Tosh's Journal: July 21, 2023 (My Love for Long Films)

 

Tosh's Journal: July 21, 2023 (My Love for Long Films)

Jess of Oz (With Robert Duncan & Andy Warhol) by Tosh Berman

 

Jess of Oz (With Robert Duncan & Andy Warhol) by Tosh Berman.  

Read it here: Read "Jess of Oz"

The World of Tosh Berman: Thursday, May 6, 2021 (Who is Winthrop Kellogg Edey?

 

The World of Tosh Berman: Who is Winthrop Kellogg (Kelly) Edey?

Who Is Winthrop Kellogg (Kelly) Edey?

Wallace Berman: Invitation RSVP Card sent to Dennis Hopper (1963)

My dad, Wallace Berman, was sent an invitation by Dennis and Brooke Hopper to attend a cocktail party for Andy Warhol. He sent the card back to Dennis, but made it into an art piece. He wrote "Accepted: W.B." Throughout Wallace's life, he corresponded by sending cards, that were art pieces to various people. My dad never thought of it as "Mail Art," but more as a personal correspondence to an individual. Dennis held on to this card until he passed away. His estate sold the work, but where it is a bit of a mystery to me. -Tosh Berman

 

Andy Warhol Screen Tests on Tosh Talks

Andy Warhol Screen Tests on Tosh Talks

Andy Warhol is too huge of a subject matter for one show. So, on "Tosh Talks" I focus on the Andy Warhol Screen Tests, as well as the film "Empire," which is his portrait of the Empire State Building. Warhol did a series of portraits of people he worked with at his Factory, as well as those who just stopped by like Dennis Hopper, Ann Buchanan, and Edie Sedgwick. "13 Most Beautiful..." is a superb DVD released by Plexifilm. "Andy Warhol Screen Tests" edited by Callie Angell is a must-have book for anyone who is interested in Andy Warhol as well as his cinema. This is one of my favorite episodes. - Tosh Berman.

"My Life in the Theatre de la Huchette" by Tosh Berman (Paris)

Not too many people know this, but besides being a publisher (TamTam Books) and writer ("Sparks-Tastic, "The Plum in Mr. Blum's Pudding," and the upcoming memoir "Tosh"), I'm also a movie actor.  I did a cameo in Anna Biller's "Viva," in which I had a line, or to be more exact just one word "precious," and the role of 'Boy' in Andy Warhol's "Tarzan and Jane Regained Sort Of..."   Also, I had starring roles in various films by Relah Eckstein.   Now, due to financial issues, I have decided to become an actor for the stage, and not just any stage, but The Théâtre de la Huchette in the Latin Quarter in Paris. 

The theater is located at 23 rue de la Huchette, and since 1957 they have been presenting a double-bill of "The Lesson" and "The Bad Soprano" by Eugène Ionesco.   The playwright has the knack to convey the absurdity of life in such a manner that articulates my view of the world.  Therefore I went to the Huchette theater and told them I'm willing to work for nothing if they give me a role in the production.  They asked if I can speak French, and I said "NO."  I told them it would be faithful to the playwright's concern if I were an actor that couldn't express myself in another language.  But the rub is that Ionesco such an exact type of writer, that language, of course, is essential. But the fact that I couldn't deliver his lines in such a manner means that the director has to up his game by presenting me in such a production.  Every night I have to learn m lines in French and to remind you, dear readers, it's two plays I'm doing every night.   I do all my lines in French of course, but it has a California accent attached to it, that caused my director to winch whenever he hears me recite the lines. 

It's interesting to note that Ionesco is Romanian, and French is his second language, which is the language he wrote his plays in.  So in that sense, I feel we have something in common. I told that to the director, and he agreed that I was on to something.  "The Bald Soprano" in my mind is about language and communication.  Therefore since Ionesco wrote it in a second language, and I don't speak proper French makes this production the essential version of the play. 

I often have dreams where I'm either in a public space or at a party with friends, and I'm naked.   Everyone else is dressed, but for some reason, I either lost my clothes or forgot to put them on before leaving home.  The thing is no one says anything about my nakedness. Acting in these two one-act plays, I have that feeling, but I'm awake and aware of what is in front of me.   Which are embarrassment and shame.   My role model for acting is Peter Sellers in the Pink Panther films directed by Blake Edwards.   If I speak fast enough with a strong fake French accent, I may get away with the performance.  Hopefully, the audience, and especially the theater critics will see it as an absurd performance in a highly ridiculous pair of plays. 

