Everything That Came Before Grace - The Podcast

Benjamin recalls 9/11 when Sophia was only 3 and he was still trying to find his bearings. After a grueling morning watching the terrible news on TV,  he takes Sophia to a park and meets a stranger who gives him some sage advice. 

We jump back to the present - it's early January 2008 - and Benjamin shares his process for getting himself out of the dark places he sometimes goes. A process he got from someone he met on 9/11 seven years earlier.  

Songs: 

“Waiting for a Superman” – Flaming Lips

“I’m Set Free” – Velvet Underground

“Privilege (Set Me Free)” – Patti Smith

“Get Away Jordan” – Dorothy Love Coats

“Drowning Man” – U2

“The Wind” – Cat Stevens

“Don’t Let It Bring You Down” – Neil Young

“All Things Must Pass” – George Harrison

“Tired of Being Alone” – Al Green

“Talk About the Passion” – R.E.M.

“American Beauty Theme” – Thomas Newman

“Dimming of the Day” – Richard & Linda Thompson

“St. James Infirmary” – Louis Armstrong

“Take My Hand Precious Lord” – Nina Simone

Check out the ETCBG playlist on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/2WkzxfcBkx5Z4g12XVU9lR?si=pUDINxlFR1uMY43L08Bkjg

Benjamin sits down with Catherine and has a couple of talks. 

Anna returns to L.A. after spending Christmas break with her mom up north, and tells Benjamin she needs a break. After giving her a week to cool down, Benjamin calls Anna and asks if she wants to go to Keith's birthday party together and they argue. Later, at the party, Anna freezes him out, and Benjamin meets a stranger by chance.  

Songs: 

“Anemone” – The Brian Jonestown Massacre

“Sleep on the Left Side” – Cornershop

“Hypnotize” – The Notorious B.I.G.

“Lyrics of Fury” – Eric B. & Rakim

MMMBop” – Hanson

“Semi-Charmed Life” – Third Eye Blind

“Who Was In My Room Last Night” – Butthole Surfers

Check out the ETCBG Playlist on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/2WkzxfcBkx5Z4g12XVU9lR?si=t21GB-KJTvCsoNOg-kjM_Q

Benjamin, Anna and Keith head downtown to barhop and then see The Melvins at Al's Bar, but they get lost and never make it. They end up at the King Eddy and while a strange lady comes on to Keith, Benjamin and Anna go outside to get some air, and Benjamin asks Anna a question.  

Songs: 

“The New Pollution” – Beck

“Criminal” – Fiona Apple

“Bittersweet Symphony” – The Verve

“Dancing in the Moonlight” – King Harvest

“I’ve Got You Under My Skin” – Frank Sinatra

"Isis" - Bob Dylan

Check out the ETCBg Playlist on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/2WkzxfcBkx5Z4g12XVU9lR?si=UQiFjMk1SRC23dq26XqfUQ

After a year and a half of Keith encroaching on Benjamin and Anna's relationship, the three of them take a camping trip into the Sierras and Benjamin finally starts to see the real Keith. Benjamin and Keith then go on a road trip together and come away as the best of friends. 

Songs: 

“High and Dry” – Radiohead

“Still Be Around” – Uncle Tupelo

Check out the ETCBg Playlist on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/2WkzxfcBkx5Z4g12XVU9lR?si=TwVN7cwTQ06knykr96lKaQ

Benjamin and Anna have been dating for a month now going ice skating, roaming the aisles at bookstores, going to get Zonkou Chicken and to see Pulp Fiction, and taking a romantic walk along the Santa Monica bluffs. All the while, Keith keeps asking Anna out. In this chapter, Benjamin and Anna are on the way to see the premiere to Shawshank Redemption but traffic is beastly, and they call an audible. Benjamin drives her up to Mulholland Drive, a favorite spot, where they look out over all of L.A. Anna interrogates Benjamin and then they take the next step in their relationship.  

