SPEAKER_01 0:02

Good morning. This is the Blaine's World Podcast, where conversations are worth hearing and seeing. You can watch each week on Facebook, YouTube, and LinkedIn. You can also listen in on Spotify Podcast. And for more information and past episodes, you can visit our website, which is behind me, Blainsworld.net. I'm your host, Blaine Greenfield, coming to you in my Zoom studio in lovely downtown Fairview, North Carolina. Each week we share positive news and uplifting stories by people and organizations in Western North Carolina and cross-country. And toward that end, it's my pleasure to introduce Chuck Fink, a storytelling show producer and also a storyteller himself, who will be my guest today. And Chuck, feel free to wave to all your fans and friends who are watching. Okay. And this is Chuck, I should mention that um he entertains audiences through telling his own stories, producing storytelling shows, and teaching classes on the art of storytelling. I think that Chuck, this is what, the 73rd or 74th time you've been a guest on my show?

SPEAKER_00 1:06

Uh I I think I'm the Joan Rivers of Blaine's World.

SPEAKER_01 1:10

Okay. We've been on a bunch. Let me start up by asking you this question now, Chuck. I've known you as a colleague, a friend, uh a whole bunch of other uh capacities as well. But of all the things you're now doing, producing your uh telling and teaching classes on fairy telling, which do you enjoy the most?

SPEAKER_00 1:30

Uh well, literally all three, but I derive a, I guess, a special pleasure, if you will, from teaching and producing because I'm helping others. When I and by the way, when I'm telling my stories, I feel like I'm also helping others, because we're creating a connection, a human connection through story. That's vitally important. But I also get uh just good vibes, uh, great feelings when I teach, and I see those folks as one of them will be in this upcoming show when I see them get more involved with storytelling. Producing also gives me a chance to give other folks a stage where they can shine here in Asheville on in a couple of different settings, either at the story parlor or the Weaverville Community Center.

SPEAKER_01 2:15

Now, what's kind of cool is that you teach this class, I know, and that oftentimes then you feature the people in the class as storytellers. And this is this their first time they've ever been a storyteller?

SPEAKER_00 2:26

Uh no, the people uh that graduated from my last class graduated, uh, were they did so in January, and they had a show in April that was their premiere at the Weaverville Community Center, which is where I taught the class. Uh, however, in the show that's coming up on July 19th at the Story Parlor, one of those people, Sarah Wilcox, is also on that stage as well.

SPEAKER_01 2:51

So that must be pretty exciting for you to see these people you have in the class and all of a sudden have them in a show. Oftentimes it is their first time they've been in a show. Uh no, no. She has been uh she's been in the one in April, and I think this will be her third. No, but I mean, other than those, the first time they've done it is after they graduate the class. Before that, have they been storytellers at all?

SPEAKER_00 3:15

Uh for the most part, no. I don't I can't think of any offhand that were storytellers and took my class. In fact, there are classes for folks like that, but mine are free, first of all, no one pays. So uh it's a different experience when people who think they can have stories but are afraid to tell, they take this class and all of a sudden they open up and say, Wow, I've got a whole bunch of stories. And they realize there's a technique, but they also realize while making a connection for others, they themselves are also feeling a little bit better. In other words, it's therapy without therapeutic without being therapy.

SPEAKER_01 3:57

What's interesting I find out about this, Chuck, is that so many people, as you're kind of saying, find out that they do have stories to tell, but they never realized they had story to tell. How do you get come to that conclusion? Or even in your case, for example, the first time you started telling stories, did you think you had a lot of stories to tell?

SPEAKER_00 4:16

Well, first of all, uh I define storytelling as, and I don't want to cuss on your show, but I'll say BSing with an attitude. And I am blessed to have both. So I but literally, uh before this, before I retired, I was a consultant and a corporate trainer. So the only way to keep people engaged is to tell stories, and that's where I started doing this. And then when I retired in 2013 is when I started storytelling. And I just love it because it's again, I'm telling of myself and at the same time taking a deep breath. I can't believe I got through that. Not the storytelling, but the story that I'm telling about that that event or whatever that might be. But it's uh also just to have people come up after a show and say, Oh, that really got me. That that that's something. That's that's why I do it. I can tell you it ain't for the money.

