Bull, Durham
New episodes with Emily Raboteau & Trillian Stars/Kyle Cassidy, plus my biz-travels to NC, some art & more
The Virtual Memories Show News
A 2x/week email about a podcast about books & life
Podcastery
This week, I posted Episode 584 of The Virtual Memories Show, feat. Emily Raboteau as we celebrate her amazing new essay collection, LESSONS FOR SURVIVAL: Mothering Against “The Apocalypse” (Holt). We talk about her sparkbird and the Audubon Mural Project in Washington Heights that center the book, her transformation into a climate activist, the joy of the flaneuse, her scavenger hunt for Justin Brice Guariglia‘s environmental art, and the idea of pain with a purpose. We also get into the differences between mothering & motherhood, the reason she put “the Apocalypse” in quotes in her subtitle, how COVID lockdown made her realize her kids’ lives had been overscheduled (and how lockdown gave them some room to breathe), and the nor’easter-battered book-event in Princeton that corroborated her book’s community-thesis. Plus we discuss her dream of interviewing Vivian Gornick, how we need to overcome pandemic-amnesia, the place her children really want to visit, how she’s changed as a writer since we last talked, what the difference is between surviving and living, and a lot more. Give it a listen, and go read LESSONS FOR SURVIVAL
This week, I also posted a Bonus Episode feat. a talk with actor and model Trillian Stars and photographer and writer Kyle Cassidy about their new Kickstarter, THIS IS ONLY EARTH, MY DEAR – POEMS & PHOTOS (closing May 4, 2024)! We get into their inspiration to make a book combining the poems of Pre-Raphaelite muse-model-artist Elizabeth Eleanor Siddal with photos of Trillian (in Pre-Raphaelite mode), how the project changed once they began shooting in East London, how they found enough costumes for all the photos they wanted to take, and why Lizzie Siddal was dismissed by the peers of her husband, Dante Gabriel Rossetti. We also get into what they’ve learned from nearly a dozen Kickstarters, what stretch goals they’re hoping to reach for this one, how modeling and acting overlap and differ (and why Kyle prefers shooting with actors), how the ghost of old London lives in modern London, and what a gift Lizzie Siddal’s poems are. Give it a listen, and GO PLEDGE!
Last week, I posted Episode 583 of The Virtual Memories Show, feat. Leela Corman as we celebrate her breathtaking new graphic novel, VICTORY PARADE (Schocken Books)! We talk about how the book brings together the women welders of WWII-era Brooklyn Navy Yards, professional wrestling, and her lifelong obsession with the Shoah, how discovering her watercolor style was like the portal between life and death opening, her life-defining visit to the Philadelphia Museum of Art, and the art school experience that derailed her. We get into the sacred responsibility of teaching, why she brought characters from her earlier GN Unterzakhn into Victory Parade, and her music-comics collaboration with Thalia Zedek. Plus we discuss the Gen X practice of warts-and-all autobio comics, transgenerational trauma and the next book in her ‘Birnbaumiad’ triptych, and a lot more. Give it a listen, and go read VICTORY PARADE
Recent episodes: Keith Mayerson • Edith Hall • David Small • Brad Gooch • Japan, a monologue • Scott Guild • Aaron Lange • Donald J. Robertson
Durham
I'm in Durham, NC to give a presentation to the Executive Leadership Team of one of my trade association's member companies ("CDMOs: Challenges and Opportunities", the title I give every single presentation & article I'm asked to present). Not being much of a Kevin Costner fan, I was puzzled by the bull statue near my hotel.
Even though it'll be a less-than-formal event, I'll slick/tie my hair back, put on my suit of armor (via Phineas Cole/Paul Stuart), and maybe even wear a tie for my session. They've slotted me in for 2 hours, and I'm really hoping they'll ask questions throughout, so it's not just The Gil Show. (Speaking of bull.)
Art
I didn't get back to that postcard of the flowering forsythia in my backyard that I mentioned last week; I'll get to it. That's the pic above. Have to figure out how get in some branches, the trees behind it, the ground below, without making it even more of a mess. All for a picture that I'll scan and then just put in the mail to somebody. On Saturday morning, for a quick exercise, I made Yet Another Goddamned Japanese White Eye watercolor. 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.)
Kickstartery
The Kickstarter that I want to do is a book of Instax photos + text, similar in format to Valid Until Sunset by Jarrett Earnest, but with some very specific parameters. I'll tell you more in the next few months; for now, just think "picture on left page, text on right page". If you’ve got ideas about what sort of rewards I should make for different tiers of donors — like, things you’d love to receive if you contributed, say, $50 to this project — let me know.
Until Next Time
Thanks for reading this far! Sorry it was what it was. I’ll be back on Sunday with links, books, & somatic craziness, and Wednesday with a new episode, maybe some art, & who knows maybe a little profundity or something.
Gideon checked out / And he left it no doubt / To help with good Rocky's revival,