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Lupita Tovar
Born	María de Guadalupe Tovar (1910-07-27) July 27, 1910 (age 101) Matías Romero Oaxaca, Mexico
Years active	1929–45
Spouse	Paul Kohner (1932 – March 16, 1988; his death); 2 children

Lupita Tovar (born July 27, 1910) is a Mexican actress, best known for her starring role in the 1931 Spanish language version of Dracula, filmed in Los Angeles by Universal Pictures at night using the same sets as the Bela Lugosi version, but with a different cast and director.

Life and career[link]

Born as Guadalupe Tovar, in Matías Romero, Oaxaca, Mexico, Tovar was discovered by documentary filmmaker Robert Flaherty of Fox Film studios while acting in a school play in Mexico City, Mexico. She came to Hollywood in 1929 and a perusal of her lessons at the time reflects how serious she was in her attitude. Her weekly schedule included guitar, two hours four days, Spanish dances, one hour three days, dramatics, one-half hour two days, and English, one hour every day. Her accent was considered an asset in talking motion pictures. Lupita's English improved significantly in just seven months from the time she arrived in Hollywood in January 1929. At first she could not say good morning in English. Her improvement owed much to her frequenting talkies, and learning new words and how to say them by reading voraciously.^{[citation needed]}

In 1930, she was mentioned for leads in two talkies starring Douglas Fairbanks, Sr. and Richard Barthelmess. Fairbanks put off the filming of what became The Exile. After his death, the film was made in 1947 by his son, Douglas, Jr., directed by Max Ophuls. Tovar starred opposite Antonio Moreno in La voluntad del muerto, the Spanish language version of The Cat Creeps (1930) based on the John Willard mystery play The Cat and the Canary; The Cat Creeps and La Voluntad del muerto were remakes of The Cat and the Canary (1927). Casting was done in July 1930 with the film being released later the same year.^{[citation needed]}

The Spanish version was directed by George Melford and, like the Spanish-language version of Dracula, was filmed at night using the same sets as those used for filming the English-language version during the day. After Dracula, Tovar starred in Santa, Mexico's first talkie, which was such a hit that the Mexican government issued a postage stamp featuring Tovar as Santa.^{[citation needed]} A year later, Melford directed Tovar in another Universal picture, East of Borneo (1931).

Family[link]

In 1932, while in Paris to film a movie, Tovar met and became engaged to Universal Pictures executive Paul Kohner. The couple had two children. Their daughter, Susan Kohner, is a retired actress. Their grandsons, Chris and Paul Weitz, are successful film directors.

References[link]

• Lupita Tovar, Mexico's Sultry Screen 'Sweetheart', NPR, Morning Edition, February 15, 2008.
• Los Angeles Times, Wave Of Popularity Sweeping Mexican Stars To Top Goes Marching On, January 27, 1929, Page C11.
• Los Angeles Times, Spanish Stars, February 2, 1930, Page B11.
• Los Angeles Times, Fairbanks To Star In California Tale, March 12, 1930, Page A8.
• Los Angeles Times, First National Buys Story, April 30, 1930, Page 14.
• Los Angeles Times, Universal Chooses Leads, July 23, 1930, Page 6.
• Los Angeles Times, Lupita Tovar Goes Abroad, August 27, 1932, Page 5.
• Olean Herald, Hollywood Sights and Sounds, Saturday Evening, July 20, 1929, Page 4.

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Lupita Tovar

• Lupita Tovar at the Internet Movie Database

v t e Cinema of Mexico Actors Directors Films A-Z Cinematographers Editors Producers Screenwriters Films by year 1896–1919 1920s 1930s 1940 1941 1942 1943 1944 1945 1946 1947 1948 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011

A centenarian is a person who lives to or beyond the age of 100 years. Because current average global life expectancies are less than 100, the term is invariably associated with longevity. A supercentenarian is a person who has lived to the age of 110 or more, something only achieved by about one in 1,000 centenarians. Even rarer is a person who has lived to age 115; as of April 2012^[update], there are only 27 people in recorded history who have indisputably reached this age.^[1][2][3] In 2009, the United Nations estimated that there were 455,000 living centenarians worldwide.^[4]

Current incidence[link]

A photo of the Canadian centenarian Muriel Duckworth, taken in honor of her 100th birthday in 2008.

