I chanced to hear a scrap of an interview on NPR this morning with a former Arkansan doing well. If I heard correctly (though I can’t confirm it from the on-line schedule) KUAR will replay an NPR interview with Rashod Ollison at 4 p.m. today on All Things Considered.
The Times published in January an excerpt from his memoir, “Soul Serenade: Rhythm, Blues, & Coming of Age Through Vinyl” (Beacon Press, 2016) shortly before a book signing here.
I just ordered the book on Amazon. With a tiny bit of trepidation. He’d told me some time ago that it might include a memory of his being subjected to an endless loop of Jimmy Buffett on a trip with my family back from Board Camp, near Mena, where he and daughter Martha had spent a few weeks in a summer high school drama camp. He preferred the R&B greats, as he writes in the memoir, and amen to that.
Rashod was one of the first Arkansas Times Academic All-Stars and one of many who’ve gone on to better things. He’s currently the pop culture critic for the Virginian-Pilot and getting quite a bit of attention for his memoir about growing up gay amid family struggles as he moved around Arkansas before completing high school at Sylvan Hills.
You can get your own book signed in two weeks. He’ll be among the authors featured at the Arkansas Literary Festival — 4 p.m. Saturday, April 16 at the Arkansas Studies Institute.