Robert Rosen

My Beaver Street interview on Moncrieff! on Newstalk Radio Ireland is now archived. Click here to listen. It begins at 5:30 on part 4, Thursday, February 17.

Did my first official Beaver Street interview this morning--the Moncrieff show on Newstalk Radio Ireland. Would have posted the link here had my internet not been down. (Thank you, Time Warner.) If you'd like to read more about the book and my upcoming UK tour, check out The Macwire. Read More 

The first Beaver Street review has been posted on many sites, and it's enthusiastic. Here's the one from the Seattle PI. One small step for the literary insurgency.

Beaver Street: A History of Modern Pornography, scheduled to be published next month by Headpress, is mentioned in "Hot Type" in the February issue of Vanity Fair UK.

I'm riding in a minivan with Ron Jeremy and Seka. Jeremy's driving, I'm in the passenger seat, Seka's sitting behind us. I ask Jeremy if he'll give me a blurb for Beaver Street. "You talk too much," Jeremy says.

I've posted on my home page the long awaited Beaver Street cover. Click here to check it out. Bound galleys are now available for the media. Please e-mail your request.

I've posted the Beaver Street Prologue here. I hope this will entice some of you to pre-order the book and those of you in the media to request an advance reader's galley, which will be available by the end of the month. (PDF galleys are available now.) A special note to any readers from Brooklyn: The Prologue opens in my father's candy store on Church Avenue, in 1961. Read More 

If you’ve watched any of the Beaver Street videos on my home page, you may have wondered about the actor who plays Erich von Pauli. His name is Paul Slimak and he’s a character in the book. If he looks familiar, that’s probably because you remember him from his appearance as the Weeping Nazi on the premier episode of Late Night with Conan O’Brien. With the second (or is it third?) coming of Conan imminent, von Pauli has written an open letter to Conan, asking him to allow the Weeping Nazi to return and contribute to the launching of his “new comedy Reich.” You can read von Pauli’s letter here.

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One problem with writing a book about pornography is that a lot of people who enjoyed reading Beaver Street are hesitant to say so publicly. The author of the blurb on my home page--"Robert Rosen is a genius for connecting Traci Lords to Iran-Contra"--once worked in porn. Now he has a serious, high-profile job, and would prefer that people didn't know about his X-rated past. Who can blame him? But I love his insightful comment because it goes right to the heart of the book--the "climax," if you will--and it shows the wide, provocative range of material that Beaver Street covers. Read More 

My favorite Nazi, Erich von Pauli, has recorded another Beaver Street propaganda video.

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On the eve of John Lennon's 70th birthday, as my wife, Mary Lyn Maiscott (the Mistress of Syntax), and I continue to work on correcting the Beaver Street galley, I've taken a few minutes to talk about Lennon on The Louie Free Radio show. I've also accepted an invitation from the journalism department at SUNY Purchase to participate in a panel discussion on the myth of John Lennon on December 2. And here's a link to a piece by David Comfort, author of The Rock & Roll Book of the Dead, that discusses Nowhere Man and Lennon's fascination with number 9. Read More 

Annie Sprinkle is a former porn star with a Ph.D, a photographer, an author, and self-described “ecosexual artist.” I was her editor in the mid-1980s when she was a columnist for Stag magazine. Annie is now a character in Beaver Street: A History of Modern Pornography, and that’s why I sent her a galley of the book. Here’s what she had to say:

“Thank heavens Robert Rosen has documented his, mine, and your wacky, tacky, rich and fun smut-rag history. Beaver Street is a deliciously delightful read, a fabulous book. He captures the complexities, ironies, and color of the times when sex magazines ruled. As a girl who has been round the Beaver Street block, I can attest that this is the raunchy truth, extremely well told.”

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I continue to be encouraged by the reaction of people who’ve been reading the Beaver Street galleys. The running commentary below is from Darius James, author of Negrophobia (St. Martin’s Griffin) and That’s Blaxploitation!: Roots of the Baadasssss ’Tude (St. Martin’s Griffin).

I’m lovin’ this so far. I SERIOUSLY think this should be a movie.

The more I read the better it gets. Very insightful. Especially like "The Secret History." Funny how so much of this dovetails into my own world.

I’m three-quarters through with the book. I have something like 40 pages to go. Real interesting about Traci Lords.

Beaver Street is a lucid and entertaining read. Made me want to jump back in the porn game myself if there was one.

