Passiflora incarnate by Tosh Berman

 

Passiflora incarnate by Tosh Berman

January 3, 2021

 

I can't think of a more critical person alive than Greta Thunberg. Ordinary she ain't, and special comes in spade when it concerns Greta. She turns 18-years old today, and when people say that there is magic in youth, I, of course, think of Thunberg. Her articulation is focused and to the point. She never uses language to beautify an image. Still, almost poetically, she can convey the world's horror in a minimal and direct manner. 

Quotes from Greta Thunberg:

"The climate crisis has already been solved. We already have all the facts and solutions. All we have to do is to wake up and change."

"Adults keep saying we owe it to the young people, to give them hope, but I don't want your hope. I don't want you to be hopeful. I want you to panic. I want you to feel the fear I feel every day. I want you to act as if the house is on fire, because it is."

"Why should I be studying for a future that soon may be no more, when no one is doing anything to save the future? And what is the point of learning facts within the school system when the most important facts given by the finest science of that same school system clearly mean nothing to our politicians and our society?"

"I offend talk to people who say, 'No, we have to be hopeful and to inspire each other, and we can't tell (people) too many negative things'…But, no - we have to tell it like it is. Because if there are no positive things to tell, then what should we do, should we spread false hope? We can't do that, we have to tell the truth." 

"Today, we use 100 million barrels of oil every day. There are no politics to change that. There are no rules to keep that oil in the ground. So we can't save the world by playing by the rules. Because the rules have to be changed. Everything needs to change."

There is something so Bertolt Brecht or Fassbinder in how she approaches the power structure with an understanding of how it operates and why it's poison to culture and civilization. Thunberg made it through modern media because she knows how to use language to convey the bigger truth. 

This amazing young woman turns 18-years old Today. I can't think of another person who deserves a national holiday on her birthday. This is idiotic because that is not what Greta Thunberg is about. It's about action. Happy birthday Ms. Thunberg. 

David Bowie in "Baal" (TV 1982)

June 26, 2014

June 26, 2014

“Noir” is a life one wants to live, and something that we are drawn to, but other times ‘noir” finds us. Culture, its politics, and alienation is pretty much the ingredients that make a great ‘Noir’ narrative.  It is equally a genre that is highly visual. We can just use the word “Noir.” and we have a very clear picture what that could mean.  For some, it is femme fatal dressed in something black and white. For others, it could be a scary version of architecture.  For me, it is a combination of both, but generally I never have a problem with a femme fatal.  In fact, as a species or type, I like them a lot.  When I heard about Barbara Graham, the accused and executed killer, who was a “seagull, ” a prostitute that hangs out near navel bases, and basically had a bad hard life that is nothing but crime and vice.  Including her parents, who were just like her, ruthless as they come. There is something sexy about that, and Barbara was stunning, wrong, and therefore sexually appealing to me.

Barbara and her equally wicked drug addicted boyfriend and their other friend broke into a house owned by a woman who was reported to have a great deal of jewelry and cash.  They couldn’t find the money, and eventually killed the old woman.   The thing is losers never win, and of course they were arrested.  It was pointed out that when the police arrested Barbara, she was only dressed in her panties, which in the 1950s must have been the hottest thing to read in a newspaper.  Barbara’s last words at her execution was "Good people are always so sure they're right, ” which strikes me as the perfect noir thing to say as you are about to leap into the unknown.  What is fascinating about her is not Barbara, but how the world responds to her.  In reality, her life was totally wasted since her birth, yet, our culture needs the Barbara Graham to sort of keep us in line.  Or at the very least, on the same moral ground, which of course murder is bad, sex is not good, unless it is with socially responsible adults, and most importantly, God forbid if hard drugs are involved.  Nevertheless all these taboos are almost like pornography to me.   What we really desire is to belong, whatever that family or society is correct or not -we need to be part of someone else’s dream, fantasy, reality, and live through their lives.

On the male version of “Noir” desire is Peter Lorre.  The great German actor, who actually worked with one of my (dark) heroes, Bertolt Brecht.  On top of that he actually played a child-murder that one can be sympathetic towards, even though his crime is taboo and unmentionable.  He is so cruel, that the criminal and police world worked together to search for and destroy the Lorre charcter.  Hinting that the biggest sin may be the alliance between crime and police, but nothing can be worse than a child-killer.

