The Hunt for Nick Tosches

The Hunt for NICK TOSCHES

I “discovered” the books of Nick Tosches quite by accident, as oft-times happens. A local thrift had a copy of “IN THE HAND OF DANTE” which caught my eye, and especially standing there reading the very first sentence:

“Louie took off his bra and threw it on the coffin”.

That grabs one’s attention. The book turned into a rollicking good time, with strange passages about the publishing industry, origins of words and symbols, all carried along with a gangster plot and the life if Dante. You really had to be there, as the saying goes. Somehow, Nick makes this all hang together in a very satisfactory manner.

Intrigued, I wanted to read some of his other books.

Most of what Nick writes is about music. His first book was on the history of Country Music; his second on the roots of Rook ‘n Roll. But what he really writes well are biographies. His bio of Jerry Lee Lewis, the rival of Elvis until poor Jerry Lee made the mistake of taking his bride on a tour in England (she was 13 at the time). “The Killer” was a phenomena, as big as Elvis and perhaps more talented. This bio puts you there, every step of the way.

Other bios have filled the Nick Tosches list of books. Perhaps the best for reliving the fifties and early sixties is his wonderful bio of Dean Martin. The story of Martin and Lewis, their rise in the entertainment world and separate careers thereafter, is a legend made real. Tosches also follows his Italian roots to do a bio of a banker, God’s Banker. A bio of Sonny Liston, the boxer and others followed.

Done only for the money and not a good book at all is his bio of a musical duo – Hall and Oates. More a publicity rag than a bio, this rare item is sough after by the fans of the duo still. “Dangerous Dances” is not a book Tosches regards with any high esteem.

Nick is also a poet, perhaps the last of the “beat” poets. There are a few books of his poems and, more interesting, several CDs of his poems with music. Close your eyes and travel back into the coffeehouses of yore.

In 1988, Tosches drew upon his New Jersey and New York “connections” to produce his first novel, and the first of a small series of three novels linked in a Tosches manner. These are hard-edged novels following the drug trade and the gangs that operate them. “Cut Numbers” came first followed by “Trinities” and then “In the Hand of Dante”. Trinities used an interesting approach. The Advance Reader’s Copy was presented in a brown butcher paper wrapping with the logo “Double Uniglobe Brand” – a mock brick of heroin.

As Nick is an Associate Editor of “Vanity Fair”, my favourite magazine, his articles appear there now as they have in “Rolling Stone” in the past. He gets sent to interesting places and reports on them – Japan and the sushi and fish industry there, Bahrain and the fantastic hotels. Some of his articles are gathered in the “The Nick Tosches Reader” volume, and they are truly all over the map. One article for Vanity Fair tracks efforts to find the last opium den and was made into a small volume on its own, the ARC presented in a small plastine package, as would be a small amount of opium.

Early American minstrels form the subject of one book, which I found hard to follow lacking any sense of the music. I think that Nick’s books on music would be enhanced if he also produced a CD to accompany each so a reader removed from the archives of such music might be able to follow the test. This is especially so with “Where Dead Voices Gather”, which is both a bio of Emmett Miller and a tale of the minstrel songs of the 1800s and 1900s.

His last book “King of the Jews: The Arnold Rothstein Story” is the bio of Rothstein, plus a bit more. The first four chapters discuss the translations of the bible, some later chapters branch off to eulogize his recently deceased friend and fellow writer, Hubert Selby, Jr. You really have to follow his mind as it goes along.

Nick is sometimes billed as the “bad boy of lit”, the leader of the “grit lit” movement and “one of the greatest living American writers". Fine and good. I knew of no other readers who had read any of his books. Few had heard of him in “these parts”. What a delight to collect!

So, with all that in mind as an introduction, I am out to track down the elusive Mr. Tosches. Having managed to gather all of his books, the next necessary step for me was to have them signed by him (A form of madness reached in the penultimate stages of bookaholicism).

His web site was nice, but gave no way of contacting him. Yes, he did write for Vanity Fair and was listed as an Associate Editor, but posts sent to them remained unanswered. No, what was needed as a small bit of originality, something that matched his insane way of telling a tale.

On the Net, one interviewer stated that he met Nick in a wonderful Italian restaruarnt in New York – one of those places I shall never see where people have to line up to get in. Nick has lunch there daily, the interviewer stated. Indeed, Nick wrote several passages in a cookbook produced by the owner.

So – a solution! I wrote a nice e-mail to the restaurant, asking if they could print it up and give it to “Pope Nick” on his next appearance, together with a pen and some paper. I added that there was a post box not too far from their front door.

A week later, a parchment arrived. Perhaps this was the fancy paper they used for daily specials, but it was very rich in texture and bore a wonderful inscription from Nick Tosche for my copy of “In the Hand of Dante”. Some time later, I wrote back to the restaurant and asked if he would mind signing bookplates for all the books; he replied with a postcard saying “yes”. The bookplates were sent and returned shortly thereafter.

Which gives me perhaps one of the only collections of the complete words of Nick Tosches in the world, all signed and pristine. The world is not breaking down my door to get them, but I am happy to have enjoyed this writer and made a little contact.