LEADING MEN: UNSCRIPTED

Nate Morton is the drummer on the NBC hit show "The Voice".  Nate is also a father to six kids.  Balance is the word.  If Nate is not in studio recording, he is helping his wife shuffle their kids off to their latest activities.  With stories about family, kids and music, Nate joins us from his home in Los Angeles.

Tonight, 25,000,000 children across America will go to sleep without a father present in their household.  We have a pandemic in this country.  We are raising a society of fatherless children.  This week's guest, on Father's Day 2020, author and nationally recognized speaker, Carey Casey is the former CEO of the National Center for Fathering (NCF) will discuss the power of the father's voice.  Carey Casey is currently pastor at Lawndale Christian Community Church in Chicago.   In June 2012, Carey was selected as a Fatherhood Champion of Change as part of President Obama's "Winning the Future" initiative.  For two decades, Carey was involved with the Fellowship of Christian Athletes where he served as President of the FCA Foundation.  He was chaplain at the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul, South Korea, chaplain for Dallas Cowboys under Hall of Famer Tom Landry, and chaplain for the Kansas City Chiefs. Today, Carey still speaks as a lecturer and speaker at the World Congress of Sports, the college football Senior Bowl, at the National Coaches Convention at the Final Four and The Super Bowl.  Carey is a father to four children and a grandfather to nine grandchildren.  He joins us in studio from his home in Chicago where he now lives with his wife Melanie.

The divorce rate in the US for first marriages is 45%.  For second marriages, the divorce rate is closer to 60%.  More and more families are coming together to live under the same roof, bringing not only their moving truck filled with living room sofas and dining room chairs, but they are showing up in relationships with their respective sons and daughters.  Where does everyone fit under the one roof?  Who is allowed to discipline?  Can a stepfather step in?  What do the kids feel? Should we give more room and accept as parents and step parents that children now add a new dimension that needs to be understood and respected? Greg Steckler, a Los Angeles Marriage and Family Therapist discusses these issues that are very relevant in today's world of contemporary relationships.

It's hard enough being a kid.  But then your father accepts a professional position thousands of miles away in a foreign country called America.  Within a flash, lives are changed forever, as Anjul's mother decides to join her husband, taking all three of their boys from Mumbai, India to Cheshire, Connecticut, to live out the American dream.  Anjul Nigam, today, is a successul actor/writer/producer in Hollywood whose film credits include GROWING UP SMITH, BAYOU CAVIAR, and CROWN VIC.  Released in 2017, this was his first screenplay and self produced feature - a fictional coming of age tale that wasn't far off from his own experiences.  Anjul joins us in studio to discuss his journey, fatherhood, and the challenges of raising kids in the multi-cultural mecca of LA. 

Twenty years ago, wanting to have kids, Rich and his husband decided to foster a child.  Little did Rich know that he was about to enter a world that would change his life forever.  Today, Rich Valenza is found and Executive Director of Raise A Child, a Los Angeles based non-profit that aids agencies with the fostering of children in the Southern California region.  A great story of why we need to support not only our children, but those who may not have a family structure to begin with.

It's not always easy parenting.  It's not easy being a father.  It is especially difficult when relationships don't work out.  Having two daughters from two different marriages and now with a step daughter, Todd opens up about how challenging it is maintaining his own strength, understanding his own faults and wanting to make sure that all of his children know how much their father misses them and loves them.

You are never too young to dream.  And you are never too old to remember.  At 84 years young, Ken Benjamin has lived a full life.  At 15, Ken had to convince his high school baseball coach that he was worthy of pitching for the the team.  At 19, Ken was the only one from his high school to be scouted and signed (as a pitcher) by The New York Yankees.  Injury would later take him off the field.  That was 1955.  By the mid 70s, Ken was running a million dollar business dealing art in Los Angeles.  Today, Ken is 84 years young and still runs his own business, paints on weekends, and visits the gym every other day.  He loves to dance and has the spirit of a twenty year old.  His stories are strong and his insight is great!

In 2015, Jimmy Franzo was in need of a heart transplant.   He was on a list waiting for the next donor.  Upon doctor's finding out that he had become an addict - addicted to the pain medication prescribed to him, they removed him from the transplant list, just four months before he was to have his surgery.  Needless to say, it was a wake up call that Jimmy needed to change his ways from how he had been living since the death of his brother, at the age of 16.  Today, Jimmy Franzo is a sculpture of health standing at 6'1".  Bodyguard, stuntman and now the voice of the History Channel production, Life Below Zero, Jimmy founded Break True Camp - to help other men break through and not drop out as he once had.

Having played with many of today's top bands, Michael Ward spent many days and nights on a tour bus shuffling across Europe and America.  Life on the road is not always easy. Now with two boys, Michael discusses how becoming a father changed his life.

Two fathers raising their kids in the creative mecca of Hollywood.  What challenges does this present to them as creatives?  What challenges does it present to other men who are in similar situations.  Los Angeles and Hollywood represent the epicenter of the "industry".  Life is not easy.  Choices are plentiful.  Artists are crazy.  But we all have families.  We all love our kids.  And we all want a better society for them.  How do we keep it all in check for the benefit of our health and happiness, and that of our children.  "Fathers in arms" and good friends, Todd Cloninger and Lyle Laver discuss their reasons for starting the podcast, discussing what brought them to this point and what they hope to discover about being a father in the process.  Welcome to therapy 101!