Josh Alan Friedman
Encyclopedia
Josh Alan Friedman is an American musician
, writer
, editor
and journalist
. Widely known for his 1986 collection Tales of Times Square and his often-controversial comix collaborations with his brother, artist Drew Friedman, many of which are compiled in the books Any Similarity to Persons Living or Dead is Purely Coincidental and Warts and All. Friedman is also a successful musician and songwriter, recording and performing under the moniker "Josh Alan."
-playwright
Bruce Jay Friedman
and acting coach Ginger Howard Friedman, Josh Alan grew up in Glen Cove, Long Island
, Great Neck and New York City
, the eldest of three boys. In 1962, Josh began first grade at South School, then the last segregated school on Long Island
. He was the sole white student. His years attending South School at the flashpoint of the African-American Civil Rights Movement, the childhood friendships forged there and his occasionally life-threatening adventures in Long Island's forgotten Black shantytowns subsequently formed the basis of his "autobiographical novel" Black Cracker. (An early version of Black Cracker appeared in Penthouse
in August, 1978.)
Friedman has defined his creative identity as "51% guitar and 49% writing."
Though Friedman began playing guitar at 9, a pitching injury at 14 cost Friedman the use of his right arm for two years. "I figured if I ever had the honor of being able to play again, no one's going to pull me away from it." His time as a student with journeyman jazz guitarist Joe Monk in particular left a deep impression on the young musician.
Friedman spent his last five years in New York working as a guitarist with the busy show band City Limits, featuring Richard Lanham, former vocalist for The Drifters
.
Following his move to Dallas in 1987, Friedman began recording and performing as a solo artist in earnest. He also recorded and performed extensively with Sara Hickman
, and produced Dallas’ KERA 90.1 Sound Sessions. Billed as “Josh Alan” he barnstormed the state of Texas for 20 years, rocking whole arenas with his Guild D-40 and earning three Dallas Observer Music Awards for Best Acoustic Act. He was noted for his live use of acoustic feedback, the Maestro Echoplex and surf instrumentals, as well as an acoustic medley of Black exploitation movie soundtracks. He has released four albums: Famous & Poor, The Worst! (a musical based on the life and career of "Worst Director of All Time" Ed Wood), Blacks 'n' Jews (the title of which became a documentary on Josh’s life) and Josh Alan Band.
Josh Alan has recorded and/or played with Sara Hickman
, Keb' Mo'
, Kinky Friedman
, Bugs Henderson, Phoebe Legere
, and was a perennial opener in Texas for dozens of rock and blues acts, including Johnny Winter
, Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown, War
, Huey Lewis and the News
, Bad Company
, Mitch Ryder
, Michael Nesmith
and Wanda Jackson
.
. He continued to write for the magazine for several years, eventually holding the position of Senior Editor through 1982. He covered the Times Square beat for Screw during a perilous time when few, if any writers, ventured there. He also worked as a producer on Screws cable television show, Midnight Blue
. Several of Friedman’s Screw pieces would eventually serve as the foundation for his 1986 collection, Tales of Times Square, documenting "pre-Disney" Times Square. By the late 70s, Josh's brother, artist Drew Friedman, was drawing covers for Screw, some conceptualized with Josh. Additionally, "Meeting Groucho," Friedman's childhood reminiscence of a memorable dinner with comedian Groucho Marx
, was published in New York Magazine as "A Memory of Groucho" in August, 1978.
Concurrently, Josh worked as a stringer for Soho News, contributing celebrity profiles, notably of legendary songwriter Doc Pomus
. Pomus became a friend and mentor, and Friedman credits Pomus with teaching him to be a songwriter “without him knowing it. Just by hanging around him, I felt like he taught me how to write songs…that’s what turned me from being a frustrated songwriter into a songwriter.”
