'Living Delicious' This TV Interview gave me a chance to talk about storytelling, story listening, the brain and ideas about the art of telling stories- FUN, fast! (29 minutes)

'Making Waves: A Thinking Bigger Blueprint with TV/Radio' ('08 interview with Eric Wolf on his 'Art of Storytelling Show', a nationally prominent podcast series)

photographer OlivierKoning's portrait of Jeff Gere in Kahala Magazine

See short Channel 9 AM News Interview & story on Halloween, '07

SPRING- SUMMER 2010

NORTHLANDS STORYTELLING CONFERENCE (April 22-25, Wisconsin) Jeff will be giving the 'IN YOUR FACE' Workshop that he did at the Talk Story Conference with Robert Kikuchi-Yngojo (Ethnohtec) and Bobby Norfolk. It's a rollicking, participatory, morphing exercises for the face, and 'it's exciting to contribute to a new group of storytelling enthusiasts!'

YUKON STORYTELLING FESTIVAL (May 28-30, Yellowknife, Western Territory, Canada) with 'Tita' Kathy Collins & slam poet Kealoha, performances and workshops. The other two will continue on for two weeks of performances in rural areas, while Jeff must return to Honolulu to do workshops for the Summer Fun Aides (and his annual tour through the Summer Fun Programs filling June and July.)

NATIONAL STORYTELLING CONFERENCE (July 29- August 1) Yes, Jeff will attend & participate in this gabfest. AFTER CONFERENCE HOME CONCERT (August 2) Ann Buxie, an LA Storytelling producer, will host an evening concert with Jeff, Alton Chung, and Lyn Ford. This concert results from Ann hearing the 'Cultures in Collision' CD, recorded in 2007. All three were in the 2009 Talk Story Festival as well.

TALK STORY FESTIVAL #21 (OCT. 9-11, 2009)

The 21st Annual Talk Story Festival again featured Hawaii's best tellers (Lopaka Kapanui, Kathy Collins, Dan Kelin II, Alton Chung) & 3 mainland guests ,(Michael Parent Lyn Ford, Kuniko Yamamoto) on 3 FREE nights (October 9-11) at McCoy Pavilion, Ala Moana Park (right on the beach). 8 tellers had 20 minutes each night. We again added dramatic lighting, sign interpreters, and video recordings were projected beside the stage (3 cameras, live switching, which air all year on Olelo: Public Access TV (Story TV). Sign Interpreters on the stage interpreting all stories. It remains the oldest & largest storytelling celebration in Hawaii, sponsored by the Parks Department (with others).

SO HOW DID THE PRODUCTION GO? Technically it was nearly flawless with a great new team monitoring sound, lighting (tinkered constantly, even as the audience was coming in), and again, Leeward Community College's TV Production Students manned cameras, set-up/ break-down. Two great directors composed the angles into shows. It felt weird for me to actually be able to listen to the stories! My wife Dominique served (again) as stage manager.

Artistically, Alton brought the new Okinawan Historical Tales to the stage for the first time (which premiered at the Okinawan Center later). Moira Maeda-Nakamine did a spooky set for the 1st time (and a Plantation Village Ghost Tour for Halloween). Kathy Collins rocked the house Fri (Tita) & Sat (comedy/tragic tales on Widowhood). And 3 Waianae ladies did a great job to end Sat. Yes, we had two from the National Champion High School Slam Team on Sunday- magnificent!

ATTENDANCE: We packed both Friday and Saturday nights (500 seats +). Sunday there were some 300 committed listeners. A Sunday afternoon workshop (Lyn Ford, Kuniko Yamamoto & I) had 30 people. A follow up Tuesday night Storyteller Summit (Lopaka Kapanui, Alton Chung, Kuniko Yamamoto & I) had a disappointing 6.

PUBLICITY: It took me awhile to get amped up to 'hit the media' after the Talk Story Conference, but the line-up got me going again. There were articles in each newspaper. Saturday the Advertiser featured a photo on the front page heading (Kuniko) and an article in Island Life! I was on all four AM TV News shows, my :30 PSA played for 2 weeks and we were on the popular Perry & Price live radio show (with Tita) Saturday. Posters were put in all the City buses.

Here's a short report on a delightful event in Honolulu, which continues to spread storytelling into the lives and homes of Oahu residents. Come join us next October!

Here's a web article with some photos from the first night:

TALK STORY CONFERENCE July 16-20, '09 (+)

This was a Really Big Story Party, consuming 8 months of effort and coordination. It was perhaps the biggest production I've ever done. Co-produced by the National Storytelling Network (NSN) as a Pacific Regional Conference and my small non-profit, between July 16 to 20, some 60 people from across the nation and 100ish Hawaii residents attended (with tellers from Australia, Thailand, Japan & Canada) workshops, general sessions, opening and closing riturals, swaps, ate meals together and enjoyed two concerts (Island Spookies & National Stars, both video recorded). All of this happened in the Queen Kapiolani Hotel in Waikiki. After, July 20-22, tours to Honolulu Museums were offered and from July 23-26 some chose to continue to Maui for tours, a concert, and fellowship.

See photos & comments at www.nsntalkstoryconference.com

CONFERENCE VIDEOS
Since July, I've been pecking away at editing the footage of the two Conference
concerts. RIGHT NOW, at the link below to OLELO: Public Access TV, VIEW ON DEMAND) you can find a few of them: look for anything (sprinkled in a long list) given as STORY TV- You'll find titles as you scroll down the long list of shows, constantly being updated. Some are:

STORY TV: 129   Bobby Norfolk & Margaret Read MacDonald @ Conference
   (most of Bobby, all of MRM. Cropping)
STORY TV: 128 Anne Glover & EthNohTec @ Conference
   (I cropped the backgrounds lots)
STORY TV: 127 Baba Jamal (at Talk Story Festival 08)

STORY TV: 126 Rakugo Tales- Dann Seki
   (Japanese tales with piano @ Talk Story '08)
STORY TV: 124 Mermaid Tales
(Sandra MacLees & Baba Jamal at Talk Story '08)
STORY TV: 123 Kathy Collins & Death
   (at Talk Story '08 talking about her husband's death)

Here's the direct link to these shows