I started this Substack this week as a place to post my writing once in a while. I have self-published previously on a WordPress blog, and on Medium. But Substack is where I get all my news these days, so I am excited to be able to contribute to my favorite place on the internet.
While setting this up, I noticed an option to import a podcast. Coincidentally, I had already named the newsletter Discontented, which is the name of the main podcast I do, co-hosted with my bass player and friend of 20 years, Junior.
I thought I'd write a bit of an introduction to the podcast, about what I think is unique about it.
Both Junior and I have very particular perspectives, yet somehow we agree on most things. That’s probably why we have become such close friends over the years. Spending between 6-10 hours recording episodes for the show every month has made us even closer.
Junior was born and raised in Guanabacoa, Cuba, and risked his life to come to the U.S. with his father and brother in the 1990s. You can hear the story of their harrowing journey, replete with a six-month stint in Guantanamo, on our first episode, "Escape from Havana”.
He’s not a Cuban landowner, or a CIA agent, although that’s what he is often accused of by Castro supporters online.
What he is though, is one of the greatest musicians I’ve ever met. When I met him, he was playing locally in Charlotte Martin’s band. My friends and I used to go to the shows, and his bass playing was the highlight. For years I longed to play in a band with him. The magnificent contributions he made to my two full length solo albums are indescribable, and something I will forever be thankful for.
Although I was born in Illinois, I can only remember California. I discovered my mom's rock 'n' roll 45s at the age of two, and KISS at 10. Rock 'n' roll saved my life and was my obsession from that point forward. (With the exception of a few years dedicated to serious classical guitar study during my college years.)
In a History of Chamber Music course, I was exposed to Testimony by the Soviet composer Dmitri Shostakovich. From the book, I learned a bit of what totalitarianism is like. Shostakovich's gripping descriptions of life as a creative during the “Stalin Terror” was as intoxicating as it was terrifying. When Bush and Cheney started their clampdown after 9/11 and launched the Iraq War based on lies, I realized it could easily happen here.
So when I met Junior in 2002 (we worked in a post-production vault together, slinging videotape), I bombarded him with questions every day about Cuba. I recognized almost everything he told me from Testimony. We became fast friends, and as I dug deeper and deeper into politics, COINTELPRO, the JFK assassination, MK-Ultra, etc., he began to move to the left, inspired by Bernie Sanders’ historical 2016 campaign.
This is pretty significant for someone who was naturally suspicious of the left, given what he had survived and risked his life to escape. It’s part of why I feel our show stands out.
Together we document America's march toward totalitarianism. We rail as much against the leftists who preach Castro-ism as we do the ones who preach against it in favor of Neo-liberalism. We aren't policy wonks or professional talking heads. We're just two curious, concerned, passionate and compassionate musicians doing our part to be the new media.
The two political albums we did together can be found here and here (and pretty much everywhere else music is streamed.)