Br.Blue has joined The Ancestors -Laura Packer
We ain’t nothin’ but music wrapped in a body made of snow.”
On Tuesday night, storytelling night, November 3, 2009, our beloved
mentor, teacher and self-proclaimed holy fool Brother Blue, left this
world to go home to be with the ancestors. We who remain are left so
very blessed by his presence in this world and in our lives. He
taught us how to live stories, not just tell them. He told us that
storytelling is God talking to God and modeled that every single day.
And when Blue listened, he listened powerfully with all his heart, all
his soul and all his strength. Anyone who has ever been near him
knows this. He didn’t just change the world, he changed worlds – every
single person he met. In the street, at festivals, in prisons, at
storyteller gatherings, in the offices of academics and wherever there
was music.
If Blue were here to talk about himself now he would say, “Don’t
remember Blue. Remember Ruth. Ruth is truth.” Ruth, Blue’s amazing
wife who has kept him from floating off into the clouds for decades,
is doing about as well as can be expected. She has asked that everyone
give her some time. She knows you are thinking of her and needs a
little space right now.
Brother Blue passed peacefully – he was ready. He got to tell one
last story to his beloved Ruth and then let go. As far as we can tell
he was not in pain.
Plans for services are underway. Any news and information can be
found at http://www.laurapacker.com/brotherblue You can also leave
your memories of Blue and messages for Ruth. Please pass this
information on to anyone who you think would be interested.
Blue once said, “When you tell a story, you tell it to all creation.
It's cosmic. It never goes away.” Blue is story. He will always be
with us. Go and tell your stories.
Tis the Season for Ghosts and Goblins article by our own Lorna Cazanotta
Lorna gave us permission to repost this:
Storyteller Lorna MacDonald Czarnota wrote at 20:19 on 12 October 2009
Scary stories are about more than just scaring the listener, and should never be about scarring the listener. When a good storyteller takes the audience on a journey through story, it is always with the audience’s best interest in mind, serving story second and the teller last. Telling scary stories is not about the storyteller’s ego boost. A good storyteller also respects religious beliefs when telling a scary story.
There are many kinds of “scary” story. The simplest type, usually preferred by young listeners, is the jump tale.
In this type of scary story, the storyteller brings the listener into his or her confidence, slowly unwrapping the tale until the end of the story when the teller produces the jump. This is done in several ways, sometimes simultaneously. The teller might change from a soft voice to a SHOUT! Proximity changes from having space between teller and listener to almost being on top of the audience. Body movement might actually have the effect of throwing the story at the listener. These jump tales often have elements of fooling the listener into believing the story is really scary or creepy, but with a comical twist at the end. Both the comical twist and the jump produce laughter breaking the stress of the tale.
Purpose: Jump tales show us that our fears are unfounded and allow us to laugh at our foolishness.
There are the saga or myth scary tales that have elements of the macabre or strange, sometimes involving monsters. These stories usually have fictitious, larger than life characters that experience the fright on our behalf and overcome it, Beowulf is one example.
Purpose: This story happens to someone else from a safe distance. The hero must win to show the listener that evil can be overcome.
Urban Legends are highly believable stories because they are told as if they happened to the storyteller or someone the teller knows. Best when told as a local event, we want to trust the teller to tell us the truth, while at the same time we are skeptical. We may or may not be told whether the tale is true, we must decide for ourselves.
Purpose: fun and thrilling while creating a need for logical thinking.
Ghost story: These stories must have ghosts in them. Most ghosts have a reason for haunting, seldom are they actually able to or wanting to harm an individual. Ghosts are present to solve a problem, finish an incomplete task, warn or help the character. Now and then, the fear the character has for the ghost is their demise but seldom is it the ghost that harms. Occasionally there may be a haunting without a ghost, such as an enchanted object.
Purpose: gives a glimpse at the beyond, lends hope, teaches a lesson, make us think.
There are trickster scary stories too. Sometimes there are no ghosts or creatures in these stories but peers who play tricks by creating rumors of hauntings.
