163: MICHAEL ANTHONY ALAGO/A&R Rep, Photographer, Author/Metallica, White Zombie, Tracy Chapman

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Michael Alago is a photographer, and author, and former Record label executive. At age twenty-four, he began a storied career as an A&R executive at Elektra Records that started with signing Metallica in the summer of 1984, changing the entire landscape of rock 'n' roll and heavy metal. He also worked in A&R for both Palm Pictures and Geffen Records and was thrilled to executive-produce albums by Cyndi Lauper, Public Image Ltd, White Zombie, and Nina Simone.

Alago grew up in Brooklyn, New York, in a large, spirited, and devoted Puerto Rican family. Through his early passion for music, art, theater, and photography, he soon found himself rubbing elbows with many downtown NYC scene makers, from Stiv Bators to Jean Michel Basquiat, Cherry Vanilla and Wayne County to Deborah Harry and Robert Mapplethorpe. As an underage teenager going to Max's Kansas City, CBGB, and various art galleries, Alago also began running The Dead Boys fan club. A few years later, he became the assistant music director for legendary nightclubs the Ritz and the Red Parrot.

In the late 1980s, he was diagnosed with HIV, which manifested into full-blown AIDS ten years later. He survived to continue his music career, but in 2005, he left music to pursue his other love: photography. Alago went on to publish three bestselling books: Rough Gods, Brutal Truth, and Beautiful Imperfections with German-based publisher Bruno Gmünder. He has since overcome his longtime addiction to drugs and alcohol.

In his clean and sober life, he has reconnected with his family, continues to be a working photographer as well as record producer, and only through the grace of his 12-Step program is he able to live this big, beautiful life. In 2017, a documentary directed by Drew Stone and produced by Michael Alex on Alago's wildly successful career in music was released in theaters and on Netflix, entitled Who the Fuck Is That Guy? The Fabulous Journey of Michael Alago.

Today's episode is sponsored by Boulevard Carroll.

Special Mentions:

I Am Michael Alago: Breathing Music. Signing Metallica. Beating Death, The Girl in the Back: A Female Drummer's Life with Bowie, Blondie, and the '70s Rock Scene, Girl on the Road: How to Break into Touring from a Female Perspective – Claire Murphy, Tour Health Research Initiative, ROADIE: My Documentary (TJ Hoffman film), Loud: A Life In Rock 'N Roll by the World's First Female Roadie. By Tana Douglas, Mixing Music Live, Charlie Karp Scholarship Fund, The Last Seat in the House: The Story of Hanley Sound, The Power of Podcasting Panel at NAMM, Soundgirls, Roswell Pro Audio Mini K87, Filming Great Concert Footage, Roadie Short Film, Roadie: A True Story (at least the parts I remember), Roadie Free Radio Merch