Gary Lachman

Last updated

Gary Lachman
Blondie (Gary Valentine Lachman).jpg
Lachman performing with Blondie at the International Centre, Toronto, 1976
Background information
Birth nameGary Joseph Lachman
Also known asGary Valentine
Born (1955-12-24) December 24, 1955 (age 68)
Bayonne, New Jersey, U.S.
Genres Alternative rock, new wave
Occupation(s)Writer, musician
InstrumentsBass, guitar
Years active1975–present
Labels Chrysalis/EMI Records
Beyond/BMG Records
SBMG Records
Beat Records
Website gary-lachman.com

Gary Joseph Lachman (born December 24, 1955), also known as Gary Valentine, is an American writer and musician. He came to prominence in the mid-1970s as the bass guitarist for rock band Blondie. Since the 1990s, Lachman has written full-time, often about mysticism and occultism. He has written more than 22 books [1] on consciousness, culture, and the western esoteric tradition, [2] written for journals in the US and UK, [3] and lectured on his work in the US and Europe; his books have been translated into more than a dozen languages. [4]

Contents

Biography

Musical career

Lachman joined Blondie in spring 1975 after original bassist Fred Smith left to join Television [5] amid founding bassist Richard Hell's departure. He wrote the music to the band's first single, "X-Offender", [6] and popularized the band's sixties-retro look. In 1977, he left the group to form his own band and was replaced by Nigel Harrison, just as Blondie were starting to gain recognition. [7] His song "(I'm Always Touched by Your) Presence, Dear" was a UK top ten hit in 1978, [6] and was subsequently recorded by Tracey Ullman [8] and Annie Lennox. [9]

After Blondie, Lachman moved to Los Angeles and in 1978 released a single, "The First One" backed with "Tomorrow Belongs to You" on Beat Records. Shortly after this, he formed The Know, [10] with Joel Turrisi and Richard d'Andrea who were the first band to play the infamous Madame Wong's Chinese restaurant-turned-new wave venue. [11] (Lachman's claim to this distinction has been verified by several eyewitnesses.) After a year and a half, Turrisi left the band and was replaced by drummer John McGarvey. [12] In 1980, The Know released a single "I Like Girls" backed with "Dreams" on Planet Records and were the only bi-coastal US power pop band, developing large followings in New York and Los Angeles. Failing to secure an album deal, he disbanded The Know and in 1981 played guitar with Iggy Pop. [13]

In 1996, after moving to London, he was asked to participate in the Blondie reunion; [14] in November of that year, he recorded one of his songs, "Amor Fati", [15] with Blondie, for their comeback album, No Exit.

In 1997, he performed with Blondie at several major festival concerts in the US. [16] Back in London, Lachman worked with former X-Ray Spex saxophonist Lora Logic.

Valentine formed Fire Escape in 1998 with violinist Ruth Vaughn. The band performed songs he had written for the Blondie reunion album but had not been used due to the band ultimately excluding him from the recording process and the reunion tour. Fire Escape released an EP to little fanfare and went on a permanent hiatus after two years.

A compilation of Lachman's work in music, titled Tomorrow Belongs to You, featured recordings by The Know and Fire Escape, was released in 2003 on the UK label Overground Records. [17]

In 2006, he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a former member of Blondie, although vocalist Debbie Harry prohibited Lachman and other ex-members from performing with the current line-up at the ceremony. [18]

Literary career

After leaving his music career behind in 1982, Lachman went back to school and received a philosophy degree from California State University, Los Angeles, and later began a doctoral program in English literature for a short period. He worked professionally for a time as a science writer for the University of California, Los Angeles. [19] Lachman moved to London in 1996 and became a full-time writer, [20] contributing to The Guardian , [21] Mojo , Times Literary Supplement [22] and other journals. His first book, Turn Off Your Mind: The Mystic Sixties and the Dark Side of the Age of Aquarius , was published in 2001. It was followed in 2002 by New York Rocker: My Life in The Blank Generation, an account of his years on the New York (CBGB) and Los Angeles music scene in the 1970s. [23] In 2003, he produced A Secret History of Consciousness, a study of non-reductive, non-materialist accounts of consciousness, with detailed discussions of Owen Barfield, Julian Jaynes, Jean Gebser, Jurij Moskvitin, hypnagogia, and related themes. [24] The Dedalus Book of the Occult: A Dark Muse (2004) charted the influence of the occult on western literature since the Enlightenment. [25]