Purpose: teaches a lesson
Some scary stories will be decidedly more frightening than others and an experienced storyteller will be able to gauge how far to push the envelope with a particular audience. Three things that make these tales work are believability, environment which includes venue, teller’s presence and voice, and safety in numbers. When we listen to a scary story we are not alone, there is always at least one other person there with us, the storyteller. A good storyteller always keeps us safe. They may dare us to walk the edge and face the fear, but they always bring us safely home.
Finally, there are key elements that make listening to scary stories different from watching a horror movie. They are imagination and experience. A listener can only be as scared as they can imagine and will only understand the fear that they have experienced in reality. I am one storyteller that usually scares myself more than my listeners when I tell scary stories, I have a wild imagination.
So this Halloween, I hope you will cuddle up with a trusted friend and listen to a scary story, tales that make us think, give us chills, and almost always allow us to laugh at ourselves.
Storyteller Lorna MacDonald Czarnota
Storytelling and Stand-up written by Maria Ciampa
“Most events in life can be categorized in one of two ways - a good time or a good story. So, even when bad things happen, I think, ‘Oh well, it’ll be a good story,’” says Margot Leitman, co-creator of Stripped Stories, a sex storytelling show out of New York.
“I’ve done lots of storytelling shows: Speakeasy Stories, The Liar Show, Lower East Side Stories, Storytelling at the Creek, New York Shitty, Nights of our Lives,” recites Leitman. She also teaches storytelling classes through the Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre, where classes sell out within 5 hours of being posted online – which raises the question: why the sudden increase in comedic storytelling shows? And how are these shows any different from regular stand up comedy shows?
“People want to get real in their comedy,” says Leitman. “The audience wants to hear a heartfelt story. Also, we have a primal need to hear and tell stories around the campfire.” This sentiment is echoed by Sherry Weaver, producer of Speakeasy Stories, a twice monthly show in New York. “The Moth started it all. It goes back to sitting around the campfire, talking.”
The Moth, to which Weaver refers, is a not-for-profit storytelling organization that produces shows nationally. Founded in New York in 1997 by poet, novelist, and Georgia native George Dawes Green, The Moth started with an invitation of a few friends to his New York apartment to share stories. From there, The Moth moved to bigger venues in New York. Today, The Moth has six programs and has presented over 3,000 live stories to over 100,000 audience members.
Storytelling is a genre all its own, a separate form from stand-up comedy. All the stories told on these shows are true, unlike all the jokes in a stand-up set. Storytellers come from various artistic backgrounds, and names at the The Moth include Moby, Lili Taylor, Terri Garr, and Candace Bushnell. Conversely, there are Moth storytellers with less of a presence in the arts like Jim Bouton, Former Major League pitcher with the Yankees, and Joe Lockhart, Former White House Press Secretary. However, many storytellers on The Moth are well versed in comedy, including Lewis Black, Margaret Cho, Janeane Garofalo, Colin Quinn, and Rosie O’Donnell.
Kate Teller, Associate Producer at The Moth, is flattered that so many comedic storytelling producers credit The Moth as their inspiration, saying, “It’s a testament that a personal narrative is progressively becoming more important.” But have people taken storytelling in a different direction from what The Moth intended? Not really, says Teller, “We love humorous people. At The Moth, we see comedy as one way in which to tell your story.”
Other storytelling shows popping up in New York and Boston, while they may be inspired by The Moth, tend to gravitate even more toward the funny. Weaver explains, “We might have a serious story or two each night. All shows have some humor. Some stories have you rolling in the aisle, others have a laugh that jumps out in the middle of a sad story.” Jake Goldman, co-producer of the storytelling show “True Tales from College” says, “For the most part, our show and other storytelling shows are lighter [than The Moth].” Goldman, who cited the Moth CD as an example says, “Out of the 60 stories on that CD, maybe 10 are really sad. The Moth crowd likes a sad story now and then. If stories at our show don’t end on a lighter note, it can be awkward.”
