Featured: Pull My Daisy

Robert Frank & Albert Leslie, Pull My Daisy

Box containing paperback book and DVD

"Pull My Daisy is a collectable object containing Robert Frank’s famous film of 1959 on DVD; a text booklet with an introduction, the transcript of the film and lyrics to the opening song; and a photo-magazine of on-set documentary photos by John Cohen. Pull My Daisy typifies the Beat Generation. Directed by Robert Frank and Alfred Leslie, Pull My Daisy was adapted by Jack Kerouac from the third act of a stage play he never finished entitled Beat Generation. Kerouac also provided improvised narration. It stars Allen Ginsberg, Gregory Corso, Larry Rivers, Peter Orlovsky, David Amram, Richard Bellamy, Alice Neel, Sally Gross and Pablo, Frank’s then infant son. Based on an incident in the life of Neal Cassady and his wife Carolyn, the movie tells the story of a railway brakeman whose painter wife invites a respectable bishop over for dinner. However, the brakeman’s bohemian friends crash the party, with comic results. Pull My Daisy was praised for years as an improvisational masterpiece, until Leslie revealed in 1968 that the film was actually carefully planned, rehearsed, and directed by him and Frank." -Steidl

This book, and thousands of others, can be purchased from:

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215 592 1207

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Tuesday: thru Saturday, 11am to 7pm
Sunday: 11am to 6pm
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Featured: Grayson Perry's Cycle Of Violence

Grayson Perry, Cycle Of Violence

Atlas Press, Hardcover

"Since winning the Turner Prize in 2003, the celebrated transvestite potter Grayson Perry (born 1960) has become something of a national institution in the U.K. In 1992, some while before he became known, Atlas Press published Perry’s sole graphic novel, Cycle of Violence, the nightmarish tale of a young cyclist and transvestite, now reprinted in a handsome hardcover edition. Of the work’s genesis, Perry wrote: “When I was 12 or 13 I drew a series of short comic strip adventures featuring an idealized male hero. When puberty hit me those boys’ own tales became increasingly kinky, involving much cross-dressing and bondage. Sadly these reports from my young subconscious were lost in the upheavals of adolescence. Twenty years later I drew Cycles of Violence while facing up to becoming a father myself, and once again my imagination became an open wound.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This book, and thousands of others, can be purchased from:

Brickbat Books
709 South Fourth Street
Philadelphia, PA 19147

215 592 1207

Open:
Tuesday: thru Saturday, 11am to 7pm
Sunday: 11am to 6pm
Closed Monday 

 

Featured: Michael Hurley

Hard to think of a guy whose music has given so much flat-out pleasure over the years. Here's what we have in stock right now...

Land Of LoFi

Vinyl Record

"You could be sitting there wondering why Mississippi releases such a huge amount of records by MICHAEL HURLEY (this is our 8th). To put it as mildly as we can—Hurley is by and large one of the greatest song writers of all time and we consider it an important part of our mission to get the world aware of his awsome talent. Here we have Hurleys latest batch of home recordings and believe me when I say they are some of his best songs ever. It's unusual for a man 50 years into his recording career to come up with some of his greatest songs yet, but here 'tis. Hurley plays heart breakers solo with guitar and/or organ accompaniment, along with three tracks where he is joined by the beautiful voice of JOLIE HOLLAND. Some incredible new songs such as the eerie "Alligator in the Water," the poignant and all too true 'Disaster at the Wheel," the utterly cosmic "Corridor," the near avant garde "Doin' the Opossum," the stone cold intense "You Got to Die" and on and on. True geniuses are hard to come by, so wake on up and give this record a long hard listen. If it doesn't move you, then I don't know what will. "

