TAR BEACH: Life on the Rooftops of Little Italy by Susan Meiselas with Virginia Bynum & Angel Marinaccio (Damiani)

 

ISBN: 9788862087223

Tar Beach is a poetic term for rooftops of apartments, especially in this book of found or family photographs in the Manhattan area known as Little Italy.   Susan Meiselas, with the assistance of Virginia Bynum and Angel Marinaccio, articulate the joys of their neighborhood and the ability to have access to the roofs of their living area.  Here, they can pose for family portraits, sun themselves during the summer, even having a hose placed so one can cool off with a stream of water.  

Little Italy is now called Nolita.  The neighborhood between Canal Street and E. Houston Street, as well as Lafayette Street and The Bowery. Martin Scorsese was raised in this neighborhood and wrote a very brief but moving portrait of the importance of The Tar Beach in this part of the world.  Scorsese comments on the song by Carole King and Gerry Goffin "Up On the Roof" (1962) about the importance of a space that is much needed from the cramped and small apartments below the roof. 

The book is about the quiet moments of experience where family and neighbors gather and a location of solitude to be away from family. The beauty of such existence is often imagined or portrayed in films and literature.  This book gives proof of such an enlightened presence. "Tar Beach" is a bittersweet (like all memories) of life in Little Italy, with commentary on photographs and the world at the time.  It is a book of somewhat great importance for those who live or lived in Little Italy and a reminder that a city's history must never be forgotten.  -Tosh Berman

Book Musik - "Sweet Dreams: From Club Culture to Style Culture, the Story of the New Romantics" by Dylan Jones (Faber & Faber)

 

Book Musik 032 – Sweet Dreams: From Club Culture to Style Culture, the Story of the New Romantics by Dylan Jones

Posted on October 15, 2020 by Book Musik

Tosh and Kimley discuss Sweet Dreams: From Club Culture to Style Culture, the Story of the New Romantics by Dylan Jones. The 80s are back! Whether or not this makes you cringe, it was nevertheless an interesting era of Thatcherism, gender fluidity, rampant consumerism, and a hugely creative group of young people looking to conquer the world. This book goes well beyond the superficial veneer of the big hair, the big shoulder pads, and the hyper-stylized MTV videos. Jones gives us a seriously in-depth look at the nucleus of the scene in England as well as contextualizing it in the broader social and political sphere, not just in England but throughout the world. No haircut is left unexamined!

Theme music: “Behind Our Efforts, Let There Be Found Our Efforts” by LG17

Book Musik · Book Musik 032 – "Sweet Dreams: The Story of the New Romantics" by Dylan Jones

Tosh Talks Frank O'Hara May.27, 2011

Tosh Berman talks about,
" FRANK O'HARA" POEMS FROM THE TIBOR DE NAGY EDITIONS, 1952-1966.

 

Book Musik 031 – Suicide’s Suicide (33 1/3) by Andi Coulter

Posted on October 1, 2020 by Book Musik

Tosh and Kimley discuss Suicide’s Suicide by Andi Coulter from the 33 1/3 series. Suicide was a band comprised of Alan Vega on vocals and Martin Rev as the sole multi-instrumentalist. Spawned from the wreckage of 1970s New York, the band never seemed to find a wide audience but those in the know who were lucky enough to have seen them live were the participants in a show that surely would not be forgotten. Typically described as an assault to the senses with a strong vibe of imminent violence, most people didn’t quite know what to make of them. But as so often happens with cult artists, their influence casts a wide net and continues to do so to this day.

Theme music: “Behind Our Efforts, Let There Be Found Our Efforts” by LG17

Book Musik · Book Musik 031 – "Suicide's Suicide" by Andi Coulter

Juliette Gréco R.I.P.

 

Juliette Gréco, an icon from the beginning to the end. St Germain des Prés beauty and a great song artist. A dramatic life with intense romances (Miles Davis) and a close friend and perhaps even muse to Boris Vian. I love her. -Tosh Berman.

