My guest this week is author and psychotherapist Wayne Scott. His new book, The Maps They Gave Us, is a memoir about navigating a rocky period in a marriage, about narrowly dodging divorce through non-monogamy, and about rediscovering his relationship with the queer community with support from his wife. It’s a complex journey, with surprising parallels to a cowboy story that was a point of obsession and mystery in his youth.

We’ll have that conversation in a minute. First, if you’re enjoying The Sewers of Paris, I hope you’ll consider supporting the show on Patreon. And you may also enjoy my YouTube videos, my weekly livestreams on Twitch, my book Hi Honey, I’m Homo!, and my free email newsletter. There’s links to all that in the episode shownotes, and at MattBaume.com.

Welcome to a special episode of The Sewers of Paris! All this month, the Old Church Concert Hall in Portland is celebrating Black History Month with performances honoring Black artists. And I was lucky enough to speak with Kingsley, who helped organize the venue’s Blacker the Berry night, coming up on Saturday the 22nd.

Kingsley’s inspirations span a wide range of genres, starting with a youthful obsession with heartbreak songs before her heart had ever been broken; continuing with a degree in opera; and with her recent work which gleefully breaks all the rules she spent years learning.

Check the shownotes for more info about Kingsley, The Old Church’s Black History Month lineup, and the Blacker the Berry show next weekend.

And if you’re enjoying The Sewers of Paris, I hope you’ll consider supporting the show on Patreon. And you may also enjoy my YouTube videos, my weekly livestreams on Twitch, my book Hi Honey, I’m Homo!, and my free email newsletter. There’s links to all that in the episode shownotes, and at MattBaume.com.

Kingsley: https://www.iamkingsley.com/

Old Church Concert Hall: https://www.tocportland.org/all-events

Blacker the Berry tickets: https://www.etix.com/ticket/p/91587145/the-blacker-the-berry-iicelebrating-black-creatives-featuring-kingsley-with-veana-babythe-dutchess-more-portland-the-old-church

My guest this week is musician George Alley — a returning guest who first appeared on the podcast in 2018. Back then, we talked about how he escaped some rough bullying as a kid by creating music … and by joining a street gang. Now, he’s released a new album with a Valentine’s Day twist, so I invited him back for a new chat about the punk artists who were his musical influences, and about why he doesn’t mind being the villain of his own songs.

We’ll have that conversation in a moment. First, if you’re enjoying The Sewers of Paris, I hope you’ll consider supporting the show on Patreon. And you may also enjoy my YouTube videos, my weekly livestreams on Twitch, my book Hi Honey, I’m Homo!, and my free email newsletter. There’s links to all that in the episode shownotes, and at MattBaume.com.

Cast your mind back, if you will, to the 1990s, when reality TV was new. Though the genre was young, many had already written off shows like The Real World as trash. But one young man saw an opportunity, and thought that maybe there was a way he could use television to save lives. His name was Pedro Zamora, and his work wound up changing the course of more lives than he could have possibly imagined. That story’s the subject of a new video that I just posted this weekend — about Pedro, about MTV, and about a turning point in the fight against AIDS.

When Pedro was on The Real World in 1994, one of his closest friends was an artist named Judd Winick. Judd very generously spoke to me about his time on The Real World for my video. I have excerpts from that interview in the video on YouTube. But Judd shared so many fascinating stories and insights that I wanted to make our full conversation available. So this week, for a special episode of the Sewers of Paris, you’ll hear my full interview with Judd Winick. We chatted about getting onto The Real World, about befriending Pedro, and about becoming part of a movement that changed the course of history.

Check the episode description for a link to my YouTube video about Pedro’s work and legacy.

And if you want to see more of Judd’s work, I’m also including links to his book Pedro & Me; to the upcoming 11th book in Judd’s HiLo series; and more information about the National AIDS Memorial and the Pedro Zamora Scholarship.

My video about Pedro: https://youtu.be/o2Le9Bf_s3w

Pedro & Me: https://us.macmillan.com/books/9780805089646/pedroandme/ 

HiLo Book 11: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/741634/hilo-book-11-the-great-space-iguana-by-judd-winick/ 

The Pedro Zamora Scholarship: https://www.aidsmemorial.org/pedro-zamora-scholarship 

Donate to the National AIDS Memorial and the scholarship: https://www.aidsmemorial.org/donate-now 

My guest this week is filmmaker David Beck. His childhood love of theater led him to a life as an actor — and also a difficult struggle to keep his head above water in a career where work was unpredictable and fiercely competitive. After coming out of the closet with the help of a few illicit substances, a chance offer from a friend led to a reinvention behind the camera. His new film, Regarding Us, is the story of a trans woman working at a Catholic school. It comes out next week, but it very nearly never saw the light of day.

We’ll have that conversation in a moment. First, if you’re enjoying The Sewers of Paris, I hope you’ll consider supporting the show on Patreon. And you may also enjoy my YouTube videos, my weekly livestreams on Twitch, my book Hi Honey, I’m Homo!, and my free email newsletter. There’s links to all that in the episode shownotes, and at MattBaume.com.

(PS: Thanks for your patience with the podcast schedule while I heal up! I'm feeling much better, and I'm not expecting any more gaps between episodes.)

This month sees a rerelease of the classic ‘80s film The Goonies, which is about to turn 40. In honor of that milestone, we’re heading into the Sewers archives to hear my 2018 chat with Andrew Putschoegl, whose childhood mirrored that of ‘80s films where groups of neighborhood kids are thrown together into unstructured days of outdoor exploration. In those movies, each kid tends to have one unique trait that sets them apart, and marks them as an outcast. For Andrew, that trait was that at the age of 9, he suddenly woke up to find his hair falling out. It was a medical mystery that made his already-awkward teenage years even more difficult.

