Glastonbury duo - Storytelling and Music

The Holy Tree I've told this story just once to an audience, during a Saint Patrick's Day concert we did in a theatre with our band "Idlewild" and a troop of step dancers, a pipe band and some of my storytelling, four years ago. At the time some years ago I would travel to and fro in downtown Salt Lake City and in one part of the inner city neighborhood my wife and I would have lunch at a wonderful little Japanese Restaurant called the Koko Kitchen. They have some of the best Teriyaki, Udon an… Continue

Ohe-hano-ihu The Hawaiian Nose Flute Ohe-hano-ihu, is the name for the Hawaiian Nose Flute. Instruments of this type are made of bamboo and are of undoubted antiquity long before contact with western civilization. The instrument consists of a simple joint of bamboo, with an embouchure placed about half an inch from the closed end, thus enabling the player to supply the instrument with the air of his left nostril. The left hand covers the three holes bored mid-way along the length of the instrum… Continue

Now that my children and step children are grown up, I no longer read them stories like when they were little. My wife and I do that with the grand children now. I still preach at them and tell them stories of acidents I've seen other people have when working a labor job when I was younger, and why they should get or finish that degree. It starts with a story of I'm still in High School and one summer job I took with a couple of buddies was to mow lawns at the local city cemetary. There were al… Continue

John Sharp was born in Scotland in the year 1820. He was a hard-working Scotsman that began work in the coal pits at the age of eight years of age. He and his two brothers were converted to the Mormon Church in 1847, and they set out for Zion the next year. They reached Salt Lake City in August of 1850 and shortly after his arrival became the superintendent of the Church quarry where the huge blocks of granite were cut for the Salt Lake Temple and the massive wall around Temple Square, along wit… Continue

My wife is of Norwegian descent on her father's side of the family. They came from a little enclave of Norwegians that settled together in midwestern Canada. I often kid my wife when she complains about cold, dark and sometimes wet Utah weather. (It's a desert but it rains or snows more than you would think.) The other thing she is not fond of is the smell of fish. So I'll say, "some Norwegian YOU are, you don't like the wet, the cold, the dark or smelly fish. Aren't you supposed to like Lutefis… Continue

It was more than twenty years ago, that I was sitting in my office on the 14th floor of the "Boston Building" in downtown Salt Lake City. Along with other contractors we were working on a Saturday morning cartoon for Marvel comics animation out of California. We made pretty good money when we were busy working, but much of the time we would wait for contracts or new shows to come in, and animators without something to keep them busy are much like a Mad Hatter's tea party without any tea, or even… Continue

My Father’s D-Day Story In looking back on how I fell into storytelling, I began to realize my Father is a great storyteller. As a child I heard stories about my family, but on some occasions I would hear my Father talk about his experiences landing a Glider on the early morning hours of D-Day behind the beaches of Normandy. My Dad (Dr. Byron James Sharp) was a young Lieutenant in what was then the United States Army Air Force. He was trained to fly a plane called a DC-3, or “Gooney Bird” as t… Continue

Dance Pinnochio I told this story at a Music and Storytelling concert last March, 2007, when our group was asked for an encore. During the day I work part-time for the American Federation of Musicians, Local 104 as the Business agent. My office co-worker is also a musician contractor and plays in a German, Swiss, Bavarian band called Salzburger Echo. They travel to the various Octoberfests and ethnic festivals around the country. My friend came to work one day dressed in his Leder-Hosen, since… Continue

I recently read a blog post by Sean Bulava, and it got me thinking about story interuptions I've had that stuck in my memory. Recently I went and told a set of stories with music at a local rest home. The activities director was grateful that I would come and entertain the residents for the small budget they had and they knew what my normal evening fee would have been. The experience was not well planned by the staff and there was some confusion as to where in the building I was to perform, so w… Continue

A Celtic Tale from the Isle of Man The following story is a Manx tale in the public domain. It has a typical Celtic theme of mortals becoming ensnared in the fairy world. The Isle of Man has a very interesting history and culture. Celtic Settlers came to the island during the bronze age, their language is akin to Irish Gaelic and had much in common with Ireland and the Western Islands of Scotland. The island is named for the Celtic Sea God – Mannanan MacLyr and was called “The Throne of Mannana… Continue