The man New York Daily News called a 'guitar genius' improvises over three early masterpieces of surreal cinema: Rene' Clair's Entr'Acte, Fernand Leger's Ballet Mechanique, and Ladislaw Starewicz's The Cameraman's Revenge at MASS MoCA on Saturday, August 17, at 8:30 P.M. in Sounds of the Surreal with live music by Gary Lucas.
Sounds of the Surreal
Saturday, August 17, 8:30 PM
Gary Lucas Returns to MASS MoCA to Add Stunning Sound to Surreal Cinema
The man New York Daily News called a "guitar genius"
improvises over three early masterpieces of surreal cinema: René Clair's
Entr'Acte, Fernand Legér's Ballet Méchanique, and Ladislaw Starewicz's The
Cameraman's Revenge at MASS MoCA on Saturday, August 17, at 8:30 P.M. in
Sounds of the Surreal with live music by Gary Lucas. Lucas never wants for
creative inspiration, and these reality-bending short films provide an ideal
canvas for his virtuosic flights of musical fantasy.
Billboard magazine
calls Lucas "a guitarist's guitarist," with "jaw-dropping fretwork" Village
Voice calls his music "compulsive psychedelia" and The Wire calls him
"Fresh, inventive and fun." Lucas accompanied the sold out showing of The
Golem at MASS MoCA in July 2000. The Berkshire Eagle reviewed the
performance saying, "Wielding an arsenal of acoustic and electric guitars as
well as an array of electronic effects, Lucas was a one-man orchestra
underling, punctuating and puncturing the film with lyricism and dissonance.
Lucas is one of contemporary music's most innovative, virtuosi and restless
minds."
Entr'acte (1924) tells the story of a funeral where most participants,
corpses included, dance. Originally intended to be shown between two live
Dadaist performances - the film grew a life of its own. Ballet Mécanique,
the only film by legendary Cubist painter Fernand Léger is a famous
experimental short and forerunner to all surrealist cinema. The Cameraman's
Revenge (1912) is a hilarious morality play by Ladislaw Starewicz - one of
the earliest pioneers of stop-action animation - involving four insects,
two clandestine trysts, and one bent-for-revenge photographer.
Dubbed "a true axe God" by England's Melody Maker, Lucas' first professional
performance was playing electric guitar in the European premiere of Leonard
Bernstein's Mass in 1973. He went on to be a featured soloist with the
legendary avant-garde group Captain Beefheart and the Magic Band. Since
then he has been touring the world; repeatedly selling out Lincoln Center,
performing before millions on Czech Republic television, and regularly
composing for ABC News documentaries on Turning Point and Prime Time Live
and most recently for HBO. Gary Lucas is expanding his reputation as one of
today's most innovative guitarists to include renowned composer and
Grammy-nominated songwriter. Some of his many albums have been hailed as
"wonderful" by the Village Voice, and have been on the "best of" lists by
both Rolling Stone and The Wall Street Journal.
Lickety Split will be open to serve full dinners and snacks starting at 7:30
P.M. when the doors open. There will also be a full bar. In case of rain
the film will move indoors where the Hunter Center will have been
transformed into a full movie palace.
Tickets to Sounds of the Surreal with Gary Lucas are $12 adults and $6 for
kids. MASS MoCA members get 10% off. Tickets are available through the MASS
MoCA Box Office located on Marshall Street in North Adams from 10 A.M. until
6 P.M. daily. Tickets can also be charged by phone by calling 413.662.2111
during Box Office hours or online at any time of day.
MASS MoCA, the largest center for contemporary visual and performing arts in
the United States, is located on Marshall Street in North Adams on a 13-acre
campus of renovated 19th-century factory buildings.
Tickets: $12 adults or $6 kids
Box Office: 413.662.2111 or website
MASS MoCA
1040 MASS MoCA Way
North Adams, MA 01247
413-664-4481 ext. 8111
FX: 413-663-8548