The Bird a Nest, the Spider a Web
This one's got TWO new podcasts, a busy day, an Instax rethink, the revised title of my book, & more
The Virtual Memories Show News
A 2x/week email about a podcast about books & life
Podcastery
This week, I posted Episode 634 of The Virtual Memories Show, feat. author and curator Dan Nadel as we celebrate the publication of his amazing new biography, CRUMB: A Cartoonist’s Life (Scribner). We get into Robert Crumb‘s significance in American art, comics, and culture, Dan’s first experience with a Crumb comic (it was an ish of American Splendor), the challenge of capturing the underground comics scene of the ’60s & ’70s, and what it took for him to get over the “R. Crumb” persona and realize how integrated Robert’s personality is. We talk about Crumb’s role as nexus in the history of comics, the book’s focus on Crumb’s drawing and how different tools opened him up artistically, what it means to see Crumb as part of tradition and not just a conceptual outlier, how his Crumb differs from the Crumb of Terry Zwigoff’s documentary, and the one detail he’s still dying to find out about Zap Comix. We also discuss Dan’s comics and art upbringing, how he found his place as a publisher then gallery & museum curator, how he was affected by the death of Crumb’s wife Aline in 2022, how his museum experience prepared him for writing about the racist and sexist aspects of Crumb’s comics, the only cartoonist biography he could tackle after Crumb, whether Crumb’s Book of Genesis succeeds as comics, and a lot more. Give it a listen! And go read CRUMB: A Cartoonist’s Life!
This weekend, I pulled a late audible and posted Episode 633, a monologue I call “See Hear Speak.” I sorted through family legacies of the genetic and Larkinesque variety, as occasioned by taking my dad for cataract surgery and getting a call from an old & previously deceased friend, so give it a listen!
Recent episodes: Peter Trachtenberg • David Shields • Meeting Across the River • Elon Green • Vanda Krefft • Seth Lorinczi • Martin Mittelmeier • Jonathan Ames
The Bird a Nest, the Spider a Web
My first work-call today was at 6:30 a.m., and I have to prep for an all-hands meeting of my members at 11 a.m. to talk about our response to the Dept. of Commerce’s Section 232 investigation into NatSec implications of the pharma supply chain, followed by a meeting in Jersey City with a prospective member at 2:30 p.m., so maybe I shouldn’t be spending too much time on a newsletter.
Oh, and I need to make travel plans for a conference in Rotterdam in early May where I’ll be speaking & paneling. If anyone’s got ideas for people I should record with there or in Amsterdam, let me know. (Yes, I could just leave my mics & gear at home for once.)
Here’s a pic from the building where I took Dad for his cardiologist appointment yesterday.
*
This email setup runs $29/month, podcast-hosting is $20/month, and the remote recording setup is $20/month, so if you want to help out with these expenses or otherwise Contribute To The Cause, you can support the Virtual Memories Show with a contribution of any size, one-time or recurring.
Instaxery
Here’s an outtake from last summer’s session with Sven Birkerts, but as I look at it maybe I’ll go with this one instead of the one I picked for the book.
I wrote some segments of the book yesterday, and also realized that the full title should be GUEST/HOST: A Year of Virtual Memories. So that’s progress.
Artistry
I didn’t draw or paint anything this week, but I’ve been asked to contribute a 1- or 2-page comic to an anthology and need to submit a script for that in less than 2 weeks, so I need to get cogitating on that.
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 art, and an Instax.
I sometimes feel I should just go home / But I’m dealing with a memory that never forgets,