The United States currently has the greatest number of centenarians of any nation, estimated at 70,490 on September 1, 2010.^[5] This corresponds to a national incidence of one centenarian per 4,400 people.^[6]

Japan has the second-largest number of centenarians, with an estimated 47,756 as of September 2011.^[7] Japan started its surveys in 1963, at which time the number of Japanese centenarians was found to be 153. This number surpassed the 10,000 mark in 1998, 20,000 in 2003, and 40,000 in 2009. According to a UN Demographic survey, Japan is expected to have 272,000 centenarians by 2050.^[8] However, some sources suggest that the number could be closer to 1 million.^[9] Many experts attribute Japan's high life expectancy to the Japanese diet, which is particularly low in refined simple carbohydrates, and to hygienic practices. In addition, the number of centenarians in relation to the total population was, in September 2010, 114% higher in Shimane Prefecture than the ratio for the whole of Japan. This ratio was also 92% higher in Okinawa Prefecture.^[10][11] In addition to diet, there are four other factors that have been found to increase the life expectancy for Okinawans, as noted later in the "research into centenarians" section of this article.^[12] The incidence of centenarians in Japan was one per 3,522 people in 2008,^[13] although Okinawa again exceeded this average, with one per 1,838 people in 2006.

Centenarian controversy in Japan[link]

The number of Japanese centenarians was called into question in 2010, following a series of reports showing that hundreds of thousands of elderly people had gone "missing" in the country. The deaths of many centenarians had not been reported, casting doubt on the country's reputation for having a large population of centenarians.^{[14][15][16][17]}

In July 2010, a centenarian listed as the oldest living male in Tokyo, registered to be aged 111, was found to have died some 30 years before; his body was found mummified in its bed,^[18] resulting in a police investigation into centenarians listed over the age of 105. Soon after the discovery, the Japanese police further found that at least 200 other Japanese centenarians were missing, with the total likely to rise amid a nationwide search that began in early August 2010.^[19] In one case, the remains of a mother thought to be 104 had been stuffed into her son's backpack for nearly a decade.^[20]

There are growing concerns that Japan's welfare system can be exploited by unscrupulous family members keen to continue receiving benefits after the pensioners die.^[19] In one case, a man received around 9.5 million yen in pension payments despite his wife having died six years previously.^[19]

Centenarian populations[link]

The total number of centenarians in the world remains uncertain. It has been estimated by the Population Division of the United Nations as 23,000 in 1950, 110,000 in 1990, 150,000 in 1995, 209,000 in 2000 and 324,000 in 2005.^[21] There were an estimated 455,000 centenarians in the world in 2009.^[4] However, these estimates do not take into account the recent downward adjustments of national estimates made by several countries, such as the United States.^[22] The following table lists estimated centenarian populations by country, including both the latest and the earliest known estimates, where available.

Traditions[link]

An 1895 photograph of a Chaldean man from Mosul, Iraq, said to be 107 years old.

In many countries, people receive a gift or congratulations on their 100th birthday. In the United States, centenarians traditionally receive a letter from the President, congratulating them for their longevity. NBC's The Today Show show has also named new centenarians on air since 1983. In the United Kingdom and the Commonwealth Realms, the Queen sends greetings (formerly as a telegram) on the 100th birthday and on every birthday starting with the 105th. Centenarians born in Ireland receive a €2,540 "Centenarians' Bounty" and a letter from the President of Ireland, even if they are resident abroad.^[50] Japanese centenarians receive a silver cup and a certificate from the Prime Minister of Japan upon their 100th birthday, honouring them for their longevity and prosperity in their lives. Swedish centenarians receive a telegram from the King and Queen of Sweden.^[51] Centenarians born in Italy receive a letter from the President of Italy. In Japan, a "National Respect for the Aged Day" has been celebrated every September since 1966.

