All Y'all Podcast

Derek Wayne Johnson was born in Carthage, Texas, about an hours' drive southwest of Shreveport, Louisiana. He fell in love with cinema at an early age, developing a special affinity for the films Rocky and The Karate Kid. Those films were directed by Academy Award-winner John G. Avildsen. Through an unbelievable series of events, Johnson wound up not only meeting his filmmaking hero, but directing a documentary film about his life.

Robinson Film Center and Maccentric will present a screening of that film, John G. Avildsen: King of the Underdogs, on Tuesday, Aug. 8. Grab tickets to the film at RobinsonFilmCenter.org

Here's the All Y'all interview with Derek Wayne Johnson about growing up in the Ark-La-Tex, meeting your heroes and what it's like to interview Burt Freakin' Reynolds.

Careers are tricky things. Sometimes, you pursue one career only to wind up in another line of work. Other times, a career sort of finds you - you take a job to make ends meet and, years later, you realize it's become more than a job. And then, sometimes, you tell the owner of the China Garden Buffet in San Angelo, Texas that you're a professional piano player (even though you only know a few songs) and - next thing you know - you're tickling the ivories.

Careers are tricky things. Sometimes, you pursue one career only to wind up in another line of work. Other times, a career sort of finds you - you take a job to make ends meet and, years later, you realize it's become more than a job. And then, sometimes, you tell the owner of the China Garden Buffet in San Angelo, Texas that you're a professional piano player (even though you only know a few songs) and - next thing you know - you're tickling the ivories.

Ghost stories can be a lot of things: visceral, frightening, unnerving. But very seldom do they drift into territory that could be described as intimate or personal. Storyteller Steven Abney took the stage at our Nov. 12, 2016 live event, "Haunted", and delivered a ghost story that was as equally suited for Ghost Hunters as it was for Dr. Phil. This spine-tingling tale of a haunted house and one man's struggle to shake loose of his demons continues to be one of the most unique All Y'all stories told to date.

Ghost stories can be a lot of things: visceral, frightening, unnerving. But very seldom do they drift into territory that could be described as intimate or personal. Storyteller Steven Abney took the stage at our Nov. 12, 2016 live event, "Haunted", and delivered a ghost story that was as equally suited for Ghost Hunters as it was for Dr. Phil. This spine-tingling tale of a haunted house and one man's struggle to shake loose of his demons continues to be one of the most unique All Y'all stories told to date.

Some folks are just natural born storytellers. Amy Lynn Treme, a pre-K teacher who lives in Shreveport's Highland neighborhoood, is one of those folks. When All Y'all announced that we'd be presenting a night of stories about work ("I Just Work Here" was held at the Woman's Department Club of Shreveport in April 2017), Amy was the first person to reach out with a story pitch. And, wow, it was a doozy.

Some folks are just natural born storytellers. Amy Lynn Treme, a pre-K teacher who lives in Shreveport's Highland neighborhoood, is one of those folks. When All Y'all announced that we'd be presenting a night of stories about work ("I Just Work Here" was held at the Woman's Department Club of Shreveport in April 2017), Amy was the first person to reach out with a story pitch. And, wow, it was a doozy.

On May 11, 2016, Christopher Louis Wilson published a post on his blog, From the Desk of Mr. Coach Wilson, about his lifelong love affair with Shreveport-based restaurant Wing Taxi. Within 24 hours, the post had gone viral in Shreveport, with thousands of views and social shares leading the owner of the restaurant to reach out to Wilson. As it turns out, Wilson isn't the only Shreveporter obsessed with the quirky, gypsy-like wing joint. For many locals, the taste of home is Cajun ranch lemon pepper garlic Parmesan.

For our November 2016 live storytelling event, "Haunted", Wilson took the stage and shared a surprisingly personal, heartfelt story of love, loss and yearning.

On May 11, 2016, Christopher Louis Wilson published a post on his blog, From the Desk of Mr. Coach Wilson, about his lifelong love affair with Shreveport-based restaurant Wing Taxi. Within 24 hours, the post had gone viral in Shreveport, with thousands of views and social shares leading the owner of the restaurant to reach out to Wilson. As it turns out, Wilson isn't the only Shreveporter obsessed with the quirky, gypsy-like wing joint. For many locals, the taste of home is Cajun ranch lemon pepper garlic Parmesan.

For our November 2016 live storytelling event, "Haunted", Wilson took the stage and shared a surprisingly personal, heartfelt story of love, loss and yearning.

During the second half of our July 2016 storytelling event, “I Fought The Law,” we featured stories from three attorneys who shared an insider’s perspective of our complex legal system. Our last storyteller of the evening, Meghan Shapiro, moved to Louisiana in 2013 to practice death penalty defense law in a place with greater need than most. From 2010 to 2014, more people were sentenced to death per capita in Caddo Parish than in any other parish or county in the United States.

Meghan has almost exclusively represented poor individuals charged with capital crimes or sentenced to death, a cause to which she has been heavily devoted since her teens. This story is about her first death row client.