Hitting The Links: 12/24/23
The Virtual Memories Show News
A 2x/week email about a podcast about books & life
New Frontiers
“With the uncertainty & moral craziness of some (okay, most) of those platforms, I thought it’d be worthwhile to migrate my e-mail here, in hopes that Substack’s tools allow us to cultivate a sense of community and start more conversation. (I recognize that this platform isn’t free of uncertainty & moral craziness; don’t @ me.)”
I wrote that a year ago, when I migrated my email/newsletter over to Substack. My goal at the time was to get more conversation going with readers, to get them to talk to each other via comments & chat, and otherwise try to build a community of listeners/readers, instead of just me blasting out My Whole Thing.
It’s been a mixed bag. People still e-mailed me directly to respond to what I wrote, rather than leave comments for others to read; the chat function didn’t get much traction; I picked up a bunch of subscribers via referrals or recommendations from some other Substack writers; and I gained $370 in paying subscribers, despite not having any paywalled material. I guess I just don’t have the critical mass to get people talking to each other, so a lot of those community features are lost on me & my devoted audience (that's you guys).
And now the “moral craziness” I referred to a year ago has climbed to a new level, as Substack ownership has determined that it doesn’t have a Nazi problem, but a Nazi market, and that it’s okay for explicitly Nazi newsletters to post there, raise subscription money, and organize (& for Substack to take a cut of that Nazi gelt, of course). Here’s the initial article about it, a letter signed and posted by a ton of upper-tier Substack users demanding the company stop platforming and monetizing Nazis, and a post from Substack’s co-founder and Chief Writing Officer explaining why it’s not gonna change:
I just want to make it clear that we don’t like Nazis either — we wish no-one held those views. But some people do hold those and other extreme views. Given that, we don't think that censorship (including through demonetizing publications) makes the problem go away — in fact, it makes it worse.
We believe that supporting individual rights and civil liberties while subjecting ideas to open discourse is the best way to strip bad ideas of their power. We are committed to upholding and protecting freedom of expression, even when it hurts.
Of course, he doesn’t say WHO it’ll hurt, but hey.
And THAT'S why this email looks different! I migrated everything over to another service, Buttondown, and will try to tweak the settings to make it look nicer. It has have fewer community features than Substack, and it’ll be tougher for people to give me money (not that I’m asking!). I'm on Buttondown's $29/month plan, because I have ~1,000 subscribers, but I’ll feel a little less complicit than using a “free” platform that’s Nazi-subsidized. Let's just hope they manage not to turn into a Nazi-bar, so I don't have to find another platform (back to Mailchimp!).
Speaking of that $29/month, if you want to help out with it, you can support the Virtual Memories Show with a contribution of any size.
I hope you’ll be up for making the journey with me, and that you enjoy the podcast and these newsletters in 2024 and beyond.
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As housekeeping ops go, I’ll keep the Substack account alive, just so I don’t have to go through the rigamarole of issuing refunds to paying subs, but won't be posting new emails through there. (Unless we find out that the Substack is donating its cut of the Nazi revenues to BLM or something, or are feeding the info of all the subscribers to those newsletters to the feds.)
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Last thing: if there's another podcast this year, it'll be a little late. I'm writing a monologue for that one, but it's slow going and I won't have time to record it while I'm in Louisiana visiting my in-laws, so you'll have to wait. Or just come back Jan. 2 for the first interview ep. of 2024!
And now, let's hit the links!
Links & Such
Recent Virtual Memories Show podcasts: The Guest List • Jarrett Earnest • Christian Wiman • Danny Fingeroth • Matt Bors • Phillip Lopate
RIP Carlos Lyra . . . RIP Eric Montross . . . RIP Bob Pardo, whose balls may need their own casket . . . RIP Essra Mohawk (Interjections!) . . .
My podcast with Malcolm Margolin was one of my all-time faves. He’s been having a tough time with health troubles, so maybe you could show him a little love and contribute to his GoFundMe, esp. after you read yesterday's update.
Wow: looks like I have one less excuse not to put out another issue of my ‘zine.
Great new comic in The New Yorker from Leslie Stein (2016, 2021, 2023)! And here's one from Emily Flake!
A couple years ago, I asked the musician & songwriter (& soon-to-be novelist!) David Baerwald why artists like Paul McCartney were still putting out new albums, rather than just touring on their older work, given what a no-win scenario new music is. He gave me a sort of “if you don’t get it, you don’t get it” shake of the head. Here’s an interview with Chrissie Hynde of the Pretenders where she says:
The only difference is that I’ve learned to collaborate with other people. I’m not as driven as I was 45 years ago to get songs together, and because I can collaborate, I don’t spend as much time sitting on the floor with a guitar and a bunch of notebooks, crying. People say to me often, “Why’s Paul McCartney still making music? Why’s Bob Dylan still on the road? They don’t have to do it.” And I think, “Yeah, well, they never had to. You HAVE to go to the office to pay your bills, but we don’t HAVE to make new music or go onstage with a guitar and play in a rock band.” We do that because it’s fun.
Sebastian Smee visited the big Rothko exhibition in Paris, had A Moment, and put down his phone.
When I drove into NYC last weekend to record with Ed Subitzky (episode coming soon!), I went down the FDR and hit the usual traffic north of the Triboro. As I closed in on 122nd St., I hoped against hope I would see Black Cherokee, the guy who stands out on the sidewalk next to the FDR with various banners, art installations and other stuff. I first saw him almost 20 years ago, when I used to drive that way to take Amy back to her apt. He became a regular feature of our Sunday evenings, and it made me think about how there are certain aspects of NYC you only see from a car. Long before I launched the podcast, we thought that "Ask Black Cherokee" would make a great recurring feature on a blog or something. Anyway, he didn't let me down this time, chair on his head, selfie stick in his pants, and all. As the traffic began to roll, I grabbed my phone, snapped a quick shot across two lanes of cars, and was amazed to see that it came out perfectly. Here's a 2021 NYT story about Black Cherokee.
Weird sequel to Ford Vs. Ferrari, but hey.
Gun to my head, I’d guess Vyvgart Hytrulo is a character in Game of Thrones or some shit.
I was thrilled to discover that there’s a movie called HAPPER’S COMET but disappointed to find out it has no connection to LOCAL HERO.
Bad news: Small Beer Press is halting new publications, due to Long COVID issues of publisher (& longtime pal/supporter) Gavin Grant.
I repeat myself, but I’m awfully glad my Virtual Memories Show isn’t part of the “podcast industry”.
Current/Recent Reading
Inherent Vice - Thomas Pynchon (finished!)
The Book of Disquiet - Fernando Pessoa
Bleeding Edge - Thomas Pynchon (outside chance I'll finish it this week, and end my Pynchon re-read project!)
Sound Body, Fractured Mind
I got in my 5-day weights/yoga cycle last week, Fri-Tue, but only by doubling up on Sunday, because of Saturday's 10-mi. run & afternoon NYC podcast. With this week's holiday travel (in-laws, Louisiana), I'll have to scuttle my full workout-routine, but I did get in weights on Friday and yoga yesterday, as well as a 6.3-mi. run on Thursday and another ELEVEN-mile run yesterday, so if you count runs as workouts, then I guess I'm doing okay. I ordered a yoga mat to ship to my in-laws' place, so I hope I'll be able to get those workouts in, and maybe a solo run through Catfish Country. Time to board the flight, so heaux-heaux-heaux and all that!
They're generally set apart from a sentence by an exclamation point / Or by a comma when the feeling's not as strong,