Last weekend, I was hosting a fundraiser where we had magicians, musicians, dancers, singers, and storytellers. Happily, my friend Scarlet recorded TaelStrum’s telling of Lex & the Devil.
My favorite moment occurs at 4:50 when I get my Rock Star experience where I realize the crowd is telling the story with me, so I go quiet and let them say it as a group. It was golden.
After seeing a few of the Keep Calm graphics being posted all over the social media, I designed a couple of my own. If you’re on Facebook, you can reshare these images on my Facebook Fan page.
Download your own copy of Jack tales at: CDBaby
Back in the summer of 2011, I decided that I was going to refocus on my attention on developing my storytelling career. this decision has really produced some amazing results! The next couple of months are chock-full of events and awesomely cool stuff!
I hope you can join us at any and all of these events!
On December 30th, I drove out to Ottawa to catch Charly Chiarelli’s show at Once Upon a Slam. I had supper with a friend and then turned up early to sign-up for the Slam itself. Really, I only wanted to tell my story in the Slam so that Charley could see me tell a story: I was really there to see Charly’s show.
I decided to go with Love & Madness because it’s a 4-minute story (so no worries about time penalties for going over the 5-minute limit) that packs a punch and is always a crowd favorite. I was also sporting my new western vest and festive leather hat, so I decided to throw in a little extra flair at the end by placing the hat over my heart (when I spoke of Love) and back on my head with a gleam in my eye (when I spoke of Madness).
And to my surprise, it worked! I ended up getting the high score of the evening and winning the Slam! This is the third time I’ve won at Once Upon a Slam, which fills me with shock and awe. This means I get to compete again in the finals in June 2012, so who knows what might happen? There were some amazingly fantastic stories that night (including one about Beowulf which should’ve gotten a much, much better score. I may have swooned over the girl who told this story, just a little).
Winning that slam was the perfect end to 2011. Thanks be to Ruthanne for inviting the awesome Charly Chiarelli which made my trip to Ottawa completely worth it. 2012 has already gotten off to an awesome start, so stay tuned to this site for more storytelling related news!
It’s going to rock like a rocking thing.
Oooh… One of my performances is being featured on The Moonlit Road.com (The Ghost with One Black Eye), which is immediately followed by one of my favorite stories to tell during this season, The White Dress (not told by me).
The Moonlit Road.com is a fantastic place to get great creepy stories. I’ve picked up quite a few from this site, including my all-time favorite tale The Hall of Wonders (by the late, great Thomas Fuller).
As it is with most Octobers, storytelling becomes very popular! I’ve got quite a few shows coming up to a venue near you!
October 15th, 2011 // 7pm
37 Lambton
Ormstown, QC
Facebook event
Café Namasthé website
Sunday, October 30th · 1pm – 5pm
Chalet St. Charles
90 St. Charles Ave.
Dorval, QC
http://www.lakeshoreplayersdorval.org/
November 4th, 2011 // 7pm
Casa Maura
6290 Somerled, NDG
Montreal, QC
Cost: 30
Limited seating (45 seats). RSVP today by calling (514) 482-0777
Facebook event
Felicitations à Eveline Ménard (http://evelineconte.blogspot.com/) pour avoir gagner notre premier Conte SLAMtastique! Congratulations to Eveline Ménard for winning 1st place in our first SLAMtastique Storytelling evening!
Our next SLAMtastique Storytelling evening will be November 14th 2011, which is the SECOND Monday of the month. We’ve decided to go with the second Monday due to a conflict with another storytelling event in the city.
Visit our Facebook event page and find out more! If you’re not on Facebook, bookmark this site and we’ll post more information as it becomes available!
November 14th, 2011, 7pm
Shaika Café
5526 Sherbrooke Street West
Montreal, Quebec
Facebook Event page
Friday, November 4th 2011,
7:00pm to 10pm
Storytelling: 7:30pm
Cost: $30
Join us for an evening of fine cuisine and live entertainment featuring four of Montreal’s finest storytellers. The evening includes soup/salad, main course, dessert, coffee/tea. Bring your own wine
Featuring the storytelling talents of:
Jack Nissenson
JD Hickey
Sarah Comrie
Dylan Spevack Willcock
Reserve your spot today!
Casa Maura
6290 Somerled, NDG
(514) 482-0777
Limited space (45 seats)
We at TaelStrum are very excited to be performing in the famous Cafe Namasthe in Ormstown, Quebec!
If you’re out in that part of the world, you should definitely join us on Saturday, October 15 · 7:00pm - 9:00pm
TaelStrum website:
http://www.taelstrum.ca/
Café Namasthé:
http://www.cafenamasthe.co
So Shayne and I made it through the long lines, the paperwork, and finally the producer at Canada’s Got Talent. It was an amazing event and extremely well-organized. Our audition was at 1pm, so we showed around 11am and we performed for the CGT producer by 3pm. I don’t know how many people were at the audition exactly, but I would say over 1000 would be a safe bet.
The producer was warm, genuine, and friendly. He took five acts into a room, took the time to explain how this was going to work, and the auditions started from there. There were five singers (including the Ottawa Choirboys) and us in that room. We got up, introduced ourselves, the producer asked us a couple of questions, and then we told a very compressed version of Love and Madness (2 minutes!). Then Shayne and I sat down and watched the five other singers do their stuff. Some were amazing, others were only so-so. No one was awful.
As we were leaving, I went over to shake the producer’s hand and to thank him for his time. He said he was impressed with how unique our act was and that he really enjoyed the performance. Now it’s the waiting game because we won’t find out if we passed the audition before December 15th. However, I have a very good feeling about it.
Shayne, Jenn, and I went to the Bejing for a late lunch and had our picture taken to commemorate the event.
