Dr. Frank Spinelli is a physician, certified health coach, HIV advocate, and author whose new book, The Shame Compass, is the product of decades spent understanding — and living with — shame.

Frank opens up about his early career treating people living with HIV at Gay Men's Health Crisis, and traces how that work connected to his own history: he was sexually abused for three years, from ages 11 to 13, by a Boy Scout leader who was also a decorated police officer. Frank details how, years later, a book tour jogged a memory of his abuser, leading him to track the man down, work undercover with police wearing a wiretap, and ultimately help convict him — despite the abuser having gone on to adopt 16 boys, several with special needs, after avoiding prosecution the first time.

The conversation moves into the 2020 Boy Scouts of America class-action lawsuit, where nearly 90,000 survivors came forward. Frank describes the toll of filling out a 47-page questionnaire detailing his abuse in graphic detail — a process he calls his "rock bottom," which triggered a serious struggle with alcohol during the pandemic. He and Zach also discuss the deeply flawed process of "ranking" abuse claims for financial settlements, and Frank offers his perspective — as both survivor and physician — on why people become child molesters, describing it as rooted in power and control rather than desire.

Frank and Zach talk candidly about marriage, partnership, and what it takes for a spouse to support someone through trauma disclosure (Frank has been with his husband 18 years; Zach, 27). Frank closes by walking through the seven-step COMPASS framework from his book — Confront, Observe, Map, Process, Accept, Sustain, and (optionally) Service — and explains the crucial distinction he makes between guilt ("I did something bad") and shame ("I am bad"), and why community, not avoidance, is the way through it.

In this episode:

Guest: Dr. Frank Spinelli — physician, certified health coach, and author of The Shame Compass
Website: frankspinelli.com

Content note: This episode includes candid discussion of child sexual abuse. Listener discretion advised

Podcast song by SIXFOOT 5: https://www.sixfoot5prod.com

Apple: https://music.apple.com/us/artist/sixfoot-5/1551774977

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/5rHMzoU0G0fLhaBsrQiOOY?si=laSZ5hiKTYubJJyhrzf2JQ

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Richard Wilmore grew up in a tiny town at the top of Wisconsin, so far north he says people mistake Green Bay for "northern." He knew he was different by grade school, though he didn't come out until his twenties at UW Milwaukee, where a big, macho freshman-year roommate turned out to be entirely unbothered by it.

The real turning point came in the summer of 1997, when a 12-year-old Richard stumbled on a rerun of The Rosie O'Donnell Show and instantly rewired his life plan from elementary school teacher to talk show host. He describes the show's radical warmth, how Rosie made every guest and every audience member feel like they belonged, and how he covered his childhood bedroom walls in her photos, built a scrapbook, and eventually rigged up his own closet with curtains modeled after her set. He started filming his own faux talk show alone in his bedroom, complete with a homemade "on air" sign, mock musical guests, and a strict no-siblings-allowed policy.

Zach and Richard swap Rosie stories, including Zach's own real-life run-in with her in a South Beach club bathroom (and a DM-turned-Instagram-post connection over a Madonna photo years later). Both hosts admit they've been trying to book her for years with no luck — so this episode ends in a full audience callout: if you're one degree of separation from Rosie O'Donnell, send her Richard's website.

From there, Richard walks through his winding career path: a clothing buyer job, a mobile fashion truck he ran out of a converted food truck in Maryland, and eventually founding-employee-turned-executive-director of an arts and health nonprofit in San Antonio that brought musicians, writers, and visual artists into hospitals to work with patients.

He's been producing podcasts since 2011 — thousands of episodes at this point — starting with zero equipment, teaching himself editing from free software, and eventually running a five-day-a-week live daytime talk show format before pivoting to a full game-show concept for guests. He talks candidly about only pulling three episodes in his entire career, what makes a guest "not add anything to the conversation," and his philosophy that a host's job is to make the guest look good — even when that means killing an episode entirely.

The conversation moves into the business and psychology of podcasting: how he finds guests now (Podmatch instead of literal Craigslist meetups), why bigger-name guests don't guarantee views, the emotional whiplash of going from "a kid who tried not to be noticed" to wanting to be seen, and his blunt take on Patreon-style bonus content ("I don't know why they're extra"). He also shares what he's building today: a podcast studio helping other creators produce their shows, a co-hosted slot with the Wolf Media Festival, a local South Carolina community show, and a brand-new project with his friend Stacy exploring what it means to be a creative entrepreneur.

Zach and Richard close out comparing notes on going viral (or not), the mythology of "dream guests," and the shared, very real dream of one day being confident enough to sit across from someone like Chelsea Handler or Joe Rogan.

