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5x Upon a Time

August 13, 2012 by Charron's Chatter 3 Comments

A Review of 5 Outstanding Audio Books

When fellow tribe member and blogger friend, Ellie Heller, asked me to write a post featuring my five favorite audio books, it took me less time to jot down those titles than it did for WordPress to process my user name & password so I could keypunch my reply: “I’m in.”

Oh! Oh! And this one, and that one…and that, one, too!

That’s how near and dear my little nuggets of “Once Upon a Time’s” are to me, and it was tough to narrow it down to just five. I listen to audio books at least four afternoons a week at my job as a personal chef. While my hands slice and dice, my mind leaves the building as sneakily as Elvis ever did, wandering along spoken footpaths or hurtling down multi-tiered, L.A. style freeways…And sometimes footpaths that merge with such freeways in the same breath! Literary–if not literal journeys–I embark on effortlessly, letting the narrator take the lead on vistas carved by author imagination.

Synapses TrailHead

In the case of audio books, the voice is everything. The same book enjoyed in hardcover can be an excruciating assault to author, listener, and the work itself as easily as it can be a mesmerizing escape into the delightful place of: “Tell me a story”. Conversely, a book that’s only so-so in print can become sassy and engaging when read aloud by a favorite narrator. It’s no small skill to modulate your voice from character to character, and convey action and emotions with only inflection, timing and words—musicians appreciate this nuance, I’m sure–but the best of them do it seamlessly. Like a smooth ride in a fine-tuned car, the method of conveyance falls away and the listener simply experiences what becomes the listener’s story as it unfolds.  And the first narrated tale I’d like to note is…ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta —(ta—koff, koff—ta!)

The Grapes of Wrath. Author: John Steinbeck; narrator: Dylan Baker. Dylan Baker does a fine job narrating all the characters in John Steinbeck’s Pulitzer Prize winning novel. It doesn’t hurt that Baker’s sometimes reedy voice is reminiscent of Henry Fonda’s vocalizations, the actor that starred in the movie version of the epic, but in the case of this first book, I simply must focus on the material itself. It transcends any MOD, be it page, audio, film or adaptation, and if you’re a Steinbeck fan, I know you’ll agree. Continue reading →…

ARTIST & BOOK REVIEWS, ESSAYS

Four on the Floor

August 11, 2012 by Charron's Chatter Comments Off on Four on the Floor

 

A Brag Blog on US Women’s 4x100m Relay

 
Did you see the Olympics last night? I know, I know. After nearly 3 weeks of nightly, non-stop coverage & looping, daily recaps broadcast over every media outlet there is, I suspect even the athletes have tired of the pomp and circumstance surrounding the Games.  Or at the very least tired of all that exercise, but as the saying goes, it’s not over till the fat lady sings.
 

No more reps!!


 
Although “fit lady” would be the more apt metaphor in this instance.You’d never guess the incredibly fit American women that raced last night were at the tail end of a physically and psychologically grueling competition.Not even for a hundredth of a second, and as an amateur runner myself, I know what to look for—I like to think I do, anyway—and while I’ve been following the track and field events from this quasi-informed stance, the athletes have done nothing but impress. Continue reading →…

SPECTATOR SPORTS

Ballard Colored Blue…

July 15, 2012 by Charron's Chatter 10 Comments

JO-JO’s BLUES / Cover Art by Joanna Ballard / Photography by Karen Rozewicz

Recording Artist Joanna Ballard wears many hats. A storyteller first and foremost, the Baton Rouge recording artist also performs her unique blend of melodically crooning poetry for live audiences. Between crafting earth-friendly jewelry, assembling press kits for artists, and staging performance poetry workshops that is, as this Renaissance woman is much in demand. You have only to watch the first few seconds of any of her spun tales to hear and see why. The mixture of Creole folklore and metaphysical poetry compels you. Click below!

Purple Peace Pipe was an instant favorite for this blogger. But is it really possible to learn her one-of-a-kind, narrative style? Or emulate the mellifluous tones she delivers on her new collection of stories titled:  Jo-Jo’s Blues?

Jo-Jo’s Blues will be the #2nd collection of performance poetry released by Ms. Ballard. Registered to BMI, and recorded by Hit City Records, the CD and MP3’s are a featured prize for the impending: Art4TheHomeless fundraiser that’s staging August 20th at the Masquerade venue in Atlanta, Georgia. Thereafter, a portion of ALL sales from Jo-Jo’s Blues will be donated to Art4TheHomeless, while the work itself will be available for purchase on Reverbnation and Amazon.

The sales are sure to be strong! It was a treat for both the music and story lover in me to listen to the compilation of a dozen blues-themed poems accompanied by Henry Turner Jr’s blues beat and plucky, acoustic guitar in standard blues progression. (with a skosh of jazz tossed in for good measure) Ms. Ballard’s and Mr. Turner’s ten+ years of experience working together has certainly fine-tuned their combined talents, and after listening to the poetry a few times, the musical accompaniment seemed not just a welcome addition, but the only way to properly convey the sentiment of Ms. Ballard’s stories.

