John David Hickey

May-June Madness is about to begin!

mtlbard — Tue, 08 May 2012 20:29:27 +0000

May and June of 2012 is going to be frightfully busy for me in terms of shows and new projects! I think at the end of the marathon, when somebody asks me for a story, I might hand them a book instead.

May

TaelStrum Fringe Fundraiser on May 11th at Shaika Cafe
Last Open Mic Slam Telling on May 14th at Shaika Cafe

June

12 Montreal Fringe Festival shows scheduled
Hosting the Final Slam Telling competition at Shaika Cafe (June 11th)
Featured act at MadPoetix on June 10th (sharing the stage with the ever-lovely Tashe)
Competing in the Finals at Once Upon a Slam in Ottawa
Judging tales at the Smut Slam on June 13th (Fringe)
And one more thing on June 5th (more about that later)!

Sorry to be so cryptic about that last one, but I’m going to my first rehearsal tomorrow, so I’m not sure what’s going to happen. All I can say right now is that it’s a new type of storytelling project for me and I’ll be on a stage that I have always dreamed of performing on (one of many places). More on that later.

Wychwood Tales and Wails in Toronto

mtlbard — Tue, 01 May 2012 20:00:26 +0000

During the Canadian National Pagan Conference, Gaia Gathering in Toronto in May 2012, there will be a concert that features the melding of the minds and voices.

JD “Hobbes” Hickey of Montreal and the talented musicians of Wychwood Children and Greg Currie will be joining forces to create a mythical, musical epic that has rarely been attempted! You do not want to miss this unique performance!

The event is free for the Gaia Gathering conference attendees and $10 for everyone else.

May 20th, 8pm, $10
New College – Wilson Hall
40 Willcocks Street, Toronto, ON M5S 3G3
Facebook event page:

Fringe 2012

mtlbard — Fri, 27 Apr 2012 18:13:29 +0000

It’s official: The dates for TaelStum‘s show “Delicious Lies” are set! 14 shows in June 2012 and we guarantee that no two shows will be exactly alike!

Ame-Art: collectif des Artistes de la galerie Mile-End
5345, avenue du Parc
Montreal, QC H2V 4H9

Dates booked:
June 8th, 8pm and 10pm
June 9th, 8pm and 10pm
June 12th, 8pm and 10pm
June 18th, 8pm
June 20th, 8pm and 10pm
June 21st, 8pm and 10pm
June 23rd, 8pm

Join the Facebook Event page and we’ll giving you the latest and greatest news about our Fringe production!

Voice Acting!

mtlbard — Mon, 16 Apr 2012 11:43:55 +0000

Recently, I went into Studio La Majeure and recorded a series of voice demos that have now been posted! Go to the Voice Acting section of this website to find out more!

Storyteller Artwork

mtlbard — Tue, 27 Mar 2012 01:50:36 +0000

In February 2012, I went to a festival in Mansfield, Ontario called Northern Lights Gathering and I did a show and gave a workshop on storytelling. There was also a folk-band from Sarnia called Pagan’s Folly that did their show on Saturday night, and when I saw they had a fiddle player, I approached the band. Sarah the fiddler enthusiastically agreed, we spoke quickly about the story, and then performed it. Sarah’s instincts were dead on and the story performance was unbelievably perfect (my greatest regret was that I didn’t record it).

Émilie Boisvert witnessed this performance and a couple of months later, created this work of art. I am gobsmacked at its beauty, but also to have inspired such a thing. My heartfelt thanks go to Sarah and Pagan’s Folly for their musical accompaniment and my deepest gratitude to Émilie for creating this painting. To listen to the story itself, visit Shortening the Road (although it’s not the version from that mystical night).

Storyteller by Émilie Boisvert (http://www.emilieboisvert.ca/)

Voice-Over Gig

mtlbard — Mon, 26 Mar 2012 15:25:21 +0000

I have been sitting on this secret for a long time, but I can now broadcast it:

Back in November 2011, I was hired by Lotto-Quebec to do a voice-over for their Mise-o-jeu online betting system (they found my storytelling blog and liked what they heard). I couldn’t talk about it until the system was released, but today’s the day!

If you go to Mise-o-jeu Demo, you can listen to me narrating the demo video. Neat!

Lex & the Devil: a Rockstar Moment

mtlbard — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 18:38:58 +0000

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.

Keep Calm about Storytelling

mtlbard — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 20:26:11 +0000

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

Starting 2012 with Multiple Bangs!

mtlbard — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 17:34:53 +0000

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!

January 24th: TaelStrum will be on the Word I Heard show on CKUT sometime between 4pm and 5pm.
January 25th: I’m co-hosting Montreal’s second-ever Smut Slam with the fabulous Cameryn Moore!
January 27th: Because I won the Once Upon a Slam in December 2011, I’m the Sacrificial Teller in January 2012!
February 4th: TaelStrum will be performing in the Beat the Winter Blues charity concert at Atwater Library.
Feburary 13th: I’ll be hosting the Love Bites themed Contes SLAMtastique at Shaika Cafe.
February 25th: I’ll be telling a true, 2-minute story at Confabulation!

I hope you can join us at any and all of these events!

Ending 2011 with a Win!

mtlbard — Mon, 02 Jan 2012 15:28:09 +0000

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.