Gil Roth & his Virtual Memories Show

(I still think this one of the best titles I’ve ever come up with)

I thought they brought Rip Torn back

❤️

Come see Maggie Dubris, Will Hermes, Lucy Sante, and me trade notes on memoirs and biographies of Downtown. Thursday, 9/18, 7 PM at the Urbane Arts Club, 1016 Beverly Rd, Brooklyn NY 11218. Free w. RSVP at UrbaneBrooklyn.com. An official 2025 Brooklyn Book Festival Bookend Event.

Same, except for the implausibility of anyone as beautiful as Kate Beckinsale ever attending my alma mater (Hampshire College)

paging @hommestead.bsky.social

We talked about #art & #mortality & #writing, after playing miniature golf at the course he co-owned, up in Bovina, NY.

The place was so isolated my phone GPS didn’t get a signal for the first 40 minutes of my drive, so I guessed how to get home.

To this day, I don’t know if I succeeded.

It was ~15 months before his death. He’d been diagnosed w/lung cancer a few years earlier, but immunotherapeutics gave him extra time, during which, as you can see, he continued smoking.

For my part, I’d been diagnosed w/ #CLL weeks earlier, but expected much worse news.

4 years ago today, I recorded one of my all-time fave episodes, w/ #art critic Peter Schjeldahl chimeraobscura.com/vm/episode-4...

He lost a LOT of weight in his last 8-10 months, and that accentuated it, for sure.

Well, when he was carrying a lot more weight, & had the beard, it was maybe a little easier for me to deny.

ISR, which again, is not exactly where I'm looking to resettle. (Other family history incl. Ukraine, Poland, Romania, Russia, none of which are exactly up my alley)

One of my newer pals pointed that out on Instagram when I posted that pic last February, and I was ready to slap him in the face, until I realized he was totally right.

She gave up UK citizenship in 1980 or so; there's only one country that'd offer me citizenship right now, and that's not exactly where I'm looking to set up shop...

The Virtual Memories Show A podcast about books, art & life -- not necessarily in that order

Which is to say, you oughtta be listening to my #podcast regularly, whether the guests happen to be from the UK or not! chimeraobscura.com/vm/

Episode 646 – Eulogy Virtual Memories Show 646: Eulogy No conversation this week, unless you count me talking to myself. I share some thoughts and memories about my father, who died last week at the age of 88 — or 87, …

Sandwiched in there is my monologue about my dad's death, my eulogy, and what it's like to be more of a henchman than a son chimeraobscura.com/vm/episode-6...

Episode 645 – Rachel Cockerell Virtual Memories Show 645: Rachel Cockerell “I kept coming back to the notion that there’s no easy answers. I hope that the reader is changing their mind every few pages, because the bo…

After which you can listen to @rachelcockerell.bsky.social talk about her book on early 20th c. Jewish migration to ... Galveston, TX?! chimeraobscura.com/vm/episode-6...

Episode 647 – Oliver Radclyffe Virtual Memories Show 647: Oliver Radclyffe “I’m slightly staggered that the impetus to transition was so strong that even despite knowing what I was going to lose from it, I couldn&#82…

Then check out my talk with @oliverradclyffe.bsky.social about #trans identity & #memoir chimeraobscura.com/vm/episode-6...

Episode 648 – Sacha Mardou Virtual Memories Show 648: Sacha Mardou “Going inside is how we get better, and how we get better at being human.” With PAST TENSE: Facing Family Secrets and Finding Myself In Therapy (…

This week feat. my 3rd consecutive British guest, as oddball coincidences go. You oughtta listen to me & @mardoucomics.bsky.social talk about #therapy & comics chimeraobscura.com/vm/episode-6...

Go, Team Flavacol!

Leonard Lopate, Longtime New York Radio Host, Dies at 84 He mastered the art of the interview over 32 years on public radio, at WNYC. He was fired in 2017 amid allegations of sexual harassment, which he vehemently denied.

Leonard Lopate, who mastered the art of the interview over 32 years on public radio at WNYC, died on Tuesday at 84. He was fired in 2017 amid allegations of sexual harassment, which he vehemently denied.

Manhattan Is Back at the Center of the Restaurant Universe In New York—and much of the country—COVID was a near extinction event for restaurants. But out of the ashes, an entirely fresh crop of new dining experiences has reasserted Manhattan as a place you ha...

The prodigal parachutes home. My exploration of an up-and-coming food town called Manhattan. www.gq.com/story/manhat...

Pipe-trimony We've got a new podcast w/Sacha Mardou, an old Instax, and some more of my patrimony

New #newsletter, old pipe!
buttondown.com/vmspod/archi...

Opinion | Donald Trump and John Roberts Have a Lot in Common

new piece from on the 60th anniversary of the voting rights act, and what the law has meant for american democracy www.nytimes.com/2025/08/06/o...

Then check out @mardoucomics.bsky.social at
FB - www.facebook.com/sachamardou
IG - www.instagram.com/mardou_draws/
Patreon - www.patreon.com/mardou
Etsy - www.etsy.com/shop/mardou
and her therapy comics site - green-zebra-639238.hostingersite.com

And go get PAST TENSE from your fave bookshop bookshop.org/a/4669/97805... or the publisher www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/714479...

Episode 648 – Sacha Mardou Virtual Memories Show 648: Sacha Mardou “Going inside is how we get better, and how we get better at being human.” With PAST TENSE: Facing Family Secrets and Finding Myself In Therapy (…

New #podcast! @mardoucomics.bsky.social & I talk about her graphic #memoir, PAST TENSE. We get into #comics, #therapy, #IFS, #MentalHealth, #writing, & more, so GO LISTEN: chimeraobscura.com/vm/episode-6...

My first-kiss song.

Amina Claudine Myers' Profound Solo Meditation The veteran pianist puts out another stunning LP for Red Hook Records

My Tracking Angle review of pianist-composer Amina Claudine Myers' stunning new solo LP, "Solace of the Mind." trackingangle.com/music/amina-...

Hope to see some #comics folks at SPX next month! Go register!