The radio interview

So, it was a Tuesday morning, and I was drinking my second (ha!) cup of coffee, when the phone rang.  It was Roxanne Felix, and she had news.

“I have a cold,” she muttered.  I muttered something back, hopefully supportive.  “And you remember my friend Dave, right?”

“Sure,” I said, wracking my brain.  Roxanne has lots of friends.  I was certain Dave’s face would pop into my memory.

“He needs somebody to interview.  Wants to know if we’d come in.  I said yes. You will.  Won’t you?”

Ah.  That Dave.

David Jeffrey Buchanan.  Owner of asparagusgreen , who did a five part documentary on us at our last launch. Dave, whose radio show “The Sound of My Own Voice”  is on CJSR.  That Dave.

“Yeah.  Sure.  I’d love to.  When?”

“Tomorrow.  Be there at 10:45.  And bring something to read.  I’m going back to bed. I feel like crap.” Click.

Jump ahead to the next day — and for any of you who were in Edmonton, remember the carnage on the streets as we dealt with the first snow of the year.  I was good. I wanted to arrive on time. I looked outside, then turned to my husband.  “Drive me.”

He was sweet and didn’t even say anything about me being a dictator, even though I was acting like it.  He just drove me to the University of Alberta, and dropped me off.  I got to the CJSR reception room with minutes to spare.  I was the first one to arrive.

The reception guy went to look for Dave, but came back alone.  “Don’t worry,” he said.  “He’ll be here soon.”

So, I waited.  And waited  And waited.

At 5 minutes to 11, even the little reception guy was looking jumpy.  “He’s cutting it a little close.”

I nodded, thinking that there was no way in the world I was taking over.  (And this was when I still thought we were being TAPED.)

Dave breezed in with 2 minutes to spare.  Roxanne followed seconds later.  I was no longer alone, but hit panic mode when Dave said something about reading my stuff, needing one minute’s worth, and that it was live…

Live.  On air, live for an hour.  Gerk.

To be honest, it went well.  Billie showed up 5 minutes after we’d started (she’d done the right thing too, and taken a bus), and Dave is such a fantastic interviewer, we weren’t at a loss for things to say for even a second.

We all read excerpts from “Women of the Apocalypse“, told our stories, and had a good time.  And I didn’t have to learn any buttons to press….

Thank goodness.

The interview will be available on the asparagusgreen website, if you want to check it out.