I interviewed Nena about two years ago...tho it feels like a lifetime.  We were just coming out of covid and it was one of the first times I'd been back in the room with a guest.  I would say that in the interim, interest in hallucingens has only grown as mushrooms seem to have quickly become both the medicine of choice and the party drug of choice....   here are the original notes!   I've been wanting to do this interview for years....  Nena is a scion of one of America's most famous families and grew up in the rarefied air of upper east side NYC where that legacy was ..read more

Sometimes I do a podcast and by the end of the conversation my guest and I are friends for lise. Such was the case with Jenny Aurthur! Original notes: Jenny Aurthur grew up in a somewhat nomadic family - traveling in a large bus to organize neighborhoods for the Communist Labor Party, and while her parents never married, they maintained a strong family dynamic. So it was especially traumatic when she lost two members of her family to suicide and then - in sobriety - grieved as her closest friend also took his own life. Despite all that her joy remains in tact and reverberates thru this convo ..read more

Ryan King moved to Los Angeles as a toddler when his father, Commodores co-founder William King, moved here for work.  He was a pretty straight arrow through high school earning himself a coveted spot in the highly competive baseball program at Long Beach State.  But booze became his way of belonging and soon his undoing as his alcoholo habit compounded a case of the "yips" that kept him from throwing the ball to first base!  Things got slowly worse from there, and he skidded along the bottom without ever hitting it until a relapse on his honeymoon changed everything forever ..read more

I wanted to interview Lyle the moment he walked into my 830 am meeting  - full of humor and charisma - and always a devilish glint in his eye...  original notes:  Lyle Lodwick was a famous international model and toured the world with several well known bands before the wreckage of his life eventually caught up with him.  But after a stint at an in patient rehab and a fastidious commitment to his own recovery, he has found a new path devoting himself to helping others get well, too ..read more

Paul Summers grew up in Las Vegas Nevada where he had a “eureka” moment at an early age which made him realize that all he wanted to do with his life was play guitar, write music and perform for live audience, and for a while…. That’s exactly what he did. But booze and meth and oxy led him off his path, and it was only when his ex-wife kidnapped his daughter that he realized everything had to change. He has now written a new memoire HIDE and SEEK a Dad’s journey from soulless addiction to sole custody that chronicles his efforts to clean up and regain custody, and we talk here about his journe ..read more

I loved this episode because I just had no idea what I was getting into, and Lauren was so raw and honest and her story is - in a lot of ways - tough.  Especially as a parent!  And I loved the way she created a higher power for herself and how it worked!  I think about it all the time......  Here are the original notes:   Lauren Morelli is a costume designer who grew up in South Florida experimenting in a range of addictive behavior from an early age. At 17 she found herself on lockdown in state run rehab and somehow found a spiritually and sobriety there strong enough ..read more

I recorded this episode at Sundance right before the pandemic.  I was feeling pretty blue as sometimes happens there, and I went to an AA meeting where I met Kosha Dillz, and he and I went out on a fun, funny night around Park City and recorded this episode the next day. Here are the original notes... Rami is a rapper who performs under the stage name Kosha Dillz.  He grew up in New Jersey and spent some time in and out of jail before getting sober and finding his calling in the world of music.  He won the 2009 Hot 97 Rap Battle at Giants Stadium.  He has performed with Sno ..read more

I met Jono Hart when we were both climbing the Hollywood ladder in the 90s, and we traded small talk and jokes at innumerable cocktail parties before both getting sober at about the same time.   And while I have used the 12 steps as a model, he has largely followed his own heart. Weirldy, both paths share a lot of similarities. We recently re-connected over our shared love of the mountains and he has been invaluable in getting me and my kids back into the wilderness ..read more

I love this episode b/c David is so damn articulate and wise and he recognizes patterns in his own behavior that prove insturmental in changing it.   It's also a great story... Orignal notes: David G was raised in a religious cult where he learned early on to keep his family's membership secret.  It was a lesson that would serve him too well as his alcoholism deepened and yet he still managed to keep it from everyone close to him until the burden of his addiction proved too much.  He got help and came to understand that his self-worth need not be tied to his failure or accomplis ..read more

Sean grew up in Long Beach where he was the son of a single mom and absentee dad.  He discovered crack and meth at an early age, and when he graduate from high school he went off and joined the circus - Bread and Puppet - the experimental theater group based in Glover, VT. The skills he picked up at Bread and Puppet led to a very successful career in light design, but his crack and meth habit gave way to heroin and speedballs.  He soon found himself mired in several disfuntional relationships when - almost by chance - he stumbled into a twelve step meeting and just kept coming back ..read more