Rebekah & Matthew

Rebekah & Matthew

Rebekah's press, Penny-Ante Editions is a vital publishing house, located in Los Angeles. She not only published my book of poems, but also works by Stewart Home, Masha Tupitsyn, Momus, Jarett Kobek, John Tottenham, Beau Rice, and Lynne Tillman. Beyond that, she married a brilliant fellow Matthew who is a lot of fun to hang out with. Matthew did an amazing piece on me for Dangerous Minds. They are expecting a baby in August, but as cruel life can be, Matthew was diagnosed with stage 4 colorectal cancer. They both need financial support. I can't begin to tell you how important these two people are in my life. If you ever purchased a book published by Penny-Ante Editions or enjoyed the writings of above, it will be helpful if you can send what you can to this fantastic couple. Please do so in the link below. - Tosh Berman

Rebekah & Matthew

Tosh Berman Interview with 3: AM Magazine

An interview I did on the 3:AM Magazine website.  Pretty extensive.  With my publisher Rebekah Weikel (Penny-ante editions) 

http://www.3ammagazine.com/3am/art-is-love-is-god/

TOSH BERMAN reads and discusses his book of poetry THE PLUM IN MR BLUM'S PUDDING, with special guest RUTH BERNSTEIN

The Plum in Mr Blum's Pudding (Penny Ante Editions)

“My hours of leisure I spent in reading the best authors, ancient and modern, being always provided with a good number of books; and when I was ashore, in observing the manners and dispositions of the people, as well as learning their language; wherein I had a great facility, by the strength of my memory.”

- Jonathan Swift, Gulliver’s Travels


The Plum in Mr. Blum’s Pudding is Los Angeles native Tosh Berman’s first printed collection of poetry. In 1989, Berman left the United States behind, moving to Japan after learning his wife's (artist Lun*na Menoh) mother was ill in Kitakyushu. The Plum in Mr. Blum’s Pudding was penned while both rapt and lost by this transition. Gracefully toiling between the quirky and earnest, these poems describe the liminal space of the foreigner caught between the strange and the familiar. The result is surreal and unclassifiable, a book of love poems overshadowed by isolation and underscored with curiosity and lust.

Originally published in 1990 by “Cole Swift & Sons” (Japan) as a small hardcover edition of two hundred copies, this new edition acts to preserve this work and features an introduction by art critic and curator Kristine McKenna and an afterword by Ruth Bernstein.

Tosh Berman is a publisher and writer. His press, TamTam Books, has published works by Boris Vian, Guy Debord, Serge Gainsbourg, Jacques Mesrine, artist Lun*na Menoh, and Ron Mael & Russell Mael (Sparks). He is the author of Sparks-tastic: 21 Nights with Sparks in London. As the son of artist Wallace Berman, Tosh has delivered talks and various essays toward furthering his late father’s artistic legacy including his influential folio series, Semina (1955–1964). He resides in Los Angeles.

Ruth Bernstein lives in Highland Park where she writes postcards and collects books.

Event date: 

Friday, November 21, 2014 - 7:30pm

Event address: 

1818 N Vermont Ave

Los Angeles, CA 90027

"The Plum in Mr. Blum's Pudding" Poems by Tosh Berman (Penny-Ante Editions) Out in November

"The Plum in Mr. Blum's Pudding" Poems by Tosh Berman.  Introduction by Kristine McKenna.  Afterword by Ruth Bernstein.  Published by Penny-ante Editions.  November 2014.

"The Plum in Mr. Blum's Pudding" Poems by Tosh Berman (Published by Penny Ante Editions) out in November

Cover image by Alex Chaves

Penny-Ante

2 hours ago

Proud to be re-publishing a poetry collection by our dear friend — TamTam Books publisher and writer — Tosh Berman. Originally published in 1990 by “Cole Swift & Sons” (Japan) as a small hardcover edition of two hundred copies, this new edition of The Plum in Mr. Blum's Pudding acts to preserve this work and features an introduction by art critic and curator Kristine McKenna and an afterword by Ruth Bernstein.

Out in November

Ordering available now: http://bit.ly/1pYHuot

 — with Tosh Berman.

The Plum in Mr. Blum’s Pudding is Los Angeles native Tosh Berman’s first printed collection of poetry. In 1989, Berman left the United States behind, moving to Japan after learning his wife's (artist Lun*na Menoh) mother was ill in Kitakyushu. The Plum in Mr. Blum’s Pudding was penned while both rapt and lost by this transition. Gracefully toiling between the quirky and earnest, these poems describe the liminal space of the foreigner caught between the strange and the familiar. The result is surreal and unclassifiable, a book of love poems overshadowed by isolation and underscored with curiosity and lust. Originally published in 1990 by “Cole Swift & Sons” (Japan) as a small hardcover edition of two hundred copies, this new edition acts to preserve this work and features an introduction by art critic and curator Kristine McKenna and an afterword by Ruth Bernstein.