Learn more about Richard: https://www.makeyourdayricher.com/

Podcast song by SIXFOOT 5: https://www.sixfoot5prod.com

Apple: https://music.apple.com/us/artist/sixfoot-5/1551774977

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/5rHMzoU0G0fLhaBsrQiOOY?si=laSZ5hiKTYubJJyhrzf2JQ

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Ryan Landry has been a fixture of Provincetown since 1979, and on this episode he opens up about nearly five decades of camp, chaos, and creative survival. He talks candidly about how the town's architecture and artist-friendly spirit have eroded under development pressure, and why he believes preservation matters as much as any economic argument for growth.

From there the conversation moves into the legend of Showgirls, the longest-running show in Provincetown history. Ryan walks through his prolific output of adapted plays and musicals, his parallel life as a visual artist, and the found-family dynamic of running a company of performers he affectionately calls his "orphans." He shares a run of unforgettable backstage stories — including an act so outrageous it left Zach speechless, and a pyrotechnic mishap involving a fellow performer that turned into one of the most chaotic nights in the show's history.

The two also dig into Ryan's relationship with his partner Scott, his years in 1980s and 90s New York, brushes with figures like River Phoenix and Anita O'Day, and his creative partnerships with performers like Dina Martina and Miss Richfield. Ryan is refreshingly blunt about treating his art as a business, protecting his work legally, and why he sees his career less as glamorous stardom and more as steady, disciplined labor — punching in and out like a factory shift, six days a week, all summer long.

It's a conversation full of humor, grit, and genuine heart from one of Provincetown's most enduring performers.

Follow Ryan on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/captryanlandry

Check out Ryan's Website: https://www.ryanlandryfactory.com/

Get Tickets to Show Girls in Ptown: https://kikipedia.app/event/showgirls-ptown

Podcast song by SIXFOOT 5: https://www.sixfoot5prod.com

Apple: https://music.apple.com/us/artist/sixfoot-5/1551774977

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/5rHMzoU0G0fLhaBsrQiOOY?si=laSZ5hiKTYubJJyhrzf2JQ

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Richard Wilmore grew up in a tiny town at the top of Wisconsin, so far north he says people mistake Green Bay for "northern." He knew he was different by grade school, though he didn't come out until his twenties at UW Milwaukee, where a big, macho freshman-year roommate turned out to be entirely unbothered by it.

The real turning point came in the summer of 1997, when a 12-year-old Richard stumbled on a rerun of The Rosie O'Donnell Show and instantly rewired his life plan from elementary school teacher to talk show host. He describes the show's radical warmth, how Rosie made every guest and every audience member feel like they belonged, and how he covered his childhood bedroom walls in her photos, built a scrapbook, and eventually rigged up his own closet with curtains modeled after her set. He started filming his own faux talk show alone in his bedroom, complete with a homemade "on air" sign, mock musical guests, and a strict no-siblings-allowed policy.

Zach and Richard swap Rosie stories, including Zach's own real-life run-in with her in a South Beach club bathroom (and a DM-turned-Instagram-post connection over a Madonna photo years later). Both hosts admit they've been trying to book her for years with no luck — so this episode ends in a full audience callout: if you're one degree of separation from Rosie O'Donnell, send her Richard's website.

From there, Richard walks through his winding career path: a clothing buyer job, a mobile fashion truck he ran out of a converted food truck in Maryland, and eventually founding-employee-turned-executive-director of an arts and health nonprofit in San Antonio that brought musicians, writers, and visual artists into hospitals to work with patients.

He's been producing podcasts since 2011 — thousands of episodes at this point — starting with zero equipment, teaching himself editing from free software, and eventually running a five-day-a-week live daytime talk show format before pivoting to a full game-show concept for guests. He talks candidly about only pulling three episodes in his entire career, what makes a guest "not add anything to the conversation," and his philosophy that a host's job is to make the guest look good — even when that means killing an episode entirely.

The conversation moves into the business and psychology of podcasting: how he finds guests now (Podmatch instead of literal Craigslist meetups), why bigger-name guests don't guarantee views, the emotional whiplash of going from "a kid who tried not to be noticed" to wanting to be seen, and his blunt take on Patreon-style bonus content ("I don't know why they're extra"). He also shares what he's building today: a podcast studio helping other creators produce their shows, a co-hosted slot with the Wolf Media Festival, a local South Carolina community show, and a brand-new project with his friend Stacy exploring what it means to be a creative entrepreneur.

Zach and Richard close out comparing notes on going viral (or not), the mythology of "dream guests," and the shared, very real dream of one day being confident enough to sit across from someone like Chelsea Handler or Joe Rogan.

