9 episodes

The Dead Groupies is an audio book told through monthly chapter releases. The Dead Groupies follows Esmeralda Galvao, the youngest in a Chicano family whose patriarch Roberto Galvao has just passed after a long battle with Alzheimer’s and dementia. As the family attempts to lean on each other they find that Esmeralda has fled on a road trip. Her destination: the death locales of Selena, Bruce Lee, Elliott Smith, the Von Erich Family, and Elvis Presley. At each stop, she deals with her family obligations and with her grief the best way she can, through email and through escape in the lives of those celebrity deaths for which she feels the closest.

The Dead Groupies Abram Valdez

    • Arts
    • 5.0 • 3 Ratings

The Dead Groupies is an audio book told through monthly chapter releases. The Dead Groupies follows Esmeralda Galvao, the youngest in a Chicano family whose patriarch Roberto Galvao has just passed after a long battle with Alzheimer’s and dementia. As the family attempts to lean on each other they find that Esmeralda has fled on a road trip. Her destination: the death locales of Selena, Bruce Lee, Elliott Smith, the Von Erich Family, and Elvis Presley. At each stop, she deals with her family obligations and with her grief the best way she can, through email and through escape in the lives of those celebrity deaths for which she feels the closest.

    9. Chapter 9: Everyday I Write the Book

    9. Chapter 9: Everyday I Write the Book

    Esme responds back to Eli even if she is unclear about his intentions. She shares with Eli a story he has heard before about a child catching a parent's infidelity as well as a story he has never heard before: how she and his ex wife Corina met for lunch.

    • 21 min
    8. Chapter 8: Breaking Kayfabe

    8. Chapter 8: Breaking Kayfabe

    Esme's older sister Leti writes Esme to fill her in on what's happening with the family in her absence and offers her a different perspective from Dom. She also gives Esme a history lesson about the Von Erich family of pro-wrestling and relates their tragedy to the Galvaos own recent loss.

    • 3 min
    7. Chapter 7: English as a Second Language

    7. Chapter 7: English as a Second Language

    Esmeralda's ex, Eli reaches out to Esme. He confides in her information about his past and his family in the hope that Esme will write him back. He also shares a story about her father Rob Galvao in an effort to ease her grieving; however, his motives could leave Esme with more rage than reflection.

    • 25 min
    6. Chapter 6: A Real Galvao

    6. Chapter 6: A Real Galvao

    In a letter to her father, Esme recalls reaching out to the Galvaos of Mathis in the hope of making a family connection. She learns more about her Grandma Sunny and her paternal grandfather. But does she leave Mathis with an extended family or extended inquiries?

    • 27 min
    5. Chapter 5: Kung-Fu Fighting

    5. Chapter 5: Kung-Fu Fighting

    Dom replies directly to Esme and brings a big brother's wrath at her absence. He recalls to her a tale of their father as a protector and how a racist neighbor died on their lawn.

    • 23 min
    1. Chapter 1: The Place Where Selena Died

    1. Chapter 1: The Place Where Selena Died

    Esmeralda Galvao is missing. After a long and difficult battle with Alzheimer's and dementia, her father has passed away. The Galvao family has just buried the family patriarch, and as the family attempts to come together to find strength in their grief, Esme has skipped town and set off for the beach and finds herself in the motel where Selena was killed in 1995.

    • 36 min

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