{"id":7547,"date":"2013-12-25T10:03:32","date_gmt":"2013-12-25T14:03:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/?p=7547"},"modified":"2013-12-27T20:23:36","modified_gmt":"2013-12-28T00:23:36","slug":"2013-podcast-countdown-lucky-7","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/2013-podcast-countdown-lucky-7","title":{"rendered":"2013 Podcast Countdown: Lucky #7"},"content":{"rendered":"

Merry Christmas! The podcast countdown continues! The 7th most downloaded episode from 2013 was my conversation with Willard Spiegelman, but it\u2019s an episode that almost didn\u2019t happen!<\/p>\n

#7 –<\/strong> The Magnificent Seven<\/a> \u2013 Reading, walking, looking, dancing, listening, swimming, and writing: these are the activities organizing the life of\u00a0Willard Spiegelman<\/a>, author of Seven Pleasures: Essays on Ordinary Happiness<\/a>\"\"! We talk about his wonderful book (go read it!), his addiction to ballroom dancing, how to find joy in the day-to-day world, why he hates book clubs, how he turned me on to one of my favorite novels, who his Desert Island Poets are, and, again, Harold Bloom (sigh). (1\/22\/13) – mp3<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

http:\/\/traffic.libsyn.com\/virtualmemories\/Season_3_Episode_2_-_The_Magnificent_Seven.mp3<\/a><\/audio><\/div>

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

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

Here\u2019s the story of the one that (nearly) got away. I interviewed Willard on his birthday in late December 2012 at his apartment in NYC. He was going to head up to Connecticut earlier in the day, but stayed on to record our conversation. We had a great time talking about his recent book and all sorts of topics. About 20 minutes into the recording, I noticed that my backup recorder\u2019s battery was dying and the recorder was about to shut off, but what did that matter? After all, the main recorder was going just fine.<\/p>\n

It began to snow heavily while we talked, and my drive back to NJ was a bit of an adventure \u2014 largely because of the other drivers. Willard had a tougher go of it, as . . . well, here it is in his words:<\/p>\n

It has been a memorable birthday. First you. Then, I got on a train at Grand Central. The plan was for Ken to pick me up at Old Saybrook and take me to a wonderful CT country restaurant. We ditched that. First, it started to snow. So we agreed to cancel the reservation. Instead he would pick me up and bring me home for a delicious dinner. He called when I was on the train to announce that the street had not been plowed and he wouldn’t be able to get me. So I got off at Old Saybrook. Fortunately, an Amtrak train was late, so I hopped on that for New London, 20 minutes away, where I planned to take a cab up to the house. No cabs. No buses. No nothing. So I did when any self-respecting child of the \u201960s would do. (First I tried to walk, but that was too loony even for me.) I hitchhiked. First time in 40 years. Within three minutes a nice young man who works as an engineer at Electric Boat picked me up and dropped me off at the top of the hill. I walked down and found Ken who had lost his cell phone in the snow. We found it. Then we helped to push some hapless neighbors whose car had drifted into a snowbank. Now I am enjoying a martini and understanding why people move to Florida.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

So you can imagine my embarrassment\/humiliation when I had to tell him that the main recorder managed NOT TO RECORD OUR CONVERSATION<\/em>. No, seriously. The memory card had no sign of that file anywhere. I spent $100 on a data recovery program to scan the crap out of that SD card, but it was to no avail. The conversation was lost. And, as I mentioned, my backup recorder conked out maybe 20 minutes into our 70-minute conversation.<\/p>\n

And THAT<\/em> news is what Willard got when he finally got to their home in CT that night. Happy birthday.<\/p>\n

Lucky for me, he was a good sport about it, and willing to record another talk. But with the ephemeral nature of great conversation, many of the topics we touched on that first time could never be recreated. That\u2019s Virtual Memories for ya!<\/p>\n

Now go listen to our #7 most downloaded episode from 2013!<\/a><\/p>\n

Check back tomorrow for #6, Boxing Day fans! I give thanks to all my guests for the great conversations, and I thank you, dear listeners, for each and every download! Have a merry Christmas, if that’s your thing!<\/p>\n

