Oh, for the stories they would tell...

" I pushed the middle button and the dentist's chair moved me within inches of the ceiling!" Bil Lepp exclaimed as he told his tale of a visit to his friendly dentist. We were inside Charleston's Second Presbyterian Church for Charleston Tells Storytelling Festival. It was the festival opening

performances. Lepp, one  of the National Tellers, kept us in stitches with his tales. This event was the third annual Charleston Tells and is sponsored by the Charleston County Library. Later, Michael Reno Harrell would talk and sing about being a southerner. While Charlotte blake Alston would regale us with her African-American tales and Corinne Stavish would charm us with stories of her Jewish grandmother.

Saturday dawned with a gray sky over the South Carolina Lowcountry. The Festival opened at 10 AM and we arrived about 11:30 after parking about three blocks away. The big white tents had been set up for the story tellers. There were two large ones and a small one for performances in addition to the church sanctuary. The venues for the performers were appropriately named Magnolia, Dogwood, and Live Oak. Each tent had a different story teller telling. Each teller would speak for about an hour. The tellers told a variety of stories and tales.  Some were stories of personal experiences, some funny and some not so funny.  Folktales from different cultures were also shared with adoring crowds. Some tellers had props and or musical instruments. As I was standing outside one tent peering in I saw a young man  with an elong. What a topic for conversation! He was Julian Gooding, a storyteller/documentary filmmaker/percussionists.  We discussed how some primitive musical instruments.  "I found this one and repaired it," he said.

"Do you use soft or hard hammers?" I asked.

"Oh you have to use soft hammers," Julian said.

"Why?' I wanted to know. I am somewhat fascinated by primitive musical instruments.

"Because of the wood.  The bars of this one are soft wood. Hard hammers would damage the wood," I was informed.

We chatted a bit more and he told me stories of filming in exotic locals and I got a chance to inspect the elong more closely. An elong is a xylophone type instrument of West Africa which uses various size gourds for amplification. The instrument is  assembled with lashings.  No metal fasteners used.
Julian had to perform and we had to set up for his performance and we had to get ready for the Story

Swap  part of the Festival.  I was looking forward to this because I was going to tell a story. Rain was threatening and there was a stiff breeze. Story Swap is held under the giant live oak trees of Wragg Square. We arranged the folding chairs in a semicircle and Story Swap began. Four members of the Backporch Storytellers of Charleston would be telling stories and I was proud to be a part of that group.  As luck would have it the instant before I was to tell my story of Sunday mornings, cigars and A.R.P.s it began to rain. We reconvened in one of the unoccupied big tents. After a man close by finished driving an tent peg with a sledgehammer, my audience could finally hear me. They liked my story.

We heard a two more stories after Story Swap. We visited a friend in the Digital Storytelling tent. Digital storytelling is a relatively new idea or at least it is a new name for telling a story accompanied by photos, and music. Stories can be on any subject but very short. Our friend ron Alexander had a poignant story about the death of his brother during the Vietnam War.

The Festival closed at 5PM but we left a little early to meet some of my storytelling friends a Joe Pasta for some dinner. We'll be back next year to enjoy the entertainment and do our part to support the ancient art of storytelling.