Daddy Unscripted Podcast

Episode 71 features half of the tandem that puts together the "Beyond The Pond" podcast, Dave Goldstein. Dave adds to my list of guests that come from our glorious Osiris Media podcast network.

I was thrilled when Dave reached out to me about being on the podcast. I had his partner from the BtP podcast, Brian Brinkman, on the podcast a little over a year ago for Episodes 50 & 51. They do such a great job with their podcast and, honestly, I have always dug Dave's voice from their episodes that I was happy to have a long conversation with him for Daddy Unscripted.

And, a long conversation is exactly what we had. We talked and recorded for over 3 hours. I really toiled with the editing of this episode. For way too long. And then it dawned on me: two-parter!

So, this is the first half of our conversation. We talk about his family history, stories about his Dad and how he and his Mom met. Did someone say "met"? We also go into how the New York Mets became a major part of his family history.

We went through a bit of the story of how Dave became a Dad for the first time some 4 plus years ago. Just as we started to get into their journey to bring a second child into being, it seemed like the best place to split our conversation into two halves and post this section as Part 1.

The "Beyond the Pond" podcast can be found pretty much anywhere you find your podcasts: iTunes, Google Play, Spotify, Stitcher Radio, etc.

Beyond the Pond has a page on Medium at medium.com/beyond-the-pond

Daddy Unscripted can be found on:

iTunes | Spotify | Stitcher Radio | Google Play | Tune-In Radio

Twitter: @DaddyUnscripted

Facebook: Daddy Unscripted

Website: www.daddyunscripted.com

Daddy Unscripted is proud to be a part of the Osiris Podcast Network! You can check out the Osiris Pod website to see what other great podcasts are part of the network by going to OsirisPod.com. Osiris is partnered with JamBase and JamBase empowers music fans everywhere to go see live music. You should check them out at Jambase.com.

Intro and Outro music proudly provided with a partnership by Umphrey's McGee. Check them out at www.Umphreys.com

You can send questions and suggestions for future guests to us via email to [email protected] and you can always use my Google Voice number for comments, questions, etc.: (872) 444-6784.

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Episode 70 features singer-songwriter Griffin House. Griffin has been making music for over 15 years now and he is still working hard and remaining incredibly true to himself and who he wants to be as an artist.

When Griffin's management contacted me about having him on the podcast, quite frankly, I had to rush to the internet to see who this guy was. I spent the next ten minutes or so reading various bios and snippets of interviews and album reviews and my interest was open to the idea. Then, I clicked play on a preview of his coming documentary "Rising Star" and I couldn't reply to the original email quickly and enthusiastically enough.

We worked out some specifics and I went home that night and started picking my way through some of Griffin's older albums. Wow. Man, oh, man... I sure did want to talk with this guy! I truly did become an instant fan that first day.

In our conversation, Griffin spins some great histories about his family, his youth and his intense connections with his paternal line, as well as to his Mother's Father. It was really cool to hear about strong the connection was (and still is) between the men in their families.

Griffin details the path that led him to music back in High School. He talks about some of the crossroads of his life that he passed up or diverted from to see where music would take him instead. I'd say he made a pretty fantastic choice in doing that.

It sometimes seems cliché to think about musicians dealing with or even battling addiction. So, I wasn't completely floored or taken aback when Griffin started to talk about his personal struggle with alcohol as a touring musician. But, how forthcoming he was and humble in talking about how it was something that affected others, including, at that time, his new wife, was really refreshing.

I am so happy I got to have this conversation with Griffin. We really connected on a number of things and, with my last episode and some of the current suicide crisis that is affecting musicians and artists, it was really meaningful to hear him talk about, even briefly, how he had his own suicidal thoughts that he had to overcome.

With that, I will remind you all how important it is that we ALL TALK. We talk about any struggles we may be having... we talk with those around us and offer ourselves up as safe people to our friends and family and loved ones; people that are capable of *just listening*, without the added pressure of feeling like we have to *fix* things for others.

So... with *that* said, I will, again, give you all these two phone numbers: My Google Voice Number for *ANYONE* to use: (872) 444-6784. And the National Suicide Prevention hotline: (800) 273-8255.

