Pat Dohohue Transcript
March 1, 2008 | Leave a Comment
Dr. Kent Gustavson: Welcome back to “Sound Authors.” On the fourth segment of each show we feature an author of sound and one of the premier guitarists of the world is Pat Donohue.Chet Atkins says about Pat Donohue, “He’s one of the greatest finger pickers in the world today.”And Leo Cottke says, “I first heard him on the radio and got upset. Then I heard him in concert and got more upset. He thinks harmonically, improvises beautifully and writes. If you’re a guitar player, it’s going to haunt you.”And I am a guitar player and it does indeed haunt me. Welcome to the show, Pat Donohue.
Pat Donohue: Hey, how are you doing?
Dr. Kent: Great.
Pat: Very nice of you to have me.
Dr. Kent: Yeah, and your music is so diverse. It goes all the way up from jazz, to folk, to just about anything. How did you get into to doing such an amazing hodgepodge?
Pat: Well, I guess I’ve always just played what I like and so as my taste evolved in music I kind of try to capture different styles that I like to hear because my natural inclination is to try and play it if I like it. So, that’s how it got diverse.
Dr. Kent: And did your jobs get better on the “Prairie Home Companion Show” over the years here?
Pat: Oh, I think so; a little more concise and focused I would say.
Dr. Kent: There’s definitely a great element of comedy in your music. Do you get a hand in those comic songs that Garrison Keillor always dreams up?
Pat: Sometimes we write together. A lot of times he’ll have written the lyrics, or I will. Usually if I’m singing it I’ve written it and if he’s singing it he’s written it and vice versa but sometimes they cross, yeah.
Dr. Kent: Now, your latest album is all solo guitar. We’re not going to play a clip of that on the show today but tell me a little bit about that album.
Pat: It’s just an album that I wanted to have of what it sounds like when I just sit down on a chair in a room and play my guitar. That’s pretty much what it sounds like and if that’s the sort of thing that appeals to you, it’s really great.
Dr. Kent: Do you still get the same kind of joy you did when you were 12 years old first picking up the guitar?
Pat: Yeah. It’s funny you should ask. I was just thinking that the other day and wondering that to myself. But then yes, I do.
Dr. Kent: That’s a wonderful thing. Let’s listen to a little bit, one of the songs you wrote from your “Profile” album. I chose two love songs here. One of them is called “My True Love.” Let’s hear a little bit of that.
Pat: OK.[music]
Dr. Kent: Well, that’s a beautiful tune. Not only are you a gifted guitar player, you’re a singer as well. Did you ease into that or was it always a marriage?
Pat: No, I always sang even when I was a little kid.
Dr. Kent: What did you start with? Were your folks rockers or were your folks…?
Pat: No, not at all, not at all. But I had an older sister who played guitar and sang and so I used to harmonize with her before my voice changed. [laughs] I was the one with the high voice for a while.
Dr. Kent: Oh yes, I know that very well. I had a soprano until the age 15. Now, we’re interrupting you in a middle of a rehearsal right now. What are you rehearsing for?
Pat: We’re rehearsing for a radio broadcast of Prairie Home Companion”, which will be live tomorrow night on your public radio station.
Dr. Kent: Do you still enjoy it?
Pat: Oh yes, very much, very much. I was just listening in the other room. They’re rehearsing without me and it makes me feel like I should get back there. [laughs]
Dr. Kent: We’re getting you in big trouble here.
Pat: No, I just don’t want to be left out.
Dr. Kent: It’s been a true pleasure. I don’t want to hold you too long. Let me ask you a couple more questions…
Pat: Sure.
Dr. Kent: …about your childhood. Very curious, did you listen to Doc Watson? Did you listen to blues players? What was your…what did you love?
Pat: Yeah, both of those things are true. I started off playing drums when I was about 10 and I was in a rock band in high school playing drums and then learning how to play guitar at the same time as a sideline. Then our guitar player was listening to a lot of, well, blues players and also people like Doc Watson and country, the roots music I guess you could say now.
