Life 2.0

When Sally McQuillen's twenty-one-year-old son died in a boat accident, her greatest fear was realized. Christopher was often drawn to risk and struggled with addiction. In this riveting memoir, Sally captures the wild ride of his jam-packed life and her deep love for him while reflecting on her own childhood and her family’s legacy of alcoholism. 

A powerful conversation with an incredible author and reluctant prophet on what it's like living through unrelenting grief, and finding a measure of purpose in unimaginable loss.

This episode only exists because of a loss. John Keith, one of the most erudite, eclectic, and impressive guys I've ever known and worked with in radio, passed away in May. My first call was to my radio right arm, Katherine Kelly Murphy, with the news about our friend, and that led to a conversation about putting together a reunion in John's memory with some of the original crew that built Oprah Radio. It's a return to an alternate universe of sorts, when eight radio pros from very different backgrounds had the opportunity to create something from nothing and, in doing so, forge friendships and memories that have endured long after the last episode aired. 

40 years ago today, on June 29th, 1985, John Denver held the first of eleven public concerts in the former Soviet Union. The cultural agreement between the USA and the USSR had lapsed in 1980 after the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan and Denver, the world-renowned singer/songwriter and humanitarian, used his formidable international presence to build the first bridge between the two countries, thus opening the door to other artists to follow, and played a role in moving President Regan and Soviet leader Gorbachev towards The Geneva Summit. 

 

Those concerts were captured by the brilliant Roger "The Immortal" Nichols on a digital recording rig he built that fit into a couple of suitcases, forever cementing Denver's voice and message into the archives of history.

 

On this podcast, I talk with Roger's daughter, Ashlee Nichols, about how her dad designed and produced the recordings, as well as comments from John's brother, Ron, about the CD that would eventually be produced. Also, Dr. Cheryl Charles joins me to talk about Denver's "Windstar Foundation" that was a pivotal part of that time as a global think tank and action center in the Rocky Mountains, and last but not least, some incredible archived audio from Denver's concert in the USSR and subsequent appearances on American television with Maria Shriver and David Letterman. 

 

"Though the singer is silent, there still is the truth of the songs."

At zero dark-thirty this morning, the boomerang of grief hit me right between the eyes. My brother from another mother-Bruce Hardwick-passed away on June 1st, and for whatever reason, today it was time for me to share a few thoughts about this incredible man. I've known some great people in my time, but none greater than Muk-Ta-The' (Black Striped Wolf), who is the man that held my hand (literally) when life had closed one door and I was struggling to find the open one decades ago. From humble beginnings, Bruce became known to many around the world as a teacher, mentor, and friend. 

In 1975, JAWS was released into 450 theaters, creating the first summer blockbuster and effectively changing the way humans related to open water. I was just 16 years old, and while I had read an excerpt of JAWS in Reader's Digest before it became a best seller, I knew something was up when a friend of mine came back after watching the movie with..."I'll never swim in the ocean again."

 

I've grabbed some audio from previous JAWS episodes, including my pal Jimmy Brinks (who, along with Donnie Scheffler, went with me to watch it the first time). Carl Gottlieb, who played Harry Meadows in the film, as well as being a main script writer, and my friend Richard Kaufman, who played on the original movie soundtrack. And, in homage to Robert Shaw's brilliant USS Indianapolis monologue, I do my own read (in lieu of paying serious coin to use the orginal audio) of that powerful piece of movie history 

 

 

I wasn't actually going to do a podcast today, and then I started getting text messages asking where the podcast was on a Saturday. Well, all the puzzle pieces fell together for a Father's Day episode, and some great memories and lessons of Poppa John, who was a banker by profession, Count Dracula during Halloween, a Friday night bowler, and above all, my dad.

Many years ago, when I was still bulletproof and could bench press a small car, I worked as a bouncer on the weekends at a local bar. The first lesson the owner gave me was that I should never argue with drunks or idiots- usually the same thing- because the second you do, they win. In the times we live in now, arguing with dimwits, nitwits and halfwits who are drunk with an inflated political sense of self is a reminder that rational people will never convice an irrational person they are wrong no matter the facts, figures or truths.

Hitting the gym for the past 50 years has taught me a lot of lessons and given me some incredible insights into human nature, as a core sampling of society is always on display. I'm indebted to my grandfather Karl (pictured here) for passing along the "Discipline of Iron" and the reminder that no pain means no gain, be it on the bench press or in life. 

I had another episode planned for today, but that "still, small voice" nudged me to take a different route, and I'm glad I listened. I was led to one of my favorite writers and authors, Tom Hanratty, and specifically to his book Master Bao Stories. In this story, the lesson of perspective is revealed as Master Bao and his pupil Ping meet two men, who have very different experiences while traveling the same path. 

Memorial Day (originally known as Decoration Day) is a federal holiday for honoring and mourning the U.S. military personnel who died while serving in the armed forces. It is a day for visiting cemeteries and memorials to mourn the military personnel who died in the line of duty. 

There's nothing happy about it.

Like many things, it's been hijacked by retailers as another way to sell mattresses, tires, and furniture, but the other side to all that stuff is the Gold Star families who will forever mourn the loss of their loved ones who died in combat. To that end, this is a composite episode of my other Memorial Day podcasts all rolled into one.

Lest we forget.