John Was Trying to Contact Aliens

JOHN WAS TRYING TO CONTACT ALIENS tells the story of John Shepherd, a man living in rural Michigan who spent three decades broadcasting music in the hopes of reaching extraterrestrial life. Against a backdrop of the 1960s and '70s Space Race, NASA, and science fiction, Shepherd began building increasingly elaborate and bulky supercomputers through which he would broadcast radio programs of his favorite music, like electronic music, Krautrock, reggae, and Afropop, millions of miles into outer space. This made him something of a local media sensation, but, as John reveals, this passion for connecting with aliens was, in part, rooted in a difficult home life and being a gay man during a time when being a gay man was unacceptable. As the lonely years continued, and Shepherd's music went, presumably, unheard by extraterrestrials, he experiences true love at first sight, confirming his assertion made before meeting the love of his life that, "for everyone, there is someone."