Dr. Kent: And are you a roots musician?
Pat: I guess I’d say so, yeah.
Dr. Kent: But just about anything. What I love about the show is that anytime you tune in it might be a Blind Blake tune, it might be some finger picking, it might be a soft folk tune. It’s awesome.
Pat: Well, we’re just working on a version of “Police Dog Blues” by Blind Blake just as we were talking here.
Dr. Kent: Do you listen to those records? How do you figure it out?
Pat: Yeah, I’ve listened to all the Blind Blake stuff a lot by now so I kind of know it all but at least how it goes basically. And if I don’t I refer back to it. There are some great CD reissues of old blues players now and it’s much more easy to access that music.
Dr. Kent: Those old 78s?
Pat: Yeah.
Dr. Kent: So one more questions for you. Do you have really expensive finger insurance?
Pat: [laughs] No, I probably should.
Dr. Kent: [laughs]
Pat: Get into the digital age…
Dr. Kent: There you go. Well, it’s been a real pleasure. Let’s listen to a little bit of another love song here from the album “Portrait”, it’s a gorgeous album, sorry not portrait, “Profile.”
Pat: ”Profile.”
Dr. Kent: And this song is called “Do you Love Me?” It’s another love song. Thank you so much for being on the show and we’ll listen to you tomorrow night on “Prairie Home Companion.”
Pat: All right, thanks a lot.
Pat Dohohue | Guitar Wizardry
February 29, 2008 | Leave a Comment
Pat Donohue took time out of his busy rehearsal schedule for NPR’s Prairie Home Companion to do an interview with us, about his music and his life in the business. He spoke to us about his new instrumental album, and about his earlier work… More about Pat Donohue from his website www.patdonohue.com:
From swing to jazz to bottleneck blues to folk, Grammy-winning acoustic guitarist Pat Donohue plays it all with a flourish of artistry and melodic inspiration. Chet Atkins called Pat one of the greatest finger pickers in the world today; Leo Kottke called his playing “haunting.”
Pat is certainly one of the most listened to finger pickers in the world. As the guitarist for the Guys All-Star Shoe Band of Minnesota Public Radio’s A Prairie Home Companion, Pat gets to show off his savvy licks and distinctive original songs to millions of listeners each week. His decade-long association with Garrison Keillor’s popular program has led to some unusual gigs: There was the after-show club date in Berlin, when Wynton Marsalis showed up to sit in with Pat and the Prairie Home band. Or playing music on camera for the Prairie Home Companion movie with director Robert Altman and stars Meryl Streep, Lily Tomlin, Kevin Kline, John C. Reilly, Woody Harrelson and Tommy Lee Jones. Besides the weekly radio broadcasts, Pat plays about 30 concerts a year nationwide and teaches at such popular music camps as Augusta Heritage Center and Rocky Mountain Fiddle Camp. Pat’s musical tastes are eclectic. Though he considers himself foremost a folk guitarist, Pat’s influences are rooted in bluesmen Blind Blake, Robert Johnson, Charlie Parker, Duke Ellington, Muddy Waters and Miles Davis. He manages to blend jazz and blues with folk, and the mix is seamless. Over the years he has captivated audiences with his unique original compositions, dazzling instrumentals and humorous song parodies, including Sushi-Yucki andWould You Like to Play the Guitar? Honors include a 2005 Grammy for his participation on Pink Guitar, a compilation of Henry Mancini tunes on acoustic guitar, several Minnesota Music Awards, and the title of 1983 National Finger Picking Guitar Champion. His original tunes have been recorded by Chet Atkins, Suzy Bogguss and Kenny Rogers. Pat has also been a featured performer at major music festivals including the Newport, Telluride and Philadelphia Folk Festivals. Pat has been obsessed with the guitar since he first picked one up at age 12 and began learning simple chords and melodies from a Pete Seeger instructional book. His background as a drummer in a garage rock band helped with the transition and he never looked back. As a youth, the St. Paul, Minnesota native pestered guitarists playing at Twin Cities coffee houses and blues venues, seeking tips on playing. Borrowing bits and