Follow Richard on IG: https://www.instagram.com/makeyourdayricher/

Visit Richard online: https://www.makeyourdayricher.com/

Podcast song by SIXFOOT 5: https://www.sixfoot5prod.com 

Apple: https://music.apple.com/us/artist/sixfoot-5/1551774977 

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/5rHMzoU0G0fLhaBsrQiOOY?si=laSZ5hiKTYubJJyhrzf2JQ

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

In this deeply personal solo episode, Zach opens up about a psychic reading he did with medium Tracy Stella, who he first connected with in 2022 and later welcomed as a guest on the show in 2025. Zach walks through the session in detail — his late father coming through with a message about self-love and staying the course with the podcast, and his mother-in-law Irene, who passed away in November, offering comfort about the choices Zach and his husband Andrew made in her final days.

He recounts a string of specific, unprompted details Tracy surfaced that he says she had no way of knowing beforehand — a lake house tied to family reunions, recurring quarters appearing around his house, ladybugs as a recognized sign, and the names of great-grandparents he'd never spoken about publicly. He also shares a moment involving his grandmother and a long-held family mystery uncovered through a DNA test.

Zach reflects candidly on grief that surfaced months after loss rather than immediately, his shift from skepticism to a belief in reincarnation, and how the reading validated his decision to leave a corporate career and pursue podcasting full-time. He closes with an important note on what Tracy's mediumship is — and isn't — for, plus how to find her if you're looking to book a session.

Book a session with Tracy: https://calendly.com/tracy-stella

Follow Tracy on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tracy_stella/

Podcast song by SIXFOOT 5: https://www.sixfoot5prod.com

Apple: https://music.apple.com/us/artist/sixfoot-5/1551774977

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/5rHMzoU0G0fLhaBsrQiOOY?si=laSZ5hiKTYubJJyhrzf2JQ

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

This week on The Gay Bit, Zach takes listeners through a brunch with his friend "Freddie" that spirals into a full breakdown of modern gay dating culture. What starts as harmless phone-snooping and prank messaging turns into a real conversation about Freddie's Grindr profile — outdated photos, a fudged age, and a "grid" full of one very specific physical type.

From there, Zach zooms out into a broader reflection on gay dating culture at large: the elaborate, hyper-specific "type" so many gay men develop, the entire taxonomy of identity categories (bears, twinks, twunks, daddies, otters, and beyond), and why gay men have turned attraction into something closer to a personality trait than a preference. He shares his own story of meeting his husband nearly 28 years ago and how their relationship defied his own "list," landing on a tender case for holding onto your standards while still leaving room for surprise.

Equal parts comedy and cultural commentary, this episode is classic Gay Bit: a little campy, a little raw, and rooted in real love for the community it's needling.

Podcast song by SIXFOOT 5: https://www.sixfoot5prod.com

Apple: https://music.apple.com/us/artist/sixfoot-5/1551774977

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/5rHMzoU0G0fLhaBsrQiOOY?si=laSZ5hiKTYubJJyhrzf2JQ

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Greg Palmer, known in the community as BabyArm, joins Zach to talk about Gathry, the app he built to help LGBTQ+ people find real events happening around them instead of just defaulting to the same bars every weekend. Greg walks through the origin story, from a themed drag night in London to a game night poster outside his New York apartment, and how those moments revealed corners of queer community he'd never encountered before.

The conversation covers Gathry's rapid growth to 26 cities across North America, with distinct plans to expand into London next. Greg and Zach discuss how LGBTQ+ culture shifts dramatically from city to city; Atlanta's strong drag king scene, Montreal's bar culture without a real events calendar, and Berlin's uniquely open, diverse nightlife. They also talk candidly about the app's approach to listing the full range of community spaces, including bathhouses amid renewed conversation about legalizing them in New York City, and why Greg wanted Gathry to reflect the totality of LGBTQ+ life rather than function as another dating or hookup app.

Zach and Greg touch on the app's community feature for meeting other members, Greg's plans to add in-app messaging, and a shared frustration with AI-generated profiles cluttering dating apps. They also shine a spotlight on the QT Library, a queer and trans community library opening in Boston, and talk about what it means to build spaces, digital and physical, where every part of the community can find their people.

Download Gathry at gathryapp.com.

