Virtual Memories Show 681:
Colin Asher
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“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 talk about how Elmo Hope’s Sounds from Rikers Island album inspired the book, how he chose the five artists to focus on — Huddie “Lead Belly” Ledbetter, Elmo Hope, Johnny Cash, Ike White, and Tupac Shakur —, the history of the carceral state, criminality and the popular images of Black and white “outlaw” artists, and how many artists’ careers were shaped, derailed, inspired by prisons. We get into the tightrope act of using Johnny Cash as a counterpoint to the racial dynamics of the book (as well as the work Cash did for prison reform), why he had to close the book with the story of Tupac and his mother, Afeni Shakur, and how hip-hop developed in response to America’s mass incarceration movement, how the philosophy of incarceration shifted from rehabilitation to punishment, Musicambia‘s work to bring music education into prisons, and what it means to pursue the arts for personal growth, even when you’re on death row. We also discuss how some arts writing can suck the joy out of the arts, why he prefers discussing art in relation to society rather than in relation to other works of art, why he made playlists for The Midnight Special, how playing vinyl records makes music a choice instead of wallpaper, the “burn the world down and replace it with an utopia” phase of his youth, the secret origins of his writing career, his dream projects (incl. the novel he’s noodling on), and more. Give it a listen! And go read THE MIDNIGHT SPECIAL!
“The problem isn’t that Johnny Cash was granted any sort of grace from the law, it’s that everybody isn’t granted that sort of grace.”
“If I’m beating the drum for a cause, it’s that music makes people better, that the skill of learning an instrument is going to make people more productive outside. That may well be true, but my core belief is that it doesn’t matter.”
“In my 20s I did a bunch of working-class jobs — bike messenger, drove a truck, worked in a warehouse — and at some point people stop taking you seriously if you have no education at all and look like you make 12 grand a year.”
“Three things I know a good deal about: literature, music, and politics, specifically political conflict. . . . I’d love to write a book about people who dedicate their lives to political movements and then outlive those movements.”
Enjoy the conversation! Then check out the archives for more great episodes!
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About our Guest
Colin Asher is the author of THE MIDNIGHT SPECIAL: The Secret Prison History of American Music. He also wrote Never a Lovely so Real: The Life and Work of Nelson Algren, a literary biography written as a work of creative nonfiction. That book was celebrated in The New York Review of Books, the New Yorker, and the New York Times Book Review, among others. It was named “One of the Most Anticipated Books of 2019” by Apple Books, a “Book of the Week” by Publishers Weekly, and an “Editors’ Choice” selection by the New York Times Book Review. Both Publishers Weekly and Booklist gave it starred reviews.
Born in Morgantown, WV, and raised in Brooklyn, NY, Colin dropped out of high school and spent a decade in California, working as a bike messenger, stocking shelves in a warehouse, and driving a truck. Eventually he started working in homeless services, then enrolled in the City College of San Francisco. Later, he received a Bachelors of Science from Northeastern University, and a Master of Arts from the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism. Despite the fact that he wrote a book about musicians, Colin has no musical talent – but that didn’t stop him from spending one of the best years of his life playing in a band with Spencer Ackerman.
Credits: This episode’s music is Fella by Hal Mayforth, used with permission from the artist. The conversation was recorded at my home on a pair of Shure Beta 58A microphones feeding into a Zoom PodTrak P4 digital recorder & interface. I recorded the intro and outro on a Heil PR-40 Dynamic Studio Recording Microphone feeding into a Zoom PodTrak P4. All processing and editing done in Adobe Audition CC. Photo of Colin by Nora Carroll; photo of us by me. It’s on my instagram.