PICTURE a place where the 1979 New York Rangers could, but probably wouldn’t, stop and chat with Alan Ginsberg. Where Joni Mitchell and Mike Tyson could, and apparently would, compare notes on Nietzsche, and make inside jokes relating to their photographic memories. Somewhere in the background Bob Dylan and David Blaine are competing to see who can look the most sullen – they’re tied and there’s no end in sight.
This pop culture fever dream is probably, one imagines, what the inside Larry “Ratso” Sloman’s head looks like, at least the part that takes care of his memories. As a legendary biographer with over 40 years in the field, Sloman has mastered the craft of being the guy next to the guy, living alongside and documenting some of America’s most compelling public figures. Now, aged 68, with the release of his debut album Stubborn Heart, Larry Sloman is finally the main attraction, and he’s zealous as ever: “my ambition is to be the Jewish Susan Boyle – the oldest best new artist.”
Larry “Ratso” Sloman
Talking to Larry on the phone, as he wheels off his repertoire of wild anecdotes and empirical impersonations, it can sometimes be hard to tell where Larry Sloman ends and Ratso begins, or if the two identities have gradually become one and the same. “On Stubborn Heart, it’s Ratso! It’s like Madonna, Cher … Ratso. You just need one name!” The origin of the nickname/alter ego is predictably unbelievable, stretching back to 1975 when Larry was a music writer for Rolling Stone, covering Bob Dylan’s fabled Rolling Thunder Revue tour.
“… So I’m on the road, [where] you don’t shower or shave… and I drive up to where Bob’s staying, and everyone’s playing volleyball… Baez comes over and grabs my hair and says “Hey it’s Ratso.” I said, “What, do I look like Dustin Hoffman?” “No, I’m calling you Ratso because you remind me of Ratso Rizzo.” (Dustin Hoffman was a desirable Hollywood leading man; Ratso Rizzo was, unfortunately, the borderline homeless conman he portrayed in 1969s Midnight Cowboy).
“When she calls me Ratso, the book (Sloman’s tour diary, On The Road With Bob Dylan) turns from 1st person to 3rd person, and Ratso becomes a character in the book. I wouldn’t say it validated me, but it certainly gave me an identity that would be kind of unforgettable to some people … maybe other people desperately wanted to forget about him!” Regardless of the connotations, it would be a crime against culture to relinquish a nickname anointed by Joan Baez during a volley ball game with Bob Dylan. It would be like giving up songwriting after Bob Dylan has complimented your music, which, surprise surprise, is another unbelievable thing that happened to Sloman.
Larry “Ratso” Sloman with Steve Earl. Photo credit Kenneth Bachor
Thankfully, like the nickname, Sloman held on to all the cassettes and scribbled on handkerchiefs he accumulated over the years, “like a hoarder”. He explains, “We were on a train from Toronto to Montreal and I showed some lyrics to Bob and he goes “hey man these are good,” so that was all the encouragement I needed!” Alan Ginsberg (“a great”), Joan Baez, Sam Shepard, Joni Mitchell (“extraordinary, could sit there and recite every page from Nietzche by heart”) and countless other creative luminaries would all join the seven-month tour at one time or another.
After the release of On Tour With Bob Dylan in 1978, Sloman continued his musical pilgrimage by collaborating with John Cale. Cale, a founding member of The Velvet Underground, would later use a number of Ratso penned songs for his 1985 album Artificial Intelligence, the standout being the classic cut, Dying On The Vine.
Such are his contemporaries, it’s impossible to listen to Stubborn Heart without scanning for influences. Indeed, the spoken delivery on the record instantly brings to mind Lou Reed, Tom Waites, and Leonard Cohen, who, incidentally, are all erstwhile Ratso collaborators. What sets Ratso apart is his timbre. It’s a unique voice. “When Vin, the producer said I have a unique voice, I said, ‘Unique?’ I got paranoid, what does that mean, unique? Like Florence Foster Jennings?” Thankfully, no. It’s more an old school New York Jewish drawl, the type that stretches words and squeezes multiple syllables into two letter words but somehow retains all its vim and vigour.
Larry “Ratso” Sloman
It’s difficult, in a wonderful way, asking Larry about pretty much anything, as every answer is reached via a series of dizzying episodes. Suddenly he’s talking about Anthony Keidis, then David Blaine, before jumping back 20 years to that time he took the entire New York Rangers ice hockey team to a Christmas party in Joni Mitchell’s Soho loft apartment. Now we’re onto Mike Tyson. “When I was about to leave his place he shouts “Ratso! Why did you send me that Nietzsche book when I was in prison? Did you think I was superman?” You never knew when he was gonna say something incredibly profound. He’s a real mensch. The most incredible photographic memory too.”
As if sensing the bewilderment on the other side of the line, Sloman blurts “this is a fashion magazine right? I’m famous for my personal style. One of the reasons I got friendly with Nick [Cave], (who features on album track Our Lady of Light) is over the years he would see me backstage at shows and say, “Who is this guy?” He would be astounded at my unique fashion sense … I was wearing rabbinical coats before that err, what’s his name, Gaultier. Way before he put out a whole line of Hebrew clothing. But I’ve undergone metamorphosis many times. Today I would say [my personal style] is 75per cent soul train fashion, I would not be out of place in a Blaxploitation film.”
When he says “soul train” fashion, he doesn’t mean the TV show, he literally means 75 per cent of his wardrobe is from a New Orleans store called Soul Train Fashions. And this is Ratso to a tee. His album Stubborn Heart is a solemn, at times bizarre cocktail of styles and influences that come together to make something that really shouldn’t work, but does.
Your move, Susan Boyle.
by Charlie Navin-Holder
Stubborn Heart is out now