Ticketed Passengers Only Beyond This Point
New podcast with John Wray, 36 hours in SD, losing Lightfoot, + links, art & more
Intro
I got back from a business trip this morning. I landed around 4:30 a.m. in Newark after 36 hours in San Diego. It was almost just airport-hotel-airport, from 8:45 a.m. on Monday to 8:45 p.m. on Tuesday, but I got in a walk on Tuesday afternoon (through the Gaslamp, into what seemed to be a homeless encampment, to Now Or Never Comics, then down to the public library, around Petco Park, and back to my hotel). When I got on the plane last night, one of the attendants asked me if I’d been on yesterday’s flight out there; he recognized my hair.
On Monday’s flight, I watched It’s Such A Beautiful Day by Don Hertzfeldt. I’d seen it a couple of years ago, but didn’t seem to recall too much of it during this viewing. I felt like the protagonist, Bill, with his deteriorating mind, and thought about how it could make a work of art fresh each time you see it, if you just didn’t remember much of your previous experiences.
At 5:00 a.m. that morning, walking into Newark Airport, I saw a sign on the sliding doors, “Ticketed passengers only beyond this point,” and wondered how many times I’d come through here, how many times more there’d be, when my ticket would be punched. When I got back, I wondered why I abused the trip so badly, making it so perfunctory and not getting out & doing anything real. Sure, I was tired, and maybe sick, and still had to write up my hour-long presentation for Tuesday, but I could’ve done something with my time on Monday night.
My 3rd floor room in San Diego had a little balcony. There was a gap after it, then the rooftop of an extension of the hotel, with a half-wall that was covered in bird crap. Seagulls alighted there a lot, unleashing blood-curdling cries of HELLO and DID YOU SEE THAT GUY DROP THAT FRENCH FRY? I took a picture of one yawning.
It’s been that sort of trip. I’m glad to be home.
And now, on with The Virtual Memories Show.
Podcastery
This week, I posted Episode 537 of The Virtual Memories Show feat. John Wray and his A-W-E-S-O-M-E new novel, GONE TO THE WOLVES (FSG), which explores the metal scene of the 1990s, from Gulf Coast Florida to LA to the wilds of Norway. We get into his metal-history (starting with AC/DC), why he wanted his lead characters to be fans with no musical skill, the coolness fallacy of authors writing about rock music, the brief era where a band like Cannibal Corpse could sell hundreds of thousands of records, and why this was his most fun (& personal) book to write. We also talk about the theology of Norwegian black metal, John’s favorite drummer, and how he settled into Graham Greene’s writing practice of having a word count for each day. Plus, we discuss his recurring neurotic breakdown when a book is in galleys, his realization that his parents did not take his writing seriously (when he was an 8th grader), the process of renovating a brownstone in Prospect Park and renting out rooms to other writers (like Nathan Englander), becoming a dad in recent years (and failing to teach his son how to fly a kite), the risk of getting sued by Vince Neil, and plenty more. Give it a listen and go GONE TO THE WOLVES!
Last week, I posted Episode 536 of The Virtual Memories Show. Writer & cartoonist Ho Che Anderson rejoins the show to talk about the 2nd volume of his science-fiction adventure GODHEAD (Fantagraphics). We get into how GODHEAD changed over the years, where the idea of a device that lets users commune with God came from, why he likes bringing philosophy & theology to action-adventure, and what this book taught him about writing and comics storytelling. We talk about why he loves science fiction on the screen, his experiences writing for film-prose-comics, and the visual cues of Frank Miller’s RONIN in GODHEAD, along with man’s need for religion, Ho’s fascination with the ocean, why he donated his pages & materials from his MLK biography to the Billy Ireland library, and a lot more. Give it a listen and go read GODHEAD Vols. 1 and 2! (And go listen to our 2019 conversation!)
Other recent episodes: Finding Michael Denneny (+ followup) • Noah Van Sciver • Stevan Weine • Priscilla Gilman
Links & Such
RIP Gordon Lightfoot (WSJ appreciation) . . . RIP Jerry Springer . . . RIP Jerry Mander . . .
I’m a big Gordon Lightfoot mark; I often just put on Amazon Music’s Lightfoot channel when I’m drawing. I was listening to him on my iPod at the end of Monday morning’s flight. You should go watch the 2020 documentary about him, If You Could Read My Mind.
My fave Gordon Lightfoot song is Sundown, but Carefree Highway may be one of the best songs ever. Also, Amy just turned me on to this wonderfully eerie Irish-folk cover of The Wreck of The Edmund Fitzgerald by the Punch Brothers:
W. David Marx was interviewed about status & aesthetics/fashion.
What it’s like to live in a Frank Lloyd Wright house.
DICKBERG, HIPPO CASTRATION, and QUANTUM MAGIC SPACETIME! (h/t Warren Ellis for the latter)
Current reading
Suppose A Sentence - Brian Dillon
Affinities: On Art and Fascination - Brian Dillon
Art
I made a couple of little sketches on the flight to San Diego: Bendico cockroaching on the sofa (sans sofa), a double-crested cormorant (from a Caleb Crain photo), and the face of one of my brother’s cats, as it was trying to sleep. All I brought was the tiny sketchpad and a Micron 02 pen, so I wouldn’t psyche myself out with a whole bunch of pens & pencils & sketchpads to choose from. You should go to the Flickr album of most of the art I’ve made & find something you like.
Sound Body, Fractured Mind
I only got in 3 days of my weights & yoga cycle, Friday-Sunday, because of the SD trip. I’m hoping to get back into my 5-day routine this week. I’ve been eating terribly and need to reset my whole thang. Didn’t even get in my morning stretching routine, as I didn’t have a yoga mat & don’t like hotel floors. Tomorrow’s a new day, I hear.
Until Next Week
Thanks for reading this far! I’ll be back next with a new podcast, great links, maybe some art, & maybe a little profundity or something.
Sometimes I think it’s a sin, when I feel like I’m winning when I’m losing again,
—Gil Roth
Virtual Memories
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