Don't Look Back
A new show with Ari Richter, the tumult of my overnight trip to Boston/Burlington, some new Instax, I make for a pretty zombie-self, and more!
The Virtual Memories Show News
A 2x/week email about a podcast about books & life
Podcastery
This week, I posted Episode 635 of The Virtual Memories Show, feat. a conversation with artist, professor and now like-it-or-not cartoonist Ari Richter about his fantastic book, Never Again Will I Visit Auschwitz: A Graphic Family Memoir of Trauma & Inheritance (Fantagraphics). We talk about how he he began this project in the wake of the Tree of Life massacre in 2018, how it helped him exorcise the demons of his imagination after a lifetime of hearing his family’s stories about the Holocaust, and how the book centered around intergenerational trauma and collaboration. We get into how he incorporated his grandfathers’ holocaust memoirs into the book, why he found different styles for each section of the book, what he had to learn about comics storytelling after a career in fine arts, the revelation of reading Miriam Katin‘s memoirs and why he avoided rereading MAUS during the 5 years he worked on this book. We also discuss how drawing comics has changed his brain, why he was stunned by the commercialism of Auschwitz, why he’s glad he got a German passport, why comics folks seem friendlier than fine arts people, the insanity of composing his comics pages in Photoshop (and what happens when he forgets to label his layers), and a lot more. Give it a listen! And go read Never Again Will I Visit Auschwitz!
Last week I posted Episode 634, feat. author and curator Dan Nadel as we celebrate the publication of his amazing new biography, CRUMB: A Cartoonist’s Life (Scribner). We get into Robert Crumb‘s significance in American art, comics, and culture, Dan’s first experience with a Crumb comic, and what it took for him to get over the “R. Crumb” persona and realize how integrated Robert’s personality is. We talk about Crumb’s role as nexus in the history of comics, the book’s focus on Crumb’s drawing and how different tools opened him up artistically, what it means to see Crumb as part of tradition and not just a conceptual outlier, how his Crumb differs from the Crumb of Terry Zwigoff’s documentary, and the one detail he’s still dying to find out about Zap Comix. We also discuss Dan’s comics and art upbringing, how he found his place as a publisher then gallery & museum curator, how he was affected by the death of Crumb’s wife Aline in 2022, how his museum experience prepared him for writing about the racist and sexist aspects of Crumb’s comics, whether Crumb’s Book of Genesis succeeds as comics, and a lot more. Give it a listen! And go read CRUMB: A Cartoonist’s Life!
Recent episodes: See Hear Speak • Peter Trachtenberg • David Shields • Meeting Across the River • Elon Green • Vanda Krefft • Seth Lorinczi • Martin Mittelmeier
Don’t Look Back
Sorry this newsletter’s a little late today. I was up in Boston (well, Burlington, MA) to speak at another trade association’s meeting, and just got back an hour ago.
My presentation went well, but it’s a long drive to/from (over 4+ hours). Beyond the heavy work & Virtual Memories stress/strain, I had some tough personal vibes going on.
This was my first Boston-area visit since last November, when we lost our beloved greyhound Benny. I thought about that on the drive yesterday, and was glad not to be on the train, with no option to turn around in case of emergency. Until I hit the last 10 miles, which were a goddamned crawl.
The other thing was that the trade association whose meeting I was visiting used to be run by my friend John, who died last year from glioblastoma. I knew that going in but didn’t consider the implications of it, or didn’t have time to acknowledge what that would mean, until I was sitting down for the night-before dinner and began relating the story of how I came to work with their group. This led to people telling me, “John used to talk about you all the time,” and THAT led to me getting emotional about my friend’s death. But in a good way.
His association members seemed glad to hear about the personal-side stuff alongside the FDA barnstorming we did together. It was a productive meeting, and John would have been glad that our groups were still working together.
But take all that, mix it up with a crappy night’s sleep in the hotel, and a 4+-hour drive home just now, the last 30 miles of which were a goddamned crawl, and I’m just B-E-A-T.
There’s more to do tomorrow, so I figure it’s best to get this newsletter out and let you know how pretty I was for the meeting.
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Instaxery
Here are two pix I took during my visit to Rutgers arts building to record this week’s episode with Ari Richter. He was doing crits for art students in the gallery, so I meandered around there. I looked at the title-on-the-wall of one of the exhibit areas, and realized it was by the son of my neighbors across the street, of all oddball coincidences. So I took a pic of that.
When I went upstairs to the big studio room where Ari & I recorded, I decided Spatial Illusion deserved an Instax, too.
Artistry
Still didn’t draw or paint anything this week, and I only have 5 days to come up with a script for a 2-page comic about My New York, but it’s not like I have anything better to do. (I don’t have to draw it until August, if they accept it.)
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 or painted postcard as a thank-you.)
Until Next Time
Thanks for reading this far. I’ll be back on Sunday with links, books, & workout-/meditation-craziness, and on Wednesday with a new episode, and maybe some art, and an Instax or two.
The road is callin’ / Today is the day,