Woo Hoo! I Interviewed Neil deGrasse Tyson!

INTERVIEW WITH DR. NEIL DEGRASSE TYSON

OK, sometimes stuff just falls in one's lap. Last week I got to interview Dr. Neil deGrasse Tyson, host of NOVA science NOW, director of the Hayden Planetarium, and all-around smart guy. He was in Memphis for a lecture and I had called his people two weeks prior to see if I could get him to come on to the radio program I produce for WYPL Radio called Book Talk. His publicity person didn't call me back until the day he was in town, THREE HOURS before his only window. I was really nervous because I hadn't even bothered preparing for an interview that I wasn't expecting to happen.

So I drove downtown to pick him up at his hotel. We got back to the station and had a nice 30 minute chat. On the way back, he plugged his iPhone into my car stereo, and we listened to "American Woman" by The Guess Who and "Atomic Dog" by George Clinton. Listening to George Clinton with Neil deGrasse Tyson while driving in my Saturn. Life is way too odd sometimes.

I finally have figured out how to store files online, so you can download the interview here. And a bonus for all you, this is the full interview. The one for radio had 2.5 minutes pared off. I will also start posting my other interviews on my blog. It's not quite a real podcast. But I've talked to some cool people over the years, like Walter Mosley, Kinky Friedman, Haven Kimmel, and Bruce Campbell. So check back once a week and listen to me be nervous and listen to authors talk about themselves. And extra bonus, all the interviews are done in-person so the audio quality is usually pretty good.