R.I.P. Doc Mcconnell

A staple of the Jonesborough Festival has passed.
Doc McConnell, Sept. 20, 1928 - Aug. 16, 2008.

Farewell, U. Utah Phillips

Folksinger, Storyteller, Railroad Tramp Utah Phillips Dead at 73.

Official obituary from the family.

The link is to his web site, where you can also find links to various recordings, from podcasts to CDs.

His recording of "Moose Turd Pie" should be required listening for all aspiring storytellers.

Variety Reviews John Lithgow, Storyteller

I've often enjoyed actor John Lithgow reading aloud on the radio program "Selected Shorts." Now it seems he's opened a one-man show at Lincoln Center, "John Lithgow: Stories by Heart."

Variety lists the show as a "play," and it does have a director. And it does take place in a theater.

But apparently the show is mostly Mr. Lithgow telling stories of his family, and of the role stories and storytelling played in his family. The show includes recitations of poetry by Oliver Wendell Holmes and prose by P.G. Wodehouse.

I found this quote illuminating:

...(the play) encourages auds to make their own connection to the material, without demanding that we celebrate Lithgow's life. He grounds the classics by explaining what they meant to his family, but his biography is supporting material, not the solipsistic main event.

It reminds me of the best of storytellers, who disappear behind their stories. And what you are left with is not the feeling that the storyteller had an interesting life, but a connection with the storyteller, who was able to capture some universal feeling (of pride, of embarassment, of loss, of fear, of love) and share it.

Sometimes I Wish I Lived in Alabama

Not all the time. Mostly only when I hear Kathryn Tucker Windham tell stories.

Now I just learned that the Birmingham Museum of Art is hosting a retrospective of her work-- not her storytelling, mind you, but 50 years of black and white photographs, including some taken with her first Brownie, purchased in 1930. Most, I gather, were taken during her career as a journalist. Most depict small town life in Alabama from the Depression through the Civil Rights era. I suspect, given Kathyrn's eye for detail in her storytelling, and her career that took her across the state, that she captured some wonderful images on film. Wish I could see them.

If by some chance, you're passing through Alabama before May 25, stop by the exhibit, and let me know what you thought.

Baby Storytelling

I've noticed on YouTube, if you do a search on "storyteller," you get a host of precious thirty second to two minute home videos of toddlers babbling.

(Actually, you first get a lot of pirated clips from Jim Henson's The Storyteller series, but that's a post for another day)

So. The home movies. The chatty babies. Their doting parents and grandparents immediately tag or title the clip "storyteller."

It took me ages to figure out why.

I think it's because they are capturing their child caught up in the joy of language, the sound of language, the music of it. For the first time, they see their child not demanding food, or sleep, or a beloved object out of reach. Suddenly they see that their child is doing something with language beyond expressing direct needs.

Interesting that they call this "storytelling," and not "poetry" or "echolalia" or "mouth music." I don't believe for a moment that a one-year old is trying to express a narrative by this babbling, as extensive as it is. They're not telling a story.

But it's fascinating that the default assumption of parents is that their wee bairn has stepped up her language skills, and that this next step they call "storytelling."

Storytelling is Alive and Well (in the Papers, anyway)

Don't know why, but there was a burst of stories about storytellers and storytelling in the press last week.

Creative Loafing Atlanta January 30, 2008

with audio podcast here

The Times of London February 1, 2008

The Baltimore Sun February 3, 2008

Farewell to Scotland's Greatest Storyteller

Duncan Williamson (1928-2007)

The English-speaking world has lost another of its giants of the oral tradition, storyteller and singer Duncan Williamson.

Link is to the obituary in the Independent.
Here are the links to the Times of London's, and the Guardian's.

Limor's Storytelling Agora

Also worth checking out: Limor's blog from Israel. Limor is a storyteller but on her blog, the issues she raises about storytelling are the kind usually only discussed at conferences, and not often enough.

Big picture issues, like "what is storytelling?" and the role of the fourth wall in the relationship between the storyteller and audience. Also practical exercises she uses to get people telling stories.

A welcome and most necessary addition to the storytelling community!

Voice - A Storyteller's Lifestyle

Check out this storyteller's blog... not a diary of a storyteller's performances, but thoughtful articles and essays on tips of the trade and questions for the community. I especially appreciate that a storyteller is willing to share concerns and issues for the entire storytelling community to consider. Kudos to storyteller Rachel Hedman.

Syd Lieberman Jumps into the 21st Century

(photo by Santheo)
You might say Chicago storyteller Syd Lieberman was already ahead of his time... with a commission from NASA under his belt, he is the only American storyteller with an official claim to give voice to the folklore of the planet Mars. But now he's boldly going where no storyteller (at least not one with his prominence in the field) has gone before... the Creative Commons.

