Dopesick Nation Premieres Tonight On Viceland!

Tonight is the premiere of the show I spent my summer working on, Dopesick Nation. It airs starting tonight at 10 p.m. on Viceland, and we're pretty proud of it. The opioid crisis (and the homeless crisis, which we're addressing in our documentary 90291: VENICE UNZIPPED, so it's been a heavy summer) in this country is at epidemic proportions - pandemic, really - and our hope is that maybe once people see how bad it really is, it will compel us all to really DO something about it.

Our main characters, Frankie and Allie, search out addicts to try to help them get clean, and it's some of the saddest, darkest stuff I've ever seen or heard of. In fact, I've heard stories that I'll never repeat because I don't want to put them in someone else's head. I've cried nearly every day ... but I've also felt hope. And it all begins with empathy. Addiction is a disease, and these people deserve our compassion, not our judgement. We all need to look out for each other, these days more than ever. Check out our trailer:

It's also a very scary time to be an addict, because the drugs have changed. Dealers have begun cutting it with fentanyl (what killed Prince) and carfentanil (what kills elephants), and people are dying off of one hit. I've heard of two people in L.A. o.d.'ing (dead) so far from COKE laced with fentanyl. Consider this a P.S.A. for those of you who still think it's fun to snort coke (gross), even just once in a while ... you can't tell it's got fentanyl in it, and you might die from one sniff. That simple. Up to you. Better to just say no. For real.

Please tune in tonight and every Wednesday for the next ten weeks, as the more people who watch, the more people we can help with another season of T Group/Viceland's Dopesick Nation.

Thank you!

Dopesick Nation airs 10 p.m. Wednesdays on Viceland.

Normal Is Over - Venice's Freakshow on AMC!

I am thrilled to report that my good friends at the Venice Beach Freak Show are getting their own reality show on AMC, called, appropriately, Freakshow, which starts airing TONIGHT, Valentine's Day, February 14th at 9:30 pm.

Todd Ray, his wife Danielle, kids Asia (now the youngest sword swallower in the world!)and Phoenix, and their extended family of performers invite you into their world, where "Normal is relative". I first got to know and write about the Ray family in 2010, and am so happy to see their message of fun and acceptance blowing up all over the world.

"Normal is an illusion, there is no such thing is normal ... some people have a problem with the word 'Freak', but we should have a problem with the word 'normal'," explains Todd, as everyone has a struggle to fit in and appear "normal," but no one really knows what that is. So the Freakshow cast decided to have a funeral for Normal, and held a parade carrying Normal's casket all the way down the Venice Boardwalk, celebrating its death, and our differences. Todd old-timey preached the funeral, asking for a moment of silence for Normal. When it was through, the entire Boardwalk erupted in two minutes of joyous shouting, proclaiming that we are ALL Freaks in our own way. That funeral will be in the show, along with supercool things like the Freak Show performing in a huge tent during Fashion Week in New York, and also just the every day happenings that make it all tick.



Venice is as much the star of the show as any of the performers, and beautifully portrayed. The Tallest Man in The World (8 feet!) joins Amazing Ali (the tiniest lady), Larry the Wolf Boy, Murrugun The Mystic and all their friends at the Freak Show, in a real behind the scenes portrait of Todd Ray's childhood dream not only coming true, but growing and growing.

While you're learning the story of the Rays and Freakshow, you're also learning what Venice still means to so many people around the world. Todd is inspired by the place that another man with a dream thought up long ago. Abbot Kinney would appreciate the renaissance that the Rays are trying to bring back to Venice, and as Todd says, "We NEED it here now. It's a piece of history, and a piece of Venice that is positive and creative. Everything we love about Venice is in this show."

That's all I needed to set the dvr for every single episode. Join us Freaks, starting February 14th on AMC. That's TONIGHT, People. 9:30 pm.

Happy Valentine's Day, with LOVE from Venice!!! XXXXX!

Venice Has Got Talent!

Venice's own William Close (our friend Billy) is in the FINALS - TONIGHT -  for America's Got Talent with his gigantic Earth Harp act, and you really should tune in and check it out -




Billy is a really interesting guy, and his Museum Of Music and Instruments (MOMAI) in Venice is super interesting, and has been host to a great many musical throw-downs. Billy thinks up an instrument and then just makes it happen. I remember the Earth Harp being strung up down at the beach for Venice's Centennial celebration, and it really was awesome, outside overlooking the ocean and sending the harp song up into the breeze. Special.

 Our dear friend Scotty P. is going to be there with Billy tonight, banging drums, and I really think they're going to win! But they need everyone to vote, so if you could do that too, that would be so nice. I could normally care less about reality t.v. - or most t.v. period, but these guys will win a million dollars and get their own show for a year in Las Vegas ... and we really want to visit Scotty P. and hang out by his Vegas pool, so please VOTE TONIGHT.

NBC. Check your local listings and tune in to witness our Venice homies take the prize!






UPDATE:  William and the Earth Harp took third. They lost to a comedian and a dog act. Extra lame.