Storytelling Radio Program
KSVY-FM 91.3, Sonoma, CA
www.ksvy.org/home.htm
Sundays, 5-6 pm Pacific time (adjust for your time zone)
Live audio streaming: Go to the KSVY website above. In the upper right-hand corner, click on High or Low Speed and find yourself listening to the program in progress.
Archives: Go to the KSVY website above. Click on "Shows" in the left frame. Scroll down and click on "Story-Lovers World," then click on "Past Episodes" under my picture. Now you have your choice of all the programs available to date as archives.
Theme music: Special thanks to Petra Koch in Germany (she works with Storyteller Richard Martin), who performed the beautifully haunting alto recorder music of Como Podem from the 13th century collection Cantigas de Santa Maria (copy of Kynsecker, Mollenhauer & Co.). The different music at the end of the programs is also by Petra. Used on this program with her kind permission.
Engineer: Brodie Giles, KSVY radio station 91.3 FM
PROGRAM 23:
Feb. 25, 2007 - My Favorite Guys!
This program is devoted to those tellers—all guys this week!—who are master storytellers but whose work it is sometimes difficult to fit into the themes for Story-Lovers World! They are well worth a listen!
Featured storytellers:
Richard Marsh (Ireland)
The Doctor and Death
The Knight Who Came Late to the Battle
David Joe Miller (Pennsylvania)
Jack's First Job
Richard Martin (Germany)
The Silent Princess
Doc McConnell (Tennessee)
Dynamite's Trial
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Guest tellers...
• Richard Marsh — The Doctor and Death; The Knight Who Came Late to the Battle
(Irish Myths, Legends, Folk Tales and International Stories)
[The Knight Who Came Late to Battle is believed to be absolutely true in the town where it is said to have happened in 978, San Estéban de Gormaz. That version says that the knight's name was Fernán Antolínez, and that the event took place on Easter Sunday. His captain was Garcí Fernández, son of Fernán González, and he said, "Because of you we have had a happy Easter (Pascual). May you live (vivas) many years." And that's how the name Pascual Vivas became attached to him. The epitaph on the tomb in the church of Nuestra Señora del Rivero, where Fernán Antolínez is buried and where he attended the Masses, reads: "Here lies 'Vivas Pascual', whose weapons fought while he was attending Mass.]
Story-teller Richard Marsh leads groups to prehistoric, historical and legendary sites to tell stories of magic and mystery, heroic deeds and monumental folly, cunning tricks and black humour from the most vibrant traditional literature of Europe.
Irish myth and legend come to life in a special way "on location" at Stone Age passage tombs, Bronze Age stone circles and dolmens, Iron Age hill forts and ring forts, standing stones, ogham stones, earthworks and raths.
The passage tomb at Seefin (left) in the Wicklow Hills is one of the "re-birthing chambers" or Sidhe (fairy) mounds visited on some of the Tours.
Each of the four one-day Tours goes to an area near Dublin and features one branch of the four traditional story cycles:
• County Meath -- Mythological Cycle: the Tuatha Dé Danaan
• Counties Louth and Armagh -- Ulster Cycle: Cúchulainn and the Cattle Raid of Cooley (Táin Bó Cuailnge )
• Northwest County Wicklow -- Fionn mac Cumhaill Cycle
• Southwest County Wicklow -- Historical or Kings Cycles (cycles of legends based on historical kings)
Also included are local tales such as the Púca, Hempenstall the Walking Gallows and fairy trees, and stories of Saints Kevin, Patrick, Mo Ling, Colmcille, Brigit and others.
Online interview with Richard:
How did you discover storytelling?
The first story I remember being told was the jump tale The Golden Arm at the age of 10 at summer camp in a cabin without no electricity in total country darkness. We all jumped a foot at the punchline. I was hooked.