BOOK MUSIK: "Wagnerism" by Alex Ross

 

Book Musik 030 – Wagnerism: Art and Politics in the Shadow of Music by Alex Ross

Posted on September 15, 2020 by Book Musik

Tosh and Kimley discuss Wagnerism: Art and Politics in the Shadow of Music by Alex Ross. A famous quip goes “Wagner’s music is better than it sounds.” Whether you find Wagner’s music to be sublime or bombastic, this is an essential read. It is not a biography or an examination of his music but, more interestingly, it’s a very deep dive into the enormous cultural and political influence Richard Wagner has had on his contemporaries and everyone since, from writers to painters, dancers, philosophers, politicians, and filmmakers. The diversity of those who’ve come under the spell of Wagnerism is beyond compare. And this is despite Wagner’s well-known antisemitism and association with Hitler and the Nazi regime. Cancel culture hasn’t quite figured out what to do with Wagner but Ross leaves no stone unturned in this enormous and hugely satisfying read.

Theme music: “Behind Our Efforts, Let There Be Found Our Efforts” by LG17

"Suppose A Sentence" by Brian Dillon (NYRB)

 

ISBN: 978-1-68137-524-3

It is always a pleasure to dwell in the words and world of Brian Dillon. "Suppose a Sentence" is a collection of literary essays, where the foundation is the sentence. Twenty-eight essays plus introduction focus at first a specific sentence by an author but then using that as a projection into that writer's style, structure, and sensibility. In many ways, this collection is a very straight forward literary inquiry into the author's work. It's not really about the sentence itself, or structure of writing, but how the beauty and form of writing take place in a reader's or critic's mind. 

Most of the authors/writers are well known here: Roland Barthes, Anne Carson, Thomas De Quincey (an author that comes up a lot in this book), Charlotte Brontë, George Elliot, Beckett, Virginia Woolf, and others. Pretty much the Western Literature world, but with some new figures such as the Korean-American Theresa Hak Kyung Cha and Jazz critic Whitney Balliett. I don't know the names like those two, but I want to read their works due to Dillon's take on their work. 

I love literature, and I too think of sentences that make me go-go almost the same manner as listening to exciting music. Dillon captures these moments in these brief but thoughtful series of essays. 

Remembering Cameron and the Late Bohemian World of Los Angeles by Tosh Berman

 

Please Kill Me Link to Article by Tosh Berman

WILLIAM N. COPLEY: SELECTED WRITINGS edited by Anhony Atlas (Walther König)

 

WILLIAM N. COPLEY: SELECTED WRITINGS edited by Anthony Atlas (Walther König) ISBN: 978-96098-776-5

I know the name of William N. Copley (1919-1996) as a gallerist in Los Angeles during the late 1940s who focused on Surrealist art. Copley Galleries were the first to focus on the paintings and sculptures of Man Ray and do the first Joseph Cornell exhibition in Los Angeles. Overall, as a business, the gallery was a failure. However, like a cat with nine-lives, Copley focused his life as a painter, but still drawn into the world of Surrealism. There is a cartoon quality to his visual work that reminds me of a colorful Krazy Kat comic strip but with a strong sense of eros. Philip Guston also comes to mind. "William N. Copley Selected Writings" is a collection of his texts. They are unique works, like his paintings, that fully express his 'fun' character.

The exceptional quality of Copley is his relationship with the old Surrealist guard. He was a younger man when he met Marcel Duchamp, Man Ray, Cornell, and Max Ernst. So, one can feel the generational difference between him and the others. Still, Copley has a wicked sense of humor that must have been a delight to the European artists. His 'American' quality to accept failure and move on is an excellent trait by Copley. As an anthology of one person's writing is all over the map, but his devotion to the world of Ernst and others never tired him. Reading this book, you get some stories over again, but the context is the key here. In a manner, Copley is an outsider. Adopted to a wealthy and influential family, he is the black sheep in the family structure. Yet, his outside view of the world is a tool for him being involved in the arts—both as an admirer or collector and artist. Copley didn't use art jargon in his essays. He's very much a journalist reporting on the facts that are in front of him. His reading audience is people who are not necessarily into the visual or literary arts. He wrote for publications such as The San Diego's Evening Tribune, Herald News from Illinois, etc. All small-time and neighborhood newspapers. His first-person accounts with Man Ray, Duchamp, and Cornell make this book a worthy read. A generous slice of cultural history as it happened. -Tosh Berman.

