Michael Faber from ESO Network chats it up!

Michael Faber – Interview

[00:00:00] Melissa: This is spoiler country and I’m Alyssa surgeo today on the show. I’m excited to chat with creator of the O network and fellow podcaster, Michael Favre.

Michael Faber: Well, thank you for having me. I appreciate being here,

Melissa: Melissa. Thanks for coming on. This should be a lot of fun. I’d love to know how you got started into podcasting and how you created the network.

Michael Faber: I’m sure it’s all happy accidents actually. I’ve been podcasting since 2008 and let me apologize real quick because I live down in Georgia and we’re having some pretty big storms

Melissa: right now. Yeah. Yeah. I’ve been following that. Are you guys okay? Oh yeah,

Michael Faber: we’re fine. We’re totally fine. But. Just in case I disappear or go, Oh my God, you know, you’ll know what’s going on.

Okay. All right. So, I’ve been podcasting, I said since 2008 and I was one of those people who started [00:01:00] listening to podcasts like tooth five, 2005, 2006. And a lot of them weren’t that great right at the time. And I was like, you know, I can do this too. You know, it was just like one of those things, like, why not learn how to do it?

You know, I’ve always been fascinated by technology. I was doing already at, by that point, I was doing some web design and playing around with the internet. So it was let’s, let’s try doing that. And so I did, I started writing some of these podcasts I was listening to and asking them. So, how do you do this?

And a lot of them were very generous with their time and showed me how to do it. And, you know, told me what kind of equipment to buy, what, you know, what I should do, what I shouldn’t do if there was a book to read type thing, and I’m always one to play it forward. And so we’ll get into that in a few minutes, but I [00:02:00] started doing it and I started guest hosting on a few different shows and, you know, just learning and trying to hone my craft.

If you want to say right, then, then in 2010, I decided to start doing my own show. And I created the first station one podcast, and that is a geek themed podcast, but more of a magazine style of show. And when we say geek, we don’t mean your typical star Wars, star Trek, Superman, Batman stuff. We talk about all that.

Yes. But we also talk about what you’re passionate about on the show, because geek is another word for passion, because you could be a geek about music. You could be a geek about art, science, sports nature. It could be all the way across the board and we like go diving into all those topics. So we started our show, [00:03:00] April 7th, 2010.

And we have not missed an episode since. That’s awesome. So we’ve been, we do weekly and we’ve done bonus episodes and we’ve done spinoffs and we’ve done, you know, shows that in shows, you know, so we’ve, we’re up to this next week is going to be your 567. Oh,

Melissa: congratulations. That’s awesome. Yeah. That’s a huge milestone.

Michael Faber: Yeah. We like to say we’re the biggest podcast nobody listens to. Right.

Melissa: I think a lot of us can relate. Right.

Michael Faber: Very much so. And that’s the great thing about podcasting is it’s not about the numbers. It’s nice to have a ton of listeners, but if you’re having fun doing it. Why not just have fun with it. Just go where ever it goes.

Melissa: Yeah, absolutely. I do it for fun strictly it’s it’s not a source of income, but it is, you know, it’s fun to get to chat with people. Cause you know, we do mostly [00:04:00] interviews and it is, it’s just awesome. You know, you get to chat with people you might not normally meet in real life or, or come across.

And it’s for, for people like us that have these geek, doms and fandoms, you know, it’s, it’s just a great opportunity. And I know that you do interviews, but you do a lot of reviews as well, right? Oh yeah, we

Michael Faber: do both. What we do as the show has evolved. It went from being a 30 minute podcast where we would just review something that we’ve watched on TV or movie.

We liked it’s evolved into more of like what we like to call a magazine style show where we have different segments now. On the show. So say our show, you know, would have a, say an interview at the beginning of the show, after the intro, like you and I are doing right now. Right. We would, we would be talking for, with say, you know, a celebrity or an artist or writer or a sports figure.

You [00:05:00] know, it just depends. We’ve talked to hundreds of people over the years and it’s just been amazing to do. And so that’s the first segment and that usually lasts about 30 to 40 minutes now at the most. And then we have of little, two minute movie review segment, then we have the main topic and that usually goes for 40 minutes.

Okay. And like this last week, the show is going live actually tonight as we’re recording this we reviewed the movie, the commitments, which was celebrating its 30th anniversary. Oh, wow. I

Melissa: did not even realize that was 30 years ago.

Michael Faber: Oh, trust me. It made me feel really old because I saw it at the theater.

Melissa: Okay. Yeah. Yeah. I’m not going to say if I did or not, but, but yeah, no, that’s crazy.

Michael Faber: So, but it was really awesome to be able to do stuff like that. And then what we do is we have a five minute [00:06:00] segment where we interview local artists who are having Kickstarters, you know, cartoonists illustrators writers to help them promote their.

They’re Kickstarter. And we’ve gotten a few shows over the line because they’ve been on our podcast and everything, which is really nice to do. That’s part of giving back, but I wanted to do, and then we show close up the show. So our average show is about 90 minutes. Some sometimes we go closer to two hours.

We try to stay away from that though, because with a podcast, it’s usually find the sweet spot that people like listening is 90 minutes.

Melissa: Yeah. Yeah. If you tend to over that, we will normally split it up into two, two segments, you know, two different episodes. If it goes over like the hour 45, two hour

Michael Faber: Mark.

Oh, sure. And that’s the great thing about it is you with podcasting, you can do things like that. You know, in the old days when we used to call, well, like we, you say the [00:07:00] old days of podcasting when we used to be like, you know, just, we didn’t care, we just kept on going. I think we once did a four hour podcast.

That was just like, no, we’re going to split that into two episodes. Yeah.

Melissa: People are like falling asleep.

Michael Faber: Hope we’ve had people fall asleep on her podcast before. Yeah. We had a guest in one of the panels we were doing. I couldn’t even tell you. This is probably about eight years ago. All of a sudden we’d be talking.

I think it was like the princess fried or something like that. And all of a sudden we hear.

And it was just like hold on, hold on. And it’s like, Mike, is this, you know, so-and-so, is this, you know, Oh, it must be Shea. And all we hear is poor guy. Oh, that just, that just made me feel so good as a host to keep people riveted. Right.

Melissa: Exactly. You’re like I guess I’m doing a great job at her falling asleep, right?

Michael Faber: Exactly. [00:08:00] Oh. If, if the people on the show are falling asleep, what are the listeners do

Melissa: exactly, right. Yeah. Well, you make, you make your changes,

Michael Faber: right? Exactly. And that forced us into a couple, you know, soul searching know moments there, but it was interesting. And so what ended up happening with the show over the years?

You know, at first, you know, I started at the show with my nephew and it was like a way for us to bond. I thought it would be really cool. Cause he, he was in his junior year of college at the time and it was just, you know, a way for uncle and nephew to bond and talk about geek stuff that we both liked.

And since he was younger, you know, he was in his early twenties at the time I thought, Oh, that’s great. Cause he could tell us about stuff that younger people like in everything like world of Warcraft and gaming and stuff like that and events, but eventually he, his interest as he started going towards his senior year, he started waning a little bit with what he [00:09:00] wanted to talk about or being on the show.