I've always told stories -- to neighbourhood kids, as a teacher in class, sharing stories I've just learned with anyone I can hogtie for a few minutes. I started professionally as a Legendary Tour guide. Standing-in-front-of-people-storytelling started with a couple of my Tour victims. They were vivacious, dangerous, gorgeous 25-year-old EarthFirsters from Eugene, Oregon. We bonded immediately, and they invited me to come stay with them in Eugene if I was ever in the neighbourhood, and would I mind maybe telling some of my stories at the local healthfood-cum-Celtic-interest shop. I made it a point to be in the neighbourhood soon thereafter -- I nearly followed them home -- and enjoyed the experience, to say the least.
Worst experiences and most endearing moment
When I tell stories to adult students of English in language schools in Spain, some of the students are teachers about two pages ahead of their students. They are thrilled that they can understand me in English and assume their students will be equally enthusiastic, and they ask me to come to their schools. Teenagers are rarely interested in foreign languages and listening to stories not from their own culture that they have to struggle to understand. When I have accepted the invitations out of avarice -- it's like found money -- they have been my worst experiences. So when this smiling man in Santa Cruz de Tenerife asked me to tell to two groups of 150 each, aged 13-14 and 15-16, I shuddered and tried to fob him off. I explained that this sort of thing always ended in tears, mine of frustration and the teachers' of embarrassment. He guaranteed they would be well behaved. The first group were predictably like fleas, but when I insisted that the trouble-makers be kicked out, the rest listened attentitively enough. The second group must have had the riot act read to them in advance. They sat quietly and listened politely and with fairly total comprehension, 150 of them in the front half of a 300-seat auditorium. But there was one big boy nearly smack in the centre whose voice I could hear constantly, though I couldn't make out the words. He was imitating my gestures, and when I frowned at him he frowned back. I nearly asked the teachers to take him out, but only those in his immediate area were listening to him, and the rest were focussed on me and the stories. At the end of the session, they demanded an encore, which rarely happens. Afterwards, I mentioned that boy to one of the teachers, and that he was constantly talking through my performance. "Oh, that boy. He's mentally deficient. His parents insist that he stay in our school, though we'd prefer him to be in a special school. But the other students accept him the way he is, and he's happy here. His mother is British, and he's completely bilingual. He was simultaneously translating your stories for the students around him, and, do you know, it's probably the first time he's ever been able to do something better than them. It must have made his day." It certainly made mine.
Advice to beginning storytellers
Listen to lots of tellers and learn by watching what works and what doesn't. Then learn by doing. Remember that, regardless of what the audience may think, the story is the star and you're just the conduit. Also, never, never violate the integrity of a traditional story by changing it. If you don't like some part of it, don't tell it. It's like a woman who marries a man because she sees him as good husband material, then she sets about changing him to fit her cookie-cutter ideal, then complains "You're not the man I married."
The Knight Who Came Late to Battle is believed to be absolutely true in the town where it is said to have happened in 978, San Estéban de Gormaz. That version says that the knight's name was Fernán Antolínez, and that the event took place on Easter Sunday. His captain was Garcí Fernández, son of Fernán González, and he said, "Because of you we have had a happy Easter (Pascual). May you live (vivas) many years." And that's how the name Pascual Vivas became attached to him. The epitaph on the tomb in the church of Nuestra Señora del Rivero, where Fernán Antolínez is buried and where he attended the Masses, reads: "Here lies 'Vivas Pascual', whose weapons fought while he was attending Mass.
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CDs:
Saints and Gore and Fairy Lore: Stories of Irish and Basque Myth and Legend
told by Richard Marsh
Fionn mac Cumhaill and the Burning of Tara
Tír na nÓg - Oisín and Niamh
Oisín and Saint Patrick
Saint Kevin - and the cow, bird, water monster, Hollywood, temptress
Fingal Rónáin - a tragic historical legend of blood and lust
Jaun Zuria - how an Irish prince became the first lord of Bizkaia
Cover: the passage tomb or sidhe mound or Otherword entrance on the Hill of Tara called the Mound of the Hostages. More on Tara here.