pieces of the styles of finger picking pioneers he admired, he taught himself to play, building a repertoire flavored by Blind Blake, Django Reinhart and Chet Atkins. “I was very lucky to see some of the old-timers that aren’t around anymore,” says Pat. “The University of Minnesota had summer concerts in the early 70s and I got to see Lightnin’ Hopkins, Big Joe Williams and Jesse Fuller. I wasn’t shy about going up to them and trying to befriend them and find out what I could about playing the blues. By and large, they were very accommodating. Big Joe Williams invited me to his hotel and we wound up playing guitar together.” Aside from his music CDs, Pat also has two instructional videos and a concert video on Stefan Grossman’s Vestapol Videos, which not only display his guitar wizardry, but also feature the warmth and humor he brings to his live performances. Pat recently recorded an instructional DVD with buddy Mike Dowling, “A Guide to Two Guitar Jamming,” or Learning to Play Well with Others. Produced by Homespun Tapes, the DVD comes with tablature and is nearly two hours of strategies, examples, and advice on making good music together, no matter your playing level.
Pat currently lives in St. Paul, Minnesota.
David Gruder | Integrity IQ
February 29, 2008 | Leave a Comment
David Gruder’s concept of the “new IQ” is fascinating and will change the way folks think about how they interact with the world! We had a long and productive discussion about his theories, and his new book “The New IQ.” More about David Gruder from his website www.thenewiq.com:
Dr. David S. Gruder, Ph.D., D.CEP, is the Executive Director of Integrity Revolution, LLC (and its subsidiary, Willingness Works®) in Del Mar, California, through which he lectures, trains and consults worldwide in Personal, Relationship & Leadership Integrity Development. His doctorate is in clinical psychology with a secondary emphasis in organizational development and conflict resolution. For almost three decades, Dr. Gruder has provided organizational analyses, staff training, team development and executive mentoring, for executives, administrators, leaders, businesses and academic institutions. This has been in addition to having maintained a waiting-list private psychotherapy practice from 1980 until 2000. The Willingness Works® website,www.willingness.com, is a Starburst Best-of-the-Web Top 100 Self-Discovery Website. He also maintains two other websites that are helping to spark and integrity revolution: www.TheNewIQ.com and www.IntegrityPledge.org.Dr. Gruder has authored two major print books, four e-books, over seventy CD sets and well over a dozen training manuals. His first print book, Sensible Self-Help, won two book awards, including Colliers 1997 Mental Health Book of the Year. His second print book, The New IQ, is a road map for addressing the worldwide crisis of lack of personal, relationship and leadership integrity. Its companion volume is the downloadable The New IQ Integrity Makeover Workbook (a print version is also available).
Dr. Gruder has provided training programs for leaders, helping professionals and the general public throughout the United States as well as in Canada, Mexico, England, Switzerland, Hong Kong and Singapore. His topics have been many and varied, but all focus on building the skills required for personal, relationship and leadership integrity. For specific details, consult Dr. Gruder’s full CV (clickHERE).
Within the business and leadership community,Dr. Gruder has provided training programs and consulting for a wide range of business, academic and coaching organizations, such as the Wellcoaches® Corporation, IDS/American Express®, Vistage® (formerly known as The Executive Committee/TEC), the San Diego County Department of Education Management Academy, University of California San Diego Medical School, San
Diego State University, Hocking College (Ohio), and a number of family-owned businesses and entrepreneurs.
Within the international community, Dr. Gruder has provided negotiation skills training to ambassadors and other delegates to the World Trade Organization through a project co-sponsored by South Centre in Geneva, Switzerland and Action Aid in Pakistan.
