Episode 64: Michael Vecchio and Elliott Tanti

Meet Elliott Tanti and Michael Vecchio, two friends who started sparring about politics for fun and decided to turn their frequent debates into the Highlevel Showdown podcast. Highlevel Showdown started in the Tory Building at the University of Alberta, where Elliott and Michael found themselves engaging in political discussions that spilled over onto the LRT on the way home. Elliott had done a podcast called What's Up UAlberta, and it felt natural to capture the conversations they were already having. A terrific politics podcast was born. In this episode, you'll hear how the show has changed over the past two years; how kitchen-table debates prepared them for political argument; how to prepare for a structured but vibrant discussion; what opera, wrestling and politics have in common; how the show benefits from Elliott's campaign experience and Michael's historical knowledge; the coming municipal election; and how to make a podcast with a friend. This episode is also available in iTunes, on Google Play, on SoundCloud or on Stitcher. Michael and Elliott made the following recommendations: NewsWired, a discussion of current events distributed on Guerrilla Radio; The Modern Manhood Podcast, German Villegas's interview show exploring different facets of masculinity; The Broadcast, the show about women and politics in Alberta with Alex Zabjek and Trisha Estabrooks; daveberta, Dave Cournoyer's long-running blog about politics in Alberta; The Casual, Nate Villegas's podcast about forgotten flicks. You can also read Michael's thoughts on movies and pop culture at Before the Cyborgs, and you can hear Elliott's thoughts on sports from time to time on Hat Trick Sports. They are also on Twitter: @tanti90 and @michaelvecchio2. You can also follow the Highlevel Showdown on Twitter and Facebook, and find it on iTunes and Guerrilla Radio. Michael and Elliott are kind enough to shout out to the Seen and Heard Podcast Network. Stay tuned for some exciting network news in the coming weeks.   The next episode of Seen and Heard in Edmonton will be delayed by a week — watch for it on May 8. You can experience the next episode in real life on April 30 at our podcasting meetup, featuring Fawnda Mithrush of NorthwestFest, which is putting on a mini-podcast-orama in conjunction with the documentary film festival in May.  This week's Seen and Heard in Edmonton is brought to you by Taproot Edmonton, a source of curiosity-driven stories about the city, cultivated by the community.  Read the latest Taproot story, Fluffy snow + high standards = a noisy Edmonton winter, Mel Priestley's examination of why it seemed like we were hearing leaf blowers an awful lot this past winter. Curious about something going on in Edmonton? Join Taproot so you can seed your own ideas and support the creation of more stories like this.