54-minute audio cassette/CD
The Tower of Breogán and Other Tales from Ireland and Spain
told by Richard Marsh
The Tower of Breogán - how the Celts came to Ireland from Spain
The Holy Companion - an Irishman sees Santiago, patron saint of Spain
Soldier John - his tricks, treats, trials and triumphs
The Knight Who Came Late to Battle - angelic intervention
The Doctor and Death - a Spanish-Basque-Irish version
La Casa del Duende - a haunted house in Madrid
Raftery - the famous blind poet/fiddler plays for a poor couple's "afters" in Donegal
The Phantom Steam Roller - a true ghost story from County Down
Lady Beresford and the Black Ribbon - one of Ireland's most famous ghost stories
The Ballad of Kishóg's Curse - a curse on those who refuse a friendly drink
Cover: The Tower of Hercules, a 2nd-century Roman lighthouse built on the site of the Tower of Breogán in La Coruña, Galicia. More on the Tower here.
60-minute CD
Order from richardmarsh@legendarytours.com
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Books:
The Legends and Lands of Ireland
Forty-three legends lavishly illustrated with photographs. An Introduction describes the tradition of storytelling that has preserved the Story of Ireland from earliest times.
Foreword by Frank McCourt.
Available in bookshops in the US, Canada, UK, Ireland and from booksellers on the Internet.
Sterling/Penn ISBN 1-4027-0784-3 hardback (2004); 1-4027-3824-2 paperback (2006)
•••••
These Things Happen
2005
Some of these 46 experiences happened to me, others I witnessed as a fascinated bystander, and a few are anecdotes told to me by friends and acquaintances. They remain with me as life-enhancing lessons and valuable insights into the many facets of human and animal personality and character: kindness, generosity, prejudice, determination, courage, pain, sorrow, delight, love and the ability to reach beyond earthly limitations that brings us to our full human (and dolphin) potential. I have shared these stories with listeners to RTE Radio One and readers of The Sacred Heart Messenger in Ireland, and I have collected them in this book so that others might find in them the same inspiration that they continue to bring to me.
These Things Happen is available from richardmarsh@legendarytours.com
•••••
Believe If You Can
16 Irish, Spanish and Basque Legends and Tales
The text from the CDs Saints and Gore and Fairy Lore and The Tower of Breogán
Atlantic Bridge (2003)
•••••
Tirana
Earn Fire
The first two novels in the Celtic-Norse fantasy series The Key Bearer Saga
Atlantic Bridge (2002)
"This is a story where nothing is as it appears... I love the way that everything is tied together at the end. I also love the blending of Welsh, Irish, Scottish and even Norse legends ... This is a story that definitely keeps you entertained as you follow Hubert-Hugh-Luis's journey to his destiny."
from Chere Gruver's review of Earn Fire on the Timeless Tales website
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Au Pair in Ireland
More than 40 au pairs talk about their experiences, good and bad, with Irish families. They give advice on how to avoid problems and deal with them as they come up. The consensus is: everyone should be an au pair once - but once is enough!
The first edition of Au Pair in Ireland was published by Prentice Hall in 1996.
The second edition (2004) is available from richardmarsh@legendarytours.com
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Facets
A collection of poems
Mazgeen Press (1992)
•••••
English Like It Is: A Survey of Current Usage
Persistent errors and changes in correct usage
•••••
Member:
Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland
Wicklow Archaeological Society
The Folklore of Ireland Society
Irish Actors' Equity
Society of Authors
Dublin Yarnspinners
Heritage in Schools Scheme
•••••
Contact:
Richard Marsh
15 Fontenoy Street
Dublin 7, Ireland
Country: Ireland
Phone: 353-1-8827941
richardmarsh@legendarytours.com
http://www.legendarytours.com/storyteller.html
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•••••
• David Joe Miller — Jack's First Job
David Joe was born in the upper east region of Tennessee. He grew up in a colorful family listening to humorous stories about its members, odd characters and times of ‘used-to-be’. He lived on the second floor of the old five & dime building overlooking Main Street in historic downtown Jonesborough, the town responsible for the rebirth of the art of storytelling. He writes stories to tell to audiences everywhere.
