The Art of Storytelling

The art of storytelling Is truly an art form. If you look up the word in the dictionary you will find this:

Storytelling is the interactive art of using words and actions to reveal the elements and images of a story while encouraging the listener’s imagination. It involves a two-way interaction between the storyteller and one or more listeners.

Did you see that? Even the word “art” is used the in the definition. But what does it mean? We humans love our stories. It is so much much a part of our lives that we dedicate resources to it (both time and cash). We go to movies, watch TV, read novels and yes, even listen to podcasts. We have to have the latest electronic equipment do to it. So, it must be pretty important to us. But Why?

Since the very beginning of time we have wanted to remember and be remembered. From painting on caves walls to episodes of NBC’s Grimm. They all help us remember who we are and what we can do. It can also help us dream of what is to come. Storytelling helps preserve us as a people.

So, it should not be a “wonder why?” we have storytelling. We should be asking ourselves how we can keep our personal stories safe and pass them along. Are you ever truly dead if someone has your stories? It is why… I do… what I do.

-Ron

This Week’s Podcast:

On the podcast this week we have, what has been called, one of the best episodes of Suspense ever. I quite agree. Also, we will have short story written by Stephen Leacock who was the master of the humorous mystery. You can listen to this podcast this Thursday at Ron’s Amazing Stories, download it from iTunes, stream it on TuneIn Radio or listen on your radio Friday night at 8pm Eastern time. Check your local listing or find the station closest to you at this link.

The Calendar:

July 21,2016 – Glenn Miller Week (RAS252)
July 28,2016 – Hallucination Orbit (RAS253)
August 04, 2016 – Maddened By Mystery (RAS254)
August 11, 2016 – (RAS255)
August 18, 2016 – (RAS256)
August 25, 2016 – (RAS257)

Spotlight – Glenn Miller

On the blog this week we throw the spotlight on Captain Anton Glenn Miller. If you don’t know the name, he was a bandleader during America’s swing era. Glenn was one of the best-selling recording artist from 1939 to 1943 and lead one of the best big bands of all time. Miller’s recordings include: In the Mood, Moonlight Serenade, Pennsylvania 6-5000, Chattanooga Choo Choo and many others. While he was traveling to entertain U.S. troops in France during World War II his aircraft disappeared in bad weather over the English Channel. Neither he nor his plane were ever found.

Glenn Miller – Early Years

Miller was born in Clarinda, Iowa in 1904. In 1915 his family moved to Grant City, Missouri. Around this time he bought his first trombone and played in the town orchestra. During his senior year in high school he became very interested in a new style of music called “Dance Band Music”. He was so taken with it that he formed his own band with some classmates.

Glenn Miller – Learns his Craft

In 1923 Miller entered the University of Colorado, but spent most of his time away from school. He would attend auditions and play all the gigs he could get. Glenn dropped out of school to concentrate on making a career as a professional musician. Later he studied with Joseph Schillinger and composed what became his signature theme, Moonlight Serenade. In 1926, Miller toured with several groups eventually landing a good spot with Ben Pollack’s jazz band in Los Angeles.

Glenn realized that, rather than being a trombonist, his future lay in arranging or writing music. He worked on several significant Dorsey Brothers sessions including: The Spell of The Blues, Let’s Do It and My Kinda Love. All of these featured Bing Crosby singing the lead vocals. Wanting to be on his own he compiled several musical arrangements and formed his own band in 1937. They disbanded after failing to distinguish themselves. Discouraged, Miller returned to New York. He realized that he needed to develop his own sound. By using a unique combination of saxophone and clarinet he found that sound and the Glenn Miller Orchestra was born. In December of 1939 Miller’s band was featured three times a week in a quarter-hour broadcast for CBS. Miller and his bandmates had done the nearly impossible.

Glenn Miller – Today

The Glenn Miller Orchestra is alive and well today. Their latest album is called, Live and in Stereo. It was recorded at The Simmons Center in Duncan, Oklahoma on October 28, 2014. It is available for purchase at this link.

This Week’s Podcast:

On the podcast this week we pay tribute to one of the greatest bandleaders of our time, Glenn Miller. As you might guess that means that the podcast will be quite melodic, but not to worry there will be a few stories as well. You can listen this Thursday at Ron’s Amazing Stories, download it from iTunes, stream it on TuneIn Radio or listen on your radio Friday night at 8pm Eastern time. Check your local listing or find the station closest to you at this link.

The Calendar:

June 30,2016 – John Wayne Week (RAS251)
July 07,2016 – RAS Reply – Wayne Smalls
July 14,2016 – The Horror Express #11
July 21,2016 – Glenn Miller Week (RAS252)
July 28,2016 – (RAS253)

True or False with John Wayne

Did you happen to notice the large number of John Wayne movies on television this past weekend? I couldn’t find any reason for it, his birthday was in May, so it must have been just a coincidence. Whatever the reason I decided to dedicate this week to the Duke and start things off with a game of True or False with John Wayne.

1 – John Wayne’s real name was Marion Mitchell Morrison

True: That was his birth name and most people agree it is not the best cowboy name out there. So, John Wayne it is.

2 – John’s nickname “The Duke” was actually his cat’s name

False: Wayne received his distinctive nickname “Duke” while living in California. He had a dog by that name, and he spent so much time with his pet that the pair became known as “Little Duke” and “Big Duke.”

3 – Body surfing changed his career.

True: John Wayne, surfer? Yep—and if he hadn’t spent a lot of time doing it, he may never have become the legend he did. Like many USC students, Wayne spent a good deal of his extracurricular time in the ocean. After he sustained a serious shoulder injury while bodysurfing, Morrison lost his place on the football team and his scholarship. Unable to pay his fraternity for room and board, Morrison quit school and, with the help of his former football coach, found a job as the prop guy at Fox Studios in 1927. It didn’t take long for someone to realize that Morrison belonged in front of a camera. John Wayne’s first leading role came in 1930 in the b-film The Big Trail.