If there’s someone onstage with a mic telling a funny story, how is storytelling different from stand-up comedy? “Storytelling has a different rhythm from stand-up,” Sara Benincasa, producer and host of ‘The Family Hour with Auntie Sara’ at Ochi’s Lounge, explains. “It isn’t beat-beat-punch. It can be less scripted than stand-up. Stand-up is faster, packed with more laughs.” So the main difference between storytelling and stand up comedy is that with storytelling, you don’t have the pressure to get a laugh every other line. Jessica Sutich, Producer and Host of Boston’s “A Night of Oral Tradition” agrees with Benincasa. “In a five minute stand-up set, you must make things very concise. You don’t have room let humor come naturally, like in a story.”
Are all great stand up comedians great storytellers? Not necessarily. “At Stripped Stories,” Rozzi says, “We’ve had stand ups that could not just tell the story, they had to keep doing stand-up bits.” Goldman described stand-up comedians who try out storytelling as “a bit punchier because they know how to get laughs and where they will get laughs.” Benincasa thinks the two forms complement each other, saying, “I think great stand-up comics have always blended humor and pathos, and storytelling gives you plenty of room to do that.”
Adam Wade, ten-time StorySlam Champion at The Moth, and the 2006 GrandSLAM Champion, says that coming from a background in stand-up comedy, it took a while to get comfortable with silence. “At a storytelling show, the silence is good because they’re listening. It took me a year to figure that out.” Wade says his goal as a performer is not to be the person that can “tell 50 jokes off the bat” and have people not remember any of it. “I want people to remember my whole act. I want them to say, ‘He didn’t knock it out of the park, but he was sincere, and endearing.’ I want to leave people with a universal story through my personal experience.”
Goldman says, “The mark of a great storyteller is when they reveal things about themselves and inject humor into a sad situation.” The theme of revealing more in a storytelling shows as compared to stand up comedy shows is common. Sutich explains, “In stand up, there is a barrier - you are keeping the audience at a distance. But when you’re storytelling, you’re revealing something about who you are. You can’t avoid it.” Leitman recalls a few stand ups who have panicked before going onstage at Stripped Stories. “I think they panic because you tend to be incredibly revealing with storytelling, and with stand up, you are guarded. I am always impressed when they panic - they really reveal themselves.”
Although the storytelling movement is large and growing, storytelling shows (excluding The Moth) tend to be held in smaller venues. Weaver says, “When someone tells you a story, it’s so personal. You need a dark room, not too many people, alcohol.” The sense of intimacy created by show content makes smaller venues more attractive. “The audience is very much a part of the story. I like a smaller space. You can see their faces, you can engage with them.” Sutich adds.
Comedians also swear that storytelling audiences are different than stand-up audiences. The main differences, says Rozzi, is, “It’s unlikely there will be heckling from a storytelling audience. They tend to be more attentive. They’re not going to be like, ‘Yeah! Tell me about that time your mother died!’” Goldman describes them as more “bookish.” All comedic storytellers agree the audience is there to hear other people’s true stories. Says Benincasa, “They expect to laugh, but there might be stretches of time where they’re just listening. There might even be stretches of time where they’re moved by what they hear.”
For all storytellers interviewed, their love of storytelling is palpable. Their commitment to the art is highlighted by acknowledging that while there may be less pay, the sense of satisfaction at sharing your true story is immeasurable. Leitman explains, “I know that you can affect people’s lives through stand up, but people have emailed me days after hearing my story, saying, ‘I went through that too and hearing you was amazing.’ I love that in ten minutes I can get people to judge me, gasp, cry, pray for me to get over it, and then laugh.”
But it’s not just for the love of it. Storytelling is growing in popularity, with some gaining fame for just that: telling stories. Speakeasy Stories is being considered for Montreal Comedy Festival. Stripped Stories is going on national tour in April 2009. True Tales from College and Family Hour with Auntie Sara continues to build a following. Wade says, “The Moth put me on their podcast with Jonathan Ames and it’s been the biggest break. It’s not Comedy Central Premium Blend, but the Moth gets 150,000 downloads a week from people interested in stories. That’s my target audience! For a guy who’s done shows for anywhere from four to one hundred people, well, that’s huge.”