 

Book Musik 029 – Judy Garland’s Judy at Carnegie Hall (33 1/3) by Manuel Betancourt

Posted on September 1, 2020 by Book Musik

Tosh and Kimley discuss Judy Garland’s Judy at Carnegie Hall by Manuel Betancourt from the 33 1/3 series. This live double album was a milestone in pop-culture history. Recorded in 1961, the album is an homage to the American songbook, was on the Billboard charts for over 70 weeks, won four Grammy Awards and has never been out of print. It was a highwater mark both in terms of Garland’s career and as part of the cultural and sociological zeitgeist of the 60s. Garland looms large as an old-Hollywood film icon and as one of the most celebrated gay icons. Her life was full of tragedy and triumph and this album is undoubtedly at the pinnacle of her many triumphs.

Theme music: “Behind Our Efforts, Let There Be Found Our Efforts” by LG17

Tosh for ARTBOOK/D.A.P. on Karlheinz Weinberger: Photographs: Together &...

osh for ARTBOOK/D.A.P. on Karlheinz Weinberger: Photographs: Together & Alone (The Song Cave)

Unseen photos of rebels, outsiders, construction workers and more: celebrating the distinctive gay male gaze of Karlheinz Weinberger

This landmark entry in the lifework of Zürich photographer Karlheinz Weinberger gathers more than 200 never-before-published vintage photographic prints that were rediscovered in 2017. This unique collection pairs images of Weinberger’s most famous subjects, the “Halbstarke”—a loosely organized group of Swiss “rebels” in the late 1950s and early 1960s, carousing at local carnivals and on a camping trip—with a much more private side of Weinberger’s oeuvre: solo portraits of men from the late 1950s through the mid-1970s, whom he invited into his makeshift studio in the rooms of the apartment he shared with his mother.

The men in these portraits—construction workers, street vendors, bicycle messengers, outsiders—span a spectrum of fully clothed, arms-crossed poses to campy and flirtatious, fully nude and reclined, while others mimic art historical postures. All of these images, though, reveal a palpable tenderness between photographer and subject, offering an expansive, uncritical take on the male form in an era when being photographed was not the casual, ubiquitous record it is today. Though not a professional photographer (he worked as a warehouse stock manager), Weinberger captured his subjects with a distinctly gay male gaze, both carnal and artistic, and this collection is certain to earn his work a larger following and appreciation.

Born in 1921, Karlheinz Weinberger was a Swiss photographer whose work predominantly explored outsider cultures. Between 1943 and 1967 Weinberger published photos of male workers, sportsmen and bikers in the gay magazine Der Kreis under the pseudonym of “Jim.” In the late ‘50s and early ‘60s he concentrated on Swiss rock ’n’ roll youth, whom he photographed with both tenderness and a hint of irony. Weinberger placed little emphasis on exhibiting his work; his first comprehensive show took place only in 2000, six years before his death.

Portrait of Tosh by Tosh Berman

 

On a normal day I'm fascinated with images of me, but alas, since the lockdown, I have been obsessing over my aging. Every birthday I take a self-portrait and notice the changes that are within me. This is my second day of being 66, and I'm still dumb. I've been dumb ever since I was a child. I'm thankful for social media that allows, and even encourages me to bring my image to the masses (or the dedicated few). The difficult thing in life is to not to fall into the trap of thinking of only myself, but also attempt to give notice to others. Clearly, they don't need a photograph of yours truly! -Tosh Berman.

"Photographs: Together & Alone" by Karlheinz Weinberger (The Song Cave)

 

"Photographs: Together & Alone by Karlheinz Weinberger. Edited by Ben Estes with an introduction by Collier Schorr. (The Song Cave) ISBN: 9781734035117

This is such a remarkable book on various levels. Karlheinz Weinberger (1921-2006) worked in the warehouse department of the Siemens Factory by day, but in his time off he was a self-taught photographer. He made his own studio in his home in Zürich that he shared with his mother. In this studio, he would photograph construction workers, street vendors, outsiders, and members of the Halbstarke, a loose gang of young Swiss kids devoted to American 50s Rock icons as well as making a distinctive fashion statement.

