Detoxicity: By Men, About Men, For Everyone

DetoxPod 129 : James Ferrigno (Dating/Relationship Coach)

James Ferrigno is a dating and relationship coach based in the San Francisco area. His practice is largely centered around authenticity, which sadly isn’t something that gets touted as leading to success in the dating world. I do a bit of digging into what led James to this work, as he has a pretty rich background that precludes his career as a coach. From there, we really focus on connection and why men in particular seem to have so much trouble in that realm. James offers a bit of important insight into how to create and sustain connections, and a lot of that insight can be extrapolated to relationships that exist outside of the heterosexual dating world and even the male/female binary, and can be applied to familial relationships and platonic connections too.
 
Schedule a free exploratory session with James at https://calendly.com/authenticlife9/30min.
His website is authenticlife9.com and he can be found on IG at @authenticlife9. 
 

DetoxPod 128 : John Hill (Writer/Bodybuilder)

I met John Hill it must have been a decade ago through the magic of social media. John ran a blog called Pop Music Notes and as a music blogger myself, we connected pretty quickly.
A lot can change in a decade or so, and while music has changed and our relationships to social media have changed, John and I have stayed in touch. While our conversation for Detoxicity begins and ends with discussions about music and some of the idols and icons we love, the meat of this conversation covers topics you'd be much more accustomed to on this podcast. Those topics include John's coming out story and difficult relationships with relatives, ongoing body image issues that haven't fully abated even though John took up bodybuilding over the pandemic, and the political situation in the US that caused John and his family to move from Texas to Colorado, culminating in the recent shooting at Club Q in Colorado Springs.
Check out John's story. And follow John on Twitter & Instagram.

DetoxPod 127 : Julian Velard (Singer/Songwriter) Take 2!

Three years is a lot of time (although I'm still attempting to process the fact that this podcast has been an ongoing concern for almost that amount of time). Lives can change dramatically in that time span, and that is the case with the person I'm interviewing, singer/songwriter Julian Velard. Since he and I last spoke for the pod (Episode 30), Julian and his family have pulled stakes and moved twice; first to St. Louis, then to Los Angeles. Julian invested in a piano bar that he then had to back out of, and he also developed vocal nodes that required surgery--a scary proposition for a musician! On top of that, he's also raising two toddlers. Julian and I discuss all of the changes that life has thrown at him recently and how he's handling it all. The discussion is honest and raw, but hopeful. Enjoy!

DetoxPod 126: Jack McDonald (Journalist/Comedian)

Happy early Thanksgiving. I hope you're all set to spend a few days with loved ones.
Sorry there wasn't an episode last week. The recording I planned to use had some massive audio Gremlins, which is disappointing because I thought it was a really good conversation.
Anyway, this week's episode features an interview with journalist and comedian Jack McDonald. Most of our conversation centers around Jack's recent divorce and his subsequent move back to his hometown of Chicago. Jack's definitely still working through some stuff related to the dissolution of his relationship, but he's got some good coping mechanisms in place, and I think he's pretty resilient, all things considered.
You can find Jack on IG at @epitomeofnonsense and on Twitter at @laughjack15.

DetoxPod 125 : Chad Dryden (Business Owner/Journalist)

In this episode, I'm talking to Chad Dryden, who is the co-owner of The Record Exchange, an independent record shop in Boise, ID. Our conversation covers quite a bit, from transitioning into ownership to the fact that Chad and his family actually moved to Ohio from Boise during the pandemic, which puts something of a challenge into owning a business. We also talk about taking care of your mind and body as you age, and what middle age means in 2022 vs. what it meant for our parents and grandparents. Chad is not only physically active in a way that currently puts me to shame, but he's been proactive about his mental health in a way that I would imagine is somewhat unusual for midwestern men in their forties. This is an illuminating conversation and I hope you all enjoy it. 
 
Follow The Record Exchange on Twitter @recordexchange and on IG at @therecordexchange
 
Find Chad on Instagram at @chaddryden or @thesuburbanabyss

DetoxPod 124 : Clay Fernald AKA Clay N Ferno (Marketer/Podcast Host)

This episode's guest, Clay Fernald (AKA Clay N Ferno), was voted the Most Popular Man in Boston back in 2005, thanks to MySpace (those were the days, huh?) In those days, Clay did marketing and promo for The Middle East, one of Boston's most legendary concert venues (I've maybe seen 100 shows there). These days, Clay does his own thing: he's an independent contractor, he hosts a podcast, has a Substack, and he talks about all of that during our conversation. It covers workaholism and grind culture, and knowing when to take a break! Clay also talks through his journey to sobriety, and how it's affected his relationships with family, with friends and with himself. 
Follow Clay at claynferno on Twitter and Instagram.
 

DetoxPod 123 : Roman Rimer

Roman Rimer is an actor, improv performer, radio host and activist based in the San Francisco Bay Area. In this episode, Roman and I discuss activism and allyship in various communities. We discuss the gentrification of San Francisco and how he tries to stay true to the city's original spirit of being a place for those who often exist on the margins of society. Roman also charts his course as a transmasculine person, from coming to terms with this knowledge to handling the reactions of friends and family. I hope you enjoy this conversation!

DetoxPod 122 : Dan Wilson (Songwriter/Musician)

Dan Wilson is a Grammy-Award winning musician and songwriter who has scored hits as a member of the band Semisonic ("Closing Time"), as a solo artist (his EP Dancing on the Moon was released earlier this month), and as a collaborative songwriter with Taylor Swift, Chris Stapleton, John Legend and more.
 
Dan and I discuss his history of collaboration and dig deep into what makes him such a good partner and band member. We talk about his upbringing and what led him down a musical path, and we also discuss the themes of his new EP, which center around communication-an ongoing key topic of this show. I hope you enjoy the interview!