Episode 1: Starting Where We Are

Today felt like the right day to start this podcast show. Across the country, people are participating in a nationwide strike by observing no work, no school, no shopping—in response to the violence and unrest emerging most recently from events in Minneapolis. Whether you’re plugged into that conversation or not, it marks a larger moment of stillness, disruption, and reflection. It felt fitting to start something I’ve been carrying around for a long time—something I’ve spoken about, imagined, outlined, recorded drafts of, deleted, tried again.

My name is Joe. This is The Mello Hour. It’s a slow, reflective audio space to think and feel and notice what’s happening in our bodies in relation to the world around us. To process what it means to live well—not in a flashy, optimized, hyper-productive way—but in a real, human, embodied way. For me, it’s a chance to hold up my life and ask questions out loud. What does it mean to build community? To listen to your body? To participate in the world with care, dignity, and grace?

All of this stems from what I’ve learned over the past decade living as a musician and massage therapists. I talk about how I got here. I share about growing up playing music in South Buffalo. About playing in bars when I was thirteen, watching the way people’s faces lit up when we played the songs they loved from their youth. I didn’t know it at the time, but that was the beginning of something sacred for me: sharing what’s inside. Showing up. Making something. Putting it out, even when it’s messy. Even when no one asked for it. Even when it’s at a pizzeria for ten people.

I talk about my work as a massage therapist. Ten years into this strange, beautiful, humbling profession, I’m still fascinated by the intimacy of it. Everyday, I get paid to touch people. That alone is wild. But what keeps me showing up is that the work has evolved into something much more than muscle manipulation or pain relief. I’ve come to understand it as a shared experience—one where two people get to pay attention, together, to what it means to have a body. Not to fix it. Not to optimize it. Just to listen.

That act of listening—whether through music, massage, conversation, or simply showing up in the room—is something I’ve been trying to practice in more areas of life. I talk in this episode about Buffalo’s drinking culture, and my own shifting relationship to alcohol. About the pressure to either be completely sober or proudly indulgent, and the space I find myself in between. I reflect on what it means to consume intentionally—whether that’s food, media, substances, or information.

I also talk about the social media noise. The addictive algorithms. The way we absorb violent news and collective grief and then move on, numbed or distracted, within days. I talk about the ways I feel complicit in it, and how it affects my nervous system. There’s a heaviness there that I don’t have answers for, but I’m trying to stay in relationship with it, rather than shut it out.

And beneath all of that is the theme of belonging. That longing to feel part of something—without having to perform, prove, or perfect yourself to earn a seat at the table. I talk about hyper-individualism, how narrow and isolated so many of our identity-based groups have become, and how hard it can be to feel like you fit in anywhere anymore. I share my belief that we need more third spaces—places where people can be together, slowly, meaningfully, without having to buy something or defend themselves or show off. Just places to exist, as we are, and remember that we’re not alone.

This half-hour episode feels like an exhale for me after what I have inhaled and held onto for so long. If you’d like to give it a listen, you’ll hear a bit more about the Get Mello: WNY Wellness Trail—something I’ve created to support local small businesses and help people explore different versions of slowness and wellness around town. But mostly, I just invite you into this space. If you’ve made it this far, I’m grateful. I’ll be releasing more episodes occasionally, and I’d love for you to walk with me. Or lie down. Or drive. Or do nothing at all. Just listen. Just be.

Thanks for listening. This is The Mello Hour.