1000 w/ Ron Placone RonPlacone

Chris Lee is an author and historian. I’ve always been interested in the connection between politics in football aka soccer especially in Italy. It came up some in Episode 27 with Attila the Stockbroker. Well, I decided why not talk to someone who wrote a book on the topic. Chris Lee, among other things, is other of The Defiant: A History of Football Against Fascism. He dives into that history not just in Italy but other countries as well. This episode is almost more like a history lesson than an interview, and I mean that in a good way.

Tim Parks is an author, novelist and academic. One niche of his: He writes about moving and living in Italy as somebody from a different country. I’ve read several of his books on that topic as well as a book he wrote about overcoming a very severe illness. 

Wanna be a writer? This episode’s for you. Chris Silber is a writer. He’s had movies and television shows produced all over the world. One time, I was chatting with Chris, he had a series launching in the UK, a movie launching in Italy, and he was developing a series in the US. He did all of this from his house in Nashville. His more recent projects include Sam a Saxon on Disney Plus and a children’s book based on how he helped his daughter deal with the death of her mom and Chris’s late wife. In life, you meet people and you think, "I want their job", Chris is one of those people for me.

Jerry Rocha is a comedian and a damn good one. I met Jerry in 2015, right before I moved to LA. We became friends and like most LA comics didn’t stay in touch all that great, just how it goes especially out here. Recently, I saw a clip of Jerry’s online and while it was a hilarious joke it contained some not great news: Jerry had stage 4 cancer. 

Francesco Il Mercante is an Italian musician and busker who has performed all over the world. He has built a one-man band assemble that allows him to do percussion and play guitar and at times harmonica, simultaneously. The entire thing is mobile, and he can carry it in a backpack. Due to his unique talent, he’s gone viral on YouTube multiple times. His version of Bitter Sweet Symphony' I prefer over the original. Also, I’ve mentioned in the past that I have two favorite versions of the anti-fascist song, 'Bella Ciao'. One is by Jess Silk (Episode 8), and the other is by Francesco. His cover of Bella Ciao is how I found him. We talk about it.

Attila the Stockbroker is a poet, a punk troubadour, a musician, a force. He started in the UK punk scene in the early 80s. Throughout this interview, he recalls being heckled by nazis in the early 80s, seeing Black Flag’s first London show, his role in organizing his local progressive football club...If you like punk rock, left-wing politics, you’re not gonna want to miss a minute of this. When I was in Edinburgh in 2023, sadly Attila and I had shows at the exact same time, but he had one deviation in his schedule so I was able to catch his show. We hung out and had a beer after, it was a pretty amazing experience.