Stuart Goldman
Encyclopedia
Stuart Goldman is a highly controversial journalist
, author
and screenwriter
. A former critic
for the Los Angeles Times
and the Los Angeles Daily News
. He later penned an acid-tinged column for the Los Angeles Reader
which earned him the moniker "the journalistic hitman."
Goldman's curmudgeonly style is influenced by muckrakers of the past such as H. L. Mencken
, Lincoln Steffens
, and Upton Sinclair
. His first foray into the world of gonzo journalism
came after reading Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, by Hunter S. Thompson
. His work was also heavily influenced by Harvey Kurtzman
's work in the early issues of Mad
. In addition to the literary element in those early issues, Goldman's world view was shaped by the artwork of cartoonists Bill Elder, Jack Davis
, and Wally Wood
.
Goldman's early career initially found him writing for left-wing papers and magazines. He was one of the original staffers for the L.A. Weekly. However, Goldman ultimately emerged as a conservative journalist whose pieces frequently appeared in National Review
and other right-wing journals. Over the years, his pieces have appeared in numerous publications, including Los Angeles Magazine, Rolling Stone
, Penthouse
, Esquire
, Vanity Fair
, and California Lawyer. In addition, his syndicated column appeared in newspapers throughout the U.S. and Europe.
For over three years Goldman contributed a weekly column to worldnetdaily.com. According to editor Joseph Farah
, Goldman's column generated more reader response than any other columnist on the conservative website.
In 1989, Goldman embarked upon a three year undercover investigation of the tabloid industry, both print and television. Using the pseudonym
Wil Runyon (one of the many identities he has employed over the years), he spent three years as a "mole," with the goal of exposing them as a "criminal organization." He enlisted the help of former FBI agent Ted Gunderson
and threat-assessor Gavin de Becker
in writing his story. When he completed his investigation, Goldman wrote an article for Spy
. After a heated bidding war, Goldman sold the rights to his story to Phoenix Pictures, who attached Oliver Stone
to direct the feature film
.
,http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0325853/bio,http://jewishrumble.blogspot.com/2010/08/for-my-father_15.html. primarily recognized for his contribution to the world of Yiddish music. Goldman's mother, Ethel Goldman, was, at 18, the youngest flutist to play in the Cleveland Philharmonic Orchestra
.
As a youth, Goldman studied piano
, cello
and trumpet
. While in college, Goldman became enamored with the pedal steel guitar
. Over the next 10 years, Goldman played and recorded with numerous artists, including Hoyt Axton
, Steve Goodman
, Doc Watson
, Tanya Tucker
, Phil Everly, Clarence Gatemouth Brown
, Jo-El Sonnier
, Garth Hudson
, Leon Russell
, and guitarist Albert Lee
.
Goldman toured the U.S. and Europe with former Kingston Trio member John Stewart, and Cajun
fiddler player, Doug Kershaw
. Prior to quitting the music scene, Goldman played several concerts as a member of The Texas Jewboys, backup band for country-singer-cum-detective-writer, Kinky Friedman
.
-- in particular the world of Jewish Music
.
The project was born after Goldman discovered that the entire musical collection of his father, Maurice Goldman
— a prominent Jewish musician — had disappeared after it was loaned to an alleged “charitable” organization. In the course of trying to locate his father’s music, Goldman discovered that the collections of a number of other well-known Jewish musical composers were also missing. Eight years later, what Goldman had thought would be a magazine article had become a book.
The Case Of The Missing Archives: How An Obsessed L.A. Journalist Rescued the Lost Collections Of The World’s Most Famous Composers Of Jewish Music: A Tale Of Greed, Hubris, and A Man Called The Angel Of Death, is nearing completion. Though some of the missing music has yet to be recovered, Goldman feels confident that with the publication of his work, that end will be accomplished.
Other writers in Goldman’s family who have focused on Jewish themes include Goldman’s cousin, Barbara Myerhoff
(1935–1985). Myerhoff is the author of Number Our Days: Culture and Community Among Elderly Jews in an American Ghetto, which was based upon her study of the lives of the elderly Jewish community in Venice, California. The book, which was written in Goldman’s house, became an Academy Award Winning documentary film.
