Podcastle

Thanks to a Face book posting by Ellen Kushner today, I have been introduced to a treasure load of fantasy podcasts at http://podcastle.org/.

I found several relevant podcasts for Stories from Songs.

The most recent (relevant) podcast is that of Marie Brennan's Twa Corbies, read by Elie Hirschman which can be found at
http://podcastle.org/2009/12/16/podcastle-82-the-twa-corbies/

A second relevant podcast is that of Delia Sherman's Fiddler of Bayou Teche, read by Elizabeth Green Musselman. http://podcastle.org/2009/07/21/podcastle-62-the-fiddler-of-bayou-teche/

I will be posting additional links as I explore this site more fully.

Review of Storytelling for Young Adults

Very pleased to read this review by Elizabeth Herron at http://resourcecenterblog.wordpress.com/2009/12/11/the-%E2%80%9Ctoo-cool-for-school%E2%80%9D-syndrome-and-story-hour/

Mulan News

One of the international ballads discussed in Stories from Songs is MULAN.

Cinematheque: Mulan is finally Chinese again! (and other film news)

This blog entry is adapted from:http://shanghaiist.com/2009/11/23/cinematheque_14.php




Mulan, the traditional Chinese ballad that was made into the 1998 Disney movie, is finally finding its way back home to its original country. Under the direction of Jingle Ma and with Zhao Wei in the leading role, the movie about the female warrior goes up on cinemas starting Friday.

"A-lister Zhao Wei plays the brave Mulan, who joins the army in place of her aging dad. For those who doesn´t yet know the story, it goes like this:

When the country is threatened by invaders, a young girl defends her father by sneaking away from home and dressing up as a man to join an all-male army where she eventually assumes a historically critical role in defending the nation in a time of war.

The making of a feature movie about Mulan has actually been going on for years, with a number of actresses considered for the lead role, including Michelle Yeoh, Zhang Ziyi and Liu Yifei. Unconfirmed news have leaked that Zhao was been engaged in horseback and combat training in preparation for the role.

Zhao is best known for her supporting role opposite Stephen Chow in the hilarious martial arts comedy Shaolin Soccer. As an active Mandarin pop singer and actress, Zhao is one of mainland China´s leading female entertainers. She´s had some screen fighting experience in past film and television roles under the action direction of veterans like Corey Yuen and Ching Siu-tung.

Chen Kun (Painted Skin) will portray Mulan´s lover and battalion commander Wen Tai. Child actor Xu Jiao will play the young Mulan and Russian pop singer Vitas will make a cameo.

Director of this romantic drama is Jingle Ma, a prominent Hong Kong cinematographer-turned director with past action credits whose most recent work was Butterfly Lovers, from 2008."

Ballad spotting: "Mad, Bad & Dangerous: The Demon Lover

In the latest issue of Realms of Fantasy (December 2009)there is a Folkroots article by SatyrPhil Brucato entitled "Mad, Bad & Dangerous: The Demon Lover." At a first quick glance the article focuses on the archetype of the Demon Lover with references to popular culture such as the Twilight series, numerous fairy tales such as Little Red Riding Hood. The article briefly alludes to numerous Child ballads such as "The Demon Lover," "Tam Lin," "Lady Isabel and the Elfin Knight" and "The Gypsy Lover" all discussed in my book Stories from Songs but alas, my book receives no mention.

Ah well, it is a worthwhile read nonetheless!

Spotlight on Stagger Lee

Filled with embedded videos of various artists singing/playing Stagger Lee:

"On this day in Jazz Music" blog available at http://jazzagemusic.blogspot.com/2009/10/spotlight-stagger-lee.html



This ballad is discussed in my most recent book, Stories from Songs.

A bit of boasting

Dave Jenkinson and Gail de Vos to be awarded Distinguished Alumni Awards

Dave Jenkinson and Gail de Vos will be awarded Distinguished Alumni Awards from the School of Library and Information Studies at the University of Alberta (U of A) on October 3, 2009.

The Distinguished Alumni Award is the U of A Alumni Association's most prestigious award. These awards are conferred each year to recognize living University of Alberta graduates whose truly outstanding achievements have earned them national or international prominence.

Ballad Spotting: Dreiser's Murder Ballad

Additional material for Chapter 3 of Stories from Songs: Murder Ballads: Murdered Sweetheart: Female and Male.

Excerpt from Blog: Thimblewicket
Post: Catch and Release: "Dreiser's Murder Ballad"
Link: http://thimblewicket.blogspot.com/2009/09/catch-and-release-dreisers-murder.html

"Roark Mulligan's "Dreiser's Murder Ballad" is a well-researched, well-written piece on how the murder ballad genre influenced Dreiser's writing of An American Tragedy, but most people won't be able to read it because it exists in an obscure journal behind the firewall of expensive subscription-only databases."


"Mulligan says Dreiser was 'way more influenced by the popular ballads of his time than by simple newspaper research,and that he was more interested in replicating the pathos of a murder ballad than in writing an "accurate" crime novel. Dreiser used the stock elements of a murder ballad: young innocent chick is "soiled" by a handsome, maybe wealthy cad. . .gets her in the family way, lures her to remote spot with promises of marriage, kills her violently in ways that would do Tarantino proud, except: justice prevails and the tribe punishes him".

"Mulligan suggests that Dreiser's sympathies lay more with the murdered girl than with her murderer, but that late in his life, Dreiser entertained the notion that his book had actually inspired more murders, based on an unpublished essay, "American Tragedies," among Dreiser's papers at the University of Pennsylvania's Rare Books and Manuscripts."

Roark Mulligan, "Dreiser's Murder Ballad," Studies in American Naturalism, Summer 2008, Vo. 3, no. 1.


Posted by Cynthia Shearer at Tuesday, September 15, 2009