Within the psychological community, Dr. Gruder is dually licensed as a psychologist and as a marriage & family therapist, and is a California-approved Continuing Education provider for psychologists, marriage & family therapists, social workers, nurses and drug & alcohol counselors. He has given hundreds of lectures and workshops, from hospital Grand Rounds presentations to multiple-day workshops at international conferences to case consultations for psychotherapists to teaching classes for psychology graduate students.
Within the specialty field of Energy Psychology, Dr. Gruder was the Founding President of the international Association for Comprehensive Energy Psychology (ACEP) and remains a member of its Advisory Council. He is currently a primary architect of ACEP’s diplomate program in Comprehensive Energy Psychology as well as its Energy Health Practitioner certification program. In addition to his D.CEP (Diplomate in Comprehensive Energy Psychology), he is an ACEP-Approved Certification Full Trainer, Certification Consultant and Continuing Education provider. Dr. Gruder is also an Advisory Board member to the InnerSource Energy Psychology Interactive project.
Within academia, Dr. Gruder teaches graduate courses in Archetypes, Human Development and Energy Psychology at the California Institute for Human Science in Encinitas, California.
Dr. Gruder is also active in the ManKind Project, an international non-profit organization helping men deal with the blocks interfering with their integrity and leadership so that they can fully embody their personal, relationship, professional and service missions. He is a past Board member for the San Diego community of ManKind Project International and has staffed a number of their programs.
In refreshing contrast to his multi-dimensional professional life, David lives a simple, play-filled life in San Diego, California, with his wife Laurie (a licensed acupuncturist and creator of health-oriented CDs and e-books), their cat Sasha and a delightful community of friends and family. A former accomplished musician, he still loves to sing and dabble in some of his former instruments. He hopes to return to composing and performing in the coming years.
Vic Stenger | God and Atheism
February 29, 2008 | Leave a Comment
Vic Stenger had some powerful and interesting things to say about spirituality and science. We spoke about CS Lewis, atheism, and much more! Check out what this New York Times Bestselling Author has to say about religion.
From Wikipedia:
God: The Failed Hypothesis is a 2007 New York Times bestseller[1] by scientist Victor J. Stenger who argues that there is no evidence for the existence of Deity and that a God’s existence is improbable.
David Ludden of Skeptic (magazine) wrote “Stenger lays out the evidence from cosmology, particle physics and quantum mechanics showing that the universe appears exactly as it should if there is no creator.”[2] Ludden concluded “All freethinkers should have both volumes [The God Delusion], side by side, on their bookshelves.” Damien Broderick wrote, “Stenger offers an answer to that deep question in his two new books, arguing a materialist, God-free account of the cosmos, equally antagonistic to superstition, the paranormal and religions archetypal and newfangled alike. He refuses to accept the polite accommodation urged by agnostic Stephen Jay Gould that science and religion can never be in conflict as they are non-overlapping ‘magisteria’.”[3]
Deborah Johnson Transcript
February 23, 2008 | Leave a Comment
Dr. Kent Gustavson: Welcome back to Sound Authors. It’s a beautiful snowy day here in New York.My next guest is Deborah Johnson. And she is speaking to me from down south about her new novel “The Air Between Us”. Welcome to the show.
Deborah Johnson: Thank you for having me.
Kent: And are you down in Mississippi right now?
Deborah: Yes, I am with much better weather than you all are having in New York, I think.
Kent: I think so. I have to say though my dog loves playing in the snow and eating it and all that. We come in all wet but she’s a happy dog.
Deborah: [laughs] Yes.
Kent: So tell me a little bit about your background. Your new novel “The Air Between Us”, tell me how you came to write this.
Deborah: It was given - the idea, I got the idea many years - a few years ago from my brother, who is a surgeon. And he talked to me just about things that had happened in my father’s life. My father was also a surgeon in the 1950s and the 1960s. So the idea of different things that had happened to him percolated in my thinking for a while. And that became the basis for this book.
