Rockstar
2 new podcasts with Edith Hall and Dean Haspiel, the perils of recognition, and a complete lack of art
The Virtual Memories Show News
A 2x/week email about a podcast about books & life
Podcastery
This week, I posted Episode 581 of The Virtual Memories Show, feat. classicist Edith Hall joins as we celebrate her fantastic, important new book, FACING DOWN THE FURIES: Suicide, the Ancient Greeks, and Me (Yale University Press). We talk about the taboo of talking about suicide, how that taboo can lead to transgenerational damage, how that compares to the family curses in Greek tragedies, and what the Tragedians have to teach us about life (and death) today. We get into her grandmother’s suicide and her mother’s conspiracy of silence around it, her own suicidal ideation and how Heracles Mad helped her through her worst phase, the way Facing Down the Furies sprung from Edith’s previous book, Aristotle’s Way, the process of researching her family history after her mother’s death, and how Philoctetesembodies It Gets Better. We also get into the gender difference of existentialists and the crappy behavior of male philosophers, the gender difference in our readings of Alcestis, why she’s Team Iliad (and supports my reading of Achilles’ tragedy), the one Greek tragedy that she wishes survived to reach us, and a lot more. Also, I go LONG in the intro about some family stuff that came up in the lead-in to this episode. (Like, the conversation starts at 16:00.) Give it a listen, and go read FACING DOWN THE FURIES
This week, I also posted a Bonus Episode with cartoonist, playwright, schmoozer, etc. Dean Haspiel to talk about his new Kickstarter, THE RED HOOK X DEAN HASPIEL (closing March 28, 2024, so GO SUPPORT IT)! We get into why he’s making the plunge into Meta-Mem-Noir and bringing Dean Haspiel as a character into his New Brooklyn comics universe, what it’s like to be part of the story, and how this podcast is also becoming more autobiographical with each passing week. Plus, we talk about what it’s like to treat comics as a reductive art rather than a rendering one, the play Dino’s working on, what he’s learned from his previous Kickstarter projects, Covid Cop and Billy Dogma and Jane Legit, why he’s holding off on reading the finale of Howard Chaykin‘s Time² project, and more! Give it a listen & go support Dean's Kickstarter
Last week, I posted Episode 580 of The Virtual Memories Show, feat. David Small as we celebrate his brand-new collection, THE WEREWOLF AT DUSK and Other Stories (Liveright). We talk about the beast within (whether that’s within the heart, the psyche, or the body politic), the on-and-off 40-year history of this collection, the themes of transformation and aging that suffuse these stories, and the schism in Leonora Carrington’s estate that nearly derailed the whole project. We get into the the challenges of adapting prose fiction into comics, his move from graphic novels (think Stitches and Home After Dark) to short stories, and why he’s come to love drawing digitally. We also discuss the decline in kids’ books, our respective life changes from 2020’s COVID check-in, how hard he has to work to make his drawings look like they were done in 15 seconds, and more. Give it a listen (and listen to our 2018 conversation and our 2020 COVID check-in) and go read The Werewolf At Dusk!
Recent episodes: Brad Gooch • Japan, a monologue • Scott Guild • Aaron Lange • Donald J. Robertson • Elizabeth Flock • David Thomson
Rockstar
I’m super busy at the pharma event I mentioned in last Sunday's email. It’s 4-day shebang where a whole ton of service providers and other companies rent hospitality suites in midtown Manhattan hotels, and all their customers (pharma companies) come in for meetings. There are some conference sessions and receptions, as well as a big black-tie dinner at the end of the week, but for me the value is in all the meetings and the serendipitous ones walking down the street or milling in the hotel lobbies. (I turned down 3 invites to the dinner so far.)
I’ve been in this pharma-services sector for 25 years (!), and have met a LOT of people. Some of them know about this ‘secret identity’ of mine, but most don’t. While talking with some of the long-timers, I had a neat/weird observation about that older cohort in the industry (people who are maybe 15+ years older than me, and have been mainstays since I started), and talking about that with some people led to ideas about how to find the next generation of those folks.
Anyway, not to toot my own horn (if I could, I’d never leave the house), but I occasionally (okay, often) get referred to as ’a rockstar’ in this sector when we’re at these events. It’s not because of my hair, but the degree to which I know everydamnbody, and have done positive things for the sector.
So this morning, when I was having my 2nd coffee of a very long day at Ground Central on E 52nd, and a youngish guy walked up and asked, “Are you Gil Roth?”, I was not concerned that he was going to serve me with court papers. He was from a research firm and went on to tell me how much he digs the newsletter I put out every Friday, and how impressed he is by how much I know about the industry. I thanked him and joked about autographs.
I mean, it’s great to see so many long-time pals at this event, but also kinda gratifying to be ID’d by people I’ve never met.
An hour later, in the lobby of the Intercontinental Barclay, one of the main hotels this week, while I was starting a meeting with an investment banker, another youngish guy walked up to me. I didn’t recognize him and expected a reprise of the cafe scene, but he said, “Excuse me: I know this is weird, but you look really familiar. Do you spend time in Frenchtown, New Jersey?”
I was perplexed for a second, then said, “Were you . . . at the live podcast I did 2 years ago with Joe Ciardiello at ArtYard?”
“THAT’S where I know you from! You were onstage interviewing that artist! That was such a great talk!”
I asked him which company he was with, but he said he’s a videographer who was here to shoot footage for the event organizers. We laughed over the sheer weirdness of him recognizing one person in this entire sea of suited people.
I guess maybe the hair does have something to do with it.
Art
I didn’t make/finish any art this past week. Sorry, but them’s the breaks. As I’ve conveyed, I’ve been crazy busy. I did start something I need to get back to (another Japanese White Eye, if you must know). 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/painted postcard as a thank-you.)
Until Next Time
Thanks for reading this far! I’ll be back on Sunday with links, books, & somatic craziness, and Wednesday with a new episode, maybe some art, & who knows maybe a little profundity or something.
Someone told me / There are brothers / Live forever / In the big sky,