Tonight is opening night, and as I walk from the 3rd arrondissement to the 5th I try not to think of the pain in my stomach, but also I realize that I forgot my lines.  My immediate reaction is to run away from the theater.  Still, as a professional, and as a representation of an American, with the 'go-for-it-spirit' I enter the backstage of the theater to face my fate. 

- Tosh Berman, Paris, September 17, 2018

"20TH CENTURY BOY: Notebooks of the Seventies" by Duncan Hannah (Knopf)

ISBN: 9781524733391

Although a few years older than me, and the fact that we never met, until I had him sign his book at a public event, I feel somehow I know Duncan Hannah. I first discovered his artwork through Dennis Cooper's fantastic blog, and his paintings just spoke to me directly. First of all, I have a thing for illustrations from the mid-century, especially drawings from the various titles of the Hardy Boys, and somehow Hannah's work reminds me of that type of work. But done on a plane that's serious art but still humorous. In that blog I saw various photographs of Hannah, and it struck me as a dandy who lived in harsh circumstances, yet, kept his chin up and his hair marvelously cut. His sense of style and some of the artwork reminded me of this dandy art duo David McDermott and Peter McGough, who not only dressed from the past but also their artwork went back to the 1920s or even earlier. But their work has a contemporary edge, just like Hannah's paintings. I should have been surprised, but reading Hannah's book, he was or is a friend of McDermott.

Still, this is not imitation, but the meeting of the minds at work here. Hannah was born straight and foppish. It's in his nature and this is why his notebooks of the crazed 1970s in New York City is so thrilling. In essence, he has character, or I should say, if I were a movie producer, he has that "It" quality. The reason why I feel like I know or should know him is that it's uncanny we have the same taste in literature and music. I know, because he lists all his listening and reading material on a regular basis in this book. Which is not tedious to read, but essential to know, because his taste is very much what is Duncan Hannah. The fact he paints portraits of his literary and cinematic heroes is another self-expression. I suspect that these works are self-portraits more than anything else. And I say that not as a criticism, but as praise.

"Twentieth-Century Boy" is Hannah's journal, and it's not a memoir. It reads like one is experiencing these adventures at the instant it happened, and his reflection is only seconds or hours after the incident. Sexual in nature, and always curious about an adventure, Hannah from the very beginning had or still has high standards. His sexual fun is enticing, and a joy to read, but also his encounters with the great from Bryan Ferry to Bowie to Dali to Warhol to Debbie Harry, and beyond, to the various artists who lived and operated in Lower Manhattan during that era are excellent co-stars in his book.

What's surprising is that he very much led the life of a desperate alcoholic, yet, by his photographs, he didn't look drunk. He was always well-dressed and has an exceptional self-awareness. Perhaps he's blessed. Nevertheless, he's a hero of mine. I don't have a brother, but in my head, he's the older brother to look up to. Praise Duncan Hannah and his book "Twentieth-Century Boy."

Andy Warhol Screen Tests on Tosh Talks

Andy Warhol Screen Tests on Tosh Talks

Andy Warhol is too huge of a subject matter for one show. So, on "Tosh Talks" I focus on the Andy Warhol Screen Tests, as well as the film "Empire," which is his portrait of the Empire State Building. Warhol did a series of portraits of people he worked with at his Factory, as well as those who just stopped by like Dennis Hopper, Ann Buchanan, and Edie Sedgwick. "13 Most Beautiful..." is a superb DVD released by Plexifilm. "Andy Warhol Screen Tests" edited by Callie Angell is a must-have book for anyone who is interested in Andy Warhol as well as his cinema. This is one of my favorite episodes. - Tosh Berman.

John Cage The 25 Year Retrospective Concert on Tosh Talks

My chat about John Cage's "The 25 Year Retrospective Concert" on Tosh Talks.  An important document of a time and place, and a great work of art. - Tosh Berman​

Jonas Mekas A Dance With Fred Astaire on Tosh Talks

Tosh Berman of "Tosh Talks" chats about the wonderful book by Jonas Mekas "A Dance With Fred Astaire" published by Anthology Editions. In great detail, Mekas talks about working with Yoko Ono/John Lennon, Andy Warhol, Jack Smith and other greats in the independent underground film world.

