Talking Beards with The Beardcaster

  The First Annual Beards in the Barnyard is taking place July 29th at the Summit County Fair.  Abbe and I sat down and talked about beards and where her infatuation with them came.  We discussed the sponsors and star-studded judging panel.  Be sure to check out the INDIEGOGO for Bearded: an Ode to the Beard and help these guys reach their goal.      Rust Belt Whisker Society https://www.facebook.com/groups/RustBeltWhiskerSociety/   Beards in the Barnyards https://www.facebook.com/events/1873755846215965/   Summit Fair http://www.summitfair.com/   Mad Viking- https://madvikingbeard.com/   Speedy Cafe-   The Bearded Pup- https://www.thebeardedpup.com/   Burtons Beard Oil- https://www.burtonsbeardoil.com/   Artius Man- https://artiusman.com/   Digital Sound Entertainment https://www.facebook.com/DigitalSoundEntertainment/ judges: Jason Hall- Mad Vinking Jason Sealand- Mad Viking Rachel Iammarino- BOTONW Kyle Waller- Cincinnati Beard Barons   MC- Seth DeSabato-SCBMC   music by:   Ben Levin    Chris Donley      

I met up with Ryan Hardon from the Rocky Moutain Beard and Mustache Club to talk about getting ready for the documentary he is going to be a part of. Bearded: an Ode to the Beard, is a documentary that is covering the journey of 4 bearded fellas riding their motorcycles over a thousand miles in 24 hours from Ft. Collins Colorado to Austin Texas for the World Beard and Mustache Championships. We talk about the INDIEGOGO where they are trying to raise funds for the project and what they plan to cover, and achieve with this film.  I am super excited about what this is going to become and need to be involved!  We also talk about how Ryan got involved in the bearding scene and his involvement in the club and the movie.    for complete show notes and links goto:   THE BEARDCASTER SHOW NOTES EP 36  BEARD: an ode to the beard

As you may notice Episode 34 is missing.  Actually, there are 2 finished versions, Ep.34 and Ep34.3, that will probably not be released due to sensitivity issues, but the content of the episodes was about the loss of two young men and the impact it had on us.  Bald faced Josh and I used the podcast as a way to express our feelings and get out much needed thoughts and emotions.  What came across was very heartfelt and genuine and it helped us both cope with what we were both experiencing.  Maybe someday these episodes will be released...but until then, if you need to hear them, email me at scott@thebeardcaster.com and I may consider sending them to you. Episode 35 was an part of a 5 hour recording session Josh and I were having one night to blow off steam and talk shit out.  What this episode ended up being was all about television sitcoms that we grew up with.  We covered some late 70's shows through the 80's and into the 90's.  We also talked about early women in these shows that we had the hots for.  There

   Summer has approached with many new things!!!  I talk about some plans for the podcast and how I want to improve it and get more content out to you!!!  If you have any comments or suggestions you need to email me at scott@thebeardcaster.com.  Enjoy your start to the summer and remember to tell your friends all about the podcast!!!  We have great things in place for the future.  Stay tuned and make sure you are subscribed!  

    Spring has sprung, unless you are south of The equator!   The information you are about to hear can help all of you as we go into Springtime and deal with pollen and allergies.  Most people suffer from seasonal allergies and have a hard time getting them under control.  Each year is “the worst year” and we deal with it as best as we can.  A few years ago my eyes were opened to how my beard may be effecting my allergies, in a bad way-and it was information that many of us beard growers never want to hear…   There are many over the counter and prescription drugs that are available to help alleviate the common symptoms of seasonal allergies.  What kind of remedies are there for the “not so common” symptoms, or causes of runny nose, itchy eyes, sneezing, nasal congestion?  Common remedies are antihistamines, nasal steroids, amputation (i kid), and other “synthetic” relief for natures attackers, pollen.  There are other remedies available, things more natural and less destructive to the human bodies ecosystem.

