Behind the Book Cover

TV and radio host Riki Rachtman may have the tattoos and rocker guy persona of a tough guy but make no mistake—he's a sweetheart. The host of MTV's Headbangers Ball and former owner of the Cathouse club, Rachtman now hosts Racing Rocks on over 120 radio stations and also lives a life free of drugs and alcohol after a multi-year battle with the substances. (No, he wants to assure you, he's actually been absolutely sober for a lot of the "stupid shit" he's done over the past 20 years.) Here, we talk about what got him sober (a drug that starts with m, ends with h and has et in between), how he lives today and everything in between.

Actress and author Kristen Johnston needs no introduction but we're giving her one anyway: the Emmy award-winning star of Third Rock From the Sun who's now starring on TVLand's The Exes (Wednesdays at 10 pm!), Johnston is also the New York Times bestselling author of Guts: The Endless Follies and Tiny Triumphs of a Giant Disaster, which details her struggle with and recovery from addiction. Here we talk about the nitty gritty details of her stomach exploding (that's what taking too many pills will do to you), the part fame played in her addiction and her plan to start up sober high schools in New York.

If you're thinking about writing an authority building book, and I really hope you are, and you don't want to be counting pennies or checking your book sales all the time, you actually want a book that's going to change your life, I can tell you how. Just go to sevenfigurebooks.com. I'm not trying to capture your email or anything. You can just download this PDF that's going to tell you exactly how to turn an authority building book into revenue, speaking, authority, and no exaggeration, a whole new life. 

Mackenzie Phillips had, from the outside, the most glamorous childhood that could be imagined: the daughter of the Mamas and Papas lead singer John Phillips, she starred in American Graffiti and on the hit TV show One Day at a Time as a teenager, while also hitting every club on the Sunset Strip. But her career was stymied by addiction—until 1992, when she went into treatment. After a bout of long-term sobriety, she relapsed and was eventually arrested with heroin in her while on her way to New York for a One Day at a Time reunion on The Rachel Ray Show. The release of her book, High on Arrival—and the revelation in it that she'd had a 10-year consensual sexual relationship with her father—sent the media (and her family) into a tizzy. Now sober again and arguably as enthusiastic about recovery as anyone in the world, Phillips is the Recovery Advocate for the Pasadena Recovery Center and a sought-after speaker on spiritual matters. You'll see why when you listen to this episode.

Mackenzie Phillips had, from the outside, the most glamorous childhood that could be imagined: the daughter of the Mamas and Papas lead singer John Phillips, she starred in American Graffiti and on the hit TV show One Day at a Time as a teenager, while also hitting every club on the Sunset Strip. But her career was stymied by addiction—until 1992, when she went into treatment. After a bout of long-term sobriety, she relapsed and was eventually arrested with heroin in her while on her way to New York for a One Day at a Time reunion on The Rachel Ray Show. The release of her book, High on Arrival—and the revelation in it that she'd had a 10-year consensual sexual relationship with her father—sent the media (and her family) into a tizzy. Now sober again and arguably as enthusiastic about recovery as anyone in the world, Phillips is the Recovery Advocate for the Pasadena Recovery Center and a sought-after speaker on spiritual matters. You'll see why when you listen to this episode.

If you're thinking about writing an authority building book, and I really hope you are, and you don't want to be counting pennies or checking your book sales all the time, you actually want a book that's going to change your life, I can tell you how. Just go to sevenfigurebooks.com. I'm not trying to capture your email or anything. You can just download this PDF that's going to tell you exactly how to turn an authority building book into revenue, speaking, authority, and no exaggeration, a whole new life. 

Permanent Midnight author Jerry Stahl is, bar none, this generation's king of junkie lit. Dark and hilarious, Permanent Midnight was an insta-classic that was made into a movie with Ben Stiller as the lead and Stahl has followed it with a succession of other nihilistic novels—including his latest, Happy Mutant Baby Pills. He and TheAfterPartyGroup's Anna David have known each other since Stahl blurbed her first book in 2005. Here they discuss heroin, sobriety, swearing, life coaches, meditation, yoga, writing and so much more.

