32 JEWISH TELEGRAPH Friday May 15, 2009 NEWS |PROFILE | FROM BEEFHEART TO BUCKLEY — LUCAS HAS PLAYED WITH THEM ALL Guitar made ‘rabbi’ Gary change mind BY SIMON YAFFE But before he went on tour with him, Gary took a two-year OU only have to sojourn in Taipai, Taiwan. He remembered: “I had met a look at musician 56-year-old lady who I fell in love Gary Lucas’ per- with — but my parents hated it. forming schedule “My dad was setting up a busi- to see how versa- ness in Taiwan. My maternal Ytile he is. uncle lived there, he owned bowl- ing alleys and promoted rock Just this week alone, he has shows. played three totally different “I remember the first thing I gigs. did when I got there was tune into On Sunday, he was at New the English-language American York’s Jewish museum playing armed forces radio station and his original solo guitar score for who was playing? Captain Beef- filmmaker Slawomir Grunberg’s heart. new documentary Paint What You “The DJ also said Remember about the 92-year-old had overdosed and died.” painter Mayer July. Gary’s involvement with Buck- Then on Monday, also in New ley’s son Jeff came later in his York, he performed the music of career. Tom Waits at the launch party of Barney Hoskyn’s new book Low- Gary had an affair with a Chi- out in the world, a rare one which Gary continued: “It is as good side of the Road: A Life of Tom nese film star called Ling, who is irreplaceable.” as anything I have worked on. Waits. later became his wife. Early collaborations can be “Here we have a Muslim singer He followed this a day later by But he had to leave Taiwan heard on the Buckley and Lucas and a Jewish guitarist, it breaks playing the music of John when a fracas broke out in a club album Songs to No One, which had down ethnic and religious ten- Lennon to celebrate the 40th : Sensitive and shy and all foreigners were warned sales of around 100,000. sion. The future is co-operation.” that they had to leave. anniversary of John and Yoko’s Gary still practises Judaism Gary’s solo albums have been He spent two weeks in the UK Gary took the American infamous Montreal Bed-in. and attends shul on the high holy musically diverse, featuring working on the album and is no embassy’s advice and went home, At the end of the month he days. everything from Chinese pop, stranger to these shores. sneaking Ling into America and , Indian music and Jewish teams up with Dean Bowman for He is so proud of his religion His wife Caroline (nee Sin- a concert in Brooklyn of spiritual they married in San Francisco. music. clair), who he met in New York in that in November 1988, on the But they later split. roots music and he will also 40th anniversary of , He added: “I would describe my 1982 and married two years later, Gary has collaborated with an appear next month in he performed his composition is from Hendon, north London. eclectic plethora of musicians, and Malaga performing more of Verklärte Kristallnacht — at the And he has played at numerous including the likes of Bryan Fer- his original film scores. Berlin Festival. Hatikvah mixed British venues, including the And before that guitarist Gary ry, , , Lou Glastonbury Festival and Lon- The song juxtaposes the Hatik- Reed and . is appearing in London tomorrow vah, together with the German don’s Shepherd’s Bush Empire. His work with the late Jeff at the Jazz Café. national anthem, amid wild elec- with German A confirmed supporter of Buckley remains perhaps among There is no secret to how he has tronic shrieks and noise. Israel, he recently played a trib- his most monumental work. constantly performed at the top He recalled: “I really thought ute gig to Jeff Buckley at ’ The title song of Buckley’s anthem level for more than 30 years. the German people would be Hard Rock Café with Israeli classic debut album Grace and the “The trick is to stay active and aghast, but they were absorbed, artist Ninet Tayeb. first track were co-writ- music to someone who hasn’t lis- and I received a healthy ovation. And despite his adherence to ten by Gary, who also played on tened to it before as being full of “Berlin’s daily newspaper even the Jewish state, Gary believes he both tracks. surprises.❝ can still be critical of it. wrote that I was a hero for doing Father died Both were originally in Lucas’ “It is incredibly fresh guitar it. I thought of it as a call of He said: “They need to make band Gods and Monsters songbook music for the curious and bored attention to the Holocaust and to peace with the Arabs and I do of 1991-92. and it is direct from the heart. on first night my Jewish roots.” think it is achievable. Paying tribute to Buckley, who “I do not subscribe to formats Gary also alluded to his grand- “Israel has made mistakes, but died tragically in 1997 aged 30, and I do not like to be boxed in. parent’s roots in the Polish town one does not like to think of of Pesach said: “Jeff was a very sensitive “I am always looking for new of Jedwabne when he wrote the them as the aggressors. guy, shy and modest, but a sweet- ways of writing songs so they are score to Slawomir Grunberg’s “What really annoys me is the fresh. I am constantly reinvent- heart too. not trite — I like every hook to trend of boycotting Israeli prod- documentary The Legacy of Jed- sound different.” ing myself,” New York-born Gary wabne. “He was the most brilliant and ucts and institutions over the intuitive musician I have ever He has recently collaborated on said.❝ His father’s family came from last few years. Gary, who was raised in Syra- met. an album, RISHTE, with Indian “Israel is one of the freest coun- Bohemia, in today’s Czech Repub- Muslim vocalist Najma Akhtat. cuse, New York, and now lives in lic. “Jeff would come to me with tries in the world and it is the the perfect melody and lyrics — The album combines rock, Greenwich Village, had seriously Gary’s future musical mentor, height of hypocrisy to boycott considered becoming a rabbi. he was a genius. blues, folk and raga and is out it.” , first came next month. But that was before he discov- into his life while he was reading “When he died, a light had gone He admits he has encountered ered music and found it hard to English at , where anti-Zionist prejudice while on reconcile the two. he was also the college’s resident tour in Europe. He recalled: “I came from a DJ. Gary wrote the original solo family of Reform Jews and we lit He said: “Captain Beefheart guitar score for the film The the Shabbat candles every Friday had a totally fresh taste on elec- Golem, which he has played live night and I went to Hebrew tric rock. numerous times. school every Sunday. “He arranged his music so dif- But an Italian journalist asked “I read Hebrew pretty well, ferently and the guitar parts him if he saw The Golem as a too.” were insane. metaphor for an out-of-control But Gary, who is in his forties, “I arranged an interview with Israel. revealed his life changed when his him for the college station and he Gary responded: “I was aston- father Murray asked him if he was really nice — he became a ished, it was a loaded and would like to learn the guitar. father figure to me.” provocative question. He said: “He arranged lessons From being a huge Beefheart “Unfortunately, a lot of people for me, but I was terrible — I just fan, Gary eventually became his have an ideological slant that is could not apply myself. manager and even performed on anti-Israel.” “My dad went to Mexico and stage during the 1980/81 tours, Gary’s all-time hero is Bob bought me a Spanish guitar — where he recited a poem or per- Dylan and he sees the American and I resumed playing, using formed a solo guitar piece. legend’s mantra of always stay- that.” He later appeared on two Beef- ing true to himself applicable to Unfortunately, Gary’s father heart albums, before parting him. died on the first night of Pesach ways in 1984. He added: “It was not always last month. Gary revealed: “He is a very easy for him and it is not for me. He explained: “I was at a seder tempestuous and mercurial guy “I am not palatable to the and dad had not been well for a — he falls in and out with people. mainstream — I do not ascribe to while. “It used to bother me with peo- being Madonna.” “Before the news even came ple asking me about him all the through, I felt an overwhelming time, but if it brings them into www.garylucas.com and sadness.” my music, then great.” SCORE: 1920 classic The Golem for which Gary wrote a new score www.jazzcafe.co.uk