Detoxicity: By Men, About Men, For Everyone

DetoxPod 133 : Benny Benack III (Musician)

Benny Benack III is a trumpeter and jazz/standards vocalist originally from Pittsburgh PA and now making his home in Harlem, NYC. He's built up quite a following over the years, and has a new album scheduled to be released this spring.
Benny takes us through his childhood, where he almost seemed pre-ordained to be a musician (most of his family works somewhere in music). We talk about jazz's reputation as kind of a stick in the mud genre and what he's doing to keep things relevant to younger folks. We also talk about the brutal schedule most gigging musicians have to endure, and how he handles the constant influx of gigs-flights-gigs. Benny is also very vocal about social issues and goes deep into what it took for him to get comfortable enough with himself that he can discuss issues surrounding race and sexuality.
You can follow Benny on socials at bbjazziii.
 

DetoxPod 132 : Adam Bernard (Journalist/Cancer Survivor)

This week's episode features someone who does interviews for a living, journalist Adam Bernard. Adam and I met many years ago when I was doing the PR thing professionally and reaching out to music bloggers. His Adam's World blog is still very much active. He's one of the Last of the Mohicans when it comes to music bloggers.
More germane to this interview is the fact that Adam is a testicular cancer survivor. He and I discuss his journey through discovery/diagnosis and remission/recovery. It's a fascinating story and also really underscores the fact that we need to make sure we and our loved ones a) do checks on our own bodies so that we recognize when things are off and b) actually go to the doctor on a regular basis, and not just when an issue has become too problematic to ignore.
We also talk Crossfit, having an active sex life after surgery, and much more. Hope you enjoy Adam's story!

DetoxPod 131: Orie Givens IV (Journalist/Reporter)

In this episode, I have the pleasure of talking to one of my favorite human beings, Orie Givens IV. Orie is the director of communications for an LGBTQIA+-related non profit and I originally befriended him because of his work as a producer and host of the radio show Queer State of Mind, which airs every Saturday on Radio Free Brooklyn from 12-2 PM Eastern. Orie has had a long career in broadcast journalism, having served as a reporter for Spectrum News here in New York and in his home state of Ohio and as a writer for the legendary Advocate. 
 
Orie and I discuss many different facets of his life journey, including our mutual but not monolithic experiences as queer Black men. He discusses being impacted by addiction at a very young age, and looking to break the cycles of generational trauma many of us find ourselves struggling to come out on the right side of. We also go in depth about the experience of living in New York City vs. living in the midwest, as Orie has ping ponged between both environments over the course of his adult life.

DetoxPod 130 : Mike Guichet (Psychotherapist)

My intention wasn’t to post two episodes dealing with sex and relationship therapy back to back, but…here we are. Mike Guichet is a psychotherapist specializing in sex therapy. He’s based in Northern California, which appears to have a booming need for practitioners! Mike and I met five or six years ago at a conference in Toronto, and our conversation covers not only why he does what he does for a living, but how his career has helped with his own personal development and exploration. Aside from his career, Mike is a devoted parent, and he speaks passionately about his responsibility as a father, husband and partner.
Mike's website is https://michaelguichetsextherapy.com/
 
 

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.