Live From the Margins — Radio Dispatch 7

The Maria Incident

There’s a song by Steely Dan called Any Major Dude Will Tell You that feels like it was written for moments like this. A quiet anthem for survival. A reminder that even the messiest chapters don’t always get the final word. At least, not if you’re lucky. Or stubborn. Or still standing.

For Willie, in the chapter we read during this episode, saying he “overcame a tough situation” or “worked through heartbreak” would be a galactic understatement. The man was gutted. Hollowed out. Invaded by a kind of demon no one should ever have to negotiate with. Rob and Michele Reiner would back me up on that if they were sitting here with us.

Addiction is a different species altogether. It doesn’t just break things — it corrodes them from the inside. Willie got a front-row seat to that corrosion in someone he loved. And it damn near took him with it.

It’s been a minute since the last radio dispatch. Longer than I intended. I took a short break to focus on producing a handful of videos I already had in the can. I’m caught up now. And I promise you, that won’t happen again. I love doing this show. I really do. There’s something about this format — this quiet conversation in the dark — that feels like home. It brings me a lot of joy to connect with you this way.

As promised, this episode drops us into Scene 5 of the book. Scene 5, of course, being The Maria Incident. And as warned, this one is not an easy ride. It’s a major fault line in Willie’s story. The moment he skidded closest to the edge. As near to the abyss as a man can stand without falling in.

Hard to watch. Harder to survive. Her addiction was the driver. Ego was the fuel.

We paused for a moment on the idea of ego — with the Beatles’ I Me Mine echoing in the background — and I took the opportunity to remind listeners that this entire ecosystem we’re building here is sponsor-free. The radio, the films, the blog, the merch, the site — all of it. No algorithms. No steering class. No one whispering in our ear about what plays better at scale. If you’re enjoying the ride and want to help keep the lights on, support is always appreciated.

We were also supposed to take a hard left turn into the Matrix on this episode — a rabbit hole we ran out of time for last round — but The Maria Incident demands the space it takes. That conversation is coming next. Priority one. It’s a pretty good rant, if I’m being honest, and I’m willing to bet more than a few of you will relate.

Before the reading, we set the emotional stage with Maria from West Side Story — sung by Jim Bryant for Richard Beymer, with music by Leonard Bernstein. Then we let the chapter speak for itself.

After the reading, I’ll admit — it still lands a little too close to the bone. All these years later, it hasn’t softened much. Willie means just about as much to me as one man can mean to another. Watching him move through that chapter was brutal. A few of us genuinely thought we might lose him to it. Lou. Maria.

We’ll let that sit right there.

And maybe spin one more for the ego of it all.

Psycho Killer by Talking Heads carried us out.