    How does one get into competitive beard and mustache competitions???  As the great Geauga County Maple Festival is about to kick of in Chardon OH, I reflect upon where I got my start in the beard and mustache culture. It was my first competition many years ago and lead me to many great places and to meet some great people from all over the country.  I thought I would ask a couple of other Maple Fest Beard alumni to join me to talk about where they got their start and how it lead to competing in the larger, club style events.  Ryan Smith and Stephen Hart join me to talk about how you get into competing and tips for those who maybe afraid to get up on the stage for the first time.  Emily Gambrel also joined us to discuss the Maple Festival Beard and Mustache contest and how her and I got together, with Kim Lloyd, to be the organizers of this long running contest.  We all got our start at the same place and experienced the same hurdles and went on to excel in larger scale events.  Check out episode 31 to

     This past weekend I attended the 10th annual Mustachio Bashio and there was an ocean ofmustaches of all types to be seen!  I have attended the past three years and look forward to this event as I have made some great new friends.  There were many mustaches of all shapes and sizes on participants as well as some interesting beards thrown into the mix of this celebration of facial hair.   Voted on by an esteemed panel of judges, the winners take home a special handmade award and the bragging rights for the year.  Last year I interview one of the founders of the event, Mike Laur, and learned about the history of the event and how it has grown and managed great success in raising money for their charity, the JDRF.  I wanted to talk to some of the key players that were involved in this years Mustachio and get their take on the event and hear how they were involved in this years gathering.  Take a listen to hear what each person had to say about Mustachio Bashio and I hope you enjoy!   ERI

  What a fun day meandering among some interesting characters and bearded folk!  I meet some of the most interesting people at these types of events, I guess that is why I try to go to as many as I can and meet the people!  Wizard World Comic Con came to Cleveland March 17th-19th for it’s third appearance at the Cleveland Convention Center.  There were a ton of comic, sci-fi, role-playing, pop-culture, and bearded fans in attendance-it truly was a sight to see.  I went down Saturday afternoon with no expectations of what type of time I was going to have, I just wanted to slowly walk around and take it all in.  There was a lot to take in from artists, content creators, costumed role players, comics, celebrities, games, books, toys, and just great people!      Like I said, I wanted to take my time and just slowly take it all in.  There is so much to investigate and absorb at an event this large.  I wasn’t able to take a lot in a few years ago when I went with my friend Bald Faced Josh and his daughte

The Whiskerina Council was just announced so I reached out to Director Jodi Mitnick to get the scoop.  We were also joined by Event Liaison Amy Roberts and discussed what the newly formed Council hopes to achieve, the other appointed members, and other silly things.  We bounced around in this fun conversation and covered many topics from what a Whiskerina is, where the name came from, charity work, and friendship and commodore in the bearding community.  For many years the girlfriends, wives, sister, and friends have wanted to be involved in their local beard clubs, The Whiskerina Council is there to help those females who want to participate. The Council are here to give help and advice to those who wish to compete creatively and competitively, and give guidance to those that seek to be more involved.   This was a delight to sit down with these 2 lovely ladies and talk about something we all love so much and ketchup as friends.  There was a lot of fun and laughs had and I appreciate what these two women are

I have been having a real tough go at it lately.  To be honest, I am frustrated with life and have been having second thoughts about continuing on with the podcast.  I enjoy making the podcast for everyone to listen to but sometimes I wonder what cost it has to my personal life.  It is my only outlet, my only creative endeavor that I have in my life.  Being a father and husband take a lot of time up these days, much more than I anticipated.  At times I feel lost in life trying to juggle all the different things going on from family to work…-to podcast.  I struggle every day to get ahead in everything. I started off this year with tons of plans, optimism was flowing through my veins. Today I want shave and say fuck it and just remove myself from the bearding world.  I am beyond frustrated with life right now and have lost focus.  I was reminded why I do a podcast kinda out of the blue and when I needed it the most.  I was messaged by a listener of the show this past weekend when I was p