"A Dance with Fred Astaire" by Jonas Mekas (Anthology Editions)

ISBN: 978-1-94460-09-7 Anthology Editions LLC

Once in a while, a presence comes upon the landscape and shows an incredible amount of character and interest.   Jonas Mekas is clearly in that bracket of a human being.  Filmmaker, head honcho of the Film Anthology in New York City, as well as the Filmmaker's co-op, and writer.  There are many great writers who write about film, but Mekas is the best, because he clearly shows his love for the medium, and by his writing, he expresses that enjoyment of seeing the projected light on a screen.   There have been a few great books by Mekas on film and his life, but "A Dance With Fred Astaire" may be my favorite of his books.  

For one, it's a perfect entrance way to his world for someone who is not familiar with New York / European / World filmmakers, because if nothing else (besides his talent as a filmmaker/writer) Mekas connects to his world like no other individual.  He knows or knew everyone from Andy Warhol to Fritz Lang to Jacqueline Kennedy.   He is the other side of the coin of Warhol, in that in his own fashion he also attracted talent by just standing there.  Of course, that is not true.  He was the publisher and editor/writer for the greatest film publication ever, "Film Culture."  And his weekly column for the Village Voice was the most passionate and smart writing on artist's films and their world.  Like Warhol and his Factory, artists were drawn to Mekas, either by his passion or personality, but it was truly a wonderful culture that produced many flowers that bloomed into films, art, writing and so forth.  

There are so many amazing chance meetings that are listed in "A Dance With Fred Astaire."  For one, Fred Astaire himself who was invited by Yoko Ono to participate in her film by dancing in it, with Mekas following his steps best as possible.  So yeah as a reader, you are trying to put all of this in one's head:  Yoko, Jonas, and yeah, of course, Fred Astaire, with John Lennon.  Or the time he visited Jacqueline Kennedy and she casually told Mekas that Kennedy received an 8mm camera which he kept in his coat pocket the last few years of his life.   She went to the closet, found John's coat, got the camera out and showed it to Mekas.  At the time there is still film inside the camera.  One wonders what is on that film???   And where is that film and camera now?   There is also the incredible connection between Tony Conrad, Henry Flynt, and the UNABOMBER!   

"A Dance with Fred Astaire" is full of illustrations and the book is beautifully designed by Nicholas Law with art direction by Bryan Cipolla.  Creative Director is Johan Kugelberg, who has done numerous great books on cult faves.  Remarkable. 

"Ork Records New York New York" on Tosh Talks

A new "Tosh Talks" episode on the greatness of the "Ork Records: New York New York" (Numero Group) vinyl box set with book.

"Scrapbook of the Sixties: Writings 1954 - 2010" by Jonas Mekas (Spector Books)

Spector Books ISBN: 9783959050333

"Scrapbook of the Sixties:  Writings 1954-2010" by Jonas Mekas (Spector Books)

The world is great when it is represented by Jonas Mekas.  For those who don't know or not in the know, Mekas is a filmmaker, film-supporter, film distributor, art lover, and the light of the Film Anthology in New York City.  On top of that, he was hired by Jackie Kennedy to tutor her two children in film aesthetics.   Mekas is also a great writer in defense of the art film, than say the narrative Hollywood film.  His writing throughout the years on filmmakers like Breakage, Anger, Conner, and of course Andy Warhol is priceless.   The beauty of reading "Scrapbook of the Sixties" is one gets a snapshot of that era, and all the issues that came up in the arts - especially the arts that were produced in lower Manhattan.

The odd thing, not everything in this book took place in the 60s.  Some of the pieces were written in the 90s, 00's as well as the 70s.  Yet, the root of the aesthetic does go back to the late 50s and of course, throughout the 1960s.  Here you get John & Yoko, Peter Kubelka, Warhol, Stan Brakage  - but it also goes beyond the cinematic arts - there are also various insights into the world of theater - specifically The Living Theater.  Reading Mekas, he now reminds me of Boris Vian's various reviews and commentary on Jazz.  Both artists share a total passion for an art form and a social movement.    

I also have to say, that this book is a delight to hold.  It's beautifully designed with wonderful paper.  The texture is incredible.  So are the words and their thoughts.

