Josh Alan Friedman
| Josh Alan Friedman | |
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Josh Alan Friedman
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| Born | Josh Alan Friedman February 22, 1956 New York, United States |
| Occupation | Musician, writer |
| Nationality | American |
| Period | 1976–present |
Josh Alan Friedman (born February 22, 1956) is an American musician, writer, editor and journalist, who has worked in New York and Dallas. He is widely known for his 1986 collection Tales of Times Square and his often-controversial comix collaborations with his brother, artist Drew Friedman. Many of these are compiled in the books Any Similarity to Persons Living or Dead is Purely Coincidental and Warts and All. Friedman is also a successful musician and songwriter, recording and performing under the moniker Josh Alan.
Son of author-playwright Bruce Jay Friedman and acting coach Ginger Howard Friedman, Josh Alan was the eldest of three boys. They grew up in Glen Cove and Great Neck in Nassau County on Long Island and in New York City. In 1962 in Glen Cove, Josh began first grade at South School, then the last de facto segregated school on Long Island. He was the sole white student. His years attending South School at the flashpoint of the Civil Rights Movement, the childhood friendships forged there, and his occasionally life-threatening adventures in Long Island's forgotten Black shantytowns subsequently informed his "autobiographical novel" Black Cracker (2010). (He published an early story from Black Cracker in Penthouse in August 1978.)
Friedman has defined his creative identity as "51% guitar and 49% writing."
"The guitar has always been the most important thing in the world to me," Friedman told the Dallas Times Herald in 1991. "It's a little bit more important than the writing because I've been doing it longer. The writing seemed like a sidetrack or something when I wasn't able to get my [expletive] together."
Though Friedman began playing guitar at 9, a pitching injury at 14 cost him the use of his right arm for two years. "I figured if I ever had the honor of being able to play again, no one's going to pull me away from it." His time as a student with journeyman jazz guitarist Joe Monk in particular left a deep impression on the young musician.
Friedman spent his last five years in New York working as a guitarist with the busy show band City Limits, featuring Richard Lanham, former vocalist for The Drifters.
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