The Flip Side
I'm used to being the interviewer, but when someone wanted to talk about Charles Brown, I was happy to oblige
Life, when you least expect it, can take some unusual twists and turns.
Several years ago, I did a deep dive on my late friend Charles Brown, and wrote a couple of essays on his work and how his legacy lives on each year around the holidays. In 2021, I merged the two and published an edited version to my Substack page.
Crickets.
Earlier this month, I revisited the essay a second time and published it again, recognizing that I have more subscribers and am part of more music communities than I was two years ago. This time, a couple of my Substack colleagues commented on it and shared it with other music lovers on this platform. (@Substack, BTW, is a great place to read about all types of music.)
Then, on Dec. 10, after spending two days in a dark theater photographing four performances of “The Nutcracker,” I came home to an unexpected message: A DJ at a public radio station in San Francisco wanted to interview me about the essay.
The Legacy of Charles Brown
“Here you go. Want to try and do something with this?” In the summer of 1990, my boss at the Texas City Sun was going through the daily stack of mail when he tossed a Rounder Records/Bullseye Blues press kit onto my desk. He knew I was into music, and opportunities were rare — that’s being generous — to do much regional or national entertainment coverage…
I did some Internet searching to see if the request was legit. Then, even though it was almost 11 p.m. EST, I picked up the phone and called the DJ, Charles Miller, who has worked for KPOO-FM since the mid 1970s. We talked for half an hour about Brown, my hometown, and music, and at the end I agreed to call in the next morning for a live 10-minute segment.
Normally, my job is to stay behind the camera and ask the questions, not the other way around. I’ve been told I have a face for radio, and I’ve never enjoyed hearing my speaking voice, no matter how much I may like to talk. But Mr. Miller was extremely kind, and we had a nice conversation on the air about Charles and my essay on Elvis Presley on my twins’ 26th birthday.
If you’re interested, give the interview a listen.
To read the Elvis essay referenced in the interview, go here:
My Grandmother, Elvis, and Me
The story goes something like this… In early 1955, my 14-year-old father went over to “a girl’s house” on a Saturday night. A few minutes after he arrived, he was sitting with her on the living room couch with her parents in the other room when the phone rang in the hallway.
Happy holidays!