We’ll have that conversation in a moment. And I also want to give you a quick heads-up that there may be some breaks between episodes of the podcast. I just learned that I’ve sustained some damage to my spine — nothing too serious and I’m getting treatment, but I might need to step away from my desk now and then for medical appointments and rehab. I’m expecting to make a full recovery, it’ll just take a couple months to get back to 100%.

The short version of what’s going on is that one of my lower vertebrae has slipped slightly to the side, and it’s pressing on a nerve that’s causing blindingly bad pain all the way down one leg. But there’s good news! As these things go, it’s the least severe grade of damage; I’m on some wonderful painkillers at the moment; and I have a team of experts helping with my recovery. As I’m typing this, my pain is at a 2 out of 10, which is a huge relief after a few days of not being able to move! It’s looking pretty good for me to get better, but I’ll have to be patient as it won’t happen overnight. In the mean time, the painkillers should add to the unhinged chaos of my weekend livestreams.

I’ll be posting about my recovery process on Bluesky, so give me a follow there if you’d like to see how things are coming along. As a little tease, right now you can see an ultrasound image of my left butt cheek!

My guest this week is Danny Roberts, one of the stars of Real World: New Orleans, which originally aired on MTV in 2000. Danny was planning to become a teacher and wound up on the show through a series of coincidences, accidents, and last-minute changes of plan, so he was a little unprepared for the fame that he soon found thrust upon him. To say nothing of the weird — and sometimes awful ways — that fame took control of his life. But fortunately, he was able to find a way to take control back.

Check out Danny’s work with History UnErased at https://unerased.org/

I recorded this interview with Danny for a video that I’m working on about The Real World’s cultural impact. That’ll be coming your way on YouTube a bit later in January, so stay tuned for that — and subscribe to my free email newsletter to get a heads-up when it goes live, at mattbaume.com.

It's the 500th episode of the Sewers of Paris, and to celebrate James and I are doing a special Q&A with questions sent in by listeners! Huge thanks to everyone who sent questions, and let me know if you'd like to hear more episodes like these!

And as requested by patron David, here are some of my favorite early episodes for anyone who wants to get started with the podcast, or jump back and re-listen:

Camp is like Pornography (Ep. 1: Eurovision)

I was Quite Happy to be the Villain (Ep. 2: Julian and Sandy)

Not a Fan of Hanging Around in Reality (Ep. 36 - Steve Kmetko)

The Person I was in Namibia and the Person I am Now (Ep. 44 - Desperate Housewives)

The Joke of Being Gay (Ep. 45 - Polyester & Arrested Development)

I Embrace Being High-Strung (Ep. 50 - Louis Virtel & Jeopardy!)

You Don't Want to See Minnie Mouse Take Her Head Off (Ep. 63 - Ben DeLaCreme)

A Kid Who Had Powers in Japan (Ep. 79 - Sailor Moon)

A Need to be Doused in Black Culture - (Ep. 95 - Sonari Glinton)

A Big Purple Man in a Loin Cloth (Ep. 96 - Gargoyles)

My Life is Drama -- Make me Laugh (Ep. 100 - Dan Savage)

Failed Mystics (Ep. 114: Buffy, X-Men, He-Man, and Lwaxana Troi)

My guest this week is Sean Hemeon — an actor, writer, painter, and former Mormon drug dealer. Sean’s currently working on a memoir that details just how deep he fell into a violent, and at times deadly world of dealing crystal meth. And how an arrest, a lucky break, and a love of acting helped pull him out.

We’ll have that conversation in a moment. First, if you’re enjoying The Sewers of Paris, I hope you’ll consider supporting the show on Patreon. And you may also enjoy my YouTube videos, my weekly livestreams on Twitch, my book Hi Honey, I’m Homo!, and my free email newsletter. There’s links to all that in the episode shownotes, and at MattBaume.com.

My guest this week is director Sav Rodgers, whose new film is Chasing Chasing Amy. It began as an exploration of the origin of the infamous ‘90s rom-com, but in the process of making the documentary, interviewing folks, and digging deeper into the movie’s message, Sav uncovered some surprising truths about himself — ones that he was reluctant to include in the documentary, but eventually realized … he had to.

Here’s a link to the online premiere of Chasing Chasing Amy on December 15, 2024, with a special introduction by Kevin Smith and a Q&A with Sav & Riley Rodgers: https://watch.eventive.org/chasingchasingamy/play/6747ce291f64c511e374f759

We’ll have that conversation in a minute. First a quick reminder — this month we’ll be hitting the 500th episode of The Sewers of Paris! And to celebrate, I’m doing a special Q&A episode, answering questions from listeners. So if you have anything you’d like to ask — about the podcast, about pop culture and queer history, or just for recommendations — please send it along to at [email protected].

My guest this week is pop culture writer Frank DeCaro, whose latest book is Disco: Music, Movies, and Mania under the Mirror Ball. Frank grew up in disco’s heyday, which he experienced through teenage disco parties in the New Jersey suburbs. He also experienced the anti-disco conspiracy that sent the genre into a sort of musical witness protection program for the following decade or two. We talked about the conspiracy among music critics to suppress disco in the ‘70s — and why disco’s outlived those who tried to squash it.

Also, just a quick reminder — this month we’ll be hitting the 500th episode of The Sewers of Paris! And to celebrate, I’m doing a special Q&A episode, answering questions from listeners. So if you have anything you’d like to ask — about the podcast, about pop culture and queer history, or just for recommendations — please send it along to at [email protected].