'Silver Jews End-Lead Singer Bids his Well-Wishers Adieu' AND 'My Father, My Attack Dog'

BULLSHIT

This is the worst news possible.

Jeez, his dad sounds worse than Nick Naylor.

Who makes a 'comeback' first Ryan Adams or David Berman?

not a moment too soon.

someone needs a shrink

Berman Sr is GANGSTA!

Call Daddy - he misses you...he does these things for YOU!

american water was amazing but his stuff after say 2001 has been crap.

^ YOU'VE been crap

maybe this means we'll finally get a follow-up to ACTUAL AIR.

I love everything the joos have released. excellent catalog of albums. hopefully berman brings his writing to bigger, better things

I hate unions.

odd to me that he constantly takes unprovoked shots at rem. you're only allowed a shiny happy people if you write an album as great as murmur or automatic for the people, which he absolutely hasn't.

/\ huh? when did people start giving a crap about automatic for the people?

nothing excuses Shiny Happy People. Nothing.

i like automatic for the people but to say he hasn't done anything as good as Murmur is just dumb. american water got a 9.9 from pitchfork, that's like better than Animal Collective! OMG!!!

I hear Tom Yaps works for Berman and Company

he's quitting the band to go work with his dad

I think David sounds like a whiny petulant child. At 42 years old airing your dirty laundry about how you hate your father's politics is ridiculous. Get the guy a pacifier. I feel awful for his poor dad who had to read this unprovoked attack from his son today through music blogs.

Sleeping is the only love dude, just go sleep it off.

Silver Jews were amazing, and his dad seems like a heartless jerk. I liked the letters. Poor dad? Please.

But apparently the WORST thing Dad Berman did was have offspring.

BRRRRRRRMAN! that was cold blooded. david write more poetry! for reals.

Oooooh fast food and soda, how terrible! I suppose he "props-up" childhood obesity by force feeding little kids hot dogs by the dozen, right?

I prefer the elder Berman. He could probably write better songs.

Silver Jews were the best band in the world and now they're gone.

This is an epically sad day.

I saw your Dad on Colbert and he is pure evil. You should kill 2 birds with one stone and write a book called "My Evil Dad and how he's screwed with you." And then make a concept album of it!

I wouldn't necessarily agree with the notion that his comments are petulant or emblematic of bathshit craziness. The dude's just pretty freaked out by the cryptic and questionable nature of his father's business, has lived privately with the resulting guilt for many years and now that he's making his qualms public for the first time it's probably all spilling out the way uncontainable emotions tend to. I feel pretty sympathetic toward his frustration, honestly. I will admit it's strange timing, it doesn't seem like silver jews fans would have been less receptive to the band had dc berman spoken up years ago. It's actually really interesting in a twisted way. They're such different people that the whole situation is sort of poetically tragic. Shame the band is done, they will always be remembered fondly by their fans.

"My father came in from wherever he'd been/and kicked my shit all over the room"

finally getting to see them live at webster hall was something i'll never forget.

huge influences on me, for sure. sounds like he's making the right decision for him. we'll see. a screenplay would be interesting.

i'd love to see a david berman movie.

Berman Sr is GANGSTA!

the people making fun of berman for listening to his heart are folks that aren't following their own. Good for you. He isn't doing this for your approval. He's doing it for his happiness. And he felt he owed it to Silver Jews fans to explain.

Wait until the day 20 yrs from now when you wake up and realize that you aren't doing with your life what you thought you'd be doing. You will probably just put your head down and give up.

Y'know what's funny? The asshole supporters of Berman Sr. actually coming to this blog to PUT DOWN DAVID!! That's cronyism for ya.

well, he did pay for david's crack cocaine rehab.

corporate fuck

What a big baby. I feel bad for his wife. Her relationship with him just became waaayyyyy less fun.

i feel worse for your wife ^^

i think david should write an album with his dad.

its sad to see the Joos go, i love his records.... also, it's clear to me that his Dad is pretty fucking evil and his grief is %100 understandable. have a heart, people.

poor guy

My father is a despicable man. My father is a sort of human molestor. An exploiter. A scoundrel.

Your dad sounds like a lot of people you're friends with! lol

I interviewed for a job with B&Co a few years ago and he pulled the biggest, shadiest "bait and switch" I have ever seen...he was all about hiring me on and as soon as he heard that my company was shuttering the offer went from "very healthy" to "barely there". He basically told me that I was "not worth" the money I was making at the former job and that I would be "lucky" to come to B&Co. On top of it I think he used my "plan" that he asked me to draft as part of my audition to come to the dark-side to launch one of his ventures.

He came into my current place of employment last summer hoping to get some work on a (NON-shady) pr project only to find me sitting at the table as one of the folks that would ultimately decide his fate.

He likes the sound of his own voice and plays himself as some sort of "evil genius" but I must say he is neither a genius or really that evil as everyone with half a brain knows his tired game and has moved well beyond that...

As for David B...I applaud you staying away from your dad. You made a hard choice and hopefully, when he is done with his evil ventures, you will find some way to rebuild a relationship.

Shiny Happy People is a good song and REM has seldom erred, if ever...