An aspect of blessing in many cultures is to offer a wish that the recipient lives to 100. Among Hindus, people who touch the feet of elders are often blessed with "May you live a hundred years". In Sweden, the traditional birthday song states, May he/she live for one hundred years. In Judaism, the term May you live to be 120 years old is a common blessing. In Poland, Sto lat, a wish to live a hundred years, is a traditional form of praise and good wishes, and the song "sto lat, sto lat" is sang on the occasion of the birthday celebrations--arguably, it is the most popular song in Poland and among Poles around the globe. Chinese emperors were hailed to live ten thousand years, while empresses were hailed to live a thousand years. In Italy, "A hundred of these days!" (cento di questi giorni) is an augury for birthdays, to live to celebrate 100 more birthdays.^[52] Some Italians say "Cent'anni!", which means "a hundred years", in that they wish that they could all live happily for a hundred years. In Greece, wishing someone Happy Birthday ends with the expression να τα εκατοστήσεις (na ta ekatostisis), which can be loosely translated as "may you make it one hundred birthdays".

Centenarians in ancient times[link]

While the density of centenarians per capita was much less in ancient times than today, the data suggest that reaching the age of 100 was not unheard of. However, ancient demographics are biased in favor of wealthy or powerful individuals rather than the ordinary person. Grmek and Gourevitch speculate that during the Classical Greek Period, anyone who made it past the age of five years — surviving all the common childhood illness of that day — had a reasonable chance of living to a ripe old age. Life expectancy at 400 B.C. was estimated to be around 30 years of age. One demographer of ancient civilizations reported that Greek men lived to 45 years (based on a sample size of 91), while women lived to 36.2 years (based on a sample size of 55). Curiously, the gender statistics are inverted compared to today, since child-birth was a much more traumatic experience at that time than now, and it certainly skewed female statistics downward. It was common for average citizens to take great care in their hygiene (sanitation), Mediterranean diet (fish, figs, olive oil, wine, etc.), and exercise program (sports/gymnasium), although there was much more male trauma per capita than today, due to military service being virtually universal for citizens. This also biased the statistics for men downward.^[53]

Diogenes Laertius (c. 250) gives one of the earliest references regarding (plausible centenarian) longevity given by a scientist, the astronomer Hipparchus of Nicea (c. 185 – c. 120 B.C.), who, according to the doxographer, assured that the philosopher Democritus of Abdera (c. 470/460 – c. 370/360 B.C.) lived 109 years. All other accounts about Democritus given by the ancients appear to agree on the fact that the philosopher lived over 100 years. Such longevity would not be dramatically out of line with that of other ancient Greek philosophers thought to have lived beyond the age of 90 (e.g.: Xenophanes of Colophon, c. 570/565 – c. 475/470 B.C.; Pyrrho of Ellis, c. 360 - c. 270 B.C.; Eratosthenes of Cirene c. 285 – c. 190 B.C., etc.). The case of Democritus differs from the case of, for example, Epimenides of Crete (7th, 6th centuries B.C.), who is said to have lived an implausible 154, 157 or 290 years, depending on the source.

The sixth dynasty Egyptian ruler Pepi II is believed by some Egyptologists to have lived to the age of 100 or more (c. 2278 BC - c. 2184 BC), as he ruled for 94 years.^[54] However this is under dispute, as others claim the length of his reign was actually 64 years.^[55]

The Indian Sufi poet, Kabir (1398-1518?) is believed by some to have lived to an implausible age of 120 while others believe that he lived for no more than 80 years.

Ultimately, there is no reason to believe that centenarians did not exist 2500 years ago, even if they were not commonplace.^[56]

Hosius of Córdoba, the man who convinced Constantine the Great to call the First Council of Nicaea, reportedly lived to age 102.

The Chronicon of Bernold of Constance records the death in 1097 of Azzo marchio de Longobardia, pater Welfonis ducis de Baiowaria, commenting that he was iam maior centenario.^[57]

Research into centenarians[link]

Research carried out in Italy suggests that healthy centenarians have high levels of vitamin A and vitamin E and that this seems to be important in guaranteeing their extreme longevity.^[58] Other research contradicts this, however, and has found that these findings do not apply to centenarians from Sardinia, for whom other factors probably play a more important role.^[59] A preliminary study carried out in Poland showed that, in comparison with young healthy female adults, centenarians living in Upper Silesia had significantly higher red blood cell glutathione reductase and catalase activities and higher, although insignificantly, serum levels of vitamin E.^[60] Researchers in Denmark have also found that centenarians exhibit a high activity of glutathione reductase in red blood cells. In this study, those centenarians having the best cognitive and physical functional capacity tended to have the highest activity of this enzyme.^[61]

