Tosh Berman's Blog, page 150

Special guest from LA! ☀️Tosh Berman will be jo...

Special guest from LA! ☀️
Tosh Berman will be joining us at the gallery for a Q&A session about his father's exhibition "Wallace Berman - Visual Music".
This will also be the occasion to talk about his new book "Growing Up in Wallace Berman’s World", which will be out in January 2019. Edited by City Lights Booksellers & Publishers
When: Saturday, September 8, at 4:30 pm
Where: galerie frank elbaz, 66 rue de Turenne, 75003 Paris.#WallaceBerman #VisualMusic #galeriefrankelbaz
#OpeningReception #ArtExhibition

Joe Berardi and Auralynn Nguyen on Tosh Talks

Joe Berardi and Auralynn Nguyen on Tosh Talks

Joe Berardi is an amazing figure in the Los Angeles landscape and elsewhere. A drummer who is a composer as well as arranger and sound maker. His interests go from Keith Moon to circuit bending. He's in two bands non-credo and Double Naught Spy Car. He has worked with Stan Ridgway of Wall of Voodoo fame. If you have an interest in a mixture of Ginger Baker and Ennio Morricone, you will like Joe's music. Auralynn Nguyen is our friend, and she's always an added adventure to the mix. Besides that, we all love Jean-Luc Godard/Anna Karina. Tosh Berman, your host for Tosh Talks

Wallace Berman Exhibition in Paris Sept 8, 2018 to October 11, 2018

Wallace Berman - Visual Music

Curated by Sophie DannenmüllerSeptember 8 - October 11, 2018
galerie frank elbaz, Paris•Opening on Saturday, September 8, 2018:

4:30 pm | Exhibition walkthrough with the curator,
followed by a Q&A session with the son of the artist, Tosh Berman
 6-8 pm | Opening Reception & Bebop Concert by the Bobby Rangell Band  Wallace Berman, Untitled (Silence Series), 1964-1976
16 image negative verifax collage, with original artist frame
61 x 65,5 cm / 24 x 25 3/4 inchesgalerie frank elbaz is pleased to present Wallace Berman – Visual Music, the artist’s third solo exhibition in Paris. The catalog essay and exhibition examine the connection between sound and image, music and visual art, in Berman’s artwork and show the extremely important role music played in Berman’s artistic approach. On September 8, the gallery will celebrate the opening of the exhibition with a walkthrough and a Q&A session with Tosh Berman and Sophie Dannenmüller. A bebop concert by the Bobby Rangell Band will follow.

Music was inseparable from Berman's life and work. The artist always kept strong ties to the music world and kept track of the latest developments with an insatiable curiosity, exploring the avant-garde beyond California and taking notice of innovative, unusual, and sometimes confidential productions. Berman’s love of music wasn’t limited to one particular genre but embraced many styles. Jazz, however, always remained his great love, especially bebop. Berman was a regular at Tempo Records in Los Angeles, a shop connected to the Dial label which was created to promote bebop. His drawings were chosen for several Dial leaflets and for the cover of the two-volume album Be-Bop Jazz with All the Stars of the New Movement released in 1947 and 1948. Berman often frequented Los Angeles’ underground black jazz clubs, where jazz legends such as Duke Ellington, Dizzy Gillespie, and Billie Holiday would perform. Thus his early works are inevitably rooted in jazz, which offered him a unique and genuine source of inspiration and emotion.Sophie Dannenmüller

King Crimson on Tosh Talks

For most of my life, I think I hated the English band King Crimson. Still, these are the times when one should challenge their taste, and actually, spend time listening to music that I once hated. Keep in mind that I never heard a full King Crimson album until recently. So my taste was based on being prejudiced and against the idea of 'prog rock.' My first reaction to King Crimson is criminally wrong.
I purchased seven albums by King Crimson. "In The Court of The Crimson King," "In the Wake of Poseidon, "Lizard," Islands," "Larks' Tongues in Aspic, "Starless and Bible Black, and their last album of this grouping "Red." Although I always admired Robert Fripp as a guitarist and making music with Brian Eno, David Bowie, and others, it was very recently that I sat down and listened to all seven early King Crimson albums. Here I confront my prejudice ways and come out as a new admirer of King Crimson.

TamTam Blog: http://tamtambooks-tosh.blogspot.com
Tosh Berman's Vinyl and CD Collection: http://toshberman.blogspot.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Tosh-Berman-...
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/Tosh
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/imtoshberman/
Google+: https://plus.google.com/u/0/105926726...