And remember, you can find all our episodes at the podcast archive<\/a> or by visiting iTunes<\/a>!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Merry Christmas! The podcast countdown continues! The 7th most downloaded episode from 2013 was my conversation with Willard Spiegelman, but it\u2019s an episode that almost didn\u2019t happen! #7 – The Magnificent Seven \u2013 Reading, walking, looking, dancing, listening, swimming, and writing: these are the activities organizing the life of\u00a0Willard Spiegelman, author of Seven Pleasures: Essays … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “2013 Podcast Countdown: Lucky #7”<\/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":[25,22,4,1183],"tags":[1468],"class_list":["post-7547","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-architecture","category-art","category-literature","category-podcasts","tag-willard-spiegelman"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4C7K-1XJ","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":6837,"url":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/podcast-the-magnificent-seven","url_meta":{"origin":7547,"position":0},"title":"Podcast: The Magnificent Seven","author":"Gil","date":"January 22, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Virtual Memories - season 3 episode 2 Willard Spiegelman - The Magnificent Seven Reading, walking, looking, dancing, listening, swimming, and writing: these are the activities organizing the life of this episode's guest,\u00a0Willard Spiegelman, author of\u00a0Seven Pleasures: Essays on Ordinary Happiness! We talk about his wonderful book (go read it!), his\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Podcasts"","block_context":{"text":"Podcasts","link":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/category\/podcasts"},"img":{"alt_text":"41S4TPQQmeL._SY344_BO1,204,203,200_","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-content\/uploads\/41S4TPQQmeL._SY344_BO1204203200_.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":9874,"url":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/episode-185-willard-spiegelman","url_meta":{"origin":7547,"position":1},"title":"Episode 185 – Willard Spiegelman","author":"Gil","date":"September 12, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Virtual Memories Show #185: Willard Spiegelman \"It's an existential question, not a historical one: what kinds of places make you feel at home? Some people feel at home nowhere, and some feel at home everywhere. I'm myself, wherever I am.\" Willard Spiegelman returns to the show to talk about his\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "0-fer"","block_context":{"text":"0-fer","link":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/category\/literature\/0-fer"},"img":{"alt_text":"29352434940_bd8ca574e0_z","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-content\/uploads\/29352434940_bd8ca574e0_z-620x514.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-content\/uploads\/29352434940_bd8ca574e0_z-620x514.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-content\/uploads\/29352434940_bd8ca574e0_z-620x514.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":11265,"url":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/episode-258-willard-spiegelman","url_meta":{"origin":7547,"position":2},"title":"Episode 258 – Willard Spiegelman","author":"Gil","date":"February 26, 2018","format":"audio","excerpt":"Virtual Memories Show 258: Willard Spiegelman \"When you review old pieces, you have a double-sided response: On the one hand, it's 'Gosh, how was I so smart? How could I write such a beautiful sentence?' On the other hand, it's 'Gosh, what a piece of crap! How I could I\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Architecture"","block_context":{"text":"Architecture","link":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/category\/architecture"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-content\/uploads\/IMG_9125.jpg?fit=1200%2C1200&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-content\/uploads\/IMG_9125.jpg?fit=1200%2C1200&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-content\/uploads\/IMG_9125.jpg?fit=1200%2C1200&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-content\/uploads\/IMG_9125.jpg?fit=1200%2C1200&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-content\/uploads\/IMG_9125.jpg?fit=1200%2C1200&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":15891,"url":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/episode-528-willard-spiegelman","url_meta":{"origin":7547,"position":3},"title":"Episode 528 – Willard Spiegelman","author":"Gil","date":"February 28, 2023","format":"audio","excerpt":"Virtual Memories Show 528: Willard Spiegelman \"Anyone whose primary allegiance is to libraries, encyclopedias, museums, reading is going to have a life that is best reflected or best measured by what she reads and how she reads, and what she does with her reading, and how the reading weaves itself\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "literature"","block_context":{"text":"literature","link":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/category\/literature"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-content\/uploads\/willard2023comp.jpg?fit=1200%2C515&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-content\/uploads\/willard2023comp.jpg?fit=1200%2C515&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-content\/uploads\/willard2023comp.jpg?fit=1200%2C515&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-content\/uploads\/willard2023comp.jpg?fit=1200%2C515&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-content\/uploads\/willard2023comp.jpg?fit=1200%2C515&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":7570,"url":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/2013-podcast-countdown-2","url_meta":{"origin":7547,"position":4},"title":"2013 Podcast Countdown: #2","author":"Gil","date":"December 30, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"The podcast countdown is almost complete! 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The 5th most downloaded episode from 2013 was my conversation with musician and newly minted novelist Lori Carson! #5 - Little Suicides, Little Fish\u00a0- Singer-songwriter, member of the Golden Palominos, and debut novelist Lori Carson\u00a0joins the Virtual Memories Show to talk about her new book,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "literature"","block_context":{"text":"literature","link":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/category\/literature"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"http:\/\/www.assoc-amazon.com\/e\/ir?t=voyantpublishing&l=as2&o=1&a=0062245295","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7547","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=7547"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7547\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7566,"href":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7547\/revisions\/7566"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7547"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7547"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7547"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}