MANCHESTER, NH – Anyone who has ever spent considerable time in any Manchester establishment is well aware that the city suffers no dearth of local flavor. One can find a barroom bard or a sidewalk raconteur spinning an interesting yarn just about anywhere in The Queen City.
Now Rob Azevedo—the gregarious host of “Granite State of Mind” on WMNH 95.3 and resident guru of all things in the region—is harvesting said talent and seeking other Manchester-based storytellers to come forward for an evening of live stories involving The Queen City.
“I find Manchester to be endlessly entertaining,” Azevedo said. “That’s the thing about Manchester: we are overridden with stories. You just need to listen for them. Stories are out there, and they just need an ear to fall on.”
On Feb. 11 at The Shaskeen Pub, Azevedo will host “Tales from The Queen City,” an event that promises to be part storytelling, part vaudeville, and a whole lot of interesting.
“Tales from the Queen City” will run from 4-6 p.m. and include six “Manchurian” performers filling 10-minute slots on stage. Azevedo said there are “no big rules” when it comes to what the performers choose to do with their time.
“The storytellers can tell one story or three. They can be positive or not. They can be about love or not, or a mash-up of truths and exaggerations,” said Azevedo. “They can sing it. They can dance and grind their way through it. It just needs to be entertaining.”
Ryan Gorman, a professional entertainer living in Nashua—a Renaissance-type who acts, raps, paints, and writes—will head the bill. Azevedo described Gorman as “a kaleidoscope of madness.”
Azevedo said that as soon as he conceived the idea for the show in a “purple haze,” he reached out to Gorman. “I find his humor and storytelling skills to be high-end,” Azevedo said. “The guy is gold.”
Kaitlyn Erin and Mike “Gonzo” Gonzales, co-hosts of WMNH’s “Morning Show with Pete White,” will join Gorman on the bill.
“Katie is a life-long Manchurian with a ton of humor and personality, and Gonzo is hilarious with a dry wit and a wry sense of humor. He’s a terrific artist as well,” said Azevedo, who added that he might personally “drop a story on the audience.”
The other performers will be chosen from a pool of potential contributors who can query Azevedo directly with their story pitches at onemanmanch@gmail.com. Azevedo promises to get back to everyone who submits an idea.
“Here’s the thing about being a good storyteller: not everyone can do it,” he said. “But in all of our lives, we have been told a story by someone that blows us away, and we think about the story long after it was revealed. We might even try to retell it to someone, but that usually comes up flat.”
The event will be free of admission to the general public, and Azevedo encourages everyone to come out for some “Tales of The Queen City.”
“Come get a dose of unvarnished, unfiltered stories about Manchester you never heard before,” Azevedo said. “I bet there will be tons of laughs to be had, and you will cringe, or cry, or maybe buckle over. I imagine it will be eye-opening.”