18 Blurbs for "Tosh: Growing Up in Wallace Berman's World" (City Lights Publications)

ISBN-13 9780872867604


My book "TOSH: Growing Up in Wallace Berman's World" will come out on January 22, 2019. If you want to get a notice when the book comes out, you sign up here at City Lights. Or you pre-order the book through your favorite local bookstore, or online shop. Meanwhile, I now have 18 comments or blurbs about my book. I'm deeply moved and honored to receive such notice. Thank you all for your support. Oh, and Amber Tamblyn wrote the introduction! Here are the blurbs: Praise for Tosh :"Tosh Berman's sweet and affecting memoir provides an intimate glimpse of his father, Wallace, and the exciting, seat-of-the-pants LA art scene of the 1960s, and it also speaks to the hearts of current and former lonely teenagers everywhere."—Luc Sante, author of The Other Paris"This book is like a fascinating series of autobiographical post-cards that could be subtitled, Growing Up Semina. As the son of artist Wallace Berman, Tosh presents fly on the wall impressions of his parents coterie in the 60s and 70s—a grouping that included such luminaries as Dennis Hopper, Brian Jones, Toni Basil, and Andy Warhol. His memoir give us a glimpse into the 'other' Los Angeles—a bohemia that thrived in the 60s and 70s in numerous enclaves such as Topanga Canyon, Venice Beach, and West Hollywood. This is the story of a kid growing up inside of art world history, retelling his upbringing warts and all. A well-written, fast-moving book that is candid, funny, often disturbing, and never dull."—Gillian McCain, co-author of Please Kill Me: The Uncensored Oral History of Punk
"As the son of artist Wallace Berman, Tosh Berman had a front row seat for the beat parade of the '50s, and the hippie extravaganza of the '60s. It was an exotic, star-studded childhood, but having groovy parents doesn't insulate one from the challenge of forging one's own identity in the world. Berman's successful effort to do that provides the heart and soul of this movingly candid chronicle of growing up bohemian."—Kristine McKenna, co-author of Room to Dream by David Lynch
"Through the prism of Tosh Berman, only child, born 1954 to Wallace and Shirley, who personified the wild heart of 20th century West Coast art, we are offered a truly intimate invitation into a magic world of outliers, visionaries and shooting stars.TOSH recounts a life 'lived like a good book on a bookshelf,' a memoir resonant with discovery, passion, music, art, sex, celebrity, ego, desire, and dignity. All told with a son's love for his father, a continuing light into the creative life."—Thurston Moore, musician & writer
"This book is sublime: vertiginous, melancholy, highly amusing!"—Johan Kugelberg, Boo-Hooray
"One could not wish for a better guide into the subterranean and bohemian worlds of the California art/Beat scene than Tosh Berman, only scion of the great Wallace. Tosh has a sly wit and an informed eye, he is both erudite and neurotic, and often hilarious. TOSH, the book, is packed with keen observations and unique anecdotal factoids that could only come from a true insider. It's a must for anyone who cares about California counter-culture and the raggedy-ass drumbeat of the Beat Generation."—John Taylor, Duran Duran
"Tosh Berman is one of the most valuable writers, much less people, the earth has upon it. This book is exquisite. I can't think of another word. What it says, how it says it, what it is."—Dennis Cooper, author of The Marbled Swarm
"I first met Tosh Berman when he was assigned to sit next to me in 5th grade. We rode the Topanga school bus together for many years and even drove with each other to our high school graduation. But the overlap doesn't end there. Our parents frequented many of the same movie theaters, clubs, and galleries. Neither of our mother's drove, either. Both of our families had the celebrities of the day passing through our houses. I witnessed much of what Tosh saw and writes about, and I can say that TOSH: Growing up in Wallace Berman's World captures the times, places, and people with accuracy, sensitivity, humor, and, at times, great sadness. This is a beautifully written memoir, and I highly recommend it to those who are interested in the Sixties, Topanga Canyon, the Southern California art scene, and for those who wonder what it might mean to grow up as the son of one of our most acclaimed artists."—Lisa See, author of The Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane
"Reading TOSH, I felt like I was lying on a couch, completely relaxed and engrossed, while Tosh Berman sat in a chair beside me and told me his amazing life story. And at the end, I was very moved and wanted to cry. The affect that TOSH—the book and the man—had on me was that feeling I get when exposed to great art: a mix of sadness and wonder, which seem to be the two faces of the human heart. Wonderment at the beauty around us—the world, its people—and the sadness that nothing lasts, that all must perish. But this is our journey on planet earth: to be brave and feel both things at once, and it's great art, like this book, that reminds us to do so."—Jonathan Ames, author of You Were Never Really Here
