Welcome

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What is “Twice-Told Tunes and Tellings”?

Our Received Culture

Songs, Events, Stories, Poems, Narrations, Speeches 

The gay, the lovely, the sad, the poignant, the powerful – 

bad and happy-times – war and peace times   

All in one show.

In the casual comfort of his home Living Room, 86 y/o George Jarden sings and narrates his way through 

“a world of remembrances,” of 

songs and choruses and writings and people 

he and the world have admired and loved.  

Pop tunes and ballads of three centuries!

 – marches and symphonies (yes, he sings songs without words!) – and 

famous quotes and narrations from 1700s through the 1900s.   

A lively journey through the old and new.

Jarden says, “This is not a flashy stage show, with lively dancing, showy costumes, flashing lights, striking singing and brilliant acting!  

But it's not a 'lecture'!”

It's lively old tunes (when was the last time you heard “Jeepers, Creepers, Where'd You Get Those Peepers?,” or “Ain't We Got Fun?,” or Elvis or The Beachboys?), and songs of  heroism (“The Hundred Pipers”); and classic narrations, poems (nursery rhymes, “Down By The Station'” - and The Four Preps' version!), often made even more relevant by tying them together with one another, and with various artists.

There are the “everyone knows” poems:  

“Trees,” “The Owl And The Pussycat,” “O Captain, My Captain,” 

and some 50 others, (only a few of which there is time for – but [see below] there are requests!); 

great speeches, Lincoln's Gettysburg Address, “All the world's a stage”; 

and great letters, “How Do I Love Thee”.  Also, some beautiful 20th Century poets!

REQUESTS !  Stump George  

the “Price of Admission”

From this list of over 300 choices, come armed with at least one REQUEST 

The sum of it all:  It's fun!  It's an 'invitation to reflection' – on the great minds that created the music, the literature, and the events, the times, from the 1700s to the 2000s.

Jarden says, “I celebrate the artistry, the intellect, the stirring tunes, the attitudes, the emotions of the men and women who made our culture and history.  

There's no 'agenda' other than love of tune, word, art.  

I try to evoke a memory of what they are: 

attractive, catchy, fun, poignant, stirring.”   

“Twice Told Tunes & Tellings” 'Sort of crept into being,' according to George.  “I'm 85; from my earliest 3-year-old memories, I've had a barrage of musical-and-literary, old-and-new, eclectic culture leveled at me.  It seems I never forget:  stories, books, songs.

“The bedtime readings, the nursery rhymes, myths, theater activities of my parents  – they're all still alive with me, and I wonder who else is around who has even heard of them.”

“On and on through all these years of books, choral singing and conducting, (PERFORMER JARDEN) seeing my parents in shows, being in some shows, putting on shows, cool, exciting 'stuff' keeps accumulating in my heart and head,” he says. 

“Hundreds of songs (the 'tunes' of my show's title) – pop, children's, sacred, English, silly, classic, a little French, Spanish, Jewish, German, spirituals – and stories ('tellings') –  some loved poets:  Shakespeare, Nye, Whitman, St. Vincent Millay, Ehrman, Kilmer, a dozen or so others –  I  love to sing and recite, 'tell' it!”

“I started making a list; it was in the hundreds; things I had memorized.  I wondered if I could narrow it down – maybe list by 'categories' – and select the ones I like best, and/or other people might find fun or interesting.  I realized that all this stuff was old, and that maybe no one under sixty (maybe 70?!!) would  have a clue!  'Is that bad,' I wondered.  Maybe even some of the 'clueless' might get a kick out of these old songs and narrations and explanations?  They were the world's hits for a reason!”

“I visualized getting twenty-five or thirty people in my living room; informal.  (I have a little 'stage' there – some plywood 4X8s, plunked down there ten years ago for rehearsing my one-man show,  'Gee 'n Ess & “I”' (that meant “Gilbert 'n Sullivan & “I”) in 2010  (see TRAILER); in 2017 I did a show there, “Musical Musings of the Season,” of songs and carols and origins of Christmas music; it worked, and friends have occasionally done some speaking or dancing there over the years.)”

“And then – like with most of my past projects, I realized that my musings had become real; I was planning a show, not idly musing anymore.”

“So, in this show, now with a name, I'll be singing some songs and telling about some – some that I love in a heartfelt way; some that 'deserve' to be brought back to memory, that I've heard and sung since the 1940s and before.  They are incident to the life and times, the culture, of the 18th to 20th centuries.”

“Alternative titles for this show might be  “One Man's Memories”; “Stuff I've Learned”; “Memories and Memorizations of Words and Tunes”; “Wandering Wonderings” (because they've been dredged from memory and re-reflected-upon while walking the pecan groves).”