Friday, May 21, 2010

Bard's New Hat is now in Beta!

I've made six copies of my upcoming CD The Bard's New Hat and I've been distributing them to people to review. I feel good about this CD, but I've been working on it for months, so I'm worried I can't be objective about it. I've seen enough questionable artistic endeavors that gave me pause and had me wondering "Did you get anyone else's opinion before you decided this was your Final Draft?" Before I make 1000 copies of this CD, I want to have a chance to get some feedback.

So if you've gotten a copy of this Beta CD, here are the things I want you to consider when reviewing it:
1. Is the collection of stories enjoyable?
2. Are there any stories you really don't like?
3. Do you like the order in which the stories are presented?
4. Are the volume levels okay? Can you hear everything clearly?
5. Did you listen to the whole CD in one shot, or did you take breaks between stories?
6. Do you find the music distracting or complementary?
7. Does the CD leave you wanting to hear more stories?
8. Would you recommend this CD to friends?
9. Would you recommend this CD to children? If so, what age level?
10. Is there anything you found inappropriate or offensive?

This list is just an example of the type of feedback I'm looking for. Anything you have to suggest would be welcome: don't worry about hurting my feelings, but try to be constructive with your feedback.

Please send all of your feedback to me by email at mtlbard [at symbol] gmail.com. If you could get me your feedback by the 26th of May, that would be great.

Monday, May 17, 2010

May Story: A Wise Little Girl

So here's another wisdom story for you for Spring from Russian folklore. This story was recorded at the 92 Degrees of Fools show back in April 2010 and features the incredibly gothic Shayne Gryn on guitar.

Don't forget the show at the end of May at Hurley's Irish Pub (May 30th, 7pm) where Shayne and I will be telling tales and drinking pints. We hope to see you there!


A Wise Little Girl (7:03 minutes)


There is a longer version of this story where the King marries the wise girl at the end, but fearing that she be too wise, he cautions her never to contract him on his judgments. Of course she does, and on the second time, with a heavy heart, he tells her to leave his kingdom, taking only what she can carry. She agrees to this, but asks for one last meal and night with her husband before she leaves. He agrees, but during the evening, she drugs his food so that he falls into a deep sleep. He wakes up to find himself in the back of a cart with his wife at the reigns saying that she agreed to leave taking her most precious thing, her husband.

I really like that ending, but I have never told it for some reason. I think I need to work that ending into it.

Tuesday, May 11, 2010

Back on iTunes!

I finally figured out how my iTunes feed works! There were a couple of important lines missing from the XML file, but after much searching, I found the errors, fixed them, and another story turned up on my iTunes page. Huzzah!

Right now, I have Truth & Story and Love & Madness available for free download. I may charge a fee for future tracks, but I haven't decided.

So visit my iTunes podcast and become a subscriber! Feel free to pass my iTunes page to anyone you think might enjoy my stories!

Sunday, May 9, 2010

Another Award to Shorten the Road!

Thanks be to Juniper from Walking the Hedge for stating that this humble site as Blog Worth Reading!. I am quite honored to be named and happy that you enjoy the site so much.

This site was also featured during episode 158 at Canadian Podcast Buffet, although they didn't really comment on the blog itself. I was hoping to get some feedback, but maybe if I prod them a bit, I'll get more results.


This comes to my attention after I had such a fabbo birthday celebration on Friday. We were at the pub in the 'hood when I had to pop-out for 40 minutes to perform at a charity event just down the street. I had prefaced my two stories by stating that the opportunity to tell tales made my birthday celebrations complete, but when I was done, I was serenaded by a all-female barbershop quartet! Amazing!

Saturday, May 8, 2010

Hurley's Storytelling: May 30th 2010

Rather than burying this announcement in another post, I've decided to highlight this event with its own posting! Woot!

I'm very excited to announce that I will be the new storyteller at Hurley's Irish Pub for the next three months. Mike Burns, the Irish storyteller, has been telling tales at Hurley's on the last Sunday of each month for over 14 years! But Mike has decided to visit Ireland for three months and asked me to take his place while he is gone.

I am tremendously honored to be the Hurley's storytelling for May, June, and July. Mike was the first storyteller I ever heard and was my inspiration to become a storyteller myself.

Shayne Gryn will be joining me at Hurleys with his various guitars and musical contributions. So our first show will be May 30th, 7pm. We hope to see you there!

Hurley's Storytelling
featuring Hobbes & Shayne
Sunday, May 30th, 2010
Hurley's Irish Pub
1253 Crescent Street, Montreal
7pm to 9pm

Visit the Facebook Event page for the Hurleys Show

Tuesday, May 4, 2010

May Story: Brahma and the Brahman

It's my birthday! I'm 41 years young today, so to celebrate that, I'm posting a new story that I told at the 92 Degrees of Fools show back in April. This is a relatively new story for me, having learnt it in the past year, but it is quickly becoming one of my favorites.

In a related note, I'm very excited to announce that I will be the new storyteller at Hurley's Irish Pub for the next three months. Mike Burns, the Irish storyteller, has been telling tales at Hurley's on the last Sunday of each month for over 14 years! But Mike has decided to visit Ireland for three months and asked me to take his place while he is gone.

I am tremendously honored to be the Hurley's storytelling for May, June, and July. Mike was the first storyteller I ever heard and was my inspiration to become a storyteller myself.

Shayne Gryn will be joining me at Hurleys with his various guitars and musical contributions. So our first show will be May 30th, 7pm. We hope to see you there!

Visit the Facebook Event page for the Hurleys Show

News: This story was published on my new CD "The Bard's New Hat". Read more about it on my website.

Brahma and the Brahman (9:33 minutes)
 
Copyright© 2010 John David Hickey