"If you are interested in California bohemian art-scene culture, eccentric and fascinating family and friend dynamics between unique individuals, and celebrated yet oddly little-known artists with uncompromising personalities, then read this book!"—Roman Coppola, filmmaker, screenwriter"This book is perfection. I wish it went on forever. Maybe, somehow, it does.TOSH is almost like a giant map of small city . . . Each sentence is a street. Each chapter is an era. Each memory revealing a secret passage from one place to the next . . . TO READ IT is to WALK IT with Tosh Berman." —Jason Schwartzman, actor
"Tosh Berman paints an intimate and heartfelt portrait of growing up within the quirky West Coast counterculture of the 1950-70s. At the center of the tale is his dedicated and passionate artist father, Wallace Berman, who introduces his son to a bizarre collection of artists, crooks, cowboys, beatniks, hippies, freaks, filmmakers, musicians, mystics, and assorted weirdos. Including hilarious personal stories about Dean Stockwell, Dennis Hopper, Allen Ginsberg, Cameron, Ramblin' Jack Elliott, Michael McClure, Robert Duncan, George Herms, Leslie Caron, William Burroughs, Andy Warhol, Russ Tamblyn, Lenny Bruce, Phil Spector, Brian Jones, Alexander Trocchi, John Cage, and many many more, TOSH, is a delightfully entertaining memoir filled with sly wit and a profound personal perspective."—John Zorn, composer
"There's the life—and then there's the life. With TOSH you can have both. My life, and that of many who sailed with me, was formed by the 40's & 50's. TOSH takes you there. Feel the fabric, touch the canvas of all that informed us. Embrace it and move forward."—Andrew Loog Oldham, producer/manager, The Rolling Stones
"This double narrative of Tosh Berman and his father, Wallace, will tell you more about the creative process than a hundred how-to books purporting to do the same. Joyous and unselfconsciously readable, it celebrates the delights of surprise and observation on every page, as well as, yes—the confidence that things will somehow land upright."—Jim Krusoe, author of The Sleep Garden
"What compels about Tosh Berman's gorgeously written memoir is the proximity of the quotidian and the familiar to the extraordinary, the shocking even, and the enviably glamorous. He recounts a coming of age in which the unexpected laces the ordinary as surely at it does in Alice In Wonderland—only for Tosh, growing up, a cast of artists, nutcases, iconoclasts, stars, and extremists of all kinds provide the distraction and disruption once supplied by the White Rabbit or Cheshire Cat. Add to this his exemplary taste in, and understanding of, a particular pop sensibility—TV, music, Warhol, and comic books. That then heady and head-spinning world, soundtrack to a sentimental education, that was for the young romantics of the mid-twentieth century what clouds and peaks were to those of mid-nineteenth. Brava, Tosh Berman!"—Michael Bracewell, writer
"If the first movie your father takes you to as a child is . . . And God Created Woman, you can be sure of two things. First, that your father is an extraordinary person. Second, that you are destined to lead an extraordinarily interesting life. Both of these suppositions are made evident in Tosh Berman's vivid and loving memoir, TOSH: Growing Up in Wallace Berman's World. What a world!"—Ron Mael, Sparks
"Reading TOSH is like meeting your idols, one at a time, for a quiet chat. Everyone is disarmed, and it feels like you've been in the same room with them for about ten hours, or so. Dennis Hopper is unconstrained and friendly, Toni Basil is bubbly, and Brian Jones has just stopped by to say hello. Topanga, as a place is remote—filled with pockets of escapism, winding landscapes of tumult and ennui. Tosh's world is both expansive and crystalline, he traces the edges of his world, and Wallace's world. We get to come and go with Tosh as he navigates his place in and around the tangle of the time."—Soo Kim, artist, Professor at Otis College of Art and Design
"Sexually giddy, clairvoyant, messianic—Wallace Berman's socially astute photo-collages were vital bread and butter for several generations of artists. The Wallace B bloodline, from which Tosh sprouted, is a verdant gene pool. For artists-readers, TOSH, the memoir, is a luscious document of Los Angeles in the last four decades of the 20th century. Every page is filled with juicy history. Such surprises include a teenaged Sammy Davis Jr. sleepover, a pet alligator, Mae West, Allen Ginsberg, and dozens of remarkable side characters. Bask in Tosh Berman's honesty and gentle style. He is a one-of-a-kind gem."—Benjamin Weissman, artist & writer

