He toggles from the virtues of silence as the most powerful artistic statement, as laid out by Susan Sontag in her 1967 essay “The Aesthetics of Silence” (which he insisted I read before our first meeting), to the virtues of getting banned from websites for trolling (which he admits happened to him)
Odds on Berman posting on here at some point?
― Position Position, Tuesday, 4 June 2019 14:43 (four years ago) link
I don’t get the feeling he necessarily “loves music.”
― get your hand outta my pocket universe (morrisp), Tuesday, 4 June 2019 15:23 (four years ago) link
hasnt stopped any of us before tbf
― One Eye Open, Tuesday, 4 June 2019 15:28 (four years ago) link
lol
― get your hand outta my pocket universe (morrisp), Tuesday, 4 June 2019 15:44 (four years ago) link
The wapo interview's pretty good. Answers a few questions I had and confirms a few suspicions about the Chicago loft and the separation.
The option of anonymous posting on the disc.server board was one of the greatest things about it in its heyday. Guaranteed daily chaos. That's the board where, late one Friday night around the time of Bright Flight, someone posted David's home phone number. I called it, thinking I could just say I was only trying to alert him to its presence if he was irritated about it, but sure enough he picked up and gave no indication of irritation whatsoever but was in fact totally cheery about it and chatted with me, the lowly internet fanboy, for a good ten minutes, wouldn't let me go even, despite the fact there were all kinds of voices and noises in the background on his end from a party at his house that sounded like it was still going strong.
― del griffith, Tuesday, 4 June 2019 18:06 (four years ago) link
“He liked it when I called Jack White ‘Sir Edgar Scissor Blues.’ ”
― a man often referred to in the news media as the Duke of Saxony (tipsy mothra), Tuesday, 4 June 2019 18:15 (four years ago) link
Is this legit?: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/purple-mountains-lodge-room-highland-park-tickets-61917164907
― get your hand outta my pocket universe (morrisp), Tuesday, 4 June 2019 19:00 (four years ago) link
The first thing I thought on watching the "All My Happiness Is Gone", was 'oh no, he and Carrie have separated'
― Duke, Tuesday, 4 June 2019 19:02 (four years ago) link
Cassie not Carrie
― Paul Ponzi, Tuesday, 4 June 2019 19:20 (four years ago) link
morrisp -- there are a bunch of tourdates announced upthread.
new album is ... pretty great? still absorbing, but a bunch of really good songs / lines.
― tylerw, Tuesday, 4 June 2019 19:26 (four years ago) link
Yes! Sorry Cassie.
― Duke, Tuesday, 4 June 2019 19:29 (four years ago) link
xp Thanks, I missed or glossed over that
― get your hand outta my pocket universe (morrisp), Tuesday, 4 June 2019 19:39 (four years ago) link
Interesting how this isn’t sold out in a small Chicago club, whereas Silver Jews would certainly sell out the Metro or Vic pretty quickly.
― ... (Eazy), Tuesday, 4 June 2019 21:44 (four years ago) link
don't underestimate brand recognition. I doubt Robert Pollard sells anywhere close to the number of records Guided by Voices does. The mid-or-late-career moniker change is a tough thing to navigate (though Sun Kil Moon, Bonnie Prince Billy, and Magnolia Electric Company--to name three off the top of my head--made it work, I guess)
I bet labels hate when established bands / artists / solo acts change their name
― Paul Ponzi, Tuesday, 4 June 2019 22:02 (four years ago) link
Yup. I bet 80+% of people who'd pounce on a Silver Jews ticket don't have any idea that Berman is back under this name.
― alpine static, Tuesday, 4 June 2019 22:42 (four years ago) link
We ended up buying tix for that L.A. show (final show of the tour?); I bet it would have sold out already under the Joos name / "back in the day."
― get your hand outta my pocket universe (morrisp), Tuesday, 4 June 2019 22:53 (four years ago) link
intentional sabotage?
― calstars, Wednesday, 5 June 2019 00:06 (four years ago) link
Listening to the promo right now, as it happens.
― Lactose Shaolin Wanker (Raymond Cummings), Wednesday, 5 June 2019 00:43 (four years ago) link
That's the board where, late one Friday night around the time of Bright Flight, someone posted David's home phone number. I called it, thinking I could just say I was only trying to alert him to its presence if he was irritated about it, but sure enough he picked up and gave no indication of irritation whatsoever but was in fact totally cheery about it and chatted with me, the lowly internet fanboy, for a good ten minutes, wouldn't let me go even, despite the fact there were all kinds of voices and noises in the background on his end from a party at his house that sounded like it was still going strong.