4 – John Wayne cheated at chess

True: John Wayne was actually very good at chess and the actor had a board permanently set up on his 136 ft boat, The Wild Goose. Wayne once said of fellow actor Rock Hudson: “Who the hell cares if he’s queer? The man plays great chess.” Wayne repeatedly cheated when playing against Robert Mitchum. While making a move, he would use his huge hands to cover the second action of sliding a piece into a different position. Mitchum eventually got up enough courage to tell him he was cheating. Wayne replied “I was wondering when you were going to say something. Set ’em up, we’ll play again.”

5 – John Wayne coined the phrase, “The Big C”

True: If you say “The Big C” these days, everyone knows what you’re talking about. But no one called it that before Wayne came up with the term. Worried that Hollywood would stop hiring him if they knew how sick he was, he called a press conference in his living room. Wayne had this to say, “They told me to withhold my cancer operation from the public because it would hurt my image. Isn’t there a good image in John Wayne beating cancer? Sure, I licked the Big C.” His daughter Aissa Wayne later said that the 1964 press conference was the one and only time she heard her father call it “cancer.” Sadly, Wayne lost his second battle with the Big C and died on June 11, 1979.

Well, there you have the truth of it. I hope you enjoyed this Ron’s Amazing Stories edition of True or False with John Wayne.

This Week’s Podcast:

On the podcast we will continue John Wayne week with one of his early successes. Also, we have a murder mystery on a cliff and science fiction tale too big to describe here. So, tune into the podcast this Thursday at Ron’s Amazing Stories. You can also download it from iTunes, stream it on TuneIn Radio or listen on your radio Friday night at 8pm Eastern time. Check your local listing or find the station closest to you at this link.

The Calendar:

June 02,2016 – Some People Don’t Die (RAS247)
June 09,2016 – The Carnival Case (RAS248)
June 16,2016 – Rikki-Tikki-Tavi (RAS249)
June 23,2016 – The Sportsman Show (RAS250)
June 30,2016 – John Wayne Week (RAS251)
July 07,2016 – We will have a best of the RAS this week.

Amazing Sports Stories

When you think about all of the places we get our content from, Amazing Sports Stories, may not top the list. My feeling is that, sometimes it should. For example: If you saw the Cleveland Cavaliers play the Golden State Warriors this past weekend it was nothing short of amazing. The Cav’s were down 3 games to 1 and for the first time in history, an NBA team came back and won the series. My congratulations goes out to the city of Cleveland.

Sports in general has got amazing stuff to teach us about ourselves, hanging in there and just plain hard work. If you don’t believe me just look back at people like Muhammad Ali, Lou Gehrig or Jesse Owens. Just to name a few. People have doing the impossible for a long time now.

So, this week on Ron’s Amazing Stories we salute the sportsman. Not just the superstar like Lebron James, but the backyard quarterback or schoolyard foursquare champion. All of us are amazing in our own right.

-Ron

This Week’s Podcast:

On the podcast this week, we honor the sportsman. We take a walk back in time to hear some amazing stories from our past. We will hear from a famous baseball player, listen to a story about a fisherman’s murder and play baseball with a Martian. You can listen to this podcast this Thursday at Ron’s Amazing Stories, download it from iTunes, stream it on TuneIn Radio or listen on your radio Friday night at 8pm Eastern time. Check your local listing or find the station closest to you at this link.

The Calendar:

May 19, 2016 – Debra Yates – Woman of Many Names (RAS245)
May 26, 2016 – Pat Novak Returns (RAS246)
June 02,2016 – Some People Don’t Die (RAS247)
June 09,2016 – The Carnival Case (RAS248)
June 16,2016 – Rikki-Tkki-Tavi (RAS249)
June 23,2016 – The Sportsman Show (RAS250)
June 30,2016 – (RAS251)

Can Dreams Tell Stories?

This blog is subject to opinion. Yours may very, but I believe it to be true. Our dreams can tell stories. How do I know? As an editor I get to read all kinds of things and stories are a big part of it. One of the first questions I ask my clients is how they came up with their Ideas. More often than not they tell me it was from a dream.

Have you ever read the book Dreamcatcher by Stephen King? King was out walking when he was struck by a minivan in 1999. While recovering from a collapsed lung and shattered leg he began having vivid dreams.

“The first really strong idea that occurred to me after the accident was: four guys in a cabin in the woods,” King told the San Francisco Chronicle in 2003. “Then you introduce this one guy who staggers into camp saying, ‘I don’t feel well,’ and he brings this awful hitchhiker with him. I dreamed a lot about that cabin and those guys in it.” – Stephen King

The dreams he had then formed the basis of the 2001 novel turned film Dreamcatcher. But it wasn’t the only work of King’s to be inspired by a dream: King has said that his dreams helped him and his son to put together his 2015 work of short stories called, The Bazaar of Bad Dreams.

Dreams are a part of lives whether we remember them or not. I personally keep a journal of my dreams in case one day I get the urge to write a few good stories of my own. Let me tell you this, I have had some killer dreams.

-Ron

This Week’s Podcast:

On the podcast this week we have a classic Kipling tale, an odd occurrence South-Western vineyard and an OTR story the follows the theme of dreams. So book your ticket now and join us this Thursday at Ron’s Amazing Stories. You can download it from iTunes, stream it on TuneIn Radio or listen on your radio Friday night at 8pm Eastern time. Check your local listing or find the station closest to you at this link.