The following years saw several more books, on the related themes of consciousness, the counterculture, and the influence of the occult and esoteric thought on mainstream western culture, including biographies of the Russian philosopher P.D. Ouspensky (2004), the Austrian "spiritual scientist" Rudolf Steiner (2007), the Swedish religious thinker Emanuel Swedenborg (2006), the Swiss psychologist Carl Jung (2010) and Colin Wilson (2016). Recent works include a study of writers and suicide, The Dedalus Book of Literary Suicides: Dead Letters (2008), with essays on Walter Benjamin, Yukio Mishima, Hermann Hesse, and others, and a history of occultism and politics, Politics and the Occult: The Right, the Left, and the Radically Unseen (2008), which addresses the theme of fascism and the occult through the work of Julius Evola, Rene Schwaller de Lubicz, Mircea Eliade, and others. [26]

He is a regular contributor to the Independent on Sunday , Fortean Times , and other journals in the US and UK, lectures frequently and occasionally broadcasts on the BBC. His work has been compared to Colin Wilson, and has been translated into German, Finnish, Czech, Russian, French, Dutch, Spanish, Norwegian, Italian and Portuguese. In 2014, Lachman took part in the annual Engelsberg Seminar held in Avesta, Sweden, lecturing on gnosis and the evolution of consciousness in the 21st century. In 2015, Lachman lectured on "Rejected Knowledge" to the Marion Institute as part of their "Living in the Real World" seminar. [27] Recent years have seen Lachman lecturing on a variety of esoteric and cultural topics in Germany, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, France, the Netherlands, Great Britain, and the United States.

Bibliography

Books

Articles

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Charles Fort</span> American writer (1874–1932)

Charles Hoy Fort was an American writer and researcher who specialized in anomalous phenomena. The terms "Fortean" and "Forteana" are sometimes used to characterize various such phenomena. Fort's books sold well and are still in print. His work continues to inspire admirers, who refer to themselves as "Forteans", and has influenced some aspects of science fiction.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">George Gurdjieff</span> Philosopher, mystic, and writer (c. 1866–1877 – 1949)

George Ivanovich Gurdjieff was a philosopher, mystic, spiritual teacher, composer, and dance teacher. Gurdjieff taught that people are not conscious of themselves and thus live their lives in a state of hypnotic "waking sleep", but that it is possible to awaken to a higher state of consciousness and serve our purpose as human beings. The practice of his teaching has become known as "The Work" and is additional to the ways of the Fakirs (Sufis), Monks and Yogis, so that his student P. D. Ouspensky referred to it as the "Fourth Way".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Colin Wilson</span> Author (1931–2013)

Colin Henry Wilson was an English existentialist philosopher-novelist. He also wrote widely on true crime, mysticism and the paranormal, eventually writing more than a hundred books. Wilson called his philosophy "new existentialism" or "phenomenological existentialism", and maintained his life work was "that of a philosopher, and (his) purpose to create a new and optimistic existentialism".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Helena Blavatsky</span> Russian mystic and author (1831–1891)

Helena Petrovna Blavatsky, often known as Madame Blavatsky, was a Russian and American mystic and author who co-founded the Theosophical Society in 1875. She gained an international following as the leading theoretician of Theosophy.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Blondie (band)</span> American rock band

Blondie is an American rock band formed in New York City in 1974 by singer Debbie Harry and guitarist Chris Stein. The band was a pioneer in the American new wave genre and scene of the mid-1970s.

Pyotr Demianovich Ouspenskii was a Russian philosopher and esotericist known for his expositions of the early work of the Greek-Armenian teacher of esoteric doctrine George Gurdjieff. He met Gurdjieff in Moscow in 1915, and was associated with the ideas and practices originating with Gurdjieff from then on. He taught ideas and methods based in the Gurdjieff system for 25 years in England and the United States, although he separated from Gurdjieff personally in 1924, for reasons that are explained in the last chapter of his book In Search of the Miraculous.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Maurice Nicoll</span> Scottish psychiatrist, author (1884–1953)

Henry Maurice Dunlop Nicoll was a Scottish neurologist, psychiatrist, author and noted Fourth Way esoteric teacher. He is best known for his Psychological Commentaries on the Teaching of Gurdjieff and Ouspensky, a five-volume collection of more than 500 talks given and distributed to his study groups in and around London from March 1941 to August 1953.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Illuminates of Thanateros</span> International magical organization

The Illuminates of Thanateros (IOT) is an international magical organization that focuses on practical group work in chaos magic. The idea was first announced in 1978, while the order proper was formed in 1987. This fraternal magical society has been an important influence on some forms of modern occultism. It has been described as "an unprecedented attempt of institutionalising one of the most individualising currents in the history of ‘Western learned magic’."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Owen Barfield</span> British philosopher (1898–1997)

Arthur Owen Barfield was an English philosopher, author, poet, critic, and member of the Inklings.

