Tosh Berman's Blog, page 191

"The History of Rock" 1965 (UNCUT Magazine)

The History of Rock: 1965  (Uncut Magazine)

One of the great joys in my life, if sometimes not the only joy, is my introduction to the world of pop music.  My parents were consistently into music, and they have brought many recordings into the household that I eventually adopted as my own.   Early Beatle and Stones albums were for sure introduced by my parents, but in 1965,  at the age of 10 or 11, I became a consumer, by buying a 45 rpm single of the Yardbirds' "I'm a Man"/"Still I'm Sad."   How I got the money is something that is lost in history, but the memory of going to a record store in Westwood Village to purchase that single stayed glued to my brain or DNA to this very day.  By my nature I'm not a nostalgic person, but I would be lying to myself if I didn't admit that the year 1965 was an important one on many levels.   That December, we lost our home to a mudslide in Beverly Glen, and that included every possession I had at that time.   For sure, it did a number on my head, that even 50 years later, continues to exist in my DNA.



It pains me that I'm not into the current music world.  I would like to think of myself as being totally devoted to whatever is happening outside my home at this time and age.  But the truth is I kind of hate the world as it is right now.    The sounds I hear at the moment always reminds me of the past, and not in a good way.   On the other hand, the year 1965 was both rich in variety as well as being "new."   Oddly enough when I re-visit the recordings of that year, I'm still hearing new things.   There is a textural aspect of the records at that time, and when you pull back and look at 1965, one is struck how fast everything is.   What the Beatles were doing in January of that year is so different from what they recorded in December.  The same goes for the Stones and the Kinks.

Which brings up the fact that I was totally devoted to the sounds that were coming from the United Kingdom.   For one, I could understand the language, but still, it was from another world.   A fantasy world for me, due to the Beatles "Hard Days' Night" as well as the fashions that was coming out of that culture.   Pure teenage pop music, but for sure, with a tough jagged edge attached to the images.    For inspiration, I often go back to the 1960s to re-discover who I'm through my childhood years, but also for the unreal look of that era through its literature and especially the press at that time.  Which comes to UNCUT's special series of publications called "The History of Rock."

The first issue magazine is "1965," with others are being released on a monthly basis.  So far it is up to 1968.  I will get back to those as soon as I read them.   But now, I want to focus on the 1965 issue.    What it is exactly is re-prints of articles that were published in Melody Maker and New Musical Express in 1965.   Uncut Magazine editors did a beautiful job in making this glossy magazine into a visual treat, by selecting wonderful photographs of that era as well as choosing the right or correct articles of the time.   Besides the original interviews and articles, one also gets letters to the editor, the original advertisements that ran through the publication, and people like Dylan, Lennon and Harrison commenting on the newly released singles at the time.   So, one is getting a great snapshot of England's take on the new music that was being produced and distributed in 1965.



It's interesting to read articles and reviews as it happened, instead of people commenting on these records now in 2015.   Also you pick up trends such as bands making films.   The Beatles of course at this time did "Help" and "Hard Days Night," so it seems to be some pressure for groups such as The Stones making their feature-length film.    As well as others, but none of these films ever got made.   Most I think came from the Public Relations department of the management offices of both publications as well as the band's management.   The other is the "Dylan vs. Donovan" thread that went on in the press for that whole year.  One wonder if the Dylan and Donovan camp decided to promote this aspect of their careers at the time.  The beauty of reading these articles is seeing the genius at work with respect to Brian Epstein and Andrew Loog Oldham.   Both orchestrated the media to their liking, as if they had their own orchestras.

One has to presume that NME and Melody Maker had large teenage readership, yet the articles are not dumb down, and very intelligent in its own right.   Oddly enough, when I read celebrity news or magazines like People, it's really dumb.  NME or Melody Maker never took that route.  In fact, it's a world that is in love with the pop music world.  The charts, releases, the bands, the artists, and the managers are all authors in this particular era in England.   There is even a thoughtful interview with Bill Evans, John Coltrane and Ornette Coleman, so the magazine was willing to branch out to other forms or types of music, besides the teenager's world of music.

