Who this episode is for:

• Anyone who’s ever been owned by their addiction
• Parents trying to fix what their kids won’t talk about
• Business bros who grind all day and snort all night
• People trying to outrun their past (good luck)
• Anyone who’s ever made a mess of their life and called it “fun”
• The quietly curious — not in recovery (yet), but wondering what all the wreckage is really about

This week on Pondoff’s Anonymous, we go all the way in with Shawn Vinson — entrepreneur, ex-party monster, and the kind of guy who used to outdrink you, outwork you, and then take your girlfriend… all before brunch. But behind the suits and the lake house blowouts was a man chasing oblivion at full throttle.

Shawn gets real about growing up with a broken relationship blueprint, drowning in validation-seeking, and building a life so externally successful it nearly killed him. We’re talking ecstasy-fueled club nights, lines in the bathroom at family events, and trying to “dad” while his soul was on fire.

You’ll hear how a 12-step program flipped his rage into clarity, why prayer is now part of his survival kit, and how he’s channeling his chaos into coaching and entrepreneurship. There’s also a moment where his two-year-old daughter checks him on his cocaine eyes. If you’re not wrecked after that… you might already be.

We hit everything from early insecurity and high school boozing, to the brutal come-to-Jesus moments that make recovery stick. And yeah — we go deep on what it really means to rebuild a life from the ashes when no one’s clapping and nothing’s pretty.

Episode Breakdown (You Know the Drill):

• 00:00 – Shot of Coffee and a Side of Chaos
• 01:28 – Meet Shawn Vinson: The Wolf of Wall Street of the Ozarks
• 04:52 – Families: Can’t Live with ’Em, Can’t Stay Sober Without ’Em
• 12:08 – Addiction Doesn’t Just Wreck You — It Torches the Whole Family Tree
• 18:24 – When a Toddler Calls Out Your Cocaine Eyes
• 24:59 – 12-Step Rage Turned 12-Step Redemption
• 31:14 – Young, Dumb, and Looking for Love in All the Dysfunctional Places
• 31:42 – Medicated and Proud: The Daily Ritual That Keeps Us Sane
• 32:25 – High School: Insecurity, Hormones, and Bud Light
• 34:17 – Booze as a Social Superpower (Until It Isn’t)
• 37:22 – Discovering Ecstasy and the Gospel of Velvet Nightclub
• 40:08 – Cocaine, Clubs, and the Illusion of Invincibility
• 43:17 – New Friends, New Lows, and All the Free Drinks You Can Snort
• 46:20 – Corporate Hustle Meets Party Animal: Shawn Joins the Family Biz
• 51:31 – The Lake House Turns Into a Blown‑Out Frat Mansion
• 52:28 – Consequences: The House Always Wins
• 56:23 – Chasing the First High Straight Into Hell
• 59:31 – Chaos, Camaraderie, and the Power of Unlikely Brotherhood
• 01:01:47 – Why Vulnerability Feels Like Taking Your Skin Off
• 01:03:24 – Addiction Is an Equal Opportunity Destroyer
• 01:06:12 – Love, Lust, and Lines of Blow: Relationships in the Wreckage
• 01:10:14 – Sobriety Isn’t a Destination — It’s a Fucking Fight
• 01:19:30 – Owning the Fallout, One Step at a Time
• 01:26:13 – Looking Back to Move Forward (Even When It Hurts Like Hell)
• 01:29:36 – Early Recovery: Welcome to the Emotional Blender
• 01:32:19 – Community, Accountability, and Not Doing This Shit Alone
• 01:39:08 – Prayer, Presence, and Getting Intentional With Life
• 01:47:04 – From Snorting Lines to Coaching Lives: Shawn’s Next Chapter

Check out Shawn’s coaching work at: https://xpansion.com

Sponsored by:

• McKelvey Insurance – https://www.mckelveyins.com/
• LightSource Psychotherapy – https://findyourlightsource.com/

Who this episode is for:

- Bar owners who can’t stop drinking their own profits

- Anyone who thinks boating and sobriety can’t mix

- Those living with the secret shame of family dysfunction

- People who think recovery means giving up fun

- Old-school St. Louisans with a soft spot for Trainwreck Saloon

- Anyone who’s ever made a mess of their life

If you’ve ever built a life that looked good on paper but felt like a slow-motion disaster, this one’s for you.

Chris and Zoë sit down with St. Louis bar legend George Hansford—founder and owner of the iconic Trainwreck Saloon—and get real about 40+ years in the brutal bar business, alcoholism, grief, family secrets, and finally, finding hope at the end of a bottle. Literally.

George opens up about growing up in Brentwood, losing both parents by age 25, and how years of unprocessed pain fueled a decades-long drinking career—until a packed suitcase and one final bender forced him to change. This episode dives deep into how trauma festers into addiction—and how it can be healed through honesty, community, and one hell of a recovery journey that took George from the landing to Key West, where he now runs Courage Charters (http://www.couragecharters.com), a name inspired by the Serenity Prayer and powered by the gift of sobriety.

This dude’s not just running boats—he’s giving people hope on the water. And if that doesn’t make you cry or at least book a four-hour sandbar escape, check your pulse.