Permanent Midnight author Jerry Stahl is, bar none, this generation's king of junkie lit. Dark and hilarious, Permanent Midnight was an insta-classic that was made into a movie with Ben Stiller as the lead and Stahl has followed it with a succession of other nihilistic novels—including his latest, Happy Mutant Baby Pills. He and TheAfterPartyGroup's Anna David have known each other since Stahl blurbed her first book in 2005. Here they discuss heroin, sobriety, swearing, life coaches, meditation, yoga, writing and so much more.

If you're thinking about writing an authority building book, and I really hope you are, and you don't want to be counting pennies or checking your book sales all the time, you actually want a book that's going to change your life, I can tell you how. Just go to sevenfigurebooks.com. I'm not trying to capture your email or anything. You can just download this PDF that's going to tell you exactly how to turn an authority building book into revenue, speaking, authority, and no exaggeration, a whole new life. 

Dead Kennedys drummer D.H. Peligro has been to rehab 31 times. He's also been in the Red Hot Chili Peppers, lived with a whole bunch of crazy addicts in San Francisco and LA, stayed half-awake through an operation when he had a liter of pus extracted from his leg and lived to tell the tale. He and AfterPartyChat's Anna David talk about his newfound sobriety (he was a few days from checking out of a treatment center the day of the interview), his brushes with death, the way his trauma caught up to him and his new book, Dreadknaught: King of Afropunk. 

Dead Kennedys drummer D.H. Peligro has been to rehab 31 times. He's also been in the Red Hot Chili Peppers, lived with a whole bunch of crazy addicts in San Francisco and LA, stayed half-awake through an operation when he had a liter of pus extracted from his leg and lived to tell the tale. He and AfterPartyChat's Anna David talk about his newfound sobriety (he was a few days from checking out of a treatment center the day of the interview), his brushes with death, the way his trauma caught up to him and his new book, Dreadknaught: King of Afropunk. 

If you're thinking about writing an authority building book, and I really hope you are, and you don't want to be counting pennies or checking your book sales all the time, you actually want a book that's going to change your life, I can tell you how. Just go to sevenfigurebooks.com. I'm not trying to capture your email or anything. You can just download this PDF that's going to tell you exactly how to turn an authority building book into revenue, speaking, authority, and no exaggeration, a whole new life. 

Musician and actor Michael Des Barres has had many lives: he's been in bands with John Taylor and Steve Jones, performed at Live Aid, co-written hit songs ("Obsession," which Animotion made famous, and which Des Barres admits is about cocaine), had memorable appearances on TV shows from WKRP in Cincinnati through Melrose Place and Nip/Tuck (as well as many in between and since) and is now, at 65, hosting The Michael Des Barres Show for TRadioV. He and AfterPartyChat's Anna David met over a decade ago, before she was sober—when he called the fact that she was doing cocaine "so very 80's." Here they discuss Michael's childhood in an English boarding school, his time doing drugs (with several shout outs to Quaaludes) and the fact that he's been sober since 1981. Also in there: singing! Reminiscing about the date they once had! And more.

Musician and actor Michael Des Barres has had many lives: he's been in bands with John Taylor and Steve Jones, performed at Live Aid, co-written hit songs ("Obsession," which Animotion made famous, and which Des Barres admits is about cocaine), had memorable appearances on TV shows from WKRP in Cincinnati through Melrose Place and Nip/Tuck (as well as many in between and since) and is now, at 65, hosting The Michael Des Barres Show for TRadioV. He and AfterPartyChat's Anna David met over a decade ago, before she was sober—when he called the fact that she was doing cocaine "so very 80's." Here they discuss Michael's childhood in an English boarding school, his time doing drugs (with several shout outs to Quaaludes) and the fact that he's been sober since 1981. Also in there: singing! Reminiscing about the date they once had! And more.