Ancestral Swamp

Vinyl Record

"Ancestral Swamp is the 20th full-length album by legendary rambler, cartoonist, “outsider” folk singer, and guitarist Michael Hurley. It arrives just in the nick of time for the rabid Snockophile. A batch of new vittles and encores of some of his classic tunes, Ancestral Swamp bubbles with laid-back ease and tremolodic goodness.  
 Most songs have the simplest of arrangements: Hurley singing solo, accompanied by his guitar, Wurlizter organ, or fiddle. Tara Jane O’Neil helps lend a nice touch to “El Dorado,” and Snock calls upon frequent past accomplices Dave Reisch and Louie Longmeyer for their graceful touch on sleepy winners like “New River Blues” and “Gamblin’ Charlie.” As with all Hurley’s albums, once one sets the needle down, one is put in a certain peace and place. His voice and songs are unique, shuffling with characters and visions clear and wild. With Ancestral Swamp, it seems Snock has left his front door open a bit wider than usual. If you lean in close, you can inhale a little of the vapor rising off the water, and enjoy a tale or two."

Long Journey

Vinyl Record

"Tracing the lineage and citing the fore-bearers of the New Weird America, one can’t help but mention the music of bizarre folk singer/guitarist/artist MICHAEL HURLEY. If you haven’t been following his career since the 1970’s (when he was collaborating with the likes of the Holy Modal Rounders and Jesse Colin Young) then you probably discovered him in the past couple of years via Devendra Banhart’s and Andy Cabic’s label Gnomonsong, who have released Hurley’s recent recordings. Hurley’s debut album, First Songs, was recorded for Folkways Records in 1965 on the same reel-to-reel machine that taped Lead Belly’s Last Sessions. He was discovered by blues and jazz historian Frederick Ramsey III, and subsequently championed by boyhood friend Jesse Colin Young, who released Hurley’s next two album on The Youngbloods’ Warner Brother’s imprint, Raccoon. How’s that for cred? In the 1970s, Hurley made three albums for Rounder Records; Have Moicy!, which Robert Christgau of The Village Voice called “The greatest folk album of the rock era,” Long Journey, which features the song “Hog Of The Forsaken,” as heard in HBO’s Deadwood, and Snockgrass which features PETER STAMPFEL of the Holy Modal Rounders. All three are now making a long awaited return to vinyl after several decades."

Ida Con Snock

Vinyl Record

"An album of recordings sung and played by Hurley, backed by Ida, appropriately titled Ida Con Snock: Snock himself marvels at this 21st studio album, recorded at Levon Helms' studio in Woodstock, NY. Ida's less-is-more finesse shines on these rich recordings, melding perfectly with Hurley's playing and singing. Many of these songs are already well familiar to Hurley's devotees. There are seven originals and five loving covers of '50s rock 'n' roll, C&W, and vintage folk, each tune capturing Hurley and band at peak performance levels. "

Snockgrass

Vinyl Record

"Hurley’s 1980 LP Snockgrass is a delightful singer-songwriter mix-up, with songs that switch from the serious to the satirical at the drop of a hat (sometimes in the middle of a song), which can result in unexpected laughter – the cover painting (done by Hurley himself), tends to get puzzled and startled reactions for its surreal landscape filled with naked people and instrument-playing wolves! The album features several members of the Holy Modal Rounders, including Peter Stampfel on fiddle, Dave Reisch on bass and vocals, and Robin Remaily on mandolin

."

Wildegeeses/ South In Virginia

7 inch Single

"A 1993 recording of one of MICHAEL HURLEY’s greatest songs of all time. Unreleased version featuring just Michael and his guitar. “Wildegeeses” is a heavy little ballad about love and loss and all that kind of thing. The B side, “West Virginia,” is a recording from around the same time—a song thats never come out until now. Both killers. Full-color picture sleeve painted by Michael. One time only limited edition.  "

These items, and thousands of others, can be purchased from:

Brickbat Books
709 South Fourth Street
Philadelphia, PA 19147

215 592 1207

Open:
Tuesday: thru Saturday, 11am to 7pm
Sunday: 11am to 6pm
Closed Monday

We're Open!

Just got a batch of FBI Minis in the shop (limited stock, and we probably won't be getting more.) Here's one for Valentine's Day...