You can find all things Griffin House by going to his website: https://griffinhousemusic.com/

Daddy Unscripted can be found on:

iTunes | Spotify | Stitcher Radio | Google Play | Tune-In Radio

Twitter: @DaddyUnscripted

Facebook: Daddy Unscripted

Website: www.daddyunscripted.com

Daddy Unscripted is proud to be a part of the Osiris Podcast Network! You can check out the Osiris Pod website to see what other great podcasts are part of the network by going to OsirisPod.com. Osiris is partnered with JamBase and JamBase empowers music fans everywhere to go see live music. You should check them out at Jambase.com.

Intro and Outro music proudly provided with a partnership by Umphrey's McGee. Check them out at www.Umphreys.com

You can send questions and suggestions for future guests to us via email to

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The "guest" in Episode 69 is actually me. It's me talking about suicide, including the story about the night I tried to kill myself a little over 25 years ago.

I've touched on this topic with a few of my guests, at all different levels. Most significantly, perhaps, back in Episode 62 with Bill Protzmann, where he shares the story of the night music saved him from trying to take his own life some years ago. It's been something other guests have discussed: having suicidal thoughts at times of their lives.

This is not a new problem for mankind. However, the numbers are increasing. The age range seems to also be expanding. It's astonishing. It's deeply troubling. It's nearly paralyzing.

But, we cannot be paralyzed. We absolutely cannot allow ourselves to sit and do nothing. To back away and not deal with it. To be afraid of reaching out to help. That goes on both sides of this, I think. If you need help, you need to reach out... even if (or especially) you do so before your toes inch closer to that proverbial edge. And to everyone else, we need to talk to people. Talk to your friends, to your family, to your co-workers. The list goes on and on.

I'll put this right here before I dig into the heart of the episode. I have a Google Voice Number for ANY of you to use: (872) 444-6784. Leave me a message there and I will get in touch with you... or you can even just use that as a safe place to vent or whatever it may be. And, the other number you need is the National Suicide Prevention hotline: (800) 273-8255.

I have been thinking... maybe knowing this episode would eventually happen. When it struck me that this September is Suicide Prevention Month, I felt a giant push to just sit down and finally get this out. So, this is another "guest-less" episode of the podcast. Just me and a microphone.

You can listen to the episode to hear the full story, but, as I mentioned before: at the age of 21, I felt like my life was going nowhere and I was hopeless. Hopeless of having an ability to make anything positive of my life, of ever being in a place to have a productive, adult life. Kind of what I have now, ironically. I'm really nutshelling this... but, I decided to end my life.

I took well over 100 pills one night and eventually slipped into a coma for 3+ days. I know that I should have died. I shocked the doctors by coming out of my coma and living. They were beyond shocked that I didn't sustain massive organ damage, either. And yet, here I am. My life was not just saved: it was given back to me.

I talked about how this seems to be a significant issue within the world of music, of late. This isn't the full list, but: Chris Cornell, Chester Bennington, David Berman, and most recently: Neal Casal. It's daunting to think about. And I don't claim to know their situations or their reasons. But, I do believe that they didn't seek help. Nobody has stepped forward telling us that they had a conversation with Robin Williams and they knew he was going to commit suicide. That just isn't a thing with so many of those who take their own lives.

In this episode, I really run the gamut. Blame that on it being Daddy *Unscripted*, possibly. But, I talk about how devastating it is to me that we even are having conversations about kids attempting and committing suicide. Devastating. It's difficult for me to even fathom the reality of that discussion these days.

This easily led to me talking about social media. I don't lay all of these things at its feet, but with social media and bullying and the time we spend on social media, not only being inundated and flooded with the pressures that can create for many people, but the time that it takes away from our relationships of those around us can be extremely hurtful and negatively impactful.

I will always be very specific about the fact that my experience is *my* experience. I don't...

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Episode 68 features Chris Illuminati. Chris is an author, blogger, superstar on Instagram (that’s totally a thing), former stand-up comedian and a father of two. I was following Chris on his Instagram account (@messagewithabottle) for a while when one of our mutual friends reached out to me, dumbstruck that they had never suggested a collaboration between us for Daddy Unscripted. So, big shout-out to Jessica and Jose for paving the road for this to happen.

Let’s start this post with where we started our conversation: his name. Yes. His last name really is Illuminati. We spent some time talking about peoples’ names and how that has changed over the years.