During this period, Josh's comix collaborations with brother Drew were gaining momentum. Beginning with a notorious parody of The Andy Griffith Show
first published in School of Visual Arts
instructor Harvey Kurtzman
's student publication Kar-tunz (later reprinted in RAW magazine), the Friedmans developed an enthusiastic following for their bizarro parodies and dissections of forgotten B-list entertainers and obscure pop culture figures. With their acidic, occasionally fantastical biographies of second- and third-tier celebrities such as talk show host Joe Franklin
("The Joe Franklin Story," High Times, June 1981), Wayne Newton
("The Living History of Wayne Newton," High Times, September 1983), Frank Sinatra, Jr.
("The Saga of Frank Sinatra, Jr.," National Lampoon, October 1985) and Joey Heatherton
("I, Joey Heatherton," National Lampoon, December 1989), the Friedman Bros. became the most-feared names in satirical cartooning. Their comics had a discernible influence on SCTV
.
Much of their work as a team was collected in the books Any Similarity to Persons Living or Dead is Purely Coincidental, published in 1985, and Warts and All, published in 1990. Warts and All included an effusive introduction by Kurt Vonnegut
, and the book won a comics industry Harvey Award
in 1991.
Friedman served as Managing Editor of High Times magazine in 1983, and as Contributing Editor to National Lampoon in the 1980s.
In 2001, Josh co-edited Now Dig This: The Unspeakable Writings of Terry Southern in collaboration with Nile Southern.
In 2005, Feral House
published When Sex Was Dirty.
In 2006, I, Goldstein: My Screwed Life (with Al Goldstein
) was released by Thunder's Mouth Press.
In 2007, Feral House reissued Tales of Times Square in an expanded edition.
In 2008, Tell the Truth Until They Bleed: Coming Clean in the Dirty World of Blues and Rock 'n' Roll was published by Backbeat Books.
The book's opening section, a profile of songwriter Jerry Leiber, evolved from an ill-fated collaboration between Friedman and Leiber on Leiber's autobiography. Friedman later eulogized Leiber in "Kiss My Big Black Ass: Jerry Leiber's Life in Spades" on his website. A slightly abbreviated version appeared in the Dallas Observer
.
In 2009, Friedman launched Black Cracker Online, a website and online archive. Reprints, photographs, video, unpublished material and new work are posted weekly.
In 2010, Black Cracker was published by Wyatt Doyle Books.
Musician
A musician is an artist who plays a musical instrument. It may or may not be the person's profession. Musicians can be classified by their roles in performing music and writing music.Also....* A person who makes music a profession....
, writer
Writer
A writer is a person who produces literature, such as novels, short stories, plays, screenplays, poetry, or other literary art. Skilled writers are able to use language to portray ideas and images....
, editor
Editor
The term editor may refer to:As a person who does editing:* Editor in chief, having final responsibility for a publication's operations and policies* Copy editing, making formatting changes and other improvements to text...
and journalist
Journalist
A journalist collects and distributes news and other information. A journalist's work is referred to as journalism.A reporter is a type of journalist who researchs, writes, and reports on information to be presented in mass media, including print media , electronic media , and digital media A...
. Widely known for his 1986 collection Tales of Times Square and his often-controversial comix collaborations with his brother, artist Drew Friedman, many of which are compiled in the books Any Similarity to Persons Living or Dead is Purely Coincidental and Warts and All. Friedman is also a successful musician and songwriter, recording and performing under the moniker "Josh Alan."
Biography
Son of authorAuthor
An author is broadly defined as "the person who originates or gives existence to anything" and that authorship determines responsibility for what is created. Narrowly defined, an author is the originator of any written work.-Legal significance:...
-playwright
Playwright
A playwright, also called a dramatist, is a person who writes plays.The term is not a variant spelling of "playwrite", but something quite distinct: the word wright is an archaic English term for a craftsman or builder...
Bruce Jay Friedman
Bruce Jay Friedman
Bruce Jay Friedman is an American novelist, screenwriter, playwright, and actor.Raised in the Bronx by Irving and Mollie Friedman, Bruce Jay Friedman graduated from DeWitt Clinton High School. He then attended the University of Missouri as a journalism major, then served as a First Lieutenant in...
and acting coach Ginger Howard Friedman, Josh Alan grew up in Glen Cove, Long Island
Long Island
Long Island is an island located in the southeast part of the U.S. state of New York, just east of Manhattan. Stretching northeast into the Atlantic Ocean, Long Island contains four counties, two of which are boroughs of New York City , and two of which are mainly suburban...