So about episode 15, I got a email from the sky. It says, howdy, I really like your show. I’m enjoying listening each week. And you know, you know, keep it going. And I wrote back and said, Hey, if you ever want to hop on the show, you know, we always like guests on it. Cause we ha we tried to change up who we have each week to make it a little more interesting.

And certain people have certain interests. And so this guy joined us for episode 17 and we talked about star Wars. He never left. He became my new co-host and Mike Gordon has been with me for now 10 and a half years.

Melissa: That’s so cool. That’s a great story that happens. You know, I think that’s pretty much happened with almost all of us on spoiler country’s same type of a thing we were on as a guest or someone emailed.

And, and now we’re, you know, on the show [00:10:00] hosting with, with John and Kendrick. So yeah, it’s fun when that happens.

Michael Faber: It’s it is neat because, you know, we built a chemistry and I like to tease him and say, he’s lasted longer than my first marriage.

Melissa: That’s great. So you’re like best friends now as

Michael Faber: well. Exactly.

We still get into arguments, but all friends do, you know, we have, but, and it’s, it’s nice. Cause we live in the same city, but we were based out of Atlanta. And so we live in different parts of Atlanta. So we’ve probably seen each other face to face maybe over the 10 years, maybe two dozen times. Oh wow.

Even though we record weekly together, And everything just cause he lives 40 miles away from me.

Melissa: Yeah. Yeah. That’s it’s can be hard. You never want, Scott is busy and has things to show you. Can’t always just, you know, take time to go, you know, take a trip, you know, it’s just realistic a lot of the times. [00:11:00] Oh

Michael Faber: exactly.

And Mike has been a great cohost and I couldn’t have asked for anyone better to, you know, join in with me and he’s enjoyed the ride as we’ve grown, as we’ve spread our wings as we became a network. And so it was pretty

Melissa: awesome. Yeah. And speaking of the network, how many podcasts do you have now under the one brand

Michael Faber: under ESO?

Currently we’re at 28 shows. Wow. And you know, there’s a caveat of course to it because I host three and a half of the shows that are on the network.

Melissa: Okay. Wow. Okay. Yeah. I was going to ask you how many of those did you host?

Michael Faber: And we also have like one or two shows that are on hiatus right now, but they still count as.

Being active. Cause people still listen to the older shows, right. For, that are part of the network. Like one of the hosts is on maternity leave because she had a baby last time and you know, and she’s, she wants to come back to podcast, but I said, take care of your [00:12:00] family first because I’m very big in family first.

Yeah, absolutely. You know, and there’s, but there’s people out there it’s like, no, you know, come back now. Right. And it’s like, no, no, that’s not how we work. Welcome.

Melissa: Yeah. It’s corporate America.

Michael Faber: It is. And that’s what we’re kind of bucking the trend with. If that makes any sense you know, ESL network, which formed when her station one.

Decided to spin off into a doctor who podcast. And so we created earth station who, and that was our first official spinoff. And we had a friend of ours who is, let’s starting a science podcast. And he asked me, Hey, Mike, you got a second show. Have you? We thought about doing a network maybe. And I was like, what’s a network, you know?

And so he was said, I have a new podcast starting. And I was thinking about, you know, have, if you want, if you [00:13:00] want it, it could be part of your network. And I’m like, sure, what the hell? I didn’t know anything better at the time. Right. And so earth, the ESN or station one. Kept kept its own identity, but we used to always refer to it as ESO, just for short.

And so we came up with the name ESO network. And so we, we started off and we’ve had different shows over the years and it’s a great, great bunch of people. Cause we’ve had shows come and go over the years as all networks do, do some, get some people get tired of podcasting or some shows move on to other networks or they want to do their own thing.

And by all means, please do you know everything. We’re not going to hold you back. And you know, we’ll get into the logistics of being part of being a network and everything. Cause it’s a headache a lot sometimes, but sometimes there’s a lot of bonuses too, because it expands your listeners. It expands your listenership and it [00:14:00] also helps grow, you know, organically.

Yeah.

Melissa: He comes like a family to where everyone’s, you know, kind of pumping the other shows as well. You know, the more reach you get more engagement, like you said, more

Michael Faber: listeners. Exactly. And that’s one of the things that, you know, we try to strive for is family. And we kind of try to be a huge family. We try to, you know, help each other, mentor each other.

We try to help better the shows. We try to help them raise money, help them raise listeners, help them, you know, try to make it worthwhile to keep on podcast because you know, yeah. It’s fun talking to people, but there’s a lot more work to podcasting than just talking to somebody on the air like we’re doing right

Melissa: now.

Yeah. Yeah. And other it’s, there’s a lot that goes into it, you know, there’s editing and and all the research. I don’t think a lot of people realize how much research do you [00:15:00] do, you know, beforehand when you have a guests coming on so that you can be informed and, and know what questions to ask and what to talk about and how to promote them in the best light.

And there’s a little more, most

Michael Faber: afraid with research you had to do for me. Oh gosh. Oh my God. Mike did what? Right?

Melissa: Yeah. I’m like Nancy drew. I like to deep dive into, into Google.

Michael Faber: Exactly. He’s into. Oh my God. I can’t believe that. I don’t know if I could talk to this person, right?

Melissa: No, you came back clean.

Everything was good.

Michael Faber: Okay, good. Yeah, I think I did really help.

Melissa: Yeah, exactly. Now, do you do you bike like. Manage the other podcast or are they just, do they have creative freedom to do whatever they want with their content?

Michael Faber: All the shows on our network are free to do whatever they wish to do. So we don’t tell them what they can talk about, what they can’t talk about.

We’ll we’re who they can talk to, or if they want the guests and everything, [00:16:00] we try to keep it and we try to arrange it that we don’t have same guests the same week. Oh yeah, of course. You know, say you get Isaac, the bartender for one of your guests from the love boat. I don’t want Joe blow show on my network to be talking to the same guy the same week that that would be kind of be awkward, but otherwise we let them go.

We have them. You know, there’s certain rules that they have to keep up with to be part of ESL, part of being part of ESO. You have to play the sh the network opening the network closing, and you have to play a promo for at least one of the other shows that are on the next.

Melissa: Okay, fair enough.

Michael Faber: Yeah. It’s, it’s very straightforward and fairly easy.

It’s not like, and then, you know, you have to post your, your podcast when it goes, live on her on certain places, but we have some of the shows that are on our network are on five other networks. Yeah. [00:17:00] So we don’t call ask for exclusivity. Right.

Melissa: Okay. Interesting. Okay. And so they do their own editing and everything as

Michael Faber: well.

Oh yeah. We, I, the only shows I produce are my own. Okay. I would not want to be producing 28 shows. I do like, have I like living a life? Yeah. I,

Melissa: you like to sleep and have have other activities. I’m sure

Michael Faber: I can get into a lot of trouble if I didn’t do that. But yeah. And there, you know, it’s great though, because I love hearing what these other shows go for.

