Stay ConnectedSober Sunrise brings you AA Speaker Tapes from around the world. Rather than an AA discussion podcast, Sober Sunrise brings you speakers who share step-work, workshops, and general fellowship discussion points.
We are not affiliated with AA in anyway.
Contact Sober Sunrise: podcast@sober-sunrise.com
Sybil showed up shaking at her first AA meeting. When they asked the women to step out, her husband stayed: the group thought he was the one who needed AA. She came back the next Friday, folded her arms, and stayed.
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Often credited as the first woman to get and stay sober in AA on the West Coast, Sybil tells how she found Alcoholics Anonymous through a 1941 Saturday Evening Post article she picked up before a Turkish bath. She wrote to New York asking to be admitted to an AA hospital, only to learn that a small group was already meeting in Los Angeles. From there, she takes listeners into early Southern California AA: a basement meeting her brother started, a fight over who had the right to start a group, and twelve years answering calls at the Los Angeles Central Office. She remembers helping a man who slept under a tree and later came into the office with a dollar for the next person who needed help. When her brother died and members wanted to nail the meeting door shut for a week, Sybil asked where the newcomer would go. The letter Bill W. sent her in her grief became something she passed on to others facing losses of their own.
Sybil C. from Los Angeles, CA speaking at the Spring Roundup in San Diego, CA - April 18th 1987
Music: Deep by KaizanBlu
Harvey could swear on a Bible and stay sober for the day. The next morning, he'd be so sure of himself that he didn't think he needed to swear again. In AA, he found a way out of the place where drinking no longer worked and promises weren't enough.
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Harvey grew up in a loving Jewish home in wartime London and didn't start drinking until his twenties. After freezing up at a professional dinner, he discovered that alcohol could turn feeling an inch tall into feeling like the most important person in the room. In time, he was hiding empties in a covered bathtub, and his wife and sons never knew who would come out of his study. At his first AA meeting, the speaker's experiences were different from his, but her feelings were so familiar that he knew he was home. Nearly twelve years sober in this talk, Harvey recalls making amends to his first wife after about thirty years, realizing at a Paris reception that he no longer wanted a drink, and opening the first-edition bookshop he'd dreamed of with his son. He credits prayer, sponsorship, and the Twelve Steps with teaching him that happiness isn't something to chase; it's a byproduct of how he lives and treats other people.
Harvey J. from Los Angeles, CA speaking in La Jolla, CA - June 14th 2009
Music: Deep by KaizanBlu
Line compares contented sobriety to a swan gliding across a lake. At an AA meeting you can see the glide, she says, but not the feet paddling underneath. Seventeen years sober, she shares what that daily work looks like.
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Line grew up afraid and lonely, and drinking at thirteen gave her the feeling of belonging she'd been looking for. A law license, a move to California, and the right boyfriend were supposed to fix things, but she kept drinking. By twenty-seven she was sleeping on the floor, and when she finally called AA she only wanted to learn how to stop after five or six drinks. Three hours later she called back ready to quit. She traces what happened next through detox, a women's recovery house, and the Big Book work that helped her become comfortable enough not to drink. She describes going back through the Steps after a boyfriend called out a tantrum, trying to meditate with a kitchen timer, and praying for the coworkers she least wanted to be around. She also tells newcomers what happened when she hit a wall five years sober: the book and prayer mattered, but she needed the people in the room to put their arms around her. Her message is to tend sobriety every day and stay close enough to let people help.
Line G. from Rancho Santa Fe, CA speaking in San Diego, CA - August 22nd 1999
Music: Deep by KaizanBlu
Donna could convince herself she'd catch the eleven o'clock boat, sleep it off, and make it to work. Then she'd drink, and the plan would disappear. AA helped her see the lie before the first drink - and the fear she kept carrying into sobriety.
