro, with great cinematography by Karl Freund ("Mad Love," "The Mummy," "I Love Lucy") and fantastic sets by noted expressionist painter/set designer/architect Hans Poelzig, <B>"The Golem," </B> in tandem with Lucas and Horn's wonderful music, is not to be missed (the score is available on Gary's first solo album <B>"Skeleton at the Feast"</B> on Enemy Records).<BR><BR> The film tells the story of an actual historical Rabbi, Jehudah Loew, who legend has it fashioned a man from clay in 16th century Prague to save the Jewish community from annihilation. It has been filmed many times as well as adapted in many other mediums, but this 1920 version (full title: <B>"THE GOLEM and How He Came Into the World"</B>) is considered the definitive one.<BR><BR> For all lovers of horror, science fiction, fantastic cinema and supernatural literature...for Kaballah freaks, and anyone interested in Jewish cultural myth...for silent film buffs, guitar gonzos, and all those who enjoy adventurous, thrilling music played live by a master guitarist/storyteller who paints words and pictures in sound with his axe ("The thinking man's guitar hero" —The New Yorker / "Gary Lucas is one of the best and most original guitarists in America" —Rolling Stone), THIS ONE'S FOR YOU!!<BR><BR> <HR NOSHADE><BR> Soundbites from <B>"The Golem"</B>: <UL> <LI>Main Title—Rabbi Loew Consults the Stars/The Decree  <FONT SIZE=2><A HREF="http://sg1.allmusic.com/cg/smp.dll?link=vgp4jtuc0pd581f59towlpz&r=20.asx" TARGET="_blank">Windows Media sample</FONT></A></LI> <LI>The Junker and the Jewess  <FONT SIZE=2><A HREF="http://www.garylucas.com/www/snd/JUNKER.WAV" TARGET="_blank">WAV sample</A> | <A HREF="http://sg1.allmusic.com/cg/smp.dll?link=prqm2rtvoim2ppyhy2ouzvc&r=20.asx" TARGET="_blank">Windows Media sample</A></FONT></LI> <LI>Creation of the Clay Man/Astaroth  <FONT SIZE=2><A HREF="http://sg1.allmusic.com/cg/smp.dll?link=ovglrb55820z5pnf818ucwt&r=20.asx" TARGET="_blank">Windows Media sample</FONT></A></LI> <LI>The Golem walks with Famulus, Der Bose Juden-Jungling  <FONT SIZE=2><A HREF="http://www.garylucas.com/www/snd/WALKS.WAV" TARGET="_blank">WAV sample</A> | <A HREF="http://sg1.allmusic.com/cg/smp.dll?link=u265p3npudey1ihzw5vjzqo&r=20.asx" TARGET="_blank">Windows Media sample</A></FONT></LI> <LI>The Festival of the Roses  <FONT SIZE=2><A HREF="http://sg1.allmusic.com/cg/smp.dll?link=yoz5mq8s7326vo8c2muu6vp&r=20.asx" TARGET="_blank">Windows Media sample</FONT></A></LI> <LI>In the Synagogue/The Vision of the Patriarchs  <FONT SIZE=2><A HREF="http://sg1.allmusic.com/cg/smp.dll?link=2gxadaqhj2cpg56y1nvaj70&r=20.asx" TARGET="_blank">Windows Media sample</A></FONT></LI> </UL> <B>Purchase Gary Lucas' "The Golem" <A HREF="http://garylucas.com/www/merch/" TARGET="BODYFR">here</A> — our "Gary Lucas Plays the Golem" DVD now upgraded visually using the best source print currently available ("restored" and colour tinted).</B><BR><BR> For booking info, please contact <SCRIPT TYPE="text/javascript">  </script> <NOSCRIPT> <em>Email address protected by JavaScript. Please enable JavaScript.</em> </NOSCRIPT>.<BR><BR> </BLOCKQUOTE> <CENTER> <TABLE CELLSPACING=1 CELLPADDING=2 BORDER=0 BGCOLOR="#909090" WIDTH="95%"> <TR BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF"> <TD ALIGN=right><FONT SIZE=1>Click <SCRIPT TYPE="text/javascript">  </script> <NOSCRIPT> <em>Email address protected by JavaScript. Please enable JavaScript.</em> </NOSCRIPT> to contact us. </FONT></TD></TR> <TR BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF"> <TD ALIGN=right><FONT SIZE=1>Copyright &#169 1996-2008 by Gary Lucas. All rights reserved.</FONT></TD> </TR> <TR BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF"> <TD ALIGN=left><FONT SIZE=1>Page design by <A HREF="http://www.abbydigital.com/" TARGET="_blank">a b b y d i g i t a l a n i m a t i o n</A>.</FONT></TD> </TR> </TABLE> </CENTER><BR> </BODY></HTML><CENTER> <A HREF="http://www.garylucas.com/cgi-bin/imagemap/www/glbuttons.map"> <IMG SRC="/www/grfx/glbuttons.gif" ISMAP BORDER=0 WIDTH=440 HEIGHT=72></A></CENTER><BR></BODY>