We then jumped back into Chris’ family history. He has some really interesting stories about the age difference between his Dad and his brothers and the trickle-down effect of that from his Dad’s siblings and Chris as a child. Chris’ family came to the east coast originally, and he has spent nearly the entirety of his lifetime in New Jersey. He discussed the unique melding of New Jersey and how a lot of its influence comes from both Philadelphia and New York.

This ended up becoming a very odd segue into us talking about my having seen Fast Times at Ridgemont High at the way-too-young age of 10. As the youngest of 8 kids in my family, I definitely got exposed to some things I never should have at the time I was. As parents now, Chris and I talked about some of the things that we cannot imagine our kids being involved in that we were during the ’70s and ’80s in our childhoods.

Chris talks about how his Dad owning a bar during his youth ended up really working well to keep Chris from being interested in drinking when he was much younger. We talked about the lack of “romanticism” of alcohol that Chris extracted from that experience and how different that was from my own youth, seeing my siblings throwing keg parties at our house when my parents were on vacation.

“…Being an only child never bothered me until I had kids. Then it bothered me because I see the dynamic between my son and daughter and I’m like, you know what? It probably would have been cool to have somebody around.” We talked a little bit about the feeling of having more than one kid for Chris, as an only child himself. This became a pretty interesting conversation about the thought process of parents who may have that deliberate decision-making to do regarding having one or more kids.

I actually got into some new territory in this episode, opening up on topics I haven’t touched on in any of my previous 67 episodes. It’s interesting to me when things come out like that… just entering conversations naturally by whatever guest may be on the podcast at that time who shares whatever experience they may have had.

Chris and I talked briefly after this episode and agreed that it kind of went in directions we really hadn’t been expecting at all. Not in bad ways, mind you. I think, due to his personality and the work he does paired with me on the other side of the mic, we assumed this might be a little more of a light-hearted conversation in its entirety. We did joke around a lot and there were definitely laughs. And part of me is not sure how I could have ever been surprised by this: but, we did get deep in this episode, as well.

I’m so excited for all of you to hear this conversation with Chris Illuminati. He’s a great guy and I truly believe there may be another conversation between us. It did feel like a lot was possibly left on the table after we were done recording. So, make sure, either way, that you check out Chris’ work and his social media accounts, too.

You can find Chris Illuminati in all of these places:

Chris Illuminati on Amazon at: https://www.amazon.com/Chris-Illuminati/e/B0032IIFKY

Website: https://www.chrisilluminati.com/

Twitter: @ChrisIlluminati

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ChrisIlluminatiFanPage/

Instagram: @MessageWithaBottle

Daddy Unscripted can be found on:

iTunes | Spotify | Stitcher Radio...

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Episode 67 features Aaron of one of the fellow Osiris Media network podcasts: No Simple Road. I'm so incredibly proud and honored and humbled to be a part of the Osiris Podcast family. I really am. I've met some great people through our other podcasts and I've had some great guests on from the podcasts, as well. Aaron is another in that continually growing list.

Yes. I admit that the title of this episode is sort of hokey. Because, yeah... his podcast is called No Simple Road and all. But, come on. It just works so well. And, you'll hear in this episode, his life really hasn't been a simple road. And that doesn't mean it all hasn't been worth it. Or that where he is now isn't fantastic. But, he has lived a life (and then some). So, the path to where he is in his life now just was not a simple, smooth ride. And that's okay!

Our conversation started with Aaron talking about the origin story of No Simple Road. Since I first started listening to No Simple Road, I've always loved the purity of their conversations and the very homogenous feeling it always provides. We talked about the journey that we have both taken from Day 1 of our own podcasts. Aaron, like me, is very grateful for the experiences his podcast has provided for him.

The No Simple Road podcast is recorded on the porch of their home in Oregon. The "hosts" or maybe stars of the podcast are the communal residents of the home: Aaron, his 16-year-old son, his wife Mel, his nephew and his best friend of over 30 years.

Aaron goes back into the history of his life and describes it as: "... if I step outside of myself and I take an honest look at where I came from and the people that I was around and what I did as a kid and my adolescence, nothing about my upbringing was normal." Having a Mom who was a trapeze artist and a Dad who was in "the biz" in Hollywood definitely helps you understand what he means by that.