And we listen, you know, we have people on our, we have a board of directors now and each member of the board has different, you know, responsibilities, one of the persons. And, you know, we hope more of our people listen to the shows to make sure the quality is there, the sound quality, the content quality, the you know, and you know, that they’re including the stuff they’re supposed to [00:18:00] and.

We’ve you know, when they like, Oh, this week, one of our podcast listeners works as a mailman up in Canada and he used a little lovelier mic on his lapel and recorded his episode as he was delivering mail. Yeah.

Melissa: Yeah. It’s so funny. When I first started with, with spoiler country, I didn’t, you know, I didn’t have any equipment or anything.

It was sort of like a little. Kind of spur of the moment thing I decided to do. And I was doing them on my phone and we were all just cringing every time we’ve listened because it just sounded like crap. So finally got a mic and everything. And it just makes such a difference. You know, when I listened to the first episode with the right equipment, I was like, Oh, this is like night and day,

Michael Faber: you know?

Oh yeah. I don’t tell anyone to ever listen to the first dozen episodes of my podcast. You know, it’s, it’s cheesy. It’s really bad compared to what it is now, which is semi bad. [00:19:00] So gosh,

Melissa: no moms,

Michael Faber: we that’s one thing I do. I now also I teach people how to podcast.

Melissa: Yeah. I was reading that about ale and I’m just curious, do you do it as a course or it’s like a mentorship program? How does that work? I do

Michael Faber: it as of right now, I’m doing it as a mentorship and you know, people can contact me through Facebook or through.

Other, you know, through Facebook or LinkedIn or other ways. And, you know, I work one-on-one with people on how to get started in podcasting ways to improve their shows. And basically, you know, when we could have like conventions when COVID is off and those come back. Yes, exactly. I do panels on podcasting one Oh one.

And so I can hit a larger group of people when I do that. Like a ball, not a ballroom, but a [00:20:00] nice a room where we can, you know, have 40, 50 people or more in the room with me talking to them and teaching them the basics on how to podcast, you know, it gets more, I like doing hands-on because I can answer more questions that way.

Melissa: Oh, yeah, of course I cover more bases in a short amount of time. Well,

Michael Faber: exactly. And I am actually let you know a little secret. I am in the process of writing a syllabus and I offered to do this as a continuing education course.

Melissa: That’s awesome. That’s a huge area. Yeah. That’s a huge deal. That’s awesome that it’s, you know, well, it’s becoming a viable career, you know what I mean?

It, it’s not just something that people are doing as a hobby. You know, everyone wants to you know, have a podcast out. It seems like, you know what I mean? They’re, they’re springing up all the time and it’s, it’s new. It’s not a new industry, but it’s becoming, I think more popular than it was, you know, obviously five, 10 years ago.

So it [00:21:00] only makes sense that there would be courses and classes and schooling on it.

Michael Faber: Oh yeah. And a lot of times, so with it, if people ask like for reading material, I say pick up podcasting for dummies, they just came out with a brand new version of it about six months ago. And it’s a great starter book.

It’s, it’s not something that you would have somebody who’s an, you know, wants to get more expert, but it’s a great way to start. Yeah. Like you started with your phone. Yeah. And everything. And that’s what I tell people when in my class literally is see that phone sitting next to you. Start practicing on that.

That’s I wouldn’t recommend that going live as a show, but I would, that’s a weight. So you can get used to hearing yourself, to pace yourself, to get rid of the ums and ERs or the stutters and such, or I love that’s when my keywords and such, you know, I always try to catch [00:22:00] myself saying that.

Melissa: Yeah, we all have our go-to phrases and words.

And I think some interviews are different than others too. I’m sure you’ll agree that you get different vibes from different people. And some people you have just a great rapport with and others you’re, you know, it’s like pulling teeth and then those are the ones that I noticed. I have more ums with, you

Michael Faber: know?

Well, of course, because you’re nervous because the person’s not responding to you. Right. The questions you’re asking and you’re like thinking in my head, Oh my God, what did I say wrong? Or what am I not asking this person? And then you start doubting yourself and that’s the, that’s the little devil on your shoulder whispering in your ear going, you suck, you really, really suck.

And then you just flick it off and, you know, Nope, I am good. I am a podcast or so it just kind of cool. And I just love. That it’s a great medium that’s growing and [00:23:00] growing. I put like today, I still I’ve been saying this for a few years now. I put podcasting now where radio was a little over a hundred years ago.

Yeah.

Melissa: 100%. For sure. I

Michael Faber: agree with that. It was pretty much the wild West. Anything goes, you had all of these mom and pop type radio stations in the middle of nowhere and broadcasting, whatever they felt like. And that’s what podcasting is, but it’s slowly becoming more and more commercial.

Melissa: Yeah. Yeah. I, I think the earliest I remember a podcast was when Sirius FM, I think that’s what they’re called or XM.

Yeah. They came out and that was the first time I had heard anything about a podcast and didn’t really listen to many at the time. And then lately, you know, within the last few years, it’s just becoming more and more mainstream, as you were saying, we’re commercial. And I know several people now that have podcasts, [00:24:00] you know, and it’s just really interesting how it’s changed and how it’s evolved.

And I think it’s a great thing for people to get into.

Michael Faber: Sure. When I used to go to conventions and put up the banners, you know, saying ESO network or station one podcast, and people would still come to me at the time going, what’s a podcast and this wasn’t even old people, you know, you know, not even like mom and pop type people, this was, you know, people in their twenties or thirties.

And I’d have to explain to them that, you know, it’s like a radio talk show about some of your favorite topics, but it lives on the internet. And they would be like, Oh, okay. You mean like rush Limbaugh? And it’s like, Oh God. Now I know why you’re

Melissa: like, no, please. No, don’t you

Michael Faber: I’d have my hand in my fist. You know?

Like, it’s like, Oh God, it’s [00:25:00] like next, please. Yeah.

Melissa: That example. Yeah, exactly.

Michael Faber: But yeah. So I, I had explained it to them and I talked to them for a few minutes and a lot of times some of these people would become some of our listeners and it’s awesome. And you know, it’s all about promoting yourself.

It’s all about getting your name out there and getting your show out there because there’s so many shows out there now that. 99% of the people don’t even know you exist.

Melissa: Yeah. And I think the other challenge as of late is there’s a lot of celebrities that are doing podcasts and more power to them, but they do tend to draw a lot of listeners just because they’re already famous to begin with.

And I think that can hurt sometimes, you know, newer podcasts that are trying to stand out, you know? Oh,

Michael Faber: of course, I’m glad you actually brought that up because that’s one of the things I tell the kids in my class or adults, I should say that [00:26:00] 99% of you will fail in this podcast because the statistic is that 90% of the shows that start will not make it packed their 10th episode because they realize that a.

They’re not going to be the next Mark Marin or Kevin Smith or Hillary Clinton or whoever has a shirt. Yeah, exactly. You’re not going to be, you know, Dax. You’re not going to be, you know, Ellen, you’re not going to be any of these folks. And you have to realize also you’re not going to get rich being a podcast or, Oh yeah,

Melissa: exactly.