This is truly a superb piece of history as it happened, but edited and produced for today.   I recommend it highly.

"Mandrake the Magician: Mandrake in Hollywood" by Lee Falk

"Mandrake the Magician: Mandrake in Hollywood"

Throughout my childhood, I was dedicated to one cartoon strip in the newspaper.   Mandrake the Magician had a natural pull for me, because I think I always was attracted to men who wore tuxedos and a top hat.  The fact that he was a master of illusional tricks as well as having a servant from Africa, appealed to my sense of exotica.   It seems like Fellini was a fan as well.  Nevertheless, I found "Mandrake in Hollywood" at my local library, and one sitting read the book.   It is composed of three separate stories that deals with Madrake's time in Hollywood as a struggling actor of sorts.   Even in 1938, the widespread media at the time looked at Hollywood as a cynical landscape.   The narratives are silly and actually not that important.  What gets my attention, besides re-visiting my childhood, is the character of Mandrake and his man-servant, and a good friend, Lothar.   Day in-and-out, he consistently wears his suit and top hat as he would wear on stage.  The sense of the stage and 'real life' is totally erased - and since it's a comic strip, we are allowed to accept that the wall between reality and fantasy doesn't exist.  To me, there is something beautiful about a personality like Mandrake, who commits illusions, not only for the purpose of entertaining, but also to fight criminal activity.  Mixture of showbiz with crime-fighting.    What more can one want?

NME Pollwinners 1965 ★ Full Television Concert

The Kinks, The Stones, The Animals, The Moody Blues, The Beatles, Dusty, ETC.

Simply a Particular Contemporary" by Roland Barthes (Translated by Chris Turner)

ISBN: 978-0857422408  Seagull Books

It seems like throughout my life I have been reading Roland Barthes.  As a writer and a reader, I think of him often.  Mostly due to his thoughts on the nature of one's writing and how it "reads" out to a reader, but also his intensity in writing about things that he is clearly not an expert on - but what you get is Barthes point-of-view, and how he reads a certain object or place.   For instance, besides the various books by Donald Richie on Japan, which was essential readings for me, because one, I'm something of a Japan-olic and I have been going back and forth to that country for the last 25 years.  The one book that prepared me for Japan, before I touched the concrete of Tokyo was Barthes book on Japan: "Empire of Signs."  Along with Richie, probably the most essential book on Japan by a white European.

"Simply a Particular Contemporary" is a collection of interviews with Barthes, from 1970 to 1979, focusing on his writing, books and his interest in writers such as Bertolt Brecht and Marcel Proust.   With respect to writing, the one thing that impressed me, is his acknowledgment of the pleasure of writing.   This is a man who likes to put pen onto the paper and see what happens.  His brilliance is that he doesn't look at things in a factual manner, but more always as an open question.  What I get out of him is the adventure of knowing or writing, but not the conclusion of such a journey.    For instance, when I write, it is all for the glory of the moment, as I look back on something.  I think I got that from Barthes.  The four interviews within this volume are enjoyable, and it doesn't tell all (which I think is impossible with someone like Barthes), but for sure, a good time is spent with this man - and this book nicely reflects of a time well -spent.

"Sam Dunn is Dead" by Bruno Corra (Atlas Press)

This totally obscure "Futurist Novel" by Bruno Corra, himself a very obscure Italian author, is a beautiful entrance from the 19th century sensibilities and into the 20th century wonder.   Written in 1914, and published by the Italian Futurist Filippo Marinetti, in 1915.  This brief 'novel' captures the moment where everything is possible, and the imagination is limitless.   There is a magnificent chapter "Paris Driven Crazy" where the beloved capital of taste, becomes a loony toon cartoon.   Objects rise up and march off in the streets, and things re-form into other forms.  Pre DADA, pre-Surrealist, and even more out there than Futurist text, Corra captures the essence of creation in a world that he knows.  Essential avant-garde literature of the 20th century.  A must for dandies and those who taste the fruits of nihilism.

