There Is A Light
The Virtual Memories Show News
A 2x/week email about a podcast about books & life
Intro
I’m going to St. Louis to see my family this weekend. I haven’t seen my brother since 2018, nor my mom since 2017. Which, when I say, “I’m a horrible person,” and you say, “No, you’re not, Gil,” I can use as Exhibit A.
I want to tell you more — about family & distance, about Ikiru, about Opening Day & my friend who fears he won’t live to see another one, about mornings with Emily Dickinson, about savoring that Nick Cave/Seán O’Hagan book, about MoCCA Fest, about throwing off what I wanted to make and making something different — but it’s late, and I’m sore (added a new core exercise) and in pain (from getting my pinky-toes sliced up by the podiatrist yesterday), so no-go.
It’s National Poetry Month, so here’s an abortive tweet-poem
My neighbor died yesterday,
after months in
hospital-rehab-hospice
He had a bad career break
In the ’80s and let it
derail his life
The house has been empty for so long,
but a table lamp
in the living room
is on a timer
I’m the only one who ever sees it.
HOUSEKEEPING: When I moved this weekly e-mail over to Substack this year, my goal was to get more conversation going with & among reader/listeners. That hasn’t happened much, or at least not much more than the direct e-mail responses I tend to get. To nudge that along, I’ve posted a couple of chat-threads in recent weeks, where you can comment on a topic like who I should record with, what sorta stuff I should add for paying subscribers, a weird question I have about you & your becoming, and a dreaded Ask Me Anything thread. I’ll do more of those in future, if it looks like you guys are interested. You can also leave comments at the end of individual posts like this one.
And now, on with The Virtual Memories Show!
Podcastery
This week, I posted Episode 533 of The Virtual Memories Show, feat. Dr. Stevan M. Weine and his amazing, illuminating and important new book, BEST MINDS: How Allen Ginsberg Made Revolutionary Poetry From Madness (Fordham University Press),. We get into the nexus of poetry, suffering and trauma that enveloped Ginsberg’s life, what it took for him to write Howl, and his mother Naomi’s schizophrenia and what it meant for him to wrestle with it in Kaddish. We talk about the history of psychiatry, the legacy of some truly terrible practices (like prefrontal lobotomization), and what lies ahead for the field, while also exploring Stevan’s mid-’80s interviews with Ginsberg and the discoveries he made in the family’s psychiatric records, the power of self-mythology and how it can elide the facts (like how old Allen was when had to sign the consent form for his mother’s lobotomy), and how Ginsberg balanced on the fine line between madness and great art. Plus, we discuss Ginsberg’s activism and advocacy (including a controversial endorsement), the impact of his best-known poems on the public’s understanding of mental illness, and a lot more. Give it a listen! And go read Best Minds!
Last week, I posted Episode 532 of The Virtual Memories Show, feat. Priscilla Gilman, author of the new memoir, The Critic’s Daughter (Norton), exploring her relationship with her father, Theater Critic and Yale Drama professor Richard Gilman (as well as with her mom, literary agent Lynn Nesbit). We get into the perils of literary-kid memoir, the NYC book-scene she grew up in, her parents’ divorce, and learning way too much about her dad’s sexuality at 10 years old. We also talk about how much she enjoyed recording her own audiobook, the role of the critic and the golden age of literary reviewing, the disconnect between her parents’ public & private personae, and the lessons she had to learn for herself about love, marriage, and parenthood. Plus, we share a literary lightning round, some football talk, and our Thurman Munson memories!, and more. Give it a listen! And go read The Critic’s Daughter!
Other recent episodes: Timothy Goodman • Christopher Bollen • Dean Haspiel • Willard Spiegelman
Links & Such
RIP Mark Russell . . . RIP Ryuichi Sakamoto . . .
John Banville writes about John Le Carré.
Hal Mayforth’s got an exhibition of his watercolors opening in Healdsburg opening week!
“Creative underclass” sounds about right, but it’s a bummer when things like Beckett’s go away.
New interview with Henri Cole about his new poetry collection, Gravity and Center.
Rhonda Garelick writes about Brooke Shields.
Sebastian Smee asks, “Picasso: but is he any good?” (I couldn’t resist a Review reference.)
I love when Mark Ulriksen writes about the process of his New Yorker covers.
Current reading
V. - by Thomas Pynchon
Faith, Hope, and Carnage - Nick Cave and Séan O’Hagan
Art
I sketched a few things, but not much to share. I tried sketching some daffodils yesterday, but hated myself and the universe by the time I gave up. Elves marginally fixed up the sketches overnight, but meh. Here’s a bad scan. I’m still rebuilding whatever the heck I was doing when I thought I could draw. I think my confidence got annihilated after a couple of real artists looked at a couple of my sketchbooks. They weren’t mean about it, but when one of them said, “Throw out the Microns and learn to use a brush-pen” — the implication being that Microns are fixed-width and so the line quality doesn’t vary — I think I spiraled. A few days ago I asked a pal to zap me a picture that I’d brush-pen sketch on the spot. Three minutes later, I had this. In honor of this week’s podcast and that today is the anniversary of Allen Ginsberg’s death, here’s my sketch of him from a year ago, when I thought I could draw a little. You should go to the Flickr album of most of the art I’ve made & find something you like.
Sound Body, Fractured Mind
Once again I got in all 5 days of my weights & yoga cycle, Friday-Tuesday, although that meant early morning weight-workouts on Sunday (before going in to NYC for MoCCA) and Tuesday (before an 8 a.m. biz call and a 9 a.m. podiatrist appt. that I figured might incapacitate me for a day or so). I’ll likely skip a few days this time around, because of the trip to see my family + my unwillingness to use hotel fitness centers.
Until Next Week
Thanks for reading this far! I’ll be back next with a new podcast, great links, some art, & maybe a little profundity or something.
No one but the pure at heart / May find the golden grail,
—Gil Roth
Virtual Memories
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