Alan Paul is an author, a journalist, and a musician.
He was the founding member of the Beijing-based blues group, Woodie Alan, for which he served as the frontman.
Along with a delightful autobiography about his life as an expat living in China, Alan has written oral histories about Stevie Ray Vaughn and The Allman Brothers Band.
His latest work, Brothers and Sisters, covers the release of the Allman Brothers Band best-selling album and the ways in which it impacted American politics and culture in the 1970s. It’s available everywhere fine books are sold.
In this episode, Alan and I discuss:
Rock stars who died young; The greatest blues guitarists of all time; The essential blues songs you must listen to; How to appreciate music; Creativity; Life as an artist and a writer; Why the blues are universally loved; The state of China in 2008 v. 2023; Authoritarianism; Communism; Music as an expression of free speech; How music can reflect the “mood” of the nation; and MUCH more!
Links to Alan’s stuff:
Brothers and Sisters
(his latest book):
One Way Out
(an oral history of the Allman Brothers Band)
Texas Flood
(an oral history of Stevie Ray Vaugn)
His website:
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Links to My stuff:
Twitter: @DanielEFinneran
Website: finneranswake.com
Email me at finneranswake@gmail.com
My sister project, PNEUMA, on which I put out sleep stories, meditations, mindfulness content: Youtube @pneumabydanielfinneran
Pneumameditations.com
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What is Finneran's Wake?
Finneran’s Wake – where the ART OF CONVERSATION lives.
Here, no topic is untouchable, no idea inadmissible, and no one too heretical to be heard.
As the great French essayist Montaigne once said, “To my taste, the most fruitful and natural exercise of our minds is CONVERSATION. I find the practice of it the most delightful activity in our lives”.
It certainly is the most delightful activity in my life. I want it to be so in yours as well.
To that end, I humbly welcome you to my channel.
Here, we'll exercise our minds together. Here, we'll practice this delightful activity as friends. We'll engage, now and forever, in the art--the highest and most human art--of conversation!
With affection,
Daniel