The first bucket of freezing cold ice water thrown in my face (figuratively, of course) type realization of how similar Aaron and I are was when he told me that he was out of his home at age 17 and living with his friend (Apple, who is a part of the No Simple Road podcast and a resident of the Oregon home). I didn't interrupt his story to tell him, but I moved out of my house at the same age and lived with a High School friend of mine and his family for some time.

Aaron describes himself as a youth as "I was hell to deal with", but praises his Dad for always having his back and being extremely supportive. He talked about some of the great mix he acquired from his Mom and his Dad. From Mom: the belief that you can do anything you put your mind to. From Dad: he gave him his hustle.

Aaron eventually migrated from being a punk rock-scene kid in Las Vegas to become a total Deadhead after he was introduced to the Grateful Dead at a young age. Aaron spoke with extreme honesty about what the drug culture of Las Vegas became for him as an individual. Some of the stories are just remarkable. He said: "If 'Now Me' went back and saw a kid that was like me then, I would've said that kid's gonna be dead by 25." Craziness.

When Aaron says he was literally 'on the way out' when his wife Mel saved his life in Vegas, he means it. You can hear it in his voice if the words he uses aren't strong enough to get it across. The story he tells about their "chance meeting" when he was walking the street, feeling like he was standing with his toes off of life's edge, it is a breathtaking story.

Eventually, Mel and Aaron took their friendship to a much deeper level and got married some 21 years ago. Yet, Aaron wasn't just instantly healed from his addictions and the things that kept him broken just by marrying Mel. He talks about how the birth of their son was the key to finally unshackling himself from some of the chains that were holding him down for so long; the realization that a new life was coming that would need him to be Dad.

We talked for a while about the riches of money and possessions on earth vs. the wealth of...

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Episode 66 starts off with quite the game show loser sound from old Price is Right episodes. I really got my hat handed to me in like the first 30 seconds of my conversation with my friend Jeff. Very significant emphasis on the word "friend" there. For a very good reason. You'll have to listen to the episode to get the reasoning behind all of this because typed words really don't do justice to my falling on my face.

I have known Jeff and his wife since some time in 2006. We met via Flickr. We reminisced a little and talked about how Flickr really was it back in the day. There was no Facebook yet... no Instagram... no real social media just yet. Flickr really was a place that photographers and hobbyists could scratch an itch that none of us yet really knew existed.

I had never really taken a big interest in photography until the day I saw some of the experimental and unique work of Rebekka Guðleifsdóttir. You can hear me butcher her last name in the episode... that's just clean fun right there! I saw what Rebekka was doing and I had to try my hand at some of it. That led to a lot of stumbling through some bad self-portraits.

Oh, yeah. It's worth saying that this was back before "selfies" were a thing... but I joined a group that was based around a challenge to take a self portrait every day for a full year called (get this...) the 365 project. Because I wanted to try doing some of the things that Rebekka had done, with my own twist (yet, sometimes, I did straight up copycat homages to her), I joined the group. This was where I met Jeff and his wife Trish.

It wasn't too long after that when we were actually hanging out in their neck of the woods in Northern California. Trish even welcomed me to her workplace to hang out for a bit and see the premises. Sounds boring, right? Well... not if you work at Skywalker Ranch! That was pretty cool.

The point here: I've known Jeff and his wife for a long time now, although we don't get to "hang out" all the time. But, following their adventures and watching their kids grow up over social media has been a treat. And, this is the way of the world today, right? We feel like we know people so well because of Facebook or Instagram.

So, when Jeff recently had a major life shift due to a scary revelation of a health issue he was having, it made me really want to sit down and talk with him for a bit.

Jeff was raised in a very loving family and he still is extremely close with his parents and his sister. It's a great story hearing about how Jeff's mindset has changed as he grew up outside of his house. We talk a little about how some of the "hot button topics" of current events can drive people apart, even within the same family. It was refreshing to hear Jeff talk about how he and his Dad are able to foster such a loving and caring relationship, still, while they may not see eye to eye on a lot of things.

Please do check out and support Rebekka Guðleifsdóttir via her website at www.rebekkagudleifs.com and you can view her Flickr at www.flickr.com/photos/rebba

Daddy Unscripted can be found on:

iTunes | Spotify | Stitcher Radio | Google Play | Tune-In Radio

Twitter: @DaddyUnscripted

Facebook: Daddy Unscripted

Website: www.daddyunscripted.com

Daddy Unscripted is proud to be a part of the Osiris Podcast Network! You can check out the Osiris Pod website to see what other great podcasts are part of the network by going to OsirisPod.com.

