Why? The Podcast

Paul Zwaska knows how to take care of a baseball field. He was the head groundskeeper for the Baltimore Orioles for 15 years. Now, he works with groundskeepers across the world in keeping their fields ready for play. We learned about some of the stresses of the job, and one of the nicest things Cal Ripken Jr ever said to him. For more information on Paul, you can follow him on Twitter and you can check out Beacon Athletics, the company Paul works with, for all of your grounds keeping goods & information.

Chris Frantz is music royalty. As a founding member of Talking Heads and Tom Tom Club, he's created some of the drum beats that you've hear many times over.
 
 Now Chris has a new book out about his life. It's called "Remain in Love: Talking Heads, Tom Tom Club, Tina" is available from St. Martin's Press. You can also follow Chris on Twitter.

John Ellison is one of the great songwriters of all time. His "Some Kind of Wonderful," is known the world over as a classic and it's been covered by a wide array of musicians. John has just released a new song, "Wake-Up Call (Black Like Me)" and it's a powerful statement and indictment of the times we are living in.

But it wasn't all serious with John. He also let us sing backup with him. He's likely regretting that decision. For more information on John, check out his website. "Wake-Up Call (Black Like Me) can be downloaded from wherever you get your digital music.

It's hard to succinctly describe Tammy Jo Echkart. She's a writer. A chocolate priestess. A poly dom. A woman who shares her house with both her husband and her submissive. We talked about all of this with Tammy Jo in a fascinating conversation. For more information on Tammy Jo and to find her writings, check out her website.

We've had Bob Trate on the show before, to talk about one of the great genre film festivals in the country- Blobfest. The Colonial Theater in Phoneixville, PA (where they filmed the 1958 class film The Blob) has been home to the festival for the past 20 years.

This year, unfortunately, they were forced to cancel the in-person celebration. But now anyone, anywhere gets to join in the fun. Friday and Saturday of this week, take part in the celebration and get some great Blob swag while you're at it.

For tickets and t-shirts and posters and pins, check out the Colonial's website.

What better way to say 'Happy Birthday America,' than to talk about Showgirls. The Paul Verhoeven (classic?) film made a mark on film goers from it's opening weekend. (We know because Heidi was there.)

We sat down with Jeffrey McHale, director of the great new documentary You Don't Nomi, where he examines the obsession people have with Nomi Malone and why we all aren't done talking about Showgirls.

You Don't Nomi, is now available for rent from the film's website. We recommend it.

Suzi Quatro was one of the first female bass player to make it big in rock. She also was a television star, playing Leather Tuscadero on Happy Days. There's a new documentary, called Suzi Q, where Suzi leads you through her amazing life. We got to talk with Suzi prior to the film's release and learn about her friendship with Debbie Harry, where she celebrated her 50th birthday and so much more.

For more information on the film, check out their website. (There's a virtual premiere July 1st with Suzi doing a Q&A after the movie... Get your tickets here.) We also have video of our talk with Suzi on our YouTube page.

Scott Wiener knows a thing or two or three or four about pizza. He offers guided tours of different pizzerias in New York City, but that's not all. He also is a writer & columnist for Pizza Today magazine and holds the world record for owning the most pizza boxes. We talked with Scott about the tour, what makes a good pizza and the history of the most wonderful food group ever. For more information on Scott's tours & classes, check out his website, and for more information about his charity dedicated to helping feed front-line health care workers, check out the Slice Out Hunger website.

Not only is Sarah Jett Rayburn a Jeopardy! champion- she's a four time Jeopardy! champion. We sat down to talk with Sarah about nerves, the backstage area at the show and her new book which just came out. For more information on Sarah, follow her on Twitter, and your can order her books on Amazon.

If you're Jeff Dawson, jumping out of a plane isn't enough. He'd rather do it naked. And he's done so 814 times. (And counting.) Believe it or not, it's harder to do a naked jump than a clothed one. And, the Guinness people don't keep records, so it's up to Jeff and his friends at SANS (The Society for the Advancement of Naked Skydiving) to keep the records. For more information, or to join, check out their website.