Brutal(ist) Morning
This one's got my latest episode, a cute dog picture, and 40 days of craziness ahead, starting . . . now
The Virtual Memories Show News
A 2x/week email about a podcast about books & life
Podcastery
This week I posted Episode 601 of The Virtual Memories Show, feat. comics journalist Jess Ruliffson . We started out talking about the origins of INVISIBLE WOUNDS (Fantagraphics), her collection of stories from veterans of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, but wound up talking about guys’ butts, among other things. We get into her focus on male vulnerability, the Tim Hetherington photos that led her to make Invisible Wounds, the differences between soldiers who enlisted pre-/post-9/11, what it’s like to come home from war with no idea what to do next, and the new comics she’s making with her husband, Ernesto Barbieri, about his work as an ICU nurse. We talk about her upbringing in Mississippi, what she’s learned about interviewing and how stories sometimes take shape in retrospect, whether it’s “permissible” to tell stories about people in a different demographic, the common thread of moral injury in her work, how she met her husband through an MFA open house, and how she found her way into comics and journalism. We also discuss her frustration at not drawing the butts she wants to draw, her experiences teaching comics and learning to give her students permission, what she’s learned from making the Terrible Anvil podcast with Tom Hart, why her therapist insisted she never make a memoir, and more! Give it a listen, and go read INVISIBLE WOUNDS!
Last week I posted Episode 600 (!!!), and my guest was the great artist Joe Coleman as we celebrated his phenomenal new career-spanning retrospective book, A DOORWAY TO JOE: The Art of Joe Coleman (Fantagraphics). We talked about art, mortality, mythography, history, the corruption of the flesh, the nature of evil, his Odditorium & the power of relics, Dr. Mombooze-o‘s send-off for his dead parents, playing Whac-A-Mole with T-cell lymphoma, getting arrested for being an Infernal Machine, taxi-driving in NYC’s Travis Bickle era, the inspiration of the Hubble telescope, the pagan Celtic roots in Irish Catholicism, what it’s like to work on one square-inch of a painting for 8 hours at a time, our respective appearances on the Uncle Floyd Show, playing in the Steel Tips with Patrick McDonnell & Karen O’Connell, and how he found his love and muse in Whitney Ward. Give it a listen! And go get A DOORWAY TO JOE: The Art of Joe Coleman
Recent episodes: Mirana Comstock • Anita Kunz • Shalom Auslander • Maurice Vellekoop • Laura Beers • Robert Pranzatelli • Bob Fingerman
Brutal(ist) Morning
I’m in Boston for a biopharma conference. I’ve been asked to moderate the last panel of the day, but I should attend some of the earlier ones, so I know what’s going on and get a feel for the event.
I drove up yesterday and stopped in Providence, RI to visit Paul Di Filippo and Deb Newton. On the drive up, it occurred to me that we met 26 years ago, which means that we’ve been friends almost half my life. I don’t get how that happened, but like I say about the podcast, you put one week in front of the other, and lo and behold. . . .
Today’s event kicks off what’s going to be hectic dash for me, from now through mid-October: conferences — including my own in 4 weeks! —, a memorial trek, west coast client presentation & a redeye flight where I’ll change suits in the car and drive straight on to another conference, articles to write and virtual presentations to give, maybe SPX and/or CXC festivals, although I’m considering skipping both, and hey at least I get 2 days in Rome before heavy-duty work-mode in Milan, then home in time for whatever it is I’ll be doing for Yom Kippur. (Oh, yeah, and a whole bunch of podcasts to record: duh.)
So it’s time to iron my shirt, wash up, and put on The Gil Show. Here’s Paul & Deb’s dog Moxie, wishing you a good rest-of-week:
Instaxery
No podcasts or pod-guest visits this past week, so no new Instax pix for you. I did write one of the prose pieces that will accompany the images in my GUEST/HOST book, so I guess that means I’m making progress. You’ll hear all about it when I launch the crowdfunder for it.
Artistry
Made a couple of sketches, but nothing worth scanning & sharing. You should go to the Flickr album of most of the art I’ve made & find something you like.
Postcardery
Let me know if you want to be on my postcard-a-day list. (Financial supporters of the podcast get a hand-drawn/painted postcard as a thank-you.) If you’re on the list & you’ve moved, zap me your new address, so I don’t write an emotionally raw postcard, only to get the following:
Until Next Time
Thanks for reading this far! I’ll be back on Sunday with links, books, & workouts, and on Wednesday with a new episode, and maybe some art & an Instax.
Tell them how my life is one big adventure,