Kent: Do you by chance have a section that you could read from it for us?
Deborah: Oh, my goodness. I didn’t have - I’ve got it right here so I guess I’ll just read the very beginning. About how long do you want me to read?
Kent: A few minutes.
Deborah: OK. I’ll read how the book starts.
Kent: Wonderful.
Deborah: OK? “The battered 1952 Ford pickup jolted across - against the curb, bouncing the driver just high enough so you could see the tip of his head, making him look for all the world like a teeny ghost, a low riding specter.”The sight froze the two men, Charlie Simons and Butter Bob Lathan, standing at the ‘coloreds only’ Emergency Room entrance to Doctor’s Hospital, stock still. They watched a cloud of dust cover the truck as it started bumping its way onto the gravel rock parking lot. Amazed, the men continued to stare as the pickup emerged from the gritty fog and honed in on the door right behind them.”The head did not bob into view again and for an instant each man thought he had imagined it. This false comfort did not last long. The truck was there and it was coming straight for them. Their minds and told them to dive for cover, and quickly, but their bodies were locked in place like the gears of a car. Both men thought they were dead for sure.”The truck jerked to a halt “three feet from my kneecap” as Charlie would spend his winter day in Nick Carter’s One-stop Barbershop telling anybody who cared to listen”. “And that truck must have been coming 50 miles an hour if it was coming at all. You can bet I saw them pearly gates.”"Thus this first of many strange events that were to occur that autumn in the town of Revere Mississippi, population 20, 000 and diminishing rapidly, naturally became famous. With each telling, the truck’s speed increased and the distance to Charlie’s kneecap decreased until one was up to 60 and the other down to no more than two inches, one inch if Charlie had spent time in some juke joint the night before.”Within a matter of days most everybody in Revere had heard the tale at least once. No one questioned if that old rattletrap truck could even have reached 60 miles an hour, which it could not have.”Instead, the Reveries all nodded, impressed and sobered by Charlie’s choice of biblical allusion. This was later, after all. And right then he wasn’t thinking about any implications whatsoever rather then those that had to do with protecting his life from destruction.”The truck stopped so close, so thoroughly that a puff of dust following billowed around it, ghostlike. It was seriously dawning on Charlie’s mind that he should be high-tailing it on out of there, and right now. The man remembered that quick glance of bobbing head and he remembered how thoroughly it had disappeared again.”Beside him, Butter Bob had already started a slow turn toward the driveway. Then through the haze, both men heard the driver’s door crank open, heard a thud and the paddle of small, bare feet running toward them along the path dirt stirring up the dust.”The owner of the feet pulled up short, coughed, tried to speak, coughed again. The men couldn’t tell if it was the excitement or the dust. Both black men, strikingly dark in their white emergency-room uniforms rushed forward, one to the truck, the other to the child.”Charlie Simons, the older of the two, bent down eye to eye with the youngster. The child looked to him to be about 10. No wonder they hadn’t seen him over the wheel.”Charlie shook his head”. “Boy, what you doing driving that?” Before he could finish he heard Butter Bob’s whistle and then his carefully articulated, “Shit”.”Charlie Simons was an elder deacon at the Mount Union Missionary Baptist Church and did not normally feel at liberty to use such language. But in the context of telling a real story, like being in court, you felt called upon to present only the unvarnished truth. And the unvarnished truth was that he took a certain naughty pleasure in shocking an eliciting gasp from whatever womenfolk happened to be hearing him.”"Pardon me, ladies”, he would say as an aside, when he retold his tale again and again, “But you all know what kind of man Butter Bob Lathan is as well as I do. One of those Lathan men from over in Brooksville and you know he really is capable of using such language.”"Everybody could agree with him on that. Now however, in this rundown driveway, Charlie stared at the boy jiggling around in front of him then glanced over at Butter sidling away from the truck.”Charlie got up very, very slowly. He sure did not like the sound of that one word, “Shit.” This part of course would be left out at the eventual tale telling at Carter’s. But this was 1966. And this was Mississippi. And no god fearing, right-thinking, Tomlinson’s having black man wanted to be dealing with any kind of shit after sundown.”Do you want me to go on or should I stop?
