Storyteller John

I was born at a very early age,

Actually I began storytelling from my child hood, to get out of trouble.

Much of my storytelling comes from by church background. In La Junta Colorado, we had a paster that would sit and tell stories with puppets and magic tricks, it was my favorite times, I can still see the Lion puppet and the magic dollar changer.

I was never really shy about standing up in front of people and talking. In High School, I ran for Junior Class President, and made a quick three min speech that took almost ten min. From there I took a Speech and Debate class and was on the Speech team where I did Debate,  Original Oratory, and Interpretation of Humor, which was my favorite.

For years I did weekly storytelling as part of my religious upbringing,  and took my first daughter to the Museum of Natural History where they had story time,  and always stayed to listen as much as she did.

When Joel Ben Izzy came to my workplace and did a concert, I was enthralled, and had to venture out and tell stories as well. I had the opportunity to sit with Dr. Debra Olson Tolar, who teaches Storytelling at thAntelope Valley College, she put me  onto various books and websites to get me started.

Then, in July of 2004, for the first time, I called myself a storyteller, and told in the back corner of a small coffee house during an Art Walk celebration. People stopped by to rest and they got to listen to me tell stories over a two hour period.

One listener even commented on her website how she liked the stories. That did it, The Heart 'n Soul envited me back and I began doing stories there on a regular basis, starting the Antelope Valley Storytellers with my fellow storyteller, Terry Rezik. We've since moved from there to a larger venue into Quartz Hill at the Midsummer Fairies & The Soul Garden Learning Annex. We hope to see you there some time soon.

So here I am, I've had the privialge to share the stage with my good friend Padraic (Slyboots) Keohane, and Terry.  I look forward to many years of telling and sharing .

One thing I must say here, if it wasn't for my wonderful wife, Laurie, her support and the support from my youngest daughter, Jillian, I would not be able to do this, and enjoy it.

All the Best to you, and thank you for stopping by.