Sunday, September 7, 2008

TamTam Books' Tribute to Jobriath



Sometime around 1974, my Dad took me to the Troubadour in West Hollywood to see Jobriath. My memory of the show is quite strong, because he made an impression on me. I was totally into anything that was glam, and the opening act to the show that night was Zolar X. An legendary Los Angeles band who thought that they were actually from outer space and had their own language among themselves. I was totally ok with that, in fact I loved it.

Jobriath was a gay artist who never made it into the big world of showbiz due that he was over-hyped by his manager Jerry Brandt, and also he was coming on to the glam scene after it was sort of dying out. This was during Bowie's "Diamond Dogs" so even the king of glam was moving into a different direction. Jobriath on the other hand was totally into glam, and was actually gay. There was no second act for this guy. He made two albums that failed, and that was that.

Here's a tribute to Jobriath, but also to my Dad for exposing me to an interesting sub-culture. The two biggest fans of Jobriath it turns out is my Dad and Morrissey!


Jobriath "Rock of Ages"


jobriath "Im a Man"


short documentary on Jobriath


Jobriath and his Mom


Cole Berlin (aka Jobriath)

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

Ahh lost glam stars!

I wrote about this lot a while back.
http://niddrie-edge.livejournal.com/12581.html

Didn't Jobriath have a band called Pigeon before he went solo?

Tosh Berman said...

Yes, you are correct! Do you have a recording of Pigeon?

Anonymous said...

I do!

try this for a download
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=6EA2CFRU

also its available on Soulseek
http://www.slsknet.org/

Tosh Berman said...

Lewis Furey's first two albums are great. i found his CD's in Japan.

La Quebecoise said...

I am Jobriath's niece from philly. His music still haunts me, his deep connection to suffering and his reckless abandon to know and be known are admirable-- his gift of music untouchable.

La Quebecoise said...

I am Jobriath's niece from philly. His music still haunts me, his deep connection to suffering and his reckless abandon to know and be known are admirable-- his gift of music untouchable.

Tosh Berman said...

La Quebecoise, your Uncle's music is great. Thanks for leaving a comment here

Ciao
Tosh