The book is in two parts. The first section is devoted to the youth gang that hangs out in the parks, and there is an erotic quality to the photos that are similar to how Kenneth Anger looked at men in his great film "Scorpio Rising." The second part of the book is devoted to images of male nudes taken in his home studio. An outside culture that is lustful, and deeply moving as well. The book exposes an outer life, but it's the inner-life of Weinberger that makes the work and this book so enticing.

Also, keep in mind that the publisher 'The Song Cave' do interesting titles.

BOOK MUSIK: "Go All The Way: A Literary Appreciation of Power Pop" by Paul Myers & S.W. Lauden

 

Tosh and Kimley discuss Go All the Way: A Literary Appreciation of Power Pop by Paul Myers and S. W. Lauden. This compilation of short essays by a wide range of writers (including Michael Chabon and Allison Anders among others) explores the minutiae of what constitutes power pop exactly, whether or not it is even desirable to be lumped into this subgenre and which bands are considered power pop, with bands like Bad Finger, The Raspberries, Big Star, and Cheap Trick generally being considered the prototypes. Despite its effervescent appeal, fans of power pop are deadly serious about its nuances. Both celebrated and maligned, power pop is a nebulous genre and after reading this book things still seem murky to us. But like Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart pronounced in an attempt to define porn, we know it when we see it!

Theme music: “Behind Our Efforts, Let There Be Found Our Efforts” by LG17

Book Musik · Book Musik 028 – “Go All The Way: A Literary Appreciation of Power Pop” by Paul Myers & S. W. Lauden

Mungo Thomson: Mail - In Conversation with Tosh Berman Saturday August 15th

 

Saturday, August 15 at 3PM PDT / 5PM CST / 6PM EST, join Artbook @ Hauser & Wirth LA Bookstore and Inventory Press 

for a live stream with artist Mungo Thomson, in conversation with Tosh Berman, discussing Thomson's new book, Mail. 

This event is free with registration here.Email bookshw-la@artbook.com to order a copy of Mungo Thomson: Mail 

with free shipping in the U.S. 

Mungo Thomson asked The Hammer Museum in Los Angeles to forward all incoming mail to a gallery, where it accumulated unopened during the 4-month run of the 2018 exhibition, Stories for Almost Everyone.Thomson’s publication, Mail, is a temporary archive of one museum's incoming mail. The publication is an homage to a shipping product catalog.

In a time of pandemic and onslaught of privatization of the public sphere and the nation's public land, our event celebrates The United States Postal Service, which is on the frontline for democracy. We pay homage to mail art, which through the international postal service was, and is, the outlet for sharing art in a parallel universe to the Art Industry. 

WE SUPPORT THE U.S. POSTAL SERVICE 
ALL COPIES OF MAIL WILL BE SENT VIA USPS MEDIA MAIL
Order a signed copy of Mail and choose to have the book shipped in protective packaging or, in homage to mail art, choose to have your copy sent without protective packaging, so that it will retain the marks of its journey through the postal system, and therefore be both different from and the same as all the others. It is your copy to choose your Mail experience. 

"No Room At The Morgue" by Jean-Patrick Manchette, Afterword by Howard A. Rodman (NYRB)

 

ISBN: 978-1-68137-418-5

As I live on in the 21st-century, I'm finding less pleasure in everyday life, except for the novels by Jean-Patrick Manchette (1942-1995).  "No Room at the Morgue" is unusual (so far) compared to his other narratives because the main character is a private detective.  Like a classic crime-noir novel, there are colorful characters in an iconic city, that's Paris.  The placement of a crime novel is always using the location as if it's another character.  I often wish that their fiction section is organized in a bookstore in what city the story takes place.  If I want to read a Parisian story, I go to the Paris section of the store. 

