Pitchfork reports that onetime resident David Berman has started a blog called mentholmountains, which is exciting news for those of us who jump like piggies to the trough each time the Silver Jew-in-chief shares a thought.
The blog is more entertaining than it is revealing or useful, with Yiddish Proverbs, choice letters to the editor and previews of coming blog posts, but does offer some opportunity for the burgeoning field of Bermanalysis—that’s a technical term, folks—wherein his fans idly wonder what’s up next with the most beguiling man in indie rock.
So is there any way to know from the blog whether anything’s next? Maybe, maybe not. For example, Berman quotes at length Aeschylus’ "Oresteia:"
Everywhere
The conceited man
With his lofty scheme
Ruins himself
And everybody near him.
Is this just verse enjoyed in an idle moment? Or is Berman still subsumed by his hatred for his "evil" father, the Washington, D.C.-based superlobbyist Richard Berman, who fights groups like MADD, PETA on the behalf of corporate interests, and actually likes being called "Dr. Evil.?
Judging a post from a writer at this blog, who saw Berman speak at NYU in July, the Rebel Jew at a recent reading still spoke of little but that hatred for ol’ dad, who he once wrote was a “despicable man…a sort of human molestor. An exploiter. A scoundrel."
Apparently, Berman said there that he abandoned work on a memoir (yes, please!). He also said that he was in talks with HBO to create a show based on his life with his father (so weird), which he abandoned because television "normalizes the satanic," but is now working on a documentary…about his father. Wow. Read more about that talk, which happened this summer, here.
As far as I can tell, that was his most recent appearance. For more, I’ll keep my eyes peeled on the blog to see what the next phase is in what appears to be an sad battle, epic to Greek proportions, between a father and son.
Is David Berman O.K?