Download the app on Apple:

https://apps.apple.com/us/app/gathry-lgbtq-events-groups/id6749548071

Podcast song by SIXFOOT 5: https://www.sixfoot5prod.com

Apple: https://music.apple.com/us/artist/sixfoot-5/1551774977

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/5rHMzoU0G0fLhaBsrQiOOY?si=laSZ5hiKTYubJJyhrzf2JQ

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Myles Morel is a Capitol Hill correspondent for The Gateway Pundit who's built a following filming candid, on-the-ground moments in DC — including a viral series of clips from outside Senator Mitch McConnell's home during his prolonged public absence. In this conversation, Myles walks through what he saw there, the theories swirling around McConnell's condition, and the behavior that convinced him something bigger is being kept quiet.

From there, the conversation moves into how Myles got into video journalism (starting with campaign work during the 2024 cycle), how living and reporting in the DC area has softened some of his earlier hardline views, and why he believes independent, social-first media is the future of the industry. He shares behind-the-scenes stories from Capitol Hill, including surprising off-camera encounters with Rep. Tim Burchett and Rep. Nancy Mace, and reflects on the Epstein files, the push for transparency, and whether the public will ever see more.

Myles also gets candid about voting for Trump and where he feels let down, his read on the 2026 midterms and the anti-incumbent energy showing up in both parties, and his dream interview list — including Governor Ron DeSantis, Governor Glenn Youngkin, and Governor Andy Beshear. He closes out talking about his long-term goals, including a possible future run for office back home in Florida.

Follow Myles on social media:

https://www.instagram.com/mylesmorell

https://x.com/morellmedia

https://www.tiktok.com/@morellmedia

https://youtube.com/@morell_media

Podcast song by SIXFOOT 5: https://www.sixfoot5prod.com

Apple: https://music.apple.com/us/artist/sixfoot-5/1551774977

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/5rHMzoU0G0fLhaBsrQiOOY?si=laSZ5hiKTYubJJyhrzf2JQ

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Guest: Leila, Founder & CEO, RLC Models and Talent Agency

In this episode, Zach sits down with Leila, the powerhouse behind RLC Models and Talent Agency, who has spent 23 years building one of LA's most versatile talent and modeling operations. Leila shares the story of landing her first major client, Budweiser, just months after opening her agency, and how that relationship (along with Tecate) led to years of work sponsoring major sporting events in boxing, football, and basketball.

She talks candidly about working alongside major names like Drake, Enrique Iglesias, Bad Bunny, Snoop Dogg, and Jamie Foxx, and reflects on one of her proudest personal moments: meeting Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt in 2025. Leila also opens up about what she looks for when scouting new talent, the personality traits that matter more than looks, and how her own 19-year career as a performer shaped the way she runs her agency.

The conversation covers the evolution of RLC's fashion show business (post-COVID reinvention that grew into 55+ shows), the launch of RLC Talent Magazine featuring cover stars like Eric Roberts, Corey Feldman, and Sofia Milos, and the 2025 debut of her docuseries RLC Backstage at the historic TCL Chinese Theatre. She also shares the heart behind her work — her Bambino foster kids initiative — and her vision for the next five years, including new ventures supporting working artists in an AI-disrupted entertainment industry.

Topics discussed:

Learn more about Leila Ciancaglini at https://rlctalentagency.com/.  

Follow Leila Ciancaglini on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/leilaciancaglinitv

Podcast song by SIXFOOT 5: https://www.sixfoot5prod.com

Apple: https://music.apple.com/us/artist/sixfoot-5/1551774977

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/5rHMzoU0G0fLhaBsrQiOOY?si=laSZ5hiKTYubJJyhrzf2JQ

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

In this week's "This Is Everything" segment, Zach gets personal about a question that's been on his mind: what does it actually mean to be a queer person living in a red state right now? Prompted by a wave of anti-LGBTQ+ news alerts and his own family's push to relocate, Zach walks through why he and his husband Andrew have ruled out moving closer to his brother, despite the appeal of buying a house outright and being near family.

He talks candidly about growing up in Miami, the segregation he's noticed living in Massachusetts, and how racism gets learned rather than born. He also digs into the wave of state-level bills stripping rights from transgender people — including driver's license revocations happening with zero warning — and why he believes the volume of anti-LGBTQ+ legislation right now is a distraction from bigger issues. Zach lands on why Massachusetts, for all its quirks, is home: legal protections, a lesbian governor, direct flights, and a community where being loud and proud on a night out doesn't come with a second thought.

It's a mix of the political and the deeply personal — family pressure, real estate math, small-town New Hampshire bike week, and what it means to choose safety over square footage.

Podcast song by SIXFOOT 5: https://www.sixfoot5prod.com

Apple: https://music.apple.com/us/artist/sixfoot-5/1551774977

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/5rHMzoU0G0fLhaBsrQiOOY?si=laSZ5hiKTYubJJyhrzf2JQ

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.