David Joe began his career as fulfillment coordinator with the National Storytelling Association. As he told stories for their public and private events, he fell in love with this age old art form. He then began telling in schools, libraries, festivals and corporate events in the area. Now a full-time storyteller, David Joe travels spinning yarns and weaving lore. Traditional and contemporary stories come alive through the imagination of his listeners. During his six years with the National Storytelling Association he participated in production and operation the National Storytelling Festival, the worlds' largest and most prestigious storytelling event. He helped to collect and develop resources sold at the festival and in the catalog for the associations’ members. His behind-the-scenes experience in storytelling has proven to be a valuable asset to his storytelling career.
In 1994 he founded the Jonesborough Storytellers Guild, which performs every Tuesday night in downtown Jonesborough. David is now a professional storyteller, freelance writer and artistic director of DeeJum Live Productions.
A quote from David Joe:
"I believe in the power of storytelling...I have seen how storytelling builds community and bridges differences in our society, how it nurtures the imagination in our children and how it heals a wounded spirit. I feel blessed in my ability to share this wonderful art form and touch others' lives the way I have been touched through the magic of storytelling."
Storytelling Workshops:
David Joe Miller believes in the power of storytelling and he shares that gift with everyone who attends his workshops. Learn to:
• Remember events and objects that make good story material
• Brain-storm story ideas
• Tell so that you might be heard
• Choose the right story for you
• Present yourself to your audience
• Teach using storytelling
David Joe's belief that storytelling is the ultimate communicative tool is evident in his storytelling workshops for children or adults. He leads participants through a series of exercises that help them to remember events and objects that might make good story material.
Through stories of his own he is able to offer examples of how important it is to 'tell your own stories.' Through multi-cultural stories he offers guidance on how to use story as a way to bridge gaps in our communities, helping people to 'do the right thing' and bringing them closer together. He shows that storytelling can truly heal a wounded spirit and inject an element of enthusiasm in everyone listening.
Narrative Writing Workshops:
David Joe's workshops in narrative writing inject an element of excitement that lasts long after completion. "His enthusiasm for story writing is infectious." Says Charlotte, North Carolina Literacy Facilitator, Karen Haag. "The students become eager, even insistent on writing stories." David Joe instructs using basic narrative writing theories. He adds elements of creative exploration and imagination discovery to help guide young writers through a maze of writing education using:
• Story mapping with traditional folktales
• Story dissection and discussion where a story is broken down with all the components identified and discussed
• Imagination exercises
• Visioning with mind pictures
• Story idea brainstorming
He has been contracted by schools throughout the country to provide these workshops for their third, fourth and fifth grade students. He has been invited into the North Carolina school system each of the past four years. His workshops have proven to be beneficial in increasing the statewide narrative writing test scores for fourth grade students. Parents say their children have exhibited stronger interest in writing and reading after attending one of David Joe Miller's workshops.
David Joe has told stories to:
Vice President Al Gore and his family
Disney Imagination Executives
Lucent Technologies Executives
Shell Oil Executives
Executives at:
World Bank
Citibank
Capitol One Finance
Harvard University
Further information available at:
http://www.davidjoemiller.com
http://www.storytellingstore.com
Contact Information:
David Joe Miller
614 S. 8th Street #268
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19147
Country: USA
Phone: (704)267-1108
deejumtell@yahoo.com
•••••
•••••
• Richard Martin — The Silent Princess
Richard Martin tells stories, often together with music by Petra Koch or Vera Spillner: throughout Germany and Europe, and as far away as India, Singapore, Hong Kong and America - in theatres, universities, schools, for business companies or private parties.
Richard's life in as few details as possible.
I was born in 1949 - so it must be the storytelling which keeps me looking so young.
I spent most of my childhood in Cheshire - and there is still a slight northern accent to my English.
