Kenny Pomerance and Ron Tannebaum, or Mr. Clean and RT, are the recovery titans behind the Facebook-for-recovery website InTheRooms. The two longtime friends—who first met when they were in college—launched their site in 2008, when they were both nearly three decades sober. Since then, the site has blossomed—with hundreds of thousands of members attending on-line meetings, watching lectures, using the ITR apps and bonding in ways they never could otherwise.
I've been lucky enough to know these guys since the launch of ITR and they've never been anything but generous, kind and compassionate. This has a great deal to do with how they've been able to thrive—with an astounding 400,000+ members that have a combined million+ years of sobriety.
In this episode, we discuss how many people told them that a Facebook for recovery idea was never going to work, why they don't look at anyone as competition and having a song written for them by Aerosmith, among many other topics.
NOTE: This episode is from a Facebook Live interview that I did with Dawn, which means that the audio isn't as sharp as it is on regular episodes. Please bear with that! And please tune into my regular Facebook Live interviews, which take place at 4 pm PST on Tuesdays (unless I have a conflict, in which case I reschedule but announce the change on my page. Make sure you Like my page so stay up on the info!)
Today’s episode features a truly unique soul: author Bucky Sinister.
In it, Bucky tells a story from my live storytelling show, Hammer(ed) Time, which takes place every other month in LA, has been an LA Weekly pick of the week and is being developed into a video series.
His story is about a friend of his who happened to be "the most batshit crazy person" he knew, the sort of person who'd ask, if you told him your mother had breast cancer, "how nice her tits were." He also explains how much this friend of his taught him about how to be a sober man.
When he's not bringing urns onto a stage (yep—if you listen to the episode, it will all make sense), Bucky is writing. He's the author of not only the hilarious addiction novel Black Hole but also four books of poetry and two self-help books, including Get Up: A 12-Step Guide to Recovery for Misfits, Freaks, and Weirdos. His journalism, film reviews, and short stories have appeared on The Rumpus, The Bold Italic, and a number of other online and print publications.
Dawn Nickel is a legend in the recovery world. The womab behind SheRecovers, Nickel was in recovery a long time and a self-proclaimed workaholic looking for a change when she realized, while sitting on the beach in Mexico, that what she really wanted to do: help people in recovery. And so she launched a Facebook page. Despite being something of a social media novice, the page took off—attracting hundreds of thousands of Likes as it established itself as the place for women in recovery (from anything) to gather together for inspiration and connection. Now SheRecovers is a business which includes retreats, events and coaching.
In this episode, Nickel and I discuss how she was able to corner the market on women recovering, whether or not the word "addict' is stigmatizing and how she makes sure she doesn't sway back into workaholism (hint: it has to do with going on the SheRecovers retreats).
NOTE: This episode is from a Facebook Live interview that I did with Dawn, which means that the audio isn't as sharp as it is on regular episodes. Please bear with that! And please tune into my regular Facebook Live interviews, which take place at 4 pm PST on Tuesdays (unless I have a conflict, in which case I reschedule but announce the change on my page. Make sure you Like my page so stay up on the info!)
oday's episode features one of my very favorite people I know: comedian and writer Mary Patterson Broome.
In it, MP tells a story from our live storytelling show, Hammer(ed) Time, which takes place every other month in LA, has been an LA Weekly pick of the week and is being developed into a video series.
Her story answers the question many among us may have craved an answer to: what kind of crazy activities go on at comedy festivals? Well, in this one, we learn about "mirror moments," deciding to hook up, how to handle it when the dude who just drove you home pukes all over himself and what to do when a drunk stranger needs to sleep it off when you're sharing a room.
When she's not entertaining the rest of us with tales of her former debauchery, MP is the Editor-in-Chief of AfterParty Magazine and RehabReviews and tours the country performing comedy. She has written for Women's Health and for AOL Originals’ Emmy-nominated Making a Scene with James Franco.
Today's episode features a very special guest: me. Since I'm releasing episodes that contain stories from my live storytelling show, Hammer(ed) Time, and I perform in this show, sometimes these episodes are going to feature—well, me. (By the by, the show, which takes place every other month in LA, has been an LA Weekly pick of the week and is being developed into a video series.)
The story I tell here is about the three cocaine dealers I had during my using days, the different signature moves they had and how I ended up in rehab with one of them.
In this episode, Anna David speaks about how discovering the fact that recovery had its own language inspired her to focus her own work on the topic.
Recover Girl takes to the stage again, as I'm giving you another episode featuring a story from my live storytelling show, Hammer(ed) Time—which takes place every other month in LA, has been an LA Weekly pick of the week and is being developed into a video series.
This episode features previous podcast guest Natasha Vargas-Cooper, a wondrous sprite who graduated Summa Cum Laude from UCLA with a double major in history and public policy and has been published in such places as The New York Times, Atlantic Monthly, The Wall Street Journal, New York Magazine and GQ, among many others. Her book, Mad Men Unbuttoned, was praised as “a well-versed primer” by The New Yorker and “likely to become a trivia-lover’s bible” by The New York Times. Oh and in her spare time, she created the popular LA storytelling show Public School.
In this story, she asks the question many may have pondered: what happens if you're "sober" but take Ambien? (Hint: it may involve texting your boss that you bet he looks good naked.)
Kelly Fitzgerald is probably the most successful sober blogger in the world. The voice behind The Sober Senorita, Fitzgerald launched to internet fame when she wrote a post about being sober a year, which The Huffington Post picked up and posted on its home page. Cut to the post going viral, being published in multiple languages and placing Fitzgerald in a position of authority on recovery. She's now been published on sites like Elite Daily, Ravishly and Thought Catalog, hosts her own podcast and offers a virtual coaching program.
In this episode, we discuss being uncomfortable outing yourself as sober, what it is about her first blog post about sobriety that hit a nerve, being a member of my coaching program for writers and whether or not everything happens as it's meant to, among many other topics.
NOTE: This episode is from a Facebook Live interview that I did with Kelly, which means that the audio isn't as sharp as it is on regular episodes. Please bear with that! And please tune into my regular Facebook Live interviews, which take place at 4 pm PST on Tuesdays (unless I have a conflict, in which case I reschedule but announce the change on my page. Make sure you Like my page so stay up on the info!)
Freddy Negrete is inarguably one of the world's greatest legends in the tattoo world. The former Chicano gang member perfected the art of "prison" black and grey tattoos before going to work for fellow tattoo legends “Good Time” Charlie Cartwright and Jack Rudy in East LA. He logged time working with Ed Hardy (who, for the uninitiated, is a real guy and not just a t-shirt line) and now makes headlines when he tattoos famous folks like Henry Styles. Despite his current celebrity status, Negrete has hardly had an easy life: the son of a Jewish woman and a Mexican father, Negrete was pretty much orphaned when both his parents went to prison. He joined a gang, entered a life of crime, started going in and out of juvie halls and prison and, along the way, became a heroin addict. Now sober over a half decade, Negrete is the co-author of a memoir based on his life, Smile Now, Cry Later: Guns, Gangs and Tattoos: My Life in Black and Gray. In this episode, we talk about how gangs provided camaraderie, making tattoo guns out of cassette tapes and his sudden spiritual awakening, among many other topics.