{"id":7003,"date":"2013-04-15T13:30:40","date_gmt":"2013-04-15T17:30:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/?p=7003"},"modified":"2013-04-16T06:37:56","modified_gmt":"2013-04-16T10:37:56","slug":"podcast-visible-cities","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/podcast-visible-cities","title":{"rendered":"Podcast: Visible Cities"},"content":{"rendered":"

Virtual Memories – season 3 episode 8 – Visible Cities<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

http:\/\/traffic.libsyn.com\/virtualmemories\/Season_3_Episode_8_-_Visible_Cities.mp3<\/a><\/audio><\/div>

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

Subscribe: Spotify<\/a> | TuneIn<\/a> | RSS<\/a> | More<\/a><\/p>\n

“My impulse is to break the windows of Starbucks, but I’d get arrested if I did that, so I make comics about people breaking the windows of Starbucks.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Cartoonist and MacArthur Foundation “Genius” Fellowship winner Ben Katchor<\/strong> joins us for the first live<\/em><\/strong> episode of The Virtual Memories Show<\/em> (in conjunction with the New York Comics & Picture-stories Symposium<\/a>). Ben & host Gil Roth<\/strong> talk in front of — and take questions from — an audience of 50 or so about Ben’s career in cartooning, including his new book, Hand-Drying in America and Other Stories<\/em> (Pantheon), which collects his monthly comic page from Metropolis<\/a> magazine. During the episode, Ben even performs several of his comics. If you’d like to see the comics themselves, you can download Manumission Houses<\/a> and Lossless Things<\/a>.<\/p>\n

“People ask about influences and where I get my ideas. A lot of people looked at all the stuff I looked at, and they’re doing something else. It’s not like there’s an equation, like you read Saul Bellow and you look at Poussin, and then you make my comics. It’s not an equation. It’s brute force.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The conversation and Q&A also cover his work process (with a surprising revelation about how he draws!), how book publishing lost its identity,\u00a0what he learned from working in other art forms (like musical theater), how he teaches cartooning, the allure of new technologies, his one critical audience demographic, the joy of imperfections, whether he has an ideal era for New York, what happened to his History of the Dairy Restaurant<\/em> book, how fear of shame keeps him productive, how Google can help when you need to draw a Russian prostitute, what he picked up from the Yiddish humor strips he read as a child, which one book the Library of America should withdraw, and\u00a0how to pronounce “Knipl”! He didn’t win a “Genius” grant for nothing!<\/p>\n

“It’s a golden age of art comics. It didn’t exist when I started. Most bookstores wouldn’t carry a comic, or even something that looked like a comic, back then. I can’t imagine what it must be like for a young cartoonist now, when these things are taken seriously and there’s an audience for them.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Enjoy the conversation!<\/a>\u00a0Then check out our archives<\/a> for more great conversations!<\/p>\n

\"Ben<\/a><\/p>\n

Follow\u00a0The Virtual Memories Show<\/em>\u00a0on\u00a0iTunes<\/a>,\u00a0Facebook<\/a>,\u00a0Tumblr<\/a>, and\u00a0RSS<\/a>!<\/strong><\/p>\n

http:\/\/traffic.libsyn.com\/virtualmemories\/Season_3_Episode_8_-_Visible_Cities.mp3<\/a><\/audio><\/div>

