Uncorking a Story

This is the one where I talk to author, musician, and comic Aug Stone about his newly released memoir, Nick Cave’s Bar. Don’’t feel bad if you don’t know who Nick Cave is because I wasn’t cool enough to know of him either. The important thing here is that Aug and his friend Andy know who he is and, more importantly, believed he owned a bar in Berlin, based on a rumor overheard in Spain (are you wi...

Alta Ifland was born in Transylvania (Romania), took part in the overthrow of Romania's communist dictatorship, and experienced two years of post-communism before emigrating to the United States in 1991.  After a PhD in French language and literature, and several years in academia, she now works as a full-time writer, book reviewer, and translator (from French, Italian, and Romanian). She is the a...

Laura Hankin is the author of Happy & You Know It and A Special Place for Women. Her musical comedy has been featured in The New York Times, The Washington Post, and more. She splits her time between NYC, where she has performed off-Broadway, and Washington, D.C., where she once fell off a treadmill twice in one day. Listen in as we talk about her path to success as a performer, why her days worki...

Christina Sweeney-Baird lives in London where she works full-time as a corporate litigation lawyer. Listen in as we discuss her debut novel, The End of Men, which will be available wherever books are sold on April 27. Listen in as we discuss her journey from litigator to author, what inspired her to come up with the idea for The End of Men, and why, at its core, this is a book about hope (and not...

Joshua M Greene is a popular lecturer on Holocaust History and an author whose biographies have sold more than half a million copies worldwide. He is the recipient of numerous awards for his books and films. He sits on the board of Yale University Video Archive for Holocaust Testimonies and has served as director of strategic planning for the United Nations Summit of Religious and Spiritual leader...

An interview I did this week got me to thinking about how little things can make a big difference. This one Uncorks a story about U2 and a Bodega owner I met this week whose business is being threatened by the pandemic. Listen in to see the connection between them. Trust me, it will be one to grow on. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

While interviewing author Christina Sweeney-Baird about her debut novel The End of Men, I started thinking about how most authors, and other creators in the arts including comics and actors, have to work additional jobs long before they can earn a living off of their art. Christina herself is a lawyer (but I don't think she'll have to practice law for long as she's quite a gifted writer). Her full...

Julie Ryan McGue was born in Chicago, Illinois. She and her identical twin sister were adopted together. Her debut memoir, Twice a Daughter: A Search for Identity, Family, and Belonging is about the search for birth relatives. Listen in as we discuss what prompted her to find her birth parents, the emotions she experienced along the way, and what this experience has taught her about herself. This...

This past weekend, my sister gave me one of the most thoughtful gifts I have ever received—a stack of letters I had written to my grandparents back in the 1980s. This inspired me to record and share this episode with you.  Reaching out and touching someone used to mean picking up the phone and calling them. Today, it means Facetiming them or maybe just sending them a text. How about this, instead...

This week I sat in on the first of hopefully many episodes of Comedy Roads, an online show featuring interviews with established stand up comedians reflecting on their path to success. It's hosted by the one and only Bob DiBuono. A-Lister Eddie Brill told a story about performing in front of 12 people that I'll never forget and it inspired me to reflect on the importance of always giving 100% when...

Today we are going to switch gears a bit as I'd like to share with you the first chapter of my latest book The Ruin of Souls. Now look, I'm not a professional voiceover artist nor am I an audio engineer, so keep both in mind as you listen in. If you like what you hear and want to listen to more, let me know by emailing michael.carlon@uncorkingastory.com. if there's enough interest, I'll release th...

This is the second part of my interview with my twin brother, Jim Carlon. In it, we discuss his decision to join the Jag Corps at almost 40 years of age and why that marked such a turning point in his life. Buckle in and grab the Kleenex.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

I have easily interviewed a few thousand people in my career as a moderator and interviewer. I can honestly say that Interviewing my twin brother about his book, Conversation with a Desperate Man, was one of the toughest interviews I’ve ever had to conduct. It isn’t easy hearing someone you love describe the pain they’ve faced in their lives and the darkness that enveloped them. But his story isn’...