Michael Faber: You know, you know, my mansion, I am living it and talking to you is not brought to you by the podcast.

Melissa: Right. Right. So yeah, you have to do it because you love it.

Michael Faber: Exactly. You have to have love and you have to have a passion for it, you know? And I keep, I tell my students that. Like you had mentioned all these celebrities that are getting into podcasting they’re [00:27:00] parts of these giant networks, but they’re being, they’re being paid to do it because it’s the celebrity name.

Exactly. Exactly. And they’re not getting rich off of doing the podcast. Kevin Smith is not making a living off of doing smart cats. He’s making a living off of making films, Mark Marin, same thing, even though he’s talked to almost everybody, right. He, you know, he, and he’s one of the best interviewers out there that he, you know, he, he does acting, he does stand up.

He’s also not making a living off of his podcasting. Right. There are some people who say they’re making living off of podcasts, but I want to see what kind of living that is and who their sponsors are.

Melissa: Yeah. I mean maybe possibly people like Joe Rogan.

Michael Faber: That’s Rogan’s name though. Possibility. Yeah. Yeah. It was big into what UFC.

[00:28:00] Melissa: Yeah. He’s made most of his money. I’m sure. They’re

Michael Faber: yeah. Yeah. And I, you know, I would love to one day, you know, quit my day job and become a pop podcast entrepreneur as I like to. Yeah. Yeah. And, you know, as I think you want the same. Yeah. You know, we do, we do this because we love doing it. We love talking to people.

Absolutely love, you know, playing, paying it forward and teaching people. I love being able to meet new people all the time. A lot of them, I consider my friends now and that’s pretty awesome. Yeah. That’s, what’s great about it. You know, we joke about it saying, you know, You know, podcasting in 2021 is the tramp stamp of 2020, you know, you know, everyone in 2020 in the year, 2000 had a tramp stamp now in 2021, everyone has a podcast.

Melissa: Yeah. Yeah. That’s a funny analogy. I like that.

Michael Faber: It’s not meant to put anyone down who has tramp stamps. I know quite a few [00:29:00] male and female. Oh gosh.

Melissa: That’s hilarious actually.

Michael Faber: So, but it’s, it’s a great, it’s a great thing. And I love hearing all these different podcasts there’s podcasts on any topic you could think of podcasting on.

Anything from very G-rated kid friendly to things you don’t want to see under a rock. Right, right, right.

Melissa: Yes. There’s something for everyone out there, which is part of the draw, I think. And you can listen to a podcast when you’re doing other things. I often listen when I’m doing dishes or cooking dinner.

So it’s, you can, you know, in today’s society, when we’re all trying to get so much done, it’s great that you can listen to something and multitask while you’re doing it.

Michael Faber: Hmm, exactly. Like I’ll fully admit it. I was cooking dinner right before I came in onto the air to talk to you tonight. And I was listening to a podcast while I was cooking and you know, my wife was working, so I was like, you go [00:30:00] do your thing.

I’ll I’ll cook dinner tonight. And then I realized, what time was it? What it was. It was like, I’ve gotta be on her show in 10 minutes. So, but I was listening during the time though, I was listening to a podcast and you know, one of the best things that ever happened to me is I w there’s a con here in Georgia, it’s called dragon con it’s this huge, huge multimedia convention that, you know, sometimes gets up to 90,000 people.

And it’s every labor day weekend. And I’ve been going religiously every year, since 2004, 2005. And I’ve been lucky enough to be a guest the last few years. So at the con this woman walked up to me. I had never seen her before in my life. She walked up to me, stopped me and looked me in the eye and say, I go to bed with you every day.

And my wife was next to me. And I was like, honestly, I don’t know who she is. And I said, excuse me. And she told me her [00:31:00] name. And she says, my husband LIS is a beat cop. And he comes home. And when he gets home from work, he listens to your show and I love listening to your voice and I fall asleep to your voice.

And it’s great. Yeah. That’s such a

Melissa: cool compliment.

Michael Faber: Yeah. I was just like, wow. It was awesome. And that’s one of the best feelings in the world is when somebody you don’t know, comes up to you and says how much they love your show or that you’ve done something for them, or, you know, that you’ve mean something where something you said being, you know, touch them in a different way.

Absolutely.

Melissa: And there is something with that that I’ve been discovering as well, and there is a type of voice and I’m sure you’ll agree with me and not to say that. People who want to do a podcast, you know, necessarily have to fit a requirement. But I have noticed that there is a stylized way that we tend to do things, right.

Like [00:32:00] voice-wise like I can hear it in your voice, you know, like you, your radio ratty X, you know what I mean? So do you feel that

Michael Faber: way? Oh, very much so. It’s kind of interesting because there’s a certain tone to the voices and stuff, but you have all different kinds of voices on podcasts, which is great.

And that’s people, people build their self-esteem up. People can build their confidence and it’s great. And you hear people grow as they continue podcasting and stuff. And that’s what makes it awesome. Yeah,

Melissa: yeah. Practice makes perfect with just like anything. And, you know, it’s interesting. It’s also similar to writing in the publishing industry, as we were talking earlier about, you know, all these celebrities that have their own podcasts and you can’t really expect to, to get rich or to get to that status, you know, in, in this type of industry, at least currently.

And it’s similar to the writing industry I’m an author and same type of thing. I always [00:33:00] tell people that are starting out, that if you want to get rich, you’re probably in the wrong business. You have to have a passion and a love for it. And I think there’s a lot of crossover with writing and podcasts lately.

A lot of my other friends are starting writing podcasts. Are you noticing any crossover as well? Like in your podcast, you have a lot of authors or comic book writers.

Michael Faber: Oh, of course we have tons of writers, friends who appear on our show. We also have a lot of comic book artists to appear. One of the best artists I’ve ever met in my life, his name is Mark Maddix.

He does pulp covers horror covers for like little shops of horror magazines, but he also does a lot of hammer horror DVD covers, but he, his stuff is like almost photo realistic and it’s just amazing. Yeah, and he’s become one of my best friends through the podcast. That’s awesome. So it’s a pretty, it’s neat to [00:34:00] see we had author Bobby Nash, who is a fiction writer.

He actually was a co-host on the podcast for about three years. And I still get to this day, even though he hasn’t been a host for probably six years now, seven years. Oh, earth station one. It’s not Bobby Nash’s podcasts

Melissa: now it’s mine.

Michael Faber: Yeah, exactly. No, I’m the one who started it, you know, type thing. So it’s pretty awesome.

So it is, it is neat. The crossover and we’ve actually through the podcast, we’ve actually written three books based off the podcast. Cause you know, earth station one sounds all science fiction and geeky and such massive fact. Well, exactly, exactly. And so we had friends of ours who were writers write tales of the station.

Oh, that’s cool. And we did anthologies and we put out three, three different ones of them and you could still find them up on Amazon intent. Yeah.

[00:35:00] Melissa: Everyone go click on the Lake or click now, wait while

Michael Faber: you do it

Melissa: one click it. That’s cool.

