‘Gary Lucas’s Beefheart Symposium’

Although much of this fine guitarist’s current repertoire consists of Chinese pop music of the ’30s, Indian ghazals (performed with Najma Akhtar), and new scores to classic silent films, Lucas’s visceral playing is rooted deeply in the blues–particularly the neoprimitive avant-garde blues forged by Captain Beefheart, a/k/a Don Van Vliet, with whom Lucas worked during the early ’80s. Tonight, Lucas spills the beans on the currently ailing Vliet’s life, music, myth, and methodology.

Mon., Sept. 13, 7 p.m., 2010