280 episodes

From public radio producer, Nate DiMeo, comes The Memory Palace, a finalist for the 2016 Peabody Award and one of iTunes Best Podcast of 2015. Short, surprising stories of the past, sometimes heartbreaking, sometimes hysterical, often a little bit of both.

"The most potent pieces of audio being produced today." - The AvClub

thememorypalace.us

The Memory Palace is a proud member of Radiotopia, from PRX, a curated network of extraordinary, story-driven shows. Learn more at radiotopia.fm

the memory palace Radiotopia

    • History
    • 4.8 • 6.7K Ratings

Listen on Apple Podcasts
Requires subscription and macOS 11.4 or higher

From public radio producer, Nate DiMeo, comes The Memory Palace, a finalist for the 2016 Peabody Award and one of iTunes Best Podcast of 2015. Short, surprising stories of the past, sometimes heartbreaking, sometimes hysterical, often a little bit of both.

"The most potent pieces of audio being produced today." - The AvClub

thememorypalace.us

The Memory Palace is a proud member of Radiotopia, from PRX, a curated network of extraordinary, story-driven shows. Learn more at radiotopia.fm

Listen on Apple Podcasts
Requires subscription and macOS 11.4 or higher

    Episode 219: Lost Jobs

    Episode 219: Lost Jobs

    The Memory Palace is a proud member of Radiotopia from PRX. Radiotopia is a collective of independently owned and operated podcasts that’s a part of PRX, a not-for-profit public media company. If you’d like to directly support this show and independent media, you can make a donation at Radiotopia.fm/donate.  I have recently launched a newsletter. You can subscribe to it at thememorypalacepodcast.substack.com. NotesRead about the change in policy here. And the article that helped prompt the policy change here. Music
    Pipeline by H.Takahashi
    Sad Seine by Lambert
    Dance PM by Hiroshi Yoshimura

    • 11 min
    A White Horse

    A White Horse

    The Memory Palace is a proud member of Radiotopia from PRX. Radiotopia is a collective of independently owned and operated podcasts that’s a part of PRX, a not-for-profit public media company. If you’d like to directly support this show and independent media, you can make a donation at Radiotopia.fm/donate.  I have recently launched a newsletter. You can subscribe to it at thememorypalacepodcast.substack.com. This episode was originally released in 2016 in the days after the shooting at the Pulse nightclub in Orlando. It is re-released every year on the anniversary of the incident. A note on notes: We’d much rather you just went into each episode of The Memory Palace cold. And just let the story take you where it well. So, we don’t suggest looking into the show notes first.Notes and Reading:* Most of the specific history of the White Horse was learned from "Sanctuary: the Inside Story of the Nation's Second Oldest Gay Bar" by David Olson, reprinted in its entirety on the White Horse's website.* "Gayola: Police Professionalization and the Politics of San Francisco's Gay Bars, 1950-1968," by Christopher Agee.* June Thomas' series on the past, present, and future of the gay bar from Slate a few years back.* Various articles written on the occasion of the White Horse's 80th anniversary, including this one from SFGATE.Com* Michael Bronski's A Queer History of the United States.* Radically Gay, a collection of Harry Hay's writing.* Incidentally, I watched this interview with Harry Hay from 1996 about gay life in SF in the 30's multiple times because it's amazing.Music* We start with Water in Your Hands by Tommy Guerrero.* Hit Anne Muller's Walzer fur Robert a couple of times.* Gaussian Curve does Talk to the Church.* We get a loop of Updraught from Zoe Keating.* We finish on Transient Life in Twilight by James Blackshaw

