The Drunkalogues

Billy Sullivan is a musician and composer for movies and TV. It's all he ever really wanted: a career in music. And while he turned pro when he was only 16 years old - he only found a path to the real deal once he got sober.   you can support this podcast at: https://www.patreon.com/thedrunkalogues

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 mostly confounding.  She initially started out as an interior designer, and we met in LA in the aughts when she was exploring the entertainment biz and we were both aimlessly navigating the cocktail scene, here....

Thomas V. was born in Austria to parents who had recently lived thru World War II. He quickly rebelled against their old world values joining the protest movement and discovering booze, weed and psychedelics all of which eventually led to... heroin. He managed to wean himself off smack with a liter-a-day booze habit that he later mitigated with hard labor. It was only when his girlfriend got pregn...

I heard Joe Marconi speak at a meeting last week and I just loved his vulnerability and honesty and intelligence and just really wanted to hear more.  He's a filmmaker and an  ad man and on a journey to find love and compassion for all this great big beautiful mess.

Fifi Dosch grew up in Aberdeen South Dakota where a relentless lack of joy stemmed perhaps from a deep belief that she could never fit in. Indeed, she felt if she expressed joy the way she felt; it might actually get her killed. She escaped via film school that brought her to Boseman, Montatna and then a stand up career that brought her to Los Angeles where she eventually stopped drinking out of s...

I will be posting new episodes by the end of the month, but in the meanwhile I'm reposting this interview because damn it made me laugh. Since we sat down Michael and I almost made a movie together but he has also had numerous films in Sundance including The Truffle Hunters and The Fight both available for streaming, now!   Original notes... Michael Sherman is a prolific and successful independent...

I wanted to re-run this episode because it deserves MORE LOVE!  I laughed so hard during this episode and found in Fielding a sparring partner I could trade jabs with for hours.  She has a new season of BITTER HOMES AND GARDENS out now!   Fielding Edlow is a writer and stand up comedian who created and stars in the award winning web series, BITTER HOMES AND GARDENS as well as its spin-off FIELDING...

I feel this episode with the hilarious and charming Zach Noe Towers has not received the attention it deserves. Since recording this Zach started his own podcast - Good Morning, Sodomites! - that brings a celebratory, non-judgmental perspective to sex and sexuality.  He's headlining shows everywhere and was one of the hosts on the E! show "Dating #nofilter." Original liner notes: Zach Noe Towers i...

I wanted to re-run this episode b/c a) Bill Dixon is a lovely human who is currently producing FBoy Island and b) I thought this was profoundly moving and deserves some more love. Bill Dixon is a stand up comedian and TV produce.  He ran the quintessential underground LA Standup Comedy Show, The National Midnight Society. He is currently a producer on THE BACHELOR, THE BACHELOR IN PARADISE and THE...

When I first started making this podcast I knew even less about sound recording and mixing than I do now, but I have picked up a few small bits of knowledge along the way and did go back and re-mix this very first episode because it was pointed out to me - when first released - that it was actually impossible to listen to in the car. Tommy Swerdlow is perhaps best known for writing the 90s family...

Amir grew up in Tucson, Arizona where his family - Iranian Immigrants - owned and operated a cowboy bar - a business Amir was fated to inherit. But when a family friend told him about an opportunity in the advertising business in Los Angeles, he leapt at the chance and never really looked back. His story is one where the trappings of success insulated him from himself and his journey thru sobriety...

His new audio book - An Inside Job ( https://tinyurl.com/vbes6cet ) chronicles his life from an idyllic childhood in Harbor City, CA to a single regrettable decision that would ultimately result in an arrest on drug charges and a twenty year prison sentence.  After doing whatever he needed to to survive in jail and managing his misgivings with booze and heroine, he found an unlikely path to salvat...

Philly Mike is an actor and writer and stand up comedian who grew up in a pretty rough section of Philadelphia where just not getting your ass kicked every day was a constant struggle.  He found booze and comedy early on as effective means of escape and eventually found himself with a pretty successful stand up career. It seems his recovery was precipitated by a couple near brushes with real troub...

Joey Repice grew up just outside of Manhattan popping into the city to work in restaurants, play gigs as a drummer and to party. He watched as his adolescent recreational drug and alcohol use blossomed into a full blown heroine addiction whose maintenance consumed his every waking hour. After successfully kicking his habit he nearly relapsed when his ex-girlfriend died of an overdose and was only...

James McLain and I are childhood friends who grew up in the same bucolic stretch of Gold Coast Long Island where The Great Gatsby was set.  We shared a lot in common as kids, and I saw a lot of myself in him so I was particularly curious to see how the path not taken - he is an investment banker - still ended in sobriety.  He talks here about his different approach to recovery and how - unlike tra...

Katy is an independent film producer who latched on to Mormonism in her teens as a way of life that managed to be celebratory while eschewing alcohol.  Still, she somehow managed to do Mormonism alcoholically.  Her journey thru recovery is marked by a search for love and validation that when she finally finds it feels so easy it's impossible to believe it was hard to find in the first place.

After her mother committed suicide when she was only seven years old, Wendy Adamson started running away to live with the homeless hippies in Topanga Canyon.  Her father made her a ward of the court, and she split her time between juvenile detention and foster homes.  An horrific shooting in her late thirties led to a profound spiritual epiphany and she has since devoted herself to undoing the pat...

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 r...

Douglas Mallon really discovered booze and drugs when he enlisted in the navy at 17 years of age, and his story after that is largely one of obsession and how he learned to break its fever grip thru prayer and surrender.  He's now 25 years sober, a proud father and author of multiple books won't you please welcome Douglas Mallon.

Connie Clotworthy was born and raised in Detroit where she discovered drinking and drugs at a very early age and eventually gravitated toward bartending before becoming a very successful mixologist at high end restaurants here in Los Angeles where her drinking found an environment to thrive. But a DUI, a car crash and a pyrotechnics catastrophe, drove her reluctantly into recovery where she strugg...

My old friend, Terry Brown, was a banker and then an actor and now he handles communications for a non-profit.  We had lost touch over the past several years - consumed by the obligations of family, and I'll confess I didn't hold out a lot of hope as I watched from afar as he wrestled with addiction. But here he is  after a long journey of just taking the next right step - 2 years sober - and this...

Dennis Berry is a life coach and author of the practical guide to life, Funky Wisdom. He grew up in New Jersey and used a culinary degree to support his life in the ski town of Stowe, Vermont eventually using that experience to pursue a successful career in hospitality ultimately undone by addiction.   You can support this podcast at my Patreon Page:   https://www.patreon.com/thedrunkalogues

Jamie Niven is the son of international movie star and academy award winner for best actor, David Niven.  But I really knew him from my parents crowd of waspy New Yorkers spending the summers out on Long Island where he was always the life of the party and where growing up I had rarely seen any of his set get sober.  He had a career in finance before becoming an entrepreneur and then spent 20 year...

Robb Kelly was a bassist at Abbey Road studios where he played with the likes of Elton John, Freddie Mercury and David Bowie.  What started as a means of overcoming stage fright as young boy eventually blossomed into a handle a day drinking habit.  His life took a drastic turn when a sudden act of violence ended his marriage, and he soon found himself homeless on the streets of Manchester, England...

Debra DiGiovanni is a very funny stand up comedian who does something on stage unlike anyone I've ever seen before. She's Candadian and has appeared on Conan and Last Comic Standing and she talks here about how she finally got sober only when her addiction started to interfere with her career.   You can support this podcast at my Patreon Page:   https://www.patreon.com/thedrunkalogues