The Virtual Memories Show

A weekly conversation about books and life, not necessarily in that order.

The Virtual Memories Show is a arts podcast hosted by Unknown Host, with 764 episodes on record and a Required Pod Score of 80.

Unknown Host hosts The Virtual Memories Show, a arts show with 764 episodes published.

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  Episode #692

  Episode 692 - Alison Fensterstock and Michael Tisserand

  Sep 23, 20261h 33m

  Let's celebrate a New Orleans legend with Alison Fensterstock and Michael Tisserand 's fantastic new book, BUNNY MATTHEWS: HIS LIFE, ART, AND OBSESSIONS (New Orleans Historical Society)! We talk about the role Bunny Matthews played in shaping New Orleans' identity with his comics, music reviews, art, and cultural criticism, how Alison & Michael found their collaborative voice for the book, their first encounters with Bunny's work, his satirical comic about David Duke that thankfully never got published, and how Vic and Nat'ly became a cultural phenomenon (and how Bunny drew the grossest po'boys ever). We get into Bunny's role in parsing Yat culture and promoting music, the lengths they went to find his earliest writing and drawings, Bunny's influences (and the shadow of Stan Mack in the alt-weekly world), how he quoted Cab Calloway next to Balzac, his transition to painting, and the masterpiece of his Nint'Wardica canvas, in response to the BP oil disaster. We also discuss the decline of alt-weeklies, the obit pre-write that led to this project, how thrilled they are with the design and production of the book, what it means to be a New Orleanian, and a lot more. Follow Alison on Instagram , and follow Michael on Instagram • More info at our site • Support The Virtual Memories Show via Stripe , Patreon , or Paypal , and subscribe to our e-newsletter

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  Episode #691

  Episode 691 - Emil Wilson

  Sep 19, 20261h 15m

  With his fantastic debut graphic novel, THE NIGHTINGALES (Avid Reader Press), Emil Wilson tells a heartbreaking and beautiful coming-of-age story of the AIDS era. We talk about his father's decision in 1985 to bring a work-friend with AIDS into their home (in a small town in Oregon), how he fictionalized his family and the story well enough to make the fiction true, how he figured out the amazing sketchbook style of the book, and how he only came to comics in his 50s, following a 25-year career as an at director an ad agency. We get into his experiences at The Center for Cartoon Studies , where he was older than most every other student, the Nora Krug book that was his gateway drug into comics, my advice when he began this project, his work as an AIDS buddy for Gay Men's Health Crisis in the '80s and how younger people he meets have no knowledge of the AIDS era, how making The Nightingales changed his understanding of his family, and how it felt to make a "user's manual" for his father. We also get into the contrast between advertising and comics, how making comics can feel a bit like making films or videos, how the language to describe comics may need to evolve just as the language for gay life had to, why this book isn't a memoir but is full of faces, how kindness can be complicated, and more. Follow Emil on Instagram , and Bluesky • More info at our site • Support The Virtual Memories Show via Stripe , Patreon , or Paypal , and subscribe to our e-newsletter

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  Episode #690

  Episode 690 - Jonathan Ames

  Sep 8, 20261h 16m

  Jonathan Ames returns to celebrate his fantastic new crime novel, A PAST WITHOUT PICTURES (Mysterious Press). We talk about his obsession with pulp fiction, how he found the character of Maria Cole and her tortured relationship with her father after setting out to write a companion to You Were Never Really Here , how hard (and rewarding) it is to craft page-turning prose, and how he compares the experience of reading Death in Venice to reading a Parker novel. We get into how his Buddhist interests are under the surface of this book and are on the surface of his Happy Doll novels (including the one he's working on!), how writing is a form of seeing, and how good writing helps the reader create a movie in their mind. We also discuss his samsara of not reaching out to people, the bit from Our Town that guides him to be more loving and present in the world, the shock of seeing his lengthy letters from the '80s and '90s, why LA is so weird for me, why he reads different translations of the Tao, how Marc Maron gives us a model of how to learn to listen, and more. More info at our site • Support The Virtual Memories Show via Stripe , Patreon , or Paypal , and subscribe to our e-newsletter

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  Episode #689

  Episode 689 - Dash Shaw

  Sep 2, 20261h 19m

  With his new book, LIKE SWIMMERS (New York Review Comics), Dash Shaw brings us a supernatural murder mystery set in COVID-era Richmond, VA. We talk about how he uses that story to explore memory, identity, art, marriage, and the social breakdown in America, how a murder mystery helped him reflect on the losses of COVID, LIKE SWIMMERS' pamphlet comic-feel and how that pay tribute to a lost friend who liked very different comics than what Dash usually makes, and how writing this story in the middle of COVID helped him capture details he'd never have recalled after the fact. We get into how we uncover different versions or aspects of the people we've lost, why he eschews three-act structures to find new shapes of storytelling, his use of Richmond as a character (and the very bizarre Kroeger that he couldn't fit into the book), and what it was like to go jogging in 2020 when there were snipers on rooftops. We also talk about his peripatetic project management style, what he thinks about Roy Lichtenstein's art and what it means to love cliches, getting inspiration from an unfinished Winsor McCay cartoon, working with New York Review Comics for several books, how coloring his comics is almost as tough as writing them, and more. Follow Dash on Instagram • More info at our site • Support The Virtual Memories Show via Stripe , Patreon , or Paypal , and subscribe to our e-newsletter

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  Episode #688

  Episode 688 - Phillip Lopate

  Aug 24, 20261h 22m

  Five-Timer Club Alert! Essayist Phillip Lopate rejoins the show as we celebrate his wonderful new book, A WASHINGTON IRVING SKETCH BOOK (Princeton)! We talk about the origins of the biography, incl. how he wound up with a 12-volume set of Washington Irving's complete works, his choice to write the bio in the form of sketches, how Irving as America's first professional writer is a precursor/trailblazer for Phillip's career, and how well Irving understood the fickleness of literary fame. We get into 19th Century American lit and its tensions with Europe, Irving's fixation on Spain, why he wrote under pseudonyms even late in his career, and how Phillip's affection for Irving deepened over the course of the book, We also discuss why personal essayists tend not to write autobiographies and how Phillip's complicated relationship with his brother, Leonard Lopate , how Leonards's death spurred him to write a memoir, his passion for visiting writers' homes (including Irving's Sunnyside and Montaigne's tower ), his career-long goal of passing along the writing that's worth keeping (whether through teaching, editing essay anthologies, or appearing multiple times on some guy's podcast), our shared exhilaration over the Knicks' championship (and how we can't get excited about baseball this season), and a lot more. More info at our site • Support The Virtual Memories Show via Stripe , Patreon , or Paypal , and subscribe to our e-newsletter

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