This book, and thousands of others, can be purchased from:

Brickbat Books
709 South Fourth Street
Philadelphia, PA 19147

215 592 1207

Open:
Tuesday: thru Saturday, 11am to 7pm
Sunday: 11am to 6pm
Closed Monday 

Featured: Dive Dark Dream Slow

 

Melissa Catanese, Diver Dark Dream Slow

Hardcover

Photographer and bookseller Melissa Catanese has been editing the vast photography collection of Peter J. Cohen, a celebrated trove of more than 20,000 vernacular and found anonymous photographs from the early to mid-twentieth century. Gathered from flea markets, dealers and Ebay, these prints have been acquired, exhibited and included in a range of major museum publications. In organizing the archive into a series of thematic catalogues, she has pursued an alternate reading of the collection, drifting away from simple typology into something more personal, intuitive and openly poetic. Her magical new artist’s book, Dive Dark Dream Slow, is rooted in the mystery and delight of the “found” image and the “snapshot” aesthetic, but pushes beyond the nostalgic surface of these pictures and reimagines them as luminous transmissions of anxious sensuality. Through a series of abandoned visual clues, from the sepia-infused shadow of a little girl running along a beach to silhouettes of a group of distant figures pausing upon a steep and snowy hill, a dreamlike journey is evoked. Like an album of pop songs about a girl (or a civilization) hovering on the verge of transformation, the book cycles through overlapping themes and counter-themes--moon and ocean; violence and tenderness; innocence and experience; masks and nakedness--that sparkle with deep psychic longing and apocalyptic comedy.

 

This book, and thousands of others, can be purchased from:

Brickbat Books
709 South Fourth Street
Philadelphia, PA 19147

215 592 1207

Open:
Tuesday: thru Saturday, 11am to 7pm
Sunday: 11am to 6pm
Closed Monday   

 

 

Sold: Aspen No. 9: Dreamweapon

Angus & Hettie Maclise, Aspen No. 9 (Dreamweapon)

Contributions by Angus MacLise and Hetty MacLise, Don Snyder, Ira Cohen, Gerard Malanga, LaMonte Young, Marian Zazeela, Terry Riley, etc.

Contents include:

1 Dream of Goeralegan. Text and illustration by Don Snyder.
2 From The Invasion of Thunderbolt Pagoda. Color photographs by Ira Cohen and Bill Devore.
3 Musical Scores and Glyphs. Drawing in Mayan style, by Aymon de Sales, and a poem.
4 Triptych. Drawings by Dale Wilbourn.
5 Lumagraphs. Perforated sheet of gummed stamps printed with color photographs of female nudes, by Don Snyder.
6 Benno Friedman’s Westerns. Frames from classic Western films, chemically stained by Benno Friedman.
7Letter to Diane and Shelley from Vali. Text & drawings by Vali, photos by Diane Rochlin.
8 Poetry Sheet. Poetry by Gerard Malanga, Paolo Lionni, Nikki Grand, Harvey Cohen and John Cale. Reverse side printed with transformations of a photo by P. Zimmer.
9 The Soul of the Word. Text and calligraphic designs by Marian Zazeela.
10 Dream Music. LaMonte Young on oneiric music. Reverse side: Keyboard Study #2, a circular musical score by Terry Riley.
11 Phonograph recording. Audio: Joyous Lake / Spontaneous Sound. Side A: The Joyous Lake by Elsen Standlee, Raja Samyana, Angus MacLise, Ziska, and Hetty MacLise. Side B: Spontaneous Sound by Christopher Tree on a collection of 150 instruments.
12 Sentential Metaphrastic. Poem by Lionel Ziprin, illustrated with a photograph by Tom Carroll.
13 Printed folder, 9-3/8 by 12-5/8 inches. Inside printed with table of contents. Folder designed by Hetty MacLise. Encloses sections 2 through 13, and a sheet of translucent paper laid atop them.

 

Featured: The Codex Seraphinianus

Luigi Serafini,  Codex Seraphinianus 

Hardcover

 An extraordinary and surreal art book, this edition has been redesigned by the author and includes new illustrations. Ever since the Codex Seraphinianus was first published in 1981, the book has been recognized as one of the strangest and most beautiful art books ever made. This visual encyclopedia of an unknown world written in an unknown language has fueled much debate over its meaning. Written for the information age and addressing the import of coding and decoding in genetics, literary criticism, and computer science, the Codex confused, fascinated, and enchanted a generation.

