I love to hear stories with music. If you know of any story-with-music tellers with sites up, please click here to e-mail me and let me know about em. . . . Thanks.
Bill Harley Bill Harley is one of the most entertaining stories-with-music professionals I've ever witnessed. He is very well-known and highly respected in the American storytelling community, as he should be. I saw him at Steve Sanfield's Sierra Storytelling Fester, and he was POWERFUL on stage and personable and giving off. He saw me at the Exchange Place at NSA's festival in Jonesborough this year, and was again more than generous with his words. It's always a pleasure to run into Bill Harley.
David Holt David Holt is a man
from two worlds. He is known and respected in the world of folk and country
music --he's played the Grand Old Opry fergoshsakes; he's got a banjo instructional
video out-- and he is a lion of the storytelling world (he won the
storytelling Grammy award last year). I saw him at NAPPS in October of
1997, and the man never let up; the hardest working cat in the bidness.
I thought I'd seen ALL the folk instruments there were, but David pulled
out a brown paper bag, blew it up, and got music out of it! I was deeply
impressed.
And this, incredibly, was what he did on the Opry as well.
Talk about cajones! You go on the Opry, you've got your one shot to show
the Country world what ya got, and you whip out a paper bag, blow it up,
and start playing it !?!? My hat's off to you, David. His audiences love
him . . . (me too).
The Trial Web Shift David Vanadia found his way to my site one day. We determined we were the only two bassist/storytellers in the known cyberverse. His web site is ultra-cool...on the cutting edge of web site design, something most ST web sites (mine included) can't say for themselves. He has his stories up and has links to electronic storytelling anchors and storytellers I've never heard of, as well as a storyteller's chat room. If you're from the NAPPS-centric-storytelling world, then check David out. This cat is into something else!
Dan Gibson is a storyteller, poet and musician. He tells entertaining, thought-provoking stories for grownups and children. His programs include folk tales and ghost stories from many cultures, urban legends, original, shameless tall tales, outright lies, outrageous cowboy poetry, historical tales and satire. But most importantly, Dan is a fellow five-string banjo picker, and that makes him front page in my book.
Posterville Website I met Professor Poster at Bruce Latimer's 400th television show anniversary in Pacifica, California; we hit it off and agreed to swap links. Although his site is not technically a storytelling site, he does have many stories to tell about poster art and the early history of San Francisco rock. If you dig rock n roll, and/or beautiful posters, visit the Professor. You will not regret it, except for the sometimes-tedious downloads of beautiful sights: SF posters, rockabilia, and geetars quite rare.
Seth Evans' Website Seth is not a storyteller, exactly, but he is a fellow musician, old friend and writer of musicals. And musicals, of course tell a story, so there's the connection right there. His site is quite nice and will get you linked into music world, especially of the classical variety. He's named his production company, "Faultline Productions." [I called a big band I directed the "Faultline Big Band."] Living as close as he does to the San Andreas Fault, I'd imagine this is his way of thumbing his nose, politely of course, at the fates and furies.
National Storytelling Association. The NSA is THE organization of the American storytelling revival. Founder and Executive Director, Jimmy Neil Smith, puts on the oldest (26th annual just took place), most-venerated, best-attended (10,000 + folks went this year) storytelling festival on the first weekend in October, in Jonesborough, Tennessee. Moreover, they had the good taste to invite me to tell there this year, as an "Exchange Place Teller." The NSA is doggedly called "NAPPS" by all who were there when it WAS called "NAPPS," the National Association for the Preservation and Perpetuation of Storytelling, and all who wish they had been. This deep site, recently re-designed and expanded by their webmistress Mary Whited, is an excellent orientation to storytelling world, an embarrassment of storytelling riches.
The South Bay Storytellers A favorite local site (local to the San Francisco Bay Area), things seem to be always changing here, which makes it eminently re-visitable. They list local Performances, local Workshops and Bay Area Events. They also have easy links to a short list of local, South Bay, tellers, which is a very nice touch; more sites should feature local tellers and local events . . . mine included. And the "National Links" get you out of town. Hosted by storyteller Cathrene Glick.
The Storytelling Association of Alta California The recently moved, HOT-lookin', SAAC web page has Membership list, Storytelling links, Ongoing events and Storytelling classes as well as Calendar, Story Swap and Other Festivals. These are all well worth the visit, especially if you're in the San Francisco Bay Area. Cathie Scalice manages this site, as well as other web sites, AND she gives web workshops at libraries around the Bay. Managing a site for a non-profit is a vast, time-consuming, labor of love. Our thanks for keeping us local storytellers up-to-date, Cathie. We'd be lost without ya.
The Jewish Storytelling Coalition You want to hear a story? Have they got a story for you! Right there on their homepage. A refreshing home page; a lesson in effective simplicity. And events, people, sources, links, and all that delicious mishegas.
The Tell Home Page A delightful place to visit. Links to actual stories. And a place to key in and send your own story as well. Gotta love it.
Welcome to Talespinner's Tavern Another fun site to visit. And they've got one of the hippest animated gifs I've ever seen. Cool++. Twenty tales by some 15 talented in-house talespinners. They call their links "Paths of Wandering," and there's a spin-your-own-tale section.
Gifts of Story This feels like a well-researched site, by a dedicated story-listener. She's divided it into two main domains: Storytelling and Stories. Storytelling subs out to Organizations, Events, Home pages, Resources, Mailing lists and Newsgroups. The Stories site leads to Worldwide, Audio, For Children, By Children, Familiar, Individual, Hyperfiction, and Collections. An excellent site for doing research and/or finding your way to where you're going.
J. Ford, etc. A site for performing artists This site includes a long listing of storytellers, with a thumbnail sketch for each. They make it easy to add your own name and bio with URL and email address, and that can only help get your name around. A good place for tellers to find and be found. "The ultimate website dealing with the arts,artist, performers and the performing arts," it is indeed a rich resource for all performing artists.