Gary Valentine Lachman
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Paranormal Researcher | |
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Biography | |
Name: | Gary Lachman |
Born: | December 24, 1955 Bayonne, New Jersey |
Resume | |
Field: | Writer |
Paranormal Area: | Occult/Fortean writer |
Gary (Valentine) Lachman (born December 24, 1955 in Bayonne, New Jersey, United States) is a writer and musician.
He was a composer and performer with Blondie, writing the band's first single, "Sex Offender" (later changed to "X Offender") and "Presence, Dear". Since then has become an authority on various occult and esoteric subjects.
Lachman is a prolific author and has written a number of books about music and the occult, as well as articles for magazines like the Fortean Times and Mojo. He also writes reviews for magazines and papers like The Guardian, The Times Literary Supplement and The Independent. Lachman also gives talks on his specialist subject areas and has, for example, appeared a number of times at UnCon.
Contents |
[edit] Musical career
He was one of the founder members of Blondie in 1975 but was replaced in 1977 by Nigel Harrison, just as the band were starting to gain recognition. After Blondie, Gary moved to L.A. and formed The Know with a few members of The Mumps. He claims that The Know were the first band to play the infamous Madame Wong's Chinese restaurant-turned-punk venue. Shortly after that he played guitar with Iggy Pop. Much later, Gary formed Fire Escape with his current girlfriend and performed songs he had written for the Blondie reunion album (they had not been used due to the band ultimately excluding him from the recording process and the reunion tour). They released an EP to little fanfare and went on a permanent hiatus after two years. A compilation of Gary's work in music entitled Tomorrow Belongs to You, was released in 2003 on the UK label Overground Records.
In 2006 he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, because of his time with Blondie, although ex-members weren't allowed to perform with the current line-up at the ceremony. [1]
[edit] Bibliography
[edit] Books
- Two Essays on Colin Wilson: World Rejection and Criminal Romantics AND From Outsider to Post-Tragic Man (Colin Wilson Studies) (1994, paperback ISBN 0-946650-52-7, hardcover ISBN 0-946650-53-5)
- Colin Wilson as Philosopher (Colin Wilson Studies) (with John Shand, 1996, ISBN 0-946650-59-4)
- New York Rocker: My Life in the Blank Generation, with Blondie, Iggy Pop and Others, 1975-1981 (2002, ISBN 0-283-06367-X)
- Turn Off Your Mind: The Mystic Sixties and The Dark Side Of The Age of Aquarius (2002, ISBN 0-283-06366-1, 2003, ISBN 0-9713942-3-7)
- A Secret History of Consciousness (2003, ISBN 1-58420-011-1)
- The Dedalus Occult Reader: The Garden of Hermetic Dreams (editor of anthology, 2004, ISBN 1-903517-32-X)
- In Search of P. D. Ouspensky: The Genius in the Shadow of Gurdjieff (hardcover, 2004, ISBN 0-8356-0840-9, paperback, 2006, ISBN 0-8356-0848-4)
- A Dark Muse: A History of the Occult (2005, ISBN 1-56025-656-7)
- Into the Interior: Discovering Swedenborg (2006, ISBN 0-85448-149-4)
- Rudolf Steiner: An Introduction to His Life and Work (2007, ISBN 1-58542-543-5)
[edit] Articles
- "The Last of the Magi" (1999) Fortean Times #120, about Eliphas Levi
- "Sympathy for the Devil" (2000) Fortean Times #134, about the Process Church
- "The Mystical Count" (2000) Fortean Times #140, about Count Jan Potocki
- "The Damned" (2001) Fortean Times #150, about James Webb
- "Turn Off Your Mind: Gary Lachman Traces the Influence of the Occult in the Arts" The Independent on Sunday (2001)
- "Waking Sleep" (2002) Fortean Times #163, about hypnagogia
- "The magical world of Fernando Pessoa" (2004) nth Position, about Fernando Pessoa
- "Absinthe & alchemy" (2004) Fortean Times #180, about August Strindberg
- "Working it out" (2004) nth Position, about Gurdjieff and Ouspensky
- "Inside the Outsider" (2004) Fortean Times #188. an interview with Colin Wilson
- "Dweller on the Threshold" (2006) Fortean Times #205, about Rudolf Steiner
[edit] References
[edit] External links
- Official site
- Gary Valentine at All Music Guide
- The Philosopher of Punk in the Hampstead And Highgate Express, March 4, 2004
- Interview with the Fortean Times
- How Colin Wilson Saved my Life or: I had fame, wealth, women were at my feet and then I read The Outsider
Reviews of his work: