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David Berman RIP

Started by holyzombiejesus, August 08, 2019, 12:31:39 AM

Previous topic - Next topic

SteveDave

Quote from: good times on August 14, 2019, 07:51:13 PM
Will have to give that a listen at some point

It's been nice everyone saying how lovely David was but his spiky side should be celebrated too eg.

1. the story about him whipping a CD-R at Frank Black's bald head
2. him saying Spiral Stairs's pavement songs gave a new sense of holiness to the skip button on a cd player
3. his takedown of Radiohead

Please furnish me with where I can find point 3.

good times

Quote from: SteveDave on August 14, 2019, 08:25:46 PM
Please furnish me with where I can find point 3.

https://pitchfork.com/features/interview/7519-silver-jews/

Towards the end of that interview

I actually think it's quite unfair but still funny all the same

peanutbutter

Finding the lyrics of Purple Mountains a bit hard now tbh. This kind of suicide by a person who always seemed like they might do something like that (Mark Linkous immediately springs to mind) always dwells on me like a motherfucker in an "is that just the inevitable endpoint? is that even a bad thing if the alternative utterly sucks too?" kind of way and the extremely direct lyrics make it very raw listening...


At the same time though, great album, maybe doesn't have the extreme highs that are on the first three albums but on the whole it's better than any of them I think. Is that Cassie in the Darkness & Cold video? I see only one article directly saying it's her but it presumably is?

holyzombiejesus

Quote from: good times on August 14, 2019, 07:51:13 PM
Will have to give that a listen at some point

It's been nice everyone saying how lovely David was but his spiky side should be celebrated too eg.

1. the story about him whipping a CD-R at Frank Black's bald head
2. him saying Spiral Stairs's pavement songs gave a new sense of holiness to the skip button on a cd player
3. his takedown of Radiohead

Got a link for number 2?

You should also add his numerous sneers at Jack White/ 'Sir Edgar Scissor Blues'

Noodle Lizard

I've been listening to Purple Mountains non-stop.  It may sound tasteless to say, but what a perfect album to go out on.

sevendaughters

there's a remembrance out there by Will Oldham that spends half of it remembering the less good.

QuoteDavid Berman is one of the most challenging and rewarding of people, of friends. He was a bold and powerful being who was, obviously, extremely selfish and flabbergastingly generous with his love, wit, intelligence and creativity. The first time I met David was in Steve Driesler's house on Ohio Street (now renamed as the last stretch of Frankfort Avenue before you hit River Road). We were making the Palace Brothers record There Is No One What Will Take Care Of You and Bob Nastanovich brought David by to say hello. At the time, David and Bob were two-thirds of the Silver Jews. It was the Jews' first release, the Dime Map Of The Reef EP that made me think to send our first recordings to Drag City in hopes of establishing a relationship. It was in recent weeks, David proposed that he, Bill Callahan and I tour together as the 'Monsieurs of Drag City,' with all three of us on stage trading off songs. David was brash and fragile, and connecting with him at any given time for any given reason most often felt like a gift. When it didn't feel like a gift, it felt like an attack. And here we are somewhere in between.

sevendaughters

Quote from: peanutbutter on August 14, 2019, 11:44:23 PM
Is that Cassie in the Darkness & Cold video? I see only one article directly saying it's her but it presumably is?

Yep. Confirmed in his reddit ama. They said it was very cathartic. Someone had a go at him on twitter saying it was terrible he got a lookalike in and he was like "no, it's her."

sevendaughters

may as well go 3 post combo but Purple Mountains is as good as the first 3 Joos records. It feels like a total classic in a way I haven't thought of a rock record since maybe Public Strain.

good times

Quote from: sevendaughters on August 15, 2019, 12:08:22 PM
Yep. Confirmed in his reddit ama. They said it was very cathartic. Someone had a go at him on twitter saying it was terrible he got a lookalike in and he was like "no, it's her."

Upon watching it for the first time it didn't even enter my mind that it was her as it looks nothing like the promo pics of her from when she was in SJs

I've since seen a couple of old pics that show it's clearly the same person. I was probably influenced by my own disbelief that she'd be at all comfortable starting in the vid

think she's just one of those people who look quite different depending on the angle/expression etc, DCB was also a bit like that.

holyzombiejesus

It was 10 years since we last saw her.

Just seen this tiny clip from (prsumably) rehearsals for the tour.

https://www.instagram.com/p/B08zBmhlcqx/?igshid=svcdyi0w4ym5


holyzombiejesus

Fucking hell! It doesn't even look like his signature.



In fact, why is there a signature even on it?

EDIT: Does that say Average Wife Band?!

holyzombiejesus

Oh no, these are horrible!



PaulTMA

I bought American Water on a whim in 1998 and one thing that struck me, in particular, was that David Berman was someone who gave the impression that he had everything sussed out, evidently hyper-intelligent and gifted beyond practically everyone as a wordsmith.  At that stage I couldn't detect any obvious vulnerability whatsoever, I presumed he was a cocksure kind of guy who would have a long career akin to what Will Oldham or Bill Callahan have made for themselves. As someone said, from Bright Flight onwards it became apparent that all was not well. To me, it appears he's come a long way from the personality he portrays on that album, to the nakedly depressed, self-deprecating and resigned tone of the Purple Mountains album.  I am sure his life has been far more complicated than I can possibly imagine, but to me, it's remarkable how on top of everything he used to sound compared to where he was on his final album.

good times

Quote from: holyzombiejesus on August 14, 2019, 11:57:31 PM
Got a link for number 2?

You should also add his numerous sneers at Jack White/ 'Sir Edgar Scissor Blues'

Can't find any existence of it online, maybe it's in the Pavement biography? Or maybe it was just in some print interview.

There's another quote of his I remembered where he said he had some messed up dream about Courtney Love's nether regions... no trace online either.

Starting to think I may have made all of this up.

holyzombiejesus

First Aid Kit have released a cover of Random Rules and also a new song written for DB. It's sweet.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QfZ-vh-nc9o

A friend was at Green Man last week and they opened the Literature Tent with a reading of one of David's poems and then read a little eulogy to him. I like that I keep hearing about stuff like this. I came across this last night...

QuoteNashville - David Berman, age 52 of Nashville, TN, passed away August 7, 2019 in Brooklyn, NY. A profoundly loved and loving husband, son, friend, contrarian, historian, writer, band leader, cheerleader, and occasional anarchist, he navigated the wildly unpredictable terrain of his inner world and our shared planet with fascination, patience, and love. A champion of the underdog and a willful underdog of champions, he fought the good fight wherever he saw fit with bravery, candor, and humor. And won.

Born January 4, 1967, David was a poet, musician, and visual artist, whose mastery of language shone in every sense--be it written, spoken, or drawn--in his many songs and poems, in texts and emails, in shopping lists and post-it notes, and sharpie-on-old-converse shoes. From unexpected and rushed joyful exclamations on the phone, to wry and painfully funny asides in public forums, to receive his words was to get a tattoo that you never knew you wanted, and instantly wonder how you ever lived without. This was his joy, his drive, his love--the life's work that sustained him to stay in this world as long as he did for us.

David leaves us with his celebrated book of poetry Actual Air, his vast musical discography as Silver Jews and Purple Mountains, and his beloved cartoon collection The Portable February. With these works, he enlightened us with joy, comfort, and empathy beyond even the magic of his words.

For decades, his work has had a deep and lasting impact on many thousands of people the world over. That impact will continue. His legacy will be carried on by his wife, Cassie, and everyone at his longtime collaborator and foil, Drag City Records.

He is survived by in-laws Robert and Linda Marrett, Julie and Arnis Ekens, Joseph Marrett and Niani Campbell, Meaghan and Tommy Gift, nephews Erik and Robert Ekens, and nieces Savannah Ekens and Marrett Jane Gift of Louisville, KY; maternal aunt Carolyn Stucker and cousin Andy Ford of Akron, OH, cousin Anara WhiteBear of Bloomington, IN and their families; his father Richard Berman and family of McLean, VA, sister Carolyn Braun of Naples, FL, paternal aunt Jayne and uncle Jerry Dubin of Chester, NJ, cousin Joanne Schlesinger and her son Joshua of Long Valley, NJ, aunt Patricia Skolnik and family of Denver, CO, and aunt Felicia Brown and family of San Francisco, CA. He was preceded in death by his beloved mother Marilyn "Mimi" (Tissot) Berman, maternal grandparents Robert and Doris Tissot, and paternal grandparents Shep and Anita Berman.

Friends and family, along with the Jewish community, will bury David in Nashville in a private service on Friday, August 16th. We ask his many additional friends and fans to respect the privacy of his family at this time. A public memorial service and anti-showmanship tribute featuring brilliant conversation, passionate speeches, and a tangle of nicotine swans will be held in Nashville at a later date. In lieu of flowers, please consider a memorial contribution to Music Health Alliance and/or MusiCares.

Drag City have been fucking great throughout this too. Their eulogy was beautiful and their pledge to keep everything in print to fuck off the dealers was nice too.

SteveDave

I did a cover of a song for this David Berman tribute compilation (that's free) along with songs from Adam Green, Jeffrey Lewis, Dean Wareham, Jad Fair amongst others. Enjoy?

http://section-26.fr/approaching-perfection-a-tribute-to-dc-berman/

good times

Quote from: holyzombiejesus on August 14, 2019, 11:57:31 PM
Got a link for number 2?

You should also add his numerous sneers at Jack White/ 'Sir Edgar Scissor Blues'

I happily managed to find the spiral stairs/fast forward button interview yesterday, having convinced myself I had imagined it entirely. Turned out it was in an interview with Plan B, Everett True's ace magazine which sadly didn't run for very long. I found it on archive.org here, just ctrl+f "holiness" to find the quote:

https://archive.org/stream/planb-magazine-13/PlanB_13_djvu.txt

there is also a ton of other stuff here, including another quote that I had became convinced I'd also invented about Courtney Love's vagina + maggots (aye.)

http://tomsugden.github.io/cordsuit/articles/

the Courtney love one is here: http://tomsugden.github.io/cordsuit//articles/not-mad-about-you.html

he really was a bit of a nasty sod at times, but mostly quite funny with it.

Noodle Lizard

Quote from: good times on March 29, 2020, 05:13:23 PM
he really was a bit of a nasty sod at times, but mostly quite funny with it.

I mean, things had not been going well!

Gregory Torso

Bumping this ol' thread because I didn't think it worth really starting a new one and it's probably better suited to Shelf Abuse The Book Forum anyway,

but:

anyone who is a fan of "Actual Air" / Berman's writings, a couple of months ago someone put together a manuscript of all of his non-AA, unpublished various poems, letters, stories and internet dawdlings, calling it

The Colonial Manuscript

It's got all the bits I remember reading on the Corduroy Suit web pages back in the daze, and the afore-linked-to-mentioned "Clip On Tie". Not sure if there's anything from his blog Menthol Mountains, I barely remember that apart from it got pretty ''heavy'' regarding his dad and his faith and his anguish over everything.
It's a nice thing to have collected together, considering the sporadic esoteric nature of his creative output, unlikely to ever get any official release or publishing. A secret swathe of aspen and pine pulled back to reveal tiny little jewels. Liable to evaporate so make contact now.

If anyone knows how to download/convert it to a PDF, let me know (I drunkenly screenshat the whole thing last night, couldn't work out how to save it any other way - the google docs, they are protected).

More information here: https://pitchfork.com/thepitch/the-curious-case-of-the-bootleg-david-berman-literary-collection/

Enjoy.

holyzombiejesus

Ah, wow! Thanks so much for sharing. Wish there was a way to print this off. Not had a chance to wade through yet, is the piece he wrote about being a security guard at the museum included in this?

Gregory Torso

Yeah, that's 'The Clip-On Tie', it's really great. Pretty sure this isn't some 'definitive' thing but it looks like the compilers are hoping to add to it, and we're not going to get any official published version.

Thanks for sharing this. I enjoyed reading that story and looking up the pictures/painters along with it. Does anyone know where the John Ashbery quotation ('Relentlessly the minutes, some of them golden, touched.') is from?

holyzombiejesus

Bonnie Prince Billy, Bill Callahan and Cassie Berman have just released a cover of Silver Jews' Wild Kindness.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Xug9Ty0FD0

Gregory Torso

Nice cover, but that's got to be one of the worst videos I've ever seen.

edit: holy shit, just looked at all the people involved (David Grubbs! Dave Pajo! That guy from Kustomized!). It's a nice tribute, feel bad about criticising it.

Quote from: Gregory Torso on February 20, 2021, 12:10:01 PM
Nice cover, but that's got to be one of the worst videos I've ever seen.

edit: holy shit, just looked at all the people involved (David Grubbs! Dave Pajo! That guy from Kustomized!). It's a nice tribute, feel bad about criticising it.

I dunno, it's obviously done with love but listening to it really makes me appreciate the original.

amputeeporn

Quote from: PaulTMA on August 17, 2019, 05:33:49 PM
I am sure his life has been far more complicated than I can possibly imagine, but to me, it's remarkable how on top of everything he used to sound compared to where he was on his final album.

Fantastic observation.

holyzombiejesus

Does anyone have any idea what they lyrics are on about? There are bits that I get but as a whole I find them pretty obscure.

QuoteI wrote a letter to a wildflower
On a classic nitrogen afternoon
Some power that hardly looked like power
Said I'm perfect in an empty room

Four dogs in the distance
Each stands for a kindness, yeah
Bluebirds lodged in an evergreen altar

I'm gonna shine out in the wild silence
I'm gonna shine out in the wild silence
I'm gonna shine out in the wild silence
And spurn the sin of giving in

Oil paintings of x-rated picnics
Behind the walls of medication, I'm free
Every leaf in a compact mirror
Hits a target that we can't see

Grass grows in the icebox
The year ends in the next room
It is autumn and my camouflage is dying

Instead of time, there will be lateness
Instead of time, there will be lateness
Instead of time, there will be lateness
And let forever be delayed

good times

I completely missed this one, but Creem magazine did quite a detailed piece on David's last few days working with the Purple Mountains band prepping for the tour, based on conversations with the guitarist of the band.

It's far less voyeuristic than I worried it would be, and for the most part quite sweet.

Interestingly he cites Wild Kindness as one he struggles with because of how emotional the lyrics make him feel, which I found intriguing since they are quite opaque/surreal as pointed out above.

https://www.creem.com/fresh-creem/david-berman-purple-mountains-final-days-feature

It looks like it's behind a paywall but it's just a matter of signing up with your email.