Telling Stories in Connecticut

Seems like spoken word performance / story telling is all the rage in these parts.

I attended the inaugural "The Mouth" at the Mark Twain House this past month; anything carrying Chion Wolf's imprimateur has got to be good. (and it was....) You can keep up with "The Mouth" on Facebook.

A quick web search also uncovered The Connecticut Storytelling Center, which hosts an annual Connecticut Story Telling Festival at Connecticut College, April 26-27.

In addition, there's a weekly Urban Storytellers series at MCC on Main, Manchester.  This is a great space (and not just because my beloved Guinea Pigs have a gig coming up, March 22.

And a last minute addition, the ongoing Other People's Stories series, held irregularly at La Paloma Sabanera in Hartford. 

Finally, the twitter reveals a new series, Speak Up, to be held at Real Art Ways. The inaugural date for this event is Saturday. May 4, at 7:00 pm.

I'm a big fan of The Moth and Snap Judgement - so hopefully these things will do well. The quality of stories told at The Mouth was just steller, IMHO, so hopefully that is a harbinger of some good talent in the area.

Music and Arts Update

There's a bunch of music, social and arts events coming up on my personal horizon:

• February 21 - Little Ugly and Paper Hill Casket Company at Black Eyed Sally's
• February 22 - The Inaugural Mouth at Mark Twain House
• February 23 - CT Lighter Than Air Society Annual Dinner (postponed due to the Blizzard)
• February 24 - Oscar Night Hartford at Mark Twain House
• March 2 - Ellis Paul up at the Iron Horse 
• March 7 - CT Forum / A Meaningful Life
• March 8 - Guinea Pigs gig at the CT Audubon Society, Glastonbury (come!) 
• March 9 - Kate Callahan and Friends at West Hartford Yoga

Hold my calls....

If You Can't Find Something To Do This Weekend...

...you are not trying very hard. Here's a short list of things I am aware of, I am sure there is much more to choose from.

Blues: Friday Night, June 1 is the annual Black-eyed and Blues Fest in Bushnell Park, sponsored by Black-eyed Sally's. ABSOLUTELY FREE.  More info....

Alternative Rock: A plug for my friends at Little Ugly - they are playing the Firebox Restaurant (at Billings Forge) on Friday @ 9:00 pm

Poetry: This is the kick-off weekend for the Sunken Garden Poetry Festival, at the Hillstead Museum in Farmington. Poetry and music all weekend long, starting Friday night.

Spirituality: Something new this year, the 2012 Creative Spirituality Fair, in East Haddam is going on Saturday. June 2. All sorts of yoga, healing modalities, energy work, music, arts, food and fun.

Queer Film Fest: The annual Gay and Lesbian Film Fest - Out Film CT - starts this weekend, at Cinestudio. The festival runs June 1- 9, with some big social events planned for apres cinema on the opening night, closing night, and mid fest. A lot of interesting looking films, with several premieres.

Krishna Das:  Kirtan and workshop on Sunday, June 3 in West Hartford, sponsored by West Hartford Yoga.

That's just a start, bet there are many more events happening as we kick off the first weekend of the summer season. Get out there and enjoy!