All the news about the surge in GameStop’s share price got me to thinking just how much money is made when institutional investors bet on companies to lose. To me there’s an amorality there and I just don’t like it. I’d rather bet on someone to win. And that got me to thinking about the importance of betting on yourself. Over the years, I’ve interviewed many people who bet on themselves and won bi...

I had a conversation with an old friend and prospective client last week about a challenge her business is facing—attracting men to use their service. They have a new spokesperson they’ve tapped to help with that effort, but they have no idea what he should be saying to raise interest from guys. So, in the spirit of partnership and wanting to land some new business, I held some Curiosity Conversat...

Olga Grushin was born in Moscow and moved to the United States at eighteen. She is the author of three previous novels, Forty Rooms, The Line and The Dream Life of Sukhanov. Her debut, The Dream Life of Sukhanov, won the New York Public Library Young Lions Fiction Award, earned her a place on Granta's once-a-decade Best Young American Novelists list, and was one of The New York Times' Notable Book...

When I was a kid, we used to take these road trips from Connecticut to Florida to visit my grandparents. I know that may sound like a huge waste of time when you can just fly there in a little over two hours, but the fact is we remember more about the adventures we had on those car trips than we do about the actual vacations themselves. We truly enjoyed the journey. At some point in time, and I ca...

I heard Johnny Cash’s cover of Nine Inch Nails’ Hurt yesterday and it got me thinking about how important it is to reinvent oneself periodically.  We live on a planet that does not stay still. It spins on its axis causing day and night. It circles around a star, moving through time and space, and as it does, seasons change. And that’s not all; fashions change, art changes, culture changes, all bec...

I was introduced to the work of Viktor Frankl as an undergraduate student studying psychology. His book, Man’s Search for Meaning, is divided into two parts; the first is a memoir of his experiences living in a concentration camp during World War II and the second details his theory of Logotherapy, which involves identifying a purpose in life to feel positive about and then immersively imagining t...

While running this morning, I heard the actor Mandy Patinkin being interviewed by Marc Maron on his WTF Podcast. In the conversation, he divulges that one of the ways he prays is by saying, “Help me help you in any way I can, in any way imaginable.” This reminded me of a conversation I had with author Kevin Knight almost two years ago who talked about how running is a spiritual form of exercise fo...

I can’t think of a year wrought with more challenges than 2020. I certainly wouldn’t blame anyone for being resentful over the missed milestones including graduations, proms, or for having to delay major life events including weddings or even big trips that were planned. Here’s the thing, though, resentment is poisonous. Listen in as I reflect on my own struggles with resentment and how I’ve addre...

Last night I got a text from my cousin Danny who told me that he was watching It’s a Wonderful Life and that sparked a memory of a piece that I had published in my local paper, The Stamford Advocate, eight years ago which was entitled The Gift of Encouragement.  Listen in as I reflect on how important encouragement is and how we all can do a better job encouraging others. If you do listen in, you...

Last week I spoke with a Bostonian named Mary who took a trip to Jamaica during Covid where she was dubbed The White Oprah. Mary lives with Multiple Sclerosis and my conversation with her reminded me about a few things. Life is about weighing risk and reward. Mary has MS and is considered a higher risk for Covid, but she also decided that the benefits of taking this trip outweighed the risks in he...

Recently, I caught up with my former boss and mentor Shelley Zalis who is probably the most positive person I’ve ever met in my life. In our conversation, she reminded me how important it is to go after what you want, to always get the deal (however the getting the deal is defined), and why complacency is kryptonite for success. My conversation with her reminded me of some self-limiting beliefs I...

This week, while doing some interviews for a travel client, I met a young man named Matthew reminded me that there is joy in service.  My conversation with him got me to thinking about how my mother, the church lady of Stamford, CT, would “volunteer” me and my brother Jimmy for various things and how rumors of our “willingness” reached the ears of a certain French teacher at Stamford/Trinity Catho...