Virtual Memories Show

Virtual Memories Show 682: Katie Skelly “I was on twitter and saw someone say, ‘The Weeknd makes music for haunted strip clubs,’ and that idea is something my brain kept coming back to.” After a 12-year Virtual Memories gap, Katie Skelly is back to celebrate her fantastic new graphic novel, HEAVEN (Fantagraphics)! But that’s not all: she’s also got the Bad Girl...

Virtual Memories Show 681: Colin Asher “The creation of culture is what marks us as human beings, and the fact that everybody has that desire connects us to each other.” With his amazing new book, THE MIDNIGHT SPECIAL: The Secret Prison History of American Music (WW Norton), author Colin Asher explores how the criminal justice system changed the course of twentieth century music. We ta...

Virtual Memories Show 680: Kate Maruyama and Me BLARDY BLARDY BLARDY During my recent LA weekend, I asked author, pal, and past guest  Kate Maruyama if she’d be interested in interviewing me , and for some crazy reason, she said yes! So this time around you get me doing my best not to ask the questions, and just letting it fly, as we talk about the history of the podcast, my dream list of pod-gues...

Virtual Memories Show 679: Heather Cass White “This was the most fun I ever had making a book. I got to sit on the attic floor, going though Harold’s papers and books, and there were a lot of surprises.” “A letter is a joy of Earth — It is denied the Gods —,” sez Emily Dickinson (#1672), and THE MAN WHO READ EVERYTHING: The Literary Letters of Harold Bloom (Yale University Press)...

Virtual Memories Show 678: Paul Gravett “We’re so used to organizing society by male/female and other binaries and age, and so many things that slot you into places, and comics perfectly avoid those things. They’re a maverick medium or art form that’s never been respected.” Happy Pride! Let’s get Queer As Comics! Writer, critic, curator, and publisher Paul Grave...

Virtual Memories Show 677: Luis Mendo “Mundo Mendo is like the world of Mendo. It’s my world, and you need a spaceship to arrive here.” Welcome to Mundo Mendo! I visited artist and writer Luis Mendo in Karuizawa, Japan for a wide-ranging conversation about art, creativity, community and more. We talk about how he left design and embraced drawing and illustration, why he created t...

Virtual Memories Show 676: Benoit Denizet-Lewis “We choose our identities based on what’s available, and those choices are not just about what is true for ourselves. We take on identities because we need a purpose.” Can people change? How continuous is identity? With YOU’VE CHANGED: The Promise and Price of Self-Transformation (William Morrow), Benoit Denizet-Lewis explores...

Virtual Memories Show 675: Clare Carlisle “I was interested in that relationship between philosophy and art, between philosophy and life-writing, philosophy and narrative form: it’s really at the heart of this project.” Philosopher and biographer Clare Carlisle converses & communes with me over her new book, TRANSCENDENCE FOR BEGINNERS: LIFE WRITING AND PHILOSOPHY (NYRB). We...

Virtual Memories Show 674: Josh Alan Friedman “All of my best friends were sent away to reform school. I kept the letters they sent me, and they’re in the book.” Pull up a chair, enjoy a kasha varnishke, and listen to me and Josh Alan Friedman talk about his kaleidoscopic novel, ALL ROADS LEAD TO GREAT NECK (Wyatt Doyle Books/New Texture)! We talk about the momentous years he spe...

Virtual Memories Show 673: Andrew Durbin “I think we live in an era that is so deprived of authenticity, where people can’t live the lives Peter and Paul did, and so many young people are desperate to do that: to live in a cheap neighborhood and make art.” With THE WONDERFUL WORLD THAT ALMOST WAS: A Life of Peter Hujar and Paul Thek (FSG), Andrew Durbin brings us a masterful biog...