Kent: That’s wonderful.
Deborah: Thank you.
Kent: Your storytelling is so vivid and I can see, you know the patter of bare feet on the dirt and the voices. Do you see these scenes in your head? Do you hear these voices?
Deborah: I don’t really see - did I see this scene in my head? Yes, I do because when you - I like figure out the scene. Sort of, this is how I want this to work. And then, by working it so much, it becomes its own character. So yes, you do. I do see the child running and I see the people and I see the lights and I still see it.
Kent: Huh, wonderful.
Deborah: Every time I read it.
Kent: And this is your first novel. Have you written a novel before? Have you done other short stories?
Deborah: I’ve written historical romances about Italy in the time of the Hundred Years War. I lived there for quite awhile. And I’ve written those. This is my first book in Mississippi, my first book for HarperCollins.
Kent: And how does it feel to write about where you are from?
Deborah: This felt really good to write about this. I had the idea for the book before I moved here. But when I moved here it placed the book and it gave it power that it didn’t have before when I was thinking about it. It was an entirely different book. The anecdotes were the same. The basis and the core, but when I brought it here, it like took on this place sort of.
Kent: Now, did I mistakenly say you are from there? Where are you from?
Deborah: I’m actually - I grew up in Nebraska and Missouri.
Kent: Oh, wow.
Deborah: So I know snow too. [laughs]
Kent: So in moving to Mississippi, you really experienced the smells and the feel and the sounds?
Deborah: Hmm. It’s very easy to do that down here because they are so characteristic.
Kent: And so, let’s talk about race a little bit. It’s so fascinating right now. We were just talking about politics with my former, my first guest. And you know I probably shouldn’t say whom I support, but I support a very young African-American candidate. It’s fascinating to me to see that a black man and a white woman can be so popular. It gives me hope for our political system. It gives a lot of us hope for where the country’s going. Talk a little bit about politics, if you would.
Deborah: Well, I think I support the same candidate you do and for the same reasons. I think that for me, I grew up in the Civil Rights era. We always…Growing up back then was a very hopeful time too. No matter the difficulties we were facing it was still a hopeful time that change could be made. But no matter then even though we could talk about the fact, “well you know one day we’ll have a black president”! That that was a possibility, still seeing the wish it’s just marvelous. It’s just marvelous to be here.I lived in Italy for 18 years and it was really marvelous to see that democrats abroad have given him a primary too. So it’s just a message for the whole world that we as a country have come a long way that we could even be considering a black or a woman for president.
Kent: Now, I was a bit of an ex-patriot myself for a little while. I lived in Europe and the Middle East. Why did you end up in Italy?
Deborah: I went there actually to study Latin. I was brought up as a good Catholic girl and I ended up staying.
Kent: Wonderful. And did you start writing there? Is that…?
Deborah: Yes, I did, actually yes.
Kent: And how did you make these connections to…? Now you’re with HarperCollins writing a novel. Is this where you thought you’d be?
Deborah: You know, I always wanted to be a writer and to write for Amstead, which is my imprint at HarperCollins, which is like a dream come true.One of my own favorite books is “To Kill a Mockingbird”. When we went in to discuss changes on the book when I was in New York and it had just been sold, I was under a- what is it?- a poster of “To Kill a Mockingbird” in the conference room that we were in. It was just “Wow! This is it!”[laughter]
Deborah: I can say I’m really happy and pleased about what has happened. I don’t know that I exactly dreamed this. Mostly when I’m working on a book I’m just into the book. I don’t know where it’s going to take me but I’m very happy where this one took me.
Kent: I imagine you probably finished this book a good while ago. Are you at work on another project?