Michael Faber: So, yeah, so it’s pretty awesome. And the books have been out for probably like five, six years now, but, and, but it’s fun to read how many ways people can kill them.

Melissa: Have you ever thought about writing a book on podcasting itself or how to book I’ve

Michael Faber: thought about it? I just I’m so darn busy with, with the network, with my day job, with podcasting, trying to leave some time for my wife and plan. And of course it is. And now on top of it, I’ve actually started taking voice acting lessons.

Melissa: Ooh, I think I did read that. That you’re trying to get into voiceover acting. Yes, I am. That’s great. That’s exciting. What prompted that?

Michael Faber: For years, people have always said, Oh, Mike, you’ve got a voice for radio. And I, I played in radio when I was in [00:36:00] college. I did college radio and I did an internship in a radio station in Washington, DC, and also up in Baltimore.

And it was a ton of fun to do the internship. I learned a lot. I even did a couple of overnight shifts and it was, it was exciting to do. And I got the bug. It’s like, Oh, this is awesome. But at the time working radio paid $9 an hour. Yeah, no. And so I went on and learned how to become a graphic designer and, you know, did that kind of stuff.

And so when I got into podcasting, I never really thought about doing any kind of voice acting and stuff. Like I have now 20 year old son, but when he was little, I used to read Harry Potter to him and I did all the voices. And so I always thought, Oh, it’d be kind of cool to do voice acting and stuff like that.

But about four years ago, as a training con and I was viewing Rob Paulson, who is a [00:37:00] voice actor, he does pinky and the brain, he does Animaniacs he does teenage mutant Ninja turtles, Jimmy neutron. And so, yeah, he is big time. So I interviewed him and after the interview he was looking at, he looked at me and looked me right in the eye and says, dude, I love your chops.

Are you in the biz? And I said, no, I’ve never, never done it. He says, man, you’re missing out. You have a great sound to your voice. You, you have what it takes. That’s a huge compliment that floored me. I was like, I think I was like floating six inches off the ground for the rest of the convention. And so I decided, you know what, I’m getting to a certain age.

I need to do this for myself. And so for the last eight weeks I’ve been taking voice acting lessons once a week. Good for you. That’s awesome. My teacher already says yes. He says, I’m at [00:38:00] the point already where he says you could do a podcast and it’s like, I am a podcast. Oh, wow. And then joking. Cause he knew that.

And then he said, but he said, I could see you doing some voiceovers and I could even see you doing like narration to a thing, but I want to get you even more. So I want you to get into acting and stuff like

Melissa: that. Yeah. Learning the different races. And you know, it’s interesting. I have interviewed a few voiceover actors and the main thing they say is that the voice over community is actually very small and very tight knit and they all know each other and it is, I think, difficult to break into.

But at the same time, once you’re in, there’s a lot of

Michael Faber: work. Oh, very much so. And the thing is, that’s like a dream type thing. And if I get there, I get there, but at least I’m having fun doing it. And that’s what it’s all

Melissa: about. Learning something new. Yeah,

Michael Faber: exactly. I’m the person who [00:39:00] like find something, I start tinkering with it and I teach myself how to do it.

Like everything with the computer, like. You know, like I said, I learned how to do graphic design and then I became a web designer and an illustrator and, you know, whatever. And I taught myself everything. Everything is all self-taught because I put my mind towards it. It’s the same thing with podcasting.

That’s why, that’s why you do it. And that’s how I learned how to do it. I never took a course in how to podcast. I never took a course on how do you speak properly? So we’re taking the voice acting over class because I’m contradicting myself left and right now.

Melissa: Yeah. But it’s different. It’s a different process.

I mean, it’s even different from live action acting, you know, it’s, it’s its own thing. And I think that there definitely has to be a study, but like you said, you know, there’s some, I was, I’ve talked to Larry Kenny, right. And he, I asked him, Oh, did you go to school? Did you take all these courses? He was like, no, I’m just, he’s like, I hate to say it, but I’m just natural at it.

It’s just what I [00:40:00] do. And there is something to be said for that as well.

Michael Faber: Exactly. Some people have naturally. Gifted voices and others have to work at it. You know, like I, we met, we were joking earlier about the ums and ERs. And so you have to concentrate while you’re speaking. And one of the things with my day job that I have, they actually gave me a corporate podcasting role that I’m producing for the company.

I work for a new podcast. And so it’s neat hearing these people. You hear talk at like Ted talks and business things when they get in front of the microphone to do a podcast they’re like or yeah, exactly. And I’m laughing my head off at them. I mean, not, not in front of them, but you know, inside my head, I am.

Cause it’s like, ha ha ha Mr. Publix.

Melissa: Right? Yeah. And I think it’s the opposite too, because whenever there’s a camera in front of [00:41:00] me, I’m like, Oh God, where do I look? You know, just give me a microphone, please.

Michael Faber: Exactly. And we’ve been playing on our podcast around with doing some video work. And it’s just like, do you really want to see two middle-aged guys talking about geeky stuff?

You know, we should have outgrown years ago

Melissa: right here. Right? Well, there’s the whole YouTube thing. That’s still just, just, you know, powerful and popular as it has been. And there are more podcasts that are, are doing video as well as audio. And we’ve, we’ve discussed it as well, but yeah, it’s, it’s different.

It’s very different. Just, I guess you have to adapt to it like anything

Michael Faber: else. Exactly. It’s a whole different world where you have to think, you know, even further through what, you know, how you’re holding yourself, what you’re wearing, what your lighting is. It’s an, you know, if you’re, you have to remember, Oh wait, I can’t itch myself there while I’m recording the podcast

Melissa: or something, [00:42:00] or,

Michael Faber: yeah.

I, I it’s, like, I could always put myself on mute while somebody else is talking and take a swig of a drink or something, or take a bite of a burger when you’re on video. Everyone is watching.

Melissa: Yeah, exactly. And you know, you have to carry yourself differently. Like you were saying, you know, for, for women or not all women, but for me, I, you know, I’d have to put makeup on because that’s what I, I like to present myself like that when you’re doing audio, it’s like pajamas, you know what I mean?

It’s that like, as we were joking pandemic lifestyle you don’t have to worry about what you look like or having to dress up or put on a, on a show. And that’s great for people that love doing that. But I think when you are used to just doing the audio, it gets a little nerve wracking when you’re like, Oh, I have to be on camera now.

Michael Faber: Well, exactly. And you. It’s always fun when you talking to somebody and interviewing with them and you see, they go on mute or they come off of mute and it’s like, okay, they’re either eating or they are taking a swig [00:43:00] of something, a drink or something. Let me ask you a question real quick and you hear, Hey, Mike, let me tell you.

Melissa: And when, when I am interviewing someone and they choose to leave their camera on, it’s actually great. Because for the same reason, I can see when they’re taking a drink of their coffee or whatever they’re whined. And that allows to, to ask the question, you know, because there is that timing and I’m sure this is something that you teach.

