Juggler Tom Sparough shares a story about a vacation that almost didn't happen, thanks to him

NOTE: Well, today is our fifth Teilen storytelling slam and, as a treat, we thought we’d release a “bonus” Podcast. Hope to see you this evening! Our next Podcast will be released this week. Thank you for checking them out (and telling your friends).

Tom Sparough had audience members at the first-ever Teilen rolling on May 1, 2011, sharing a story about a family vacation when he was a kid.

This story is actually much more about the events leading up to the family big, first trip overseas. And we think you’ll enjoy it.

In his non-storytelling life, Tom is known as the “Space Painter,” a juggler, who has been entertaining audiences locally for more than 26 years.

Tom is a natural storyteller. Though he hasn’t won a monthly storytelling event (yet), judges and audience members have spoken extremely highly of him and his storytelling abilities. This story is certainly one of his best and we hope you enjoy it.

Be sure to subscribe to our Podcast for her story and others, delivered nearly weekly. We pick our best stories and share them with you there.

NEXT TEILEN IS TONIGHT:
6 p.m. TODAY, October 16, 2011
Leapin Lizard
726 Main Street
Covington, Kentucky

Theme: “Changes: Stories of Adjustment” 

Roy Jones shares his story during Teilen/Clifton

His talents already include his visual artwork, poetry and a plethora of other creative-type talents, but now he can add winning storyteller to his list.

Roy “the Creative Roy” Jones grew up in Cincinnati and shared a story about being “labeled” when he was a child in school. His father his black and his mother is white, but the form his teacher was asking him to fill out only called for one answer. He checked both and his teacher wasn’t happy.

That’s what inspired Roy to share his story with the audience at the June 5, 2011 Teilen/Clifton, our first outdoor storytelling gathering, located on the Clifton Plaza. Despite some menacing clouds, warm temperatures and a few teasing raindrops, the event went smoothly.

Leader of “The Full Art Spectrum,” an organization dedicated to bringing artists often isolated together creatively, Roy composes songs, sings, invents games and fortune-cookie0like philosophies (his words) and pretty much delves into anything involving art and expressing himself that way. He’s a gifted storyteller and has been back to every Teilen since June and told stories that would have either made him another winner or put him pretty close to the top. Sadly, though, storytellers can only win once – but Roy’s definitely an audience favorite.

Roy is invited back for Teilen’s grand championships storytelling event, currently slated for April 2012 (after we have 10 monthly events, and thus, 10 monthly winners). You can listen to Roy’s story here on our Web site, by subscribing on iTunes or walking up to him and asking him to re-tell you it. We’re thinking he’d prefer you just subscribe to our iTunes Podcast. We’d like that, too. Plus, it probably won’t be long before we release another Roy story.

And we will see you at the next Teilen…

NEXT TEILEN:

6 p.m. Sunday, October 16, 2011
Leapin Lizard
726 Main Street
Covington, Kentucky

Theme: “Changes: Stories of Adjustment” 

Katie Wearne of Oakley had the crowd laughing during her story July 10 about how her sleepy dreams turned into real, life dreams at Teilen/Northside at the Northside Tavern.

“I was dating this guy in Cincinnati,” she said. “He was a very nice person. I am not.”

Judges at Teilen/Northside picked Katie’s story as the best that evening, which means she’ll be invited back to the Teilen grand championship storytelling event scheduled for April 2012.

During her story telling, someone knocked on the back door of the Northside Tavern, trying to get into the back door. You’ll hear that toward the end of the story – which provided for a perfectly-timed bit of comedy.

Many people know Katie as “Stabby McNeedles,” the top non-skating official for the Cincinnati Rollgergirls.

Be sure to subscribe to our Podcast for her story and others, delivered nearly weekly. We pick our best stories and share them with you there.

Related articles

• Teilen/Northside Was NOT a Dream (teilenrhine.com)

NEXT TEILEN:

6 p.m. Sunday, October 16, 2011
Leapin Lizard
726 Main Street
Covington, Kentucky

Theme: “Changes: Stories of Adjustment” 

Elisa Hoffman told the Teilen audience September 11, 2011 about where she was ten years earlier – in Washington, D.C. as an elementary school teacher. The school was just a few miles from the Pentagon, which was attacked along with the World Trade Center in New York City. Her heartbreaking re-telling of how she and her colleagues attempted to explain the day’s traumatic unfolding events to little minds tore at the heartstrings of audience members.