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Donna describes getting sober at 26 after years of trying to make drinking fit around the life she wanted. She could plan to stay dry until a wedding, convince herself one drink would fit her diet, and promise to be home from a boat trip in time for work, but once she started drinking, those plans disappeared. AA gave her a way to understand the craving, but deeper recovery meant examining the fear, resentment, and relationship patterns she kept carrying into sobriety. She talks about divorce, learning to date without abandoning her values, and building a marriage where commitment could be practiced one day at a time. Through inventory, amends, sponsorship, and a growing relationship with God, Donna describes restored relationships and forgiving harms she'd once thought unforgivable. When both parents died within six weeks of each other, that work became the ability to keep showing up for their care, even when she dreaded the drive over. She closes on the freedom of no longer living in her past and the responsibility to use her experience to help someone else.
Donna B. from Portland, ME speaking at the Tuesday night Surrender Group of Alcoholics Anonymous in Portland, ME - January 27th 2009
Music: Deep by KaizanBlu
John has seen an open AA meeting tell a newcomer to get out, and another leave a woman seeking sobriety wondering what she'd just heard. His singleness of purpose workshop is about carrying AA's message clearly without forgetting kindness.
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With twenty years sober, John approaches singleness of purpose by reaching for AA literature rather than treating his own opinions as authority. He traces the importance of identification through the Washingtonians, the Oxford Group, and the early connection between Bill W. and Dr. Bob, then turns to Traditions Three and Five and the responsibility of an AA group to carry a clear message to the alcoholic who still suffers. Two meeting experiences show why both focus and kindness matter: a chairperson harshly confronts a newcomer at an open meeting, while a woman John brings for help with drinking leaves asking what she'd just attended. He also discusses open and closed meetings, cooperation with treatment facilities, AA's relationship with other fellowships, and literature on medication and the limits of an AA member's role. Returning to the image of a mosaic he saw in Rome, John closes with the individual member as one small part of a much larger whole.
John S. from Pensacola, FL presenting a workshop on Singleness of Purpose at the Gulf Shores AL Jubilee in Gulf Shores, AL - February 28th 2009
Music: Deep by KaizanBlu
Nine years sober, Jerry took his AA chip to his father's grave. Recovery hadn't brought everything back, and "just turn it over" couldn't do the work for him. This is his story of inventory, forgiveness, and learning to find joy on the other side of surrender.
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Jerry recalls a painful childhood in Detroit, his father's drinking, and the anger he carried into his own alcoholism. He describes starting to drink during his Air Force service, losing his marriage and contact with his children, and eventually living in alleys before finding AA on January 28, 1974 - twenty years to the day after his father's death. A fellow member took time to show him the Twelve Steps early on, giving him a foundation in inventory, meditation, amends, and helping others. But Jerry doesn't present sobriety as a promise that everything comes back. He talks about accepting that another man raised his children, working through layers of resentment toward his father, and bringing a nine-year chip to his father's grave. Later relationships bring more pain and more opportunities to learn that surrender is a process, not something solved by being told to "turn it over." With nearly twenty-seven years sober, he keeps returning to the joy of living, the value of honest friends, and a willingness to see the people who irritate him as chances to grow.
Jerry B. from Houston, TX speaking at Houston Roundup in Houston, TX - November 24th 2000
Music: Deep by KaizanBlu
Chris spent seven years going in and out of AA before a Big Book group showed him how to work the Steps. Two weeks later, sitting on his truck's tailgate, he realized the obsession to drink was gone. His life was still a mess, but he wasn't fighting a drink anymore.
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Chris shares a blunt, often funny AA talk about seven years of coming and going before a Big Book-focused group showed him how to begin the work. After a career as a chef gave way to repeated losses, broken promises, and a desperate bottom in 1987, he sought help from a doctor to begin detox, then returned to a meeting and nearly backed out again. A young member stopped him, sat beside him, and helped him stay long enough to hear people describe lives changed by the Twelve Steps. The group followed through with visits, sponsorship, a Third Step, inventory, and useful responsibilities around the club. Chris remembers being handed a vacuum cleaner while he was still shaking, then feeling genuine pride when people noticed the room he had cleaned. Sitting on his truck's tailgate about two weeks into recovery, he realized the obsession to drink had lifted, even though his financial and physical problems were far from solved. He closes with a hundred-mile bicycle ride through worsening weather, using the riders who carried one another home to describe the connection he finds in active AA service. His emphasis is on giving newcomers hope, clear directions, and a meaningful part to play.