Intro and Outro music proudly provided with a partnership by Umphrey's McGee.

You can send questions and suggestions for future guests to us via email to [email protected]

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Episode 65 features Jon Bailey, half of the "2 Dads With Baggage" you may know from Instagram, Twitter or their website.

As is par for the course of the podcast: Jon and I talked about the history of his family for a bit to start. We didn't dig into these things explicitly, but it was very interesting that he had family members that came to America on the Mayflower in the 1600's.

Jon talked about the very loving family that he was raised in. It was his big brother and himself, with their Mom and Dad. We breezed through some of his education years, which included both Jon and his brother attending UC Berkeley in Northern California... in very distinct and different eras; Jon's brother, attending in the '70s as a "full-on hippie". And, Jon followed suit, but during the '80s.

Jon took Journalism in college, which led to an eventual internship that, for the best, drove him away from journalism. Jon then went into Public Relations, which stuck for him. An internship in a PR firm evolved into a long-term career for the fresh graduate. A decade or so later, Jon found himself in Marketing, eventually finding a partner and creating his own firm.

Jon loved writing. That was his creative outlet and that was how he found himself creating 2 Dads With Baggage.

In a very tongue-in-cheek kind of way, I really played a lot at not divulging Jon's husband's name until the middle of the episode. It is kind of like that cliffhanger on a TV show that people come back the next week for and maybe (if you don't love his name as much as me, that is) throw their hands toward the television in disgust at the build-up. But, hey... all in good fun, right?

We talked about the vast difference between familial backgrounds Jon and his husband come from. Jon's parents were happily married throughout their lifetimes. His husband, on the other hand, his parents were married 5 times each. Not to be outdone, his grandmother was actually married 8 times. We agreed that when I go down the road of Grandmothers Unscripted, that would be a great story.

This led into us talking as well about the difference between Jon's husband's coming out as gay to his family compared with what ended up being Jon's experience. One of life's tragedies: Jon's Mom's "hang-up" when she found out he was gay was that she really wanted grandchildren. Very sadly, Jon's Mother passed away a week before Jon and his husband's first daughter was born.

The story of how Jon and his husband met and started their relationship is straight out of a movie. It really should be a movie. If their movie was made in the '90s, I could see someone forcing it to be a straight couple and having Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan star in it. But, let's do this movie now...it's 2019! So... you can think about who you would cast in it when you're listening to this episode. But, tell me that their story and then how their story and lives progress into adopting their daughters go isn't something you could see yourself watching on the big or small screen.

The stories of the two of them adopting their daughters are each dynamic and unique and incredibly heartwarming. The adoption process has evolved over the years. Having 6 adopted siblings myself, I have heard a lot about it. But, that's my parents, as standard home providers: a husband and a wife. I am not at all that blind to think it would be the same for two men providing a mother-less home.

Let's face it: there are definitely things that are more difficult for people in the LGBT community. (I actually looked during this post and realized that this acronym now extends to be LGBTQQIAAP now. Did you know that?!) But, for two Dads to adopt a child, I'm sure there has been quite an evolution over time in that specific process. So, the stories of what they went through to adopt their two daughters are beyond remarkable.

Jon then goes into the inspiring story about how their elder daughter wrote a letter to then President Barack Obama about their unique family dynamic. Jon took a photo of the letter and...

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Episode 64 is time for my annual Father's Day episode. Though I do this every year, it's not the same every year. Because of a few things going on with people around me and people I'm talking to, this episode kind of caught me by surprise with the direction it took.

Unscripted. You got that part of the title of the podcast, right?

I almost wrote out a script for this episode, believe it or not. I think if I had, and maybe even did that every day for a week, it would be quite different each time. So, this episode is almost like one of those really cool "long, single takes" that they talk about when you watch a Criterion Collection version of some film.

So, unscripted, I went into this episode... and, sure, it shows. But, maybe the pure honesty of it is beneficial because of that? That's what I will tell myself anyway.

I recorded this episode (just to document this here) the week that Big Papi (former major leaguer / future hall of famer David Ortiz) was shot in what was an alleged murder attempt. As I talked briefly about him, and how much this all affected me, it led me into a discussion about heroes. I quickly moved from "celebrity" type heroes to real life, (not-so-average) "average Joe" heroes.

