Tale-telling showcase toasts the power of a good yarn |Are you up for a story about a goat?
Not just any goat, mind you, but a wild mountain goat that faced off with John Fielder, a well-known Colorado outdoor photographer, when he was hiking and taking pictures in the remote Weminuche Wilderness between Durango and Silverton a couple of years ago.
Now, mountain goats are naturally curious creatures who will seek out humans in the wilderness, Fielder said. That’s because they’re looking for salt, which they lick from urine deposits. Colorado has six or seven mountain goat herds around the state – the most common place people see them is Grays and Torreys peaks near Loveland Pass on Interstate 70.
So when the lone goat confronted Fielder one evening during his trip near the Needle Mountains, he was a little surprised, but not exactly nonplussed. But early the next morning when he saw the goat as the sun rose and the animal …
If you want to hear how the story ends, you’ll have to hear Fielder at The Moth “Out on a Limb” storytelling event at the University of Denver’s Newman Center for the Performing Arts (2344 E. Iliff Ave.) on Sunday.
“I’ve had goats approach me at pretty much every mountain range I’ve ever been in,” Fielder said. “It was one of the most sublime, if not the most sublime, moments I’ve had in nature in the last 35 years in Colorado.”
Love and hate, betrayal and hilarity, upended expectations, some sort of inherent tension – that’s what storytelling is all about, said Lea Thau, executive and creative director for The Moth, a storytelling group from New York that’s taking its words around the country. TNT is sponsoring the event, which features local and national yarn spinners at stops like Los Angeles, Seattle and Denver.
A former pickpocket and a New York City cop will speak at the Newman Center, along with Fielder, historian Patty Limerick and national writers.
In this age of cellphones and iPods, old-school stories, told without props by one speaker and a microphone, are a valuable link.
They “help us connect and understand our humanity better,” Thau said. “I think if people forget to tell stories, we are disconnected.”
James Braly, who grew up in Colorado before moving to New York, is on tap to speak Sunday. He tells stories about “Life in a Marital Insitution,” his family, his wife, his kids, and about how “no matter how far you’ve come, it brings you back to where you started.”
“Once you see people telling stories, you say, ‘I do that, too,” Braly said. “It’s not just retail entertainment, it’s what people do to entertain themselves.”
Storytelling might have emerged around ancient campfires, but today, storytellers can also take their tales online.
The Moth is running a monthlong MySpace contest to get more people across the country interested in the art form. The winner, chosen by a panel of independent judges, will land a trip to New York. (myspace.com/moth stories) The social networking site has exploded in recent years as a spot where young people, bands and other artists post information, pictures and music.
“We’re very curious to see what stories come out of it,” Thau said. “We hope to make it (the Moth website) a community, just as MySpace is its own community.”
Next on The Moth’s agenda are “story slams,” where contestants are judged on five-minute stories, Thau said. Winners of regional “slams” then go up against other winners from around the country in “grand slams.” They’re modeled after the “poetry slams” that grew popular in the United States in the 1990s.
“Out on a Limb”
STORYTELLING|The event is put on by The Moth, a story-telling group from New York City; Newman Center for the Performing Arts, University of Denver; speakers include John Fielder, Patty Limerick, Andy Borowitz, Jonathan Ames, Steve Osborne, Sherman “OT” Powell |$20|7:30 pm. Sunday; tickets available at the Newman Center Box Office, the Ritchie Center Box Office, or through Ticketmaster at 303-357-2787 or ticketmaster.com.
