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S1E02: Clean with Dan Zehr from 'Coffee With Kenobi!''
47 Plays1 year ago
Get cleaning while listening to Bob chat with 'Coffee With Kenobi's Dan Zehr. You'll learn how Dan got started with his podcast, and hear him give some tips to Bob, while you make your kitchen sparkly clean.
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Transcript
00:00:02
Speaker
We've
Introduction and Guest Welcome
00:00:03
Speaker
got coffee with Kenobi's Dan Zier in the kitchen. So grab your droids and brooms. It's time for the Star Wars cleaning crew. Welcome back to the Star Wars cleaning crew. We have a great treat for you today. One of the best Star Wars podcasts out there is coffee with Kenobi. I'm sure some of you have heard it. Dan Zier who hosts coffee with Kenobi is a great guy. He's been a friend of ours on the learning geeks for awhile. He also is a high school teacher. We're going to talk about that in just a couple of minutes. So that was the connection with learning.
00:00:31
Speaker
But when I told Dan about my new podcast and I asked him to be a guest, he said he was super happy to jump on and even give me some advice. So let's listen to my conversation with Dan's ear starting right now. Hey, Dan, thanks for joining me today. What's up, buddy? Good to chat with you. I'm looking forward to this. It's good to see you. We've had you on the Learning Geeks podcast before, but you're one of our first guests on the Star Wars cleaning crew.
00:00:57
Speaker
Yeah, I am honored. Well, the place looks clean and neat as advertised. Well, very good. And it only took 15 minutes. So that's right. While our listeners are cleaning their kitchens right now, we'll dive into it. And I would love to start because you know, I think your whole story is fascinating.
Dan Zier's Star Wars Journey
00:01:15
Speaker
And I think our listeners will too. Tell us your Star Wars story. You know, how did you start? How did you bring it into teaching? How do you start the podcast?
00:01:23
Speaker
All the guests. Oh, gosh. Well, that it's it's a it's a wonderful journey that I feel very blessed to share. But, you know, I've been a fan like you my entire life. I remember seeing the original actually in 1978. They weren't in drive-ins until 1978. We tried a lot in 77, but it was sold out every single time.
00:01:43
Speaker
So for it, you know, and as a kid, that was such a massive bummer. And how old were you then, Dan? I was five. I was five. OK, see, I was I was 10. So I was the 10 year old boy that Lucas created the movies for. Yes. You know, yes. You and I are of an era. So absolutely. That original era when all we knew was Star Wars. That was it. There was no price strikes back. There was nothing amazing. And then so I loved it my entire life.
00:02:12
Speaker
you know, first day shopper for Phantom Menace Toys, Revenge of the Sith, you know, the whole deal, like all of us. And then throughout the course of my life, I found myself in the field of teaching. I actually didn't start out as a teacher, I started out in insurance. And I did it for about eight years. And while I very much think insurance is necessary, it was not my calling, right? It was not a passion. No, that's a great way to put it.
00:02:41
Speaker
And so I went back to school for a couple of years at night and I became a teacher.
The Birth of Coffee with Kenobi
00:02:48
Speaker
And during my commutes, because when I worked before I was married, I would commute like about 45 minutes a day, sometimes twice a day. I would make the trip twice a day, depending on whatever was going on. And I would listen to podcasts. And knowing that podcasts existed and there was a Star Wars one at that time, it was the forecast blew my mind, absolutely blew my mind.
00:03:12
Speaker
And then I, I became an avid listener. I would write in and it wasn't until, and I found another podcast. I found the indie cast with Adola stuff and I, and I sent the, a bunch of podcasts, emails that were back. And then on the indie cast adults to read my email.
00:03:28
Speaker
on the show. And I thought I won the lottery. I was so happy. You're part of it. You're part of the community, right? Right. And you just feel you just feel that energy, Bob. You know exactly what I'm talking about. And it just sort of changed me. And then Ed and I became friends. He had me on the show as the first podcast I'd ever been on. We talked for an hour and I just I loved it. And shortly after that, I thought, I want to start a podcast of my own. And I didn't really know what the genre of the field was going to be. Right.
00:03:57
Speaker
So I met my friend who became my good friend Cory Club. He's actually read to my wife by marriage. And he and I hit it off. And I remember saying, this is really fun. We should be recording this. This would be a great podcast. So I told Deanna later that night, I think I would ask Cory to do a podcast with me. And she said, what do you want it to be about? I said, I have no idea. So we get together. We're actually having coffee. And we made a list.