The muse is a mysterious force…

They abduct you! And while I can’t speak for anyone but myself, I love to have a story read aloud. Maybe it’s the stilted child inside that was happy to settle in and let Ms. Ballard weave her magical, phonic tapestry, or maybe it was her sweet-toned inflection that ranged from spoken, to crooning, to almost full-bore singing at times, at least during the first attention-grabbing story-tune titled: The Blues Ain’t Enough.

They were certainly enough for me. As the subsequent stories unfolded, I was swept away with the pleasing combination of music and imaginative wording, each linked one to the other like so many daisies in a chain–or camellias in a chain, I guess I should say. The finger-snapping selections titled: Soul Job & Soul Blues encouraged the plumbing of one’s motivation and impetus in life, and I confess to becoming somewhat introspective myself before Ms. Ballard’s poetic suggestion turned a trifle more extroverted.

The next 2 titles: This is a Moment &  Storyteller’s Blues moved me through a gentle caution of carpe diem to a more personal peek inside Ms. Ballard’s mind. The manner in which her dulcet tones amplified the word: moment spoke of a private connection to me, though the commonplace of the noun allowed me to imagine my own “moment” at well…that moment!

A moment that blended seamlessly into the next several stories. Blues, Blues Fix & Blues Song are so well linked it’s near impossible to tell where one ends, and the other begins, and wholly unnecessary to do so. When Ms. Ballard reveals her red dress is coming on–and then off!–during the course of Blues Fix, Blues Song goes on to add symbolic garters to the mix, and all 3 selections made me want to know where the Lady in the Red Dress was going.

I didn’t have to wonder long. Track #9 titled: Have You Ever Been to Louisiana?–expounded on just that, painting the Bayou the way we all imagine it: lush with flamboyant flowers and mysterious, muddy swamps, and while she sketches “Main Street Louisiana” (my term) in this story, too, the reference to her region’s one-of-a-kind topography and dialect hooked this catfish.

Tis brillig..and slithy!

Despite the title of track #10: They Don’t (come to Louisiana for storytellers). I know I certainly would. The title of subsequent jam: Word Movement  substantiates my newfound inclination, as did the final and title track on Jo-Jo’s Blues–a treat just aching to spun by her eager audience of fans.

An audience that includes this blogger, for sure!

http://ballardsbytes.wix.com/home

http://www.reverbnation.com/jbstoryteller

Note: Art4TheHomeless will also be featuring Ms. Ballard in an upcoming edition of their EZine. Click the link for easy surfin’!

ARTIST & BOOK REVIEWS

Dara Gets it Done! Torres advances to 50 Meter Freestyle Finals

July 2, 2012 by Charron's Chatter Comments Off on Dara Gets it Done! Torres advances to 50 Meter Freestyle Finals

I’ve backed off writing about the Olympic trials lately for a couple of reasons. One, there’s just so darn many of them. So many elite athletes, so many heartfelt backstories, so many interesting and exciting events with so many associated stats, but the second reason I backed off is more legal than lackadaisical. Copyright.

That’s (copy) right. The picture included here is a stock photo courtesy of Wikipedia Commons, God bless ’em, anyway, but the pictures and videos of the current Olympic trials are locked up in ESPN and NBC sports coverage vaults everywhere, and I’m frankly not writing the caliber of sports coverage that merits the money shot. Or the legal trouble.

But I’m wading back in today to cover the highlights of the two 50 meter races in which Dara Torres swam last night. (2 of 3 needed to move on to the Olympics) How could I not? The woman might be uncomfortably close to my own age at 45, but she’s as likeable as they come, brimming with youthful vitality and optimism that defies the calendar affecting the rest of us. Maybe that’s her charm, though. She makes it okay to be in your forties . More than okay, she makes it cool.

Dara isn’t just the oldest athlete to ever compete in the Olympic trials or Games. She’s medaled in every one of the five Olympiads in which she’s taken part, and earned an even dozen medals: 4 gold, 4 silver and 4 bronze over the course of 24 years.

Dara credits her love of the sport for her longevity, narrowing her field of focus to just one event, as well as her rigorous training and recovery regimen. She’s even had a  $5000.- replica of the start block from which swimmers push-off into the pool at such competitions installed at her training facility, but no amount of practice can replicate the stadium packed with fans and TV cameras, the alarming honk of the start buzzer, and “this is it” nerves. Continue reading →…

SPECTATOR SPORTS

Phelps Wins on Wednesday!