- Tosh Berman

"Brigid Berlin Polaroids" (Edited by Dagon James, Vincent Fremont, & Anastasia Rygle. Foreword by John Waters. Introduction by Bob Colacello) Reel Art Press

ISBN: 9781909526242 Reel Art Press

"Brigid Berlin Polaroids" by Brigid Berlin (Edited by Dagon James, Vincent Fremont, & Anastasia Rygle.  Foreword by John Waters.  Introduction by Bob Colacello) Reel Art Press

Brigid Berlin, sometimes known as Brigid Polk, is famous for being associated with Andy Warhol and his Factory world.  The great thing about the Warhol world, generally speaking, is how talented the people that he connected himself with - If not all, most are border-line genius types.  Berlin I think is a member of that club, due to her talents with a Polaroid, but also the ability to live in the right place and time. 

As Bob Colacello pointed out in his introduction to this book, Warhol is very much a blue collar type of character who liked to run with the wealthy.  On the other hand, Berlin is part of an upper-class Republican life, with her parents being associated with Richard Nixon and others of that world.   This, of course, made her into a rebel.  Drug Addict (speed), and a woman who had no trouble eliminating her clothing when a camera came by, is something of a great wit.   The beauty of someone like Berlin is that she's a total open book, and allowing herself to absorb the world around her, without much filter, shame or fear.  Warhol surrounded himself with either very brave people or total psychotics - or perhaps both.   In a sense, Berlin and others would dip their toes into the fire, and then report back to Warhol. 

"Brigid Berlin Polaroids" is a beautiful time-capsule from the late 1970s to the early 1980s.  The height of the third act in Warhol's life and career.  The first being his career as a graphic artist in New York City, second is the early years of the Campbell Soup & Elvis paintings, as well as his avant-approach to film making, with an insane cast of characters.  The third segment is what Brigid captured in these photographs.  "Post-Warhol-getting-shot" life as he shifts direction from crazy dangerous landscape to a somewhat much more organized world.  Berlin was part of both worlds, and I think clearly was made to assist Warhol in the Third Act of his life.

Although one has to presume that Berlin had to take these images quickly, and without much thinking, proves to be a fantastic and skilled photographer or again, has the genius ability to be the right person doing the right thing at that moment.  Her portraits of individuals in the art world as well as people around the Factory environment is superbly framed and are exquisite portraits of these people.  She didn't ask permission to shoot, and it seems no one said anything about either being the subject matter of the shoot, or what will be done with the image afterwards.  Brigid was capturing the moment as it happened, and only thinking of the present at the time.  The beauty of the polaroid is that it was something of that instant, and not meant to be fussed over or over-thinking on the photographer's part.  Almost like an artist's notebook of ideas, but the truth is, Berlin knew how to take a great picture of someone.  Although I think these photographs were done in relaxed moments, they are still classic portraits of the subject matter.   There is not one bad portrait of anyone looking bad.  Including her self-portraits in the nude (at times) and the revealing images of Andy Warhol.

The Alice Neel / Warhol polaroid photo session was taken while Warhol agreed to pose without his shirt on, exposing his horrible scars from the shooting.  Neel painted his portrait, and Berlin captured both the model and the painter at work.   It's a revealing series of photos, due to Warhol's obsessively sense of uniform, meaning his wig, and the sensibility of his body's limitations.  I don't think Warhol is the type of guy who is comfortable being in the nude or in front of a camera.    He accepts it for what it is, but I feel he's more comfortable behind a camera than in front of the lens.   Even in specific photo shoots, such as him in drag (by Chrisatopher Makos) or doing TV commercials - he never looks at ease being the subject matter of someone else's observations or the placement of him in front of attention.   He is truly a living tape and camera recorder, and so is Brigid Berlin in this book.

"Polaroids" is a beautiful production job of a book.   The editing is superb, and Berlin's polaroids are totally suitable for an exhibition as well as for this book.   Not only documenting an important time in the arts, but also herself being an artist and photographer.  She's really good.  

- Tosh Berman

"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.


