Without a doubt, the most personal recording in my record collection. It's a conversation between my father the artist Wallace Berman with Hal Glicksman, a curator, and Jack & Ruth Hirschman, with my mom Shirley Berman as well. On top of that, it was a secretly taped conversation. My father didn't have the slightest idea that Hal was taping their chat, until halfway through this recording. My father was famous for not giving interviews, and pretty much avoided talking about his artwork. He very much believed that the art itself should communicate with the viewer. And he had an intense mistrust with popular media, which is ironic because Wallace used images from mass-produced magazines. Or perhaps that alone is a comment on the nature of images and art. Nevertheless, this is very much a typical night at the Berman household. What I found shocking is the mention of Boris Vian by Jack, which many years in the future I became devoted to this author, and ended up publishing all his significant novels with my press TamTam Books. The past becomes very much part of my present and going back listening to this recording, makes me realize that things are set in motion. It's a strange disconnect between my life now and then. A fascinating document and I do recommend this to anyone who has an interest in my father's work, as well as American counter-culture life during 1968. The album is a limited edition of 400. I also wrote the liner notes for this release.
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