Strange Victory, Strange Defeat

Samedi dernier, Silver Jews était à McMinnville (Tennessee), dans un lieu atypique : les grottes de Cumberland.
Ils y donnaient un concert. Le dernier.

Sur le forum de Drag City, David Berman l'annonçait
en ces termes :

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 know. I'm forty two and I know what to do. I'm a writer, see?

Cassie is taking it the hardest. She's a fan and a player but she sees how happy i am with the decision.

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.

Depuis que le groupe existe, les concerts de Silver Jews se sont toujours fait rare, David Berman étant rebuté par l'aspect auto-centré et mercantile de l'exercice. L'élan qui suivit la résurrection des Joos (après la TS de 2oo3) en aura sans doute modifié la perception (merci Cassie).
Après quelques "essais" concluants (voire enthousiasmants), parmi lesquels la première date de Silver Jews en France (festival Mo#Fo 2006), le groupe s'est mis à faire des tournées.
Il était d'ailleurs revenu à Paris, ce printemps.

Dans une interview donnée au blog Nashville Cream, trois jour avant cet ultime concert, David Berman déclarait :

Playing live has been rewarding. It has been lucrative. But it has been creepy. There is something wrong with the current practices of media consumption. There is something about participating in the music economy that makes me uneasy.

Mais le sentiment le plus "uneasy", la raison bien plus profonde sont ce qui suit. Car sur ce même forum, l'auteur poursuit dans un nouveau message :

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, for terrible reasons. My father is a despicable man. My father is a sort of human molestor. An exploiter. A scoundrel. A world historical motherfucking son of a bitch. (sorry grandma)

Son père, c'est Richard Berman, un puissant lobbyiste, dénué de scrupule ; Au sens où ses manoeuvres sont motivées par des intérêts financiers, au mépris de toute considération sociale ou de santé publique. Son surnom est "Dr. Evil".
Et ses méfaits tels, qu'un site a récemment été mis en ligne par le CREW (Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington) afin de les mettre en lumière
www.bermanexposed.org

This winter I decided that the SJs were too small of a force to ever come close to undoing a millionth of all the harm he has caused. To you and everyone you know.
Literally, if you eat food or have a job, he is reaching you.

I've always hid this terrible shame from you, the fan. The SJs have always stood autonomous and clear. Hopefully it won't contaminate your feelings about the work.

My life has been riddled with Ibsenism. In a way I am the son of a demon come to make good the damage. Previously I thought, through songs and poems and drawings I could find and build a refuge away from his world.

But there is the matter of Justice. And i'll tell you it's not just a metaphor. The desire for it actually burns.

It hurts.

There needs to be something more. I'll see what that might be.

DCB

Silver Jews - Random Rules
American Water (Drag City, 1998)

"Silver Jews End-Lead Singer Bids his Well-Wishers Adieu"
et "My Father, My Attack Dog",
deux messages à lire en ligne sur le forum de Drag City

Crédits photos : Collin Peterson