Mike Oppenheim: Rock Bands, Writing Death, and Living Wide Awake

In this episode, we sit down with Mike Oppenheim—novelist, podcaster, musician, filmmaker, and world traveler—for a deep, funny, and surprisingly uplifting conversation about life, death, and everything in between. Mike’s podcast Coffin Talk explores the meaning of death, but his real superpower is helping us live more fully. We talk about his days touring in rock bands, his time working in hospice, the wild wisdom that comes from visiting 50 states and 30+ countries, and why he’s more interested in meaningful conversations than selling books. From indexing galley proofs to asking life’s biggest questions with warmth and wit, Mike reminds us that curiosity is a lifestyle. Get ready for insights, laughs, and maybe a new way of thinking about your own story.Mike Oppenheim has been interested in entertainment since he was a child, but became serious in 2003 when he began his music career with Punchclock & Smirk.In 2006, he started his weekly philosophy essay, The Casual Casuist and In 2011, he earned an MFA in Fiction from Mills College with his novel Dysfunction. He has since released Baby Doll: The Book (2012), Too True to be Good (2017), The Apology (2021), and Ardor (2023).Mike also makes short videos: Squawk (2018), YouScience (2020), & Me-Search (2021).In 2021, Mike and his wife Elana started a metaphysical podcast, Coffin Talk with hundreds of interviews about metaphysics and ethics.Mike also indexes books, eats avocados, runs a writing workshop, and loves his family.http://mikeyopp.com/Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/i-am-refocused-radio--2671113/support.Subscribe now at YouTube.com/@RefocusedNetworkThank you for your time.