Peter Lorre was someone who had a series of problems in his actual life, that included a serious addiction to morphine.  Yet, he pretty much worked till his death.  A year or two before he passed to the great beyond, there was a German actor by the name of Eugene Weingand, who resembled the great Lorre and tried to change his name legally to Peter Lorre Jr.  Lorre objected to it and also the studio American International Pictures which had Peter Lorre under contract.   The court ruled that Weingand was just trying to cash on Lorre’s name, and refused his case.  When Peter passed away, Weingand claimed to be the son of the actor, and even though he lost his case, he still used the name “Peter Lorre Jr.”   When he died in Texas, he was hosting a horror show under the Lorre Junior name.

My name “Tosh Berman” is also under suspicion due that there is another Tosh Berman out there who got a series of bad press, and by no means have I met, or do I know him.  Yet, the causal reader on the Internet may confuse the two identities.  It should be clear to everyone that the only crime I admit to is a bad sentence here and there.  Over the years, I have been attracted to the writings of Colin Wilson, who documented all sorts of horrible crimes, as well as writing a classic called “The Outsider.” Although I prefer his “Adrift in Soho, ” but that’s here or there.  But what is interesting is that he pretty much spent his entire life and career focusing on those who went across the line between taste, honor, sex crimes and murder.  Overall I much admire his work, and yet, as a writer and one who is attracted to the darkness that is out there, I still try to keep at least one toe on the light.

June 20, 2014

June 20, 2014

Rarely, have I ever been disappointed with a record that was produced by Mickie Most.  I’m intrigued by not only the artist who made the record, but also the person, in other words, the wizard, behind the curtain that pulls all the levers and pushes the buttons.  Mickie Most had the vision thing down, and the entire 1960s and most of the 1970s he was quite the visionary.  I was around 15-years old, and I found myself in London, wanting to make a record.  I was in a teenage band, but I wanted to go beyond our Led Zeppelin obsession and make a really heavy commercial rock single.  At the time, I had heard rumors that while producing The Yardbirds’ “Little Games” album he insisted that all the songs be around the three minute mark, and this was the era when musicians wanted to expand their song length.  Most, at heart, only loved the 45 rpm single, and therefore that is the reason why I love Mickie Most.  I wrote a song called “Can the Ass That I'm ” and I had the opportunity to audition the record in front of Mickie Most.  He liked it, and I told him right off, that I too believe in the power of a single that is under three minutes.  He smiled when I told that, and he organized a session for me for later that week.

Even though I was a teenager, I had unusual obsessions as a youth.  I was totally fascinated with 1920s Berlin, and I thought somehow I can fit that into my image or use the imagery of that period for the upcoming single.  That week before the recording, I studied a lot of images from that era, and came up with a great Kurt Schwitters’ college that he did in the 40s.  It was out of bound with respect to the era I was interested in, but then again, the beauty of pop is that you can exchange an idea or a series of images and make them your own.  The truth of the manner is I co-wrote the song with a German writer by the name of Elisabeth Hauptmann, who actually wrote most of “The Three-Penny Opera” for Bertolt Brecht.  It was an odd pairing of me being 15 and she was around her early 70s, but that is also what makes “Can The Ass That I’m” so unique.  So writing a song with a woman who wrote for Brecht in Berlin 1920s and making that record for Mickie Most, in addition to having a Schwitter college as its cover - well, how perfect is that!

Truth be told, Elisabeth pretty much wrote the song, including the melody.  She wrote it as if it was a German cabaret song, and what I did was updated her version of the song  to sort of a heavy rock piece.  Art works in mysterious ways, but God it worked!  When I showed up to the recording session, I was surprised that Most got John Paul Jones to do the arrangements, and also Big Jim Sullivan was going to handle the guitar.  As we went through the song a couple of times, I went up to the microphone with my lyric sheet and started singing:

“You know what I can, when I’m such a fan
That such a bland, no-it-all
Can the Ass that I’m and I aim to please
So darling, don’t spread your candy
Before I shake my pop, before my po-pul-ar-ity
A tat-tat-tat  You’re so 
Delicious, palatable, luscious, and mouthwatering too