Maria Ciampa is a writer and comedian in Boston.
Visit mariaciampa.com.
Hype, Anxiety, and Hope (HAH!): How To Do Social Media Wrong (and How To Do It Right)
A Free Event for Massachusetts Artists Working in all Disciplines
For the third time, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts will invite Massachusetts artists working in all disciplines (visual arts, literary, performing, crafts, new media, etc.) to the State House on Thursday, November 19th to thank them for all they contribute to our state's economy and quality of life. Over 120 artists attended the 2008 event!
The 2009 event will be brought to you by the Joint Committee on Tourism, Arts and Cultural Development, the Joint Committee on Economic Development and Emerging Technologies, Treasurer Tim Cahill, the Executive Office of Housing and Economic Development, the Joint Committee of Community Development and Small Business, the Massachusetts Cultural Council, and the Massachusetts Artists Leaders Coalition.
Note: Artists are welcome to attend, even if they can only attend some of the scheduled events (ie they could only attend the brown bag lunch, etc.)
Questions? email us: contact@artistsunderthedome.org
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By Michael C. Gilbert, June 22, 2009
I'm teaching about Blog Networks and other social media this week and I've realized a blunt truth:
There is a wrong way and a right way to approach social media. The wrong way results in anxiety, blind risk, expense, low-value list building, and empty lessons. The right way results in clarity, methodical growth, managed risk, network effects, husbanding of resources, high-value organizing of influencers, and ongoing learning.
The Wrong Way: HAH!
Almost every organization is pursuing social media the wrong way. It's easy to understand why this is the case. We have been playing catch up for years with new communication technology. New words and brands come flying at us every time we turn around. Vendors and others who are themselves anxious about the wagons to which they have hitched themselves keep telling us that we'll "fall behind". (That destructive pattern has been going on for almost twenty years!) We are insecure about our ability to make decisions in a field that seems dominated by the language of "experts".
What that means is that our "strategic" approach for social media is basically a combination of Hype, Anxiety, and Hope. You can remember this by its abbreviation: HAH! (You're right. I don't think much of this approach. There is just too much at stake.) The symptoms of this approach are widespread. I'll describe three.
The first key symptom of HAH! is found in the language used to focus our social media projects. Very often, projects are defined like this: Develop a Facebook Strategy. Invest in Twitter. Start a Blog. The questions involved are similarly phrased: In which social network (defined as a branded, commercial, walled garden of online communities) should we develop a presence? (Should we put time into MySpace or LinkedIn?) There is a theme in all this language. Do you see what it is? The framing language is on the medium or the tool, not on the people, relationships, or outcomes.
A second important symptom of HAH! is what might be described as fashion consciousness. Before you skip over this paragraph because you think it can't possibly apply to your organization, ask yourself these questions: How often do you wonder what your peer organizations are doing and how your practices do or don't fit in? Do you find yourself concerned with whether Twitter is a flash in the pan or a long term trend? Are you tickled in any way by the "coolness" of a particular tool or site? When you ask about "best practices", do you really mean what the organizations you respect are doing? Do you worry about "falling behind"? Any of these can be justifiable questions, in a narrow context. But when taken as a whole they show how much you are being guided by the crowd. And the crowd in this case is not your stakeholders, who are the ones that should in fact guide you, but rather the organizations that you consider your peers. However professional the veneer, that is still a herd mentality.
The last major symptom I'll mention here is about who we are really trying to please and influence. Often, even though we can't really talk about it this way, our real stakeholders are internal. This has been going on for years and shouldn't come as any surprise. You're not building a website for your stakeholders; you're building a website for your board. You're not building an email newsletter to empower the people who receive it; you're building a great portfolio piece. There's nothing inherently disingenuous about this; it's that we're not all that candid about it most of the time. Thus, when we discuss our communication projects, we muddy up the waters when it comes to clear criteria for success.
