Little Steven is back this week on the "last" (yeah, right) Sopranos shoot de chute, essaying the role of the (made)man you love to hate after icing Arianna (was it really just two years ago? ancient history in this whirl o' confusion), trading his trademark do-rag for Sylvio Dante's (nice signifier, Mistuh Chase) greasy, ill-fitting toupee and permanent scowl. But-- SVZ's no villain in the Here and Now, in fact, as his yeoman service backing the Boss (great Grammy turn reanimating Strummer and co.'s "London Calling" a couple years ago) and his tireless efforts to put Garage Rock back on the map/on the airwaves/and important- in-your-life (where it belongs) attest to...and you could do much worse than check out Sirius Radio's Channel 25 which is his cd baby, 24/7 rockarockarockaround the clock of adrenalin boosting, world-shaking Nuggets (Lenny Kaye codified and got this genre going in the early 70's with his pioneering Elektra double lp set--and in fact, Lenny coulda shoulda easily won my last quiz as I know that he knows that I know that he knows the provenance of the "You get a contact high" filmic line I cited; namely, Russ Meyer's classic "Beyond the Valley of the Dolls", this inane bit of dialogue--spoken by the fetching, Barbie Doll-esque Dolly Read, playing Kelly McNamara, lead singer of the faux grrrrrl group The Carrie Nations, and an earlier more innocent version of Elizabeth Berkely's "Showgirls" strumpet --coming atcha straight from the fevered, mammary-gland obsessed brain of screenwriter Roger Ebert).

This Sirius channel also boasts the fantastic Andrew Loog Oldham program (a must-hear Monday to Friday 6 pm - 8 pm EST, Saturdays 11 am - 3 pm EST, rebroadcast Sundays 3 pm - 7 pm EST)--Andrew O, the legendary original Rolling Stones producer/manager/forger of template for, uh, Here Comes Everybody, founder of Immediate Records (best British label of the 60's bar none--best logo too, check) which issued superb albums by the Small Faces, the Nice (their first album with guitarist David O'List splitting all time's mind asunder would make my top 10), Duncan Browne (late lamented sensitive post-Raphaelite who deserves a place of honour next to Nick Drake in the pantheon of great English troubadors), etc. etc. etc....Andrew fuckin' Andrew...saw a magnificent photo of the Loog taken by either David Bailey or Gered Mankowitz in Melbourne in a massive show of British Pop Art from the 60's to the present...and in the wood it looked quite good, nestled next to Julian Opie's painted portraits f'rinstance...

Out on the razzle again this week, first at Tonic checking my former bandmate Jonathan Kane's February, his muscular new pulsating art-blues sensation at Tonic, on a bill with minimalist Guitar Grand Daddy/composer Rhys Chatham's boys on a Table of the Elements showcase night, packed sweaty club too...had a sweet reunion with Big Daddy Kane who held down the Gods and Monsters drum chair for about a dozen years and nicely too, and also with Rhys, who was in from Paris where he ex-pated some years back, looking a bit like Exeter from "This Island Earth" now and still sporting his foot long seegars and great sense of humor, Rhys with whom I played alongside at an outdoor festival or two in Sicilia some years ago (Rhys was blowin' bugle then), for sure in Palermo, maybe also Capo D'Orlando, I recall someone getting married onstage with us while we played (maybe it was during our soundcheck? events a bit hazy), local couple for sure...but those were different times...both Jonathan and Rhys sounded really good, with my guy Ernie Brooks doing his Wyman-esque bass-strut and anchoring things nicely in his usual precise Modern Lovers (and Gods and Monsters, for about 8 years now) stylee...also good to run into skins titan Anton Fier there, Anton was in the final incarnation of Gods and Monsters with Jeff Buckley, along with Tony Maimone on bass...

which segues nicely into my next port of call, namely the Bowery Poetry Club, where I raced over midway through Rhys' set (no offense Rhys, you're golden) to catch my old bandmates Jon Langford, Tony M and Steve Goulding in their great new Ship and Pilot incarnation (Jon and Tony and Steve and I played as The Killer Shrews and left one landmark album still standing, available right now from Downtown Music Gallery here in NYC, email them at dmg@..., or call 212 473 0043 and tell Bruce I sent you)--check out the "Don't Let the Bastards Wear You Down" mp3 up on my homepage at http://www.garylucas.com for a taste, taken from our '94 album, and also anthologized on my "Operators are Standing By" collection...Jon is one of the Great Men of British rock, with the Mekons still going strong since their late 70's "Never Been in a Riot" single kicked things off in a big way, a surly riposte to The Clash's "White Riot" (I recall Jon Pareles hanging out here at chez Lucas as we clocked their great "Quality of Mercy" album in the late 70's)...and Tony has been in the bass pantheon ever since Ubu blasted outa Clevo with a big Hearthan...had a good reunion with the lads, and learned that Steve Goulding is now a fellow West Village denizen who's playing with everyone from the lovely Laura Cantrell to Garland Jeffreys (who was in the house and looking good, alongside Bob Holman and Lucas Cooper from ROIR--the last time I saw Garland was at Bruce's "Light of Day" charity event at the Stone Pony a couple years ago where we both performed). Great guys all around, and good to see them continuing to blaze after so many years...

Must start preparing for upcoming gig with Dutch lute master Jozef Van Wissem, who's in town for a radio appearance and gig here with me next week...must finish writing out chord charts for Jerry Harrison for our upcoming Gods and Monsters shows in Moscow and Saint Petersburg...must start preparing for French surrealist film soundtracks gig up in Vermont soon... and must give a big shout-out to Tanya for continuing to keep my web site maintained so immaculately...THANK YOU!



xxLove

Gary

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Posted by Gary Lucas to Gary Lucas at 3/10/2006 11:42:00 AM