, Great Neck and New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
, the eldest of three boys. In 1962, Josh began first grade at South School, then the last segregated school on Long Island
Long Island
Long Island is an island located in the southeast part of the U.S. state of New York, just east of Manhattan. Stretching northeast into the Atlantic Ocean, Long Island contains four counties, two of which are boroughs of New York City , and two of which are mainly suburban...
. He was the sole white student. His years attending South School at the flashpoint of the African-American Civil Rights Movement, the childhood friendships forged there and his occasionally life-threatening adventures in Long Island's forgotten Black shantytowns subsequently formed the basis of his "autobiographical novel" Black Cracker. (An early version of Black Cracker appeared in Penthouse
Penthouse (magazine)
Penthouse, a men's magazine founded by Bob Guccione, combines urban lifestyle articles and softcore pornographic pictorials that, in the 1990s, evolved into hardcore. Penthouse is owned by FriendFinder Network. formerly known as General Media, Inc. whose parent company was Penthouse International...
in August, 1978.)
Friedman has defined his creative identity as "51% guitar and 49% writing."
Music career
"The guitar has always been the most important thing in the world to me," Friedman told the Dallas Times Herald in 1991. "It's a little bit more important than the writing because I've been doing it longer. The writing seemed like a sidetrack or something when I wasn't able to get my [expletive] together."Though Friedman began playing guitar at 9, a pitching injury at 14 cost Friedman the use of his right arm for two years. "I figured if I ever had the honor of being able to play again, no one's going to pull me away from it." His time as a student with journeyman jazz guitarist Joe Monk in particular left a deep impression on the young musician.
Friedman spent his last five years in New York working as a guitarist with the busy show band City Limits, featuring Richard Lanham, former vocalist for The Drifters
The Drifters
The Drifters are a long-lived American doo-wop and R&B/soul vocal group with a peak in popularity from 1953 to 1963, though several splinter Drifters continue to perform today. They were originally formed to serve as Clyde McPhatter's backing group in 1953...
.
Following his move to Dallas in 1987, Friedman began recording and performing as a solo artist in earnest. He also recorded and performed extensively with Sara Hickman
Sara Hickman
Sara Hickman is a rock/folk/pop/children's music singer, songwriter, and artist.-Biography:Hickman was born in Jacksonville, North Carolina. She grew up in Houston, Texas, where she attended the High School for the Performing and Visual Arts as a vocal major. In 1986, she graduated from the...
, and produced Dallas’ KERA 90.1 Sound Sessions. Billed as “Josh Alan” he barnstormed the state of Texas for 20 years, rocking whole arenas with his Guild D-40 and earning three Dallas Observer Music Awards for Best Acoustic Act. He was noted for his live use of acoustic feedback, the Maestro Echoplex and surf instrumentals, as well as an acoustic medley of Black exploitation movie soundtracks. He has released four albums: Famous & Poor, The Worst! (a musical based on the life and career of "Worst Director of All Time" Ed Wood), Blacks 'n' Jews (the title of which became a documentary on Josh’s life) and Josh Alan Band.
Josh Alan has recorded and/or played with Sara Hickman
Sara Hickman
Sara Hickman is a rock/folk/pop/children's music singer, songwriter, and artist.-Biography:Hickman was born in Jacksonville, North Carolina. She grew up in Houston, Texas, where she attended the High School for the Performing and Visual Arts as a vocal major. In 1986, she graduated from the...
, Keb' Mo'
Keb' Mo'
Keb' Mo is an American blues singer, guitarist, and songwriter, currently living in Nashville, Tennessee, United States.-Early life:From early on he had an appreciation for the blues and gospel music...
, Kinky Friedman
Kinky Friedman
Richard S. "Kinky" Friedman is an American Texas Country singer, songwriter, novelist, humorist, politician and former columnist for Texas Monthly who styles himself in the mold of popular American satirists Will Rogers and Mark Twain. He was one of two independent candidates in the 2006 election...