- Tosh Berman

December 31, 2014

December 31, 2014

Oddly enough it was exactly a year ago, when I was at a new year’s party at Tricia and Mike’s house, where I sat by myself, and thought, "I need to have a new life for the upcoming new year."  I have always had a fantasy of being a criminal - not one that would kill or harm people or even property, but the identity where people would look at me and say “he’s a criminal.” Or at the very least I would hear people slightly talking behind my back saying “Tosh, I hear he’s up to no good, if you get my drift.” The “drift” will be common knowledge based on false-hood.   Nevertheless if I just keep my mouth shut, people will be able to tell tales about me, and therefore a narrative or two will come out of the woodwork.   There are only a few people who know me.   If I was going to make myself into a visual pie, 50% know of me due to my father the artist, 30% due that I’m a publisher, and 15% know me as a writer.   Then there will be 5% who know me as an actor.   Not often, but every few years, I get approached by people due to the fact that I played the role of “Boy” to Taylor Mead’s Tarzan in Andy Warhol’s “Tarzan and Jane Regained… Sort of.” Since then, I have acted off and on, mostly in the film works of Relah Eckstein, but without a doubt my most famous role is “Boy.”

Over-all my reputation is quite solid.  The only crack in the image was when I was discovered in someone’s house, eating their toast in their kitchen. I didn’t know these people, or never been to their home, but I had the urge to go to a stranger’s kitchen and make myself some toast.   The thing is that they only had whole wheat bread, and I always prefer Wonder bread.   I snuck out of the house, purchased a loaf of bread, and once again broke into their home, to make myself the perfect toast.  At that point, I was noisy in the kitchen, because I was trying to find the butter knife, and obviously I was going through a lot of drawers in the kitchen.   The owner of the house (I think he was or is the owner of that structure) came into the kitchen and asked who I was, and why I was there.   It was a good question (or two), and my first reaction was to tell him that I was a writer - and to be perfectly honest, I haven’t the slightest idea why I was in their kitchen.   I told him, that I act by my impulses, and I never really think about it.  I offered him a piece of bread, and asked him if he wanted toast.  He said yes, but he preferred the whole wheat bread.  I said “of course.” I took a slice and put it in his toaster and I sat down at the kitchen table.  He sat down with me, and we didn’t say a word to each other.   He had his toast, I had mine, and after we finished eating, I told him I had to go.  I said goodbye and left his home.

Since he’s a neighbor and only lived maybe a block or two away from me, I ran into him this past twelve months.  Mostly here and there, but commonly in the Ralphs Market on Glendale Bouvelard.  One time I saw him, I was in the bread aisle, and our eyes connected to each other.  I just pointed to the bread and shrugged my shoulders.   He then walked away like that moment didn’t exist, and perhaps it was best to forget the entire incident.  I will never do that again.

On the other hand, I have become very attracted to paintings by Henri Matisse, but only his still life portraits of food on a table.   It didn’t exactly make me hungry, but when I look at these paintings or the artwork in various books I have in my collection, I felt vacant.  I very much wanted to become part of the painting, but I just couldn't. The distance between the image of the food on the table, and where I stand, seemed like a long highway.  Perhaps an endless highway, where I will never reach that table.

Now it’s December 31, 2014, and I feel that my life in the next twelve months will be one of radical changes.  I do not have proof of this, there are no letters stating my existence for the next year, but I just feel in my bones that the year 2015 will hold some promise, and some failures as well.  I’m feeling very hesitant to leave the house, because I fear I won’t be able to get back in.  Maybe that is why I went to a stranger’s house, in hopes of expanding my territory - but alas, I now know that was a mistake.   Nevertheless one learns from their mistakes, and as I write, I look at the front door of my living room, that leads to the outside world.  After I complete this sentence, I will get up, and go, and leave my home.

"Empire" by Andy Warhol and John Palmer. Photographed by Jonas Mekas. 1964. 16mm black & white, silent

Just had an extraordinary screening experience of seeing Andy Warhol and John Palmer’s “Empire.” The film is 8 hours and five minutes, and I saw 3 hours of it.  I was there from the beginning when it's daylight and slowly turns into nighttime.  “Empire” works on different levels, and is probably is one of the most complex films I have ever seen. On one level, it deals with the Empire State Building, which is the subject of the camera just being focused on the top of the iconic building.  The grainy and textural aspect of the film adds a definite layer of beauty to its subject matter.   When it becomes night, and all of sudden the building's lighting goes on, you can hear the audience swoon.  There is nothing for a long time, and then… something happens.  After awhile, I can’t tell if the camera is moving or it is just my eyes adjusting to the lights - or maybe just starring at one object for such a long time.   I started to see a face - something of a mid-evil armory mask.  Illusion for sure, but one has plenty of time for inventorying their brain while watching this film.  Which comes to the other layer, which is time.

