In the past, we did some online fact checking and found that in the San Francisco Bay Area there are some storytelling competitions. When we went back to recheck that fact for this column we learned that there is an annual storytelling event which will be held
Recently Coach John Madden told KCBS listeners that golf tournaments that get rained out are the best because the golfers get to hand out in the clubhouse and tell their best stories (again).
There are a bunch of Irish bars in the San Francisco Bay Area and one, the Starry Plough, offers Irish dancing and songs, but there doesn't seem to be one fooking bar where an open mike is available for a real storytelling opportunity and/or competition. WTF? What would happen if an Irish bar had a storytelling competition? Jesus, Mary, and Joseph it would be "Katie bar the door" time, eh?
[Photo editor's note: The Berkeley artist, known as "Hardley Notee Sayahblay" on Facebook, is renowned for his digital images, but only a few get to know his ability as a raconteur who voices an Infantryman's complaints about the Korean War. We tried to select an image of him that implies an underlying back story.]
Robert McKee's book, "Story," is an excellent look at the art of storytelling from the scriptwriter's point of view. In it, McKee wrote (page 196): "In essence we have told one another the same tale, one way or anther, since the dawn of humanity, and that story could be successfully called The Quest. All stories take the form of a Quest."
We asked the disk jockey to play songs that tell a story and he selected the Bill Parsons (AKA Bobby Bare) song "All American Boy," Tom T. Hall's "Forty Dollars," and Red Sovine's "Phantom 309." Our DJ will include a memorial spin of Shirley Temple's "Good Ship Lollypop." We have to go see "Monument Men." Have a "they all lived happily ever after" type week.
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