Goldman's current work can be found at The Man Who Tried To Stop Time. http://jewishrumble.blogspot.com
Journalist
A journalist collects and distributes news and other information. A journalist's work is referred to as journalism.A reporter is a type of journalist who researchs, writes, and reports on information to be presented in mass media, including print media , electronic media , and digital media A...
, author
Author
An author is broadly defined as "the person who originates or gives existence to anything" and that authorship determines responsibility for what is created. Narrowly defined, an author is the originator of any written work.-Legal significance:...
and screenwriter
Screenwriter
Screenwriters or scriptwriters or scenario writers are people who write/create the short or feature-length screenplays from which mass media such as films, television programs, Comics or video games are based.-Profession:...
. A former critic
Critic
A critic is anyone who expresses a value judgement. Informally, criticism is a common aspect of all human expression and need not necessarily imply skilled or accurate expressions of judgement. Critical judgements, good or bad, may be positive , negative , or balanced...
for the Los Angeles Times
Los Angeles Times
The Los Angeles Times is a daily newspaper published in Los Angeles, California, since 1881. It was the second-largest metropolitan newspaper in circulation in the United States in 2008 and the fourth most widely distributed newspaper in the country....
and the Los Angeles Daily News
Los Angeles Daily News
The Los Angeles Daily News is the second-largest circulating daily newspaper of Los Angeles, California. It is the flagship of the Los Angeles Newspaper Group, a branch of Colorado-based MediaNews Group....
. He later penned an acid-tinged column for the Los Angeles Reader
Los Angeles Reader
Los Angeles Reader was a weekly paper established in 1978 and distributed in Los Angeles, USA. It followed the format of the Chicago Reader. The paper was known for having lengthy, thoughtful reviews of movies, plays and concerts in the LA area. James Vowell was its founding editor...
which earned him the moniker "the journalistic hitman."
Goldman's curmudgeonly style is influenced by muckrakers of the past such as H. L. Mencken
H. L. Mencken
Henry Louis "H. L." Mencken was an American journalist, essayist, magazine editor, satirist, acerbic critic of American life and culture, and a scholar of American English. Known as the "Sage of Baltimore", he is regarded as one of the most influential American writers and prose stylists of the...
, Lincoln Steffens
Lincoln Steffens
-Biography:Steffens was born April 6, 1866, in San Francisco. He grew up in a wealthy family and attended a military academy. He studied in France and Germany after graduating from the University of California....
, and Upton Sinclair
Upton Sinclair
Upton Beall Sinclair Jr. , was an American author who wrote close to one hundred books in many genres. He achieved popularity in the first half of the twentieth century, acquiring particular fame for his classic muckraking novel, The Jungle . It exposed conditions in the U.S...
. His first foray into the world of gonzo journalism
Gonzo journalism
Gonzo journalism is a style of journalism that is written without claims of objectivity, often including the reporter as part of the story via a first-person narrative. The word "gonzo" is believed to be first used in 1970 to describe an article by Hunter S. Thompson, who later popularized the style...
came after reading Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, by Hunter S. Thompson
Hunter S. Thompson
Hunter Stockton Thompson was an American journalist and author who wrote The Rum Diary , Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas and Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail '72 .He is credited as the creator of Gonzo journalism, a style of reporting where reporters involve themselves in the action to...
. His work was also heavily influenced by Harvey Kurtzman
Harvey Kurtzman
Harvey Kurtzman was an American cartoonist and the editor of several comic books and magazines. Kurtzman often signed his name H. Kurtz, followed by a stick figure Harvey Kurtzman (October 3, 1924, Brooklyn, New York – February 21, 1993) was an American cartoonist and the editor of several comic...
's work in the early issues of Mad
Mad (magazine)
Mad is an American humor magazine founded by editor Harvey Kurtzman and publisher William Gaines in 1952. Launched as a comic book before it became a magazine, it was widely imitated and influential, impacting not only satirical media but the entire cultural landscape of the 20th century.The last...