I also want to add that this book, published by the excellent Atlas Press, is beautifully designed with original illustrations by Rosa Rosà, an artist who illustrated a lot of Futurist text in her time and age.  John Walker's (also the translator) introduction is informative, interesting, and well-documented.  Praise to those like Atlas, who continues to bring out European avant-greatness.

"Cruising the Movies: A Sexual Guide to Oldies on TV" BY Boyd McDonald (Introduction by William E. Jones)

ISBN: 978-1584351719  Semiotext(e) Active Agents
Without a doubt, Boyd McDonald was the best film reviewer ever. The thing is he wrote for a gay mag, and mostly on films he watched on TV late at night. He also had a zine in the 1980s that focused on homosexual sex "Straight to Hell." The brilliance of McDonald is that on a physical level he's very much part of an underground "gay" world, when there used to be one. Now, everyone is getting married and becoming taxpayers - but alas, there was a life that was lived in the shadows, and McDonald, a superb writer, captures that series of shadows that were shown on TV - mostly films from the 1930s to the 50s. The beauty of his work is that he mostly focuses on the actor's cock size or butt. But that is just the platform or foundation of his serious observations - here he marks the queer world where females act out certain passions, while men react to them. Or is it the other way around? "Cruising the Movies" touches on a lot of fascinating subjects - the nature of old films being shown on TV, before the world of VHS recording - in a way it is almost a coded, often secret, transmission from Hollywood to a gay man's sensibility. William E. Jones wrote a beautiful and insightful introduction.

"Causing the Movies: A Sexual Guide to Oldies on TV" BY Boyd McDonald (Introduction by William E. Jones)

ISBN: 978-1584351719  Semiotext(e) Active Agents
Without a doubt, Boyd McDonald was the best film reviewer ever. The thing is he wrote for a gay mag, and mostly on films he watched on TV late at night. He also had a zine in the 1980s that focused on homosexual sex "Straight to Hell." The brilliance of McDonald is that on a physical level he's very much part of an underground "gay" world, when there used to be one. Now, everyone is getting married and becoming taxpayers - but alas, there was a life that was lived in the shadows, and McDonald, a superb writer, captures that series of shadows that were shown on TV - mostly films from the 1930s to the 50s. The beauty of his work is that he mostly focuses on the actor's cock size or butt. But that is just the platform or foundation of his serious observations - here he marks the queer world where females act out certain passions, while men react to them. Or is it the other way around? "Cruising the Movies" touches on a lot of fascinating subjects - the nature of old films being shown on TV, before the world of VHS recording - in a way it is almost a coded, often secret, transmission from Hollywood to a gay man's sensibility. William E. Jones wrote a beautiful and insightful introduction.

The Sunday Series: Sunday October 18, 2015

The Sunday Series:
Sunday October 18, 2015

Sunday? I really don’t get it.   Why is it everyone taking the day off on Sunday? Yet that is the busiest day for me.  I made a pact with myself to write a piece every Sunday, and then posting it on Facebook and on my blog that day.  To be honest, I haven’t the foggiest idea why I even do a “Sunday” post or piece.  It is not like people are waiting for me to write a Sunday piece.  I don’t think my 2,000 Facebook friends are getting excited when Saturday approaches, knowing that there will be a Sunday post by yours truly.    The truth is, 1,500 of those friends don’t even know me.  They could care less if I live or die, or even if I commit a horrific shooting in some part of the world.   But the 500 people out of that 2000 friends, are close friends of mine.  



There have been times when I organized a party at my house for the 500 (that is what I like to call the group), and we do things I like to do, like “spin the bottle,”  “bobbing for apples,” and stuff like that.  I also make sure that within the 500, there are absolute beauties in that grouping.   If one spends time going over Tosh’s “friends,” your eyes would pop out.   I can’t tell you the many hours I have spent just going over each Facebook profile, to look at these girls.   The beauty of it is that they know me, and I know them, if you get my “drift.”