Chris R. from Ingram, TX speaking at the Big D Roundup in Dallas, TX - May 2009
Music: Deep by KaizanBlu
Nearly five years sober, Mark faced federal charges - then the agent who arrested him asked for help getting sober. Seeing an FBI agent as an AA newcomer was one thing. Learning to help him without expecting something back was another.
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Mark tells a fast, funny AA story about success, grandiosity, and arriving at a meeting convinced he could buy Alcoholics Anonymous. He recalls making a fortune in the record business while still trying to prove himself to his late father, then getting sober on February 22, 1983, under the watch of a blunt, loving sponsor. Early recovery includes disco suits, late-night Twelve Step calls, losing his possessions, and learning that a sober birthday still matters when the outside of his life looks like a failure. Nearly five years sober, old conduct catches up with him in a federal indictment. The agent who takes him to court later admits he can't stop drinking and asks for help. The agent later steps away from the case, but Mark continues sponsoring him. Mark also describes AA friends packing the courtroom, a suspended sentence, and eventually presenting that same man with a thirteen-year sobriety cake. Beneath the outrageous stories is a clear message about sponsorship, resentment, accountability, and the fellowship that taught him to value sobriety over status and to love and forgive himself and others.
Mark K. from Santa Monica, CA speaking at the 25th San Diego Spring Roundup in San Diego, CA - March 29th 2002
Music: Deep by KaizanBlu
Joe once wanted to find an AA meeting just to prove he didn't need meetings anymore. Eight months after his fifth sober birthday, he was drinking again. The lesson he brought back wasn't another reason to say no. It was a different way to live through the Twelve Steps.
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Joe, 32 years sober, brings a dry old-timer's humor to his AA story of war, writing, radio work, relapse, and learning to stop running everything. He recalls coming home from World War II, becoming so ill from drinking that he couldn't complete a book tour, and entering Alcoholics Anonymous after his wife suggested they might help him live a little longer. A decorated fighter pilot he admired made the Twelve Step call, but Joe initially treated recovery as a matter of refusing the first drink and agreeing with the book. After five years and eight months sober, followed by a three-month relapse, he returned with a different understanding of powerlessness. He walks through the slow surrender that led to his simple Third Step phrase, "God, take charge," then gives a funny, pointed account of working all twelve Steps forward or backward. The message becomes especially clear when Joe speaks about devastating bereavements: serenity doesn't erase grief, but the program has helped him face it without wanting a drink. This is a practical talk about surrender, amends, daily inventory, carrying the message, and the distance the Steps can put between him and his next drink.
Joe K. from Carmel, CA speaking in San Leandro, CA - February 11th 1995
Music: Deep by KaizanBlu
Sandy nearly missed the liquor store because he couldn't get his shoes untied. He decided the solution was loafers. His AA story follows that same brilliant logic all the way to the old ideas he finally had to drop.
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Sandy shares a funny, sharply observed AA talk about the fear, guilt, and secrecy that came before his drinking and followed him into sobriety. Raised in Connecticut, he describes finding an hour of ease at Yale and spending years paying a higher price to chase that feeling. His Marine Corps flying career becomes the backdrop to blackouts, withdrawal, rationalization, and the increasingly desperate effort to look like a man without a problem. After a seizure, hospitalization, and a brief return to drinking, a forceful Twelve Step caller gets him into meetings and keeps coming back for him. Sandy then discovers that reading all the Steps in 45 minutes is not the same as living them, and that his childhood fear of God has come into AA with him. Through sponsorship, the group, and a willingness to turn his life over, he begins to experience a Higher Power that understands rather than condemns him. The closing story puts it simply: AA can throw him a life preserver, but he still has to let go of the old ideas he insists on calling his own.
Sandy Beach from Tampa, FL speaking in Palm Springs, CA - June 5th 1976
Music: Deep by KaizanBlu
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