When you’re mentoring, there is a timing aspect where you’re not talking over someone you’re not interrupting them. So the video does help on that end, where you’re like, Oh, they’re taking a drink. I can, you know, start my next question.

Michael Faber: Well, exactly. And we actually do on our podcasts. We do use video for that reason.

So that way you don’t talk over somebody because we’re mostly like how you and I are doing right now. We’re conversing, we’re talking. But you know, we know like [00:44:00] when you hear me break, like take a break or something, you know, that’s when you jump into talk or respond a lot of times, if you’re in the middle of, so let’s talk about Wanda vision or talk about justice league or whatever.

And, you know, people get excited and everything. They just want to get their idea and they talk over each other. And that’s what video has helped with a lot actually. And we don’t put out the video to the public, but we just use it for. Us and, you know, blackmail material also. Yeah, of

Melissa: course. I bet you have some funny blooper reels.

Right?

Michael Faber: Do we ever, I like teasing, you know, like people who appear on my show, you know, like, Oh, if I ever need something, you know, really important, I’ll show them.

Melissa: Right. That’s great. This is the black balance going to end up all over social media. 

Michael Faber: you remember when you didn’t want this show to anybody?

Melissa: Yeah. What, what are your, what are your favorite episodes to do as far as subject matter? Do you [00:45:00] prefer, you know, reviewing, interviewing which what’s your favorite?

Michael Faber: That’s a good question. You know, I love interviewing because I love meeting new people, but I less, I love the discussion. I love it when we don’t have a topic.

I love it when we just like, so what’s going on? And we just go for 45 minutes talking about wherever the show goes. That’s some of the best free form stuff that I love, but I also love it when we get musicians and I’m a huge, huge music head. And I love going to music festivals. I love seeing live music and anytime we can get musicians in to talk to it, it’s just awesome.

Yeah. That’s cool. That makes me go. Ah, yeah, but we’ve also started, I did a segment on the show that we’re doing quarterly now it’s called the best blank that you’ve ever eaten. I don’t know what the rating is [00:46:00] on the show, so I didn’t want to,

Melissa: Oh, that’s fine. Okay.

Michael Faber: So it’s called the best shit you ever ate.

And so. We each time we do it, we have like four of us and we do a whole episode. We don’t have any guests, you know, like interviews or anything, because it just takes so long to talk about this stuff. And each person picks four foods they want to talk about and you know, so it has to be that. And then the other people have to do each one that the person brings up where their best one was.

That sounds really

Melissa: fun.

Michael Faber: Oh yeah. And it’s great because you find out about, you know, are people daring or people not so daring and you know, you find out like, Oh, that sounds great. Next time I’m in new Orleans. I am definitely going down to the French quarter and going to get Po’Boys blah, blah, blah.

Melissa: Yeah.

Yeah. You get to learn about things you might not have eaten before.

Michael Faber: Exactly. Or you have surprised people when they bring it up. [00:47:00] Oh my God. I’ve been there. That’s the best, you know, and you go off on that and it’s just, the spontaneity is just awesome. And that’s one of the best things with podcasting.

It’s those moments when you do have the spontaneity and it just goes off in directions, you’d never expect it to.

Melissa: Yeah, I think that’s probably my favorite as well. When we do our, our random, you know, like you were saying episodes, or we don’t really have a topic in mind, we just shoot the shit, you know, and we call it tangents on tangents.

And there I think are some of our more popular episodes as well. And it’s just really fun to sort of jump sporadically from topic to topic and we’ll get into all kinds of random stuff and we laugh, you know, it’s just fun. And we’ll go for an hour and a half, two hours and put it on the air and people like

Michael Faber: it.

Oh, very much so. And that’s the best thing. And then the other best podcasts are when you’re listening to a podcast and the people in such a great conversation [00:48:00] that you want to jump into it and try to respond to them.

Melissa: Yeah, exactly. You want to be engaged with them and feel like you’re in the room.

Michael Faber: Exactly. And you’re like, Oh, I want to be friends with these people. These guys talk about awesome stuff. And then when you finally meet them in person, you, all you go is up. Yeah.

Melissa: Right. It’s turned into a different person. Exactly. Yeah. Well, I’m looking forward to, to the con circuit again, for that reason, just to get, to meet all the people that you know, you’ve chatted with and talk to because we all run in the same circles essentially.

You know, that that’ll, that’ll be something that’s going to be really fun. I think, and energetic. And that there’s something about that as well. You know, when you’re, when you’re sitting at home by yourself or with your family or whatever there is, you know, there is this cutoff though with real physical engagement.

And so I think that once we get back out there too, it’s just going to spur all kinds of, you know, more creativity.

[00:49:00] Michael Faber: Oh yeah. So it’s, it’s the best part about it is the interaction you have with your fans? I shouldn’t say fans listeners, as we like to say on the show on the rung of the entertainment ladder podcasting is right below the monkeys with the symbols.

Or the Oregon grinder. So, you know, we’re podcasters are not that high up on the entertainment level. So I can’t really say we have fans. We’ve got lists.

Melissa: Yeah. Yeah. And that’s good enough.

Michael Faber: Right. Anytime I find out that somebody other than my mom is listening. You know, it’s always great. And my mom has never listened to an episode I’ve ever done.

Really.

Melissa: It’s just you not interested in that subject matter. No,

Michael Faber: no. You know, when you talk about Harry cheapen or Bob Dylan, then give me a call.

Melissa: Yeah, that’s great. My dad listens to the ones where he knows [00:50:00] who the guest is. Oh yeah. You know, he’s, he’s old school Italian and he, you know, he doesn’t read comics.

He doesn’t know who a lot of the comic book people are and which is fine. But if there’s an actor or somebody, he knows a show that he watches, then he’ll, you know, he’ll listen and get excited and ask questions. So that’s always great, you know?

Michael Faber: No, and that’s, that’s the best thing about it is, you know, when you can get fair, many members involved, I’ve literally had, you know, my sister on my show, I’ve had my wife, Alicia, I’ve had my son, you know, so it’s just like pulling, you know, who else can I pull in, you know, to the show.

So it’s pretty awesome.

Melissa: No, I fill out a funny, I’ve had my best friends. We did a, just a random tangents episode. And it’s so nice to when you’re interviewing someone that you know, or having a conversation with, with someone that, you know, because I don’t know if you notice this, when you listen to the playback, do you think your voice sounds different?

Oh, of course.

Michael Faber: Yeah. Well, I, it took a while [00:51:00] for me actually, to get used to listening to myself because to this day I have my harshest critic. I’m the person who, when they edit, who has the most edits on the show, you know? So, yeah. So yeah, so it’s, it’s the toughest thing, but it’s at the same time, you know, that’s how you improve because you hear yourself and you hear the way you’re saying stuff and it just, it’s just interesting the way you do it.

And. You get better that way, because that’s how you start editing new Titan. And you get tried to get to the point where you don’t have to edit yourself so much because you’re realizing what you’re saying and you’re paying attention to what comes out of your mouth.

Melissa: Yeah, yeah. A hundred percent agree with that.