Episode 26-ATTITUDE and living life...      Over the past few weeks I have been noticing something a bit more around me, attitude.  Attitude seems to be a major influence in life and can effect our moods, and our way of life.  Attitude also influences others and tends to pull those that are like-minded in their direction, a "magnetic" kind of attraction.  Sometimes a toxic attitude can pull you down a dark road, one of negativity and pain. The one end of the spectrum you may find those that emit a great deal of positive attitude. These people are a special breed, ones who absorb life and live it to its fullest.  I recently had an experience that opened my eyes to the true influence of "attitude" on ones life.       Today, as I write this, my grandmother of 101 just passed away.  It has been a difficult week for my family as we have been dealing with the possible moving on of the mother of our family.  The threat of death brings out an urgency of life; to experience more of it and to take in as much as you can

   2016 went out with a BANG!!!  What a great first year for the podcast and all the great new people I have met because of it!  With the few weeks I have taken off from producing episodes I had some time to reflect upon the year I had and try and find new ways to make better shows for the listeners.  I hope 2017 finds many new beards and mustaches enjoying all these new episodes that I am excited to get out to the hairy faced people!!!    I recently got together with some members of my beard club, Beards of The Old Northwest, and talked about some things we are were looking at for the year 2017.  I was joined by newly mustached Jessie Chapple, freestyle wizard Eric Zatchock, and new mustache to the scene Jason Yarina.  We discussed our styles and talked about their records for competing last year.  Jessie told us about his switch from a full beard to just a styled mustache and the pains that he has had with dealing with it.  Eric briefly talked about the Beards Behind Bars competition that we

2016 is rolling to an end.  What a year it has been for the podcast and my involvement within the bearding community.  When I first got involved in the bearding community about 5 years ago, I didn’t realize how involved communities and charities everyone participates in.  As I wrap up the first year of The Beardcaster podcast I will end on a few events that I have attended over the past few weeks prior to  the holidays.  Over the past few years, Beards of The Old Northwest, Steel City Beards and Mustache Club, The Rust Belt Whisker Society, have gotten together to help Marines with the Toys for Tots program in Northeast Ohio.  Over the past few years we have collected an AMAZING amount of new and unwrapped toys for the children of the greater Youngstown area.         This year, at the last second I decided to have my own local toy drive and see what extra toys I could collect from my community that I could add to the annual toy drive.  I posted on social media that I was searching for a location for collectio

                Write here...                  There is one night a year when the mythical creature known as the Krampus comes out.  It is called Krampusnacht  and happens on December 5th.  Though the event I attended happened a few days earlier, I found myself at Annabell's in Akron Ohio for their annual KRAMPUSNACHT which found a gaggle of Krampuses, or also maybe refered to as a pride of Krampi, parading down the mean streets of Akron looking for naught girls and boys.  Not only was it visually captivating, but the incredible sounds of the bells and chains was almost deafening at times.  The regular group that usually assembles for the annual KRAMPUSNACHT was joined this year by Krampus of Cleveland which was lead by Brian Karn from Beards Of The Old Northwest.  There were some really intricate masks and costumes that were constructed by each individual who participated as their own personal "Krampus" .  It was a interesting experienc

Mr. Matt Cox is one amazing guy.  This mustached man is going to be a major player in the mustache, and beard scene with his impeccable style and thoughtful content.  "Mr. Stachetastic" is the alter ego of Matt where he does all types of beard oil and mustache wax reviews.  He also gives tutorials on how to style and care for your mustache giving tips on how to have an epic stache!  His YouTube channel is starting to get filled with new and thoughtful content on a weekly basis so your eyes peeled to his page to keep up on his resourceful content. Matt and I got together on Thanksgiving evening to hang out and chat a little about who he is and why I thought he would be an interesting person to share.  We talked about the typical things two guys who are in the facial hair world would talk about but Matt had an incredible entry into the world of growing.  Touching on the paranormal and his multiple encounters during ghost hunting at the Mansfield Reformatory, Scott talks about the event his club is hosting at th