James Charles Napier Webb was a Scottish historian and biographer. He was born in Edinburgh, and was educated at Harrow and Trinity College, Cambridge. He is remembered primarily for his books The Harmonious Circle, The Occult Underground, and The Occult Establishment.

An egregore is a concept in Western esotericism of a non-physical entity or thoughtform that arises from the collective thoughts and emotions of a distinct group of individuals.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">(I'm Always Touched by Your) Presence, Dear</span> 1978 single by Blondie

"(I'm Always Touched by Your) Presence, Dear" is a song by the American band Blondie, from their 1978 album Plastic Letters. Written by former Blondie bassist Gary Valentine, the song was based on the telepathic connections that Valentine believed he experienced with his girlfriend, journalist Lisa Jane Persky, while on tour. Though Valentine had recently left the band, drummer Clem Burke convinced the band to record the song for Plastic Letters.

Lisa Jane Persky is an American actress, journalist, author, artist, and photographer. She played supporting roles in the films The Great Santini (1979), Peggy Sue Got Married (1986) and When Harry Met Sally... (1989), and worked in the late 1970s as a writer and photojournalist for New York Rocker magazine.

<i>Live by Request</i> (Blondie album) 2004 live album by Blondie

Live by Request is a live and video album by the band Blondie released in the US in 2004, and internationally in 2005.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mitch Horowitz</span> American writer

Mitch Horowitz is an American author, publisher, speaker, and television host specializing in occult and esoteric themes. A frequent writer and speaker on religion and metaphysics in print and on television, radio, and online, Horowitz’s writing has appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, Time, and CNN.com, and he has appeared on NPR, CBS News, NBC News, and Vice News. He is the former editor-in-chief of TarcherPerigee and a former vice-president at Penguin Random House. His best-known works are Occult America (2009), The Miracle Club (2018), and Modern Occultism (2023). In 2022, Ferdinando Buscema noted that "Horowitz is among the most articulate and respected voices in the contemporary occulture scene." Horowitz hosts the UFO-themed Discovery/HBO Max television series, Alien Encounters: Fact or Fiction, which the network added to its Wednesday night line-up in June 2024. In July 2024, he joined Elijah Wood's podcast network, SpectreVision Radio, and will be hosting a podcast focused on esoteric and occult topics.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Study Society</span> British charity registered 1951 promotes meditation

The Study Society is registered with the Charity Commission as Registered Charity Number 1155498. Its stated objects are for the public benefit:

  1. to advance the education of the public in religion, science, philosophy and the arts.
  2. the promotion of moral and spiritual welfare.
<i>Turn Off Your Mind</i>

Turn Off Your Mind: The Mystic Sixties and the Dark Side of the Age of Aquarius is a 2001 book by the American writer Gary Lachman. It charts the presence of mystic and occult ideas in the pop culture and counterculture of the 1960s. A revised and expanded version was published in 2009 as The Dedalus Book of the 1960s: Turn Off Your Mind.

Randall Gair Doherty was an English politician, and son of occultist Aleisteir Crowley. Throughout his life Doherty used several pseudonyms and titles including Aleister Macalpine and Count Charles Edward D'Arquires, and was called Aleister Atatürk by his father.

<i>Dark Star Rising</i> 2018 book by Gary Lachman

Dark Star Rising: Magick and Power in the Age of Trump is a 2018 book by the American writer Gary Lachman. It explores the influence of occult figures on the alt-right movement in the United States, and their use of internet memes and chaos magick in the rise of Donald Trump to the presidency. Lachman draws a direct line between occult and far right figures like philosopher Julius Evola, Steve Bannon, and Aleksandr Dugin, while showing how the New Thought religious movement and people like Norman Vincent Peale shaped who Trump became, leaving a post-truth reality in its wake.

Beyond the Robot: The Life and Work of Colin Wilson is a book by the American writer Gary Lachman. It is a biography about the English writer and philosopher Colin Wilson.