SPEAKER_01 5:21

Do you remember the first time you told a story to an audience?

SPEAKER_00 5:24

Yes. Um yes, let me yes. It's still my favorite story, and I call it Gertie. And it's about my mother-in-law. And whenever I teach a class, it's the first story that I'll tell them to show them that they have stories inside them. And this the the story came out naturally. I hardly have to work on any of the wording. It just she was so much a part of our lives for a very, very brief time. But her impact is forever. So uh that that story is the one that's absolutely dearest to my heart. Where did you tell that? When was the first time? Um, let's see. I think gee, you know, I don't even remember. It might have been at Ollie, the OSHA Lifelong Learning Institute. Um, I told another one about uh the second story I developed. It was the time I drove a golf cart into a lake.

SPEAKER_01 6:24

Well, that was one of my favorites. And that one also, I remember I had the honor, I actually taped it. I mean when we were the first ones to ever tape it, but I just love that story. I still do. And so that's kind of cool. Some stories, I guess, always never die, kind of thing that that you told them both, I guess, a bunch of times. Yeah, oh yeah.

SPEAKER_00 6:44

And Gertie, yeah, all my stories, yeah, they have a track record that I leave behind. How many stories do you have? I never counted, but I'm gonna guess maybe I don't know, 40-ish. Oh, really that many? Yeah. But again, it's BSing with an attitude, so maybe 12.

SPEAKER_01 7:05

So that's really cool. So you keep a record of these. That each time, let me ask you this in terms of telling the story, does it change or evolve, or what happens?

SPEAKER_00 7:15

Yes. Uh it it really depends on the story and more importantly, the audience. There are some audiences, certain words you don't want to use, certain images you don't want to portray. I have an example that I just developed a new one. And there's for storytellers, we have two great organizations, the Asheville Storytelling Circle and the North Carolina Storytelling Guild. And every Monday, the guild has from seven to eight, where two tellers share a new story and get tremendous feedback from somewhat professional tellers that are on a Zoom call. Uh, the last one I told was about my days as a hippie back when I went to college uh from 68 to 70, uh at GW George Washington University, where you rolled out of bed and you were at a demonstration. You sneezed, it's because there was tear gas all around. It was just you know part of the thing back then. But there was one story within it that I was afraid to tell because it involves poop. But after I told it, I told them about that. And they said, Oh, absolutely, you've got to include that. So next time I tell it, uh, it'll have some poop.

unknown 8:32

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 8:33

So it's funny you say poops in terms of anything, are there any things you won't mention in your story or you you intentionally keep out?

SPEAKER_00 8:41

Uh yes, it depends on the story, and I don't want to go into detail on one in particular, but one in particular had a very deep impact on me. And I noticed it after I would tell it, there would still be kind of an affect about it within me. So I decided I'm not going to tell that anymore. And I'm glad. It's uh it was a tough part of my life, and it doesn't need to be shared.

SPEAKER_01 9:05

Okay. So you've gone then from storytelling. What got you into eventually producing storytelling shows for others?

SPEAKER_00 9:13

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 9:14

Uh that's a really good question.

SPEAKER_00 9:17

The first thing it was just at the Weaverville Community Center. It opened in 2019, and we opened it with a storytelling show in October of 2019. And that was the first time I produced, and I worked there with Jill Totman, who still is producing there. She does a great job. But that was my first taste of production. Then I uh I decided uh the center at that time hadn't been backed by the town. I was getting uh sponsors. I was having every storytelling show where we had a pro, professional teller, I'd have to find sponsors. And we'd have to set up the chairs and put them down, and we'd have as many as 140 people. And sometimes audience members would do that. You just don't want to see that happen. So I eventually pulled back, and that's when I started producing shows at the story parlor, which is just a fantastic place as well.

SPEAKER_01 10:11

Great people. But you're still doing things at both, though, right? You still doing the center and the story telling parlour. And talk if you wouldn't have about the parlor, because I I recently um attended a show there too. It was terrific. The the one-woman show about being an uh American citizen or that's from Carolina Kiriegle.

