Missouri Loves Company

This week on Missouri Loves Company, Cynthia Fails teaches how to run a publication, write books for kids, and just be generally awesome. Thanks for checking in!

Rachel McCarthy James (@rmccarthyjames) joins us to discuss her award-winning book The Man From The Train, and how her and her father solved a 100+ year old serial killer case. Then, there is a discussion of how axe murders are more common than you think. Because that's what Rachel does. She's an axe murderer. JK. Or maybe not? Tune in!

Community organizer Leslie Butsch from Planned Parenthood Great Plains stops by to talk about talking to politicians, phone banks, holding rallies, and generally making sure people don't forget that reproductive rights are under attack. Viv and Brock talk about the highs and lows of lobbying at the state capitol with Leslie, and then some slightly less heavy things are discussed.

Brock Wilbur and Vivian Kane are back, chatting with Adam Roberts who co-created KC's famous Panic Fest. The film festival runs this weekend and showcases international premieres for horror, sci-fi, and thriller films. We talk about the politics in flyover festivals, avoiding torture porn, Suspiria live-jams, rehabbing old theaters, and so much more. Please share and check out the fest! https://panicfilmfest.com/ and https://screenland.com/armour/

Author Orrin Grey stops by for a Halloween episode with Brock Wilbur and Vivian Kane. Yeah, our Halloween episode is coming out on November 7th. That's fine. We also talk some bad anger words about someone that we already know lost the election for their missteps. We're all bummed. This Halloween nonsense should be fun. Goddammit. Goddammit. Anyway, Orrin is a delight.

Vivian Kane and Brock Wilbur do a rare call-in episode with Jonathan Bradley Welch. As a brutally informed, former political operative, he's the guest that this week requires. Issues from across the entire administration are tackled in order of crushing emotional pain, and then JBW discusses ways to get involved and/or an episode of Unsolved Mysteries with Robert Stack. We're all having a time.  

Vivian Kane and Brock Wilbur are talking to folks about politics and politically charged activities in the KC area. Also they ramble about reality TV this week in A Diatribe. But the guest is incredible. Rachel Gonzalez, a 19-year-old from Kansas City, Mo., is one of the youngest delegates at the Democratic National Convention. She represented Hillary Clinton in 2016 at the age of 17, and now she's involved in local politics on a deep, inspiring, and sometimes shocking level. This is a must listen. Please share with a friend.

Vivian Kane and Brock Wilbur are talking to folks about politics and politically charged activities in the KC area. Abby Olcese is a writer and critic for sites like Birth.Movies.Death and some outlets with a more religious bent on pop-culture. The group talks about finding common grounds and, you know, when you shouldn't. Then Trump's KC visit is... reflected upon. Also: GoodChristianFun and/or Mr. Rogers Chat brought to you by Sears-Roebuck.

Vivian Kane and Brock Wilbur are talking to folks about politics and politically charged activities in the KC area. Matthew Hoppock is an immigration attorney who navigates the treacherous world of post-Trump legal nightmares, and all the extended issues that arrive from an administration in total disarray. The status of nationwide immigration law is discussed, as are the smaller issues facing folks in KS/MO, and also what we do when the President and his government have opposite policies.

Vivian Kane and Brock Wilbur are joined this week by the team behind Flyover Indies: Charlotte Trible & Joe Hanna. They run multiple events each year, highlighting the indie game scene in KC and the Midwest, while also working on a diverse genre of creations together. Brock does his best to define all the gamer-speak you might not know and someone suggests you play the most inaccessible pop-culture recommendation in the history of the show. Gin Tumble is here: https://thebedbards.itch.io/gin-tumble

Welcome to Season 2! Vivian Kane and Brock Wilbur are joined this week by Edgar Palacios, who is THE non-profit guy in Kansas City. We talk about the Lantinx experience in the Midwest, how to best serve a community, and how much weight you can lose post-divorce. It's a fun time!

Vivian Kane and Brock Wilbur are joined this week by Francis Horton of What A Hell of a Way To Die (https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/francis-horton/what-a-hell-of-a-way-to-die) podcast, where two leftist military dudes talk about what we're doing wrong as a country. Brock interviewed them (https://www.pastemagazine.com/articles/2018/03/what-a-hell-of-a-way-to-die-hilariously-punctures.html) and now Francis (from St. Louis) explains many of the issues of what Missouri is facing -- especially Governor Greitens.

Jessica Hagge and Bryan Moses and two KC based improv actors, playwrights, comedians, etc. Vivian Kane and Brock Wilbur just got to Kansas City, and Bryan/Jess are headed from Kansas City to LA. We discuss what kind of confidence you need to make that commitment at this point and then Brock and Vivian try to both help and scare Bryan/Jess. There are awkward pauses and then slightly more awkward pauses. Brock anti-recommends a video game and everyone else loves television.

Kinzie Ferguson (The Empowerment Photographer) comes by to make Vivian Kane and Brock Wilbur look at their butts and do some giggling. We talk about her boudoir photography career, attempting to be better Wokelike white folks, meeting folks over spaghetti, and how to not let depression keep you from being a cool chill person. Check out Kinzie's work here: http://empowermentphotographer.com/

KC Comedian Anna May Smith stops by the show to talk to Vivian Kane and Brock Wilbur about season depression, volunteering, the darkness the dwells within us, and so much more.

Stephanie Carey and her husband Adam Carey have purchased the Kansas City alternative newspaper THE PITCH back from a media consortium, and now media nerds from KC own the local voice of the people again. Stephanie talks to Brock Wilbur and Vivian Kane about a life in media, including the worst first day on a job of all time, and the process by which you go all Charles Foster Kane and buy a newspaper.

Philip Stewart Meyer is a local KC TV journalist who covers the Zoo and gets to pet penguins, but his main gig is working at the award-winning Boulevard Brewery where he gives tours and gets paid to do beer. So that's what he brought for show and tell to Viv and Brock's place. We sample an array of beers and Philip explains to Brock why he should savor the exotic aroma of BROCK stop drinking it so quickly. SAVOR, GODDAMMIT. Also, board games and a guerilla (both inside and out) and the promise of a better tomorrow.

Tahir Atwater (@TahirKC) is a recruiter for Big Brothers Big Sisters of Kansas City (https://www.bbbskc.org/) who has been working with the program for more than a decade. Now, he talks to Vivian Kane and Brock Wilbur about their process in getting a kid and shares stories about the highs and lows of what he's seen during his time, including the joys of raking leaves and the complicate conversations children have with the police. Tahir also co-hosts The Meeple's Court, a podcast where board games are put on trial. Thank you all for listening. Please rate and review and share!

Kelly Jacobsen (@kansassy) has a very similar background story to Vivian and Brock, but she's been at it for a while. She bounced from Kansas to the East Coast and is now back and helping out on Democratic political campaigns. We ask what it takes to get people to keep chipping in for campaigns that have near guaranteed rate of failure in service of the day when something genuinely good starts to happen. Also, guess what? We all like the new Amy Sherman-Palladino show. AND THERE IS FINALLY A THEME SONG. 

Brock's high school buddy Nik Stavropoulos is now a local lawyer trying to make KC a better place, so he sits down with Vivian Kane and Brock Wilbur to discuss what the heck is going on in local politics, including the Democrats running in Kansas' election next year and why the eyes of the country will be upon us. Also: jokes!