Bald faced mortal, Josh, and I sit down with The Child to talk the Cleveland Indians in the World Series and Donald Trump amongst other things.   The conversation began with us going over the Cavaliers Championship and which would have been more important, the World Series win by the Indians, or the Championship from the CAVS.  Finding out what it is to be American and our preference in pie or cake, we learn that Rey, from Star Wars, is inspiring a whole movement of little girls to be great, not Hillary!  The final game of The World Series was slept through by Scott and Lukas so Bald Faced Josh walks us through how the game ended.  The Indians fought hard and had an amazing season and we were all ok with the Cubs winning.  Our conversation took a turn towards what had just happened with the election and our thoughts, and opinions, on the win of Donny Trump.  The child voices his opinion on Ted Strickland and he regurgitated what he had heard on the television commercial attack ads.  Josh tries to explain how

  In this election year of 2016, our country faces one of the worst political showdowns in the history of America.  Each candidate seems to only be fueling a fire of rage from their opponent and doing nothing but throwing punches and accusations at each other.  The media seems like it only wants to be the ringleader of this 2 person circus and only focus on what these two clowns are wanting to do to our country.  Our great country seems to almost be at it's darkest hour, hope is bleak, faith in government wavers, and trust is all but gone.  Empty promises fill the air leaving many of us scared to make a choice in our future and the future of our children.  Within a few weeks the landscape of nation will be completely different and a new president will be crowned. Within a few months the changes will go into effect, lives to be changed forever.  There may only be one hope that glimmers far off in the distance with a boot on his head...      This is probably the most politically charged discussion I have ever h

Beards for Beasts is only a few weeks away so The Beardcaster, and special guest co-host Anthony "The Stache" Fontes, sat down with the Steel City Beard and Mustache Club president Andrew Miscowiec to get the lowdown on the 4th year of this fantastic event.  Held at the beautiful Rivers Casino in Pittsburgh, PA the event is once again benefiting the Animal Rescue League & Wildlife Shelter and Hello Bully charities.   The boys met up at Suzie's Dogs in Boardman Ohio to discuss the upcoming event and enjoy some fine weiners.  Beards and Suzie's have a history as Anthony and Suzie's in Youngstown have collaborated in the past to host a couple of The Rust Belt Whisker Society's beard competitions, so we wanted to give back to those who have given to us.  Entering what appeared to be a newly built establishment I fought my way though the hordes of Browns and Steelers fans watching both games on the multiple big screen tv's in the venue.  I was greeted by Drew, who as any Steelers fan, was 16 beers into his Su

                          -Kent Student Radio-hosting multiple types of shows, mostly music but filling in on some talk types of shows -WJCU-doing a ‘Unsigned band’ show.  Did artist interviews and collect unsigned material-…didn’t have the engineering background so it was difficult to adjust to the technology side-was kinda thrown into it because I was traveling and scouting bands on the weekends.   tried to start podcasting 2009/2010 but it never really grabbed ahold.   my band started a podcast around 2011 and did a few episodes, I appear on one but never really followed through on “doing my own” AMERICANROCKSTAR Podcast w/Scott Sykora -by this time I was becoming engrossed in podcasts.  I spent a lot of time traveling and driving and needed to cleans my palate from music—-I wanted to expand my mind, learn about things, explore things I had always been interested in but never searched out. Some podcasts that I subscribed to at this time wer

  Fatman's Invasion 2016 found this bearded guy, with child in tow, out for one fun adventure.  Knowing event organizer, Adam "Fatman" Hurt for close to 30 years, made me feel very old and also curious as to these events he has been posting about online, and hosting, for the past 8 or so years. We traveled to tropical Thompson OH, where an event so grand, so exotic, and so flippin hot, was taking place.  This was the third year for this event at Thompson Raceway Park in Northeast Ohio where hundreds upon hundreds of "tuned" and classic cars and spectators gathered for a great cause.  Not only was it a car "show" of sorts, it was also a day to challenge your friends to a friendly 1/4 mile drag race...to the death.  Fortunately for everyone, nobody died and there were a lot of hugs to go around. We saw lots of really  loud cars and heard some extremely smokey burn-outs, something all of my senses have never experienced. This was defiantly far from any type of event I had ever