Writer-guitarist Josh Alan Friedman was born in New York City in 1956. By 1987, he’d had enough and followed his wife to Texas, a year after Tales of Times Square—the subject of Season 1's podcast—was published.

Josh's 2026 novel, All Roads Lead to Great Neck, is based on a doomed adolescent hippie Josh knew as a teenager. When he trips, he sees visions of a 19th century Jewish pimp. The autobiographical novel, Black Cracker, tells the saga of his childhood being the only white boy at Long Island's last segregated school. Before that: Tell the Truth Until They Bleed, a wrenching collection of music profiles. When Sex Was Dirty, a follow-up to Tales.  I, Goldstein: My Screwed Life (with Al Goldstein). He co-edited (with Nile Southern) Now Dig This: The Unspeakable Writings of Terry Southern. 

Josh also set off satirical fires as writer half of the Friedman Bros, the most feared cartooning duo of the late '70s and '80s. Two anthologies remain in print, featuring the art of Josh's brother, Drew Friedman: Warts and All and Any Similarity to Persons Living or Dead is Purely Coincidental.

On the music front, as "Josh Alan," he barnstormed the state of Texas for 30 years, rocking whole arenas with his Guild D-40. Copping three Dallas Observer Music Awards for Best Acoustic Act, he released six albums: Famous & Poor, The Worst!, Blacks 'n' Jews, Josh Alan Band, Sixty Goddammit, and his 2025 tour de force, Acoustic Instrumentals. 

Incidental music appears from Josh’s albums throughout the podcast.