. In addition to the literary element in those early issues, Goldman's world view was shaped by the artwork of cartoonists Bill Elder, Jack Davis
Jack Davis (cartoonist)
Jack Davis is an American cartoonist and illustrator, known for his advertising art, magazine covers, film posters, record album art and numerous comic book stories...
, and Wally Wood
Wally Wood
Wallace Allan Wood was an American comic book writer, artist and independent publisher, best known for his work in EC Comics and Mad. He was one of Mads founding cartoonists in 1952. Although much of his early professional artwork is signed Wallace Wood, he became known as Wally Wood, a name he...
.
Goldman's early career initially found him writing for left-wing papers and magazines. He was one of the original staffers for the L.A. Weekly. However, Goldman ultimately emerged as a conservative journalist whose pieces frequently appeared in National Review
National Review
National Review is a biweekly magazine founded by the late author William F. Buckley, Jr., in 1955 and based in New York City. It describes itself as "America's most widely read and influential magazine and web site for conservative news, commentary, and opinion."Although the print version of the...
and other right-wing journals. Over the years, his pieces have appeared in numerous publications, including Los Angeles Magazine, Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone is a US-based magazine devoted to music, liberal politics, and popular culture that is published every two weeks. Rolling Stone was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner and music critic Ralph J...
, Penthouse
Penthouse (magazine)
Penthouse, a men's magazine founded by Bob Guccione, combines urban lifestyle articles and softcore pornographic pictorials that, in the 1990s, evolved into hardcore. Penthouse is owned by FriendFinder Network. formerly known as General Media, Inc. whose parent company was Penthouse International...
, Esquire
Esquire (magazine)
Esquire is a men's magazine, published in the U.S. by the Hearst Corporation. Founded in 1932, it flourished during the Great Depression under the guidance of founder and editor Arnold Gingrich.-History:...
, Vanity Fair
Vanity Fair (magazine)
Vanity Fair is a magazine of pop culture, fashion, and current affairs published by Condé Nast. The present Vanity Fair has been published since 1983 and there have been editions for four European countries as well as the U.S. edition. This revived the title which had ceased publication in 1935...
, and California Lawyer. In addition, his syndicated column appeared in newspapers throughout the U.S. and Europe.
For over three years Goldman contributed a weekly column to worldnetdaily.com. According to editor Joseph Farah
Joseph Farah
-External links:* Official website* *...
, Goldman's column generated more reader response than any other columnist on the conservative website.
In 1989, Goldman embarked upon a three year undercover investigation of the tabloid industry, both print and television. Using the pseudonym
Pseudonym
A pseudonym is a name that a person assumes for a particular purpose and that differs from his or her original orthonym...
Wil Runyon (one of the many identities he has employed over the years), he spent three years as a "mole," with the goal of exposing them as a "criminal organization." He enlisted the help of former FBI agent Ted Gunderson
Ted Gunderson
Theodore L. Gunderson was a retired United States Federal Bureau of Investigation Special Agent In Charge and head of the Los Angeles FBI. He was most famous for handling the Marilyn Monroe and John F. Kennedy cases...
and threat-assessor Gavin de Becker
Gavin de Becker
Gavin de Becker is a specialist in security issues, primarily for governments, large corporations, and celebrities.-Career:...
in writing his story. When he completed his investigation, Goldman wrote an article for Spy
Spy (magazine)
Spy was a satirical monthly magazine founded in 1986 by Kurt Andersen and E. Graydon Carter, who served as its first editors, and Thomas L. Phillips, Jr., its first publisher. After one folding and a rebirth, it ceased publication in 1998...
. After a heated bidding war, Goldman sold the rights to his story to Phoenix Pictures, who attached Oliver Stone
Oliver Stone
William Oliver Stone is an American film director, producer and screenwriter. Stone became well known in the late 1980s and the early 1990s for directing a series of films about the Vietnam War, for which he had previously participated as an infantry soldier. His work frequently focuses on...
to direct the feature film
Feature film
In the film industry, a feature film is a film production made for initial distribution in theaters and being the main attraction of the screening, rather than a short film screened before it; a full length movie...
.
