Tuning in…
Tuning in…
Castaway
1 appearance
Writer and broadcaster, author of 13 best-selling books and host of the Radio 4 series Meet David Sederis.
On the island
Eight records
Reminds him of working at the Dorton Arena in Raleigh, North Carolina, when he was thirteen, and how country music artists would sign autographs for hours to respect their fans.
Keith Hampshire with the original London cast
Reminds him of a choral performance in third grade, and realizing even then that he liked being on stage but didn't like the other people.
His father was a huge jazz buff who exposed him to bossa nova, and he prefers the richer, untranslated Brazilian version of this song.
Until You Come Back to Me (That's What I'm Gonna Do)
Reminds him of family beach trips to Emerald Isle, North Carolina, and how music changes when you grow up and can actually relate to the longing and despair in the lyrics.
I've Got a Right to Praise the Lord
Reminds him of attending a classmate's father's funeral at a Black church, where he was amazed by the music compared to his childhood Greek Orthodox church.
He found this jazz compilation when he first moved to Paris and would play this song and sob because it made him so homesick for New York.
You and IFavourite
He loves her interpretation and the flatness of her voice, and it was the first track that made him realize Stevie Wonder songs work as jazz numbers.
Johnny Hartman and John Coltrane
Reminds him of when he and his partner Hugh first started seeing each other and he went over to Hugh's loft.
In conversation
Presenter asks
0:44What are you looking for exactly [when you carry a notebook with you]? What tends to occupy your mind and catch your eye?
Well, I guess I'm just always looking for something that seems absurd to me.
Presenter asks
6:35Your mother went through a difficult period after the kids left home. She developed a problem with alcohol. What do you remember about that time?
I mean that that was the thing. I mean, if my mother had had access to a wider audience, I think when the kids left home then she would have been okay. But my mother really did get lonely, and it was just her and my father in the house, and it wasn't it was a rotten marriage. I mean, the way that he spoke to her, it was just chilling. And she she always drank, but then she always had rules. But just her rules started getting lax. And I'll forever kick myself for not having some sort of an intervention.
Presenter asks
9:01You've written about your very difficult relationship with [your father]. He was highly critical of you. Why do you think he was like that?
I don't know, even as a kid, you know, you don't know that you're gay. But I knew that I was different, you know, and I knew that there was something he just couldn't abide. … I imagine. You know, I mean, I w I was a sissy. … My dad's mantra, I mean, it wasn't his mantra, it was just what he said to me over and over again was. You are a big fat zero.
The keepsakes
The book
I'm trying to learn German. … maybe it would bring a new perspective too, if you were seeing it and describing it in another language.
Presenter asks
10:52Now that [your father] is gone, I wonder how it feels to know that he's gone and he can't [hurt you anymore].
It feels great. And I know that might sound really harsh, but I don't care.
Presenter asks
14:38Was school a difficult place for you to be at that time [when you were coming to terms with your sexuality]?
You would never have said the word gay, and you would never have even assumed that anybody else was, because it was just the worst thing in the world to be. There was no I I don't know, there was no evidence that I wasn't the only gay person in the world. There was a sorrow to that, just a loneliness.
Presenter asks
17:29A key detail about this period is that you were also addicted to crystal methamphetamine. What effect did that have on you?
I would write manifestos that just went on and on and on. I mean, I was into it. That didn't make it good. It just made me insufferable.
“I guess I feel like if I have a purpose, it's to make the world love my mother as much as we did.”
“Why not? Is that the rule? You can treat someone however you want, and they can never talk about it. They can't say, like, thank God that's over. You know, you kind of get what you paid for.”
“I don't have any choice. I'm compelled to write.”
“The tragedy wasn't my sister's suicide. It was her mental illness.”