Oh baby, can the ass that I’m
Oh baby, can the ass that I’m”

(Tosh Berman/Elisabeth Hauptmann/Bertolt Brecht, ©RAK Music Publishing)

For the b-side, John put together an arrangement of an Eric Dolphy piece from his album “Out To Lunch!” called “Hat and Beard.” I really had nothing to do with the b-side or its recording.  But it sounded cool to me, and I was fine with it.  Funny enough, listening to it now, it reminds me of Brian Wilson’s work for “Smile, ” and I wonder if maybe he picked up on this record.  But who knows, that was so many years ago.  The record was never a hit, and it was the one and only recording I have done.  At that point, I went back to Los Angeles to complete school (or I should say it finished me) and eventually I worked at a bookstore for many years on the Sunset Strip.  One evening, while I was behind the counter, Mickie Most came in and bought some British newspapers.  He was looking at the papers, but he did catch my eye, and clearly he didn’t recognize me.  Well oh my, can the ass that I’m.

June 16, 2014

June 16, 2014

Passiflora incarnate, better known as Maypop, is a commonly known wildflower in the mill town Alcolu, located in South Carolina. It’s a very beautiful flower. Yet it has its medicinal uses, such as treating nervous anxiety and insomnia.   But, here the main interest of the flower is its natural beauty.  In a small town one dies for a little aesthetic attention of a flower growing wild in its area. On March 23, 1944, Betty June Binnicker, age 11 and her best friend, Mary Emma Thames, age 8 went off looking for the Maypop flower on their bikes.  As they passed the property of the Stinney family, they asked young George Stinney and his sister Katherine if they knew where to search for Maypops. History doesn’t know what the answer was to their question, but nevertheless the two little girls disappeared, and were found the next morning in a ditch filled with muddy water.  Both were dead, and both had suffered severe head wounds.

The young African-American teenager, George, that the two little girls asked about the flowers before their death, was arrested on suspicion of murdering the two girls.  The only thing connecting the 14-year old boy to the murder, was that he talked to the girls, and due to that fact, if even that is true, is the testimony of three police officers.  Who it seems, testified at the adolescent boy’s trial that lasted for barely two hours.

With respect to young George’s immediate arrest, his parents were given the choice of leaving the town, or getting lynched.  George’s family was forced to flee, leaving their young son with no support during his trial, and of course, his execution.   No physical evidence was brought up in the trial, and the police officers as well as the jury were all white, which of course was perfectly normal for a segregated community.  The entire trial, including selecting the jury, took one day.  George’s court-appointed defense counsel was a tax commissioner, who at the time, was campaigning for election to a political office in that town.  The only other people who testified at the trial besides the three police officers were the man who discovered the two bodies in the muddy ditch and the two doctors who performed the post mortem examination.  The police claimed that George confessed to the crime, but he claimed that wasn’t true, and there was nothing on paper or a signed confession presented to the court.  The lawyer for George, did not contest or questioned any of the witnesses in the case.  The entire trial from start to finish took 2 and a half hours.  The jury spent ten minutes to deliberate, which they returned with a guilty verdict.

George Stinney’s execution took place on June 16, 1944, in Columbia, South Carolina.  Ironically, Columbia is known by its citizens as “The City of Dreams.” George at the age of 14, was led into the execution chamber with a Bible under his arm.   Due to his size, they had to use that Bible as a booster seat on the electric chair.  Since at the time of his death, he was 5 feet 2 inches tall and weighed 90 pounds.  Technically his size was too small for the electric chair, so the authorities had some difficulty in strapping him to the chair.  Also difficulty in fitting the face-mask as well.  The mask kept falling off his face, revealing his wide-open eyes and saliva coming from his opened mouth.   It took two jolts of electricity before the boy died.  From the time of the actual murders to George’s execution was exactly 81 days.  So in other words, just under two and a half months.

Interestingly enough a pastor from the area named Mr. W. Wallace Fridy wrote a letter on the behalf of George, and the then Governor of South Carolina, Olin D. Johston wrote back to the pastor claiming that George raped the dead older girl, which there were no evidence of sexual play whatsoever.  In other words, the letter was a complete lie.  What interests me is the way the whole system worked together to kill George Stinney.  Hand-in-hand they all went and marched the poor young teenager to his death.   I have a grainy newspaper photograph showing Stinney and another prisoner entering the death house in the state prison.  Both were executed on that day.

