New storytelling series: Tales of Town. Wed, Oct 5, 7pm, The Rooms

HFNL and The Rooms kick off the Tales of Town series this Wednesday night, at 7pm. I'll be sitting down with three engaging locals: businesswoman Margaret Dunn, music shop owner Gordon O'Brien, and author Lisa Moore. We'll be sharing memories and stories about growing up in St. John's, and hope you will join us!

The Rooms, Wednesday, October 5th
7pm
Tickets $5, free for members

Ghosts of Signal Hill to go out with a bang (and Hurricane Maria)

Friday, Sept 16th is our final show for Ghosts of Signal Hill, with Jed Baker closing out the season as Lt. Ranslaer Schuyler.

We also have a date with Hurricane Maria, and some of you (including Jed) are worried about what this means to our season finale. Well, have no fear! We'll go ahead rain or shine. If weather is good, we'll march you up the hill to the usual storytelling venue. If weather is bad, we'll move the show into the Parks Canada Theatre at the Signal Hill Visitor Centre, and tell stories from there.

The show starts at 8pm. Tickets are $15 at the door ($10 for kids 12 and under).

If anything changes, we will post a note here, and on the Ghosts of Signal Hill facebook page.

UPDATE - FRIDAY, 3PM 

As of right now, we are still going ahead with the show at 8pm tonight. This will be a fully indoor show at the Signal Hill Visitor Centre Theatre, which is safe, warm, and cosy! If you have tickets purchased for tonight, they are non-refundable, so we hope to see you there. We will post again at 5pm.

UPDATE - 6PM

We are in the eye of the hurricane now, and everything is a go for 8pm! See you on the Hill.

Ghosts of Signal Hill - Closing Night, Friday Sept 16th

We've had a fabulous run of Ghosts of Signal Hill. We've sold out every show except two early in the run, and we've had a blast telling you stories. There is ONE last show for the 2011 season, with Jed Baker closing off the season on Friday, September 16th, at 8pm. There are tickets still available at the Signal Hill Visitor Centre, and if you want to see the show, I'd advise you to get them in advance.

Thanks to everyone at Parks Canada for all their help, support, promotion, and expended black powder!

Ghosts of Signal Hill - flashlight time!

There are only three more shows left of Ghosts of Signal Hill, concluding Friday, September 16th, 2011. We've been selling out almost every show, so if you want to catch one of the last ones, you are best to get your ticket in advance from the Signal Hill Visitor Centre on Signal Hill Road.

It is also now getting a lot darker a lot earlier. There is a walk (in the dark) from the parking lot to the show venue, so if you want to bring along a flashlight to help guide your way up and down, you are invited to do so. We just ask that you shut the light off once you come into the performance space.

And yes, I'm still 8 years old at heart, playing in the dark with a flashlight! Hope to see you on Signal Hill soon.

PS @thescopeNL is looking for the Best Late Night Walk. Give me some ghoulish love at http://t.co/k5Wx2D4 and suggest the St. John's Haunted Hike!

Stories from down on the farm

An Evening with Century Farmers: The Rubys and Lesters

Tuesday, August 16
Free admission
Time: 7:30pm
Location: Lester Farms Inc, 92 Pearltown Rd., St. John’s

As part of the Seeds to Supper Festival, host Kevin Aucoin, of the Agricultural History Society of Newfoundland and Labrador, will sit down with Leonard and Lena Ruby, and Jimmy and Michelle Lester, and share stories about farming past, present, and future. Jimmy Lester represents the 6th generation Lester to continue farming in this area. Jimmy and his wife Michelle produce vegetable crops, bedding plants and flowers and operate the Lester catering facility on Pearltown Road. Leonard and Lena Ruby continue to grow vegetables on their own historic farm, where others might choose to retire and travel, reflecting their close connection to the soil. Join us, and fill your ears with some home-grown stories!

(NOTE: Lester Farms, Inc. is located at 92 Pearltown Road, not to be confused with the Lester's Market on Brookfield Road. If driving from St. John's along Brookfield Road, pass the Market, and turn left onto Pearltown Road).

Casting call for short horror film in St. John's

Baristo Pictures is casting a new short horror film called “Our House” that will be shooting in early October as part of NIFCO’s First Time Filmmaker program, and they are looking for volunteer actors. Yours truly, hopefully, will put in a guest appearance, in my St. John's Haunted Hike persona.

You can follow Baristo's Mike Hickey on Twitter, or check out the casting call.  I'll post more as details come available.

Re-imagining the Brothers Grimm

Next year, 2012, marks the 200th anniversary of the publication of the first edition of the first volume of the Brothers Grimm's remarkable Kinder-und Hausmärchen, which went on to become the most widely translated book ever produced in the German language.

About a decade ago (see archival photographic evidence above) musician Delf Maria Hohmann and I produced a show called "Under the Juniper Tree," a selection of stories and songs from and inspired by the Brothers Grimm.

