Poet’s reading packs Frick

David Berman’s mother sent a complaint letter to the Trojan Condom company three months before… David Berman’s mother sent a complaint letter to the Trojan Condom company three months before he was born.

The Silver Jews’ lead singer let a standing-room-only audience in on that and other snapshots from his life at a reading Wednesday night in the Frick Fine Arts Building.

Berman – whose debut book of poetry “Actual Air” was published in ’99 – read poems on his youth and what he does with his days.

“There’s some cussing in here,” he warned before one poem.

Berman read from a stack of papers with creases still visible from where they had been folded in quarters. After each poem, he piled the papers next to his podium. The crinkled pages stood high atop one another.

People sat in extra chairs in aisles, the room softly lit but brighter on stage. Each of the two main exits was lined with people standing and sitting on the floor where they could find room.

Berman lives in Tennessee. His reading was part of the 2005-2006 Pittsburgh Contemporary Writers Series. The Silver Jews is an indie-rock band fronted by Berman that was formed in the late-’80s.

Berman’s voice was soft and warm, his delivery direct. He wore a long-sleeved, button-down, red shirt, and had a full beard.

GQ once described Berman’s poems as “the absurd American sublime, poetry that raises the stakes on the everyday and bluffs the blunders.”

Berman said Wednesday that he hates movies and often goes out when the Oscars are on so that he can see others who don’t care about movies.

In the end, which was a little less than half an hour after the program began, Berman thanked the audience and agreed to sign copies of his book. A reception followed.