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Tue, 16 October 2012
The husband is disgruntled because he has to go to work every day, while the wife gets to stay home. So they decide to trade places. It sounds like the premise for a reality TV show, but it's the basis of “The Husband Who Was to Mind the House”, an old story from Norway that has at least inspired many sitcom episodes. It was first told in the days when it was rare for the wife to go out and work; but then, as now, housework was a fulltime job in its own right. We come to you from eastern Massachusetts, where we've been spending some time performing at our favorite Halloween haunted house, Barrett's Haunted Mansion. We also performed recently at the Peabody Essex Museum in Salem, and were able to absorb the vibrant Halloween atmosphere of Witch City once again. Attending one of our performances was fellow podcaster Clinton of Comedy 4Cast, who strolled around town with us, as we took in a couple of haunted house tours. Speaking of scary things and Halloween if you would like to read a scary story drop by our website to read A Ghost Story from Gettysburg. Happy Listening! Dennis (Husband, Cow) and Kimberly (Narrator, Wife, Pig)
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Mon, 17 September 2012
From the swamp country of the Southeastern U.S. comes the story “Wiley and the Hairy Man”, an African-American trickster tale, especially for the Halloween season. It's about a boy named Wiley, who's rather wily, and uses his wiles and wits to outsmart The Hairy Man, who is rather hairy and spooky, with the help of his mother. Wiley's mother, not The Hairy Man's. We come to you from Braintree, Massachusetts, just south of Boston, and a little farther south of Salem, where we'll be performing in the height of haunting season. We talk about WaterFire, a summer event in Providence that we attended recently. Every year since 1994, this series of Saturday evenings in downtown Providence features fire on the water, originally conceived as installation art by local sculptor Barnaby Evans. It's grown into a major event with entertainment, concessioners, and living statues. As well as huge crowds of people having a good time. Our thanks to LaVar Burton and Book People Unite for helping us promote reading and literature. Call us and tell us how you pick a book (800) 429-6576. We might play your message on our next podcast. Happy Listening,
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Sat, 24 March 2012
This familiar German tale popularized by the Brothers Grimm is given a new treatment by students from Forest Heights Elementary in Harrison, Arkansas. That's right - we let someone else do the performing while we just directed. These bright youngsters not only supplied all the voices, they supplied all the dialogue, which they improvised on the spot. It all happened in a podcasting workshop we conducted at Forest Heights, one of three schools we appeared at in Harrison. We come to you from Hot Springs, Arkansas, where we just performed for the many-eth time at the Garland County Library. We had an excellent turnout, including a wonderful family from Austin, TX who have been listening to our podcasts for some time. Great to meet up with them! We also discuss our visit to Helen Keller's birthplace in Tuscumbia, AL and our attendance of the "Resonant Objects Workshop" at the Center for Puppetry Arts in Atlanta. Happy Listening,
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Tue, 14 February 2012
A long time ago, pigs were clean. At least in India. And then once upon a time drastic measures were called for. We bring you this story especially for National Pig Day (March 1), which we just know you were just dying to learn about. It's been around for 40 years now, thanks to Texas teacher Ellen Stanley. We come to you from South Carolina (still) where we recount our visit to Charleston and Edisto Island, where the reptiles love to hang out. Oink Oink, Dennis (Narrator, Tiger, Second Pig, Old Pig) and Kimberly (First Pig)
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Thu, 15 December 2011
This fairy tale from Germany offers a fanciful explanation for why we decorate Christmas trees. It comes from Germany, one of the two countries where the tradition originated (the other was what was then called Livonia) about 450 years ago. But it was based on older customs and traditions going back to ancient Egypt. And we discuss the surprising history of Christmas trees. We're coming to you from Greenville, SC where we've become rather familiar with Christmas trees lately. And we relate our recent adventure doing an activity that we normally don't associate with this time of year: whitewater rafting at the fabulous U.S. National Whitewater Center in Charlotte, NC. We hope your holiday season is a big splash. Happy Listening, Dennis (Count Otto) and Kimberly (Everyone Else)
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Mon, 15 August 2011