I disliked school, where I was an erratic and rather temperamental pupil.
I managed to fail 'A' levels completely at the first attempt - which puzzled the school as well as me since they had considered me rather bright!
At last I scraped the necessary three 'A' levels together to go to Liverpool University in 1970, where I eventually read History and Politics.At the advanced age of 25, not knowing what else I could do, I recalled George Bernard Shaw's dictum and decided to become a teacher. I compounded this mistake by deciding to teach primary school children; the logic that being larger than the pupils would make life easier was soon disproved in practice.
After 18 months of being an over-stressed teacher in a small North Devon town, I chose to follow my fiancée back to Germany for a year.
That year began in December 1976 and has yet to finish.
During that time I have learnt:
• to speak (although not yet write) reasonable German;
• to discover that teaching English as a foreign language is something I could not only do but enjoy;
• that storytelling is one of the most powerful things in the world;
• that storytelling should be part of language teaching;
• that many other teachers want to use storytelling in their classrooms, too.
•••••
English storytelling in Germany? Well, 14 years ago I had never told a story to a public audience before, let alone to a public audience of non-native speakers. But I was asked to put together a two-hour show with a group of musicians who played medieval music - and walked out to see 200 adults sitting there. Admittedly, as an Englishman working here as a teacher and teacher-trainer, I had always told stories to my classes in the school where I worked - which was why the musicians invited me. But with 200 to perform to, this was for real!...
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More on Richard's website:
http://www.talesandmusic.de/
•••••
CD available (you can listen to these tales as well):
Jack goes Hunting and Other Tales
Stories to make you laugh, stories to move you with beauty and truth. You will listen again and again.
The tales are:
• Jack Goes Hunting (MP3) — a story which shows that a man can sometimes make his wife happy!
• Jimmy No-Story (MP3) - a popular tale in Scotland and Ireland; it shows how important it is to have a story to tell.
• The Tailor and His Wife (MP3) - one of my most popular "adult" tales.
• The Wounded Selkie (MP3) - a beautiful Scottish tale of forgiveness. And you can read The Wounded Selkie here.
• The Silent Princess (MP3) - like many oriental stories, this has more tales embedded in it
"Richard's style reminds me very much of a cross between Taffy Thomas and Richard Walker ... the stories are well told, the audience enjoys them and so did I. ... Thanks Richard."
Pete Castle's review Facts & Fiction (Feb. 2004).
•••••
Recordings index
Two CDs:
Latest recording
Jack goes Hunting and other Tales
Recorded live at Brüder-Grimm Märchenfestspiele, Hanau 2003.
The Well of the World's End and other Tales
Six more great stories.
DVD:
Latest release
The Tale of the Brown Calf and other Tales
Recorded live at Brüder-Grimm Märchenfestspiele, Hanau 1997.
Originally available on video, now re-released in DVD format.
Video:
The Strongest of Them All
Tales and Music for Young Learners. Includes Teacher's Handbook.
The Tale of the Brown Calf and other Tales
Tales for the English Classroom
Audio cassette:
The Wife's Letter and other Tales
To accompany the stories on this cassette, A Handbook of Teaching Ideas is also available.
•••••
Contact Richard:
richard.martin@talesandmusic.de
http://www.talesandmusic.de/
Richard Martin
Bornstr. 83
Darmstadt 64291
Country: Germany
Phone: +49 6151 377 175
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•••••
• Doc McConnell (Tennessee) — Dynamite's Trial
Doc, who hails from Rogersville, is “one of the giants of the American tall tale tradition.” He has traveled the country with his “Old Time Medicine Show,” has appeared on television and radio, and is a regular favorite at Jonesborough's National Storytelling Festival.
For over two decades, Doc has been known as a man who has helped revive the art and love of storytelling. He is a distinctly Southern storyteller with a mountain flair whose tall tales, yarns, and mountain stories appeal to young and old alike. Doc has been featured at major festivals, fairs, concerts, schools, colleges, and conventions across the United States.