, Bugs Henderson, Phoebe Legere
Phoebe Legere
Phoebe Hemenway Legere is a Multi-Format Artist: she is a composer, soprano, pianist and accordionist; a painter, a poet, and a film maker.Legere has recorded for Mercury Records in England and Epic, Island, Funtone, ESP Disk and Einstein records in the United States. Legere has released ten CDs...
, and was a perennial opener in Texas for dozens of rock and blues acts, including Johnny Winter
Johnny Winter
John Dawson "Johnny" Winter III is an American blues guitarist, singer, and producer. Best known for his late 1960s and 1970s high-energy blues-rock albums and live performances, Winter also produced three Grammy Award-winning albums for blues legend Muddy Waters...
, Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown, War
War (band)
War is an American funk band from California, known for the hit songs "Low Rider", "Spill the Wine", "The Cisco Kid" and "Why Can't We Be Friends?". Formed in 1969, War was a musical crossover band which fused elements of rock, funk, jazz, Latin, rhythm and blues, and reggae...
, Huey Lewis and the News
Huey Lewis and the News
Huey Lewis and the News is an American rock band based in San Francisco, California. They had a run of hit singles during the 1980s and early 1990s, eventually scoring a total of 19 top-ten singles across the Billboard Hot 100, Adult Contemporary and Mainstream Rock charts...
, Bad Company
Bad Company
Bad Company were an English rock supergroup founded in 1973, consisting of two former Free band members — singer Paul Rodgers and drummer Simon Kirke — as well as Mott the Hoople guitarist Mick Ralphs and King Crimson bassist Boz Burrell. Peter Grant, who, in years prior, was a key component of...
, Mitch Ryder
Mitch Ryder
William S. Levise, Jr , better known by his stage name Mitch Ryder, is an American musician who has recorded over two dozen albums in more than four decades.-Career:...
, Michael Nesmith
Michael Nesmith
Robert Michael Nesmith is an American musician, songwriter, actor, producer, novelist, businessman, and philanthropist, best known as a member of the musical group The Monkees and star of the TV series of the same name...
and Wanda Jackson
Wanda Jackson
Wanda Lavonne Jackson is an American singer, songwriter, pianist and guitarist who had success in the mid-1950s and 60s as one of the first popular female rockabilly singers and a pioneering rock and roll artist...
.
Writing career
Friedman’s first published work was for Screw magazineScrew magazine
Screw is a weekly pornographic magazine published in the United States aimed at heterosexual men. It was first published in 1968 by Al Goldstein and was printed weekly in tabloid form...
. He continued to write for the magazine for several years, eventually holding the position of Senior Editor through 1982. He covered the Times Square beat for Screw during a perilous time when few, if any writers, ventured there. He also worked as a producer on Screws cable television show, Midnight Blue
Midnight Blue (TV series)
Midnight Blue was a sexually themed public access cable television program that aired on Channel J in New York City.The show debuted in 1974, as Screw publisher Al Goldstein parlayed his publishing success into a cable access show, a freeform interview program that played on the late night airwaves...
. Several of Friedman’s Screw pieces would eventually serve as the foundation for his 1986 collection, Tales of Times Square, documenting "pre-Disney" Times Square. By the late 70s, Josh's brother, artist Drew Friedman, was drawing covers for Screw, some conceptualized with Josh. Additionally, "Meeting Groucho," Friedman's childhood reminiscence of a memorable dinner with comedian Groucho Marx
Groucho Marx
Julius Henry "Groucho" Marx was an American comedian and film star famed as a master of wit. His rapid-fire delivery of innuendo-laden patter earned him many admirers. He made 13 feature films with his siblings the Marx Brothers, of whom he was the third-born...
, was published in New York Magazine as "A Memory of Groucho" in August, 1978.
Concurrently, Josh worked as a stringer for Soho News, contributing celebrity profiles, notably of legendary songwriter Doc Pomus
Doc Pomus
Jerome Solon Felder, better known as Doc Pomus , was a twentieth-century American blues singer and songwriter. He is best known as the lyricist of many rock and roll hits. Pomus was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in the category of non-performer in 1992. He was also inducted into...
