This last weekend at The Tucson Festival of Books was an adventure, for sure! Saturday started out cold, windy and rainy. Not the best of weather for a festival, but there were still good crowds. Kudos to Glenda Bonin for another year of producing the Storytelling Tent! This venue affords tellers from Tucson and Phoenix to show their stuff alongside national headliners like Antonio Sacre, who also did workshops on Saturday & Sunday. On Saturday, Sandy Oglesby did a full set, and was later joined by Louise Laux and Esther Doestch.
On Sunday, I performed. It's not easy holding forth under a chilly tent with a small crowd of perhaps 30-45 wiggly children and their parents. Listeners would come and go during the 45 minute set. When twelve people get up and leave, you begin your next story hoping that they will be replaced by more bodies, if only to get out of the rain! Then there's the clock tower, chiming every fifteen minutes, bing-bong-bing-bong, bing-bong-bing-bong. The key is making sure you are in the right place in your story that you can incorporate the sound effects! "And so, as the clock struck, Zephir began his journey!"
Jordan Hill of Tucson told after my set and captivated the children with his energetic style! It was all great fun! I even saw a couple of friends there! I was honored to have been invited to tell!
Thanks to Elizabeth Mattson for coming down and volunteering, coming to listen and supporting me. And Thanks to Ron Lancaster for being the Emmcee and my gracious host for the weekend!