Click here to download and listen.

International Podcast Day is September 30, and this year we did a livestream – which you can actually watch here:

Here is the link for the Kansas City Podcasters Meetup.

Music

• Intro music: “Fantasia Fantasia” by Kevin MacLeod
• Outro music: “Samurai Spirit” by The Kyoto Connection
• Additional music: “No Frills Salsa – Alternate” by Kevin MacLeod
• Additional music: “Iron Bacon” by Kevin MacLeod
• Additional music: “Morocco Sting” by Kevin MacLeod
• Additional music: “Roadtrip (CB 37)” by Checkie Brown
• Additional music: “Brickfield Nights” by Duncan Reid and the Big Heads
• Additional music: “Irezumi” by Pistol Jazz

Click here to download and listen.

In 2012, Mike got his first taste of podcasting when he became the producer and editor of Sunflower Brew, hosted by Zach Luea.

Sunflower Brew was about politics and beer – specifically Kansas politics and drinking exclusively craft beers.

The podcast itself lasted about a year, but opened the door to the podcasting world for our intrepid host.

Today is a retrospective of our intrepid podcast. You’ll hear excerpts from select episodes:

Sunflower Brew episodes included (in order of appearance):

• Kyle Russell
• Reggie Marselus
• Jason Leib
• Max Skidmore
• Jonathan Ta-Pryor and Shawn Gelushia
• Nate Bukaty
• Jeremy Schliesman and Charlie Vincent (Parts 2 [ribs] and 4 [brisket])
• Amber Versola
• Megan England

If you are interested in any episode of Sunflower Brew, you may be able to download them directly from the Sunflower Brew Blogspot. If you’re having problems with doing so, please contact Mike and he’ll get you taken care of.

Music:

• Intro music: “Fantasia Fantasia” by Kevin MacLeod
• Outro music: “Sunflower Brew Theme Song” by Mike Czerniewski (using GarageBand automatic music maker function)
• Transition music: “Morocco Sting” by Kevin MacLeod

Click here to download and listen.

In Season 2, Mike gave everyone a tour of the Kansas City area.

This time, he’s advocating for the Kansas City area to… become its own state!

That’s right. In a time where we should be adding both DC and Puerto Rico as our 51st and 52nd states (and hopefully by the time this episode publishes, they will already be states. If not, GET YOUR ASSES IN GEAR, CONGRESS!!), why stop there? In many ways, the 5-to-7 county Kansas City metro area really should be separate from Kansas and Missouri, and allowed to become its own state.

Music

• Intro music: “Fantasia Fantasia” by Kevin MacLeod
• Outro music: “Slum Canto” by Kai Engel

Click here to listen and download.

Instead of talking about his political ideology, Mike decides to test it – using the 8 Values Political Test.

You can take this test as well at:

https://8values.github.io/

Here are Mike’s results:

Music:

• Intro music: “Fantasia Fantasia” by Kevin MacLeod
• Outro music: “Aerosol of my Love” by Kevin MacLeod

Click here to download and listen.

This is a unique Thoughts episode indeed. And recorded in a timely manner.

We start tonight with a drink recipe: the Doc Saunders. Here’s how you make it:

• 4 parts Coke (or whatever cola you have on hand)
• 2 mint Mentos (can substitute with some mint flavoring)
• a few dashes Angostura bitters
• 1 part Johnnie Walker Red Label whiskey
• 1 part rum (we’re using Bacardi Gold)
• a little water

Now to the serious part: we remember three persons who had a tremendous influence on our host, and who continue to watch over this podcast today. They are:

• Cheryl J. Czerniewski, Mike’s mother (we are recording this on the 10th anniversary of her death)
• Ryland Lundy, one of the many co-hosts of the Winning Side Coaches podcast and President of the Kansas City Young Democrats
• David Berry, filmmaker and musician who worked with Mike and a few of our previous guests

We miss and love you all, and thank you for looking over this podcast.

Further, we don’t want to get into trouble with the copyright gods, so here is something we wanted to include in today’s episode: David’s song “Kalifornia.”

Music

• Intro music: “Fantasia Fantasia” by Kevin MacLeod
• Background music: “Secret of Tiki Island” by Kevin MacLeod
• Outro music: “In Awareness” by Andy G. Cohen

This is what happens when you play a 6 hour board game – and commit it to a podcast.

The game in question: Twilight Imperium (4th edition)

Twilight Imperium is what is called a space-based 4X game (explore, expand, exploit, exterminate) where all of the players are looking to control the central planet Mecatol Rex – and score points by completing different objectives. The game is for 3-6 players and can take anywhere from 3 to 6 hours to complete, so you will need to plan an entire day around it.

In this three-part playthrough, there are five players:

• Mike (our intrepid host) – Federation of Sol (the humans)
• Matthew – Mentak Coalition (space pirates)
• Clinton – Emirates of Hacan (humanoid cats who are masters at trade)
• John (the owner of this copy) – Barony of Letnev (vampire-like military industrialists)
• Jonathan (manager at the Game Cafe, where this game was played) – Naalu Collective (telepathic snake women)

Part 1: Click here (releases with this post)

Part 2: Click here (releases February 5)

Part 3: Click here (releases February 19)

• Intro music: “Fantasia Fantasia” by Kevin MacLeod
• Outro music: “Badlands” by Silicon Transmitter
• Transition music: “Morocco Sting” by Kevin MacLeod

Click here to listen and download.

What better game to play during a pandemic than Matt Leacock’s Pandemic?

That’s exactly what we’re doing on today’s episode.

While Mike does own the board game – as well as Pandemic Legacy Season 1 (completed a campaign in 22 games) – today’s playthrough is being played on the iPad app.

Music:

• Intro music: “Fantasia Fantasia” by Kevin MacLeod
• Transition music: “No Frills Salsa – Alternate” by Kevin MacLeod
• Outro music: “Hitman” by Kevin MacLeod