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Upcoming Events, Shows & Performances:

An ODYSSEY in Summer/Adult Epic Storytelling in NH July 27th with Odds Bodkin

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The Riverwalk Music Bar is a hip place to perform. Usually the venue hosts bands and young singer-songwriters, but a few times each year I arrive in my ancient hoariness with an epic for adults.

If you count them, there are 37 character voices in my telling of Homer’s The Odyssey:  Odysseus himself, his crew, the Cyclops, cannibals, Circe, Lotus Eaters, on and on. It’s Greek mythology told in modern English with a score on 12-string guitar and Celtic harp, peppered throughout with vocal effects like wind and seabirds. Of all the epics I tell, I’ve been telling this one the longest.

The show starts at 8 pm. So grab a delicious dinner, order from the bar and settle in for some imaginative, out-of-body storytelling.

Tickets are $13 in advance, $15 at the door.

FANTASTICAL GREEK MYTHOLOGY FOR ADULTS this Coming Sunday

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Odds Bodkin brings his Celtic harp and 12-string guitar to perform FALL OF THE TITANS at the Riverwalk Cafe and Music Bar Sunday, Sept. 23 at 7 pm. The story of Gaia, her Titan children, and their overthrow by their pea-sized grandchildren, the Gods of Olympus.

Tickets $13

 

FALL OF THE TITANS this coming Sunday in Nashua, NH

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FALL OF THE TITANS this coming Sunday in Nashua, NH begins at 7 pm at the Riverwalk Cafe and Music Bar. Adult Greek mythology told with voices and 12-string guitar music. One of Odds Bodkin’s newest epic evenings of storytelling.

Eat, drink and imagine, all in one evening.

Tickets: $13. Get yours today!

 

 

THE STYMPHALIAN BIRDS/My Favorite Hercules Episode/Odds Bodkin

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THE STYMPHALIAN BIRDS/My Favorite Hercules Episode/Odds Bodkin

Tomorrow night I’ll be telling HERCULES IN HELL, the full 90-minute version, which means I can recount my favorite of Hercules’ Twelve Labors–the killer birds of Stymphalos.

Backstory: Eurystheus, Hercules’ weak cousin, who has complete power over Hercules for the long years of his labors, tells him, “There are some birds I want you to drive off.”

“Birds,” Hercules replies, unimpressed. “They’re dangerous, I take it.”

“Oh, yes. They kill people with their feathers. Feathers of brass. They can hurl them like arrows. The quills are razor-sharp. They’ve infested the forest of Stymphalos and have been carrying off sheep and unattended children, who they peck apart and devour. The people are terrorized. Go solve their problem, Hercules.”

Hercules knows Eurystheus is trying to kill him by sending him on deadly missions like this, so cleverly he takes an extra-wide bronze shield, his arrows poisoned with VX-like Hydra blood (one touch, you’re dead) and a big bronze bell.

Not long after, he’s standing in a field, watching the hundreds of giant birds in trees above deep guano, skulls and bloody clothing. He bangs the bell, startling them into attacking him. He doesn’t fight back though. Instead, he crouches beneath his shield as the brass feathers rain down, then jumps up, unhurt, and yells curses while ringing the bell, bringing the birds again and again, each time diving under his shield.

Since only their feathers are brass, not their bodies, Hercules can soon see bare patches on their wings. With his arrows, he proceeds to shoot them out of the sky. That’s not quite the end of the battle, but as a clever labor, it’s one of my favorites.

You can hear it live, with thunderous music and Hercules’ deep, furious voice, at the Riverwalk Cafe and Music Bar in Nashua, NH at 7 pm tomorrow night. Fun show.

Bring a friend for some adult storytelling. Great food. Great bar. Intimate setting.

Tickets are $13 in advance and $13 at the door.

For aficionados, I’ll also have for sale EPIC DRIVES and MASTER DRIVES.

Adult Storytelling a Week Away!

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Adult Storytelling a Week Away!

Sunday night, July 29th at 7 pm at the Riverwalk Music Bar in Nashua, NH storyteller and musician Odds Bodkin performs HERCULES IN HELL, his feature-length performance piece based on the Greek myth of Hercules. With hypnotic 12-string guitar scoring the tale, you’ll be “mesmerized” as a woman in the audience said she felt when Bodkin last did this show.

Plus you’ll learn about Hercules’ youth, madnesses and murders and his Twelve Labors of Expiation, not to mention his bizarre death from a love charm.

