David Berman, the prolific frontman of the 15-year old indie-alt rock band Silver Jews, has announced the official break up of the band, according to a statement posted on the band’s official forum.
In a posting, Berman wrote: “Yes I cancelled the South American shows…I guess I am moving over to another category. Screenwriting or Muckraking. I’ve got to move on. Can’t be like all the careerists doncha [sic] know. I’m forty two and I know what to do…I always said we would stop before we got bad. If I continue to record I might accidentally write the answer song to Shiny Happy People.”
Berman went even further in subsequent posts taking direct aim at his infamous father, the controversial Washington, DC spin dictor Richard Berman, best known for his dirty tactics to sully the reputations of groups working for causes related to the environment, employment equality, labor rights, anti-smoking measures and so on.
The younger Berman’s disgust with his father has brewed for years, he writes, and ultimately led to his decision to disband the group and pursue a screen writing career.
Now that the Joos are over I can tell you my gravest secret. Worse than suicide, worse than crack addiction:
My father. You might be surprised to know he is famous [sic]*, for terrible reasons.
My father is a despicable man. My father is a sort of human molestor [sic]. An exploiter. A scoundrel. A world historical motherfucking son of a bitch. (sorry grandma)…
A couple of years ago I demanded he stop his work. Close down his company or I would sever our relationship. He refused. He has just gotten worse. More evil. More powerful. We’ve been “estranged” for over three years. Even as a child I disliked him. We were opposites. I wanted to read. He wanted to play games.
Read the entire posting from Dave
“Strange Victory, Strange Defeat” – Silver Jews from Lookout Mountain, Lookout Sea
Berman’s wife and fellow band member, Carrie, is having a harder time than he is. However, he made it quite clear he could not, would not, continue with the band (perhaps a bit unfair to hard-core fans?).
“This winter I decided that the SJ‘s were too small of a force to ever come close to undoing a millionth of all the harm he [Richard Berman] has caused.”
*Editor’s note: If someone is ‘famous’ for ‘terrible’ reasons, they are in fact infamous.