Detoxicity: By Men, About Men, For Everyone

DetoxPod 33: Bill Bodkin

This episode features a good friend of mine by the name of Bill Bodkin. Bill is a journalist who makes his home near the Jersey Shore. He founded the site popbreak dot com more than ten years ago, and the site encompasses everything from nightlife reviews to interviews with professional wrestlers to a podcast that has featured yours truly as a guest numerous times. He is a writer, a father, a husband, a pop culture fanatic, and is as proud to be from Jersey as I imagine Bruce Springsteen and Bon Jovi must be.
 
Wrestling-a LOT of wrestling, writing for a living and podcasting are all covered during our chat. But we also talk about life in the midst of the COVID-19 crisis, where Bill is trying to balance an exhausting full time job with being a dutiful husband, father and son . We also talk about going grey prematurely, my favorite TV show of all time, “Scrubs”, the-and I quote- “fucknuts” in the White House, and what it’s like to have bouts of depression and self-doubt.
 

DetoxPod32: Kevin Calabro

Kevin Calabro is a founder of Calabro Music Media, a PR and management company and a co-founder of the record label the Royal Potato Family. He works with musicians including the Chris Robinson Brotherhood, Medeski Martin & Wood, and Marco Benevento, and he’s based in upstate New York. Kevin and I spend a solid chunk of this episode parsing out the dilemma of what to do when the values and politics of your loved ones don’t solidly align with yours. It’s an issue that many people-including me-have dealt with, specifically over the last five or so years. In addition to politics, we talk about the ability of music to bring people together, based not only on Kevin’s experience in the music industry, but his time in the Deadhead community. We discuss the thrill of the chase that music listeners today can’t understand, and you get to find out where the hell the name Royal Potato comes from...sort of.

DetoxPod31: Devin Passariello

Devin Passariello is a New York-based music industry professional who came into the industry originally by way of being an actual musician. We talk about settling into a corporate lifestyle with the benefit of having a job that doesn’t require a suit and tie, and how to navigate life when you are "built like Flubber." On a more serious note, Devin and I talk about not judging a book by its cover, and about being a progressive person who was brought up around and still communicates with and considers himself friends with people who don’t share similar views, or his cop friends who may not understand why Devin agrees that police departments should be defunded. 
Come in for the real talk, stay for Devin’s Tim Taylor Theory and his delightfully salty reactions to Joe Rogan and people who question the masculinity of others for having the gall to keep themselves and others safe by wearing a mask.

DetoxPod30: Julian Velard

Julian Velard is a singer, songwriter and pianist from New York City. His latest project, Please Don’t Make Me Play Piano Man, is a recorded attempt at a Broadway musical that’s filled with as much humor as it is with melody. In the past, you may have heard him on the Howard Stern show or on NPR’s Ask Me Another. Julian also currently records the podcast Real Gentlemen of Queens with Brian “B-Ski” Collazo, whose name you might remember from an earlier episode of Detoxicity.
In our conversation, Julian wrestles with the idea of defining success on one’s own terms. He also talks about his anti-authoritarian childhood, generational trauma and being a product of your upbringing, not smoothing out his rough edges to be more palatable for the masses, becoming a husband and father himself, and much much more.

DetoxPod29: Steven LaFond

This episode is a meeting of the podcasting minds. I am joined by Steven LaFond, who co-hosts a podcast called Witchever Path with his partner Jas. The Witchever Path podcast is a horror-based anthology series in which the listener gets to vote on how to determine the outcome. Our conversation begins by discussing how the podcast came to be and continues into Steven’s difficult childhood, which included two years of being a ward of the state. We also discuss a series of “only”s, such as being a politically progressive person in a red state and being the only white person in his household. You can find Steven on Twitter.

DetoxPod28: Eddie Moses

Eddie Moses is a music industry executive based in New York City. In this episode, Eddie dives back into his Detroit childhood and discusses growing up gay and biracial. Eddie also discusses his journey from musician to music businessman, brings up code switching for the first time on a Detox podcast, role models and mentorship, and much much more. We also find out what "organizational communication" is. You can find Eddie on Twitter and IG at "eddiejaymoses".

DetoxPod Bonus Episode: Chris Calabrese Interviews Mike Joseph

This episode was supposed to be an interview with Chris Calabrese, who is studying at Montclair State University in New Jersey in the hopes of becoming a therapist. What it became turned out to be way more of a dialogue between Chris and I, in which I reveal much more about myself than I have in previous episodes. Since the show really isn't about me, I felt like it made more sense to release this episode out of sequence.
I discuss my upbringing in Brooklyn, constantly feeling "othered", why I'd feel uncomfortable accepting reparations, cultural identity, white privilege and more.
I sincerely hope you enjoy this episode.

DetoxPod27: Andrew Grossman

Andrew Grossman is a writer and a lawyer, originally from Kentucky but now based, like many of my guests, in NYC. Andrew is also a part of the reason Detoxicity exists, as he is a co-creator of the Facebook group Detoxifying Masculinity NYC. This group, like this podcast, aims to amplify the conversation around being better men and ridding ourselves of the toxicity often imposed on us by social constructs and conditioning.
Andrew and I have a typically wide-ranging discussion that covers subjective wokeness and premature work syndrome, the “Jewish” vs. “white” conundrum, and what makes one decide to become an attorney to begin with.