SOBER CURATOR PODCAST

Choose Life, Choose Truth: Why "Trainspotting" Still Stings— and Saves— 30 YEARS LATER 

“People think it’s all about misery and desperation and death,” Renton says. “But what they forget is the pleasure of it.” That line hits differently when you’re sober. 

Thirty years after "Trainspotting" splashed onto screens with all its chaotic brilliance, the film still feels like a cinematic punch to the throat—one part humor, one part horror, and one part honesty so sharp it refuses to dull with time. Watching it again, especially through the lens of sobriety, is like revisiting an old wound you’ve learned how to live with, but never fully forget. 

On The Sober Curator podcast, Alysse, Tamar, and Tony Harte gather for a roundtable deep dive into the movie’s grit, its genius, and everything in between. Their conversation is equal parts pop culture celebration and cultural autopsy—because "Trainspotting" doesn’t just entertain; it reveals. 

ADDICTION FICTION

Addiction Fiction Book Review: “Trainspotting” by Irvine Welsh 

“Trainspotting” by Irvine Welsh is a raw and gritty novel that tells the story of a group of young men living in Edinburgh, Scotland, who are caught up in heroin addiction. The book is made up of short chapters, each told from a different character’s point of view. Most of the story follows Mark “Rent Boy” Renton, a smart but troubled man trying — and often failing — to get clean. 

The book doesn’t sugarcoat anything. The characters are often rude, reckless, and selfish, but they’re also real. They’re trapped in a cycle of addiction, poverty and bad decisions. Welsh writes using a lot of Scottish slang and street language. At times, the book is hard to understand unless you are familiar with this language, but it adds to the authenticity of the characters and setting. It is well worth navigating the language to experience this book. 

MUSIC - PLAY IT AGAIN!

“Lust for Life” – The Ultimate Recovery Anthem on a Soundtrack to One of the Druggiest Films Ever Made? 

Is there another song from the ‘90s with such an immediately recognizable signature drum intro as Iggy Pop’s “Lust for Life”? I would guess that anyone who had even half of a fingertip on the pulse of pop culture back then will likely be transported back to 1996 within the first three seconds of the song’s opening, possibly experiencing visual flashbacks of a pale, emaciated, heroin-addicted Ewan McGregor running from Scottish police down an Edinburgh thoroughfare.  

MUSIC - PLAY IT AGAIN!

Art Alexakis on Sobriety, Survival, and Staying Alive at 63 | A Sober Sit-Down with Everclear's Art Alexakis 

If you’ve followed Everclear at any point over the last three decades, you already know that beneath the sweet-sounding, radio-ready power pop of the Portland, Oregon outfit’s music, frontman Art Alexakis never sugarcoated a damn thing. He’s always been the guy who turned the ugliest parts of his life into songs, ones that just happened to be incredibly catchy and resonated with millions.

But hearing those tracks now, with everything we know in hindsight, you realize they weren’t just hits; they were flare-bright warnings and often brutally autobiographical. Alexakis lost his brother to a heroin overdose and his girlfriend to suicide before his teenage years even began. He tried to take his own life at one point, and when that didn’t work, he was swallowed by a different, yet just as deadly, form of self-destruction using hard drugs and alcohol to cope.

RECOVERY PODCASTLAND

The Hidden History of Addiction in America: David Herzberg on Big Pharma, Privilege, and the War on Drugs 

What if the story we’ve been told about addiction in America is only half the truth?

In Episode 85, host Stephen Kimball sits down with David Herzberg, historian, professor at SUNY Buffalo, and author of White Market Drugs: Big Pharma and the Hidden History of Addiction in America. What unfolds is a sharp, unsettling, and deeply human conversation about how addiction has been shaped not just by substances, but by power, policy, and privilege.

RECOVERY PODCASTLAND

Alysse Bryson on The Mark Howley Show, “Perform Service,” and Why Staying Sober Matters More 

Every year, the holidays show up wearing twinkle lights and carrying a grudge.

For people in recovery (and people still suffering), this season can be brutal. Mark Howley opens this episode of The Mark Howley Show with that truth front and center, explaining why he dedicates this time of year to recovery conversations. He shares his own origin story of getting help in late December and sets the tone: this isn’t “holiday cheer”; it’s holiday survival.

Then we do what two sober people do best when you give them microphones: we laugh, we tell the truth, and we accidentally turn a dashboard warning light into a spiritual turning point.

This episode is a blend of dark humor, hard-earned clarity, and that specific kind of connection that happens when someone says, “Yeah… me too,” and you believe them.