Shadoe Stevens: Person of the Week
Q. If you are in recovery, what was your drug(s) of choice and when is your sobriety date?
A. Anything UP – coke, crystal, prescription speed, and of course something to take off the edge. Opium and more.
Q. What do you like most about 12-step meetings?
A. The stories. The reminder of how bad it can get and where I never want to go, and the miracle that took place.
Q. Do you think addiction is an illness, disease, a choice, or a wicked twist of fate?
A. I think it’s a kind of disease that generally doesn’t spread but mental wiring that can be activated by associations. I don’t believe in twists of fate or luck, that there’s a principle of Random Hostility built into the fabric of being and some creator going, “You’re going to be blind; you’re crippled…you? I’m gonna give you a break.” Perhaps karma is more reasonable.
Q. Who is your favorite celebrity in recovery?
A. Danny Trejo.
Q. If you ever retire, would you prefer to live by the ocean, lake, river, mountaintop, desert, or penthouse?
A. Penthouse
A. Meditation, and a constant curiosity of what great thinkers and masters have to say about spiritual beliefs, physicists, poets, philosophers, gurus, priests, rabbi’s, ministers, spiritual historians, always expanding my “body of evidence” for the reasonableness of faith.
Q. How do you measure success?
A. The knowledge that I’ve done the best possible work I could do and being comfortable with it’s originality and purpose.
Q. What is your biggest pet peeve?
A. The teeth clenching labyrinth of phone tech support in modern technology.
A. Salvation Army.
Q. Who has been the biggest influence throughout your life?
A. My father, mother, and my wife.
Q. From what school of thought or teacher did you learn the most from?
A. Yogananda, Ramakrisna, Vivekenanda, and the books “Jnana Yoga,” “Man’s Search for Meaning,” and “Autobiography of a Yogi.”
Q. Where are you from and where do you reside now?
A. Jamestown, North Dakota – Los Angeles.
Q. If you were giving a dinner party for your 3 favorite authors, living or dead, who would they be?
A. Yogananda, Douglas Adams, Vivekananda.
Q. What is your Astrological sign?
A. Scorpio.
Q. What’s your concept of a Higher Power?
Q. What book(s) have you read more than once?
A. Jnana Yoga by Vivekananda, Gates of Fire by Elwyn M. Chamberlain, Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams, Man’s Search for Meaning by Victor Frankl, Autobiography of a Yogi by Yogananda.
Q. Which film have you watched the most?
A. “Never Look Away,” by Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck; “The Thief of Bagdad, silent 1924 version by Douglas Fairbanks Sr; and “Bajirao Mastani” by Sanjay Leela Bhansali.
Q. Who is your favorite film director?
A. Sanjay Leela Bhansali, Indian director, producer, composer; I also love George Miller.
Q. What surprised you most about living sober?
A. The strength the program has given me, optimism, and living in possibilities.
Q. If you could give advice to your younger self what would it be?
A. Do your best, it’s going to be okay.
Q. What books are you reading now?
A. “ZEALOT: The Life and Times of Jesus of Nazareth,” and “No god but God: The Origins, Evolution, and Future of Islam” – both by Reza Aslan; and “the Singularity is Nearer” by Ray Kurzweil.
Q. What is your favorite App?
A. MentalRadio.
Q. Are you binge watching any TV series?
A. Recently finished Bad Monkey, Slow Horses, and the Gentlemen. Also loved Hacks.
Q. What is your favorite play or musical?
A. The one I’m working on to debut this year, “MentalRadioLive”
A. Douglas Fairbanks Sr.
Q. What is your favorite musician and or band?
A. Jeff Lynne and ELO, Dr. John, James Booker, an Electro Swing group called Klischee, The Boswell Sisters from the 1930s, Muddy Waters, and currently, Imagine Dragons.
Q. What is one word you would use to describe yourself?
A. Enthused.
Q. What is your favorite city?
A. Los Angeles.
Q. What is your favorite hotel?
A. The Georgian in Santa Monica.
Q. What sport(s) do you like to play or watch?
Q. What is your favorite restaurant?
A. Most Indian and Thai restaurants.
Q. What is your favorite cuisine?
A. Indian.
Q. What is the best piece of advice someone has given you?
A. “Bob and weave, keep moving, if you get hit, don’t take it personal, keep your sense of humor” – Benny the Jet – six-time, undefeated martial arts world champion in five weight class divisions – I trained with him for 15 years.
Q. What is the best piece of advice you’ve given someone else?
A. You can’t think your way happy. It is only through action. Starting creates momentum, implementing a new goal or vision creates enthusiasm, and the joy of doing plus a vision, awakens inspiration.
Q. Have you ever been arrested and, if so, what for?
A. Once, in my studio at Sunset and Doheny for a small amount of marijuana.
Q. What is one thing that always makes you smile?
A. My wife Beverly, and my children and grandchildren.
Q. What was the proudest moment in your life?
A. Realizing sobriety was the awakening to a life I could never have imagined.
Q. What is a style trend you wish would come back?
A. Harmony.
Q. What do you love most about yourself?
A. My faith, willingness to work tirelessly, and sense of humor.
Q. What are five things you always carry with you?
A. A notebook. My favorite pen.
Q. What is your biggest fear?
A. Pain and suffering.
Q. Where do you go when you want to be alone?
Q. What is your biggest regret?
A. Not getting sober sooner.
Q. What is the greatest risk you’ve ever taken?
Q. What is something you are currently curious about?
A. The future.