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Papa
Joe ~ Travel
Notes
PJ Tour Notes #8
November 16 - 17, 1996 Middletown, KY
Sues and I were welcomed into the home of Joy and Lee Pennington
and time stood still. Their home is a museum, full of wonderment
and stories. The two of them are wells of stories, feed by
springs whose roots reach deep into ancient history.
The E.A.R.S. Storytelling Resource Center is a bit of a
Storytelling Museum also. There are photos of all the featured
tellers of past Corn Island Festivals hanging on the walls. Nice
shot of Chuck and another of Faye. ;) Lots of story collections
available for members. I couldn't find any Joseph Jacobs though.
Maybe I could find a copy to send as a Winter Holiday gift.
There were many things discuss during our two day stay, but one
of the most important might have been about festivals and the
renaissance.
Lee, like many on this list, is concerned about the future of the
storytelling festivals. He has noticed, as have I, that
storytelling, by itself, is not an effective draw for an event.
The appeal can be enhanced by the setting. His best example was
ghost tales in a graveyard, E.A.R.S. best attend annual event.
While they no longer hold the event in a graveyard (Complaints
led to the passage of a law banning the use of the graveyards for
anything but funerals), Lee claims the people still think of the
event as being held there.
Can we break up the events at a festival? Send the audiences off
to other places? Revolutionary Tales at North Church. Freedom
tales under the Statue of Liberty. Prison stories at Alcatraz.
Lee and I share a fondness for history and culture. We spent many
hours discussing various cultures. He has produced a video on
Wales. And it is incredible. Anyone interested in Welsh history
should get a copy of Lee and Joy's "Wales: History in
Bondage" available for $35.00 plus $4 S&H.
JOLE Productions, 11905 Lilac Way, Middletown, KY 40243.
It is an on the sites interview with Alan Wilson, a Welsh
Historian, at the real Camelot, Arthur's grave, ...
But the most interesting part to me was that the Welsh History
claims 3000 years of a literate people. It ties together a lot of
questions, which I have never seemed to be able to understand.
Now I have to get Lee to tell me how to get the books written by
Wilson and his partner Baram Blackett. It is a 54 minute video
and I have a lifetime appetite.
November 18 - New Jersey and home
We dropped in at the Hospital to visit Wayfarer Tomm. The good
news was that he was well enough to be sent to another hospital
closer to home. The bad news was that they didn't know which one.
The worst news was that I had left all the information that would
have led me to him in New Hampshire. I didn't get to visit him
this trip. But his son tells me he's doing well and even getting
his voice back. Many thanks to those of you who have been sending
cards and tapes.
The last few hours of the trip I think of all the new
friends we've made, and even more about all of the friends we did
not meet this trip out. It has been a great year for traveling.
About 30,000 miles on the Vardo. I think that's about a story for
every ten miles. Hope to see you during next year's tours.
Pax & Amicitia,
Papa Joe
Papa
Joe ~ Travel
Notes
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