While its message may be unclear, its appeal is obvious: it is a most exquisite artifact. Blurring the distinction between art book and art object, this anniversary edition-redesigned by the author and featuring new illustrations-presents this unique work in a new, unparalleled light. With the advent of new media and forms of communication and continuous streams of information, the Codex is now more relevant and timely than ever. A special limited and numbered deluxe edition that includes a signed print is also available.

Luigi Serafini is an architect, ceramist, glazier, painter, sculptor, designer, opera director, set designer, and critic who works in Italy and abroad. In 2007, the Padiglione d'Arte Contemporanea in Milan dedicated a successful mostra ontological (ontological exhibition) to him. He has illustrated works by Franz Kafka and Michael Ende.

 This book, and thousands of others, can be purchased from:

Brickbat Books
709 South Fourth Street
Philadelphia, PA 19147

215 592 1207

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Tuesday: thru Saturday, 11am to 7pm
Sunday: 11am to 6pm
Closed Monday

Featured: Ye-Ye Girls!

 

Yé-Yé! Girls of '60s French Pop 

"Yé-Yé is a delightful style of pop music featuring young female singers that influenced France and many other countries, as says Susan Sontag, with its particular “camp” style throughout the 1960s.

Yé-Yé pop had secondary explosions in the 1970s and 1990s in Japan and Europe through the likes of Lio (who provides this book’s foreword), and in the United States through singers like April March, whose Yé-Yé number “Chick Habit” was heard in the Quentin Tarantino film Death Proof.
Interest in Yé-Yé revived again recently during the fifth season of the mega-popular television series Mad Men, when Don Draper’s young, sexy wife sang the Yé-Yé number “Zou Bisou Bisou,” originally made famous in the 1960s by blonde actress Gillian Hills.
The most famous Yé-Yé practitioners include the glamorous Sylvie Vartan (married to rock star Johnny Hallyday), French lolita France Gall, beautiful actresses Brigitte Bardot and Chantal Goya, and the statuesque Françoise Hardy.
This collection by French pop music expert Jean-Emmanuel Deluxe includes many interviews with the original singers and producers, visual excerpts of record covers, both 45s and LPs, and remarkable excerpts from a children’s fan diary of the period.
Yé-Yé means “Yeah Yeah” and many music lovers are ready for an immersion in this beloved but little-known genre."
“This lavishly illustrated compendium is like a passport to another time and place…a window into an era in which one could switch on the TV & see Bridget Bardot singing about Harley Davidson motorcycles while wearing thigh-high boots and a black leather mini-skirt. This book may well be the Bible of Yé-Yé .” -Boyd Rice

Also available:

Clothilde: Queen Of The French Swinging Mademoiselle

Vinyl Record

Why CLOTHILDE? Why not that more star-worthy, internationally-acclaimed Françoise Hardy, or the more akin to the sub-genre, France Gall? Because she's the most characteristic, archtypical French mademoiselle, that's why! Christine Pilzer, even Jacqueline Taïeb before her, both may have been rediscovered first in this style unique to French '60s pop, and Stella also may have been the most out and out "anti-ye-ye" with her slightly anti-establishment and derisive lyrics countering the pop system and establishment, but Cleo's all about text, not that much as a whole production. As such, Clothilde takes the crown. Not only has Clothilde the most natural (albeit unknowingly) disposition as a chanteuse, singing such subversive lyrics with as much second degree detachment as possible but also, the music itself is highly original: inventive arrangements including French horn, musical saw, church bells, barrel organ, marimba, brass fiddle, woodwinds, and busy fuzz guitar amidst all that slapstick comedy-like audio bric-à-brac. Almost avant-garde in concept, it was imagined and produced by Clothilde's impresario, manager and indeed creator, legendary Disques Vogue A.D. Germinal Tenas. This could've only come out of France.

