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23.
Mail art card sent to Shig Murao at City Lights, San Francisco, postmarked Los Angeles, c. late 1965/early 1966.
Brown card. 10x7.6cm. Image of handheld transistor radio featuring inset depiction of Jesus on the Cross affixed to one side. ‘Love from the Bermans’ stamped in red below.
Berman’s ink message to verso reads (in part): “S: allen gave me package… Sorry I missed you - was up one day only for ‘Beard’ - you weren’t in store… W.”.
Berman’s brief visit to San Francisco was probably around the time of the first public performance of Michael McClure’s play, “The Beard”, on December 18, 1965. Allen Ginsberg had just left town (on December 15), after spending time with McClure and Bob Dylan. Not long after, around Christmastime, he visited Berman in Topanga Canyon, and it may have been during his stay there that Ginsberg gave Berman the package referred to in the card.
Both the stamped message and Berman’s handwritten address to Shig Murao have faded to near indecipherability, o/w Very Good.
