Touched By The Presence: A talk with author Gary Lachman (Online)

Touched By The Presence: From Blondie’s Bowery and Rock and Roll, to Magic and the Occult

A talk with author Gary Lachman celebrating the release of his memoir!

Not many members of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame are also recognized authorities on the western inner tradition. Gary Lachman is. In 1978, Blondie released the top-ten hit, “(I am Always Touched by Your) Presence, Dear.” Gary Lachman (then Gary Valentine) had written the song for his girlfriend after the series of shared dreams and telepathic experiences they had. Thus started his life-long obsession with the potentials of consciousness.

In this memoir, Gary recounts how he went from being a successful rock and roller to a writer on consciousness and the western inner tradition. He shares encounters with rockers such as the Ramones, New York Dolls, Patti Smith, the Rolling Stones, David Bowie, Iggy Pop and also Timothy Leary, William Burroughs, and Allen Ginsberg. Living with Blondie’s Debbie Harry and Chris Stein on New York’s Bowery, a block from the birthplace of punk rock, CBGB, Gary discovered occultism via a follower of Aleister Crowley. Post rock and roll, Gary’s occult studies brought him to the Golden Dawn, Manly P. Hall, Gnosticism, and a stint in Crowley’s O.T.O. He details his time in the Fourth Way, including a visit to the site of Gurdjieff’s Institute for the Harmonious Development of Man in France, and his years studying philosophy and literature and working as a Science Writer, while managing a famous metaphysical bookshop at the height of the New Age. Excursions to Stonehenge, Avebury, and Glastonbury in search of ley lines, and pilgrimages to Colin Wilson’s home in Cornwall, are a few of the highlights of this introspective, humorous account of a nascent writer’s struggle from rock and roll to individuation.

Read an excerpt from the new book, here!

Gary Lachman is the author of many books on consciousness, culture, and the western esoteric tradition, including Turn Off Your Mind: The Mystic Sixties and the Dark Side of the Aquarian Age, Aleister Crowley: Magick, Rock and Roll, and the Wickedest Man in the World, Beyond the Robot: The Life and Work of Colin Wilson, and The Secret Teachers of the Western World. In a past life he was a founding member of the rock group Blondie and in 2006 was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Touched By The Presence: From Blondie’s Bowery and Rock and Roll, to Magic and the Occult will be released in the US on November 18, 2025 and in the UK on January 1, 2026

Ticket price: $12 (online event)

Recording will be sent to attendees a few days after the event

Cover photographs by Lisa Jane Persky

A memoir of magic, rock and roll, and becoming who you are• Traces the author’s journey from bassist and founding member of Blondie to writer on consciousness and the esoteric tradition• Explores his involvement in Gurdjieff’s Fourth Way, Crowley’s Thelema, and his relationship with the bestselling author Colin Wilson• Reveals how an early love of comic books, science fiction, and fantasy led him to the esoteric tradition

Available in the US on November 18, 2025!