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

Subscribe: Spotify<\/a> | TuneIn<\/a> | RSS<\/a> | More<\/a><\/p>\n

About our Guest<\/strong><\/p>\n

Ben Katchor<\/strong>\u2019s picture-stories appear in Metropolis<\/em> magazine. His most recent collection of monthly strips, Hand-Drying in America and Other Stories<\/a>\"\", was published in March 2013 by Pantheon Books. Up From the Stacks<\/a>, his most recent music-theater collaboration with Mark Mulcahy, was commissioned in 2011 by the Cullman Center for Scholars and Writers at the New York Public Library and Lincoln Center and was performed at both venues. He is an Associate Professor at Parsons, The New School for Design in New York City. For more information, visit www.katchor.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Credits: This episode\u2019s music is <\/em>Big City Blues\u00a0by Sun Ra and his Arkestra. The conversation was recorded in the Bark Room at The New School\u00a0in NYC on a pair of AT2020 mics<\/a>\"\",\u00a0feeding into a Zoom H4n recorder<\/a>\"\". Mr. Katchor’s readings and some of the questions from the audience were\u00a0recorded on a second\u00a0Zoom H4n<\/a>\"\".\u00a0I recorded the intro and outro on a Blue Yeti USB mic<\/a>\"\" into Audacity.\u00a0All editing and processing was done in Garage Band. Photo by Amy Roth<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Virtual Memories – season 3 episode 8 – Visible Cities “My impulse is to break the windows of Starbucks, but I’d get arrested if I did that, so I make comics about people breaking the windows of Starbucks.” Cartoonist and MacArthur Foundation “Genius” Fellowship winner Ben Katchor joins us for the first live episode of … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “Podcast: Visible Cities”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[25,22,26,46,4,1183,18,19],"tags":[1745,1471,1744,251,1728,1741,1748,1429,556,713,1723,1725,1729,1726,1742,1720,1737,459,1751,1734,1721,1730,1747,1719,1724,1430,1743,1640,1750,625,1736,1740,1722,1738,1565,1739,306,1731,1749,1180,1732,1746,257,1733,1727,1000,174,1543,1735],"class_list":["post-7003","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-architecture","category-art","category-comics","category-design","category-literature","category-podcasts","category-politics-implicit","category-urban-issues","tag-arlen-schumer","tag-art-spiegelman","tag-bang-on-a-can","tag-ben-katchor","tag-bill-griffith","tag-bill-kartalopoulos","tag-brian-mcfadden","tag-charles-burns","tag-chip-kidd","tag-chris-ware","tag-cintiq","tag-degas","tag-east-village-other","tag-edward-gorey","tag-fantagraphics","tag-florent-ruppert","tag-forward","tag-george-herriman","tag-hand-drying-in-america","tag-jack-survives","tag-jerome-mulot","tag-jerry-moriarty","tag-karl-marx","tag-lawrence-weschler","tag-lynd-ward","tag-lynda-barry","tag-mark-mulcahy","tag-matt-wuerker","tag-metropolis-magazine","tag-nabokov","tag-newspapers","tag-papaya-king","tag-peter-blegvad","tag-philip-gourevitch","tag-poussin","tag-r-sikoryak","tag-robert-crumb","tag-robert-weaver","tag-roland-barthes","tag-saul-bellow","tag-school-of-visual-arts","tag-seymour-chwast","tag-steve-ditko","tag-sva","tag-the-new-yorker","tag-thor","tag-tom-spurgeon","tag-village-voice","tag-yiddish"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4C7K-1OX","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":12312,"url":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/episode-324-bill-griffith","url_meta":{"origin":7003,"position":0},"title":"Episode 324 – Bill Griffith","author":"Gil","date":"June 9, 2019","format":"audio","excerpt":"Virtual Memories Show 324: Bill Griffith Returns! \"I remember coming back from that first viewing of Freaks to my Brooklyn apartment and thinking, 'I have to make art out of this somehow, but I don't know how.'\" Who can top the memoir of his mother's infidelity with the biography of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Art"","block_context":{"text":"Art","link":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/category\/art"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-content\/uploads\/griffcombo.jpg?fit=1200%2C664&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-content\/uploads\/griffcombo.jpg?fit=1200%2C664&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-content\/uploads\/griffcombo.jpg?fit=1200%2C664&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-content\/uploads\/griffcombo.jpg?fit=1200%2C664&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-content\/uploads\/griffcombo.jpg?fit=1200%2C664&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":16277,"url":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/episode-552-bill-griffith","url_meta":{"origin":7003,"position":1},"title":"Episode 552 – Bill Griffith","author":"Gil","date":"August 29, 2023","format":"audio","excerpt":"Virtual Memories Show 552: Bill Griffith \"What attracted me to NANCY wasn't the characters, or the stories, or the humor: it was the lettering.