I spent yesterday reading a biography on Bertolt Brecht and watching the 1931 film version of “The Threepenny Opera.” The film and musical exposes how a system works, and how each member of society plays the role that will make the machinery go into motion.  Brecht saw the world as being controlled by police, gangsters and thugs, and in turn, when there is a need, both groups will work together for their “common” good.   One has to think why did this young boy had to die, and be treated in such a manner by the entire town, the whole district and eventually the state of South Carolina.  Clearly this was a trial that had no claims to the truth, because there was no evidence that George killed those unfortunate girls.  But as a culture, or a system, it was needed to have George killed in that electric chair.  Even using his Bible, as a prop to lift his body to the electrical wires.  Time has passed, but nothing has changed.  A system in place is a system that needs to be questioned.

February 10, 2014

February 10, 2014

I woke up this morning with the thought of adopting Bertolt Brecht as a role model.  Ever since I was a teenager I was drawn to Brecht as a character and I pretty much admired his sense of clothing as well.   For me the appreciation of one’s surface eventually leads to their style, and then after that I really go into their art or writing.  

As an only child I am obsessed with the idea of “Tosh” being a creative factory.  I’ll hire writers to write fiction and essays, but under my name.    That in thought, why not do paintings as well, or even films?    I soon realize that being “Tosh” is already an art form of sorts, and I can extend that talent into something more concrete, than just a writer, who writes stuff on Facebook. 

Saying something about Facebook, why not approach writers or editors that I met through that website?   I contacted Daniel Riccuito, because I admire his interest in Pre-Code Hollywood cinema as well as his website The Chiseler (http://chiseler.org).  I offered Daniel $500 a month, which is all I can afford, if he gives up his identity for one year, and everything he produces, he must do so under my name “Tosh.” Therefore The Chiseler will be credited to me as well.   Oddly enough, he refused!

I then approached Richard Prince with the same proposal.  He was said to be fascinated with the idea.  In fact as a present he sent me his “Catcher In The Rye by Richard Prince” book, but changing it to “Catcher in the Rye by Tosh Berman.”   

With that in mind, through my press TamTam Books, I am about re-publish a classic book of poems “Manual of Piety” by Brecht but giving myself credit for writing the book.  When I wrote my book of poems “The Plum In Mr. Blum’s Pudding, ” I was very much influenced by this book of poems by Brecht.  I found it in a second-hand bookstore in Shibuya Tokyo, and used it as a manual of sorts for my own book.  But now, I guess I can do something even better with it, but just re-claiming the book as my own. 

A few years ago, I published a book by Boris Vian called “Foam of the Daze” (L’écume des jours) where one of the leading characters Chick was a collector of artifacts from a philosopher Jean-Sol Partre.  In reality Partre is based on Jean-Paul Sartre, and Chick is modeled after the great jazz drummer Chick Webb.  The fact that Chick in the book really has nothing to do with the inspiration is a sign of Vian’s creativity.  So the art of it all for me is somehow using real life, but yet still get people to do the creative work under my name “Tosh.”  

Today I feel fantastic because there is a whole new world opening up to me, and I can pick and choose what I want for my world. 

Film footage from David Bowie's "Baal" by Bertolt Brecht

This is rare for the David Bowie and Bertolt Brecht fan! The BBC production of "Baal" starring David Bowie plus two film clips of Bowie singing Brecht's songs. This is so fantastic you should kiss me when you see me on the No. 4 bus. Fantastic!

David Bowie in Bertolt Brecht's 'Baal'

My friend Nick made me a CD of some old vinyl I had for awhile. One title is David Bowie's "Baal," which is one of my favorite recordings by this icon. For reasons I don't know, Bowie never released the long playing E.P. soundtrack, which is a shame.





"Baal" is Bertolt Brecht's first play and it is about a traveling musician who seduces and destroys lives with the ease of a dog drinking from soiled water. David Bowie starred in a BBC production as Baal, and it seems to be the perfect role for him. Yet there is no DVD or even VHS version of this production available to the open market.


Bertolt Brecht