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Digital Launch of the New CD!

It’s finally the day that has been months, if not years, in the making. Welcome to the digital launch of the much anticipated follow-up CD to The Bard’s New Hat!

JD Hickey’s newest CD “Did you Hear That?” is ready and features some of the Bard’s the creepiest stories (join us at the Facebook event)! Get ready to turn out the lights and listen to these tales! Then turn all the lights back on and quiver in your bed, praying that the sun will return to banish the darkness!

The stories include:

  • The Hall of Wonders
  • Fionn MacCool and the Old Man (video)
  • Thomas & La Chasse Galerie
  • The Boy Who Drew Cats
  • The Dead Don’t Pay
  • The Man with No Story
  • Lex & the Devil
  • Ti-Fleur & the Magic Fiddler
  • BONUS: The Ghost with One Black Eye
  • BONUS: Skeleton Woman

Here’s what you can get:
1. “Did You Hear That?”: $12 (8 stories + 2 bonus tracks)
2. “Did you Hear That the Bard Has a New Hat?”: $20 which includes:

  • “Did You Hear That?” (8 stories + 2 bonus tracks)
  • “The Bard’s New Hat” (released 2010)

There are three ways you can purchase your digital download. Be sure to give me your email address so that I can send you the URL so that you can download the CD!

  1. Bank Transfer: send your payment via Interac e-transfer to mtlbard@gmail.com. Please include your full name and your Email address (so that we can email you the link). If a password is required, make it “HearThat2014”.
  2. Paypal: please visit our sponsor The Magical Blend and select the “Did You Hear That?” CD from their store page, click Checkout, and pay for it with Paypal.
  3. Cheque: if you wish to send a cheque, send an email to mtlbard@gmail.com to get the mailing address and once he receives the cheque, you will receive an email with the digital download.

Once I receive your payment, I will email you a link to the ZIP file that contains the tracks. This path will be active for a couple of days, so you must download the file before it expires. Please let me know when you receive the files and do not share this path with anyone else.

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Steampunk Storyteller!

I’m very excited to announce that I’m going to be performing at the Grand Steampunk Exposition at Fort George in Niagara on the Lake in September!

Last year, I created a steampunk storyteller persona called Professor Taelstrum and he’s made a few brief appearances here and there, but this will be the most prestigious by far! The good Professor will be performing on the Sunday of the Exposition, so I hope to see you there!

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Driving Out the Snakes II

I’m honoured to announce that I will be hosting the Driving Out the Snakes concert in Montreal on March 16th, 2014. I performed in this concert last year as their seanchaí (storyteller) and this year they asked me to host and be their teller! Here is all the info you need to know. I hope you can join us for what promises to be an incredible night of music, myth, and magic.

Driving out the Snakes II: A St Patrick’s Day Celebration

Resto Griffintown
1378 rue Notre-Dame Ouest,
Montreal, Quebec H3C

>Doors open at 3:00pm
Show begins at 4:00pm
$10 admission for adults
$5 admission for children
Facebook Event
Contact Aine Doan at ainedoan@gmail.com

For the second year in a row, we are inviting you all to join us in driving out the snakes. The event will be MC’d by acclaimed local seanchaí John David Hickey. With live music by two wonderful Celtic folk bands, The Mudlarks and The Bombadils, and a performance of Irish dance by Richard Chalut, this is a celebration that is not to be missed!

—- About the Mudlarks:

The Mudlarks are a brood of misfits spawned in the ooze of the River Thames. They concoct a delicious musical stew drawing ingredients from traditional British Isles sources and a corpus of original work.

Ben’s original compositions draw their inspiriation from local history, including: the adventures of Quebec-bound immigrants who braved the perilous sea-crossings, the bitter memories of survivors of World War II’s Dieppe, and a moving interpretation of the Stan Rogers classic Barrett’s Privateers.

—- About the Bombadils:

The Bombadils are a “charismatic and kind-hearted bunch of rascals.” Their music features a bluegrass and Celtic-inspired voice that combines soaring melodic lines, tight rhythmic energy, and a decidedly contemporary sound.

Since the release of their first album, “Fill Your Boots!,” this band of four musicians have wandered cross-continent, performing in canoes on the Tobique River, skiing in the mountains of Sierra Nevada, and riding the VIA rails. They look forward to performing these songs, as well as a number of Irish classics, for this year’s mighty St. Paddy’s day celebration in Montreal.

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Improving One’s Art

Recently, I saw a post on the Storytellers Facebook Group from Limor’s Storytelling Agora blog that made an interesting statement:

“I’m a storyteller. What do I need to improve on?”

So I asked myself this question and here’s what I came up with.

What I need to work on is how I sell myself to schools, event organizers, and festival organizers. I’ve won competitions, I’ve won awards, I organize events, I’ve hosted storytelling events: these are all experiences that recognize that I have talent as a skilled storyteller. What continues to elude me is how to market this skill to make me an attractive artist to potential employers.

I keep trying to come up with new and innovative ideas to create storytelling shows that appeal to a mass market, but the mass market still relegates storytelling as a juvenile activity and not worthy of adult interest. Someone suggested to me recently that I need to market to a niche market instead, allowing me to specialize rather than generalize. I think there’s some wisdom in that.

In the meantime, I waffle between trying to acquire the skills myself or to hire someone who understands branding and marketing to help me bridge this gap.

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The Weight of a Snowflake

The Weight of a Snowflake

~ Anon

“Tell me the weight of a snowflake.” A mouse asked a wild dove.

“Nothing more than nothing,” the dove answered.

“In that case I must tell you a marvelous story,” the mouse said. “I sat on the branch of a fir, close to its trunk, when it began to snow, not heavily, not a raging blizzard, no just like in a dream without any violence. Since I had time, I counted the snowflakes setting on the twigs and needles of my branch. Their number was exactly 3,741,952, when the next snowflake dropped onto the branch- “nothing more than nothing” as you say-the branch broke off.”

Having said that the mouse went away.

The dove, thought about the meaning of the story for a while and finally said to herself, “Perhaps there is only one person’s voice lacking for peace to come about in this world.”

Yoinked from Karen Chase’s blog:
http://karenchace.blogspot.ca/2013/12/the-weight-of-snowflake.html

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A Yuletide Gift of Silence

You don’t need to know sign language to be able to appreciate this little girl’s telling of the Night Before Christmas. She could teach us all a few things about storytelling.

Happy Yule everyone and a safe, joyful holiday!

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Slamtastique Podcast Ep. 01

As some of you may know, I host my very own storytelling competition called Slamtastique (2nd Monday of each month at Shaika Cafe in Montreal). I’m currently in my third season and it’s going very well. As I do at most shows, I audio record the show and then post the stories I like to the website. However, I’ve been finding that these posts lack a certain amount of structure and production quality.

So I took the last show, picked out the stories from the top three winners, and build a small podcast around them. It’s been quite the learning experience, but I’m very happy with the results. Have a listen to it here, and if you want to learn more about the competition, visit the website!