Being meta can be cliche nowadays. As boundaries of fact and fiction become more blurred in the Documentary Renaissance that we are currently living in, this film tests said boundaries, veering in left turns that may seem disingenuous, but in the end, is both a commentary and love letter to an artist who navigates and challenges the absurdity of the modern art scene, and always on her own terms. The jury is honored to announce the documentary award to WHO IS LUN*NA MENOH? - Masashi Niwano, CAAMFEST and Exhibitions Director.
"Who Is Lun*na Menoh?" won the best documentary at the CAAMFEST 2021.
https://tosh.substack.com/p/bar
The latest episode of "The World of Tosh Berman. Wednesday, May 26, 2021 - Bar.
We'll take Manhattan again. Wallace Berman exhibition in NYC this coming September. More details later. Self-portrait of Wallace up above.
The Diary of a Country Worker (Le journal d'un paysan) by Tosh Berman. Only for Paid Subscribers for this Sunday.
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https://tosh.substack.com/p/screamers
A commentary on a few moments of great importance with respect to the great SCREAMERS.
My friend Taro sent this to me from his home in Tokyo, and it is one of my favorite Serge Gainsbourg projects. Not as famous or iconic as his work with Brigitte Bardot and Jane Birkin, but nevertheless a late Serge masterpiece. Recorded in London and in 1981, Catherine Deneuve, the marvelous French actress (actor), made her first album with Serge writing all the songs. She is seen in the early Jacques Demy musicals, but I believe her voice is dubbed over by another singer. Still, Deneuve can rock the party here on this album. Backed by studio guitarist great Alan Parker, a latter-day Jimmy Page here with riffing electric guitar. Arrangements and keyboards by Alan Hawkshaw, another great British studio musician and backed by bassist Brian Odgers, and drummer Dougie Wright of the John Barry (Jane's first husband by the way) Seven.
It's a solid rock background, and almost every song here is catchy as hell. My favorite cuts are Dépression Au-Dessus Du Jardin and Oh Soliman. Deneuve is not a singer, but her voice is still stronger than Birkin or Bardot, and she makes these songs by Gainsbourg spicy and hot. Not an accessible album to find, but it is an essential Gainsbourg project. It needs to be reissued.
https://tosh.substack.com/p/the-mysterious-michael-braun-love
The World of Tosh Berman: The Mysterious Michael Braun and Love Me Do!
Tosh and Kimley are joined by author Daphne A. Brooks to discuss her new book Liner Notes for the Revolution: The Intellectual Life of Black Feminist Sound. Brooks asks: “Who gets to tell the story of Black women who were both performing and producing thought about popular music culture, and how will this story be told?” The vital and influential work of Black female performers, writers, critics, intellectuals and cultural historians has long been neglected, marginalized or lost altogether. Brooks has taken it upon herself to fill in the archives and gift us with this rich history long in the making that will undoubtedly send you down many a rabbit hole to discover even more.
Daphne shared this playlist for her book: Spotify playlist
Theme music: “Behind Our Efforts, Let There Be Found Our Efforts” by LG17
https://tosh.substack.com/p/doomed-and-famous-selected-obituaries
My observations on the magnificent "Doomed and Famous: Selected Obituaries" by Adrian Dannatt. My version of a perfect book.
Become a paid subscriber to my "The World of Tosh Berman" and as a perk I'll send you a Sunday piece every Sunday. $5 for monthly/$70 for Yearly and founding member is $210 a year. I plan to add more perks as well.
The World of Tosh Berman T*** of Finland: Saturday, May 8, 2021. Read it here, and if you wish, please subscribe to my page, thank you. https://tosh.substack.com/p/t-of-finland
The World of Tosh Berman: Who is Winthrop Kellogg (Kelly) Edey?
Who Is Winthrop Kellogg (Kelly) Edey?
The World of Tosh Berman: The importance of Philippe Clay in my life.
Read it here: The World of Tosh Berman (Philippe Clay)
On BOOK MUSIK we discuss the early roots of The Who with the author Peter Stanfield. Gustav Megtzer, Pop Art, Auto-Destruction, Mod culture,and The Who Sell Out. You can hear it now!
Read it here: At the Bottom of Echo Park Lake
“Gustav Metzger: Writings 1953-2016” Edited by Mathieu Copeland (JRP Editions) 2019
I first became aware of Gustav Metzger's name due to Pete Townshend of The Who smashing his guitar against an amp while on the stage. Usually, when one reads about the violence in a Who concert, Metzger's name is mentioned. Even as a child, which was the first time I was aware of The Who, I knew that there was something totally unpractical about smashing an expensive instrument into the ground, or even worse, through the PA system. Still, the theater or spectacle of such an action taking place was exhilarating to me. Perhaps due to the built-up violence at the end of their music set and again, the waste of a perfectly good instrument was destroyed. When Pete was in Art School, he met and studied under the artist Gustav Metzger. Pete took Metzger's complicated and textural process and brought it into the Pop music world. Beyond that, Metzger spent a lifetime organizing and writing press notices about how he saw the arts as in action, not standing still.
Destruction and creation can share the same dinner table, in that it's two life forces at work. Sometimes against each other, but I see it as a workable union. Metzger, very aware of the effects of World War II in his life, as well as the threat of the atomic bomb and the landscape of the Cold War - knew that destruction was very much only inches away. One can make that into an art form or a large canvas to do one's art on the intensity of such a danger. There is a liberating feeling about specific types of destruction. Metzger, through his visual art and writings, conveys that world.
Writings 1953-2016 is very much of a work by an artist and not a prose writer. This in itself is an exciting prospect because one can feel the intensity of his thoughts and feelings on how art is produced in a somewhat Capitalist society. Capitalism itself is a combination of creation and destruction. For it to live as an institution, it must also destroy. Sexually it's an S&M relationship. Some must lose in the Capitalist system, and therefore we have the art by Metzger.
Metzger is very much a political figure in the arts. Reading through this book. He spent a great deal of time organizing conferences, talks/lectures, and art exhibitions. He was wary of the Gallery/Artist system due that is based on business. Not ideas or institutions have a hard time coming to terms that the physical aspect of the artwork is changing and not always on the physical medium of the canvas. Metzger wanted to transform the world, and I suspect that he tried to squeeze all of the poison out of its body or system. Therefore, Auto-destructive art is a very positive method of reaching visionary, moral, and healthy art for society.
The book is beautifully produced by JRP Editions in a functional design that is somewhat elegant in the manner of a manifesto zine but of excellent quality. The majority of the writings here are press releases Metzger wrote under the banner of his various organizations that he co-started or worked with, such as DIAS and PAGE. Metzger also connected with art communities such as Fluxus and organized lectures and exhibits for Yoko Ono during her Avant-garde period in London and New York City. The Metzger book is essential for one who collects documents of the 'art' 20th-century.
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