SUNDAY, April 6

ABOUT THE GUESTS

Gordon Ball
Co-editor of three books with the late poet Allen Ginsberg, including “Allen Verbatim: Lectures on Poetry, Politics, Consciousness,” Gordon Ball has also published numerous articles and exhibited his photographs widely on the the Beat scene. He has also made 14 films, experimental and diaristic, on his family and his travels, including “Enthusiasm” and “Mexican Jail Footage.”

His recent book, “66 Frames: A Memoir” (Coffee House Press, 1999), looks back to his immediate post-grad days when, just out of Davidson, he headed for New York and perhaps the most vibrant art scene on the planet. While working for Jonas Mekas who was then publishing Film Culture, Ball met Warhol and the Factory crowd, Leary, Ginsberg and others.

Amy Taubin in The Village Voice said, “Ball’s youthful intelligence and enthusiasm. and his willingness to labor for little money put him at the epicenter of NY’s downtown film/art/poetry/music scene.” He resides in Lexington, Virginia where he teaches English and film classes at Virginia Military Institute.

Jeff Krulik
In the late ’80s Jeff Krulik and John Heyn took a video camera to the parking lot of the Capital Center during the hours before a Judas Priest concert – the result was the underground classic “Heavy Metal Parking Lot.” Krulik’s rapport with his subjects is some of the best verite you’ll see. Other titles include “Neil Diamond Parking Lot,” “Obsessed with Jews,” and “Ernest Borgnine on the Bus.” “Obsessed with Jews” was voted one of the Top Ten Jewish Films of 2000 by critic J. Hoberman (Village Voice, The Forward).

This award-winning documentary filmmaker based in Washington, D.C. is known for his profiles of unusual people and for bringing a trademark blend of curiosity, humor and compassion to films such as “Hitler’s Hat” – the true story of a Jewish G.I. who, at the end of WWII, takes a top hat from Hitler’s apartment. Mr. Krulik’s visit to Richmond in October ’02 proved so popular we’ve asked him back. www.planetkrulik.com

Gary Lucas
Guitarist/songwriter/singer Gary Lucas has been fascinated by all kinds of music since he was a child and, appropriately enough, his latest CD “The Edge of Heaven,” is a collection of mid-century Chinese pop songs. At the age of nine his guitar teacher “played a bent (blues) note; I felt a chill of recognition. That slurred sound is an imitation of human suffering, of wailing and crying. I’d heard it from cantors in the temple.”

Lucas is best known for his guitar work with Captain Beefheart and His Magic Band, but solo and collaborative efforts with “Gods and Monsters,” “Urfaust,” the Du-Tels and the late Jeff Buckley (“Songs to No One,” 1991-1992), his appearances and sold-out shows at the Quebec City Summer Festival 2002 (as “Edge of Heaven” topped the Toronto World Music Charts) keep the NY-based guitarist on the go. Melody Maker magazine calls Gary Lucas “a true axe-god”! www.garylucas.com

The Brothers Quay
Born and raised near Philadelphia, twins Stephen and Timothy Quay studied illustration at the Philadelphia College of Art, and later the Royal College of Art in London, shooting their first puppet film there.

Founding Koninck Studios in 1980 after the success of “Nocturna Artificialia,” they have moved steadily and assuredly ahead in a highly personal style doing animation for commercials and features (“Frida”), but most importantly producing their own independent work through commissions and public broadcast support.

Citing a variety of Eastern European influences – Kafka’s diaries, the silent cinemas of Denmark and Germany – and even Buster Keaton, their animation is most closely associated with the Czech puppet-master, Jan Svankmajer. In this European 3-D animation style, the emphasis is on the mise-en-scene – camera placement and movement, lighting, beautifully detailed miniaturized sets. “We demand that the décor act as poetic vessels and be foregrounded as much as the puppets themselves.” they proclaim.

The music score is also of prime importance – usually working with a score in hand, they “rely on music to propose certain things [we] would never have forseen.”