Time going by, or time passing.  It became obvious to me after watching it for an hour that the building is not really the topic, but more how one spends time viewing something.  Especially when you’re in a theater watching this film.   One can say it’s non-narrative, but that is not correct.  If you’re in the beginning of the film, you gradually see the building emerging from the whiteness of the screen.   As it emerges you then see the skyline of New York, but not fully.  Almost ghost like, till it gets darker, and then one can only see the building - and once in a while you see a light here and there from other structures, but they’re way in the background.   So the narrative is basically watching this building for a period of time, and therefore it tells a story.  The fact that day turns to night is narrative enough.   And then when it gets dark, the lights go on the building.  So things are happening, and there are things we don’t know about.  For instance what are the people in the building doing while Empire is being filmed?  I thought about that as I watched the film, and I also started to daydream about my life - thinking of past pleasures.

“Empire” becomes an entrance way to one’s imagination and thinking.   Jonas Mekas did the filming.  He captured such beautiful images as the day is turned into night.  Also the relationship between audience and film is an interesting one as well.  When I went in, I turned off my phone, not only because you should in a theater, but I also wanted to destroy my version of time.  I didn’t wish to be aware of my time, but just focus on the time being expressed in the film.   After awhile I totally got lost - and I wasn’t sure if one hour passed or even six hours.  There had the feeling of comfort watching a film knowing how it will end - and therefore you are just there for the journey itself.

August 6, 2014

August 6, 2014

As a kid, my parents would take me to Robert Duncan and Jess’ home in San Francisco.  What impressed me the most, was that I was always rewarded with a book or two from each visit.  In fact, I have a lot of first-edition Oz books by L. Frank Baum, all from Jess and Robert’s library.  As a kid, one is drawn into art because it is familiar to their background.  For instance I always loved comic books, and I had a thing for “Dick Tracy” comic strip.  So when Jess did his famous “Tricky Cad” colleges which were made up totally by cuttings of the original “Dick Tracy” strip, it of course called out to me.   I never actually read “Tricky Cad,” but I understood the implications of Jess’s art, because like me, he loved pop culture.  The other painting that struck me as being great is his portrait of The Beatles.  The oils on the painting were so thick, I felt like I was seeing the Fab Four being layered over with thickness, which to me made perfect sense.  Mostly due to the fact that The Beatles held immense importance to me when I was a child.  So of course, a magnificent oil painting portrait is totally suitable to its subject matter.  Robert was a very charming and out-going gentleman, but Jess was quiet and more reserved.  Yet both of them were very sweet towards me, and when you’re a kid, one has that memory for life.  The world is very harsh, and as a child I can easily pick up the bad vibes that surround an individual or couple.   Jess and Robert seemed to be made for each other, that was natural as breathing fresh mountain air.  Or perhaps for them, breathing San Francisco air.

The other time I felt great comfort among grown-ups is when Andy Warhol came to our home in Beverly Glenn to shoot his film “Tarzan and Jane… Regained Sort Of.” Taylor Mead played Tarzan, Naomi Levine played Jane, and I played Tarzan’s son “Boy.” My father played the white hunter, and also Claes Oldenburg was in it as well.  The funny thing is I remember that day clearly, but I have no memory of Andy Warhol whatsoever.  Gerard Malanga was there as well. I remember everyone except Warhol.   Now, I must state here, that Warhol was for sure at the house filming this film, but I just don’t have any memory of him.  It was many years later that I saw the film, and it was an odd experience of seeing myself in such a young age, and of course the footage with my deceased father in it.  In many ways, it seems like a home-movie to me.  As a child, I knew everyone who was in the film: Irving Blum, Dennis Hopper, John Chamberlain, and I felt it was very much of my world as a child.  So its difficult for me to see this film as a work of art, or even great importance to others. If they’re not in it, why would they be interested in this film?

The truth is that like all home movies, they expose more than a family's narcissism.  One can taste the favor of one’s neighborhood, or period of time, when the separate world was moving closer to each other, but yet, eventually moves apart.  But at least for a fleeting period of time, while watching the film, you can gather a world that once exists.  I often have dreams, where the present is mixed up with the past, and its odd because I wake up with a craving for French-Canadian bean soup.  In my dreams, I have my collection of papers, but it isn’t worth a nickel to guys like us.  I really need that G-note.  When I look back at the Warhol film, I can clearly recognize the little boy who played “Boy.”

