Angus MacLise (Bridgeport, Connecticut, March 4, 1938 - Kathmandu, Nepal June 21, 1979) was an American percussionist, composer, poet, occultist and calligrapher probably best known as the first drummer for the Velvet Underground. MacLise was a member of La Monte Young's Theater of Eternal Music, with John Cale, Tony Conrad, Marian Zazeela and sometimes Terry Riley. He contributed to the early Fluxus newspaper VTre, edited by George Brecht, and was also an early member of The Velvet Underground, having been brought into the group by flatmate John Cale when they were living at 56 Ludlow Street in Manhattan. MacLise played bongos and hand drums during 1965 with the first incarnation of the band. Although the Velvets regularly extemporised soundtracks to underground films, MacLise never officially recorded with them, and is often considered something of a shadowy, legendary figure in their history. When the opportunity of the band's first paying gig in November 1965 arose, Maclise promptly quit, suggesting the group had sold out. MacLise was replaced by Maureen Tucker, resulting in the "classic" lineup of The Velvet Underground. In 1966 when Velvet Underground singer Lou Reed was in hospital with hepatitis, MacLise rejoined the group for a few performances. By this time the Velvet Underground had found some notoriety (if not great financial success) and MacLise was anxious to rejoin the group, but this was explicitly refused by Reed. After leaving the Velvet Underground for good, Angus travelled around between North Africa, India, Greece, the Middle East and finally found his place in Nepal. La Monte Young, Marian Zazeela, Ira Cohen and other artists with whom MacLise was close during his life continue to use his dating scheme laid out in his Calendar. A student of Aleister Crowley (he was working on a script for a film version of Crowley's Diary of a Drug Fiend before he died), he would begin to blend Tibetan mysticism with his music to create sound through various drone techniques. He died of tuberculosis in Kathmandu in 1979.