SPEAKER_00 10:32

Yes, and I got an email from her, and she's going to be leaving for Kansas in a couple of weeks. She's just a marvelous, marvelous person. Is that leaving as in permanently or coming to the next one? Yes. Yeah, she's moving from Black Mountain to Kansas. Oh, really? What a shame, though. Yeah. Magnificent. It's a loss. Yeah. She's she's such a fantastic person. And becoming Muriken was the name of the show. She's just a wonderful person. Yeah. Have you seen that one woman show? Unfortunately, I wasn't able to do that this year, but at the storytelling circle, we'll practice our stories to each other. And I I think I've seen her do that at the storytelling circle.

SPEAKER_01 11:09

It was so much fun, and she did such a good job of it. The game show. And she's got um her the other guy, uh the um guy to do it with her. Um name's escaping me. The um oh yeah, uh the I know you're talking about so the uh it'll come to us about an hour later. It's such a fun show. So let's follow Tom Chalmers. Tom Chalmers was just great with this, and he was like the MC to the event, did a great job with it. So by the way, just one other thing about Carolina.

SPEAKER_00 11:42

Yeah, one of the brightest people I've met as well. She is so highly degreed, but then went to get to get a master's at East Tennessee State University in storytelling. Uh, I think her original degree was an engineering degree. So she's she's quite something.

SPEAKER_01 11:57

Okay, when I saw that too, that's pretty impressive, too. That people can now go to school, they can take course with you, I guess, though. So talk about that process then.

SPEAKER_00 12:05

If you want to get into storytelling, best bet is to, I guess, come to a storytelling event and then Well, I think, yeah, that it would make sense to see what it's all about because it is different than just sitting around your living room table and talking with people. Although there's a style. Uh I call it the living room laid-back style that isn't a bad way to go, but you're still talking to a much broader audience. Um, a lot of people have stage fright. I think my classes I really recommend. It's not about trying to get money from everybody, but it's a great way to just step into the pool, stick your toe into the deep end. Actually, a shallow end. By the time you're done, you're swimming laps. Literally, you are. And um I think that's important, but you like you're saying, it's smart to start with a show. And there's also different types of tellers. There's the tale tellers, there's the personal narratives, which I personally am and appreciate, but the tale tellers also are just amazing. Uh dear friend of mine, David Holt, recommended if I want to improve as a personal narrative teller, listen and watch and observe tale tellers. And I have, and I've learned a lot. And what exactly is a tellteller? Uh well, they're called Appalachian Jack Tales. The most famous is Jack and the Beanstalk. Right. But the character Jack, no matter where you put him, he's this kind of forlorn and lost kid that is nothing but bad luck. And then something happens and he miraculously turns his luck around. Those are called jack tails. Uh, there's also fairy tales, any kind of tale. Uh typically it's for children, but also adults get into that stuff as well. So that's one type, the other's personal narrative.

SPEAKER_01 13:54

It's not type I've never seen, I don't think, but tell me if you're ever going to run this type, where's it that they make up tales or is it liar's tales or yeah, liar's contest.

SPEAKER_00 14:05

Yeah. Um, that's when you test your VS with an attitude to the limit. And uh you it's something that sounds really engaging, but none of it's true. Have you ever done that? And it's a contest to see who is the best liar. Have you ever done that?

SPEAKER_01 14:23

I've done it once and I was not the best liar. Okay, no, someday I'd like to see that. And let's then go from those shows. Um, talk to another one. You have a couple coming up. You have a couple up coming. The next one is coming up at the story par. Now, if you would talk about that one.

SPEAKER_00 14:40

Yes. Um, this is a show featuring four women, and the show's title is what if I just forget the show's title? I'm sorry. Uh I have it, I think we call it Wise Women. Wise Women Fearless Sisters. Right. Wise Women Fearless Sisters. And the title fits these four women perfectly. Um, the first is Nancy Reeder. And Nancy Reeder is president of the North Carolina Storytelling Guild. She has hiked and told stories literally all over the world. Uh, she has hiked the Appalachian Trail and just a very emotional story along with that one. And she's just a great person, a great teller. The second person is Donna Catton Johnson, Catton C-A-T-T-O-N. And Donna uh was a tale teller. She was a nursery, not a nursery school, she was an elementary school art teacher. So she engaged her students with a lot of stories, but she's also an actor. So she put those together, and now she's very adept at the personal narrative, but she has that theatrical background, so you're going to pay attention. The uh third one is uh Sarah Wilcox. And Sarah just graduated from my class at the Weaverville Community Center in January. And uh this is, I think, her third time telling. She's a natural. Sarah is fantastic. Uh, she's from Brooklyn. She had enough of a tough life to be able to tell wonderful stories about it. So she can reach your heart with a smile and a tear. It doesn't get better than that. And uh the fourth one is someone who is very, very, I'm very close to this person. Uh, she's in the other room, my wife, Cindy Berryman Fink. And uh Cindy, as well, has got a great background in stories. She was a professor of communication. Uh, she and she's this isn't just giving a family member a gig. She's very good. So these four women are coming up on uh July 19th on this Sunday, and it's gonna be a great show.