Review copies are available from Penny-Ante (info@penny-ante.net)

"BTW" By Jarett Kobek

Penny-Ante Editions ISBN: 978-0-9855085-6-2

I like books that are about books and its readers, and Jarett Kobek's novel is very much in that it's a love of literature filtered through the narration of sort-of young people in love within the  magnificent landscape, that is Los Angeles.  Or perhaps they're not in love, but individuals struggling to communicate or at the very least to articulate their unhappiness among the streets of Los Angeles. 

There is a strong situationist aspect with respect to the understanding of a city by the way of  the main character's dealings with his placement in Los Angeles and how the others fit in the landscape as well.  It is a very nice readable cocktail  of thought, action, and looking at the world through Victorian literature among other things. 

The one figure that stands out in this narrative is the father of the main character, who is profound and hysterical at the same time.  Also his advice is quite good, considering that he sees the world in a very specific light.  The relationship between son and father is pretty solid, but of course there are many bumps on the road that disrupts the two.  Jarett Kobek previous two books "If You Won't Read, Then Why Should I Write?" and "ATTA"  were major reads for me this year, and "BTW" easily follows in that grouping.   Ah good times.

"Mandy, Charlie & Mary-Jane" by Stewart Home

For reasons I don't fully understand, since I live in Los Angeles, I love novels by Londoners when it has London in its narrative.  Stewart Home maybe my favorite London novelist in the 21st Century, and I am saying 'maybe' because i haven't read every novel by him.... yet.  But nevertheless his new novel "Mandy, Charlie, and Mary-Jane" is a superb piece of work.

Like his other writings, this novel runs on different pistons of the engine.  Its a commentary on culture, its politics and the by-products of that culture - for instance film.   The slasher film to be more specific, and at times the novel is a consumer's (in a hysterical way) guide to the films that are out there.  Someone (not me right now) should list all the albums, bands, music artists, as well as the filmmakers and their films that are listed in this novel -  which comes to mind that one day there will be an annotated edition of all his works.  But till then the reader can pick and choose the references that are posted in Home's work, and just go off into another adventure.   And in some cases the author goes into detail about those references, which I always finds fascinating.

The one of many aspects of Home's aesthetic that I love is his take on cultural history set in a narrative.  One is reminded of other books, for instance, "American Psycho" but i think Stewart is much more entertaining and in-tuned into London culture and all its by-products that I love so dearly.  Future historians will look back on Stewart Home's novels as set pieces of their time.  A cultural historian who writes fiction; that's Stewart Home in a nutshell.

"ANTIEPITHALAMIA & Other Poems of Regret and Resentment" by John Tottenham

Marriage is not a splendid form of love for poet John Tottenham. It is sort of a combination of hell and a bad night out. Or maybe the one and the other are the same. Nevertheless "Antiepithalamia" is a collection of bite sized poems that gives the reader a very humorous ride into the outskirts of an imagined state of mind where the need is too much of a bother. The flip side of Pablo Neruda's love poetry, Tottenham serves as the dark prince or adviser to those who find the taste of love... a slight disappointment. That feeling is well documented and well-said through Tottenham's skill with the right turn of a phrase.

Reading this beautifully designed book (like all the other editions by the publisher Penny-Ante) is sort of like the Bonnie & Clyde of paper meets poet. The book is beautiful to hold and look at, but it contains the poison of its poetry - and its the poison that adds the aftertaste of romantic failure done in a very seductive heady manner. Once can say "Antihistamine" is an anti-valentine classic, but I see it as the essential book for that holiday and times. The Baudelaire of Los Angeles tasting the bitter yet desirable fruit that is past its prime - yet the aspects of love is hanging on a desired tree. it is how one eats the fruit, that is the art of it all.

IF YOU WON'T READ, THEN WHY SHOULD I WRITE by Jarett Kobek

The unguarded moments of famous people, where normally it is always guarded. Sex tapes are fascinating, in that the participants used them for future reference or is it the thought of being recorded while doing something nasty is the appeal? Or losing control and being totally exposed beyond one's control? Jarrett Kobek, in sort of 'just the facts man' style captures the undocumented 'recorded' moments of conversation or more like it - snippets of dialogue between individuals.

The first book I thought of while reading this was Burrough's "The Last Words of Dutch Schultz," which was inspired by the actual recording of Schultz as he was dying from a gunshot wound. His statement to the police is both lucid as well as fancy -free as his mind wondered. Probably the closest relationship between a crime figure and hardcore Surrealism. Kobek's book reads the same way. Its a fascinating document but also an interesting way to look at a culture as it is being recorded. What Kobek did was put it in a context, that says a lot about celebrities and the role they play in our culture.

The range here is quite large, from Paris Hilton to Tom Sizemore to Muammar Gaddafi. The issue of privacy seems to be an antiquity thought these days. A wonderful book with a beautiful production by its press, Penny-Ante Editions.