. Pomus became a friend and mentor, and Friedman credits Pomus with teaching him to be a songwriter “without him knowing it. Just by hanging around him, I felt like he taught me how to write songs…that’s what turned me from being a frustrated songwriter into a songwriter.”
During this period, Josh's comix collaborations with brother Drew were gaining momentum. Beginning with a notorious parody of The Andy Griffith Show
The Andy Griffith Show
The Andy Griffith Show is an American sitcom first televised by CBS between October 3, 1960, and April 1, 1968. Andy Griffith portrays a widowed sheriff in the fictional small community of Mayberry, North Carolina...
first published in School of Visual Arts
School of Visual Arts
The School of Visual Arts , is a proprietary art school located in Manhattan, New York City, and is widely considered to be one of the leading art schools in the United States. It was established in 1947 by co-founders Silas H. Rhodes and Burne Hogarth as the Cartoonists and Illustrators School and...
instructor Harvey Kurtzman
Harvey Kurtzman
Harvey Kurtzman was an American cartoonist and the editor of several comic books and magazines. Kurtzman often signed his name H. Kurtz, followed by a stick figure Harvey Kurtzman (October 3, 1924, Brooklyn, New York – February 21, 1993) was an American cartoonist and the editor of several comic...
's student publication Kar-tunz (later reprinted in RAW magazine), the Friedmans developed an enthusiastic following for their bizarro parodies and dissections of forgotten B-list entertainers and obscure pop culture figures. With their acidic, occasionally fantastical biographies of second- and third-tier celebrities such as talk show host Joe Franklin
Joe Franklin
Joe Franklin is an American radio and television personality. From New York City, Franklin is sometimes credited with hosting the first television talk show...
("The Joe Franklin Story," High Times, June 1981), Wayne Newton
Wayne Newton
Wayne Newton is an American singer and entertainer based in Las Vegas, Nevada. He performed over 30,000 solo shows in Las Vegas over a period of over 40 years, earning him the nicknames The Midnight Idol, Mr. Las Vegas and Mr. Entertainment...
("The Living History of Wayne Newton," High Times, September 1983), Frank Sinatra, Jr.
Frank Sinatra, Jr.
Franklin Wayne Sinatra , professionally known as Frank Sinatra, Jr., is an American singer, songwriter and conductor....
("The Saga of Frank Sinatra, Jr.," National Lampoon, October 1985) and Joey Heatherton
Joey Heatherton
Joey Heatherton is an American actress, dancer, and singer.-Early life:Christened Davenie Johanna Heatherton and nicknamed "Joey," she was raised in Rockville Centre, New York, a suburb of New York City. There she attended St. Agnes Cathedral School, a Catholic grade and high school...
("I, Joey Heatherton," National Lampoon, December 1989), the Friedman Bros. became the most-feared names in satirical cartooning. Their comics had a discernible influence on SCTV
SCTV
SCTV can refer to:*Second City Television, a Canadian sketch comedy television program*SCTV , an Indonesian TV station*SCTV , a television station of Sichuan province in China...
.
Much of their work as a team was collected in the books Any Similarity to Persons Living or Dead is Purely Coincidental, published in 1985, and Warts and All, published in 1990. Warts and All included an effusive introduction by Kurt Vonnegut
Kurt Vonnegut
Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. was a 20th century American writer. His works such as Cat's Cradle , Slaughterhouse-Five and Breakfast of Champions blend satire, gallows humor and science fiction. He was known for his humanist beliefs and was honorary president of the American Humanist Association.-Early...
, and the book won a comics industry Harvey Award
Harvey Award
The Harvey Awards, named for writer-artist Harvey Kurtzman and founded by Gary Groth, President of the publisher Fantagraphics, are given for achievement in comic books. The Harveys were created as part of a successor to the Kirby Awards which were discontinued after 1987.The Harvey Awards are...
in 1991.
Friedman served as Managing Editor of High Times magazine in 1983, and as Contributing Editor to National Lampoon in the 1980s.