SPEAKER_01 16:52

Now, what's interesting about Cindy is you saw the storytelling before she did, is that correct? And you got her involved in it?

SPEAKER_00 16:59

Uh yeah, and she wrote a book uh that's called Tales of New England Beware of Hanging Icicles, Tales of a New England Girl. And each chapter is a story. So we started talking about that, and she has evolved some of those, and she'll that's one that she'll be telling on um Sunday, the 19th. And we also have tandem tales where we both get on stage together and tell stories that typically embarrass the hell out of each other. But it's a lot of fun, and that's that's what we seek in our marriage.

SPEAKER_01 17:32

Let's enjoy life. So, how is it uh telling tells that telling stories at the same time as your wife on the same show show? Have you ever been on the same show together? Oh, yeah, that's tandem telling. Oh, you know, but where you present and you people are we're telling one story together. It's interesting. Are there different sides the same story?

SPEAKER_00 17:52

No, no, no, it's just the same story with a little dig, a little dig here, a little dig there, lots of love, lots of laugh.

SPEAKER_01 18:00

Okay, that must be fun though, is it?

SPEAKER_00 18:02

Oh, it's a ball, it's an absolute ball. So uh the one the one is uh just to give you a title. She's trying to kill me. No, I'm just trying to get him off the couch.

SPEAKER_01 18:13

Well, as I was saying, the same story from two different perspectives. Is that how it comes out? That'd be fun to watch. Is that how it comes out?

SPEAKER_00 18:21

I'll let you know the next time we're doing one. Okay. In fact, uh, yeah, I I had to reschedule it. I think it'll be next year where uh she and I all get up there and do that.

SPEAKER_01 18:31

So after this show, so if people first of all, people come to this show, what will they expect? So they'll see these four women, they each take how long do they uh tell us?

SPEAKER_00 18:41

Uh 15, 20 minutes. It's not you're not going to be bored. And I have to give it up to the story parlor as well. It is one of the few locations where they also have beverages of all types, whereas so many they just don't allow alcohol. Well, here no one gets drunk, but it's so nice to have people to be able to engage. The seating is comfortable, it's small, it's very intimate. It's just a wonderful experience for those that go there.

SPEAKER_01 19:12

So after this show, so people can come to it. You tell me off there, you have two others coming up. I'll say in your spare time. I'm saying this, Chuck. It's almost like great to be retired, but it seems you're almost as busy as you were when you were working.

SPEAKER_00 19:27

Like I said, offline offline, my son works at a talent agency in Hollywood, and he and I are doing a lot of the same work, but he's getting paid.

SPEAKER_01 19:35

Okay. So after this show is over, talk about the you mentioned two other events coming up, kind of exciting.

SPEAKER_00 19:42

Well, uh, there's one in particular. Uh, they're related actually. October the 9th and October the 11th. Uh, there are two shows. One's going to be at the Weaverville Community Center, and that will be Ray Christian and me. Uh, Ray is a nationally uh known storyteller. He's part of an HBO Max documentary on The Burning Man. Um, I think it's called This Man's On Fire. And Ray has been featured there several times. Tremendous person with a life story that just blows you away. And uh so and he is also a black man. He was a veteran, he was a paratrooper in Afghanistan. And uh so he's just had this these significant life experiences. Well, he uh and I will be at the Weaverville Community Center, and it's engaging the audience. We're not just telling stories.

unknown 20:40

Uh-huh.

