Meet My Good Friend

I met Megan over a shot of Fireball, and that decision colored the rest of our conversation. There are plenty of laughs in this talk that goes from pet moose to Drew Carey and makes a stop at a basketball game between 2 beer glasses and 2 shot glasses. We also make a wildly inaccurate prediction about the weekend's Ohio State Buckeyes game.

So, take a shot of Fireball and learn about Yellowstone Park and sports journalism with my good friend Megan.

My good friend Estlin is a super interesting dude. He’s a big Bernie Sanders supporter and I met him after a Bernie rally in downtown Cleveland, but, unlike most Bernie fans, Estlin isn’t old enough to vote. At 14 years old he knows more about politics than I do about anything but 90s pop music.

We talk about the day of the event (from his mom picking him up after school to him hanging out at 11pm chatting to a stranger at a Mexican restaurant), what went down inside the rally, his Bernie handshake-hug, and the time he met President Obama.

Other highlights include:

• You can take a selfie and not actually be in the photo.
• Playing Halo can help you get into college.
• e.e. cummings real name is…
• Income inequality is whack.
• Hey Monea!
• 53+ Facebook likes.

Feel the Bern and get schooled by my good friend Estlin.

Marlene just passed the bar exam and will officially be an unemployed lawyer after her swearing-in ceremony in Columbus! Way to go Marlene! She sat down with me to talk about law school and what it takes to become a lawyer. We go over all sorts of lawyerly things like LSATs and a bunch of other law test acronyms.

Learn about Marlene’s move from Georgia to Ohio (and back to Georgia then back to Ohio again), her trip to Spain, her long distance engagement, and her two cats. Nothing Marlene or I say in this episode should be considered legal advice (she has to say that because she’s a lawyer and I want to say that to sound important).

If any listeners in the Cleveland area are looking to hire a brand new lawyer, let me know and I’ll get you in touch with Marlene. Really. She’s has Law School Debt and got into law in order to help the less fortunate. That’s enough right there, isn’t it? Please meet my good friend Marlene (and hire her)!

My good friend Chuck is an elevator troubleshooter from Denver, Colorado. You will learn tons about elevators and elevator repair. Most importantly you will learn that elevators are interesting enough to talk about for a half hour. Seriously!

Well, it’s not just elevator talk the whole time. We talk about Iceland, marijuana, welding, skiing, and Chucks history of being a knucklehead.

Meet my good friend Chuck the elevator guy!

Learn about the life of a physical therapy doctoral student in this talk with my good friend Jered Robert. When he graduates he will be called “doctor” but as for right now he’s living at home, paying his own tuition, and touching smelly feet. The glamorous life of a grad student!

To keep sane Jered spends time on his other passion, which is making music. Check out some of his originals as well as Justin Timberlake/John Legend/etc… covers on YouTube or SoundCloud.

Other highlights: the mental health aspect of physical therapy, buttholes, and whatever this thing (æ) is called. Please meet my good friend Jered Robert.

This is a short sample of some of the interviews you can hear at www.meetmygoodfriend.com.

Michael “Honeycomb” Henighan is a blues musician who can play the flute, harmonica, and bass as well as sing. I met him at a Cleveland Blues Society jam session where musicians are randomly grouped together to play three songs for an audience. We discuss the jazz-like spontaneity that this format promotes and how they pull it off. For a special treat, find out if Michael is the only blues playing flautist.

We spend a little time talking about his time in the navy and in California. We also talk about electronics and information technology too! This interview has it all! It’s time to meet my good friend Honeycomb.

Here’s a special treat for you listeners this week: you get to meet two of my good friends! Andrew and Zack are both musicians so we spend a decent amount of time talking music. We talk about Andrew’s dad’s punk label Sonic Swirl and what it was like growing up around a bunch of punk bands. We talk about Zack’s musical family as well.

The guys have been laying the groundwork for a “chill-wave/hip hop/progressive/funk” group that should start making waves fairly soon.

We spend a chunk of time talking about Zack’s father and how his death has affected his family and his musical direction.

Some other highlights of our talk include brides walking down the aisle to Metallica, how to make cigar box guitars, animals (lynx, giraffes, koalas, sloths), and going in & out of doorways.

Meet my two good friends Andrew and Zack.

This week you get to meet my good friend Amanda Lee. I recorded this interview last week and never got around to posting it because life can be exhausting between work, the kids, fantasy baseball playoffs and cleaning cat puke. When I finally sat down and listened to it I had forgotten how interesting Amanda is!

She is a barista/art curator/artist/really nice person. She gives me a lesson on ponies vs. horses and another on $5 t-shirts vs. $50 t-shirts. We talk about the art she curates at the coffee shop/art gallery/record store where she works.

We spend a good amount of time discussing disgusting things men say to women online and in the real world, and how she funneled her frustration over this into a performance art piece.She also helps run a warehouse space where DIY punk & noise bands can do their thing for an audience.

I wish I had posted this interview sooner because I really do think it’s one of the more interesting discussions I’ve had. Meet my good friend Amanda.

n.b. for my father-in-law: I think you’re pretty cool.

A few guys from Jackass were in town to do a comedy show. I didn’t go to the show, but after it was over I went into the venue and they were chatting in the lobby with some fans. I stood off on the side debating my next move, and before I realized it all the fans had left. There I was in a room with Chris Pontius, Steve-O, Preston Lacy, Danger Ehren, Dave England and a few of their posse. I assumed that if I asked one of them for an interview I would be shut down immediately, but I decided just to go for it. I asked Chris Pontius and he said “Yeah” right away.

The venue was closing and the group was going to be heading to another location so Chris told me to meet him there. He was kind enough to sit down with a no name podcaster and chat for a good 15 minutes. I was hoping to talk longer but by this time it was one A.M. and he hadn’t eaten yet.

We talk about what makes jaguars and leopards panthers, compare and contrast Parma Italy & Parma Ohio, diss the city of Portland (and then recant) and talk about Jackass and Wildboyz.

It’s time to strip down to your thong, put on a bow tie and meet my good friend Chris!