Musical career
Goldman was raised in a family of classical musicians. Goldman's father is noted composer/conductor/arranger, Maurice GoldmanMaurice Goldman
Maurice Goldman is an internationally known composer and conductor. Goldman’s compositions and arrangements are largely in the areas of Yiddish and Hebraic music...
,http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0325853/bio,http://jewishrumble.blogspot.com/2010/08/for-my-father_15.html. primarily recognized for his contribution to the world of Yiddish music. Goldman's mother, Ethel Goldman, was, at 18, the youngest flutist to play in the Cleveland Philharmonic Orchestra
Cleveland Philharmonic Orchestra
The Cleveland Philharmonic Orchestra is an American orchestra based in Cleveland, Ohio. It was founded in 1938 and its current music director is Victor H...
.
As a youth, Goldman studied piano
Piano
The piano is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It is one of the most popular instruments in the world. Widely used in classical and jazz music for solo performances, ensemble use, chamber music and accompaniment, the piano is also very popular as an aid to composing and rehearsal...
, cello
Cello
The cello is a bowed string instrument with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is a member of the violin family of musical instruments, which also includes the violin, viola, and double bass. Old forms of the instrument in the Baroque era are baryton and viol .A person who plays a cello is...
and trumpet
Trumpet
The trumpet is the musical instrument with the highest register in the brass family. Trumpets are among the oldest musical instruments, dating back to at least 1500 BCE. They are played by blowing air through closed lips, producing a "buzzing" sound which starts a standing wave vibration in the air...
. While in college, Goldman became enamored with the pedal steel guitar
Pedal steel guitar
The pedal steel guitar is a type of electric guitar that uses a metal bar to "fret" or shorten the length of the strings, rather than fingers on strings as with a conventional guitar. Unlike other types of steel guitar, it also uses pedals and knee levers to affect the pitch, hence the name "pedal"...
. Over the next 10 years, Goldman played and recorded with numerous artists, including Hoyt Axton
Hoyt Axton
Hoyt Wayne Axton was an American country music singer-songwriter, and a film and television actor. He became prominent in the early 1960s, establishing himself on the West Coast as a folk singer with an earthy style and powerful voice. As he matured, some of his songwriting efforts became well...
, Steve Goodman
Steve Goodman
Steve Goodman was an American folk music singer-songwriter from Chicago, Illinois. The writer of "City of New Orleans", made popular by Arlo Guthrie, Goodman won two Grammy Awards.-Personal life:...
, Doc Watson
Doc Watson
Arthel Lane "Doc" Watson is an American guitar player, songwriter and singer of bluegrass, folk, country, blues and gospel music. He has won seven Grammy awards as well as a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award. Watson's flatpicking skills and knowledge of traditional American music are highly regarded...
, Tanya Tucker
Tanya Tucker
Tanya Denise Tucker is a female American country music artist who had her first hit, "Delta Dawn", in 1972 at the age of 13...
, Phil Everly, Clarence Gatemouth Brown
Clarence Gatemouth Brown
Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown was an American musician from Louisiana and Texas. He is best known for his work as a blues musician, but embraced other styles of music, having "spent his career fighting purism by synthesizing old blues, country, jazz, Cajun music and R&B styles"He was an acclaimed...
, Jo-El Sonnier
Jo-El Sonnier
Jo-El Sonnier is an American singer-songwriter and accordionist who performs country music and Cajun music. Originally signed to Mercury Nashville Records, Sonnier charted several minor singles on the Billboard country charts in the late 1970s...
, Garth Hudson
Garth Hudson
Eric Garth Hudson is a Canadian multi-instrumentalist. As the organist, keyboardist and saxophonist for Canadian-American rock group The Band, he was a principal architect of the group's unique sound...
, Leon Russell
Leon Russell
Claude Russell Bridges , known professionally as Leon Russell, is an American musician and songwriter, who has recorded as a session musician, sideman, and maintained a solo career in music....
, and guitarist Albert Lee
Albert Lee
Albert William Lee, born 21 December 1943 in Leominster, Herefordshire, England, is an English guitarist known for his fingerstyle and hybrid picking technique. Lee has worked both in the studio and on tour with some of the most famous musicians which stretch through a very wide of genres...
