Had a coupla hot gigs here last week, starting with a particulalry piquant set at Merkin Hall (y'all know 'bout Merkins, doncha? Cue Eddie 'Cleanhead' Vinson's "Gimme Back My Wig"...And don't you forget Peter Sellers' hilarious turn as President Merkin Muffley in "Dr. Strangelove", the most doubly Yonic moniker ever, the Yin to the Yang 'o the name of the former master of Yale's own Jonathan Edwards College, the duophallically dubbed Beekman Cannon).

This was my second turn this season playing as part of the NY Guitar Festival, this 'un a Tribute to Skip James, pour moi the deepest and darkest and quirkiest, most original blues artist ever. In fact, James Hillman, former president of the CG Jung Society, heard some of Skip James's music on a student film soundtrack during his guest lecturing stint at Yale in the early 70's and instantly pronounced the Skip James as one of the most truly resonant, archetypal, and hypnagogic musicians he had ever encountered.

Last time I played up at Merkin (smile) it was as part of another NY Guitar Festival thingy, this one a Tribute to Robert Johnson. Next day I got a call from a guy at Maysles Films (Gimme Shelter) who had accidentally caught me playing live on John Schaefer's radio show that night (they were simulcasting our performance), and thought I'd be good to score their new documentary "Lalee's Kin" for HBO (heard it and dug it and wanted more of it--always the best kind of engagement, for sure). This time around I started playing solo and gradually worked up to the full band--plus got to wax enthusiastic about Skip James and spar and josh with the emcee John Schaefer: had to, for the benefit of the paying customers, who might not of known too much about Skip James as the program notes were kind of light on details of the Skipster's sad saga (as in, nada). Fantastic full house went bananas for us at the end (and throughout, come to think of it).

Saturday I did double duty sitting in at the Bowery Poetry Club with my ancien ami des Rounders Sacre et Modal, the one and only Peter Stampfel, now a co-leader of maestro John Kruth's new acoustic ensemble. Along for the easy ride was playwright/actor/and former Rounders drummer (and Oatti Smith squeeze) Sam Shepard and his son Walker, both of 'em on dueling banjos--and both of them also super nice and friendly as could be (and both of them gorgeous hunks according to Caroline). I joined in and played some fun numbers with them and then did The Du-Tels duo thang with Peter (we did an album awhile ago entitled "No Knowledge of Music Required", which got our mugs in Rolling Stone and our asses onstage in England, Ireland, Scotland and Holland). Nice to flex those beatnik folknik nudnik muscles again (and don't bogart that bluegrass, please). Then poet emeritus and BPC proprietor Bob Holman read a couple of his Cap'n Billy's whiz-bang golly-whompers while I complemented his verbal bravado spinning 220 thread-count sheets of sound ceiling-wise where they stayed a billowing, long may they wave, matching his every utterance with appropriate ear-cleansing kling klang...sounded so damn good we're gonna do it again and do it some more that's nasty by golly that's nasty for shore on Feb. 26th same hour same joint...

then it was Gods and Monsters time and I kid you not, Billy and Ernie (and sax roamer Jason Candler) get better and better and better as we started out standing (always beats sitting) proud to steal her anything she sees and delivered on a whole batch of new songs--been rather happily inspired lately truth to tell :-) (and I will draw a discretionary veil over the corporeal surroundings and goings-on at this particular, uh, juncture). My Pakistani-American homegirl Shaista Hussain was there looking foxy as usual and Emmy award-winnin' tv producer Peter Bull, late of Bill Moyers parrish, and...saw my former teacher, the legendary editor and writer Bill Zinnser, do a wonderful gig playing jazz piano with his partner the New Yorker cartoonist Arnold Roth on tenor at the Cornelia Street Cafe...

and Sunday, my day of rest (not) we had a little reunion party at Camino Sur (great new Latin American eatery up in Hell's Kitchen next to the Zipper Theater on 37th Street) for my old friend Bill Mosely, who was in town (well out at the Meadowlands to be precise) for the Chiller Theater Horor Convention where he signed tons of autographs for fans who dig his Choptop and Otis grotesqueries/Grand Guignol personas the most...during dinner we got an actual cell phone call from the irrepressible Lucy Chase Williams (see my last couple postings) who neither Bill nor I had spoken to in about 31 years and who sounded like she's doing great these days, working for the likes of Tim Burton and other Horrorwood notables..and our dinner was graced with a surprise pop-in (pace Larry David) from the new COO of Time-Warner, of our longtime good friend Jeff Bewkes ("Thank you Mr. President")--Jeff looked great, young rangy and sharp as ever, and regaled us (me, Caroline, Bill, and old friends Gib Smith and Jimmy Angell) with tales of hobnobbing with the likes of Ted Turner and what it's like riding the corporate whirlwind from his aerie high atop the new Time Warner complex on Columbia Circle. He's off this week to straighten out the AOL situation--best 'o luck JB! (The Other JB). . Now if he can only get David Chase to give Alabama 3 on-screen credit for the use of their song on The Sopranos week after week...

"I gotta go now...gotta go now" (The Kinks)

xxLove

Gary

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Posted by Gary Lucas to Gary Lucas at 2/02/2006 09:48:00 PM