February 1, 2014

Photo by Relah Eckstein from her film "The Room"

February 1, 2014

Checking my bank accounts, I can see clearly that I am going broke.  Not working for the past year and a half has been a fantastic time spent writing and thinking, but now it is high time to think about going back to the work force.  Checking my skills, the most logical occupation for me would be an actor in films.   Never mind the fact that the last film I was in “French Toast” hasn’t been finished yet.  Nevertheless my filmography is very impressive, being a child actor in Andy Warhol’s “Tarzan and Jane Regained... Sort Of” and turning down a role in Dennis Hopper’s “Easy Rider.” Plus being the star in Relah Eckstein’s films. I felt I had a better chance to get maybe a role in a situational TV show or even probably a commercial.  

I chose to avoid the middle-man, and I approached a movie studio, The Black Maria, to see if they were doing any hiring for film work.  I was realistic in knowing my chances to be a star in a film was pretty glum, but for sure I could get a second or third billing role in some film.  The only photograph of myself in a film was in Relah’s “The Room” which was made in the 80s, but I sent it with a resume.  Within a week, I received a letter from a producer at the studio by the name of William Taylor.  He asked if I could fly out to New Jersey (where the studio was located) for screen tests.  I said sure, and I was on my way.

When I showed up two days later at Mr. Taylor’s office, bright and early in the morning, he looked over the one image he has of me from “The Room.” he told me that I didn’t look anything like the photograph.   Which I replied “Well I’m an actor sir, and I really don’t have an identity.  I can melt into any character or role. That is my speciality.”  

He then commented that as far as he could tell, I have only worked on four Relah Eckstein films, plus an early Warhol, and a cameo in Anna Biller’s “Viva.” I told him that I was very choosey.

He looked at me and then laugh, and he said “you got the spirit man, and I like that in a male.” He asked me to take off my shirt.  I thought that was odd, since I was 59 years old, but on the other hand I have been known to make women swoon to this very day.   He did a series of photographs of me without the shirt on his I-Phone, which I thought to myself. “Wow technology is so fantastic. ”

After he finished taking the photos, he came to me, and put his hand on my knee and said “I think you got something.” He went back to his desk and threw me a script.  I was trying to catch it, but it landed in a gold fish bowl.    He just glanced at me with his eyes and made a movement with his hands that I should get it out of the fish bowl.  It was just a little script. In fact it was only five pages long.  I asked him “Is this the entire script?” He shook his head up and down.  

“It was written by the great S.J. Perelman for a Marx Brothers film, but Groucho didn’t want to play it.” He told me that the script was in his drawer for numerous years, till Takashi Murakami came to visit the studio and told him he just wanted to make his first American film.  By chance, Taylor showed Murakami the script, which he also threw at him, and he missed catching it, and again, it landed in the fish bowl.  Murakami loved the idea that the script was only five pages long, and basically silent, except for some sound effects.  

As an actor I was turned on to the fact that this was a silent film, and in reality I specialized in silent movie work.  Relah refused me to speak in her films because of my squeaky voice.  I told Taylor that I loved Murakami’s paintings, and was ready to work in this film.   Taylor just starred at me for a minute or so without saying a word then he said “we got a deal! ”

Lou Reed Part 2 (the solo Lou)

"Sweet Jane" live in Paris 1974


"Waiting For The Man" Lou Reed & John Cale 1972


Lou Reed full length documentary (American Masters)


Lou Reed "How Do You Think"


Lou Reed "Berlin"  Full Album

October 27, 2013

Lou Reed died this morning.  A major cultural generational shift.  There was a Lou Reed in my life for the past 50 years.  Now that presence is gone, but not really.  The great thing about recorded music is that it sticks to you as long as you have ears, and you have that record machine, or whatever device you want to listen music to - but his death is very sad.  I can’t say tragic, because I think he had a long and rich life.  But it is something to know that I am only 12 years apart from Lou, so yeah, it is really a moment to reflect on one’s ability to stick around or not.  The thing is I think most people thought that Lou Reed could never die.  It doesn’t seem to be part of his DNA.   I guess that is a wrong  thought.  An error on our part.  But man, you can’t beat that guy at his height.  The four Velvets albums (plus the live stuff) and the early solo albums were excellent as well.  Even the stuff I don’t like is never on the hack level.  I just didn’t like it, more about me than him.   But for sure will miss the Lou Reed as of the "now" appearance. 

- Tosh Berman