 

Brigitte Fontaine Est... Folle

Vinyl Record

French poet and chameleonic vocalist Brigitte Fontaine's career spans over four decades. Only a few years before her 1968 debut, Brigitte Fontaine Est…Folle, she moved to Paris to become an actress and took her prodigiously mature voice into the studio. Rich in the drama she brought to theater, Fontaine synthesized chanson (French pop song) and world music, which eventually won her international acclaim as a performer and collaborator with a variety of artists from around the world (ART ENSEMBLE OF CHICAGO, SONIC YOUTH and STEREOLAB, to name just a few).
On Est…Folle, Fontaine takes flight over conductor Jean Claude Vannier's brilliant arrangements. Vannier, best known for his work on Serge Gainsbourg's Histoire De Melody Nelson, is in fine form, using what would become his trademark stylings: lush strings, taut rhythms culled from across the globe and a healthy dose of whimsy. "Il Pleut" swings from understatement to rapturous delight. "Une Fois Mais Pas Deux" is an infectious pop song that could have been culled from a French New Wave soundtrack. Fontaine is adventurous and multi-dimensional with sophisticated lyrics, poignant melodies and enthralling delivery. Such artful handling of meter and rhyme (or lack thereof) is rare in pop song. Far from the era's yé-yé phenomenon, but never fully removed from its traditions, Est…Folle is an essential link in French pop music, exuberantly pushing the genre into more conceptual and experimental sounds.

Brigitte Fontaine, Comme à La Radio

Vinyl Record

Featuring Areski Belkacem and Art Ensemble of Chicago, Comme à la Radio is the sophomore album in Brigitte Fontaine’s prolific career. While her debut, Brigitte Fontaine Est...Folle, is a unique take on French chanson, here the Art Ensemble provides the perfect setting for Fontaine’s exploration of free-verse poetry. Often arrhythmic and spoken, her vocals command the same spontaneity and grace that her collaborators applied to their instruments. The album’s eight-minute title track sets the tone: a sparse bass line keeps time as Fontaine dances around stabs of flute and trumpet. On “Tanka II,” named for a form of concise Japanese poetry, Areski (who provides percussion throughout) plays hand-drums atop flurries of bass as Fontaine coos and whispers pensively, gradually uttering controversial phrases. “L’Été L’Été” centers around a repeated motif with individual lines of high-pitched melody on a bed of muted horns. Each track is its own world, with Fontaine’s incredible range, both in style and substance, acting as the glue between the immense talent involved. The overall effect is chilling, and it is no surprise that Comme à la Radio is often cited as Fontaine’s best known work.

Wizzz! Volume 2: French Psychedelic 1966-1970

Finally, the long awaited continuation of the first Whizzz! compilation released a decade ago. Features only rare and unissued tracks from the 1960s French garage/weirdos/beat vaults. This new volume will blow your mind like the first one and includes a 38-page booklet with biography of each artist along with cool and unpublished photos. Mastered from the original master when they were no lost or damaged. Artists include SAN ANTONIO, JEAN ET JANET, BRUNO LEYS MAINTENANT, GUY SKORNIK, BRIGITTE FONTAINE, PHILIPPE NICAUD, ZORGONES, SERGE FRANKLIN, NELLY PERRIER, JESUS, ALAIN BOISSANGER, and others. Imported from Born Bad, Paris, France.

Serge Gainsbourg, Histoire De Melody Nelson

Vinyl Record

SERGE GAINSBOURG is no stranger to sexual proclivities, and with his 1971 Histoire De Melody Nelson he shared an erotic tale as seductive today as the day it was released. With help from actress, amour, and inspiration JANE BIRKIN, arranger/conductor and co-conspirator JEAN-CLAUDE VANNIER (L'Enfant Assassins Des Mouches), not to mention a tight hand picked crew of top shelf UK session musicians, Histoire De Melody Nelson is often cited as Gainsbourg's master work, an essential album for the discerning music lover. Light In The Attic's reissue of Histoire De Melody Nelson finally gives this still radical record the respect and attention to detail it so rightfully deserves. For the first time ever, this lavishly packaged and true to the original artwork CD reissue contains extensive English language liner notes and informative content explaining the times and tales behind the making of this passionate platter. Dispelling the countless myths, hearsay, and rumors surrounding Nelson, New York-based writer ANDY BETA contributes a stylish essay for your edification while Finders Keepers' honcho and Twisted Nerve founder ANDY VOTEL shares his deep knowledge of Gainsbourg and the Gallic and UK music scenes with great insight.First time available in US. Limited Edition Vinyl LP feat. 180-gram wax, gatefold hand-numbered old school tip-on jacket, and liner notes. Limited to only 2,000 copies!

