I Dream of Jimbocho

 

I Dream of Jimbacho

Skylight Books has All Three Tosh Berman Book Titles

 

All three of my titles are available at Skylight Books.  You can get them here:

Tosh Berman Three Titles

BOOK MUSIK PODCAST by Tosh & Kimley

My dear friend Kimley Maretzo and I started a new podcast series where we just focus on books on & about music. Including musician memoirs, biographies, history and so forth. Our first podcast is on Lou Reed. Do listen, and hopefully, it will be an enjoyable experience for you the listener. - Tosh Berman

BOOK MUSIK

...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

Blurbs and Advanced Notices for "Tosh: Growing Up in Wallace Berman's World" by Tosh Berman

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

"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

"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

"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

"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

"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

"Tosh: Growing Up in Wallace Berman's World" by Tosh Berman (coming out January 2019)

"Tosh: Growing Up in Wallace Berman's World" by Tosh Berman (City Lights Books)

Ladies and Gentleman, this is a photograph by my father Wallace Berman. This will be the cover for my memoir "Tosh: Growing Up in Wallace Berman's World." Coming out on City Lights Books in January 2019. - Tosh Berman

City Lights Books website for further information:  

http://www.citylights.com/book/?GCOI=87286100746120

"Tosh: Growing Up in Wallace Berman's World" by Tosh Berman

The triumphs and tragedies of growing up as the son of a famous Beat artist.
Tosh is a memoir of growing up as the son of an enigmatic, much-admired, hermetic, and ruthlessly bohemian artist during the waning years of the Beat Generation and the heyday of hippie counterculture. A critical figure in the history of postwar American culture, Tosh Berman's father, Wallace Berman, was known as the "father of assemblage art," and was the creator of the legendary mail-art publication Semina. Wallace Berman and his wife, famed beauty and artist's muse Shirley Berman, raised Tosh between Los Angeles and San Francisco, and their home life was a heady atmosphere of art, music, and literature, with local and international luminaries regularly passing through.
Tosh’s unconventional childhood and peculiar journey to adulthood feature an array of famous characters, from George Herms and Marcel Duchamp, to Michael McClure and William S. Burroughs, to Dennis Hopper and Dean Stockwell, to the Rolling Stones, Neil Young, and Toni Basil.
Tosh takes an unflinching look at the triumphs and tragedies of his unusual upbringing by an artistic genius with all-too-human frailties, against a backdrop that includes The T.A.M.I. Show, Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, Easy Rider, and more. With a preface by actress/writer Amber Tamblyn (daughter of Wallace’s friend, actor Russ Tamblyn), Tosh is a self-portrait taken at the crossroads of popular culture and the avant-garde. The index of names included represents a who’s who of mid-century American—and international—culture.

Praise for Tosh:
"This book is sublime: vertiginous, melancholy, highly amusing!"—Johan Kugelberg, Boo-Hooray

Publisher City Lights Publishers

Format Paperback

Nb of pages 226 p. 

ISBN-10 0872867609

ISBN-13 9780872867604

To order from City Lights:  http://www.citylights.com/book/?GCOI=87286100746120&fa=description

March 8, 2014 (Tokyo)

March 8, 2014

The first Compact Disc demonstrated in front of an audience mostly press and music nerds in 1979.  The excitement must have been intense, because this provided a new avenue of profit for the music record companies.  Few people know this, but the original Compact Disc was my first (and only) solo album “One More For The Road, ” and it was with this specific disc that was played for journalists and music industry people.

I wasn’t there, but of course, was honored that they chose my album as a demonstration to expose the full dynamics of the CD format.  “One For The Road” was very much a conceptual album.   Originally it was a double vinyl set, but I think the CD medium is ideal for my album.   The music is basically one track and it lasts for 80 minutes, which are the correct amount of music for the CD.  My label at the time, Philips, arranged for me to obtain a full orchestra as well as a Rumba band from Cuba to back me up.  I played guitar, baritone sax, and electric organ on the album.

The concept of the album is a narrative where I tell my girlfriend at the time that I want to make love to her for the last time.  What I told her was “one more for the road, ” which at that moment and time I decided was a perfect title for a song and album.  The first ten minutes of the record are actual love-making noise and sounds - and then eventually you hear me start up the car, and I go off on a road trip.   It has been commented that the German band Kraftwerk either ripped me off or as an homage, recorded what many consider their classic album “Autobahn. ”

I never was upset, and in fact, was honored that the German Fab Four recorded this album.   Sadly my record was never a success, and both the vinyl and CD version of the album are very rare.   The last time I looked at Discogs, no one seems to want or to buy the album.  Which is a pity, because now, I am forced to do what I was born to do - and that is to write.   I started off being a publisher of obscure French literature translated into English, but alas, like my recording career, very little interest in my books or work.   So, after working at a bookstore, I made the decision to throw caution against the wind (which on a windy day it often hits me right in the face) and focus on writing.   But I must say with great pride, that my album, one can say, changed the entire music industry - for that one brief moment on March 8 in Amsterdam.