In honour of the Brothers' 200th anniversary, Delf and I are going back, revisiting that wonderful material and working on a new show which we'll be touring next year.  We're off tonight with the fabulous Chris Hibbs to shoot some promo photos. Keep your eyes peeled (and/or away from doves, if you know the story of Aschenputtel).

To keep you entertained in the meantime, a discussion of the Brothers Grimm, and the telling of dark, grim material, is featured in this podcast by Rachel James of radio station CIUT.

And you can listen to my version of the Grimm Brothers' rarely-told story "The Mother in Law" here.

Wrigglin' Riddlin' Pickets and Palings - Newfoundland Fences

After a chat with Kim Paddon with the English Harbour Arts Centre last night at the Crow's Nest Storytelling Circle, I'm posting a few things related to traditional Newfoundland fence.

First, check out the 1977 Wrigglin' Fence video. This short film, directed by Newfoundland artist Don Wright, follows the Paddy Brothers of Port Kirwan, Newfoundland, as they build a traditional 'wrigglin' or riddle fence around their garden patch.

And, you can download our traditional fence brochure here in pdf.

The Ghost of Deadman's Pond and thoughts on recitations

This video is a small excerpt from my new show "Ghosts of Signal Hill", being performed every Friday night on Signal Hill, in partnership with Parks Canada. The video shows the performance of a recitation called "The Ghost of Deadman's Pond."

The recitation is my own adaptation of a poem written by E.T Furlong in the Newfoundland Quarterly Christmas Edition, December 1939 - Vol. 39(3), p. 27.  The original poem is quite long; I shortened it for performance.

In writing the script for "Ghosts of Signal Hill" I very much wanted to include a recitation as part of the show. Recitations are roughly equivalent to the English tradition of monologues. Folklorist Kenneth Goldstein defined them as "a solo, stylized, theatrically mannered oral performance from memory of a self-contained dramatic narrative in poetic or prose form." It is one of those aspects of traditional Newfoundland performance that I love, a tradition which is still living in many communities.

Recitations, while sometimes told in private settings, were, and continue to be in many Newfoundland and Labrador communities, more often part of public performances, concerts and times. In a sense recitations are more highly formalized than oral stories, following a set text prepared in advance, and often, though not necessarily, in rhyming form.

Special thanks to Trevor Kearsey, Internet and New Media Officer with the Newfoundland East Field Unit of Parks Canada for filming and editing together this piece!

Daring escapes, murdered pirates, ghost ships and more

Daring escapes, murdered pirates, ghost ships, buried treasure, tragic drownings, and headless phantoms: it is all in a night’s work at Signal Hill National Historic Site in St. John’s, Newfoundland.

Or at least it is for storyteller Dale Jarvis, creator of the award-winning ghost tour, the St. John’s Haunted Hike. No stranger to strange stories from old St. John’s, Jarvis has created a new storytelling show for Newfoundland’s most historic hill.

Ghosts of Signal Hill is Jarvis’s newest work: an evening of ghost stories, historical tales and strange adventures. His spooky stories are spun out for eager listeners by lamplight inside the historic Queen’s Battery Barracks, overlooking the Narrows, the entrance to St. John's Harbour.

“There are ghost tours in other historic sites across Canada,” says Jarvis. “Halifax Citadel has a ghost tour, for example, and it seems like a perfect fit for St. John’s. And you couldn’t ask for a more dramatic setting than Queen’s Battery to tell a tale.”

The last North American battle of the Seven Years' War between England and France was fought on the Hill in 1762, after St. John’s had been captured by the French. In September of that year, the British reclaimed the town, marching overland from Torbay.

“The 1762 Battle of Signal Hill provides a great backdrop for the show,” says Jarvis. He portrays a real historical character in the piece, a role he shares with local actor Jedediah Baker.

“Lieutenant Ranslaer Schuyler was a member of the British force sent to take back St. John’s,” explains Jarvis. “We’ve brought him back to life for this show, so to speak!”

Jarvis is passionate about local history and folklore, and believes storytelling is a great way to get people interested in what is often portrayed as a dry and dusty subject.

“When someone starts going on about dates and battles and generals, people tune out,” says Jarvis. “But when you tell a story about real characters, with drama and intrigue and mystery, people love to hear more. That is part of what makes this show much fun. That and the ghosts, of course!”

Ghosts of Signal Hill runs every Friday night at 8pm until September 16th. Tickets are $15 ($10 for kids 12 and under) and are cash sale only, available at the Signal Hill National Historic Site Visitor Centre. There is no performance on Canada Day, July 1st.

For more information, contact :
Dale Jarvis
www.hauntedhike.com
709-685-3444
info@hauntedhike.com

High resolution promo photos available at:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/dalejarvis/sets/72157626756149194
Photo credit Chris Hibbs