NextGen, Old Problems
New podcast with M.L. Rio, a surfeit of cookies, another long drive, some Instaxery, & more
The Virtual Memories Show News
A 2x/week email about a podcast about books & life
Podcastery
This week, I posted Episode 654 of my Virtual Memories Show, with author, critic, and inveterate road-tripper M.L. Rio and her amazing new novel, HOT WAX (Simon & Schuster), which evokes the rock scene of the ’80s and the travails of the not-quite-Almost-Famous band GIL AND THE KILLS. We talk about the redemptive & destructive power of rock & roll, how music is inseparable from her writing process, the challenge of writing about live performance, why it makes sense that “the girl with the Shakespeare degree is writing a rock & roll novel,” and why she couldn’t gloss over the sweatiness of touring and road trips. We get into the literature gap of people in their 30s (esp. women), how this novel evolved with her over a decade, what it’s like operating in male-dominated spaces like music criticism, why she’s going out on a 34-city book tour and trying to make it as fun as a rock tour (including merch!), what it means to be an ethical eavesdropper, how she stays safe (and well fed) while solo road-tripping around America, and the joy of radio crime drama. We also discuss the obsessiveness of record collectors, the loss of nuance in literature, the warping influence of Catholicism (and the perils of reading Shakespeare and Bret Easton Ellis way too young), our first concerts (her: Green Day, me: Asia), and plenty more, so give it a listen! And go read HOT WAX!
Last week I posted Episode 653, as curator and archivist David Leopold rejoined the show for a wide-ranging talk centered on the amazing new HIRSCHFELD’S SONDHEIM: A Poster Book (Abrams ComicArts). We talked about David’s decades as Hirschfeld’s archivist, Sondheim’s love of Hirschfeld’s work, the process of making his first book of Hirschfeld’s art that focuses on a single creator, the connections between Al & Sondheim in David’s text pieces for the book, and the joy of getting an intro from Bernadette Peters. We got into the work that the Hirschfeld Foundation does for regional theaters, why the drop-off of arts criticism is a disaster for culture, how younger people experience and appreciate Hirschfeld’s art, and the time David held a seance at the Algonquin to promote the Hirschfeld Broadway Tarot. We also discussed our all-time fave Prince songs, what it’s like being an archivist in a post-object world, the Steve Cohen magic performance that blew his mind, his new exhibitions at the Studio of Ben Solowey, how aware Sondheim and Hirschfeld were that they were making history in their lifetimes, and more, so give it a listen! And go get HIRSCHFELD’S SONDHEIM!
Recent episodes: Dmitry Samarov • Ask Me Anything • Dan Goldman • David Levithan/Jens Lekman • Sacha Mardou • Oliver Radclyffe • Eulogy
NextGen, Old Problems
HEY! THE SECRET LIFE OF CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES is out! My One True Love did the photography for this cookbook (bakebook?) by Marissa Rothkopf Bates, whose Substack you should check out.
I got to sample some of Marissa’s cookies after they were done shooting, and whoa, Nelly, there are some great ones in there.
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In OTHER news, I was going to write all about taking a trip on one of those NextGen Acela trains to a biotech trade show in Boston, but it turns out the new trains have old problems. I sat in Stamford, CT getting notification after notification about delays due to “mechanical problems,” and once those delays reached the one-hour mark, I decided to get back in my car and just drive up to Boston, my most hated city to drive to/in, esp. after last weekend’s 4+-hour drives to/from DC. [Amtrak’s site now says the delays were from “rail congestion,” but I’ve still got their texts.]
The drive was long, but weirdly traffic-free, so yay. In fact, my GPS sent me on a weird route that managed to get me to my hotel 30 minutes faster than the train did (the hotel’s right by Back Bay Station), once the Acela finally got to Stamford.
So, no ride-the-rails newsletter for you. Also, no three-hour train-trip in which I could work on my slides for tomorrow morning’s presentation, so I had to take care of that once I got to my hotel room.
But I guess an impromptu road trip is just fine, given this week’s pod-guest, M.L. Rio, and her new road-trip of a novel, HOT WAX. Art, life, etc. Rather than listen to ‘80s metal, I reprised my 2023 trick and put on the Grateful Dead channel on Sirius and commanded myself not to change the station. It’s still not music I have an affinity for, but it meant I wasn’t frantically mashing buttons trying to find a song I could listen to. Given how pissed off I was about the train, one fewer distraction was a good thing.
Speaking of Gil getting pissed off over things, once I got here there was a check-in line 15 people long at the hotel, and only one clerk. When I got to the counter, they said, “Your room isn’t ready yet. Is one with two double beds okay?”
I said, “Your hotel is charging me $700 for this room [it’s a biotech conference, and they gouge], so no, it’s not okay.” They got me my room half an hour later.
During the wait, I walked around the conference exhibit hall, saw some friends, gabbed enough to vent all the peevedness, and remembered to tell myself how blessed this whole life of mine is, minor hiccups and all.
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Instaxery
From left, last week’s Instax with M.L. Rio along with the two that I shot during SPX after sessions with Kayla E and Josh Neufeld:
Artistry
No new drawing, and still have to do the lettering for my 2-page comic. I’ll have time to finish that this weekend, weeks after the deadline. Esp. because when I was describing a key 4-panel sequence to a veteran cartoonist at the bar at SPX and then mentioned the captions I needed to letter, he said, “Why do you need any captions? The action you just described is right there for the reader.” I was awfully thankful someone who makes comics could see where I was going wrong.
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 more art & new Instaxes.
If I had my way / I would tear this whole building down,