Southern storytelling with a mountain flavor is often the term used to describe Doc McConnell’s storytelling. His traditional stories and tall tales appeal to the young and old alike. He often provides workshops, lectures and performances and sometimes includes a stringed instrument in his presentations. Doc is considered the best of the old time “pitch men” as he recreates entertainment of days gone by in “Doc McConnell’s Old Medicine Show” complete with wagon. He has been honored with the National Storytelling Association “Circle of Excellence” and “Lifetime Achievement” awards.
Doc McConnell's "Old Medicine Show" is an authentic medicine show reminiscent of the traveling medicine shows of a hundred years ago. The show is complete with a real medicine wagon, gaily painted and outfitted. The show is suited for all members of the family and is always in good taste. The show is in its 30th season and has appeared on network television, celebrations, stadiums, towns, cities, and universities all over the United States. The show is fast moving and guaranteed to bring a laugh to most, and at least a smile to all the rest. The chant of the medicine show man peddling his roots, herbs, barks and brews, the magic tricks charming the children, the trained flea act, the old time music, and colorful costume, are sure to bring enjoyment to all who have an opportunity to see and hear…. Doc McConnell's Old Medicine Show.
Doc's tall tales, traditional stories and family reminiscences are appropriate for all ages above five years old and he has delighted many an adult audience wit his humor as well.
Traveling
Doc McConnell's "Old Medicine Show" is in its 30th season and has appeared on network television, celebrations, stadiums, towns, cities, and universities all over the United States. Appearances include the Minnesota State Fair, 1982 World's Fair, Country Music Hall of Fame, Tallahassee Museum, Milwaukee Rodeo Days, Albuquerque Balloon Fest, State University of N.Y., Tennessee Valley Fair, Stone Mountain Georgia, National Storytelling Fest, National Barbeque Festival, and the Novello Festival of N.C.
Recording of Doc's Medicine Show in presentation to a live audience is now available in audio tape and CD. See them in the Product Catalog.
Products available:
(CD) Unexpected Heroes
Lazy Jack, Rooster & the Bean, Lion & Mouse, The Horse-The Stage & The Hunter, Fox & Sack, Granny White, Peter Francisco.
(CD) More Than a Kernel of Truth
(60 min) Uncle Ben, Beginning in Highlands, Youthful Impressions, Charlie Butterfly, Mr. Fisher & Annie, Jacob's Ladder, Rattlesnake Man, Froggy Went-A-Courtin, Daniel the Dumpster Dipper, Coming to America.
(CD) Stories From the Heart
(60 min) A Rich Man Dies, Don't It Make You Want To Go Home, Songs of Melody, My Father's Horse, Benny's Music, Charity Suffers Long, Mountain Justice, Mama's Washing first machine.
(CD)Tuckers Knob's Best Stories
(60 min) Dinky and his Accident, Buster's Last Ride, The Census Taker, Uncle Abe, Horsepower Pull Off, Talking Bulldog
(CD) World of Stories
(60 min) Shaggy Dog Tale, Tom Dooley, A Man goes Hoe, Rain Maker, Mule Trader, Devil Jim, Shootin Mule.
(CD) Tall Tales from Tuckers Knob
(60 min) Walter Lee's Fancy, Volunteer Fire Department, Lucky, Aunt Pinky's Medicine, Sarge Goes to War, Dude and his Mule, Dynamite's Trial, Fence Post, The Decision.
Live recording of the Medicine Show.
(CD) Doc McConnell's Medicine Show
(CD) Doc McConnell's Vienna Sausage Cookbook
Purchasing information:
http://www.rememberingtogether.com/StoryProducts.htm
You can listen to some of Doc's stories at:
http://www.bookhive.org/zingertales/zingertales.asp
The Rooster and the Bean
The Fox and the Bumblebee
Bear Tale
Contact:
guerrymcconnell@bellsouth.net
http://www.tales-tonics.com/
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(Page created 2/24/07)
