Showing posts with label Tosh Berman. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Tosh Berman. Show all posts
Wednesday, 7 August 2013
Friday, 19 July 2013
Once there is an illustration of one's self, I feel I made the big time. Illustration by Amy Hagemeier http://akhhka.blogspot.com/ for L.A. Record, which by the way has a fantastic interview with yours truly regarding "Sparks-Tastic" and other subject matters.
Saturday, 6 July 2013
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| Wallace Berman and Loree Foxx in the Front of Tempo Music Shop on Hollywood Blvd, Los Angeles |
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| Interior of Tempo Music Shop on Hollywood Blvd, Los Angeles |
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| Artwork by Wallace Berman (age 16 or 17) for Dial Records, Los Angeles |
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| Loree Foxx Photo by Wallace Berman |
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| Loree Fox by Wallace Berman |
I'm currently working on a childhood memoir "Wonder While You Wander," and this serves me as a scrapbook of ideas/images/etc.
Thursday, 4 July 2013
Los Angeles Review of Books did a focus on "In The Words Of Sparks... Selected Lyrics" With three lyrics plus a short introduction by yours truly for this specific great website.
read it here: http://lareviewofbooks.org/
Saturday, 29 June 2013
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| A BFI Book published by Palgrave Macmillian ISBN 9781844575145 |
I read this book today, in one gulp on my couch, in a temperture that is around 90. Therefore by an open window with a slight breeze I was taken into an artificial world that Gene Kelly made - a world that was beautiful. At least conveyed in the text. This book works on many levels. One Wollen argues the importance of dance as an art, but also as an equal companion to the cinema art. Griffith to Chaplin and of course the Kelly/Astaire world had made a language for the film world that was and is totally open to dance. Wollen writes about the beauty of this combination, but with a strong critical eye. Also his in depth almost frame-by-frame look at the famous Kelly dance of the leading song here, is playful and informative. On top of that the reader also gets the political world of the early 1950's and how that played out in the Gene Kelly world. The book is an enlarged 70mm snapshot of a specific time with a very specific film with an iconic artist. Strange enough there isn't that many critical studies on Gene Kelly's work, which is a shame. But with this back in print....
And Wollen adds a kick-ass annotated bibliography that's extremely informative. It is sort of like him taking you by the hand and showing you the book titles that are important. For Dancers who need information regarding the dance history, this is a good book to pick up. For everyone else... well I am going to see the film! Peter Wollen wrote a beautiful tribute, analysis, and dance/film history in one slim 87 page book that has no wasted space. Essential!
In one word to describe the band Big Star: Iconic. Like the Velvet Underground, Ziggy Stardust, and the early to mid Kinks, the work is faultless. Big Star is part of that grouping due that they made music at a specific time in a special city that's Memphis. To make such perfect noise in the Memphis landscape is quite remarkable. Does that genius come through the Memphis tap water? Sun Records, Stax, and then Big Star.
Rob Jovanovic did a great job with respect to research and capturing what makes Alex Chilton, Chris Bell, Andy Hummel and Jody Stephens' music so special. The one sour note, and it is not the author's fault, that he didn't get to speak directly to Chilton, who without a doubt, is probably one of the most interesting figures in contemporary pop music. Bruce Eaton's book on Big Star's "Radio City" (part of the 33 1/3 series) is a much better book, due that he had actually had a relationship with Chilton, and Alex was willing to talk to him. Through that book one finds out he was devoted to Civil War history,and was quite knowledgeable about Memphis and New Orleans history. Plus he was totally devoted to the world of Zodiac signs - and had a long interesting relationship with the great photographer William Eggleston.
But by no means does that mean one should ignore Jovanovic's book. Its a very good (and detailed book, especially the early years of The Box Tops) bio on a band that is endlessly fascinating. So do get this beautifully produced edition (by the great Jaw Bone), as well as Eaton's book on "Radio City" and the masterpiece by Robert Gordon "It Came From Memphis." The beauty of the Alex Chilton narrative is one gets a bigger picture of Memphis as well as American music.
Also Read:
And:
Friday, 28 June 2013
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| Painting by Lun*na Menoh |
Thank you Colin and the Los Angeles Review of Books:
http://lareviewofbooks.org/
Sunday, 16 June 2013
Tuesday, 11 June 2013
It took me forever to locate "Revolt Into Style" and finally I found a copy at my neighborhood record store. I couldn't even find it via the Internet - so hooray for the neighborhood store (Rockaway Records by the way.)
But now that I have located the book by the legendary blues singing Surrealist bi-sexual dandy George Melly - I find it slightly boring. The hint for it was more exciting than reading the book. But saying that it is still an unique look by a crazed Soho figure on the British pop world of the '60s. So it's very much a period piece of that decade. He write most of the book in 1969, and therefore the subject matter was still happening while he wrote this book.
For a gent that was born during the '20s his attitude to the '60s generation is pretty hip, but you still get traces of his jazz past. The book is divided by music, films/theater, fashion, and literature. The problem with the book is that Melly didn't go far enough with his personality regarding his subject matter. I suspect he was paid by a paper for most of these observations. But still a collectible and a must for a Mod obsessive reader.
Monday, 10 June 2013
Read more about Le Bathyscaphe here: http://lebathyscaphe.blogspot.com/
Benefit reading for Le Bathyscaphe with poet Charles Plymell.
Charles Plymell with Pam Plymell
Friday, 7 June 2013
The king of despair? No, actually he's very funny and witty in his own way. This collection of aphorisms are single bite-fulls of wit, smartness, and for me a sense of beauty or understanding of the world out there. In his point of view it is not facing death that's the problem, but the fact one is born in this world -well, that's the problem.
For me this is the ultimate book to read before a nap or outside on the patio - watching trees sway or traffic go by and then reading bits and pieces of "The Trouble with Being Born," well, its paradise of sorts.
Tuesday, 4 June 2013
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Sunday, 2 June 2013
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