SPEAKER_00 20:40

We can't help it, each of us will have maybe one, but the purpose is to draw the audience in so we can have a discussion with the people at the Weaverville Community Center. It's free, and we can discuss how our views are evolving and also field questions from them, and perhaps get someone interested to want to take a class.

SPEAKER_01 21:03

So that's one event coming up, and right after that, you have another almost like two days later.

SPEAKER_00 21:09

Two days later, uh the 11th of October, this one's at the story parlor. Um, and that is the second time that I've been able to produce a show that has only four black storytellers. And the first one was at the Weaverville Community Center about three years ago, and Ray was in that one. Afterwards, he told me that was the first time ever that he said that there have only been four black storytellers on a stage without any white tellers as well. So I thought that deserves a repeat performance. So October the 11th, we'll have Ray Christian, Becky Stone, who was also at the first one, Wallace Bohannan, as a gentleman that's a good friend of mine. I've coached him. Let me put it this way Wallace is now far better than his coach. He's just done a tremendous job. Job. And then the fourth is Kelly Jolly. And Kelly is an outstanding performer, both a musician and a storyteller. So the four will take the stage, and it's going to be Cultural Awareness Two. The first show was Cultural Awareness One. Becky Stone came up with a title. And uh just these folks are very close to me. Kelly, I've just gotten to know more recently, but uh the other three folks are I consider dear friends. So it's it's a meaningful show on October the 11th.

SPEAKER_01 22:35

And what I find interesting about hearing you talk to these folks, and you talk to me about this privately as well, is that you also seem to have increased your circle of friends, if you will, in terms of all these storytelling folks. You know, you seem you seem to get very close with them or get get friendly with them.

SPEAKER_00 22:53

Yeah, um, I think that's one of the advantages of going further into storytelling, you meet more people. And frankly, as a group of people, you can't get nicer, more congenial, more caring, more gracious people than storytellers. Just wonderful people. Of course, there's an exception here or there. We're human beings, but as an entire group, these are just so such warm-hearted, gifted people that are generously sharing with others.

SPEAKER_01 23:23

You just can't beat them. And it's funny you say that because I think of myself, in terms of, as you know, we own a dog now. And I never saw this before, Chuck, but you get friendly with in my life and never talked about dogs before. I could care less about dogs. Now all you speak to are people and their dog. And you know, it's changed our whole conversation as a result. And you find that most of them are very friendly and outgoing. If they own a dog, it's very easy to talk with people. If folks want to find out more, Chuck, about both Chuck thinking about some of these upcoming shows, what's the best bet?

SPEAKER_00 23:57

Well, I think the first thing is for the uh July 19th program at the Story Parlor is to go to the storyparler.com, events uh slash events, and you'll see the wise women, fearless sisters listed for July 19th, and you can buy tickets there. The tickets are $25 each. It only seats 45, I believe. So it's worth it because of the intimacy and the closeness, it and having drinks available. It's just a wonderful experience. For personally, I have uh my own website. I probably don't maintain it as much as I should, ChuckFinkStoryteller.com, storyteller.com, and on uh Facebook, I'm sorry, on uh YouTube, Chuck Fink Storyteller, and you'll see some of my stories on there as well. Gertie will be on there.

SPEAKER_01 24:49

And lastly, if folks want to uh sign up for a course that you're teaching or find out more about teaching, uh course you're teaching, when's next one? And when's the best bet to find out about that?

SPEAKER_00 24:58

The next one will probably be in January or February at the Weaverville Community Center, and that one is free. Um, the Weaverville Community Center has a newsletter that comes out, but uh what I would suggest is contact the folks at the Weaverville Community Center, ask to be on their mailing list, and you'll see announcements about the show. Uh I'm sorry, about the class, uh, when it will be, uh, how many. It's usually I try to keep it 10 or less because we have a lot of work that we do together. So I try to keep it relatively small.

SPEAKER_01 25:34

Okay, well, anyway, I'd like to um thank you, uh Chuck, for being my guest on this edition of Blaine's role uh podcast. I also like to thank my producer, uh Kim Jones. Hopefully we'll bump into each other sometime in the near future, my friend. Yes, and uh thank Kim as well. She's been a pleasure to work with.

SPEAKER_00 25:51

She makes you look good, Blaine. Okay, and that's that's tough. Thanks, buddy. Speak to you soon. Take care. Bye.