Other research has found that people having parents who became centenarians have an increased number of naïve B cells. It is well known that the children of parents who have a long life are also likely to reach a healthy age, but it is not known why, although the inherited genes are probably important.^[62] A variation in the gene FOXO3A is known to have a positive effect on the life expectancy of humans, and is found much more often in people living to 100 and beyond - moreover, this appears to be true worldwide.^[63]

Men and women who are 100 or older tend to have something else in common, an extraverted personality, says Thomas T. Perls, M.D., M.P.H., the director of the New England Centenarian Study at Boston University. Centenarians will often have many friends, strong ties to relatives and a healthy dose of self-esteem.^[64]

Some research suggests that centenarian offspring are more likely to age in better cardiovascular health than their peers.^[65]

In John W. Santrock's book "A Topical Approach to Life-Span Development", there are five factors that research has suggested that are most important to longevity in centenarians:^[12] 1) heredity and family history 2) health, i.e. weight, diet, whether or not a person smokes, amount of exercise 3) education level 4) personality 5) lifestyle.^[12]

Santrock's book also noted that the largest group of centenarians are women who have never been married.^[12] Also, people who have been through traumatic life events, such as Holocaust survivors, learn to cope better with stress and poverty and are more likely to reach centenarian status.^[12]

In Okinawa, Japan, studies have shown five factors that have contributed to the large number of centenarians in that region:^[12]

1. A diet that is heavy on grains, fish, and vegetables and light on meat, eggs, and dairy products.
2. Low-stress lifestyles, which are proven significantly less stressful than that of the mainland inhabitants of Japan.
3. A caring community, where older adults are not isolated and are taken better care of.
4. High levels of activity, where locals work until an older age than the average age in other countries, and more emphasis on activities like walking and gardening to keep active.
5. Spirituality, where a sense of purpose comes from involvement in spiritual matters and prayer eases the mind of stress and problems.^[12]

Although these factors vary from those mentioned in the previous study, the culture of Okinawa has proven these factors to be important in its large population of centenarians.^[12]

See also[link]

• Lists of centenarians
• New England Centenarian Study
• Okinawa Centenarian Study
• Oldest people
• Queensland Community Care Network, which operates the centenarians-only 100+ Club

References[link]

Further reading[link]

• Koch, Tina; Kralik, Debbie; Power, Charmaine (2005). 100 Years Old: 24 Australian Centenarians Tell Their Stories. Camberwell, Vic: Viking. ISBN 0-670-02872-X. 

External links[link]

• The Okinawa Centenarian Study
• New England Centenarian Study
• Living to 100 and Beyond: Search for Predictors of Exceptional Human Longevity^{[dead link]}
• Mortality of Centenarians
• U.S. politicians who lived the longest
• Noted Nonagenarians and Centenarians
• Centenarian research & celebration
• Living Beyond 100 - International Longevity Center UK
• Table of numbers of centenarians for select nations, 1960 and 1990
• Centenarians’ Road

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (June 2007)

Gary Lucas is an American guitarist, a Grammy-nominated songwriter, a soundtrack composer for film and television, and an international recording artist with over a twenty solo albums to date^[2]. He has been described as "one of the best and most original guitarists in America" (David Fricke, 16 Nov. 2006, Rolling Stone); a "legendary leftfield guitarist" (The Guardian, 24 Dec. 2005); "the thinking man's guitar hero" (The New Yorker, 8 Jan. 2007), "perhaps the greatest living electric guitar player" (Daniel Levitin) and one of "the most innovative and challenging guitarists playing today" (fRoots, March 2002). Lucas is also associated with vocalist Jeff Buckley, who performed for a year in Lucas' band, Gods and Monsters, early in his career.

Lucas tours the world solo, as well as with several different ensembles including his longtime band NYC-based group, Gods and Monsters, a psychedelic rock band based around Lucas's guitar playing and songwriting. Other regular members of the band include Ernie Brooks, Jason Candler, and Billy Ficca. Lucas also lectures on guitar and the music business in general. As of 2007, he has performed in more than 40 countries, including Russia (Moscow, St. Petersburg) and the Netherlands, India, China, Cuba, Latin America, and the Canary Islands.^[2]

Biography[link]

Gary Lucas was born in Syracuse, New York USA.^[3] He obtained a degree in English from Yale University (1974),^[3] before establishing his career in music first as a college DJ and then as Music Director at his college radio station, WYBC FM.^[2] He presently lives in New York City.

