Writer Gary Lachman was the original bassist for Blondie (well, after Richard Hell, who doesn’t really count). He penned a couple of their early hits, including “I’m Always Touched By Your Presence, Dear,” before getting the boot in the late 1970s. He toured with Iggy Pop for a bit after that, but had more or less quit music by 1980. Here’s his official bio:

Gary Lachman is the author of several books on the link between consciousness, culture, and alternative thought. His books include Turn Off Your Mind: The Mystic Sixties and the Dark Side of the Age of Aquarius; A Secret History of Consciousness; In Search of P.D. Ouspensky; A Dark Muse; Rudolf Steiner: An Introduction to His Life and Thought; and The Dedalus Book of Literary Suicides: Dead Letters. As Gary Valentine he was a founding member of the rock group Blondie, played guitar with Iggy Pop, and fronted his own groups the Know and Fire Escape. New York Rocker: My Life in the Blank Generation is an account of his years on the New York and Los Angeles underground music scenes in the 1970s and 80s, and in 2006 he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. He is a regular contributor to Fortean Times, Independent on Sunday, Strange Attractor, What is Enlightenment and other journals in the US and UK. A frequent lecturer on the history of the counterculture, Lachman has appeared in several UK television documentaries and has broadcast for the BBC. He lives in London. His most recent book is Politics and the Occult: The Left, the Right, and the Radically Unseen (Quest, 2008).

Lachman isn’t some dilettante making superficial connections that don’t exist for the purpose of sensational copy, like, ahem, Peter Levenda. But don’t take it from me — check out his recent entry at Reality Sandwich.

Maybe you can also pick up Politics and the Occult (I just did), and we can start up a Contrarian book club!

[UPDATE: While it's not necessarily a slight against Lachman, his bio does reveal that he's contributed to What is Enlightenment (now known as EnlightenNext) — the publication of faux-guru shyster Andrew Cohen. Hey, we understand that everyone has to eat.]

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About the author

Casey Rae-Hunter
Casey Rae-Hunter is a musician, public policy wonk and the editor/publisher of The Contrarian Media. An in-demand speaker, he gives frequent talks at conferences and campuses on issues at the intersection of creativity, technology, policy and law, and is a go-to source for major media outlets from NPR to the New York Times. Casey works alongside leaders in the music, arts and performance sectors to bolster understanding of and engagement in key policy and technology issues, and has written dozens of articles on the impact of technology on the creative community. Casey is an adjunct professor at Georgetown University and the Deputy Director for Future of Music Coalition. He also serves on the Board of Directors of the Media & Democracy Coalition and the National Alliance for Media Arts and Culture. The Contrarian does not necessarily represent the views of the organizations to which he belongs.

7 Comments for Gary Lachman: Politics and the Occult

geoff

Thanks for this tip–I read A Secret History of Consciousness and thought it quite well-done.

Gary Lachman

Many thanks for the warm remarks. Just a note: Richard Hell wasn’t in Blondie. He was in Television. When he left, Fred Smith, who was in Blondie, left to join TV, and I showed up on Chris & Debbie’s doorstep. And it’s true, I have to eat.

Casey Rae-Hunter

Yes, well. . . dammit! I knew that. I blame the cold medicine and those Death in the Afternoon drinks (absinthe and champagne; Hemmingway invented ‘em).

I can’t wait for my copy of P&O to arrive; no doubt I’ll give it a review.

Thanks for stopping by!

Grant Schnarr

I heard that Gary is familiar with the 18th century scientist and theologian Emanuel Swedenborg. Anybody who knows about Swedenborg is cool in their own right.