\" Legendary cartoonist Bill Griffith returns to celebrate his fantastic new book, THREE ROCKS: The Story of Ernie Bushmiller, The Man Who Created NANCY (Abrams ComicArts). We\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Art"","block_context":{"text":"Art","link":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/category\/art"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-content\/uploads\/griffith2023comp.jpg?fit=1200%2C504&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-content\/uploads\/griffith2023comp.jpg?fit=1200%2C504&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-content\/uploads\/griffith2023comp.jpg?fit=1200%2C504&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-content\/uploads\/griffith2023comp.jpg?fit=1200%2C504&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-content\/uploads\/griffith2023comp.jpg?fit=1200%2C504&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1167,"url":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/ipod-the-cpi","url_meta":{"origin":7003,"position":2},"title":"iPod & the CPI","author":"Gil","date":"October 24, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"The iPod turned 5 years old yesterday. Russell Roberts at Cafe Hayek has a neat observation on how improvements over that span are pretty much beyond the pale of the Consumer Price Index, which people can contort to tell us that we're much worse off than we were in, say,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Art"","block_context":{"text":"Art","link":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/category\/art"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":8338,"url":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/podcast-slow-learner","url_meta":{"origin":7003,"position":3},"title":"Podcast – Slow Learner","author":"Gil","date":"November 18, 2014","format":"audio","excerpt":"Virtual Memories Show: Jules Feiffer - Slow Learner \"There are certain things that come up when you age, the abandonment of some old things and the incredible opportunity to do new things. . . . I discovered at the age of 80 I could do what I couldn't do at\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Art"","block_context":{"text":"Art","link":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/category\/art"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-content\/uploads\/feifferboard1.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-content\/uploads\/feifferboard1.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-content\/uploads\/feifferboard1.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-content\/uploads\/feifferboard1.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-content\/uploads\/feifferboard1.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":16846,"url":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/episode-591-stan-mack","url_meta":{"origin":7003,"position":4},"title":"Episode 591 – Stan Mack","author":"Gil","date":"June 11, 2024","format":"audio","excerpt":"Virtual Memories Show 591: Stan Mack \"To do them one week at a time is one thing, all you have to do is hit that darned deadline. But to look at 20 years in front of you . . . it's such a wide span of what New York was\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Art"","block_context":{"text":"Art","link":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/category\/art"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-content\/uploads\/stanmackcomp.jpg?fit=1200%2C514&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-content\/uploads\/stanmackcomp.jpg?fit=1200%2C514&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-content\/uploads\/stanmackcomp.jpg?fit=1200%2C514&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-content\/uploads\/stanmackcomp.jpg?fit=1200%2C514&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-content\/uploads\/stanmackcomp.jpg?fit=1200%2C514&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":11232,"url":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/episode-256-lauren-weinstein","url_meta":{"origin":7003,"position":5},"title":"Episode 256 – Lauren Weinstein","author":"Gil","date":"February 13, 2018","format":"audio","excerpt":"Virtual Memories Show 256: Lauren Weinstein \"Comics are a way to process events in your life. You put it down on the page, and it has its own life, and you're able to move away from it.\" Village Voice cartoonist Lauren Weinstein joins the show to talk about the balancing\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Art"","block_context":{"text":"Art","link":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/category\/art"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-content\/uploads\/IMG_0646.jpg?fit=1200%2C1200&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-content\/uploads\/IMG_0646.jpg?fit=1200%2C1200&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-content\/uploads\/IMG_0646.jpg?fit=1200%2C1200&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-content\/uploads\/IMG_0646.jpg?fit=1200%2C1200&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-content\/uploads\/IMG_0646.jpg?fit=1200%2C1200&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7003","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7003"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7003\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7008,"href":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7003\/revisions\/7008"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7003"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7003"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7003"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}