This had me reminiscing about some of my very recent guests (Rob Gorski from Ep. 61, Bill Protzmann from Ep. 62 and Jon Bailey who will be on Ep. 65). This also dove-tailed into my thinking of some of the other issues and people that have been on my mind a lot for quite some time now.

Cancer has always been my "hot button disease", for a lack of a better way to say that. Obviously, I guess, since it took my Dad away from me nearly 29 years ago. But, for maybe two years or so now, I have really been puzzled by this disease I started hearing more and more about: ALS. I don't know anybody personally that has been stricken by this horrifically untethered disease. Yet. But, I have started to follow some of them on social media, and have started to feel more connected to people with ALS (or pALS) because of that. So, it has started to confuse and anger me all the more.

So, as I was talking about heroes, I mentioned Pete Frates, the man who the 2014 Ice Bucket Challenge was created because of. Remember that? I also mentioned Brian Wallach. Brian and his wife created iamals.org after Brian was diagnosed with ALS at the age of 37. I honestly cannot even tell you how I stumbled into Brian via Twitter some time ago, but it happened and I am so grateful that it did.

In the past few months I have really started to educate myself more and more on ALS and made a point to do what I can to help spread the word and hopefully get even more people active in the fight. I hope that others will get inspired to do whatever they can to help in the fight and the search for treatment and an eventual cure for ALS.

I went very kumbaya in this episode. I can't help it. When I start thinking about some of the things that ail this world and all of us living on it, I tend to go to this place. So, I talked about how easy it can be for us to be better. To be more kind. To be more loving. To make changes in the life of that guy over there... or that woman sitting there near you. Yes... that one. Oh, and that other one too. And, hey -- when you do something nice for that guy, guess what? The chances are he may do something nice for that other guy over there. And then both of those guys might be even extra cool while they are at work. And maybe they come into contact with anywhere from 5 to 105 people while they are working. So, all of those people might get an extra boost. Do you see where I'm going with this?

I hope you like this little episode. I really do feel like it may contain a little something for everyone. So, in that vein: won't you share it around? I feel like it's the end of Ghostbusters 2 and we're all covered in that slime and we just need to lock arms and sing "Your Love Keeps Lifting Me Higher and Higher" to make the world better. Or maybe the end of Scrooged when they sing "Put A...

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Episode 63 features Adam Scheinberg, who wears and has worn many hats in his life. Adam is the architect of Phish.net (as you know it today). He also did a lot of the masterminding of AllThings.Umphreys.com and does a major portion of the web work for them. If that somehow isn't enough for you (because it wasn't for Adam!), he is also the president of the Mockingbird Foundation.

Adam was directed to me by Brando Rich of Cash or Trade (you may remember him from episode 54). Adam had helped with some of the initial frameworks for the CashorTrade site and their coding, so it was cool that Brando thought to recommend him for the podcast.

Born and raised in Connecticut, Adam's family actually originated from the state of New York. Some of his family still resides in Connecticut, while he has actually moved down that coast a bit to reside in Florida. He starts off with some pretty astounding quick hits about his Grandfather and his life.

Adam was set to follow in his own Father's footsteps: becoming a lawyer. He tells about the day that he was set to turn in his paperwork to apply for law school. He got some serious cold feet on what his previous plan for life had been and that became every bit the life-changing event that it sounds like.

This path change ended up leading to Adam taking some time off to head out of the U.S., following Phish on their European tour in 1998 after he graduated college. Looking forward to "an adventure that had no direction", Adam packed his bags and headed off alone to travel to Europe.

Following his amazing time in Europe, meeting some people who would re-enter his life later down the road, Adam entered the world of computer programming. His disdain for the setlist randomizer on Phish.net led to him reaching out to offer to fix it for them. This became, really, the catalyst for him eventually taking on a complete re-write of the Phish.net website.

He originally started kind of toying with the site while Phish was on hiatus. Coincidentally, their decision to reunite came while Adam was working on re-tooling the site. The powers that be contacted Adam, essentially asking him how much longer it would take for him to have the site reconstructed and ready to go.

