{"id":18145,"date":"2026-06-30T16:03:15","date_gmt":"2026-06-30T20:03:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/?p=18145"},"modified":"2026-06-30T16:03:17","modified_gmt":"2026-06-30T20:03:17","slug":"episode-681-colin-asher","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/episode-681-colin-asher","title":{"rendered":"Episode 681 – Colin Asher"},"content":{"rendered":"

Virtual Memories Show 681:
\nColin Asher<\/a><\/p>\n

https:\/\/traffic.libsyn.com\/secure\/virtualmemories\/Episode_681_-_Colin_Asher.mp3<\/a><\/audio><\/div>

Podcast: Play in new window<\/a> | Download<\/a><\/p>

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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.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"\"<\/a>With his amazing new book, THE MIDNIGHT SPECIAL: The Secret Prison History of American Music<\/a> (WW Norton), author Colin Asher<\/a> explores how the criminal justice system changed the course of twentieth century music. We talk about how Elmo Hope’s Sounds from Rikers Island<\/a> album inspired the book, how he chose the five artists to focus on \u2014 Huddie “Lead Belly” Ledbetter, Elmo Hope, Johnny Cash, Ike White<\/strong>, and Tupac Shakur<\/strong> \u2014, 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<\/a>, and how hip-hop developed in response to America’s mass incarceration movement, how the philosophy of incarceration shifted from rehabilitation to punishment, Musicambia<\/a>‘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<\/em><\/a>, 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!<\/a> And go read THE MIDNIGHT SPECIAL<\/a>!<\/p>\n

“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.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n