Gary Lachman

Gary Valentine by Blondie 1976

Gary Lachman (stage name Gary Valentine ; born December 24, 1955 in Bayonne , New Jersey ) is an American writer and rock musician .

Musical career

Lachman was a founding member and bassist of the new wave band Blondie under the name Gary Valentine . He wrote the music and lyrics for many of the band's pieces. In 1977 he left Blondie to start his own group. Other formations followed, including a collaboration with Iggy Pop in 1981 . In 1996 Lachman moved to London. There he took part in Blondie's re-union and performed with the band at various major festivals in the USA. After he also performed pieces that he had actually written for Blondie with other musicians, he was excluded from further collaboration with Blondie. In 2006 he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame .

Literary career

In addition to his musical activities, he studied at the California State University, Los Angeles in the 1980s philosophy . Among other things, he worked in a New Age bookstore in Los Angeles. In addition, during this time he was instructed for four years in groups based on the Fourth Way founded by Georges I. Gurdjieff .

While Lachman was previously primarily interested in the art and literature of the early 20th century, he has also worked as a writer for the Guardian , the Sunday Times and other newspapers since his time in London . He is particularly interested in European intellectual history and occultism . Lachman wrote books, articles and essays on Colin Wilson , Emanuel Swedenborg , PD Ouspensky , Carl Gustav Jung and Rudolf Steiner, among others . He is a regular BBC guest , lecturer and blog author on The Daily Grail and Reality Sandwich. His books and essays have been translated into many languages. Lachman wrote a detailed audio essay for the exhibition Secret Societies in the Schirn Kunsthalle Frankfurt 2011.

Publications

• Two essays on Colin Wilson: World Rejection and Criminal Romantics & From Outsider to Post-Tragic Man. 1994, ISBN 0-946650-52-7
• with John Shand: Colin Wilson as Philosopher & Faculty X, Consciousness and the Transcendence of Time. 1996, ISBN 0-946650-59-4
• as Gary Valentine: New York Rocker: My Life in the Blank Generation with Blondie, Iggy Pop, and Others 1974-1981. 2002, ISBN 0-283-06367-X
  • They stopped making sense , review of Paul Morley in the Guardian , March 2, 2002
• Turn Off Your Mind: The Mystic Sixties and The Dark Side Of The Age of Aquarius. 2002, ISBN 0-283-06366-1 ; expanded and updated new edition: The Dedalus Book of the 1960s: Turn Off Your Mind. 2009, ISBN 978-1-903517-70-3
• A Secret History of Consciousness. 2003, ISBN 1-58420-011-1
• The Dedalus Book of the Occult: A Dark Muse. 2003, ISBN 1903517206
• In Search of PD Ouspensky: The Genius in the Shadow of Gurdjieff. 2004, ISBN 0-8356-0840-9
  • Reviewed by Erik Davis on July 14, 2008
• (Ed.): The Dedalus Occult Reader: The Garden of Hermetic Dreams. 2005, ISBN 1-903517-32-X
  • Alone by the fire in the dead of winter ... , Guardian review by Nicholas Lezard , January 1, 2005
• Into the Interior: Discovering Swedenborg. 2006, ISBN 0-85448-149-4 ; New edition: Swedenborg: An Introduction to His Life and Ideas. 2012, ISBN 978-1585429387
• Rudolf Steiner: An Introduction to His Life and Work. 2007, ISBN 1-58542-543-5
  • The Rudolf Steiner story. A new look at the life and work of a spiritual pioneer. Info-3-Verlag, Frankfurt 2008, ISBN 978-3-924391-40-9
• The Dedalus Book of Literary Suicides: Dead Letters. 2008, ISBN 978-1-903517-66-6
• Politics and the Occult: The Right, the Left, and the Radically Unseen. 2008, ISBN 978-0-8356-0857-2
• Jung the Mystic: The Esoteric Dimensions of Carl Jung's Life and Teachings. 2010, ISBN 1-58542-792-6
• The Quest for Hermes Trismegistus From Ancient Egypt to the Modern World. 2011, ISBN 978-0-86315-798-1
• Poetry and Mysticism. In: Colin Stanley (Ed.): Around the Outsider: Essays Presented to Colin Wilson on the Occasion of His 80th Birthday. O-Books, 2011, ISBN 1846946689 , pp. 116-131

Web links

• Literature by and about Gary Lachman in the catalog of the German National Library
• Gary Lachman's website
• My Journey - From Blondie to Jung , Interview with Iain McNay, August 1st, 2008 ( YouTube ; 55:50 min)
• Spiritual Seeker's Quest, From Blondie to Swedenborg , portrait by Mark Oppenheimer in the New York Times , April 13, 2012
• Gary Valentine at Discogs (English)

Footnotes

1. ^ Gary Lachman: Reunion blues . In: The Guardian . April 6, 2006
2. ↑ The Rudolf Steiner Story. Frankfurt 2008, p. 7
3. ↑ Gary Lachman: Working it out ( Memento of the original from November 15, 2006 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The  archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. . In: nthposition online magazine. September 2004
4. ↑ The Daily Grail: Gary Lachman's Blog
5. ↑ Reality Sandwich: Gary Lachman's Blog ( memento of the original from October 26, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
6. ^ Gary Lachman: Secret Societies . October 18, 2011 ( Nothing is true ( memento of the original from August 7, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this note . Audio; 1:04:43 h)