Musical career[link]

Early career[link]

According to his website,^[2] Lucas was encouraged by his father to try the guitar at age 9, briefly dabbled with other instruments at school, and played with various groups and combos in the 1960s, during his teens. During his senior year at high school he played for the documentary film unit of the Upstate Medical Center and scored on his first film assignment. In his sophomore year he travelled on what he calls a "pilgrimage"^[2] to see childhood hero Captain Beefheart, with whom he later formed a strong friendship. From being a Beefheart fan Gary eventually became his co-manager^[4] and occasionally performed on stage during the 1980–81 tours – reciting a poem (usually "One Man Sentence", sometimes "Untitled") or performing the solo guitar piece "Flavor Bud Living".^[4]

After gaining his degree, Lucas played for a few years with the O-Bay-Gone Band^[3] before gaining a significant step in his career during 1980–82, when he was engaged to record on two Beefheart albums released by Virgin Records,^[2][3] on one of which he was full-time lead alongside Moris Tepper.^[4] Lucas performed over a period of five years with the last incarnation of Beefheart's Magic Band. His solo guitar pieces on Doc at the Radar Station (1980) and Ice Cream for Crow (1982) were his renditions of Beefheart's instrumental compositions, "Flavor Bud Living" and "Evening Bell." Of the latter, Esquire wrote "Gary Lucas apparently grew extra fingers in order to negotiate his way through it".^{[citation needed]}

After Captain Beefheart retired in the 1980s, Lucas continued to be associated with the Magic Band's former members, and the band continues to be creatively active: several of Beefheart's former band members reformed the group, touring as the Magic Band from 2003 to 2006. Their 2007 double album and DVD, 21st Century Mirror Men, followed up their debut album Back to the Front which was chosen as one of the best albums of 2004 by The Wire.

In 1988, Lucas mounted his first solo guitar show at New York's Knitting Factory. Shortly after his first gig, he was invited to appear at the 1988 JazzFest Berlin, where the Berliner Morgenpost raved in a banner headline after his performance, "It is Lucas!"

Concerts and tours[link]

Lucas' Australian debut was made in the company of UK electronica band Future Sound of London. He has been a regular visitor to London's Royal Festival Hall (five appearances) and Amsterdam's famed Paradiso (17 appearances since 1980).

During his fourth tour of Russia in 2005, he performed his original solo guitar adaptation of the Lucas/Horn score accompanying the silent classic German horror film The Golem (1920) in Moscow and Saint Petersburg and appeared on national TV before an estimated 50 million viewers, as well as being feted in the Russian edition of Rolling Stone. He's played with The Golem solo all over the world since the live debut of the duet score he and keyboardist Walter Horn wrote for the movie in 1989 at the BAM Next Wave Festival—including performing at the Venice Biennale, London's Royal Festival Hall, the New York Jewish Film Festival at Lincoln Center, as part of a week long artist-in-residency at the Quebec City Summer Festival, at the Alien artist H. R. Giger's Retrospective in Prague (home of the Golem) this spring, at Atlanta's Dragon Con, the largest science fiction festival in the world, and at this year's fifth annual Pop Montreal music and film festival.

Lucas co-leads a jazz-oriented, all-instrumental Beefheart tribute ensemble, Fast 'n' Bulbous: the Captain Beefheart Project, who have made appearances at the Frankfurt Jazz Festival and the Jazz Em Agosto Festival in Lisbon during 2006. Their debut album Pork Chop Blue Around the Rind was profiled on NPR and charted on college radio in the US. In Fall, 2006, they toured Europe extensively, selling out shows at the London Jazz Festival, in Amsterdam's BimHuis, as well as playing in Bern, Vienna, Schwaz and Ljubljana Slovenia. The group has recently released its second album, Waxed Oop, on Cuneiform Records.

In November 2006, Lucas toured Europe with Phillip Johnston and five other jazz musicians as the Gary Lucas and Phillip Johnston Septet. The group performed jazz arrangements of Captain Beefheart's work in London, Amsterdam, Bern, Vienna, Schwaz (Austria) and Ljubljana.

Other recent concert appearances include a concert at the Czech Embassy in Washington DC by invitation of the Czech ambassador to the US spotlighting Lucas's solo guitar arrangements of Czech classical music in honor of the 14th anniversary of the Czech Velvet Revolution (Lucas is of Bohemian descent on his father's side). Lucas made an extensive solo acoustic tour of Spain in 2007.

