Black Cracker Online: Josh's Lost New York

Wednesday, December 16, 2009

Josh's Lost New York

Former Birdland emcee, Pee Wee, who paced like a hen at the entrance of Hawaii Kai since 1960, adjacent to the Winter Garden.

© 2009 Josh Alan Friedman

3 comments:

Donna LethalDecember 17, 2009 at 9:42 PM
That's a great picture. When's it from?
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J.D. KingDecember 18, 2009 at 7:04 AM
Pee Wee can be heard introducing Art Blakey & The Jazz Messengers on "A Night at Birdland, Volumes 1 & 2."
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Josh Alan FriedmanDecember 18, 2009 at 7:29 AM
Taken at the entrance to Hawaii Kai, the former schlock Hawaiian restaurant in Times Square.
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BIO

In 1987, writer-guitarist Josh Alan Friedman sold his soul to the devil at the crossroads (the Crossroads of the World--Broadway & 42nd Street) and moved to Texas. He’d just written Tales of Times Square, a cult classic. An Expanded Edition with new chapters was recently released, while the still-unfinished movie of Tales has played 35 film festivals.

Josh’s latest book is Black Cracker, the story of his tumultuous childhood as the only white boy at Long Island's last segregated school. In 2008: Tell the Truth Until They Bleed: Coming Clean in the Dirty World of Blues and Rock 'n' Roll. Before that: When Sex Was Dirty; I, Goldstein: My Screwed Life (with Al Goldstein); Now Dig This: The Unspeakable Writings of Terry Southern (co-editor).

Josh also set off satirical fires and lawsuits as writer-half of the Friedman Bros, the most feared cartooning duo of the late '70s and '80s. Two anthologies remain in print, featuring the art of Josh's brother, Drew Friedman: Warts and All, and Any Similarity to Persons Living Or Dead Is Purely Coincidental.

On the music front, as “Josh Alan,” he barnstormed the state of Texas for 20 years, rocking whole arenas with his Guild D-40. Copping three Dallas Observer Music Awards for Best Acoustic Act, he released four albums: Famous & Poor, The Worst!, Blacks 'n' Jews (the title of which became a documentary on Josh’s life) and Josh Alan Band.