Songs: 

“Be My Baby” – The Ronettes

“Love is All Around” – Husker Du

“Ain’t No Mountain” – Marvin Gaye & Tammi Terrell

“Best of My Love” – The Emotions

“Crazy” – Patsy Cline

“Your Silent Face” – New Order

“This Will Be Our Year” – The Zombies

“Loving You Is Sweeter Than Ever” – The Four Tops

“She’s a Mystery to Me” – Roy Orbison

“You Are So Beautiful” – Joe Cocker

“Lorelei” – Cocteau Twins

“One For My Baby” – Frank Sinatra

“I Am A Scientist” – Guided by Voices

“Temporary Like Achilles” – Bob Dylan

“Just Like Honey” – Jesus & Mary Chain

“Whole of the Moon” – The Waterboys

Listen to the Lion” – Van Morrison

Rhapsody in Blue” – George Gershwin

“Bargain” – The Who

“God Only Knows” – Beach Boys

“Take Me to the Water” – Nina Simone

“The Maker” – Daniel Lanois

“Oh Mary, Don’t You Weep” – The Swan Silvertones

“Ocean Rain” – Echo & The Bunnymen

“Waterloo Sunset” – The Kinks

“Oh Happy Day” – The Edwin Hawkins Singers

Check out the ETCBG Playlist on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/2WkzxfcBkx5Z4g12XVU9lR?si=ELJFP4OKQCmIKo7kfU0D_w

It's Part 1 - The College Years for the next 6 chapters. 

In this episode, it's September 26, 1994, Benjamin's first day of college at UCLA and the first day he meets Anna and Keith, two people that will figure prominently in Benjamin's life for the next 25 years. Benjamin is smitten with Anna who he thinks looks like Ali McGraw. Keith is an imposing figure who is equally smitten with the beautiful Anna. Benjamin takes them both out for tacos and then to a movie before stealing Anna away for a drive up the coast. They sit on a big sand mountain and have a talk into the night. 

Songs: 

“Gold Sound” – Pavement

“Sabotage” – Beastie Boys

“From a Motel 6” – Yo La Tengo

“Loser” – Beck

“More Than This” – Roxy Music

“Night in the City” – Joni Mitchell

Check out the ETCBG Playlist on Spotify:  https://open.spotify.com/playlist/2WkzxfcBkx5Z4g12XVU9lR?si=1Igemj7pTbmo-wmF6VyKfg

It's later on December 21, 2007 and Benjamin is racing from Cassandra's to pick his daughter Sophia up from school on time. After loading up the car, Benjamin listens to a voice mail from someone he hasn't heard from in a decade. When they get home, we get a glimpse into their world inside their small apartment in the Miracle Mile District of Los Angeles. After dinner and helping Sophia with her homework, Benjamin finds something shattering in the mail. After tucking Sophia into bed, Benjamin sits out front on his old wicker chair and flashes back to the first time he saw Anna, the only girl he's ever loved. 

Songs:

“Color of the Blues” – George Jones

Check out the ETCBG Playlist on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/2WkzxfcBkx5Z4g12XVU9lR?si=s7Il7g3dT9eH-rfI0UcN0A

We start off with The Prologue. It's December 21, 2007 and single father Benjamin Bradford is sitting in the waiting room of the Kaiser mental health  facility that’s at Washington and Inglewood in Culver City. While he waits to see his longtime therapist Cassandra he’s staring out the window at an old couple sitting on a bench in overcoats and fedoras like it’s 1942. It’s like he's seeing his own vision come to life. Benjamin fancies himself a writer so he starts to jot down a back story for this old couple. As he walks the hallway to Cassandra’s office, he's singing Portishead’s “Sour Times” to himself, the first of 137 songs name checked in the book. When Benjamin sits down with Cassandra, we start to see the inner struggle going on with Benjamin. How he maintains two worlds – the crazy one he tries to keep under wraps and a secret from his daughter Sophia, and the one outside with the mask on. This duality is at the heart of his drive to protect Sophia from the mental illness that runs in his family. He’s haunted by his mother’s death because he wasn’t able to get her into what he calls the lifeboat in time, so he’s hellbent on getting Sophia in one. 

Remember to like the ETCB FB page, and check out the ETCBG website: www.everythingthatcamebeforegrace.com

Songs:

Check out the ETCBG Playlist on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/2WkzxfcBkx5Z4g12XVU9lR?si=EcrCyKEXR1GWISqtXdWNhg