If you love Silver Jews, Purple Mountains, his books "Actual Air" and "The Portable February"
Then you miss Berman as much as I do.
I only caught him live once, in Portland, OR back in 2006 with his friend/fellow Silver Jew/PDX resident Stephen Malkmus accompanying him. It was an amazing evening. I had been a fan a long time by that point and the setlist literally covered the waterfront.
“It was the light in things that made them last,” Berman wrote in his poem “Governors on Sominex.” I'm grateful that David lasted as long as he did. His perfect, specific work will stand the test of time for a long time to come.
You can read Pitchfork's beautifully written tribute here.