00:04:27
Speaker
of things. It was a lot of pop culture stuff, a little bit of sports, but stars kept coming up and I said, why don't we just do Star Wars? I know Star Wars really well. I love it. Let's do that. So then we eventually had to find our approach. And it was one day I was teaching a discussion on Dracula or Hamlet. I can't remember. And I remember thinking, this is it right here. The way I'm leading discussion with students. That is what I think we should do on the show. You know, we'll make it intellectual.
00:04:55
Speaker
but we wanted to be laid back and fun. I remember walking into Starbuckses or whatever, local coffee houses, and you'd hear and feel that conversation, smell the coffee, and I just thought, I want it to feel like you're in a coffee shop and your friends are talking Star Wars. But I want to make sure that it's not something where, because I've been to Celebrations Whale before I was a podcaster, and I remember being in lines and hearing people talk.
00:05:24
Speaker
And I would talk and they would just kind of look at me and I were thinking, but I have something to say. You know, I want I want to contribute to your conversation. I know you don't know me, but I want to be a part of the conversation. And that was that really kind of kept stuck in my mind, you know. And so then that was another impetus. I want this to be a community where everybody feels like they have an authentic voice. Nice. So eventually we were trying to come up with names and then Corey texted me one time and he said, how about coffee with Kenobi? And
00:05:51
Speaker
That was it. I knew in my bones, Bob. I knew that was the name. Then we took a while to create the logo. Fast forward, fast forward. And 11 years later, you know, 750 shows. And I've I've been very blessed that, you know, I got the attention of Lucasfilm early on. They found that that I incorporate Star Wars in the classroom, which led to my very first blog on Star Wars dot com before I became a regular.
00:06:17
Speaker
And and that just kind of spiraled from there. And it was a perfect marriage because in my classroom, one of my classes I teach is a mythology course.
Star Wars in Education
00:06:28
Speaker
And so I incorporate stars into the curriculum. I know I don't I don't just douse everything with stars because I don't think that would be the best use of of time because there's a lot of great stories out there. Mythology is just a Greek word that means story.
00:06:43
Speaker
I'm one of these guests that by the way, you asked one question, you never have to talk again, so. So easy. So easy. And so then I just incorporated that and Lucasfilm was interested in that and it led to a lot of exciting opportunities. I was in a Target commercial when Rogue One came out where because I use Star Wars to teach, I use Revenge of the Sith to teach Hamlet.
00:07:08
Speaker
And vice versa, because they both have the great tragic hero. Yeah, we'll live it as an exercise for the listener to figure out what that connection is. Yeah, they can write it right in with their papers and maybe you'll grade them. Maybe, maybe. Yeah. And then I don't know. Gosh, it's.
00:07:28
Speaker
It's been great. I'm really intrigued by how you bring it into the classroom and what I get out of that is just the timelessness of it. You know, I think we might have mentioned before, it took my boys a little bit of time to actually get into it. I think that they understood that if they didn't like Star Wars as much as I did, that kind of gave them a little power.
00:07:50
Speaker
Over me when they were really little but but now they're kind of into it and you know We all went to the star cruiser last summer had a fantastic time But but again, it's it's the timelessness of it. It goes from generation to generation and I think it kind of owes The the origins of the story back to the monomyth and all your Joseph Campbell stuff It's kind of the same story over and over again, but that's what resonates with us as humans. Is that what you find is a
00:08:18
Speaker
Yes, English teacher. Absolutely. My day job is English teacher. And Joseph Campbell's most famous work is called The Hero with a Thousand Faces. And I'm actually teaching that this week. And of course, it's all predicated on there are so many stories out there, countless stories in different cultures. But Joseph Campbell, who is a famous mythologist and a very accomplished speaker and presenter and educator, he believes in this Jungian archetype that we have. Carl Jung being the
00:08:49
Speaker
psychologists who sort of coined this entire thing, where we have this collective unconscious where there are certain stories and certain ideas that we all respond to. When the ancient Greeks started telling their stories, they found, even though several parts of Greece, they weren't communicating with each other directly, they found their stories to be similar.
00:09:08
Speaker
And it's not like they were sending email or a carrier pigeon or anything. It just it just it would fascinate him. And then you look at all these different stories and you find that there's so many things in common. You know, you've got a hero that refuses a call to adventure. He has a mentor figure. He has some sort of an apotheosis where he changes spiritually or dies and comes back to life. And Star Wars is full of that.
00:09:31
Speaker
So, you know, we the best part about a story, again, Greek myth is just a Greek word that means story. All the stories that we use, Greek, Norse, Egyptian, I've thrown a lot of pop culture. Of course, we use Star Wars actually is the Mandalorian is our Friday buffer. Every Friday we watch an episode of the Mandalorian and I make them write these really detailed essays without the tie them into other stories. And it spurs conversation.
