Somehow it took me years to find The Small Bow, A.J. Daulerio's recovery newsletter, podcast, and daily meeting community. Or its crossover column with Oldster Magazine, "Ask a Sober Oldster," now 35 installments deep. Consider this your formal introduction.

Sober Curator Sports Contributor Justin Kinney started using kratom for energy, focus, and better workouts, but what looked like a legal performance edge became a dependence he never saw coming.

In the final installment of this Nashville series, Senior Sober Curator Contributor Lane Kennedy looks at Seasons 5 and 6 through the lens of grief, recovery, nervous system collapse, and the long work of rebuilding a life. From Juliette Barnes’ treatment and spiritual searching to Will Lexington’s body dysmorphia, Deacon Claybourne’s physical consequences of alcoholism, and the emotional aftershock of Rayna Jaymes’ death, Lane explores how Nashville becomes less about fame and more about survival, identity, and staying emotionally alive after everything falls apart.

Laurie Woolever spent fifteen-plus years as the right hand to two of food media's most complicated men, Mario Batali and Anthony Bourdain, while quietly falling apart behind the scenes. Her New York Times bestselling memoir, Care and Feeding, finally tells the story she couldn't tell then. Closing in on nine years sober, she's proof the most interesting thing about her was never the famous men on her resume.

WED JULY 22 | 6 PM Pacific / 9 PM Eastern

Listen. Sobriety did not give us less fun. It gave us better fun. And BACKSTAGE LEGO Night is exhibit A.

On Wednesday, July 22, from 6 to 7pm Pacific, AB is teaming up with Tamar Routly to host the most chaotic, joyful, slightly competitive hour of the BACKSTAGE summer schedule. Think Zoom-meets-show-and-tell-meets-game-night, but every prop is made of plastic bricks and every prize is also made of plastic bricks. Because of course it is.

Here is the plan:

Show and tell. Bring your prized LEGO build to the camera and tell us why it lives rent-free in your home. The Hogwarts Castle you spent three weekends on. The Millennium Falcon your kid built before they left for college. The Botanical Collection orchid you bought on a Tuesday because you needed a Tuesday win. We want to see it.

Work in progress. Got a set you are currently building? Pull it out. Show us the chaos. Tell us where you are stuck. The collective wisdom of the BACKSTAGE Lounge will gladly judge your sorting system.

LEGO Trivia. Tamar and AB are running a fast-paced trivia round on LEGO history, weird sets, and pop culture LEGO moments. Easy questions, hard questions, and at least one question that will have everyone googling under the table.

Prizes. The prizes are LEGO sets. Obviously. We are not insulting your intelligence with a gift card.

This is BACKSTAGE at its best. Hands busy, brain off, surrounded by sober people who get it. No drinking. No pretending. No agenda except to actually enjoy a Wednesday night.

This is a closed BACKSTAGE event. Members only. RSVP to receive your Zoom link via email. The replay drops in the BACKSTAGE Replay Vault for anyone who can’t attend live.

Not a member? You are missing both. BACKSTAGE is our private culture club. Live events, member essays, brand drops, and a community of people deep into the long game. Join BACKSTAGE → Only $19/mo or $199/year (*includes two months free)