Why? The Podcast

Michael Stein always cheers for the underdog. As an actor, filmmaker, podcaster and small business owner, Michael knows the hard work it takes to be successful.

His podcast Long Shot Leaders is designed to encourage us all as he talks with people who have made it, despite the long odds. Michael's company Abadak sells all kind of tarps.

On top of talking about podcasts, how to be sucessful, we have a little tarp talk as well. You can find Long Shot Leaders wherever you get your podcasts, and you can get your tarps at Abadak's website.

We talked with Mark Stancil and Daniel Hancock from Terminus Media. They are a comic book company dedicated to telling stories originally told in the Bible. (So, maybe spoiler alert?) But if you hear that description and tune out, you should know that Davey & Goliath, or, to make a modern reference, Veggie Tales these are not.

Terminus is telling stories based on biblical characters, but focusing on the actual character and fleshing them out from their description in that other book, and try to make them more human. It's a great conversation as we learn more about comic books and that other book.

For more information, check out Terminus' website.

Here's an episode we didn't think we'd be releasing this weekend.

If you haven't heard, actress and model Tawney Kitaen passed away last night at age 59. Not much more is known about her death, but, like many people, we were pretty surprised.

We interviewed Tawny last summer and had some technical issues, so we were trying our best to make everything sound better. In light of today's news, we decided to release what we had as a thank you to Tawny for talking with us.

We can't pretend we knew her well, but we are thankful that she opened up with us and gave us her time.  And so it goes...

Hi there! Hope you're doing well and enjoying the great weather as we enter a new season. And when we think about sun and flowers and dandelions, we think Satan. (Well, we don't, but we wanted to segue to this week's guests.)

This week we talked with Kym and Nick from The Satanic Temple. We had a great conversation, learning more about the work of the Temple and their beliefs. They're not a scary bunch- they were kind, welcoming and happy to answer our questions and explain more about their beliefs.

For more information, and to find a Temple near you, check out their website. We'll see you at coffee hour!

To the uninitiated, bee keeping seems like a scary and dangerous hobby. But for Paul and Lynda Violassi, it's all in a day's work. They are the owners of Violassi Farm, located in Davisburg, Michigan.

We talked with Paul and Lynda about how they got into the hobby, how hard it is to take care of the bees and what they do with all that honey. For more information, check out the Violassi Farm on Facebook.

This week we talked with the legendary Steve Cropper.

"Hey, hold on a minute Slappy(s)," we hear you say. "'Legendary' is strong words." You're right, it is. But when you're talking about someone who co-wrote "Green Onions," and "Soul Man" and "Sitting on the Dock of the Bay," forgive us for throwing around the 'L' word.

Steve has a new record out called "Fire It Up," and  it does what he has done his entire career; it rocks. We talked with Steve about the new album, but we also talked about what it was like at Stax Records (!) during their heyday. We also talked about his friend (!!) Otis Redding.

What else can we tell you? Steve was great fun and very kind (it's that southern gentleman thing) AND told us what a bush hog is. What more do you want to know?

Just listen to the thing.

It's spring, the days are longer, the sun is brighter and the temperatures are a little bit higher- it seems like the perfect time to take off your clothes and enjoy your day.

We talked with nudist Matthew McDermott about his book How to Take Your Clothes Off and his work as an author and blogger to help spread the acceptance and understanding of non-sexual nudity. You can read his great blog and order his book from his website.

If you had to choose your screen debut, you could do worse than playing the significant other of Idris Elba. And, Liz Priestley was just that fortunate. Liz co-stars in Concrete Cowboy, the most recent film from Netflix. It tells the story of a boy who meets up with the Fletcher Street Riding Club in Philadelphia and who rediscovers his father on horseback.

We talked with Liz about the new film, the difference in preparing for a stage performance vs film and whether she offered to act alongside her co-star should he ever get the job portraying a certain British secret agent who is also known as a prime number.

This week, pull out your best canine puns because we're talking with the creators and owners of the popular Dog Bark Park B&B.

You've seen it on countless roadside attraction shows, and celebrations of the unique and memorable buildings, but this week, we get under the collar and talk with Frances Conklin, co-owner of the popular B&B.

And if sleeping inside a dog wasn't enough. Frances and her husband are artists and in the gift shop located right next to Big Willy (that's the name of the 12 ft Beagle you can sleep inside, you can get all sorts of creative dog art, including art made by chainsaw.

For more information check out their website.

How do puppets do all those things that make them look so alive? That's the work of this week's guest- puppet engineer Randy Erskine. Randy works for Selberg Studios helping build hand-crafted puppets that have been used by puppeteers around the world. (You also might have seen their work in the movies Best in Show and Goosebumps.)

For more information on Randy and his impressive work, check out the Selberg Studios website.