The Right Way: Relationships
Although they are seemingly intangible, as individuals and as organizations, relationships are what matter to us most. Relationships among our stakeholders is the defining characteristic of social media. Relationships are the building blocks of all our social assets. And when it comes to raising money, mobilizing activists, recruiting volunteers, building community, serving people, bringing in visitors, and so on, social assets generate all the rest of our assets.
Focusing on relationships is easier said than done. In fact, we talk about it all the time, but we usually don't operationalize it. Although I've built a lifetime of professional work around trying to develop the practices for doing just that, I still feel like I am just scratching the surface. That said, in pursuing social media, there are a few key practices I want to mention here to help pull us away from HAH! and back toward a focus on relationship building.
First, follow your stakeholders. Social media is about everyone being both an ear and a voice, both a consumer and a producer of information. Thus it is the ears of our current stakeholders who will help direct our own listening and it is the voices of our current stakeholders that we should first empower. This means working from the inside out, building on your assets, rather than just going where you think there are new people, which is grasping from a place of weakness.
Second, you must know who speaks and who listens to whom. To begin with this means a thorough, well-designed inventory of every voice in your networks - the bloggers, the bookmarkers, the forwarders, the speakers, the commenters, the social networkers, and so on. It's an inventory of every blog, bulletin board, social network, mailing list, profile, website, that have voices aligned with your communities of practice, starting with the voices of your stakeholders and working your way out.
But that inventory must evolve into a sustainable practice as well. I call this "systems for scaling up listening", but you can call it aggregation, ongoing network monitoring, or paying attention to your communities of practice. What you do with these systems is much more than just passive observation. You use this knowledge in your own outbound communication, using your influence to strengthen the bonds of your communities and to grow their size through the influence of your stakeholders.
Third, you have to keep working to make relationships as tangible as publications. One of the best ways to do this is through new metrics and you can get a lot of those from your inventory and listening systems. Measurements of how many people in your networks are speaking up, how robust the conversations are about your common causes, how much reach your stakeholders have, and how richly interconnected they are with each other are all useful places to start.
But you can also build tangibility in other ways. Use network diagrams to explain things to each other. Have the paths of engagement of your stakeholders defined visually and make a poster out of it. Honor stakeholders, even if it's just internally, with weekly or monthly memos about who stands out as most building connections. Name your projects after relationship goals and people strategies, rather than after commercial tools or technologies.
Finally, set forth on a course to think about social media as social media. Study social network analysis and communication centered technology planning. Develop a culture that thinks of your stakeholders as producers.
Changing Course: Five Simple Actions
However simple they may be, there are some big ideas here. If you're not prepared to do an inventory, to take listening systems seriously, to develop new metrics, to make relationship building tangible, or to commit to network and communication centric thinking, then what you need to do is keep the door open to change in some fashion. I have five suggestions.
(1) Go through all the projects and strategies that touch on social media. Rename them in terms of relationship goals. Rewrite their objectives in a similar manner. Try to expunge every mention of tools and websites until you are absolutely sure that they're not what's guiding you.
(2) Get together with your colleagues and craft a principle of network and relationship building based on these ideas and the best of your own personal experience. Steal something of mine if you like or come up with something better. Put that principle on the wall in the office.
(3) Assign a person to keep you honest. With the full knowledge of other colleagues and the support of their superiors, give someone the job of bringing up when they notice a process drifting away from (or never even starting with) relationship building.
(4) Find peers who are doing it right. Not the peers who have the "best" Facebook page or the ones with a robust Twitter feed, although those things are the most visible and tangible. Rather, seek out those peers who are finding ways to measure the things that matter - the empowered voices of their stakeholders, the richness of their network, and so on - and ways to manage from those measurements.
(5) Finally, reduce your listening to the experts who are sending the wrong messages and seek out those who are sending the right ones. I'm as addicted to news about new tools as anyone, but it's a thousand times easier for experts to expound on the tangible aspects of one tool or another than it is for them to help us get grounded in the relationship and community fundamentals that are what social media are all about.
Do it right.
MARCH 20-22,CROWN PLAZA HOTEL,WARICK RIEnjoy some pictures from last years conference. Don't forget to register early and get the discount.
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