Also in this episode:

- Tales from Brentwood ice rink and run-ins with NHL legends

- A behind-the-scenes look at the wildest nights in STL bar history

- What it’s like to get sober when *you* are the bar owner

- Why interventions suck—but sometimes still work

- The life-changing power of “suitcase day” (aka when your wife finally packs your shit)

- What recovery looks like in Key West (spoiler: it’s not all Jimmy Buffett and sunburns)

Find George:

Facebook – Trainwreck Saloon: http://www.facebook.com/TrainwreckSaloon

Facebook – Courage Charters: http://www.facebook.com/couragecharters

🛥️ Book a charter: http://www.couragecharters.com

🍔 Grab a bison burger: http://www.trainwrecksaloon.com

What’s inside (yeah, we timestamped the chaos):

0:00 – Intro & sponsor shoutout

2:59 – The legacy of Trainwreck Saloon

5:58 – Brentwood roots, bison burgers, and Blues players at the bar

9:00 – Alcoholism in the family and trying to outrun it

11:59 – Running bars, losing control, and pretending everything’s fine

15:00 – Death, denial, and what it really means to heal

18:00 – Getting sober after 30+ years of burying pain

20:48 – From the bar scene to recovery scene: how shit changed

23:56 – Fireball, slot machines, and surviving the modern bar biz

26:58 – What’s next after recovery (hint: it involves a boat)

29:00 – Drinking culture then vs. now

31:40 – Health failing, marriage breaking—rock bottom creeps in

32:35 – Suitcase day: when your wife packs your shit and saves your life

35:01 – What real support in recovery looks like

39:04 – Why relapse happens, and how George finally got honest

41:20 – Building community when you're the former drunk at your own bar

45:17 – Losing a friend, finding purpose, and becoming a fucking captain

51:31 – Courage Charters is born: a new life on the water

56:44 – Sobriety is a gift. Period.

1:00:14 – Key West living: fishing, chillin’, and real peace

1:03:02 – Tourists vs. locals: the truth about “laid back”

1:05:58 – Recovery in paradise: meetings, connection, and keeping it simple

1:08:04 – Prayer, resentment, and doing the hard shit anyway

1:09:54 – Service work, growth, and giving back

1:10:58 – A surprise trip to Cuba

1:18:09 – Grief, love, and the long road to healing

1:19:55 – COVID, restaurants, and everything that changed

Sponsored by:

🛡️ McKelvey Insurance – http://www.mckelveyins.com

🧠 LightSource Psychotherapy – http://www.findyourlightsource.com

Who this episode is for:
- Anyone who’s ever woken up wondering how the hell they survived their 20s
- Former party girls turned spiritual gangsters
- People in recovery who still laugh at their darkest stories
- Anyone with complicated daddy issues
- Midwest transplants trying to make peace with the lack of decent tacos
- And most importantly: the still-struggling, the not-yet-sober, the ones who think it’s too late—this one’s for you

Addiction, Grief, and Grace with Rene Hudson

Rene Hudson didn’t just dip her toe in the chaos—she cannonballed straight into it. In this raw-as-hell episode, Chris, Zoe, and (MIA) Jeff sit down with Rene, a certified SoCal wild child turned St. Louis recovery badass, to unpack a story that ricochets from beach bonfires and punk shows to addiction, grief, and spiritual rebirth.

This isn’t some sanitized, “I found Jesus and now everything’s fine” kind of thing. Rene brings the real: pierced nipples as teenage rebellion, doing shots and hitting rock bottom, crashing on a boat with no working toilet, and falling into a love story that ends in heartbreak and hard lessons.

You'll hear about her fast spiral into addiction, her time as the life of the party in OC’s house scene, meeting her late partner Noah (who moved in after one night and never left), and how she went from vodka breakfasts to full-body baptisms at The Gathering.

The crew veers off course plenty—talking bridges, airport food etiquette, Sergeant Sausage the male stripper, and Nicholas Cage melting down at Newport bars—but it always comes back to the raw truth of recovery, trauma, and what it means to rebuild a life from scratch.

This one’s funny, heartbreaking, weird, and wildly human. Just like Rene.

00:00 Shoutout to the sponsors
02:59 Bridge drama and Midwest geography lessons
06:07 Boomers, Gen Z, and Y2K brain damage
08:57 Growing up in SoCal
11:58 St. Louis nice vs. California real
15:01 Bonfires, beach boys, and busted boat toilets
18:04 Nick Cage is a freak and we love that for him
18:55 Con Air, In-N-Out, and late-night cravings
21:19 Airport food shaming and clean eating confessions
24:41 Real ones go to church
27:56 First time telling the whole damn story
33:37 Turning the wreckage into something valuable
39:36 Military childhoods and doing it all yourself
42:01 Teenage love, heartbreak, and “marriage?!”
45:55 Nipples pierced out of spite
48:50 Party girl era unlocked
54:59 It starts out fun—until it’s not
01:00:02 Running from everything
01:02:59 A brain full of chaos
01:04:57 Moving to Florida, still running
01:06:55 Relationships, broken and breaking
01:10:01 Losing Noah
01:16:58 Grief, relapse, and trying to survive it
01:20:21 Family pain and recovery roadblocks
01:24:11 Putting the pieces back together
01:26:40 Finally giving recovery a real shot
01:27:25 Why extended care isn’t optional
01:31:40 Love, support, and the shit that saves us
01:33:20 The slippery slope of sobriety
01:39:25 Finding your people
01:42:11 Helping others = healing yourself
01:46:55 It gets better—but not by accident

Check out the recovery community that helped change Rene’s life:
👉 https://gatheringnow.org/recovery

Sponsored by
🛡️ McKelvey Insurance – https://www.mckelveyins.com/
💡 LightSource Psychotherapy – https://findyourlightsource.com/