The “500," on a regular basis, meets up in a location of my choice. I even made a card up with a thumb up and underneath it says "500 Likes."  Each card also has the profile photograph as well as their name.    We were meeting at my house on a regular basis, but then we decided to rent out a whole restaurant, or even a small theater, where we do our own theatrical productions.  We don’t make plans, because the “500” is not into plans.  Boring people make plans, the “1,500” make plans, we make chaos.  500 beautiful bodies, souls, all moving into the inner melody that is among ourselves.   All I have to do, to have a good time is basically stuck my tongue out, and for sure, a beauty will capture my tongue and give it a proper message with their tongue.  It never fails, in fact, I usually enter the premise of the party with me sticking my tongue out.

I think our masterpiece is when I staged a version of Hugh Hefner's “Playboy After Hours” TV show.  The beauty of it, is that we based the live setting on a specific show - the one with Soupy Sales as guest.   I had each member of the 500 club memorize the dialogue that took place on the program.   We also did it in real time.  So if the show lasts an hour, then that is how long the live production plays out.   I spent a private and extremely intense time counting the bodies or people that were in that episode, and counted 50.  So 450 of us would watch the show.  I, on the other hand, took the role of Hugh, and I chose one of the beauties in the group, Kim, as my date and sort-of co-host.  It was pretty awesome.

In the summer, the “500” had a party, where all of us were naked.  It was great.  Seeing the images on Facebook, and then seeing these people in person, and better yet, in the nude - oh my gawd, it’s fantastic.  I arranged a game, where one walks into a big room, and all you can see were naked asses.  Their heads and torsos were covered up by a black cloth.  There are seven asses, and we had to match the ass to the correct face that is used in that person’s Facebook profile.  Who would have known?  I totally lost in this game.



The very name “Facebook” is interesting.   We have a need to put our face on a social media platform.  Most of us do so, because we want to connect with another human, or who we think is human.  It wouldn't work if we just showed our sexual gender parts as the profile, or would it?   If I ever fall down in my manor, better known as “The Dumps, ” all I need to do is post my face - and bingo!   At least 500 likes.    And then if that is not enough, you get comments from these people telling how nice you look, and saying they miss you, and so forth.   For me, Facebook is win-win.

"The Trip: Andy Warhol's Plastic Fantastic Cross-Country Adventure" by Deborah Davis

ISBN: 976-1-4767-0351-0 Atria Books

Andy Warhol, is blessed with having a lot of good books on him.  In many ways, I think he's the people's artist.  I like his artwork, but I'm not a huge fan.  On the other hand, he is really an artist that is not about taste, but more about production, vision, and how an outcast can influence a culture.  And no doubt, he is probably one of the most influential Americans ever.  Deborah Davis wrote a fascinating book on a specific car trip, Warhol took in 1963, with Taylor Mead and Wynn Chamberlain as co-drivers and Gerard riding in the back with Andy.  From NYC to Los Angeles (Santa Monica to be specific).   Or as Warhol says about Los Angeles, it's all Hollywood to him.

Warhol came at the right time, and of course, at the right place.  He had his second one-man show at the Ferus Gallery, and also started working on a film "Tarzan and Jane Regained... Sort Of.  Which featured Dennis Hopper, Taylor Mead (as Tarzan, of course), Wallace Berman, Naomi Levine as Jane, and Tosh Berman (me) as Boy.  Assisted by the incredibly talented Gerard Malanga, Warhol out of the blue decided to do a feature length film then and there.  Inspired by a freeway ride in the valley, they saw an exit saying "Tarzana," therefore why not do a Tarzan film.  There are many opinions about this film, and most people told me that they hated it - but alas, it is the ultimate portrait of Los Angeles art scene in 1963.  To me, it's a home movie.  Whatever it's art or a great film, that is not so important to me.   Warhol also went to the Marcel Duchamp retrospective at Pasadena as well.    1963 was a fab year, till Kennedy was killed in November.  Then things turned to shit.  But, this book is about things before the shit.