― circa1916, Wednesday, 5 June 2019 01:39 (four years ago) link
I mean this era was, according to the article, his “crack” phase
Well sure, that is true, but it was also soon after 9/11, which was everyone everywhere's crack and/or some crack variant phase. Besides, I also got to chat with him after the Asheville show in 2006, with all crack and/or crack variants out of his system, and he was still equally cheery.
― del griffith, Wednesday, 5 June 2019 03:07 (four years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JZKMa-ByLBQ
― mizzell, Tuesday, 11 June 2019 14:20 (four years ago) link
ok that little thing at the end made me laugh hard
still these videos might be getting a little too real for me
― One Eye Open, Tuesday, 11 June 2019 14:36 (four years ago) link
i laughed when he was sweeping something into a dustpan and then looked up at the camera to deliver the back-up vocal
― na (NA), Tuesday, 11 June 2019 14:37 (four years ago) link
Lol at the Steve McNair action figure.
― Mazzy Tsar (PBKR), Tuesday, 11 June 2019 14:46 (four years ago) link
Kind of a slacker “Ruby (Don’t Take Your Love to Town.”
― ... (Eazy), Tuesday, 11 June 2019 15:41 (four years ago) link
I didn’t think I would enjoy that but it was great! Stone cold deadpan
― calstars, Tuesday, 11 June 2019 16:58 (four years ago) link
not to be all gossip-y but aren't they separated?
― Jersey Al (Albert R. Broccoli), Tuesday, 11 June 2019 17:57 (four years ago) link
The ending is funny, but yeah, not sure how to "take" this particular kind of thing.
― Theodor Adorno, perhaps the greatest philosopher alive today (morrisp), Tuesday, 11 June 2019 19:54 (four years ago) link
I'm struggling to like these two new tracks.
― Duke, Tuesday, 11 June 2019 20:36 (four years ago) link
not to be all gossip-y but aren't they separated?― Jersey Al (Albert R. Broccoli), Tuesday, 11 June 2019 19:57
― Jersey Al (Albert R. Broccoli), Tuesday, 11 June 2019 19:57
Yes this was one of the revelations from the WaPo interview that saddened me. Maybe not so clear cut
― Duke, Tuesday, 11 June 2019 20:38 (four years ago) link
Vish tackles DCB:
http://kreativekontrol.eone.libsynpro.com/ep-481-david-berman
― Jersey Al (Albert R. Broccoli), Friday, 14 June 2019 16:16 (four years ago) link
Thanks Al
― calstars, Friday, 14 June 2019 16:32 (four years ago) link
Refreshing honesty and openness from David there. Nice to hear an interview free from bullshit
― calstars, Friday, 14 June 2019 18:13 (four years ago) link
Yeah its great hearing about his process & approach here
― One Eye Open, Friday, 14 June 2019 18:32 (four years ago) link
The “hundred nights” comment was pretty harrowing
― calstars, Friday, 14 June 2019 18:53 (four years ago) link
loved the bits about songs as architectural instantiationand disturbing (?) lack-of-anxiety about musicians coming up behind him
― sean gramophone, Friday, 14 June 2019 19:33 (four years ago) link
There were a few moments in that interview that straight choked me up. His candor was really touching.
― circa1916, Saturday, 15 June 2019 20:10 (four years ago) link
I like Vish, but sometimes I find him to be a bit of a cringey interviewer. This one worked just right.
― circa1916, Saturday, 15 June 2019 20:11 (four years ago) link
Al, thanks much for posting that. Hard to describe the feeling of hearing his voice crack and bend under the emotional weight of what he's talking about, hearing him re-realize and re-resist his own storyline fever as he speaks, I guess. Amazing.
This was a particularly interesting revelation to me:
"I think that Silver Jews was a very burdensome band name. It confused people, or I never made it clear what I meant by it. I think it was wasn't really until the end that I realized what the proper definition of a Silver Jew would be outside of the context of my music, which would be a Jew that's not a Jew, really. It's the outsiders to the outsiders. It really sucks when you're Jewish from patrilineal descent because you get the last name but none of the benefits of being Jewish. So, you get the marker, but as you know, in Judaism, your mother has to be Jewish. And my mother converted before I was born, but it never really took. So, there aren't different kinds of Jews - I mean, there are, there's Sephardic and Ashkenazi - but Judaism's Judaism and there aren't secondary Jews. There aren't partial Jews. So, a Silver Jew isn't a Jew at all, really. But it conveys belatedness in and of my interest in Judaism, which came very late in life. But in the end I felt alienated for precisely those reasons, from fully dissolving myself from Judaism."
― del griffith, Sunday, 16 June 2019 01:05 (four years ago) link
This is America goddamnit, and I think people should be free to be secondary Jews if they want to, but what the hell do I know.
