{"id":6936,"date":"2015-02-26T20:23:53","date_gmt":"2015-02-27T01:23:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lawrencecconnolly.com\/archive\/?p=6936"},"modified":"2023-07-29T16:57:01","modified_gmt":"2023-07-29T20:57:01","slug":"what-rileys-scops-talk-about-when-they-talk-about-love","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lawrencecconnolly.com\/archive\/2015\/02\/26\/what-rileys-scops-talk-about-when-they-talk-about-love\/","title":{"rendered":"What Riley’s Scops Talk About . . .
When They Talk About Love<\/i><\/br>"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"tim<\/a>The polar vortex didn’t keep story lovers from turning out at this month’s storytelling night at Riley’s Pour House<\/a>.<\/p>\n

If you were there, you know firsthand how thoroughly the act of storytelling can warm a frigid night.<\/p>\n

If you didn’t attend, and you live anywhere in the Pittsburgh area, you owe it to yourself to drop by next time. Either way, we hope you enjoy this post and will consider spreading the word about Story Night @ Riley’s.<\/p>\n

This months session featured a roster of talented scops who explored (in the words of Raymond Carver<\/a>) “what we talk about when we talk about love.”<\/p>\n

\"DougThe night’s lineup featured a number of new faces, storytellers whom we hope will become regulars. Among them was Tim Sommers (above left), an accomplished scop who has performed on The Moth<\/a> stage in London and New York. In introducing his story, Tim spoke of his belief that love stories take a lifetime to be fully realized. Nevertheless, he shared a piece of a story in which love helped bring him back from a nearly fatal accident — a smash up that he related with the intensity of a thriller writer.<\/p>\n

Also on hand was Doug Claytor (right), a spoken-word performer from Maryland who specializes in the ancient art of reciting verse from memory. A true 21st-century scop<\/a>, Doug presented three poems as spoken-word stories, delivering them without the aid of book or paper. By doing so, he demonstrated the kind of connection a performer can established by speaking directly to an audience. That’s what Story Night is all about.<\/p>\n

\"CherylThe night also featured some familiar faces, among them Karen Yun-Lutz, Cheryl Riley (left), Richard \u201cShag\u201d Shaughnessy<\/a> (below right), and last year’s All-Star champion Owen Kilbane<\/a>. I hope to post audio from some of their presentations soon.<\/p>\n

For this installment of The 21st-Century Scop, I’m offering three of the presentations from Riley’s Love Night, featuring the debut performances highlighted above plus the opening story that I told to kick off the evening. Give a listen to all of them, and, if you like what you hear, please spread the word. If you have any trouble playing any of them, please let me know. I’ve been using Libsyn <\/a>as the podcast service provider for these 21st-Century Scop recordings. The service seems quite reliable on my end, but I’d like really like to know what you think.<\/p>\n

\"Shag<\/a>Finally, if you like what you hear in the recordings, we’ll be doing another storytelling night on March 31, when the theme will be St. Patrick’s Day stories — the perfect topic for an Irish pub.<\/p>\n

If you’d like to gather some raw material for a story, consider attending Riley’s big St. Patrick’s Day celebration on March 14, when I’ll be taking the music stage with some of the members of the Laughrey Connolly Band<\/a> at 7:00 pm. Also performing will be John Puckett<\/a> and The Wild Geese Band<\/a>. Be there, and I guarantee you’ll have stories to tell.<\/p>\n

So much for preamble. The audio players are below. Listen, enjoy . . . and scop on!<\/p>\n