Listening Assignments - Catching Up

Listening Assignments - since we've discussed in class now, just a few of my thoughts about each style, rather than summarising what we covered - since I don't tend to take notes.

Story Corp

“There was this hole that I had all of my life.” MJ Seide and Genna Alperin
a grandaughter learns how her grandmothers met and fell in love.

“I wasn't afraid. I thought, 'I'm going to be cool about it.'”
A fan seeks out J.D. Salinger

“I didn't know if I was ever going to see you again.”
a mum and daughter share feelings about what it was like when the mother was fighting in Iraq

storytelling for the benefit of the participants, but in a style that makes them accessible to a wider audience.
value to audience is in the whole as an archive, not in each individual entry as entertainment
rules are fairly flexible in terms of whether it is narrative based or interview based - with emotion being foregrounded and narrative only implied. (in the Iraq story above participants have almost equal speech, and though there are anecdotes, the narrative of "the family experience of the Iraq war" is mostly to be inferred)


2nd Story

(Not-So) Still Life by David Blatt
Brutus and Portia by Khanisha Foster
Push, Kick, Coast by Ric Walker

stylised, sophisticated, claim authenticity as written by those presenting them, but not stated as "truth". Range of delivery styles permissable (Ric Walker sounds like Donald Davis for 2/3rds of his story, whilst Khanisha Foster is performing a complex monologue cut in with Shakespeare, and David Blatt sounds like a weekend newspaper columnist (a style which I've also noted in Moth episodes) it is like a more measured version of stand up). 2nd story excites me as a performing art form in a way the others do not, and not just because the material is more provocative, in fact, perhaps despite that, which is a bit of a cheap trick.

The Moth

Jon Levin
Elevator ER

Cindy Chupack
'Til Death or Homosexuality Do Us Part

James Braly
Pink Bicycle

I was expecting a distinct change of style between mainstage and slam - didn't get it. A storyslam is not improvised in the way a poetry slam is. Or maybe the "impromptu" was not part of the original meaning of slam, and is just something we think of it as in the UK.
Moth tellers are required to entertain an audience. However they have a much more limited means of doing so than 2nd Story tellers (I think) as they do not seem to be encouraged to show craft. They can have craft, but they should not be displaying evident performance skill (oh, except comic timing). Instead they have to rely on observational humor combined with emotional honesty, and interesting events to relate.
I know, I'm bitter, I'm all about the craft, about heightened delivery, about the magic. Some of this is great entertainment, some largely dull. But it isn't a place I'd chose to spend an evening.

This American Life

my biggest listening failure. I don't like talk radio in general and every time I tried to listen to an American Life episode I would find my attention had wandered. We talked about formality, and I accept that the production values mean that it is formally constructed. But the delivery styles of the participants are in a conversational realm that strikes me as closer to Story Corps than either 2nd Story or The Moth. And when they're long... they really drag.

268: My Experimental Phase (all parts but not very focused listening)
339: Break Up - Prologue (actual listening)

I think part of my dislike is the English thing. British reserve does exist - this kind of public sharing - well it does happen - and often on radio, but in careful formulaic "letter and song selection" shows which are easily avoided. Not in a strange combination of confessional and documentary. Although to be fair we are just as blighted with the reality tv syndrom that is just that as America is.