“Lin Po Po” is often called the Chinese Red Riding Hood, as it features a wolf masquerading as a grandmother. But it also bears similarities to other popular European tales, notably The Three Little Pigs. We offer it especially for Grandparents' Day (Sept. 11) and Chinese Moon Festival (Sept. 28). Not only is the story from China, and not only does it involve a grandmother, but even the moon makes a cameo. We come to you from Dedham, Massachusetts as we wind down our summer tour. We recently took an introductory class on the flying trapeze at Jordan's Furniture store in Reading, Massachusetts. Yes, a furniture store. Jordan's has several outlets in New England, and they're unlike any other furniture stores you've admired rocking chairs in. Practicing what they call “shoppertainment”, each store offers something unique to entertain the visitors. The store in Reading is the only one to offer trapeze lessons, operated by the Trapeze School of New York which, obviously, also has several locations. For nearly 2 hours, we were swinging from a trapeze with the greatest of ease and doing back-flips in mid-air. We even got to do some catches. And we can't wait to try it again. Ready...Hup! Happy Listening, Dennis (Narrator, Child 2, Wolf) and Kimberly (Narrator, Mother, Child 1, Child 3) |
Sun, 17 July 2011
The Two Princesses is a folktale from India that you probably haven't heard before, but listening to it, you may get a sense of deja vu. There are many similarities between this story and about half a dozen other stories that you definitely are familiar with. See how many of them you can name. Put your answers in the comment section or call our hotline (800)429-6576 so we can play your answers on the next podcast. We recorded this podcast in Pennsylvania, having just performed at the library in Williamsport - our first time there since 2004. While in Williamsport we dropped by the Little League Museum, beside the baseball stadium complex where the Little League World Series is played. We also saw the Grit building, which still bears the name of the legendary good news newspaper, though its offices were relocated to Kansas several years ago after 111 years in Williamsport. And we talk about the fantabulous City Museum in St. Louis, where we spent a blissful day climbing the walls. And the tunnels. And the airplanes. And the strange, twisting crawl spaces in abundance. Not to mention sliding the slides (one of them ten stories tall), swinging on the swings, watching a circus act, and all manner of marvels guaranteed to make you forget about the real world for a while - even root canals. Happy Listening, Dennis (Narrator, Second Princess, Ogre, Attendant, Son) and Kimberly (Narrator, First Princess, Ranee, Mrs. Ogre)
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Sun, 19 June 2011
“Rumplestiltskin”, as told by the Brothers Grimm, is one of the classic fairy tales about a supernatural creature who comes to the aid of a damsel in distress and demands a stiff payment (classically a first born child) unless the damsel can guess his name. We come to you from northern Arkansas near the White River (which we mistakenly call the Buffalo River, which is not far away) after having performed at a series of libraries in the area. We also volunteered to help with the clean-up after the disaster in Joplin, Mo. Our summer tour is well underway, having started in the Reno, NV area in May, where we encountered snow. And now we are sweltering in the Midwestern summer. We always did go in for variety. Happy Listening, Dennis (King, Rumplestiltskin, Servant) and Kimberly (Farmer, Cobbler, Miller, Daughter, Narrator)
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Mon, 16 May 2011
This month we bring you the Italian folktale Misfortune, about a young woman who has just that, and is called just that (she's called Misfortune, not Just That) thanks to a mean hag who follows her around, lurking in the shadows, and undoing everything the girl tries to do. Until Misfortune confronts her misfortune. We come to you from Reno, NV, one of our perennial stops on the tour. When we open our new production here this month, it will be about the dozenth time we've appeared at the Washoe Co. Libraries, beginning with our first year in business back in 1988. But at the moment, we're hunkering down constructing props and sets and costumes, oh my. And rehearsing. Hope to see you at a show this summer. Happy Listening! Dennis (Narrator, King, Hag, Weaver, Servant, Prince) and Kimberly (Queen, Daughter, Beggar Woman and Assorted Animals) |
Mon, 21 March 2011
“The Twin Brothers” is a story from the former Czechoslovakia about two brothers who looked a great deal alike, and therefore were sometimes mistaken for each other. This is a motif that many writers have used, including of course Shakespeare. And as in most of these narratives, the brothers help each other out – or in this case, one rescues the other, aided by a magic sword and a talking fish. Doesn't every set of twins have those? We come to you from Arkansas, fresh off our treks to Nashville and St. Louis with our son Zephyr along much of the way – he provides a guest voice on this podcast, just like the old days. We talk about our adventures wall climbing in Nashville, and attending a haunted attractions convention in St. Louis. And Zephyr brings us up-to-date on the new literature-inspired attraction at the amazing place where he works. Happy Listening, Dennis (Narrator, Second Twin, Woodcutter), Kimberly (Mother, Hag, Innkeeper, Princess), Zephyr (Fish, First Twin) |