Gary Lucas' January 2012 solo tour of Europe began in Spain with a program on National Basque Radio Euskadi, and a performance of the "Spanish Dracula" for Bilbao's Musiketan Festival in Sala BBK. In England, Lucas conducted his Captain Beefheart Symposium two nights in a row at Liverpool's Philharmonic,^{[5] [6]} and record 8 tracks in a collaboration with Bryan Ferry at Olympia Studios. This was followed by two shows in Lisbon and Porto Portugal with guest performer Diana Silviera Piedad.^[7] The tour finished in Paris with a surprise performance at La Feline, and a solo show at The New Morning with Cheyenne Schiavone, Beatrice Demi-Mondaine, Jean-Francis Pauvros, and Daniel Yvinec.^{[8] [9]} Lucas returns to Europe to do a special concert at the Paradiso in Amsterdam on Sept. 2nd 2012, in a collaboration with the Metropole Orchestra and Dutch singers, and is scheduled to perform in the new Fishman Space at BAM fall of 2013.^[10]

Projects and collaborations[link]

Lucas with Nona Hendryx, Nina Persson and others at the Best Batch Yet tribute to Captain Beefheart

Lucas has played and collaborated with Leonard Bernstein, Captain Beefheart, Jeff Buckley,^[11] Chris Cornell, Lou Reed, John Cale, Nick Cave, David Johansen. He has also worked with Mary Margaret O'Hara, Onetwo, Peter Stampfel, Sebastian Doggart, Fred Schneider (The B-52's), Bob Neuwirth, Geoff Muldaur, John Sebastian, John Zorn, Bryan Ferry, Patti Smith, Kate and Anna McGarrigle, Matthew Sweet, DJ Spooky, Damo Suzuki, Iggy Pop, Dr. John, Allen Ginsberg, Graham Parker, The Dark Poets, Future Sound of London, Melissa Mars, Van Dyke Parks, Adrian Sherwood, Richard Barone, Bob Weir, Warren Haynes (Allman Brothers, Gov't Mule), Kristin Diable and many others. Jazz collaborations include Roswell Rudd, Steve Swallow, Joe Lovano, Dave Liebman, and Billy Bang. Some of these collaborations appear on his retrospective album Improve the Shining Hour, which also features his film and TV music for ABC News, 20/20 and Turning Point. He has produced albums for composer/saxophonists Tim Berne and Peter Gordon, and for the French avant-rock band Tanger. He co-wrote Joan Osborne's Grammy-nominated song "Spider Web" from her triple platinum album Relish.

Often associated with Jeff Buckley's early career, Lucas first met Buckley in New York in 1990 at the Tim Buckley tribute concert. Buckley stayed in New York and joined Lucas' band, Gods and Monsters. Lucas composed solo guitar instrumentals for "Rise Up to Be" and "And You Will," which later became the musical templates for "Grace" and "Mojo Pin"^[2], which Lucas co-wrote with Buckley for his popular and critically acclaimed album Grace.^[12][13] Early collaborations can also be heard on the Jeff Buckley and Gary Lucas album Songs to No One, which charted internationally with worldwide sales approaching 100,000.

Dutch lutist Jozef Van Wissem has collaborated with Lucas on several albums, which include "the Universe of Absence" and "Diplopia." They have appeared and performed live on Dutch national TV together.

In 2007 Lucas collaborated on an album with underground electronic producer James R Hunter's project The Dark Poets. The album was produced by British label manager Stevo Pearce of Some Bizzare Records. The album, Gary Lucas vs the Dark Poets - Beyond the Pale, features an eclectic mixture of moody drum and bass, techno and rock tracks (most notably 'Prime Time' - featuring vocals by Sarah Hilliard and James R Hunter) as well as many early collectable Gary Lucas tracks and collaborations (including "Procuress from Karmelitska Street" featuring UK vocalist Pat Fulgoni of Kava Kava and original sketches of songs which went on to be used on Jeff Buckley's Grace album' including 'Grace' and 'Mojo Pin').