Her story is being released today as our second Podcast story. Be sure to check out the iTunes store to get it and subscribe for more stories being released soon. Or, listen to right here on our Web site (click on the player below).

Elisa is now a married mother of twin 2-year-olds and lives in Cincinnati’s East Hyde Park neighborhood. She shared her story during the fourth monthly Teilen event at R.P. McMurphy’s Irish Pub in Hyde Park. Her win qualifies her to return to the Teilen grand champtionship storytelling, planned for April 2012.

Be sure to subscribe to our Podcast for her story and others, delivered nearly weekly. We pick our best stories and share them with you there.

NEXT TEILEN:
6 p.m. Sunday, October 16, 2011
Leapin Lizard
726 Main Street
Covington, Kentucky

Theme: “Changes: Stories of Adjustment” 

First, if you’re here, you probably already know it. If not, look up. See? We’ve got a new Web address, the ever-present “URL.” We’ve moved to something a little easier to remember, CincyStories.org. Please update your bookmark.

Also, we have a new Twitter handle, TeilenStorySLAM. So, if you aren’t following us yet on Twitter, click and follow. Repeat. If you want.

See you October 16th!

This is what Leapin Lizard looks like - from the outside.

The fifth monthly Teilen storytelling gathering will take on a spooky feel this month – the spookiest of the year – when it moves to a former church in Covington.

Leapin Lizard, the former gallery-turned-event space, located on the corner of 8th & Main streets, 726 Main Street (41011), in the Main Straße section of Covington, is a former church, built in the 1880s, with a wonderful atmosphere. We will be up on the second floor.

Here’s more from Leapin Lizard’s Web site:

The fabulous 1880′s church has been renovated on all three levels. The former Methodist church is fantastic with over 30 stained glass windows, 16 & 30 ft ceilings, and an enormous pipe organ that fills the space with sound.

Anybody know an organ player? We could really have a very Halloween-y evening…

Here’s some info you might want to know about Leapin Lizard:

1) Non-smoking throughout building

2) Full cash bar

3) Lots of chairs

4) Lots of on-street parking. And it’s free on Sundays!

5) Did I mention they have a big pipe organ?

In case you forgot, Teilen/Covington kicks off at 6 p.m. Sunday, October 16, 2011. Our theme this month is “Changes: Stories of Adjustment.” No tickets are required.

See you there!

There were several highlights of the evening. First, the host venue – Northside Tavern – was amazing! The back room comfortably held the nearly 50 audience members and the stage made a comfortable setting for our storytellers. And, we had our own private bar … when is that not a plus?! If you’ve never been to Northside Tavern, you must go. It’s got to be one of Cincinnati’s best bars.

The storytellers took us down a delightfully surprising path of dream interpretation. We heard about the evolution of violent dreams to no dreams at all; a forgotten son; a beautiful daughter. Tornadoes and the ability to fly. Dating the wrong guys and marrying the man of your dreams. Running into the childhood bully, the relief that pregnancy was JUST a dream and the latticework of complexity.

We loved seeing some veteran storytellers on stage as well newcomers.

Teilen/Northside was dedicated to dreams but it was more about reality. Can’t wait until September!

But that’s my humble … er, biased … opinion.

The theme for the Teilen/Clifton event was Teaching and Learning, and boy did our storytellers share some valuable, life-altering lessons. We heard about the kindness of strangers; the worst version of ourself; and discovering that we aren’t as smart as we think we are. We were entertained with the imagery of juggling as a profession; organizing an unwilling crowd; and “genieology.” We could relate to lessons left to us by our departed loved ones. For the second time, the final storyteller won the judges’ hearts and votes. Roy Jones led us through the struggle of knowing what or who you are on the inside while society tells you to be something else. Many, many could relate.

The way I know that Teilen/Clifton was a success is by the fact that so many people in the crowd found at least one thing in all the stories with which to relate. There was sharing and there was connecting. And, a community came together.

Stay tuned for the next podcast.