Deborah: Yes I am. It’s called “The Secret of Magic” and it takes place in the same small town of Revere, Mississippi in 1946 just after the Second World War.
Kent: Wow. Now have you had some connections…? This is a beautifully written book that…
Deborah: Thank you.
Kent: It has the ultimate charm of a Mark Twain, a Tom Sawyer, a Huck Finn. Do you have an audience in high school children as well as adults?
Deborah: You know, I don’t know. It’s only been out a month but I know that people have recommended it to high school students.
Kent: I think it would be a wonderful book for them to pick up and to bring up the race relations. They still exist. How far have we come since the 60s?
Deborah: Yeah. With Barack Obama of course it’s obvious that we’ve come a long way. They’re a still a lot of things that need to be done in a lot of ways that we can improve. But to say that we haven’t come any distance would, I think, be incorrect; we’ve come a great distance.I think that many people, not just with blacks and whites, but all races there is this sort of hunger and yearning for people to work together, among a great many people. And we see it right now in our process to elect-choose- our next president.
Kent: I find it nice to listen to Barack Obama. I think just about every political group does. They are all amazed by his oration ability. And I’ve never heard anyone speak like that except for when I was a child in school listening to Dr. King…
Deborah: Right.
Kent: …and listening to JFK. It’s a wonderful time I think.
Deborah: It’s a wonderful time, right. It’s a wonderful time.
Kent: Now you grew up in the Midwest?
Deborah: Yeah.
Kent: How did that come to play in your book?
Deborah: My growing up there?
Kent: Yeah. Did you come through your characters at all?
Deborah: I don’t know. Friends tell me, I can’t guess myself. The character I think as being most like me friend, different friends think other characters are most like me. But in every book you write or every book I’ve written friends have said, “This sounds just like you.” And so I think you do come through in your characters.Growing up in the Midwest I think people are pretty much the same no matter where they are and so I think that just getting a grip on character is the most important thing. Just understanding what motivates people and why people act? Trying to understand what motivates them and why they act in the way they do is what powers the book.
Kent: In one of the key hooks of the book is there are physicians in it. Is it your father was a physician? Are you related…?
Deborah: Yes, he was.
Kent: Yep.
Deborah: My dad graduated…well, this is what my brother tells me and this is what became the basis of the book. My father graduated in 1955 from medical school and at that time, which was more than 50 years ago, not many people would want a black physician to operate on them. He was a surgeon and he was a good one.So what would happen would be that the attending physician would be there when the patient went to sleep and then my father would come and do the surgery. Now he was a real surgeon but he would just actually do the real surgery and the patient would wake up and not know this. And so the concept of this fascinated me for a long time and became the basis of this book.
Kent: Now was your father ever worried? What if the patient woke up and saw that it was a black man operating on him?
Deborah: [laughs] I don’t know if a patient would wake up in the middle of surgery but I think it was a different practice of medicine back then and smaller hospitals without the I litigation that goes on right now.I don’t think it…and I’ve been asked this, I don’t think that people did this in a way to like be, how can I say, to deputize. They really actually wanted to do what was the best for the patient. And in many instances this was best for the patient. But what occurred to me as I was working on the book was not that the patient work up, but what if the patient died.
Kent: Right.
Deborah: So that became the basis of this book.
Kent: And there’s the connection to “To Kill a Mockingbird” also. It’s that really painful divide between the races. Now, it’s been a wonderful conversation. We had a chance to listen to the first little bit of the book. That was beautiful. The book is called “The Air Between Us”. It was just released by an imprint of HarperCollins. We’ve had Deborah Johnson on the show. Thank you so much.
Deborah: Thank you so much for having me.
Kent: Good luck!
Deborah: Thank you, bye-bye.
Kent: My next guest is Marsha Genensky from the Anonymous 4, an incredible singing group that blends the sounds of Baroque, folk, and much more. Come on back for that.
