Lord Buckley revisited

[Lois Gilbert]

59E59 Theaters transforms Theater C into the Zam Zam Room, hosting
His Royal Hipness Lord Buckley for the Holidays

New York, New York October 27, 2005—59E59 Theaters (Elysabeth
Kleinhans, Artistic Director; Peter Tear, Executive Producer)
transforms Theater C into the coolest, grooviest, swinginest venue in
NYC, when they play host to the show that stormed London, His Royal
Hipness Lord Buckley in The Zam Zam Room, created and performed by
Jake Broder, based on the original works by Lord Buckley. Directed
by Phillip Breen, His Royal Hipness Lord Buckley in The Zam Zam Room
begins previews on Friday, November 25 for a limited engagement
through Saturday, December 31. Opening Night is Wednesday, November
30 at 8:30 PM. The performance schedule is Tuesday - Friday at 8:30
PM, Saturday at 7:00 PM and 9:30 PM and Sunday at 4:30 PM and 7:30
PM. Single tickets are $30 ($21 for 59E59 members) and are available
by calling Ticket Central at 212-279-4200 or online at
www.ticketcentral.com. For more information visit www.59E59.org.
Listing Editors, please note, this show is being produced on an Off
Broadway contract.

HOLIDAY PERFORMANCE SCHEDULE: There are no performances on Saturday,
December 24 or Sunday, December 25 due to the Christmas holiday. The
show on Saturday, December 31 (New Years Eve) will be at 7:30 PM.

Jake Broder (Broadway’s Amadeus, When Harry Met Sally in the West
End) reignites the amazing routines of cult comic and faux aristocrat
Lord Buckley. His Royal Hipness Lord Buckley in The Zam Zam Room is a
fizzy cocktail of style and substance, featuring “the hippest stories
in storydom” backed by a live jazz band. The tale of Scrooge becomes
a breezy be-bop fable and a jive talking Jesus epitomizes cannabis
cool with “The Nazz.” Along with “The Gettysburg Address” and "Jonah
and the Whale" and nightly doses of The Hip News and many others, His
Royal Hipness Lord Buckley in The Zam Zam Room will “blow your wig
away.”

Lord Buckley single-handedly brought “Hip Semantic” into the
mainstream in the 1950s. One of the most influential figures of
American counter-culture, Lord Buckley inspired a host of visionary
performers, including Lenny Bruce, Robin Williams, Richard Prior, as
well as Bob Dylan, George Harrison, Thelonious Monk and Frank Sinatra.

“Buckley was the hipster bebop preacher who defied all labels,” wrote
Bob Dylan in his memoir Chronicles. “…(He) was a raging storyteller
who did riffs on all kinds of things from supermarkets to bombs and
the crucifixion. He did raps on characters like Gandhi and Julius
Caesar… Buckley had a magical way of speaking. Everybody, including
me, was influenced by him in one way or another.”

Jake Broder (performer & writer) was recently seen in Kevin Spacey's
feature film about Bobby Darin Beyond the Sea. He also appears in
forthcoming film The Shadow Dance with Harvey Keitel. Jake's theatre
credits include When Harry Met Sally in the West End, alongside
Alyson Hannigan and Luke Perry; the title role in Amadeus for Peter
Hall at the Old Vic; and The Reduced Shakespeare Company at the
Criterion Theatre.

Phillip Breen’s (Director) credits include The Resistible Rise of
Arturo Ui (Glasgow Citizens), The Promise (Union Theatre, London) The
Zam Zam Room: an Evening with His Royal Hipness Lord Buckley (Ronnie
Scott's and Pizza Express, Soho), Far Too Happy (National Tour, 2001
Perrier Award Nomination). Phillip is artistic director of Edge 04
the Chichester Festival Theatre Fringe Festival where he will direct
his adaptation of Bulgakov's Black Snow. He trained at Theatr Clwyd
under Terry Hands after winning a 2002 Channel 4 Young director
bursary, supported by the Mackintosh Foundation.

“Jake Broder is possessed by the ghost of Lord Buckley and takes you
on a sonic adventure through the prairies of his delirious mind!”
Time Out London

“Stunning! Extraordinary!” The Evening Standard

[Squaredancecalling Steve]

from The Naz:
"He said 'Dig Infinity!'
And they dug it!!"



"Ah, my Lords and my Ladies -- would it embarass you if I told you that I loved you?"

[Ron Thorne]

Lord Buckley died far too young! I dug him from the first moment I heard him (while in college), shortly after his death.

Buckley’s career was cut short on October 19, 1960, when he lost his cabaret card – the document issued by the New York Police that determined who was a fit person to take to the stage in the land of free speech. They decreed Buckley wasn’t, possibly because a 19-year-old arrest for public drunkenness, possibly because he refused to offer a bribe.

Less than a month later, he suffered a stroke aggravated by malnutrition. He was dead at 54, deprived of the work he lived for.

Source~



"The Naz" is one of my very favorite concepts of all-time! This timeless piece puts me into convulsions every time.

I also love the Buckley Hipesaurus, "A glossary of His Lordship's swinging verbiage."

Ever hear his version of The Raven?

[Tom Storer]

My father had a couple of scratchy old Lord Buckley records that delighted me no end as a child by their exuberance and style; later I came to appreciate the wit and wisdom, too. One of my favorites is his recounting of "A Christmas Carol" with its wonderful moral (paraphrased): "You can get with it if you want to. There's only one way, straight to the road of love!"

[RedJazz]

I liked his Jonah story: "Lord, do you dig me in this whale?"

[Squaredancecalling Steve]

From Anita O'Day's autobiography I've learned that Dick (Lord) Buckley was a key early influence and encourager. He emceed for several of her early gigs, and helped her to expand her repertoire and learn from the early jazz masters. A couple of colorful bits from Miss O'Day's great "High Times, Hard Times":

>>... Dick was an anarchist at heart. If, after five minutes on stage, he decided the audience was square, he'd boom out, "That's all, folks. The show has been concluded."<<

>>At the Planet Mars... Dick would be up there on stage sipping gin, smoking tea or popping pills as casually as if he were in the privacy of his home. In the midst of a low-key bit, he'd let out a war whoop, sprint to the end of the stage and leap into space, barely clearing the heads of the customers with his arms and legs and sailed beyond the customers."<<

>>...Dick always lived in spacious quarters supplied him by a real estate man who was a Buckley fan. He got Dick a series of apartments where all Dick's friends were welcome at any time of the day or night. If, temporarily, you didn't have a pad, you could sleep there as long as any floor space remained. What's more, Dick supplied all the food and goodies to keep the party going from morning to night.

... he took up with a tall blonde with a lovely complexion whom everybody called Peaches. Now Dick and Peaches generally received in the nude... I knew [Peaches] quite well, but I don't believe I ever saw her except in the buff.<<

[tristano's ghost]

We recently posted a YouTube video of Lord Buckley on Groucho Marx's You Bet Your Life on the Night Lights Jazz News of Note page (second from the top, below the "Clifford Brown on Soupy Sales" video). Great stuff... at one point he launches into his hipster-on-Shakespeare routine.