From Sedge Thomson
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Producers: West Coast Live - Sedge Thomson

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Review of Maya Angelou & Guy Johnson - Mother and Son Poets become themselvesSome people are just not gonna sit around and twiddle their thumbs. They are special - although they try to tell us they aren't. They say we all have a poet or storyteller inside. And they are right. When they take time to tell us who, how and why they are, we need to listen. Or not. We can just sit around and twiddle our thumbs... |
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Review of Maya Angelou & Guy Johnson - Mother and Son Poets become themselvesIf there's one person who I would call a dream interview it's the poet, activist, and all out Fabulous Woman of America Dr Maya Angelou. In this programme she double bills with her son Guy Johnson. She was a teenage mother and she brought him up to appreciate poetry, to recognize that the emperor's new clothes were a sham and to love art, life, people and food. They're a fabulous pair and this programme makes for fabulous listening. Whether chatting about poetry and the emotion they feel for it, or abut the several languages they know or about how they feel about each other or about their love of good food Maya Angelou and Guy Johnson are compelling listening. The only small point I would have changed here is have the two interacting a bit more than they do - as it stands, Guy Johnson is up first and is followed by his mother and their interactions are more like interruptions in the interview. But they're so lovely together, it would have been great to give them centre stage together. I would give a lot to have these two as guests at my dinner table, but having them on my radio is almost as good. A must listen. |
This is drawn from an interview originally aired live in November 2004 on West Coast Live. This feature is self-contained and can be run as an "evergreen," as a Black History Month special, for Mother's Day, or in connection with literature and poetry programming.
Live piano, Battle Hymn of Republic, at close of piece
olasunkanmi sanusi
Posted on April 17, 2008 at 11:18 AM | Permalink
Review of Maya Angelou & Guy Johnson - Mother and Son Poets become themselves
Good radio package..No holds -barred interview with an atmosphere that exhumes sincerity both on the part of the presenter and the guests.