"On Certainty" by Ludwig Wittgenstein (Harper Torchbooks)

Reading Ludwig Wittgenstein is a series of moments when one thinks of language and what it truly means.  'I think there is a tree' and 'there's a tree' is a vast difference, that can fit an entire universe. Or at the very least in the world of Wittgenstein.  For me, I 'think' I understand Wittgenstein, but the lasting impression he has on me as a writer is to write as clearly as possible, but without surrendering the poetics in a specific description.  
For inspiration and getting my brain exercised in a natural manner, unlike reading the tweets of a specific idiot in a building in Washington DC, is my spring water that is Wittgenstein.  "On Certainty" is later Wittgenstein, and the title is actually an exact and accurate description of the book.  Wittgenstein challenges the notion of being certain through language and what one sees.  What is perhaps a given factor knowledge is in theory, challenged by Wittgenstein's observations on what certainty means to an individual or even group.  
I bought this book at John K. King Books in Detroit, Michigan.  I started reading "On Certainty" in a coffee shop in the New Center, which is a district in Detroit.  Actually in the Fisher Building.   The juxtaposition of reading this difficult book in a splendid structure was an additional pleasure for me.  Me 'being' there, or thinking I was there, is an actual thought in my head as I did know I was truly at the Fisher Building, reading Wittgenstein's "On Certainty."
- Tosh Berman

Two Additional Blurbs for "Tosh: Growing Up in Wallace Berman's World" (City Lights)

Photo by Wallace Berman.  Copyright by the Wallace Berman Estate and the Kohn Gallery
Two more blurbs for my book "Tosh: Growing Up in Wallace Berman's World": One from a writer I admire greatly Michael Bracewell and the other from Jason Schwartzman, an actor, and a great fellow. I'm grateful for the support that they give me, but also from the other artists/writers who comment on my book. Thank you all! - Tosh Berman"What compels about Tosh Berman's gorgeously written memoir is the proximity of the quotidian and the familiar to the extraordinary, the shocking even, and the enviably glamorous. He recounts a coming of age in which the unexpected laces the ordinary as surely at it does in Alice In Wonderland—only for Tosh, growing up, a cast of artists, nutcases, iconoclasts, stars, and extremists of all kinds provide the distraction and disruption once supplied by the White Rabbit or Cheshire Cat. Add to this his exemplary taste in, and understanding of, a particular pop sensibility—TV, music, Warhol, and comic books. That then heady and head-spinning world, soundtrack to a sentimental education, that was for the young romantics of the mid-twentieth century what clouds and peaks were to those of mid-nineteenth. Brava, Tosh Berman!"—Michael Bracewell, writer"This book is perfection. I wish it went on forever. Maybe, somehow, it does.TOSH is almost like a giant map of small city . . . Each sentence is a street. Each chapter is an era. Each memory revealing a secret passage from one place to the next . . . TO READ IT is to WALK IT with Tosh Berman." —Jason Schwartzman, actor

...More blurbs and commentary on "Tosh: Growing Up in Wallace Berman's World" (City Lights Publishing)