So grab your imagination and a friend and delve deep into some Greek mythology you never knew!

TICKETS $13 for best seating, $13 at the door.

NUDGING THE SERPENT OF MIDGARD

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NUDGING THE SERPENT OF MIDGARD

At the end of a string of failures, Thor’s last chance to prove his strength is by lifting a kitty cat’s paw. Groaning and huffing, he tries, but it barely rises before it slams back to the floor. As the Frost Giants roar with laughter, the god of thunder looks over at Loki, who has lost an eating contest earlier, and is embarrassed, too.

Little do they know they’re both victims of illusory magic, and they are competing against impossible odds, even for Aesir.

At the tale’s surprise ending, the truth emerges. Thor takes solace in his father Odin’s words, which I’ve drawn from the Viking book of etiquette, Hávamál:

When some thane would harm me
in runes on a moist tree’s root,
on his head alone shall light the ills
of the curse that he called upon mine.

Catch the beginning, middle and end of this full-length tale, plus a myth of seduction and vengeance on Sunday, April 1 2018 at 7 p.m. at the Riverwalk Music Bar in Nashua, NH and again on May 26, 2018 at Sunrise Ranch in Loveland, Colorado.

I’ll also include little-known lore while playing my Celtic harp. Lots of amusing character voices animate the tales. Hope to see you there!

PS: by the way, under the giant’s spell, Thor thought he was lifting a kitty cat. Turns out it was the Great Serpent of Midgard, the heaviest thing on earth.

BEOWULF: THE ONLY ONE Adult Performance Sunday in NH

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BEOWULF by Odds Bodkin: a live performance in an intimate setting.

A two-hour storytelling event for adults Sunday, March 4th at 7:00 p.m. at The Riverwalk Cafe and Music Bar in Nashua, New Hampshire. Music on 12-string guitar and Celtic harp. Words in English.

Come and eat, drink strong spirits and enter an imagination dream.

“a consummate storyteller” ––The New York Times

“one of the great voices in American storytelling” ––Wired Magazine

Tickets $10, $13 at the door.

BEOWULF: THE ONLY ONE Adult Storytelling on Sunday March 4

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First, little-known Viking lore accompanied with Celtic harp, and then BEOWULF: THE ONLY ONE, my storyteller’s version of the classic tale of a hero battling man-eating monsters. With a haunting score on 12-string guitar, I’ll narrate and create voices for Beowulf, King Hrothgar, Grendel the monster and his mother, and other characters.

It’s filled with a humor and terrifying tension that cleaves closely to the original tale.

Here’s a sample of the show:

Tickets are $10, $13 at the door.

The show is at Riverwalk Cafe and Music Bar in Nashua, NH. Sunday March 4, 2018 at 7 p.m.

HEARTPOUNDERS: Halloween Tales of Horror in Nashua, NH Oct. 8

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From man-eating werepanthers (think werewolves) who must kill their own father to a dark road wraith chased across New England by Nature’s vengeance, these tales of horror build to climactic scenes in your imagination. Heck, they scare me!

Driven by virtuoso 12-string guitar playing, Celtic harp and other instruments along with riveting character voices and vocal effects, each of the evening’s tales are guaranteed to take you deep into your worst fears. And don’t forget the story of a greedy priest in Russia who bleeds everywhere he’s donned the skin of a dead goat.

Horrible, yes. Fun, yes. Plus ancient Celtic lore about the origins of All Hallow’s Eve.

Sunday, October 8th at 7 pm. at the Riverwalk Music Bar in Nashua, New Hampshire.

Tickets $13 at the door, $10 in advance here!

Epic Hercules Performance in NH/Odds Bodkin/Sunday at 7pm

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Intense, vivid storytelling for adults comes to the Riverwalk Cafe and Music Bar in Nashua, NH this coming Sunday night, June 25,  at 7 pm. Join Odds Bodkin and his 12-string guitar (and eat great food and enjoy drinks) for Hercules in Hell, Bodkin’s epic rendition of the Greek mythological hero’s life.

Upon hearing this story, a woman who’d never heard Bodkin commented after the show, “I was utterly mesmerized.” It’s fun imagination entertainment with a beautiful score on guitar and voices for Hercules, Hades, Persephone, and many others. Cinematic in scope. With plenty of humor, too.

Tickets are $10 in advance, $12 at the door.