Wednesday, October 14, 2009

Lizard Tales















The Lizard Tales project created by Sophie Chapman as part of the West End Live section of the Brisbane Festival was a real buzz. We made good use of the shade of the trees and the ABSOE lawn and had a really pleasant audience of adults and children.

Sophie is still waiting for the edited audio versions of the stories and I'll post them as soon as she gets them to me but in the meantime here are some photos from the day.




Sophie Chapman & Daryll Bellingham, Lizard Tales, October 2009

Thursday, September 24, 2009

Community Story creation event at West End Live


Really looking forward to the community story creation session called
Lizard Tales at West End Live on Saturday 3rd October, 2009

Initiated by Sophie Chapman and now part of the Brisbane Festival's West End Live event, you are invited to come and have some fun creating some new West End stories. Can you imagine what 'The Lizard' might get up to if it woke up and had a walk around West End? Would it meet Kuril the local Indigenous totem in Kurilpa its home? And what would Kuril, the water rat think? Would it go for a climb up Stefan's tower or get a haircut from Phil the Barber?

You'll be able to watch the stories being transformed into illustrations by local artist Emmanuel Hernaez.

Lizard Tales Saturday 3rd October, 2:00 pm to 3:30pm.

Monday, September 14, 2009

Turning new pages.

Sometimes it feels like I've got those Book Week Goes On Forever blues .......

Not really. Been having fun. Just had a great week at the Belmont State School Literary Festival. Told lots of stories and created and recorded heaps as Belmont Stories podcasts. Will slowly add them to my austoryplace blog over the next week.

Felt like I was turning a new page on multimedia/storytelling work with students by creating a new storytelling/creation performance/workshop podcasting session. It was pretty easy fitting it in the 80 minute sessions with the gifted and talented students but an interesting challenge getting it to fit in the 45 min sessions. We did but the stories are pretty short. Even did some with the preps.

Kids loved the sessions.

Speaking of a new page, here's a great video you can find on YouTube. CONTACT is up to there usual good work with young people on Brisbane's southside.


Monday, July 20, 2009

Brisbane Conversations - B150 event at Brisbane Square Library

BCC has asked me to compere a 'Brisbane Conversations' session at the Brisbane Square Library community meeting room on Monday 10th August from 10:00 am to 11:30.

It will be a wonderfully eclectic mix of stories, songs, poems, raps and historical information as part of BCC Libraries Services B150 contributions. Expect subjects as diverse as Jacarandas, 'Brisbane Lovely Brisbane', Brisbane Utopian dreamers of the 1890's, maybe the Ship Inn Hotel, Newstead House, an elephant escape and much more.

It's free but you do have to book Ring 3403 4166 to reserve a place. If you would like a 5 minute spot to tell a story, sing a song or read a poem about Brisbane and the 150 celebration let me know.

You can download the PDF of the leaflet at files.me.com/austory/okfaen Please pass this link on to anyone you think may be interested.

Queensland Conservation Council 40th Birthday

The QCC shares a birthday with the moon landing! And for those of you that still think that the moon landing was just one big story, that's not so bad because I just spent this last weekend immersed in stories from conservationists and environmentalists from Queensland Conservation. There was a gala dinner at the Legends Room at the Gabba and a Telling Conservation Tales afternoon at the Queensland Museum.

I had the honour of compering the three 'on the couch' sessions with such notable Queensland environmentalists as John Sinclair from Fraser Island, Eddie Hegerl from the Save the Barrier Reef campaign, Drew Hutton and hard working Coordinators like Liz Bourne, Felicity Wishart and Imogen Zethoven. We heard about the successes and the disappointments, the unexpected outcomes, brushes with the law and the courage and dogged determination of a gallant bunch of Queenslanders determined to ensure that the environment had the best chance possible.

Telling and listen to stories like this is a wonderfully healing and sustaining community building exercise for any organisation but, for one like the QCC, which at many times has had to run major environmental campaigns on the smell of a gum leaf, it is essential.

I also had the pleasure of being employed to do 10 oral history interviews with 10 environmentalists who have contributed to QCC's history. Well done Q150 for making the money available and well done QCC for having the wisdom to realise how important it is to do so.

Next step is help get the DVD of interviews together looking forward to adding it to my collection.

Friday, June 19, 2009

Hickory, Dickery, Docket

'Hickery, Dickery, Docket,
The mouse ran up the rocket,
He climbed through a hole
As the rocket took off
And hid in the austronaut's pocket.'

There I did it. I've been meaning to use 'Hickory, Dickory, Dock' as the start of a story for ages and never quite managed it. This week Wilston-Grange Kindergarten had indicated that their children were interested in, among other things, space and rockets and planets. It was clear they were to. There was a neat solar system mobile hanging from their ceiling.

I had fun creating a new story about a mouse that went to the Space Station and helped install a space telescope and I've added another nursery rhyme story to my repertoire.

Thursday, June 04, 2009

Oral Histories & a neat animation

I've been hearing lots of oral history stories over the last week as I record and edit stories from environmental and conservation activists in Queensland. Environmental successes, struggles, strange and unexpected happenings but most especially just hearing about deep caring. It's a very neat project that is going to culminate in the Qld Conservation Council 40th Birthday Celebrations in July.

Here's a really nice story like music video animation that FaceBook friend Bronwyn Davies pointed me to on YouTube.

Oh, yes, if you're coming to GreenFest in the Brisbane City Botanical Gardens on this weekend, 6th and 7th June, came and say hullo, I'll be in the BCC WaterSmart display with cartoonist Brian Doyle.

Tuesday, May 26, 2009

The Sorcerers Apprentice on 10" 78RPM



Hey, Baby Boomer storytellers, want some childhood nostalgia? Go to http://www.kiddierecords.com and there you will find downloadable copies of those records parents used to buy their kids. I've noticed quite a few I recognise so I must have scored with Christmas or birthday presents a number of times.

'The Sorcerer's Apprentice' was published and sold as a 10" 78RPM album with Milton Cross as the narrator. I remember loving and hating it as a kid in front of the beautiful old radiogram. It could be a bit scary if you were listening on your own in the half dark.

Paul Gallico's 'Snow Goose' was another I recognise. The sound quality is very familiar although I'm sure ours got progressively scratchier with time.

Could make a quite interesting retro-audio resource for teaching etc.

Under 8's Week Storytelling & the red peg

Under 8's Week is not as big as it used to be but I am busy telling stories however. Had some wonderful sessions this week. One of my centres warned me that the audience would be mainly boys and they were. We had heaps of fun. It was fascinating watching them struggle with male conditioning to be 'boofy' and at the same time letting themselves enjoy story and fantasy and fun.

One of the stories I regularly tell is 'Grandpa Chris' about 3 grandpas and their mateship on the one hand and their volunteering for community on the other. The boys loved it when Grandpas Chris (who catches fish to give to all his friends) goes zooming along in his tinnie. I could see them wanting to resist singing the different grandpas songs but joining in just the same. The story and the fun kept them there.

After the story session while I was packing up, one of the boys came back in and said, 'I found this in the garden. You can take it home if you like.' I said, 'Oh thank you. I'll put it in my treasure chest.'

It was a small piece of broken red plastic clothes peg.

He went out with a big smile on his face.