  

These books, and thousands of others, can be purchased from:

Brickbat Books
709 South Fourth Street
Philadelphia, PA 19147

215 592 1207

Open:
Tuesday: thru Saturday, 11am to 7pm
Sunday: 11am to 6pm
Closed Monday

Sold Today: Ludwig Bemelmans' Castle No. 9!

Ludwig Bemelmans, Castle No. 9

Hardcover with Dust Jacket

 This book, and thousands of others, can be purchased from:

Brickbat Books
709 South Fourth Street
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215 592 1207

Open:
Tuesday: thru Saturday, 11am to 7pm
Sunday: 11am to 6pm
Closed Monday

Featured: Gered Mankowitz's I Contact

Gered Mankowitz, I Contact

Hardcover with illustrated box

(out of print)

Signed by Gered Mankowitz. Beautiful oblong folio with illustrated boards in an illustrated box. A signed, numbered edition of 950. Very minor shelfwear to box.

 "The entire black and white Rolling Stones archive of celebrated Stones photographer Gered Mankowitz was reproduced as 12" x 16" contact sheets. 950 copies were spiral bound in heavy screen printed boards with specially produced linen tester magnifying glass, housed in a solander box. This 208-page art volume is produced to the very highest standards, masterprinted on 200gsm matt art paper with red acetate title page and bound in rich black cloth, silk-screened in silver. The book is spiral bound and housed in a solandar box depicting a two-tone silver montage of the Stones. All copies in the edition are signed by Gered Mankowitz. A specially silk-screened linen tester magnifying glass, for close-up viewing of the contact sheets is provided in a special pocket. "-Genisis Publication. 

Rare and lovely to behold. Please feel free to contact us for any additional information needed. 

Number 634 out of an edition of 950.




 This book, and thousands of others, can be purchased from:

Brickbat Books
709 South Fourth Street
Philadelphia, PA 19147

215 592 1207

Open:
Tuesday: thru Saturday, 11am to 7pm
Sunday: 11am to 6pm
Closed Monday

 

Featured: Moondog

Moondog: The Viking Of Sixth Avenue

Robert Scotto, introduction by Philip Glass

Paperback

Here is a revised edition of an award-winning biography that celebrates one of the most improbable lives of the twentieth century: a blind and homeless man who became the most famous eccentric in New York, rising to prominence in major label recordings in addition to symphonic concerts of his compositions.
Moondog will soon be seen as a feature-length documentary titled The Viking of 6th Avenue directed by Holly Elson and produced by Hard Working Movies.
Born Louis Thomas Hardin in 1916, Moondog first made an impression in the late 1940s when he became a mascot of the New York Philharmonic at Carnegie Hall. His unique, melodic compositions were released on the Prestige jazz label. In the late 1960s the Viking-garbed Moondog was a pop music sensation on Columbia Records.
Moondog’s compositional style influenced his former roommate Philip Glass, whose preface appears in the book. Moondog’s work transcends labels and redefines the distinction between popular and high culture.
A wide-ranging compilation of Moondog recordings, which includes never-before-released Madrigals played by Philip Glass, Steven Reich, Jon Gibson, and Moondog himself, are offered as free downloads for every purchaser of this biography.

 This book, and thousands of others, can be purchased from:

Brickbat Books
709 South Fourth Street
Philadelphia, PA 19147

215 592 1207

Open:
Tuesday: thru Saturday, 11am to 7pm
Sunday: 11am to 6pm
Closed Monday