Be sure to make note of the next Teilen event – Sunday, July 10 @ 6 pm in NORTHSIDE. Until then, share yourself.

Steve Ramos is our first featured Podcast storyteller.

Teilen is all about the story – and the benefits of those stories are not limited only to those who attend our monthly storytelling events.

The organizers of Teilen have carefully curated the stories from the first Teilen event on May 1, 2011 and will bring you the best stories from each event, one at a time, through our weekly Podcast. A new story will be released every Wednesday via the Podcast and right here on our Web site.

This week’s Podcast features Steve Ramos. Our volunteer judges picked his story as our best one at the first Teilen, Teilen/Rhine on May 1, 2011. You can read more about Steve in our post from yesterday about him winning.

His story is great. Recorded live at MOTR on Main Street in Over-the-Rhine in front of a live audience, Steve shared on the theme, “beginnings. He told us about the first time he took his father’s Buick out when he was a teenager growing up in Youngstown, Ohio. There’s plenty of funny in this story, including interacting with the mob, a Chinese restaurant and murder. But we won’t give away too much here. You gotta listen.

You can listen here on the Web site. But also subscribe to our Podcast, and leave us feedback in iTunes, if you don’t mind. That way you won’t miss the next story, released next week. Plus, we’d love to hear what you think of Teilen, how we’re doing, theme ideas for future events and what stories are your favorites (including ones you’d like featured in a future Podcast).

And if you like that, why don’t you join us at the next Teilen, Teilen/Clifton, 6 p.m. June 5, 2011 at the Clifton Plaza, 329 Ludlow Avenue in the Cincinnati neighborhood of Clifton (the plaza is across the street from Graeter’s Ice Cream). We will be outside. Please note that the plaza has some seating, but not a ton. So, bring a chair to sit in. And if it’s raining, don’t fret. We’ll be inside Aquarius Star, right next door. In fact, they’re going to be helping us out by serving food and drinks whether we’re outside, or inside.

Enjoy the Podcast. And we’ll share more next week.

Download the MP3 version of the Podcast

Steve Ramos shares his winning story at the first Teilen, May 1, 2011

I won’t be surprised if, at the end of every Teilen, we have the same problem we had at the end of Teilen/Rhine. The stories shared in the very first event were fabulous, and the three judges needed a lively discussion to choose a winner.

The 12 storytellers at Teilen/Rhine were judged on the following criteria:

• Did the story relate to the theme of “beginnings?”
• Did the story have a beginning, middle and end?
• Did the story stay within in the time limits of 5-12 minutes?

With his story of the beginning of his life as a licensed driver, Steve Ramos took home the prize of top story.

His tale took us back to Youngstown, Ohio, through scenes with the Italian mob, Chinese restaurants, his Mexican father and Irish neighbors. He made us laugh and sit on the edge of seats from the beginning to the end.

If you haven’t heard of Steve, you might like to know that he is an award-winning art and cinema critic who has written for several national and local publications, including Cincinnati’s CityBeat. Not one to shy away from conflict, as you heard in his story, Steve once broke the story of a Cincinnati art-house theater secretly snipping a sex scene from a movie. That led Steve to be indefinitely banned from the theater. He and his family live in Cincinnati.

Why do we need a winner at all? Because, we all love a little healthy competition. The winners of the Teilen events will return to compete in the grand story slam next year. If Steve is any indication of what is ahead, we’re in for one hell of a night.

Teilen’s Podcast starts tomorrow morning. That’s when the first episode will be released. Subscribe now through iTunes. Why? Because Steve’s story is the first Podcast. Don’t use iTunes or have an MP3 player besides an iPod? Check back here tomorrow for a link to an MP3 or listen to Steve’s story right inside your Web browser.

The next chance to share the crown with Steve is at Teilen/Clifton at 6 p.m. Sunday, June 5 at the Clifton Plaza, 329 Ludlow Avenue (across from Graeter’s). If it’s raining we will be inside Aquarius Star next door. And they’ll be serving up food and drinks that evening regardless of whether we’re outside or in their friendly confines.

The theme is “teaching and learning.” You can register here. It’s free. Or just stop in and listen. Either way, come and share yourself.