In 2001, Josh co-edited Now Dig This: The Unspeakable Writings of Terry Southern in collaboration with Nile Southern.
In 2005, Feral House
Feral House
Feral House is a book publisher owned and operated by Adam Parfrey. The publisher itself describes the books it sells as "pure information", and says the topics of the books are "forbidden"....
published When Sex Was Dirty.
In 2006, I, Goldstein: My Screwed Life (with Al Goldstein
Al Goldstein
Alvin "Al" Goldstein is a former American publisher and pornographer. His company Milky Way Productions, home of Screw, and his long-running cable TV show, Midnight Blue was started in 1968 and went into bankruptcy in 2004...
) was released by Thunder's Mouth Press.
In 2007, Feral House reissued Tales of Times Square in an expanded edition.
In 2008, Tell the Truth Until They Bleed: Coming Clean in the Dirty World of Blues and Rock 'n' Roll was published by Backbeat Books.
The book's opening section, a profile of songwriter Jerry Leiber, evolved from an ill-fated collaboration between Friedman and Leiber on Leiber's autobiography. Friedman later eulogized Leiber in "Kiss My Big Black Ass: Jerry Leiber's Life in Spades" on his website. A slightly abbreviated version appeared in the Dallas Observer
Dallas Observer
The Dallas Observer is a free alternative weekly newspaper distributed around the Dallas, Texas . At its inception, it was conceived as a weekly local arts and cinema review publication, with the credo "Advocate for Excellence in the Arts" on the cover. For a time during the early years, the paper...
.
In 2009, Friedman launched Black Cracker Online, a website and online archive. Reprints, photographs, video, unpublished material and new work are posted weekly.
In 2010, Black Cracker was published by Wyatt Doyle Books.
Personal life
Friedman lives in Dallas with his wife, graphic designer Peggy Bennett of Bennett.Elia, and their daughter Chloe.Non-fiction
- Tell the Truth Until They Bleed. New York: Backbeat Books/Hal Leonard, 2008.
- I, Goldstein (with Al GoldsteinAl GoldsteinAlvin "Al" Goldstein is a former American publisher and pornographer. His company Milky Way Productions, home of Screw, and his long-running cable TV show, Midnight Blue was started in 1968 and went into bankruptcy in 2004...
). New York: Thunder's Mouth Press, 2006. - When Sex Was Dirty. Los Angeles: Feral House, 2005.
- Tales of Times Square. New York: Delacorte Press, 1986.
Fiction
- Black Cracker: An Autobiographical Novel. Los Angeles: Wyatt Doyle Books/New Texture, 2010.
- Now Dig This: The Unspeakable Writings of Terry Southern (co-editor with Nile Southern). New York: Grove Press, 2001.
- Warts and All (with Drew Friedman). New York: Penguin, 1990.
- Any Similarity to Persons Living Or Dead Is Purely Coincidental (with Drew Friedman). Agoura, CA: Fantagraphics, 1985.
Albums
| Year | Album | US Billboard 200 The Billboard 200 is a ranking of the 200 highest-selling music albums and EPs in the United States, published weekly by Billboard magazine. It is frequently used to convey the popularity of an artist or groups of artists... |
Label |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1991 | Famous & Poor | — | Four Dots |
| 1994 | The Worst! | — | Black Cracker |
| 1997 | Blacks 'n' Jews | — | Black Cracker |
| 2001 | Josh Alan Band | — | TopCat |
Singles
| Year | Single | US Billboard 200 The Billboard 200 is a ranking of the 200 highest-selling music albums and EPs in the United States, published weekly by Billboard magazine. It is frequently used to convey the popularity of an artist or groups of artists... |
Label |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1988 | "Thanksgiving at McDonald's in Times Square" | — | Alternative Music |
Filmography
Paul Stone's unfinished adaptation of Tales of Times Square and Kevin Page's documentary on Josh Alan's life, Blacks and Jews, have enjoyed wide acclaim at film festivals.External links
- http://www.BlackCrackerOnline.com Black Cracker Online, Josh Alan Friedman's official website