In 2009 Lucas collaborated on a new world music collaboration with an Indian vocalist from the UK, Najma Akhtar. Their album RISHTE combines rock, blues, folk, and raga, on Harmonia Mundi/World Village. It was listed #4 in the European World Music charts in 2009.^[14]

In 2010, Lucas collaborated with vocalist Dean Bowman on their "spiritual roots project" and gospel album, "CHASE THE DEVIL." The duo performed an amalgam of Hebrew and African American blues live in the U.S. and Europe.

In May 2011, Lucas released a new studio album with his band, Gods and Monsters, entitled The Ordeal of Civility.^[15] It was produced by Jerry Harrison (Talking Heads) and distributed by Sony/Red.

[edit] The Edge of Heaven

The Edge of Heaven, is an album of Lucas's lush arrangements of classic Chinese pop tunes from the 1930s, with a distinctly bluesy feel. It received positive international reviews from Rolling Stone to The Wall Street Journal to the Hong Kong Music Weekly. It was #1 on the World Music Charts in Canada and garnered international attention, England's Q magazine awarding it 4 Stars, and Mojo writing: "It is simply gorgeous." The album was chosen as one of the Best Discs of the year in France's Libération newspaper. There was a lengthy profile for the album in The Wall Street Journal, as well as an NPR interview. Lucas recently released an expanded concert version of The Edge of Heaven with his band, Gods and Monsters, and vocalists Sally Kwok and Mo Hai Jin, both from Shanghai. ^[2] The group received standing ovations at the Holland Festival in Amsterdam in June 2011.^[16]

Writing[link]

Arcana Books (Italy) is publishing Gary Lucas' book, Touched by Grace: My Time With Jeff Buckley, for release June 2012.

Other[link]

Lucas has completed recording with the female UK-based DJ Cosmo on a dance-oriented project called Wild Rumpus, previewed on the BBC. Gary has performed DJ improv sets with Cosmo in a variety of far-flung locales, including high profile gigs in Romania and India, and recently produced a 12" vinyl single, "Cloudhopping."

Lucas has played at the UK's Glastonbury Festival, at London's Shepherd's Bush Empire and at the All Tomorrow's Parties festival in LA and Camber Sands in the UK.

A number of UK DJs have featured Lucas in their radio shows, including Charlie Gillett and John Peel, as well as Verity Sharp and Fiona Talkington on their BBC experimental music program, and Rob Da Bank, also on BBC.

In Fall 2009, Gary Lucas debuted his new live program of solo guitar arrangements of famous film music at the 5th International Jecheon Film and Music Festival in South Korea. He was also invited by the Festival Internacional del Nuevo Cine Latinoamerica to preview his score for the Spanish version of Dracula (1931) at the 31st Havana Film Festival in Havana, Cuba.^[17] Lucas performs the European premiere of his Spanish "Dracula" project at the 9th Transylvania International Film Festival in Cluj-Napoca Romania on May 30, 2010 in the open-air outside the Banfi Botzida Castle.

In the summer of 2009, he collaborated with new up-and-coming Latin American artist Juan Galeano on his album El Peregrino, which debuted April 2010.

Lucas returned to Cuba December 2010 for the 32nd Havana Film Festival, and debuted a new live score accompanying a Brazilian horror classic, "Esta Noite Encarnerei no teu Cadaver" (Tonight I will Possess Your Corpse).^[18]

Style[link]

Gary Lucas' work draws strongly from the blues tradition, but it has increasing international range (see Edge of Heaven above), and includes styles such as psychedelic rock, world music, and jazz, as well as classical works.

Lectures, master classes, symposia[link]

Lucas has spoken widely on his life and career. He also lectures widely on the mechanics of songwriting, extensive collaborations, composing for film, and the music business at the Amsterdam Music Conservatorum, Yale University (his alma mater), the University of Hawaii, New York University, and Columbia University. He has given guitar master classes at the Amsterdam Music Conservatory and in Honolulu at the University of Hawaii. He has also lectured at Rogers State University in Oklahoma, and McGill University in Montreal, Canada. Lucas also continues to conduct a popular symposium on his former mentor and collaborator, Captain Beefheart (Don Van Vliet), both in the U.S. and in Europe. His next symposium will be conducted in Amsterdam June 16th 2012 and at the Zappanale in Bad Doberan Germany in August -- followed by a reunion of jazz-rock Beefheart Tribute ensemble Fast 'N' Bulbous co-lead by Phillip Johnston ^[19]