Manchette is one of the great crime writers, and what gives him that edge is that his world is very much part of the May '68 world or rebellion and the failure of that movement.  Usually, in classic detective novels, there is the background of war or an economic downturn that fuels the narrative in some form or method.  Manchette is no different in using contemporary (at then) life, and making it very much part of the world of the characters, and how they operate in such a manner.  

Harold A. Rodman's afterword is a dessert after a delicious main meal, the novel itself.  Once again, the New York Review of Books has put together a masterful package. 

Source Music of the Avant Garde 1966 1973 on Tosh Talks

Source Music, of the Avant-Garde, 1966-1973" was an amazing journal that focuses on the contemporary Experimental music of the mid-20th century. Morton Fieldman, John Cage, Robert Ashley, Giuseppe Chiari, John Mizelle, and others focus on the nature of modern classical music as well as publishing actual music scores, which there are plenty in this volume, edited by Larry Austin and Douglas Kahn. Published by Univerity of California Press. Tosh Talks, with your host, Tosh Berman.

To read my blog post on Source Music of the Avant-Garde go here: https://tamtambooks-tosh.blogspot.com...

"NICHE: A Memoir in Pastiche" by Momus (FSG)

"NICHE: A Memoir in Pastiche" by Momus (FSG)

I'm a massive fan of the memoir, due that the writer usually has to be interesting, good writer, or know how to lie interestingly.  As a reader, I never cared if what I'm reading is the truth or not.  I only care how the narrator tells (writes) the tale.  Momus (Nick Currie) is such a writer that I enjoy going on the journey with him. As a reader, he's the driver, and I'm sitting on the passenger side of the vehicle—the precise reason why I love memoirs.  And Mr. Currie wrote an excellent book. 

Momus has 217 narrators witnessing and telling the tale. All of them are dead and all divine.  What sounds like from a distance just a cute idea, actually works in writing.  Momus uses the voices of writers/artists like Franz Kafka to David Bowie, and beyond.  I counted the narrators and, I didn't know 37 at all.  One of the fun things about "Niche" is that you can google the ones you don't, and it's no extra work, it's a learning experience.  Momus writes through his narrators about his musical career, but even more interesting to me is that he's exceptionally a superb travel writer.  His status as an outsider makes him a voyeur of different cultures, and his writings about Japan I found thrilling.  Mostly due that I lived and visited Japan many times, and I believe we were in the country around the same time.  So I understand what he went through, and it's a game to compare my experiences of Japan with his time there. 

"Niche" reads like a fast-moving Literary Critique, due to the way he sets up the narrative through other voices. The writing is smart, but not over-done.  Like Serge Gainsbourg, in that he is both a masterful writer/lyricist and a composer, he's a jack-of-all-trades and wears all clothing equally well. 

Tosh Talks Dare Wright Feb.06.2011

Tosh Berman talks about,
"THE LONELY DOLL" STORY AND PHOTOGRAPHS BY DARE WRIGHT
"EDITH&MR.BEAR" A LONELY DOLL STORY DARE WRIGHT
"MAKE ME REAL" BY DARE WRIGHT
"the secret life of the LONELY DOLL the search for Dare Wright " Joan Nathan
"Ocracoke" IN THE FIFTIES photographs and narrative by Dare Wright
Edited By Brook Ashley and John Ogilvie.

BOOK MUSIK : "Remain in Love: Talking Heads, Tom Tom Club, Tina" by Chris Frantz (St. Martin's Press)

Tosh and Kimley discuss Remain in Love: Talking Heads, Tom Tom Club, Tina by Chris Frantz. Frantz is a founding member of Talking Heads and as the drummer he was half of the rhythm section along with his wife Tina Weymouth on bass. They were at the epicenter of the infamous CBGB scene in 1970s New York along with The Ramones, Television, Blondie, and Patti Smith to name just a few. They broke fresh creative ground on what a rock band could be – quirky, geeky, arty, possibly too smart for their own good and oddly clean-cut but with a twist. Lester Bangs famously said they were so uncool that they were cool. Frantz adds his firsthand perspective on a time in rock ‘n’ roll history of which we can never get enough.

Book Musik Chris Frantz

Book Musik · Book Musik 027 – "Remain in Love" by Chris Frantz