Adam shares my respect for Umphrey's McGee and said "they are a band not afraid of taking technical risks". He talked a little bit about having written the tools to specifically help the band write their setlists. I have always been very real and forthcoming about how much I love what the band and their management does. They are imaginative, they are extremely thoughtful about their fans, they think way outside of the box and they love to keep it fresh.

I loved hearing the stories that Adam told about the band and their dedication to their craft for what they play onstage at their shows, as well as for the product they deliver overall to the fans. I shared a story of my own from an LA show that I got to spend some time backstage with the band before the show and how a tease made its way into a song that night and how I got to see it all take shape. A special moment that I don't take for granted at all.

After working our way further into his professional life, we made our way through his personal and family life as well. Adam talks about meeting his wife, their marriage and quickly starting their family. We evolved into talking about TV and movies with our kids and some of the things each of us have lucked out with our kids watching that isn't as painful as, say, Caillou (not really at all sorry, Caillou).

It took us a while to get to it, but Adam talked about his move into the Mockingbird Foundation. He created some goals for the foundation and eventually made the tough decision to step down from Phish.net. I'm shortening this (that's what the episode is for, people!), but eventually this all just led to Adam becoming the President of the Mockingbird Foundation. Some of the stories he tells about grants that he has been able to be a part of with the Foundation are completely...

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Episode 62 features a semi-lengthy and fully beautiful conversation with Bill Protzmann, a man with a unique and fascinating life story. The common thread weaving through Bill's entire life is music. And it's music that literally saved his life, some nearly 12 years ago now.

Bill and I started talking and I could quickly tell this was going to be another great discussion. I won't deny it, there have been times when I've second-guessed the idea of doing all of these "interviews" unscripted. So many of my guests, unknowingly, remind me why I don't plan any of these conversations out, though.

Bill has been playing piano since he was 3 years old. His Mom was a teacher and he was actually her first student. As a self-proclaimed difficult child, Bill sees how much playing the piano helped give him some direction and force some of the engagement that assisted with his development.

Though he didn't realize it at the time, Bill knows now that he was very depressed as a kid. This was something he worked through in different ways in his adult years, as he started to recognize it and gain some self-awareness.

In his 30's, Bill discovered that his Father's Father had actually taken his own life. He became curious whether there was a trait that was passed down that perhaps led to Bill's own dealings with depression and suicide.

"It's [suicide] also a part of my family history. Maybe it's part of more family histories than we really know. It's not something that people talked about until recently. So, it's good we're talking about these things because it makes them less terrifying... less of a stigma."

We talked a lot in this conversation about feelings and emotions. There is definitely a stigma or an idea of "bad" placed on so many of our natural human emotions: sadness, anger, etc. Bill and I agreed that experiencing the full spectrum of human emotions is absolutely healthy. It's what you do with them that is the important part.

During this episode, we inserted two different sections of music. The first is an actual recording Bill made for this episode of playing "Till There Was You" on the piano. The song was originally in the musical "The Music Man" and was a part of a medley that Bill used to perform publicly. When he told of one such, very moving and meaningful, performance, it only became obvious that it would enrich the episode by including it.

The other song you'll hear is the Etude-Tableau In A Minor, Op. 39, No. 2, written by the great Rachmaninoff. This is the piece of music that effectively saved Bill's life back in 2007. The story Bill tells of the fateful night that he was deciding to give up on life is as real as it gets. Episode spoiler alert: Bill LIVED! Is that a spoiler? Maybe not. But, I am absolutely delighted to say that he is still breathing.

A bit of a surprise here: this is actually the first time I've talked about my own suicide attempt at all on the podcast. I'm actually maybe more surprised by that than any of you. I consider myself an extremely open book, so there's really no good reason that I haven't talked about it. So, I was actually all in for finally opening that part of my life on the podcast.

A lot of the men in the Protzmann family served in some form of the military. Unfortunately, Bill's poor vision kept him from becoming a pilot like he had wanted to. However, late in the 2000's, Bill found another way to serve: by helping veterans.

So, Bill decided to do with music for others what it had done for him. He chose to take the music they love to give them a way to find peace and inspiration. He has seen how music can change the landscape of physical, mental, emotional, and even spiritual self care. He's gone beyond just making this a part of veterans' lives to also using it with homeless people.

To learn more about Bill and his work, you can visit www.billprotzmann.com or visit his site to read and learn more about the work he does with others at www.musiccare.net. If you want to check out the scope of the music care work...

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