Claude Hooten is a disorderly alcoholic. Yup, I said it. OK, actually, he said it. And he doesn’t care who knows about it. In fact, he wants you to know about it. Because if you don’t, then he wasted months of reliving the ups and downs of his crazy drunken days as a radio disc jockey in an attempt to touch the lives of anyone in a similar situation. It’s better that you know, and so he wrote a book: Drunk & Disorderly, Again: My Name is Hoot; I’m an Alcoholic.
Hooten—who goes by “Hoot”—is known on the Central Coast for his work at KSMA. He built a successful radio career as Brad Edwards in spite of himself and his alcohol-fueled escapades. Still, the drinking took its toll, and, like all paths that lead to something worthwhile, his road to sobriety was a hard one.
“I was so grateful to finally get sober that I thought I’d share my story, hoping others can find a quicker way to get sober than the prolonged way I did,” Hooten said.
In fact, Hooten was inspired to change his own life after hearing the tale of another man whose life was made miserable by alcohol addiction. Hooten met him by chance at a resort and sat down at the bar to drink with him. It was a moment Hooten considers to be divine intervention.
“The more we drank, the more sober I got,” Hooten said. “I had seen my life. I saw where it was headed, and I didn’t want it anymore.”
Hooten’s revelation came after years of wasted opportunities, failed marriages, and collecting several pounds of emotional baggage.
He was destined to have a different kind of life the first night he went to bed drunk. He was only 5 years old, and would drink the last bit of his father’s and uncles’ beers. Then one night, Hooten had a little too much.
“This rush came over me,” he said. “All of a sudden, I was a standup comedian. I thought, ‘I can’t wait to start drinking! No wonder grownups do this.’”
Things would only get worse for Hooten. He said that at 10 years old, he was attacked and beaten viciously by a predator. During his teen years, Hooten sank further into alcoholism to escape his life. Alcohol and his radio career gave him that out, and took him back and forth across the United States—and even onto a harrowing side trip working for the Republic of Iran.
Hooten is matter-of-fact about his former life. He laughs at the stunts he pulled, at the gall he had, at his mission to be as drunk as he could and “chase as much skirt” as he could, all in a vain effort to outrun his reality. He’s also frank about his current life: the happiness he’s found, how it wasn’t easy, and the demons he still carries and from which he may never escape.
Though he can still laugh at much of it, he also cries. While he was writing his book, Hooten had to come to terms with many of the deeply suppressed emotions and situations he went through—only this time, his new wife, Sande, had to live through it all, too.
“He would write about 20 pages a day,” she said. “I never knew what I was going to come home to.”
With Hooten exposing the intimate details of his life, Sande, who first met Hoot when he hosted a KSMA listener tour of Hearst Castle, said she’s been pulled along for the ride. But putting it all out there has always been the norm for Hooten.
“He has lived his whole life in the public arena,” she said. “He even proposed to me on air.”
The proposal wasn’t exactly a romantic dream: Hooten told Sande to listen to the radio at a specific time. When she tuned in, she noticed he was rambling and erratic. Then he proposed, and added, “You have 60 seconds to call in with the right answer.”
Sande didn’t want to call. Instead, a guy called in and said, “Hell no, she’s not going to marry you.” So then Sande felt like she had to call.
“He said, ‘What’s the answer?’” she remembered. “And I said, ‘I’m not a public person.’ He said, ‘Well, you are now!’”
Now married for two years, Sande said the adventure has been worthwhile, and she believes in Hooten’s hopes for the book. She cited a comment posted on Amazon.com from someone who had read it.
That reader reported dealing with an alcoholic brother-in-law she had just about written out of her life. She said the book helped her realize the person in question needed her love and compassion, as well as professional help.
“I know each alcoholic has his own demons, but being able to see how one alcoholic finally pulled himself out of his own hell and became sober is enabling,” the reader posted.
Hooten and Sande said that such progress is exactly the intent of the book. Hooten doesn’t preach the benefits of being sober in his book, he just lets his story show them. And he doesn’t tell readers what to do. He simply tells how he did it and how, eventually, what he did worked.
“It worked out beautifully,” he said. “Life is good. It’s been very rewarding to get sober and reap the benefits of getting out of that hole.”
Arts Editor Shelly Cone is addicted to telling people what to do and how to do it. Start an intervention at scone@santamariasun.com.
This article appears in May 14-21, 2009.