June 28, 2012 by Charron's Chatter 2 Comments

Mens’ 200 Meter Freestyle Final

Good morning, chickens! Good news. I’ve figured out why NBC flashed Dwyer’s times’ at the wall flips in Tuesday night’s 200 meter freestyle instead of Phelps. Not because they favored the vaguely reptilian swimmer, but because he reached the turnaround point first! Can you imagine?

And that smaller “AR” stat listed in the lower left? That refers to the time established for the “American Record” rather than “action required”. Go figure! Next I suppose I’ll find out the “WR” acronym stands for: world record, and not: waiver requests, wash room or even water-resistant.

Oh well. It’s all part of the fun of following a mostly fabricated blog, I expect. A blog that promotes the fictitious and its writer. You never know what kind of reading inaccuracies you’re gonn’ get! (said à laTom Hanks dba as Forrest, Forrest Gump)

But enough tiresome chitter-chat about fudged facts and far more interesting Spielberg movies. It’s time to interpret the highlights of the Wednesday night rematch between Lochte and Phelps, and this time, I guarantee they’ll be made up of 90% natural ingredients and only a  >smidge<  of filler.

All-righty. We’ve set the scene already: an Olympic-sized pool lanes number 4 & 5, and we know the players well enough: Lochte, Phelps & 6 other guys, though the surname of the repeat offender in lane number 7 bears mention, I think, as it’s as unlikely a moniker for a swimmer as any.

I don’t know about you, but the handle: Davis Tarwater conjures up images of slurries rather than hurry to me, but we’ll just have to wait and see. Overnight, if I know anything about asphalt. Continue reading →…

SPECTATOR SPORTS
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Lochte & Phelps square off for the 200 meter freestyle

June 27, 2012 by Charron's Chatter 3 Comments

I missed Monday night’s Olympic Swim Trials, and I’ll probably miss more—I am a sporadic TV watcher at best, and a bad sit-com viewer at worst–mostly because there are flat-out better things to do, but I’m glad I caught the mens’ 200 meter semi-final freestyles Tuesday night. With a medaled line-up that featured rivals and teammates Lochte and Phelps from the Beijing games, and training schedules much ballyhooed in the news, the qualifying event was as interesting to watch as the Olympiad itself promises to be. The events I catch, anyway.

According to our TV commentator, the men weren’t just ready to compete again: they were raring! Prepared and then some; Lochte by engaging in so-called Strong man training techniques on a bi-weekly basis, and Phelps by hitting it extra-hard in the high altitudes of Colorado Springs. (click Colorado Springs to read more about Phelps right here at: CHARRON’s CHATTER)

For the layabout there at home, let me elaborate: Strong man training usually involves lifting something unnecessarily heavy, dragging it some distance unnecessarily, to ultimately hurl it over something for no fathomable reason. A fallback skill to be honed, no doubt, in the event the swimming thing doesn’t work out.

As the 2 men entered Century Link Center, the Omaha arena hosting the event, they looked sleek as seals. The hi-tech swim wear lent to that effect, of course: both athletes sporting knee-length swim trunks and skull-hugging swim caps, though only Phelps appeared to be getting his iTunes on pre-dip, and God only knows what the other 6 competitors were doing. Sure, Conor Dwyer had already qualified for the Olympics in the 400 last night, and that third Mike guy in the race, Michael Klueh, was a swimmer to watch out for, too, but to me the only guys who mattered were the ones heading toward lanes 4 and 5. Continue reading →…

SPECTATOR SPORTS

Good End for Wallenda

June 16, 2012 by Charron's Chatter 2 Comments

Last night, along with millions of other television viewers worldwide and an on site audience exceeding 100K, I tuned in to watch Nik Wallenda attempt to walk a high wire from the US to Canada across the brink of Niagara Falls.  And while I was as excited as anyone to watch such a foolhardy crazy brave nutjob man perform a feat that until recently was illegal since the 1890’s, I couldn’t help but wonder what motivated the munchkin to do it. Beyond his legacy as a 7th generation high-wire walker, I mean.

Was it Canada’s national health care plan that spurred the jaunt? A hankering for bacon? An outdated passport? A loose wire in his own noggin? Such were the questions in my mind as I nestled in beside Jimmy to watch. Well, that’s not exactly true. I told him to quit hogging the couch, grabbed several pillows from behind his back, adjusted the overhead lighting, and then I nestled in beside him to watch. A couch potato’s gonn’ couch potato, am I right?

After praying with his family for what seemed far too short a time given the maelstrom he wanted God to cover, 33 year-old Nik broke from the huddle and got down to business. Or up to business. A scissor lift spirited him to his start point above the Falls, and like the boy version of Tinkerbell, the diminutive daredevil mounted the 2 inch thick wire sporting one-of-kind, elkskin soled slippers made by none other than Mama Wallenda herself. Other aids included a safety tether reminiscent of Fear Factor stunts, a headset radio connecting him to his coach, and a handheld phone weighing a whopping 38 pounds! Continue reading →…

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