It’s so true. And for anyone listening that wants to get into podcasting, you know, everything you’re saying is completely right on, there is [00:52:00] just something about just doing it really. You can read books and you can take courses, but I, I really do think it is just doing it. And I’m no expert by any means.

I’ve been doing this a very, very short time. But in that short amount of time, I do probably three to four a week. And I’ve learned so much, just like you said, by listening to my, myself and listening to the other podcasters on our show that are so incredible and I’ve been doing it forever. So there’s something about that as well.

Michael Faber: Hmm, and just always remember, have fun doing it. Yeah. That’s what this is about. That is when you could tell that somebody should stop a podcast, when they stop having fun doing it, podcasting should never become a chore. Oh God. It’s Monday night. I’ve got a record again. No, but you can hear it when they’re talking to people.

When they’re into it, when they’re doing the show, like even interviewing people, it becomes a chore. That’s when you [00:53:00] know, it’s time to stop. Even if you’ve been doing it five years, 10 years. If the passion is no longer there, take a break, put your show on hiatus. Maybe start something else. Meets them. Grab another friend, right?

Whatever you want, or just don’t talk to anybody for awhile, you know, this is the perfect time to do that. Don’t talk.

Melissa: Totally. Yeah. This is the time folks.

Michael Faber: Exactly. And that’s the best part about it is when you’re at the point where you’re ready to give up, stop the show. Cause that’s how you lose listeners too.

Nobody’s going to want to hear you being miserable. Nobody’s going to want to hear, Oh, that’s right. How’s things are you doing okay. You know, I wouldn’t want to listen to that for an hour and now everyone has 20 minutes. I don’t want to hear somebody going Bueller.

[00:54:00] So, no, you don’t, you don’t want to do that. And I’m glad you get my jokes. This is

Melissa: totally I’m right there with you

Michael Faber: and it, and it’s just, it’s just awesome. And that’s the fun part about podcasting is do it till you don’t want to do it anymore. It’s not going to kill anybody. If you decide to stop, you know, you might have a couple of people go, Oh, he stopped what what’s going on.

But you know, in five minutes, they’ll find another show to listen to.

Melissa: So true.

Michael Faber: Get into consistency or, you know, things like trying to keep, you know, a regular schedule. So that way that keeps your listeners involved. So that way, when people subscribe, Oh, it’s Thursday, the new episode of bahbahbah is coming

Melissa: out.

Yeah, no, definitely consistency is so important. We, I think we released daily actually be just, we have so much content and there [00:55:00] is something about that because, you know, even I I’m like, Oh, I’m expecting our next episode. I want to see what Casey’s doing. I want to see what Jeff is doing or Kenrick is doing.

You know, I think that’s so important because as a fan of a podcast, I’m very rigid. I like my schedules. So yeah, when I listened to other podcasts as well, I’m like, wait it’s Sunday. W why isn’t this episode uploaded yet? You know? And

Michael Faber: you want to get to that point with listeners. It’s like, Oh boy, this is out.

It’s out, you know, So, you know, like what was it in the movie that the jerk new phone books are here? Books are here. God remember phone bugs. Yeah, exactly. The old days I used to find phone numbers instead of, Hey, Siri calls. I wasn’t. So

Melissa: yeah. You know, what’s funny about a year ago, right before the pandemic or right.

When it started somebody delivered a phone book to our porch and I thought it was the strangest thing. You know, we, we were like, we’re looking at it for a second. Like it was in a time [00:56:00] capsule.

Michael Faber: Exactly. And that’s the crazy thing. It’s like, what is this? You know, my best, one of my funniest experiences ever happened was I took my son to the Smithsonian.

Probably he was like five or six years old and actually probably even a little older, cause he already had his own phone and. So he was probably about 12 or 13, and we were looking, working through the 20th century exhibit and they had a rotary phone and he was looking at it and he said, and I said, that’s how we were growing up.

That’s how we used to make phone calls. And he looked at me and said, dad, how did you text on it?

Melissa: Like, well, we didn’t broke letters.

Michael Faber: Exactly. We actually had to hand-write stuff. So back in my day was we had to study penmanship. Curse says, Oh, don’t even get started where he has no idea what that is, you know?

Melissa: Oh yeah. I don’t think anyone does [00:57:00] anymore. Except for, you know, anyone born after probably 1990 doesn’t know curse of it.

Huh? Not

Michael Faber: now. That’s pretty much true. Cause they all had computers by that point.

Melissa: Yeah. Yeah, I was, I was more, I was

Michael Faber: sorry,

Melissa: what was interesting. I was working at this hotel and I was a manager. And you know, you have to have people sign for your, for their paychecks and the girl, the young girl, she just acts 17 still in high school.

And she printed her name out. And I said, no, you have to sign your name, you know, signature. And she’s like, I don’t understand what he mean. And we got into the whole cursive conversation and I said, well, the reason why we have signatures is so people can’t forge your signature. If you print your name, that anyone can re print that she did not understand that at all.

And, and you probably have

Michael Faber: to go over a couple of times trying to

Melissa: explain it. Yeah, it was, it was interesting. I thought wow times have definitely changed.

[00:58:00] Michael Faber: Oh, it it’s amazing how quickly technology has taken over and changes. I’m just going to be amazed in 20 years where things are going to be this way.

Melissa: Well, I mean, what is going to happen? Right? What is the future of technology and podcasting and streaming and all of that?

Michael Faber: Oh, it’s you remember our CD collections and you know, our movie collections, you don’t need that anymore. Right now. It’s just crazy. We actually went, you know, probably about a month and a half ago, we went through all our movies that, you know, that we know is that our streaming and we just took it out of our collection and took it to the, to the local, you know, whether we have here second and Charles and you know, said, okay, give us credit for it.

We’ll buy some books or

Melissa: something. Nice. I have all of mine. I just have this like weird apocalyptic fear that someday technology is just going to crash completely. And then I’m going to have all my DVDs and [00:59:00] CDs. Still.

Michael Faber: You do realize if technology crashes, you won’t be able to play though.

Melissa: That’s true, but I can still look at them.

Michael Faber: Yeah,

Melissa: exactly. Exactly. Exactly. I stopped cassette tapes actually in a shoe box, just a few, but you know,

Michael Faber: Oh. And then we I’m looking right now. I have like four bins of album still. So

Melissa: vinyl. Nice. Yeah. Yeah, of course. That’s awesome. Do you have a record player? Oh, of course. Nice.

Michael Faber: I have a record player. It’s not my original record player.

I had to go out and buy one a couple of years ago, but it’s, you know, it’s wonderful listening to albums and everything. Like I said, I’m a music freak. So my, you know, my parents were hippies, so they basically raised us on music. You know, we were, you know, I was, you know, raised like. Both of my parents and my whole family was at Woodstock.

So that’s

Melissa: cool. Same really? Yeah. My mom was, [01:00:00] was a hippie. My dad loves the blues. I was raised on, you know, like Eric Clapton and Jimmy Hendrix and all those, all the old days. That is

Michael Faber: awesome. See, that’s really cool.