.
Goldman toured the U.S. and Europe with former Kingston Trio member John Stewart, and Cajun
Cajun
Cajuns are an ethnic group mainly living in the U.S. state of Louisiana, consisting of the descendants of Acadian exiles...
fiddler player, Doug Kershaw
Doug Kershaw
Doug Kershaw, born January 24, 1936, is an American fiddle player, singer and songwriter from Louisiana. Active since 1949, Kershaw has recorded fifteen albums and charted on the Hot Country Songs charts.- Early life :...
. Prior to quitting the music scene, Goldman played several concerts as a member of The Texas Jewboys, backup band for country-singer-cum-detective-writer, Kinky Friedman
Kinky Friedman
Richard S. "Kinky" Friedman is an American Texas Country singer, songwriter, novelist, humorist, politician and former columnist for Texas Monthly who styles himself in the mold of popular American satirists Will Rogers and Mark Twain. He was one of two independent candidates in the 2006 election...
.
Current work
Goldman’s current work combines his skills as an investigative journalist with his rekindled interest in JudaismJudaism
Judaism ) is the "religion, philosophy, and way of life" of the Jewish people...
-- in particular the world of Jewish Music
Jewish music
Jewish music is the music and melodies of the Jewish People which have evolved over time throughout the long course of Jewish History. In some instances Jewish Music is of a religious nature, spiritual songs and refrains are common in Jewish Services throughout the world, while other times, it is...
.
The project was born after Goldman discovered that the entire musical collection of his father, Maurice Goldman
Maurice Goldman
Maurice Goldman is an internationally known composer and conductor. Goldman’s compositions and arrangements are largely in the areas of Yiddish and Hebraic music...
— a prominent Jewish musician — had disappeared after it was loaned to an alleged “charitable” organization. In the course of trying to locate his father’s music, Goldman discovered that the collections of a number of other well-known Jewish musical composers were also missing. Eight years later, what Goldman had thought would be a magazine article had become a book.
The Case Of The Missing Archives: How An Obsessed L.A. Journalist Rescued the Lost Collections Of The World’s Most Famous Composers Of Jewish Music: A Tale Of Greed, Hubris, and A Man Called The Angel Of Death, is nearing completion. Though some of the missing music has yet to be recovered, Goldman feels confident that with the publication of his work, that end will be accomplished.
Other writers in Goldman’s family who have focused on Jewish themes include Goldman’s cousin, Barbara Myerhoff
Barbara Myerhoff
Barbara Myerhoff , anthropologist, filmmaker, and founder of the Center for Visual Anthropology at the University of Southern California....
(1935–1985). Myerhoff is the author of Number Our Days: Culture and Community Among Elderly Jews in an American Ghetto, which was based upon her study of the lives of the elderly Jewish community in Venice, California. The book, which was written in Goldman’s house, became an Academy Award Winning documentary film.
Goldman's current work can be found at The Man Who Tried To Stop Time. http://jewishrumble.blogspot.com
Non fiction
- Confessions Of A Poison Pen Artist, 1986
- With Malice For All,1986
- The Art Of Verbal Self-Defense, 1987
- Letters To A Letter Junkie, 1988
- Secrets Of The Supersnoopers, 1995
- Snitch: Confessions Of A Tabloid Spy, 1998
Editor
- Murder Book: Investigation Of The Murder Of Anthony BrancatoAnthony BrancatoAnthony Brancato was a Kansas City, Missouri criminal who served as a freelance gunman to various Mafia and syndicate organizations.-Early career:...
and Anthony Trombino: Los Angeles Police DepartmentLos Angeles Police DepartmentThe Los Angeles Police Department is the police department of the city of Los Angeles, California. With just under 10,000 officers and more than 3,000 civilian staff, covering an area of with a population of more than 4.1 million people, it is the third largest local law enforcement agency in...
.,DR 880-680,November 29, 1951
External links
- http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1240367/bioIMDb
- "A Memo To Barbara" WorldNetDaily
- "True Confessions: An Interview With Myself", Stuart Goldman Stories