Although the foundation of the book is about the car trip from New York to "Hollywood," it is really an introduction to Andy Warhol's aesthetic and his social world at the time.  This is not a detailed critique of Warhol's work, but more of an appreciation of him but also the world of New York and Los Angeles art world of that time and place.  One also gets information about the Ford Falcon, and how it was designed to be the people's car.   Davis is a very good writer, and she has a grasp or a hold on the nature of Pop Art, and its by-products such as graphic design, billboards, and even commercial labels.  In my opinion, Warhol wasn't the first 20th century artist to understand the nature of the 'visual' world of advertising and the importance of public images seen privately or in the cushioned world of "fine art."   But he was clearly the figure that people attached themselves to - due to a mixture of his personality, visual appearance, and on many levels - his straight ahead approach to the world around him as an artist -which I think, people picked up on as well.  Warhol speaks to the masses.  And he did so without dumbing the issues or his vision down.

"Boris Vian Invents Boris Vian" by Boris Vian (Translated by Julia Older)

ISBN: 9780985612290 Black Widow Press

I have thought of Boris Vian and his work everyday for the last 25 years.  I published all his major works in English, and spent a personal fortune in getting his books out to the world.  I did it, because I love him.  I love him and I love his work.  So, it's very odd for me to see "Boris Vian Invents Boris Vian," because I had nothing to do with its production.  Still, what a pleasure to read these series of short stories, poems, and the occasional essay or two. Julia Older did a fantastic job in editing and translating the book, and I like it that "her" Vian is different from my world of Boris Vian.   Or is it?

I love many in literature, but there are only a few that really inspire my own writing.  Osamu Dazai, Robert Benchley, and of course Vian.  I look upon Vian, not only for his writing talent, but also his placement in post-war Paris life.   In many ways, it is so close to the American Beat culture that was taking place in New York, San Francisco, and Los Angeles.   The only thing that separates the two cultures is the language itself.  Both loved jazz, movies, and pretty girls and boys.   So my appreciation of Vian is very much part of my family and upbringing.

To be picky about "Boris Vian Invents Boris Vian" is mostly editorial/design stuff.  The book is very much bi-lingual, meaning there is French on the left side and the English translation on the right side.   For poetry, I think this is a must, but I feel for the prose pieces it is not needed.  I think there should have been more fiction narratives, and maybe more essays by Vian in this package.  Boris' son Patrick (French prog rock 70s figure) introduction is charming, and the same for Julia's commentary on Vian's work.  But I also feel it need someone in the academic or literature world comment on the works as well.  There is very little commentary in English on Vian's work, and having another voice in the package I think would make this book stronger.  Also it would have been great if they had a Vernon Sullivan short story in the collection as well.  But it may have been issues of getting permission, rights, etc.

The good news is that the Black Widow Press (who published this book) normally do excellent poetry books - mostly by the French avant-garde (I'm a huge fan) poets and focusing on the greats such as Tristian Tzara, Andre Breton, and other Surrealist/DADA poets.  I think this may be the first time that they actually published some prose pieces.   So in their editorial thinking, it is clearly seems normal for them to do a French/English edition of their titles, besides this Vian collection.

The truth is, it's impossible for one volume to capture the entire genius of Boris Vian.  He was a man who was all over the map.  Translator, singer, trumpet player, essayist, jazz fanatic, songwriter, A&R for record label, and also a trained engineer.   To love Vian, you need to own the recordings he made, the music he loved, (from Duke Ellington to Serge Gainsbourg), his plays, science fiction works, Vernon Sullivan novels and short stories and so forth.   He's a major talent!  Just buy all of it!

I also love the Situationist-like take of Paris at the end of this book.  Where he makes plans for his "own" version of Paris.  Perfect.  I'm happy that this book is out, made, and it is ready for you guys to read. Just remember to buy my TamTam Books' Vian editions as well.