Hitting The Links: 6/23/24
This one's got a ton of great links, an artistic vision courtesy of Sharon Stone, the Knausgaard-homestretch, and the Silver Surfer's Skeevy Longhair Cousin
The Virtual Memories Show News
A 2x/week email about a podcast about books & life
Stone Age
I had what you might call an artistic vision yesterday, and it’s Sharon Stone’s fault. I won’t go into the vision itself, because I don’t want to overpromise/ruin it, but I was spending some time yesterday going through open tabs on my iPad’s browser, hoping to get the number of them under 40, when I came across the interview Jerry Saltz had with Sharon Stone from last December. (I shared it in the newsletter, even though I hadn’t read it at the time.)
It’s a neat interview, because she’s Been Through Some Things and is on an art-making tear, and I’m always fascinated by people’s unfolding and self-revelation. At one point in the intro, Jerry quotes her saying, “Style is what you do with what is wrong with you,” and in that instant, I was struck by lightning (which also happened to Stone as a kid; again, Been Through Some Things). I had an idea for a whole series of drawings, paintings, whatever: it would have an identity, a reason for being, and maybe help me with My Whole Thing, or at least bring me closer to addressing The Wound.
I was kinda feverish with excitement, figured out some of the things I’ll need to buy for this project without falling into my old pattern of needing to buy The Exact Right Thing That Will Allow Me To Move Forward, and even envisioned it all in a gallery/exhibition, which I’ve NEVER done (and will never happen, I know).
Anyway, I’m a giant tease, so no more word about this until it actually results in some art, but I did want to share with you that moment of thunder, and how happy I was to be open to it. (And, no, I’m not letting it take precedence over my Instax book, GUEST/HOST, which is still My Big 2024 Project.)
The day stayed productive: in the shower, I had a breakthrough idea for a 2-page spread in my next Haiku for Business Travelers ‘zine, and actually remembered it after, then finished up a few more pages. There’s still some big stuff to get done to get that issue out the door, but I hope to finish it this summer.
I’m not one to dole out real advice or wisdom or anything — although I did a pretty good job this week counseling a pal whose wife recently got diagnosed with a blood cancer similar to mine — but I will say you oughtta keep your eyes open, read widely, make mental connections, and let your mind wander sometimes.
And when an idea hits you, take notes right away.
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And now, let’s hit the links!
Links & Such
Recent Virtual Memories Show podcasts: Swan Huntley • Stan Mack • Jim Moske • Adam Moss • Randy Fertel • D.W. Young • Jen Silverman • Leonard Barkan
RIP Say Hey Kid . . . RIP Donald Sutherland . . . RIP Anouk Aimee . . . RIP James Kent . . . RIP Barbara Gladstone (appreciation by Jerry Saltz) . . . RIP Peter B. Gillis . . . RIP James Chance . . . RIP Ron Simons . . .
WOWZERS: go read this interview with Russell Crowe by Hayley Campbell (2016, 2022).
I attended a reading of this piece on Moby-Dick & Cthulhu by Henry Wessells at Readercon last year. It’s awfully fun, so give it a read.
This weekend, I found out that virtually no one I know will be at Readercon this year, which I should have checked on before booking the hotel. I’ve got some offsite podcasts set for the weekend, and dinner with a college pal, but I’m bummed I won’t get to see all those pals.
If you haven’t watched the video this week of Reggie Jackson talking about the racism he experienced in Alabama as a minor-league ball player, GO WATCH. This happened 60 years ago and he’s still burning.
In honor of next week’s anniversary of my CLL diagnosis, I’d like to point out that I’m ahead of the curve.
OCULAR BEE STING. (Don’t even think of clicking through this one.) (You’ve been warned.)
Fun interview with the guy who ran the Sondheim auction last week. Speaking of: Adam Moss’ book The Work of Art is worth it for the Sondheim interview alone, much less all of its other great conversations about art. (If my new art-project idea comes to fruition, maybe I’ll sit down w/Adam and talk about it sometime.)
Enjoy the treasure that is Murray Hill (the performer, not the neighborhood).
New Yorker art critic Jackson Arn wrote about the de Kooning exhibition in Venice.
Amazing piece by James Fenton on John Singer Sargent and his models.
I really dug this profile of David Dawson, Lucian Freud’s assistant/slave (his term).
Speaking of Freud, at an FDA workshop on Monday I met a panelist whose resemblance to Celia Paul (2020, 2022) was disconcerting.
you had to be there
Current/Recent Reading
Pilobolus: A Story of Dance and Life - Robert Pranzatelli
Orwell’s Ghosts - Laura Beers
“I started to cry. I didn’t care if it was in front of a stranger. I was beyond all such considerations. I cried and cried and I poured my heart out, and he listened. For an hour I sat there crying and talking about Dad. When I was about to leave, he shook my hand and thanked me, looked at me with his gentle eyes, and I cried again and said it was me who should thank him, and as I left the place, along the corridor and down the stairs, through the housing estate to the main road, it was as though something had let go, as though I was no longer carrying this, what I had been carrying, myself. We had only talked about Dad and me, but the fact that he had been there and listened, as he had to be there and listen to countless people who unburdened themselves to him, from the depths of their difficult lives, meant that it hadn’t only been Dad and me we’d talked about but life: this was how this life had turned out. Dad’s life, it had turned out like this.”
—Karl Ove Knausgaard (tr. Don Bartlett), My Struggle: Book 5. Done! I’m 25 pages to Book 6 (that one’s ~1,200 pages, so it’ll be a while).
Sound Body, Fractured Mind
I only got in 1 official workout last week: Friday’s weights. Saturday was Catskills hike #2, and Sunday was too crowded — podcast, Father’s Day — for me to get a workout in, while Monday-Tuesday were On The Road. Something happened during that trip — I don’t know what — that’s screwed up my right shoulder, but I keep ignoring it because I know it or I will go away soon enough. (I’ve tried heat, but cold seems to help more.) I’m back to weights-yoga 5-day cycle, so yay. Here’s me after I got to my hotel on Monday, post-workshop, when I got belted by Cosmic Rays on the Metro and turned into the Silver Surfer’s skeevy longhair cousin.
Until Next Time
Thanks for reading this far! I’ll be back on Wednesday with a new episode (at last!), and on Sunday with links, books, & workout craziness, & sure maybe a little profundity or something.
We can celebrate your helical risin' / Ooh, we can activate your Christ seeds, too / Oh, it'll be fun,