00:09:57
Speaker
Yeah, about incredible things, because a good story teaches you about the culture and the people who live in that culture and what they want out of it. And Star Wars, especially A New Hope, is so ripe for that conversation. It absolutely is. OK, Dan, I'm going to change gears a little bit, very selfishly. So
Podcasting Tips and Star Wars Excitement
00:10:15
Speaker
I'm starting this new Star Wars podcast. Yeah. What tips do you have for me? Like, what should I do? What should I avoid?
00:10:23
Speaker
Oh, gosh, I'll tell you what to do and I'll tell you what to avoid. Actually, it's really pretty simple. Be your authentic self. There are so many Star Wars podcasts out there. There's so many podcasts out there competing for airspace. And when I say competing, I mean, you've got a certain amount of time. You're a busy man. You've got a family. You've got two jobs and you know that your time is very precious. You know, you can always make more money. You can't make more time. So if the listener is going to give you their time,
00:10:53
Speaker
You just gotta be your authentic self, be Bob. That is what people want to hear. That is who you are. That is how you've built fans and friends and why people listen to you. So don't try to duplicate. You may feel inspired by others, and I think that's wonderful. I've certainly been inspired by plenty, but don't try to be anything other than your authentic self. And I think that authenticity, as well as the regularity of when you publish your shows, that is what keeps an audience.
00:11:20
Speaker
So authentic, regular schedule. Yes. Anything I have to worry about, like avoiding the Lucasfilm thought police coming down on me and cease and desist or anything like that? Well, I guess it all sort of depends on how you use your powers. How do you use your powers? Right. I mean, you know, we don't I mean, we don't own anything. Star Wars were just I, you know, I'm very clear about the fact at the beginning of the show and on my website, I'm not affiliated with Disney Lucas. Do I work with them?
00:11:50
Speaker
all the time, but it's a separate thing. At the end of the day, it's very clear that I'm just a fan. I'm just some silly guy in central Illinois that wanted to talk about Star Wars on a microphone. Unfortunately, some people wanted to listen.
00:12:07
Speaker
Well, hopefully I'll get the same number of people or at least some people who want to listen to that. That's super helpful. OK, we've got just a few minutes left, Dan. Yeah. This is a rich time to be a Star Wars fan. What are you most excited about? We got stuff coming up. What is what is top of your list that you're excited about? You know, honestly, finishing up the bad batch, I would place the bad batch up there with some of the best Star Wars storytelling that that exists.
00:12:36
Speaker
I love it. I actually like season two of The Bad Batch more than season three of The Mandalorian. And so that's great. Tales of the Empire looks fantastic. Of course, the Acolyte looks good. And what I like about that is it looks very different. And I like when it takes familiar tropes and reinvents them. So I'm looking, I think those are the main things. And those are the things that are coming out. Yes, we've got Skeleton Crew coming out.
00:13:00
Speaker
I would, you mentioned the Halcyon. I love the Halcyon, went on it several times and I'm looking forward to something that doesn't exist and that's the future of the Halcyon. So who knows what that's going to be. Yeah, I agree. I'm with you there. I am also excited about season of the force out here at Disneyland. Yes. So I'll be heading out there a day after tomorrow. Oh, very good. Partaken all of that goodness. It should be a lot of fun.
00:13:25
Speaker
Oh, I mean, they actually invited me out for the preview, but I was teaching so I couldn't make it. So a friend of mine went Colby Meade and he took some pictures and did some great things for me. But it sure looks fantastic. I will enjoy living vicariously through you. Well, very good. I'll
Conclusion and Call to Action
00:13:40
Speaker
give you a report back. Dan, thanks so much for being here. It's great to have you. Great to see you again. And we'll talk to you soon. We'll have you on again. Hey, thank you, Bob. Thank you so much. Best of luck on the show and I can't wait to see how it grows and prospers.
00:13:56
Speaker
So that's my conversation with Dan Zier, great guy, great Star Wars fan. He's really been able to leverage his fandom into something special. So we hope to have him on again real soon. Thanks for joining us. If you don't already subscribe to Dan's podcast, Coffee with Kenobi, head over there and hit subscribe on that.
00:14:13
Speaker
But more importantly, while you're there, hit subscribe on Star Wars Cleaning Crew. Write us a review, hit like, whatever you have to do to help us. Really, really appreciate that. In the meantime, I hope your kitchen is clean. We're signing off for now. We'll see you next time on the Star Wars Cleaning. Bye bye.