― del griffith, Sunday, 16 June 2019 01:08 (four years ago) link
"commerce is a purgatory"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BamaU09AdGA
― del griffith, Saturday, 29 June 2019 22:20 (four years ago) link
^ song of the year, IMO
― Auld Drink of Misery (zchyrs), Wednesday, 10 July 2019 13:54 (four years ago) link
name change totally threw me off - got pretty excited when i realised there's a new Silver Jews lp out in 2 days! I bet a ton of people are the same and don't realise this is a thing...
― Hmmmmm (jamiesummerz), Wednesday, 10 July 2019 14:10 (four years ago) link
It's good! His band (Woods) sounds strong, and he hasn't lost the lyrical magic, imo.
― alpine static, Wednesday, 10 July 2019 15:24 (four years ago) link
another long, detailed profile, this time in the ringer: https://www.theringer.com/music/2019/7/10/20686306/david-berman-silver-jews-purple-mountains-drag-city
― na (NA), Wednesday, 10 July 2019 15:38 (four years ago) link
A few weeks ago I noticed the nine photos on the album cover correspond with the themes of the first nine songs on the album, in sequential order. Track ten, about self-acceptance, can be symbolized by all previous tracks/images together. That kind of thoughtful, subtle attention to detail keeps unfolding with every listen.
― del griffith, Wednesday, 10 July 2019 17:12 (four years ago) link
Perpetua ticked off about him poo-pooing Pearl Jam over on Twitter
― badg, Wednesday, 10 July 2019 17:16 (four years ago) link
who's Pearl Jam?
oh and re: the chorus of Margaritas at the Mall, I guess the lyrics are actually "magenta, orange, and acid green, peacock blue and burgundy," but I actually prefer my initial interpretation of berberine. After all, there's already red representation with magenta, so it just makes sense to get some yellow in there for a more robust sampling of the frozen beverage spectrum.
― del griffith, Wednesday, 10 July 2019 17:20 (four years ago) link
There seemed to be surprisingly few people listed as Interested/Going on the Facebook event for this show around here, so yeah, I think this is likely flying past people at the moment.
― circa1916, Wednesday, 10 July 2019 17:35 (four years ago) link
followed this guy for years and he never bugged me till the past few months. he thinks he knows all!
― alpine static, Wednesday, 10 July 2019 19:48 (four years ago) link
https://www.stereogum.com/2196025/bonnie-prince-billy-shares-cover-of-the-ramones-outsider-recorded-with-david-berman/music/
― 𝔠𝔞𝔢𝔨 (caek), Thursday, 11 August 2022 19:47 (one year ago) link
xp - yeah, I was glad to see your appreciation for Woods, I think they brought a lot to that record (though I've been a big fan of them for awhile anyway)
― a superficial sheeb of intelligence (jon /via/ chi 2.0), Thursday, 11 August 2022 19:52 (one year ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7XTrz0yvxe0
― calstars, Thursday, 11 August 2022 21:20 (one year ago) link
https://www.creem.com/fresh-creem/david-berman-purple-mountains-final-days-feature
― fpsa, Friday, 9 December 2022 19:14 (one year ago) link
Looks promising, but damn paywall.
― Maxmillion D. Boosted (jon /via/ chi 2.0), Friday, 9 December 2022 19:17 (one year ago) link
Straight forward to join for a month, if you haven't previously done so.
― djh, Friday, 9 December 2022 19:57 (one year ago) link
Happy should be 57th birthday. Still miss you.
― Maxmillion D. Boosted (jon /via/ chi 2.0), Thursday, 4 January 2024 21:19 (three months ago) link
The bareness and honesty in that Purple Mountains record is extraordinary. There's nothing quite like it. I loved his art.
― kraudive, Thursday, 4 January 2024 21:58 (three months ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qvogt_5lhkM
― corrs unplugged, Wednesday, 13 March 2024 12:47 (one month ago) link
incredible
― a (waterface), Wednesday, 13 March 2024 12:49 (one month ago) link
So great
― H.P, Wednesday, 13 March 2024 13:32 (one month ago) link
Good candidate for Artist-specific music jokes
― enochroot, Thursday, 14 March 2024 01:39 (one month ago) link
Someone apparently asked Gate Pratt about this and he said he had never seen the show when he wrote the original that was sent to Berman. (Berman finished writing it and later arranged it with Woods.) It is amusing how they have a similar vibe though.
― birdistheword, Thursday, 14 March 2024 04:28 (one month ago) link
Huh, weird that Gate Pratt doesn't get a writing credit on that one. (He does get one on "Maybe I'm the Only One...") Not that I don't believe him, and this was pretty clearly a coincidence in any case.
― Vaguely Threatening CAPTCHAs, Thursday, 14 March 2024 16:35 (one month ago) link