Hitting The Links: 12/8/24
This one's got unexpected joy on the NY Thruway, a kiss with a dog, a ton of links, some change-yer-life advice, a little workout-craziness & my Americana look, and more!
The Virtual Memories Show News
A 2x/week email about a podcast about books & life
Take a Hike
Yesterday, I drove about 2 hours north to record a podcast and to shoot some Instax with two past guests. All three get-togethers were a blast, plus I got to make pals with my pod-guest’s dog Lulu.
Each of them praised/marveled at how I manage to do all this, while holding down a non-arts career. I made my standard jokes about not having friends, and being driven by anxiety-unto-death, but I’ve got no real answers. After all, I still think I’m pretty lazy and could get a lot more done if I just applied myself (to paraphrase every report card comment I received when I was a kid).
But something else happened earlier on the trip that I wasn’t expecting.
I was headed up the NY Thruway, singing along to new wave songs with made-up lyrics about gorillas, when I saw the Catskills off to the northwest. The trees were bare and most of the mountains were snow-covered, and a huge smile broke across my face and joy flooded my heart. I started cackling and said, “[Expletives], we CLIMBED you!”
I thought of those hikes my pal & I did through the summer to pull off the Catskills Fire Tower Challenge, and recalled the views from each peak, and reveled in the time we got to spend together on the trails, on the drives, in the post-hike meals, and I was just giddy as I cruised up the Thruway. I had no idea I’d have that reaction, this glee at seeing the mountains, but it suffused me throughout the day.
My pal suggested we hike some parts of the Highlands Trail next year, so if I wind up writing a repeat version of this one at some point, cut me some slack.
I hope you have plenty of these moments, where past achievements and joy unexpectedly rekindle your heart, friends.
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And now, let’s hit the links!
Links & Such
Recent Virtual Memories Show podcasts: Eddie Campbell • Caitlin McGurk • Frances Jetter • Roland Allen • Eric Drooker • Simon Critchley • Doug Brod
RIP Marshall Brickman . . . RIP Shalom Nagar . . . RIP Silvia Pinal . . . RIP Shuntaro Tanikawa . . . RIP Wayne Gretzky of Vasectomies . . .
Also, Prince Johnson and Brian Thompson died.
In tribute to Marshall Brickman, here’s a news story about The Leader’s Nose.
CROWDFUNDERY! Emily Flake’s St. Nell’s Humor Writing Residency is looking for funding to expand to a second location. Kick in!
Tom Tomorrow won the 2024 Berryman Cartoonist Award from the National Press Foundation!
MAN, did I love this Matt Zoller-Seitz interview with Willem Dafoe.
Time for Fred Kaplan’s annual top 10 list of jazz albums! (Gotta get Fred back on the show to talk about his new novel, A Capital Calamity.)
Speaking of albums, the only time I mashed the BUY button as fast as I did for this 5-CD set of the Complete Danny Wilson was when I heard about the Exemplars from the Ricky Jay Collection slipcased edition (which cost less than half of what they’re currently charging). GO LISTEN to my talk with Gary Clark, which was one of my all-time faves.
Air Mail has a history of Push Pin Studios, including quotes from a bunch of people I’ve made podcasts with, like Seymour Chwast, Milton Glaser, James McMullan, and Ed Sorel. (Man, I’ve recorded with some GREATS, huh?) It’s tied to the “Yes, No, and WOW: The Push Pin Studios Revolution” show at the Church in Sag Harbor, NY, which closes Dec. 30.
I stopped in on Ed Sorel last week to shoot an Instax for my book. The lighting was terrible and he was chewing on some toast when I took the picture; he looks a lot better than this AT NINETY-FIVE.
Me & Ed & our ~40-year gap, each envious of the other’s hair Here’s a piece on ways of handling sadness and other strong emotions. I’ve been pretty sad since Benny’s death 3 weeks ago, but I’ve embraced and accepted that sadness and am letting it work its way through me, without trying to force myself past it or deny that it’s there. It hasn’t precluded me from feeling joy, like yesterday’s Catskills moment, but I accept there’ll be waves of sadness and loss.
Semi-speaking of all this, you may recall I wrote at the end of last Sunday’s newsletter, “There’s only one month left in 2024. I’m going to try to live mine as fully as I can, even if it doesn’t look much different than any other month; I hope you’re able to make those days count — not in a life hack/optimization way, but in a sense of fullness and a life lived, y’know? — and that you remember to stop and take a breath.” I bring that up because, there’s some sorta TikTok thing along those same lines, tied to the winter months. The upshot is, screw New Year’s Resolutions; you can start changing your life and your habits any time, SO DO IT. (Also, don’t let people on TikTok tell you what to do.)
Current/Recent Reading
The Moviegoer - Walker Percy
The Philosophy of Translation - Damion Searls
The Sun Also Rises - Ernest Hemingway
Sound Body, Fractured Mind
I had a lot of work to do this week, and a couple days of hitting the road at 7am, so I didn’t get to run at all. I also missed Wednesday’s weights because a client event and Instax drop-in-turned-therapy-session meant I got home kinda late that day. But I did yoga-weights-yoga Thu.-Sat., and plan to get weights in later today, so that’ll be something. Maybe I’ll even get out for a few running miles today, but I’ll probably hold off on that and start over on Monday. I still look okay, don’t worry:
Until Next Time
Thanks for reading this far! I’ll be back on Wednesday with a new episode, maybe some art, a bunch of Instax pix, and on Sunday with links, books, & workout craziness, & maybe a little profundity or something.
Hasta mañana when the day is done / If I was a star above the ocean I would guide every sailor home / Throw all your mirrors up at the sky tonight / Maybe the sun has set for the final time and the world will be burning bright,