Sweet Phil from Sugar Hill
From Phyllis Fletcher
| 00:28:57
Producers: Phyllis Fletcher
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Review of Sweet Phil from Sugar HillBeautiful piece! Ms. Fletcher combines the voices of her family, along with well-chosen musical interludes, to create a portrait of her deceased father. Anyone listening to the piece will fall a little in love with her dad, as well as the rest of her family. |
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Review of Sweet Phil from Sugar HillNow here's a little gem of a personal piece. Producer Phyllis Fletcher has put together a charmer - poignant, hopeful and funny - about her father who had 14 children with 13 different mothers. Fletcher goes in search of and connects with many of her siblings while we hear letters from her father read by her eldest brother. This is one provocative piece that begs questions about family life, relationships and the different paths a person can take. Although I could have done without the constant music tracks and let the piece breathe more, I would recommend this half-hour piece as a special for Black History Month, Women's History Month and definitely Father's Day. |
Broadcast History
February 18, 2008, WYBC Yale Radio
October 24, 2006, KCUR Kansas City, MO
June 8, 2005, KBOO Portland
April 24, 2005, Re:sound, WBEZ Chigago
March 13, 2005, Invisible Ink, KALW San Francisco
January 13, 2005, Radio Drama, KPFA Berkeley
December 24, 2004, The Radio Chronicles, KPFA Berkeley
December 2, 2003, Radio Intersection, KUOW Seattle
Transcript
KARRIEM: Sweet Phil from Sugar Hill.
MY DAD HAD SOME STRANGE IDEAS ABOUT HOW TO SUPPORT A FAMILY.
MOM: He brought this dog home. And he said "Well I'm gonna train this dog to, to snatch purses."
[MUSIC: BEEN CAUGHT STEALING, JANE'S ADDICTION]
MOM: I was just, I was totally appalled. I mean, "you're gonna get a dog and you're gonna train it to steal purses?" 'Cause evidently he had met somebody who had a dog that would do that. Well, I mean, you could do it, but it would be so wrong.
[/FADE MUSIC: BEEN CAUGHT STEALING]
MY DAD GAVE ME A PRETTY NORMAL CHILDHOOD, THOUGH. BY THE TIME I WAS ONE, HE WASN'T LIVING WITH US ANYMORE. WHEN I WAS FIVE, HE STOPPED VISITING. IT WAS JUST ME AND MY MOM; I WAS AN ONLY CHILD.
AT LEAST, THAT'S WHAT I THOUGHT.
UNTIL I WAS SIX, WHEN MY MOM TOLD ME I HAD A NEW BABY BROTHER.
MOM: I remember you were really happy. And you wanted to talk about it...
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Timing and Cues
00:00:00 Program begins (00:28:25)
00:28:25 Program ends, music bed begins (00:00:33)
00:28:58 Music bed ends
Content Advisory
Sweet Phil from Sugar Hill contains descriptions of graphic violence, drug use, and death.
The following descriptions may be upsetting to sensitive listeners.
00:05:08 face of embalmed corpse
00:09:32 violence against a woman
00:10:10 attack with stick or bat
00:11:24 kid hits other kid on head with bat
00:12:44 suicide (jumping off bridge)
00:22:00 evidence of drug overdose
The following quotations of my dad's writings and speech may be considered objectionable by some listeners.
00:01:38 How in the hell are you doing?
00:02:00 Some of these dudes get so big, they can't even wipe their own butt.
00:02:07 And someone way smaller than them ends up kicking them right in their ass.
00:02:30 I'm still lookin' good as hell.
00:02:41 Your papa can cook his ass off. . . I'll put some of my barbecue sauce in your nose, and you'll eat your boogers.
00:02:59 If I could spell, I would be a motherf_cker. [vowel is dropped]
00:03:17 When I come outta that coat, the people be sayin' "that nigga sure is clean."
00:03:32 (Sometimes I wonder if you. . . ) don't give a f___ [remainder of word is dropped]
00:03:38 You are one fine motherf_cker [vowel is dropped]
00:03:43 You look like you sweat honey and your dukey don't stink.
00:08:20 So you didn't want to be called cracker, or you didn't want to be called. . . booger-nose. I don't care. Whoop your ass up in here.
00:23:49 I ain't made an ugly nigga yet.
The following quotations from interviewees may be considered objectionable by some listeners.
00:14:49 I said, "damn!"
00:15:43 He could talk S-H-blank-T.
Musical Works
| Title | Artist | Album | Label | Year | Running Time |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Been Caught Stealing | Jane's Addiction | Ritual de lo Habitua. | Warner Brothers, | 1990. | 00:20 |
| Nuages | Django Reinhardt | The Best of Django Reinhardt. | Capitol/Blue Note, | 1996. | 03:04 |
| Bitch Niggaz | Dr. Dre | 2001 [Instrumental]. | Aftermath Entertainment, | 1999. | 02:45 |
| he Streetbeater | Quincy Jones | Television's Greatest Hits, Vol. 3: 70's & 80's. | TVT Records, | 1990. | 00:56 |
| Track #1 | Unknown | Drums To Remember. | Deena Phone, | 03:00 | |
| Cool Jerk | The Capitols | 70 Ounces of Gold. | Compose, | 1988. | 00:45 |
| Where Did You Sleep Last Night? | Nirvana | MTV Unplugged Live in New York. | Geffen, | 1994. | 01:15 |
| Mama Guela | Spanish Harlem Orchestra | Un Gran Dia En El Barrio. | ropeadope, | 2002. | 01:20 |
| Isn't She Lovely | Stevie Wonder | Original Musiquarium I. | TAMLA, | 1982. | 00:40 |
| Papa Was a Rolling Stone | Temptations | Funk Blast!. | Experience Music Project, | 2000. | 01:20 |
| I Gotcha | Joe Tex | Reservoir Dogs. | MCA, | 1992. | 00:40 |
| The Needle and the Damage Done | Neil Young | Harvest. | Reprise, | 1972. | 01:20 |
| If I Ruled The World (Imagine That) | Nas | it Was Written. | Columbia, | 1996. | 01:50 |
| We Are Family | Sister Sledge | We Are Family. | Rhino, | 1993. | 03:03 |
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Additional Information
- Produced: Nov 05, 2003
- Added to PRX: Feb 10, 2004
- This piece is in English
Aaron Henkin
Posted on August 16, 2006 at 09:16 AM | Permalink
Review of Sweet Phil from Sugar Hill
In this first-person radio exploration, a young woman makes her way through a series of interviews with extended family members in an attempt to better understand her father, a man of mystery, much charisma, and a questionable moral compass. I'm hesitant to say too much about what producer Phyllis Fletcher learns along the way because one of the most captivating things about this story is the sequence of perfectly-paced revelations that get dropped on us as the narrative progresses.
Fletcher talks to almost 20 different relatives during her quest, and she boils it all down to a half-hour radio story (I can only imagine how much tape must have ended up on the cutting floor). The result is a tight, fast-moving tale with a lot of twists, turns, and emotional highs and lows, seasoned throughout with interludes of vintage soul, rock, and Latin jazz music? Can you believe this piece was a debut effort? Really nicely done.