Now I want to read Beaver Street II. Read More 

A few days ago I sent the uncorrected proofs for Beaver Street: A History of Modern Pornography, which Headpress is scheduled to publish in the UK in October, to four “characters” in the book, former coworkers who knew they were in it, but had never seen it. Below is the response of the character I call “Pamela Katz,” an editor and filmmaker who once dated the late Ruben Sturman, whom the government considered the most prolific pornographer in America. Let’s call this the first review:

I’ve just completed Beaver Street, and as you could guess, I could not put it down. Can not determine WHY this was not bought in USA because there is nothing like it...no comprehensive history of modern porn, especially The Golden Age, which we were so fortunate to experience. I used to call you Nosy Rosey. Did not know you were a diarist. But noted you were always asking “why” and were just (to me) nosy. You were like a visiting anthropologist, like Margaret Mead observing the Samoans. But you were in the thick of it, not just observing, which is what makes the book work. (As you call it an investigative memoir.) Perfect mix of personal experience, research, reporting, and conclusions.

Did I ever tell you that Traci Lords lived with Greg Brown and Walter Gernert (the Dark Brothers)? She was so into the porn lifestyle. It’s like I had totally forgotten how outrageous my life had been. I remember, as if it were yesterday, Ruben Sturman telling me (while seated on a banquette at a fancy French restaurant) how some book/video store didn’t pay him his cut and he’d had to firebomb it. Telling me that like any other guy chats about “my day at the office,” remembering having the diner next to us overhear all this. Remembering how very candid he was and how uncomfortably paranoid his candidness made me feel. Insanity, all of it. Remembering doing a photo shoot on Baltimore’s Block. Sex with a stripper. Owner put a loaded gun to my head. Remembered fighting with the Teamster’s Union over equipment rental for Raw Talent. So many stories...point is, I wish I had kept a diary. Because it was all pretty incredible compared to my life in porn now. The Eighties were insane.

Anyone reading the book will also be surprised how many female pornographers were working. You not only captured the past, you offered an overview of a huge, pervasive industry people know little about. You nailed it! Read More 

Two months ago, the photographer Marcia Resnick shot the picture you see here and on my home page. This will be the official Beaver Street author's photo. (If the author's photo is here can the cover be far behind?) I'm very happy to have had the opportunity to work with a photographer as talented as Marcia, and I'm delighted with this artful shot. If you're not familiar with Marcia's work, please check out her website. It's a treat to look at. And please stay tuned for more news as the publication of Beaver Street draws ever closer.

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Erich von Pauli Addresses the British Empire on the “Beaver Street” Issue, the first of many Beaver Street promotional videos, is scheduled to be officially released in early August; it’s “unlisted” on YouTube. But I’m offering a sneak preview to the readers of this blog.

The video is intended as parody. If you find Nazi humor offensive, please don't watch it. But if you enjoyed The Producers, Mel Brooks's 1968 film, then Erich von Pauli might be your cup of tea. I encourage you to watch it in the full-screen mode.

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OK, it's true, at least one person in Germany has pre-ordered Beaver Street sight unseen. There is a "verkaufsrang" or "sales rank" as we say here. Kudos to Mark the K, the artist who created the poster on my home page. Any other insurgents out there? Read More 

The publication date is still six months away, but Beaver Street: A History of Modern Pornography is now available for pre-order on Amazon UK for £11.95. There is no better way to join the Beaver Street Literary Insurgency. Read More 

The good folks of Beaver Street, in Santa Rosa, California, have kindly extended this invitation to have me read from Beaver Street when it's published this coming October. I am so there.

My most recent Nowhere Man interview, in English and Spanish, which ran the other day on 10 Mathew Street, a Spanish website devoted to the Beatles, is a good example of why I've been struggling for the past six years to learn to speak Spanish. I want to be able to communicate with people who are this enthusiastic about my work. The interview also marks a transitional point in my career--it's the first time I've spoken in detail about my new book, Beaver Street, which will be published in the UK, in October, by Headpress. Read More 

A few days ago I posted the above image on my home page. It's going to be part of the promotional campaign for my new book, Beaver Street: A History of Modern Pornography, which will be published in the UK, in October, by Headpress. The drawing was done by a young German artist, Mark Kaufman, a big fan of my previous book, Nowhere Man. The energy and skill that he put into the graphic is a beautiful example of what I've come to call "The Beaver Street Literary Insurgency." Simply put, a literary insurgency is when people spontaneously embrace the work of an author they enjoy reading. I hope someday you, too, will join us.

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