Composing & consulting for film and television[link]

Soundtracks and scores:

• Cinefantastique (solo guitar arrangements of famous film music)
• Sounds of the Surreal (live solo guitar score), 3 short French silent surrealist films by Rene Clair, Fernand Leger and Ladislaw Starewicz, commissioned by the Film Society of Lincoln Center.
• American Faust: From Condi to Neo-Condi an award-winning documentary on Condoleezza Rice, directed by Sebastian Doggart, additional scoring
• Trust Me (a Showtime documentary, original score)
• Bed and Breakfast 9/11 (an award-winning documentary shown on PBS)
• The Legacy of Jedwabne (documentary by Slawomir Grunberg)
• Lalee's Kin: The Legacy of Cotton (an Oscar-nominated Maysles Films documentary for HBO, screened at the Museum of Modern Art in New York as part of their Maysles Films 50 Year Retrospective; Variety wrote: "Gary Lucas' Delta blues guitar music adds vivid color to this report from America's forgotten underbelly")
• Monsters from the id (live scores to Lucas' favorite "nail biting," horror, sci-fi, and fantasy films), premiered 2006. Recently expanded to X-rated version, premiered in Kromeriz, Czech Republic.
• Dragon Boys (Canadian "movie of the week") 2007.
• The Golem (soundtrack for the 1920 silent film) performed in over 20 countries to date since its 1989 premiere.
• The Unholy Three (original solo guitar score for the 1925 Tod Browning film of the same name, commissioned by the Film Society of Lincoln Center. Premiered at Walter Reade Center, NYC, April 2009.
• J'Accuse (live solo guitar score for Abel Gance's anti-war film of the same name) in collaboration with Dutch-Iranian composer Reza Namavar, commissioned by the Netherlands Holland Festival. To premiere in the Amsterdam Stadtsshouwburg, June 2009.
• For Love and Honor (Erik Greenberg Anjou's documentary about American Ivy League collegiate football).
• American Faust: From Condi to Neo-Condi (score, 2010)
• El Angel Exterminador (live solo guitar score for Luis Bunuel's film), 33rd Havana Film Festival
• Consultant for Greetings from Tim Buckley about Jeff Buckley's early days working in NYC, directed by Dan Algrant and starring Penn Badgley ("Gossip Girl") as Jeff. Character of Gary Lucas played by Tony Award winning actor Frank Wood. Lucas plays his own guitar parts for the film.^[20]
• Spanish Dracula (soundtrack for the 1931 silent film); performed in Bilbao Spain at the Musiketan Festival, and in Lodz Poland's Festival Cinergia, November 2011.
• This Night I will Possess Your Corpse (live solo guitar score for Jose MOjica Marins, aka Coffin Joe); debuted at Lincoln Center's LatinBeat Film Festival, Aug. 2011 for the Film Society of Lincoln Center, and at SXSW in Texas March 17th 2012.
• Vampyr (2012: currently working on soundtrack for the Carl Dreyer's 1932 silent film).

Other recognition[link]

In the last few years Lucas has been profiled in the International Herald Tribune, Libération, and featured on the cover of The Forward as well as the national Dutch newspaper Het Parool. According to the Beefheart website:

"Since the end of the Magic Band, he has been very prolific in his own right, solo and within a band, releasing almost an album a year since 1991. His virtuoso solo live shows are awesome in the sounds he extracts from his guitar."^[4]

In the early 2000s, he performed a guitar rendition of the theme music to BBC1 soap opera EastEnders.

Discography[link]

References[link]

External links[link]

• Official website
• Lucas' biography and discography, on Captain Beefheart's "band members" section
• Gary Lucas discography
• Gary Lucas plays "The Golem"
• Gary Lucas Vs The Dark Poets 'Beyond The Pale album site'
• "The Unholy Three" webpage and clip
• Edge of Heaven clip
• Ordeal of Civility
• Gary Lucas Plays Mid-Century Chinese Pop
• Gods, Monsters, & Guitars (Wall St. Journal
• Gary Lucas plays "El Angel Exterminador" (Exterminating Angel)
• Gary Lucas performs in Portugal, 2012
• Gary Lucas surprise performance at La Feline, Paris
• Gary Lucas performs the Largo from Dvořák's Symphony No. 9 "The New World Symphony"