References

  1. ↑ "Gary Lachman, Dark Star Rising: Magick and Power in the Age of Trump - Author Talk". New York University Department of English. October 15, 2019. Retrieved July 7, 2024.
  2. ↑ "Gary Lachman - About the Author". Simon & Schuster. Retrieved July 7, 2024.
  3. ↑ "Gary Lachman - About". Steiner Books. Retrieved July 8, 2024.
  4. ↑ "Gary Lachman - About the Author". Penguin Random House. Retrieved July 7, 2024.
  5. ↑ Kopp, Zack (October 6, 2020). "GARY LACHMAN (NEE VALENTINE): A NEW YORK ROCKER SAILS INTO THE MYSTIC". PleaseKillMe. Retrieved December 2, 2022.
  6. 1 2 "Blondie's Gary Valentine Recalls 'New York' Memories". Billboard .
  7. ↑ Kopp, Zack (October 6, 2020). "GARY LACHMAN (NEE VALENTINE): A NEW YORK ROCKER SAILS INTO THE MYSTIC". PleaseKillMe. Retrieved December 2, 2022.
  8. ↑ Robbins, Ira. "Tracey Ullman". Trouser Press. Retrieved July 7, 2024.
  9. ↑ Og, Seuras (February 3, 2015). "Cover Classics: Medusa by Annie Lennox". Cover Me.
  10. ↑ Morley, Paul (March 2, 2002). "They stopped making sense". The Guardian.
  11. ↑ Oliver, Myrna (August 17, 2005). "Esther Wong, 88; 'Godmother of Punk' Whose Venues Showcased Pop, Rock Acts in '70s, '80s". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved July 7, 2024.
  12. ↑ Valentine, Gary (2002). New York Rocker: My Life in the Blank Generation. Macmillan. p. 217. ISBN   9780283063671.
  13. ↑ Lachman, Gary (May 17, 2019). "Lost Knowledge of the Imagination". Interalia Magazine. Retrieved December 2, 2022.
  14. ↑ Stein, Chris (2024). Under a Rock (First ed.). St. Martin's Press. p. 230. ISBN   9781250286727.
  15. ↑ Walsh, Kenneth (April 15, 2020). "Song of the Day: 'Amor Fati' by Blondie". Kenneth in the (212). Retrieved July 7, 2024.
  16. ↑ Kramer, Barry L., ed. (May 30, 2024). "Blondie Gig List". Official Blondie Web Site (archive). Retrieved July 8, 2024.
  17. ↑ "TrouserPress.com :: Blondie".
  18. ↑ "Reunion blues | Music | The Guardian". Arts.guardian.co.uk. April 6, 2006. Retrieved August 11, 2013.
  19. ↑ Oppenheimer, Mark (April 13, 2012). "Spiritual Seeker's Quest, From Blondie to Swedenborg". The New York Times. Retrieved May 28, 2024.
  20. ↑ Lachman, Gary (May 17, 2019). "Lost Knowledge of the Imagination". Interalia Magazine. Retrieved December 2, 2022.
  21. ↑ Lachman, Gary (February 8, 2003). "Review: Breaking Open the Head by Daniel Pinchbeck". the Guardian. Retrieved December 2, 2022.
  22. ↑ "The Quietus | Features | Things I Have Learned | Magick and Me: Blondie's Gary". The Quietus. September 22, 2009. Retrieved December 2, 2022.
  23. ↑ Valentine, Gary (December 12, 2002). "New York Rocker, My Life With The Blank Generation With Blondie, Iggy Pop and Others, 1974-1981". Variety. Retrieved July 8, 2024.
  24. ↑ "A Secret History of Consciousness". Steiner Books. 2003. ISBN   9781584200116 . Retrieved July 8, 2024.
  25. ↑ "The Dedalus Book of the Occult: A Dark Muse". Dedalus Books. 2015. ISBN   9781909232440 . Retrieved July 8, 2024.
  26. ↑ Kinney, Jay. "Politics and the Occult: The Left, the Right, and the Radically Unseen". The Theosophical Society in America. Retrieved July 8, 2024.
  27. ↑ "2015 Connector Series - Living in the Real World". Marion Institute. July 25, 2015. Archived from the original on September 22, 2015. Retrieved July 8, 2024.
  28. ↑ Oppenheimer, Mark (April 13, 2012). "Spiritual Seekers Quest: From Blondie to Swedenborg". New York Times. Retrieved July 8, 2024.
  29. ↑ "Quest Books". Quest Books. Retrieved August 11, 2013.
  30. ↑ Oppenheimer, Mark (April 13, 2012). "Gary Lachman, From Blondie to Swedenborg – Beliefs". The New York Times.
  31. ↑ "Aleister Crowley: The Beast In Britain". Herb Lester Associates. 2023. ISBN   9781739897178 . Retrieved July 8, 2024.
  32. ↑ "Maurice Nicoll -Forgotten Teacher of the Fourth Way". Inner Traditions • Bear & Company. 2024. ISBN   9781644119914 . Retrieved July 8, 2024.
  33. ↑ "Facts Concerning HP Lovecraft And His Environs". Herb Lester Associates. 2024. ISBN   9781739339715 . Retrieved July 8, 2024.
  34. ↑ "What is Jordan B. Peterson Really Saying?". New Dawn Magazine.com. April 30, 2018. Retrieved June 11, 2018.

Reviews

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.