Melissa: Yeah. Yeah, exactly. Andy both like play me a sec. So that was cool. Yeah. My

Michael Faber: sister plays music now and it’s awesome.

She’s actually played for David Byrne

in

Melissa: there. Oh, that’s amazing. That’s so great. Well, what can we what can you tease about episodes that are coming up on in the future?

Michael Faber: Ooh. Ooh. Well, as things returned to normal, I’m using air quotes about folks. Yeah. As things returned to normal, we’ll be doing more and more new movie reviews on the show.

On our station one we have some pretty cool guests coming up. We’re actually talking this next week. Actually. I’ll tease it. Next it’ll come out a week from tonight. Next Thursday. We’ll be talking [01:01:00] to this wonderful music artist named RP, Logan. I

Melissa: just talked to her. She is amazing.

Michael Faber: Oh, I’m so looking forward to it.

We’re talking to her on Monday night.

Melissa: You’re going to love, love her. She is such a sweetheart.

Michael Faber: I did get to see her when she played with postmodern jukebox.

Melissa: Oh my

Michael Faber: goodness. And so I am so looking forward to seeing her and chatting with her, watching her videos and getting ready for this, you know, like you, I do my research.

And so, you know, we, we just talk about a lot of different things. You know, our show was planned months in advance. So when something. It gets messed up, like with the movie schedules and stuff. We like scramble, like, you know, ans when you turn the lights turn on and you see all the bugs in the room go, that’s what we look like.

And so it’s, it’s really fun that you get to do that and plan, we plan and think we’re going to be smarter and go, [01:02:00] Hey, we’re ready for it. And that doesn’t work, but so, but we got some great, great topics coming up. We are, you know, Pretty much, you know what we have coming up. We have like King Kong versus Godzilla.

We’re going to do the review, but the 60th anniversary of the Flintstones is coming up. Oh my gosh. Is that really? Wow. Oh yeah. 40 years of Duran Duran, we have coming up. That’s

Melissa: going to be amazing.

Michael Faber: We’re also doing a travel show in, in July. I think it’s in June. We’re going to be doing places to see after the lockdown mans.

Oh,

Melissa: what a cool concept. That’s really interesting.

Michael Faber: Yeah. I have a friend of mine who owns a travel agency and he’s going to be coming on the show to talk about it. That

Melissa: sounds awesome.

Michael Faber: Yeah. So we have different topics. Like I said, it’s not your typical geek show. Every single week is a different topic. And of course, instead of, since we’ve been doing the best shit we’ve ever eaten the week of.

[01:03:00] May 17th, we’re going to be doing the best shit we ever drank.

Melissa: Oh, that’ll be a fun one. Yes. Yeah. I can’t wait to listen to that.

Michael Faber: That can get us into a lot of trouble.

Melissa: Are you going to be drinking while you’re recording?

Michael Faber: I drink

Melissa: all the time when I record. Okay. All right. Yeah.

Michael Faber: But yes, that’s specifically, we will.

Cool.

Melissa: Cool. What’s your drink of choice? What’s your poison?

Michael Faber: Well, I make my own poison now. Okay. There, it started as like a hobby for dragon con it’s called dragon con Apple pie, which is a mix of true Apple juice, Apple cider. But then you add in vodka green alcohol, and we also add some of vanilla whiskey into it.

Melissa: Oh, wow. Yeah, it’s sweet. There’s a sweet, it tastes like Apple pie. Wow. And you drink that as like a cocktail or just as a shot. No

[01:04:00] Michael Faber: cocktail. Okay. And then after a couple of those cocktails, you start seeing vapors.

Melissa: Great. I just drink straight whiskey, straight whiskey bourbon. Yeah.

Michael Faber: You and me could have a lot of fun.

Melissa: Yeah, absolutely. I love my Kentucky bourbon.

Michael Faber: I’m right next to you. Cause you know, there’s some amazing stuff. And if somebody says, Oh, I drink Jim beam. No,

Melissa: like get away from me. Yeah, exactly. Yeah. I actually joined, there was a a bourbon club for a while. It’s a little pricey, so I only did it for a couple months, but you get a full-sized bottle plus a tasting these little vials of three different, you know, obscure bourbons that you may not have heard of before.

So I decided to do, and it was really fun. You know, I had my own little. Tasting at home by the fire. And I felt like I was out again, you know,

Michael Faber: and there was a beer that a local brewery here made. It was a, it was a Porter beer because [01:05:00] I had loved like microbrews. I don’t drink the big, you know, productize or that kind of stuff.

And they had a, what they called fireside Porter. And it was like a chocolate, chocolate Porter that actually, when you drank it, it felt like you were drinking like almost like bits of a smart Oh, interesting. And you actually, it had like a smokey taste, so it’s smell it even tasted like you’re right at the camera,

Melissa: like a campfire.

That’s so cool. It’s a local brewery. Yeah.

Michael Faber: It’s hearing the Kennesaw, Georgia.

Melissa: That sounds really cool. I love when, like you’re not expecting certain flavors, you know, there’s like different wines, red wines that are aged in bourbon barrels and when you’re drinking them, they actually do have a whiskey bourbon finish.

Michael Faber: Yeah. Trader Joe’s actually has of maple syrup that actually has a whiskey taste to it. Cause it’s done. It’s a. It’s after they pull it out of the tree. They age it in in a bourbon. Yeah. Oh,

Melissa: that’s really cool. I have a trader Joe’s here. I’ll have to check it out. [01:06:00] Check it out. That’s awesome. Well, I’ve had such a blast talking to you today.

This has been great. It’s a lot of fun. Thank you, Melissa. I feel like we could. Yeah, absolutely. I feel like we could go on forever. We barely scratched the surface. Yeah. I’m like, okay. We’re a little over an hour now and I’m like, we could go another two, but but we’ll have to have you back on again and continue our

Michael Faber: chat.

Oh, very much. So anytime you want me back and we can even talk about more about. Learning how to podcast.

Melissa: Yeah, absolutely. I would love that. And and just to talk about, you know, a lot of the different things you’re doing, cause you’re, you’re doing a lot of cool stuff with all of your, your net with your network and all your different podcasts.

There’s so much content, you know, going on.

Michael Faber: Yeah. 28 shows of basically a barrel of monkeys, as I like.

Melissa: Yeah. And everyone listening right now you can go to ESO network.com and it’ll link you to all the different podcasts and all their content, right?

Michael Faber: Yes, exactly. And if you go to ESL network, [01:07:00] not only as a podcast, we also have blogs.

And so you can read and you know, people doing movie reviews or doing reviews on books, or even talking about science. It’s pretty darn awesome.

Melissa: That is so cool. I love that you have like so much content you know, similar to ours too. You can have articles and reviews and podcasts, and there’s just something for everyone.

So there’s really no reason why you shouldn’t be listening to the ESL network.

Michael Faber: That’s what I keep on telling people I’m still waiting for it to show up.

Melissa: It’s going to happen. We’re going to keep, we’re going to keep promoting it. I

Michael Faber: appreciate it. I wish you the best

Melissa: of luck. Thanks you as well.