Now, for a limited time (Summer 2007), he is releasing his entire stable of storytelling recording as free downloads from his Web site, www.sydlieberman.com. By my count, he has 14 CDs and cassettes in his multi-decade career, and you can still purchase these, but he's taking a cue from the up and coming undiscovered rock and roll bands of the world and giving away his music so as to build his audience.

And, from what I understand of the Creative Commons license, you are free to copy and share the mp3s, as long as you attribute the work to Syd and don't use it for commercial purposes.

You can subscribe to the recordings as a podcast. I don't know how to do that (I don't have an iPod), but I find I can listen to them fine via his Web site, and even download individual stories.

Given the state of frenzy that the lawyers of the RIAA and Viacom and Time Warner and Fox and everyone has over who copyrights what and who is allowed to post what on which web site... Syd's move is a refreshing one, and obviously comes from a place of abundance, rather than scarcity.

Kudos to Syd!

Chicago Youth Storytelling: WNEP and "Back to School"

Don R. Hall at Chicago's WNEP (What No One Else Produces) has been running a storytelling competition, called SKALD, for 8 years now.

(And my ears on the ground in Chicago in the storytelling community know nothing about it. Time for some new ears. The likely trouble is not only that Chicago storytellers aren't tapped into the theatre scene there, and also Don's use of the term "professional storyteller" does not correspond to the same definition that professional storytellers use.)

Be that as it may, Don's blogged about his efforts to get some youth storytellers involved, and he may have just gotten more than he bargained for.

But it seems his potential batch of students are wildly enthusiastic. Kudos for Don for developing the next generation of storytellers.

The Living Tradition profiles Irish Storyteller John Campbell

(traditional singer Len Graham and storyteller John Campbell)

Well, better late than never to learn about the masters. John Campbell (1933-2006) was one of Ireland's favorite storytellers, and I only just stumbled across his obituary in the Guardian. I've linked to a nice profile of him from a few year's back, which only gives a hint of his style.

Cayman Net News: Storytelling comes alive

A report from the 2006 Gimistory, the Cayman National Cultural Foundation's annual storytelling festival.


I also found a web site for the 2004 Gimistory, and Ken Corsbie's review of the 2005 Gimistory (check out the picture of the jam session, featuring Afro-Carribean drums and Jeri Burns' harp!).

Gimistory's official site. Looks like fun!

The origin of manga: Storytelling Man

From Japan's PingMag: a feature on Tameharu Nagata, one of Tokyo's last remaining traditional kamishibai storytellers. Great pictures of his stories (he's got 700 different ones!), as well as his cart.

YouTube: Storytelling in Jonesborough TN

Promotional video for the National Storytelling Festival and International Storytelling Center in Jonesborough, Tennessee. Some nice archival photos of performers and audience members from the early years. Can you recognize the storytellers in their 1973 fashions?

Give Free Hugs: A Storytelling Festival Story

Patricia Digh shares a story that takes place at the National Storytelling Festival, and although its not about storytelling, it's about her daughter and YouTube and finding her voice.

It's a heartwarming blog post. Check it out.

Blogging from Jonesborough: Family Business

Blogger Sandor Weisz writes about his trip to the National Storytelling Festival, with a personal angle: storyteller Syd Leiberman is his father-in-law. So much nicer to get a snapshot of the Festival with some depth, instead of the emails I get with litanys of first I heard so-and-so and then I heard so-and-so and then we saw blah blah blah...

The Best Storyteller in San Francisco: Eleanor Dumont.

When it comes to storytelling festivals and storytelling events in San Francisco, there's one name synonymous with excellence in storytelling: Eleanor Dumont.

From storytelling at school assemblies, to keynote speeches, commemorative occasions or family events, a storyteller can provide a distinctive entertaining and/or educational program, and San Francisco has its share of talent to fit the bill.

However, if one wanted to find Ms. Dumont to tell stories, or for that matter, any of the other many storytellers of San Francisco to make an appearance at your event, you'd be hard pressed to find any way to contact them.

Check the comments for more.

Esther Martinez, Tewa Storyteller, Rest in Peace

Esther Martinez, also known as P'oe Tswa (Blue Water), was a storyteller and linguist of the Tewa language spoken in the Pueblos of New Mexico. At 94 years old, she just received the National Endowment for the Arts National Heritage Fellowship for Lifetime Achievement. Driving back home from the ceremony in Washington DC, she was killed in a car accident last Saturday by a suspected drunk driver.

You can hear audio recordings of her stories at the NEA web site here.

Washington Post obituary here.

Crackle Mountain

Crackle Mountain is a new blog from Australian storyteller Florence Forrest.

It features her re-tellings of Asian folktales, gorgeously illustrated with images of Asisan artwork. Florence cites her sources for both the stories and the artwork, and fills us in on some folklore to help give the stories some context.

I hope she keeps it up!