    • 13 min
    Episode 218: Olga

    Episode 218: Olga

    The Memory Palace is a proud member of Radiotopia from PRX.A Note on Notes:I always prefer that the listener goes into each episode cold, not knowing what it's going to be about. So, you might want to tread carefully, as there are spoilers in the notes below. Music
    L'espagne pour memoire by Michel Portal
    Find me Tomorrow from Christophe Beck's score to Charlie Countryman
    The old Soviet philharmonic plays some Shostakovich.
    The London Symphony Orchestra plays The Blue Danube Waltz.
    We hear Walt by Mother Falcon.
    Sombolero by Luiz Bonfa
    Notes
    Like a lot of people below, say, 55, I first heard about Olga Fikotova-Connolly when reading her obituary in the New York Times.
    By far the best thing you can do if you want to know more about her is track down her out-of-print memoir, The Rings of Destiny, which, despite its rather puffed-up title, is so warm and detailed and intimate. It's a delight. 
    You might also enjoy this late-in-life interview with Olga as well. 

    • 19 min
    Hazel, Mark, and a One-Time Juliet

    Hazel, Mark, and a One-Time Juliet

    The Memory Palace is a proud member of Radiotopia from PRX.Music
    Traffico from Carlo Rustichelli's score to Divorzio All'Italiana and Una Braveta, from his score to Amici Miei.
    Tema Grottesco from Giovanni Fusco's score to L'avventura.
     Gloving it from Moondog.
    Musica Bionda from the score to The Sweet Body of Deborah
    The Peter Thomas Sound Orchestra plays Natascha from the score to The Perfect Marriage. 
    Waltz from the Brendan Eder Ensemble
    Christa Schonfeldinger plays Grieg's Smarthold - der Kobold, on the glass armonica.

    • 12 min
    Episode 216: Awake

    Episode 216: Awake

    The Memory Palace is a proud member of Radiotopia from PRX.Music
    A synth stab from As if it Would Have a Universal and Memorable Ending by Shane Carruth's score to his film, Upstream Color, a movie I love deeply. 
    Smoke Gets in Your Eyes by the Platters
    The Girl Who was Frightened of Ashtrays by Charlie Megira
    Sambolero by Luiz Bonfa. 
    Water by So Percussion
    Divertimiento Fur Tenorsaxophon Und Kleines Ensemble (Part 4) from Carl Oesterhelt and Johannes Ender.
    Ball by Duval Timothy
    Piece 3 by the great Warren Ellis.
    Chora tua Tristeza from Lalo Schiffrin
    Growing Up from Ben Sollee's score to Maidentrip
    (Vibraphone, Marimbaphone, Malletted Wood, Two Synthesizers) and (Two Bells) by Josiah Steinbrick
    Main et lee from Michel Portal

    • 19 min
    Episode 215: An Eighth Wonder

    Episode 215: An Eighth Wonder

    The Memory Palace is a proud member of Radiotopia from PRX.Music
    Momento Ritmico and Papete aru by Piero Umiliani
    Opus 13 from Sven Libaek's score to The Set
    French Doll by Larry Ashmore and David Francis
    The wonderful Sewentuwa by Hailu Meriga
    Wave I by Elor Saxl
    Green by Hiroshi Yoshimura
    NotesI originally learned about the Elephantine Colossus years ago in David McCullough's Brooklyn... and How it Got That Way, which still holds up.

    • 13 min

Customer Reviews

4.8 out of 5
6.7K Ratings

6.7K Ratings

nope, don’t need one ,

The best podcast out there

It’s wonderful. “Soul-stirring” feels like something you read other people write about something, something that’s not real. This is, undoubtedly, a soul-stirring podcast.

LA YMCA user ,

perfect for sleep

i fall asleep to this pod & when i can’t stand the ads i now do Dead Sleep true crime for bedtime podcast!

Chere-xo ,

Simply the very best

I cannot listen to The Memory Palace without tears in my eyes - it is my favorite podcast. Nick has an amazing voice, and his stories, varied and lovely and haunting, will not leave your heart.
I listen to other podcasts frequently, but this one, this podcast is one that I save. I see it pop up in my list and I wait. I listen only when I can really listen. It’s my cactus flower - exquisitely beautiful - it blooms, and then it’s over, but what a blossom.

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