Here are some additional blurbs/thoughts on my memoir "Tosh: Growing Up in Wallace Berman's World" (City Lights Publishers)"This book is like a fascinating series of autobiographical post-cards that could be subtitled, Growing Up Semina. As the son of artist Wallace Berman, Tosh presents fly on the wall impressions of his parents coterie in the 60s and 70s—a grouping that included such luminaries as Dennis Hopper, Brian Jones, Toni Basil, and Andy Warhol. His memoir give us a glimpse into the 'other' Los Angeles—a bohemia that thrived in the 60s and 70s in numerous enclaves such as Topanga Canyon, Venice Beach, and West Hollywood. This is the story of a kid growing up inside of art world history, retelling his upbringing warts and all. A well-written, fast-moving book that is candid, funny, often disturbing, and never dull."—Gillian McCain, co-author of Please Kill Me: The Uncensored Oral History of Punk"Through the prism of Tosh Berman, only child, born 1954 to Wallace and Shirley, who personified the wild heart of 20th century West Coast art, we are offered a truly intimate invitation into a magic world of outliers, visionaries and shooting stars.TOSH recounts a life 'lived like a good book on a bookshelf,' a memoir resonant with discovery, passion, music, art, sex, celebrity, ego, desire, and dignity. All told with a son's love for his father, a continuing light into the creative life."—Thurston Moore, musician & writer"Tosh Berman is one of the most valuable writers, much less people, the earth has upon it. This book is exquisite. I can't think of another word. What it says, how it says it, what it is."—Dennis Cooper, author of The Marbled Swarm"Reading TOSH, I felt like I was lying on a couch, completely relaxed and engrossed, while Tosh Berman sat in a chair beside me and told me his amazing life story. And at the end, I was very moved and wanted to cry. The affect that TOSH—the book and the man—had on me was that feeling I get when exposed to great art: a mix of sadness and wonder, which seem to be the two faces of the human heart. Wonderment at the beauty around us—the world, its people—and the sadness that nothing lasts, that all must perish. But this is our journey on planet earth: to be brave and feel both things at once, and it's great art, like this book, that reminds us to do so."—Jonathan Ames, author of You Were Never Really Here"If you are interested in California bohemian art-scene culture, eccentric and fascinating family and friend dynamics between unique individuals, and celebrated yet oddly little-known artists with uncompromising personalities, then read this book!"—Roman Coppola, filmmaker, screenwriter"If the first movie your father takes you to as a child is . . . And God Created Woman, you can be sure of two things. First, that your father is an extraordinary person. Second, that you are destined to lead an extraordinarily interesting life. Both of these suppositions are made evident in Tosh Berman's vivid and loving memoir, TOSH: Growing Up in Wallace Berman's World. What a world!"—Ron Mael, Sparks

Christopher Gibbs on Tosh Talks

The latest talk on "Tosh Talks" on Rolling Stones' associate and friend Christopher Gibbs. I wrote about Gibbs for Please Kill Me website. Watch my program, and also read the essay/article:https://pleasekillme.com/mick-jagger-christopher-gibbs/ - Tosh Berman

"The 120 Days of Sodom" by The Marquis de Sade / Translated by Will McMorran & Thomas Wynn (Penguin Classics)

ISBN: 978-0-141-39434-3What is there not to like about the new translation of Marquis de Sade's "The 120 Days of Sodom?"  Will McMorran and Thomas Wynn translate it, and their work brings Sade's language/writing to the contemporary world.  This doesn't mean it's full of Urban language slang words, but it reads extremely well.  And oddly enough this is the first time I've read "The 120 Days of Sodom."  
What's interesting is not the sex, which of course it is a big part of the book, but the Sade organized his series of narratives that reflect on a society falling apart.  It's not precisely a turn-on type of book or even a 'dirty book,' but more of a work that deals with the structure and how it tells its tales.   On one level, it's a book that takes place in an imaginary landscape, especially regarding the castle that the action takes place. One has to walk to the location, so therefore it is highly unlikely no one will come unannounced.   Also, the four main libertines are a duke (royalty), a bishop (religion), a judge (the law) and a financier (economy).  After that, then we have groupings of family members, Harem of young girls, Harem of young boys, and Eight fuckers (all well-hung men).  It's very much a stage-set with everyone in the story playing an essential role in a social structure. 
The sex is crazed and usually exposed in a frenzy mode of action, with lots of poop offerings of all sorts.  So it demeans people which is part of the turn-on but also to expose the power system in place as well.  Or at times, playing with the 'role' of power and it plays in a sexual context.   For sure, Sade's book doesn't read like a sex book, but more of a critique of overall power, family structure, and political power.   It's a dangerous book because it works on different levels.  One as a sex book (which it is, but as mentioned not that sexy) and two, a political/social critique. 
The Penguin edition (2016) is a handsome book, with a cover image by Surrealist/DADA Man Ray, and interesting endnotes at the end of the book.  Very close to being an annotated edition, and readable.  For those who admire narratives like Anthony Burgess' "A Clockwork Orange," or even a 1960s William S. Burroughs novel, Sade's work is very much a cousin to those works.  Burroughs and Burgess expose a system in place, and Sade did that a few centuries ago.    A brilliant book that needs to stay in print forever, because like "Gulliver's Travels," "Candide," and others of that style, this is a remarkable political / social observation.  
- Tosh Berman