Andy Offutt Irwin

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Andy Offutt Irwin
Performing at the Atlanta Botanical Garden May 10, 2008
Performing at the Atlanta Botanical Garden
May 10, 2008
Background information
Born 1957
Origin Covington, Georgia, U.S.
Occupation(s) Storyteller, arts educator, singer-songwriter
Instrument(s) Guitar, percussion
Years active 1984—present
Website AndyIrwin.com

Andy Offutt Irwin (born 1957) is an American storyteller, arts educator and singer-songwriter. Irwin began his career in 1984 in an improvisational comedy troupe but after five years he shifted to performing as a singer-songwriter, touring the Southeast for about six years. In the mid-1990s, he branched into performances for children and since then has appeared in hundreds of schools (from preschools to colleges) and countless public libraries.

Irwin continued to perform (for adults) as a singer-songwriter and added storytelling to these performances, usually telling one story (about ten to twenty-five minutes in length) during a show. In the fall of 2004 he decided to pursue storytelling as a career. He quickly achieved national prominence and now appears regularly in storytelling festivals across the United States.

Irwin has released four albums; the first features ten songs and one story, the other three are exclusively storytelling albums. Two of his storytelling albums have won awards. Currently, Irwin divides his time between storytelling festivals and children’s performances. Irwin is also featured on a public radio music program as storyteller and host.

Contents

[edit] Background and early career

Andy Offutt Irwin is a native of Covington, Georgia,[1] a small town in the United States' Deep South about 35 miles east of Atlanta. As a child, he always wanted to be a musician,[2] learning to play drums in elementary school band and adding guitar as a teenager. It was also in his youth that Irwin discovered his talent for imitating different sounds[3] and the speech of others.[1] While he was growing up, Irwin was an avid fan of Bill Cosby's comedy albums, which featured the comedian's humorous stories about his youth.[4] Irwin attended Georgia College where he received a B. S. in Sociology in 1983.[5] While there, he was named Mess Georgia College.[6]

Offutt the MinstrelGeorgia Renaissance Festival, 1997
Offutt the Minstrel
Georgia Renaissance Festival, 1997

Starting in 1984, Irwin spent five years writing, directing and performing shows with the improvisational comedy troupe SAK Theatre at Walt Disney World.[5] Upon returning to Georgia, Irwin began to focus on singing and songwriting, though he always kept comedic elements in his music.[7] Beginning in 1991, Irwin toured the Southeast as a singer-songwriter,[3] performing both solo and with his band, an act that he bills as "Andy Offutt Irwin vs. the fingermonsters" (sic). From 1995 to 2001, Irwin sang humorous songs, played guitar and performed comedy as "Offutt the Minstrel" at the Georgia Renaissance Festival.[8][5] He also performed as "Offutt the Minstrel" at the Kansas City Renaissance Festival.[7] From 1997 through 2005 Irwin directed the annual Cracker Crumble, an evening of politically satirical skits put on by the Georgia Press Association for Georgia politicians and lobbyists.[5]

Andy Offutt Irwin
Andy Offutt Irwin
Telling a story
Telling a story
May 10, 2008
May 10, 2008

[edit] Storytelling

A natural storyteller, Irwin started to incorporate more and more stories into his musical performances. He contemplated becoming a stand-up comedian (Irwin is a past winner of the Farber Invitational stand-up competition at the Punchline comedy club in Atlanta)[1] but rejected the idea because he felt that the days of storytelling comedians, like Bill Cosby, had passed.[9] A discussion with noted storyteller Carmen Deedy lead to Irwin’s decision to become a professional storyteller[9] and he began to actively pursue the storytelling circuit in 2004 after the death of his eldest son, Tristan. Irwin quickly achieved national prominence and was a Featured New Voices Storyteller[10] at the 2005 National Storytelling Festival (the "Super Bowl" of storytelling).[5]

Since his debut at the National Storytelling Festival, Irwin has performed at storytelling festivals across the United States including the San Francisco Bay Area Storytelling Festival; the Timpanogos Storytelling Festival in Orem, Utah; the Hoosier Storytelling Festival in Indianapolis, Indiana; the Cave Run Storytelling Festival in Morehead, Kentucky; and the Winter Tales Festival in Oklahoma City.[11] In October 2007, he made his second appearance at the National Storytelling Festival, this time as a Featured Teller.[12]

While most of his material is comedic, Irwin feels that his style of performance is at odds with the main venue available to comedians today; comedy clubs. Some of his stories are an hour in length and Irwin notes, “[t]here was a time when comedians could do that but they can’t anymore because the clubs give them three minutes, and they are timing the laughs per minute."[13] Using storytelling as a theatrical form allows Irwin to create more fully drawn characters and to explore darker subject matters as well. “Although I like to think of my storytelling as funny, I can have these serious moments. I’m not depending on the audience to laugh the whole time. . . I hope there’s content with the form.”[13]

Irwin's stories often reflect life in a small Southern town[2] with recurring themes of growing up and growing old,[9] the bonds of family,[2] the complexities of racial relations in the Deep South, especially during the 1960s[14] and the important art of the practical joke.[15] In addition to performance, Irwin leads workshops where he teaches storytelling technique.

[edit] Arts educator

Irwin is also a natural as a children’s performer, because at heart he is an overgrown kid.[5] His performances for children can be traced to the summers during college that he worked as a camp counselor.[1] It was as a camp counsel that he started using his middle name, “Offutt”, (the maiden name of his paternal grandmother).

In the mid-1990s he began touring the Southeast as an arts educator and over the years he has performed in hundreds of schools and libraries. In 2000, Irwin was the keynote performer/speaker at the Library of Congress/Viburnum Foundation Conference on Family Literacy.[16] Outside of the Southeast, his performances as an arts educator include appearances in New York City; Mesa, Arizona; Ventura County, California; Indianapolis, Indiana and Louisville, Kentucky.

Irwin’s work in schools ranges from forty-minute shows where he sings, plays guitar and tells stories (show titles include "Offutt's Environmental Epic", "Nouns, Verbs and Other Important Stuff" and "PROtozoa/ANTIbacterial") to weeklong residences where he leads workshops in songwriting or creating a musical, usually concluding with a performance by the children of their newly-created work for their parents.[17] Irwin has also written and recorded three songs for public service announcements for the Books Ahoy! Vacation Reading Program for children in Georgia and South Carolina.[18]

[edit] Artist-In-Residence

In addition to performing for students in schools, Irwin has held part-time positions at two colleges. During the 1983-1984 academic year, Irwin served as Artist-In-Residence at Georgia College. While there, he wrote and directed the play Through the Needle's Eye: A Celebration of St. Francis.[5] The play was subsequently produced at Duke University in 1986.[19]

In 1991 after returning to Georgia from his five-year stint at Disney World, Irwin began to work part-time at Oxford College of Emory University, first serving as acting coach[1] and then as Interim Director of Theatre.[16] From 1993 until his retirement in May 2007, Irwin served as Artist-In-Residence.[5] While at Oxford, he directed several plays and in 2001 was recipient of the Sammy Clark Award for Exemplary Teaching and Service.[16]

[edit] Recordings

Banana Seat
Banana Seat
Christmas at Southern White Old Lady Hospital
Christmas at Southern White Old Lady Hospital

Irwin's first album, Banana Seat, (released in 1995 on Echo Lake Records), features Irwin singing and playing guitar on ten songs (nine of his own composition and the jazz standard "Kiss to Build a Dream On") often accompanied by his band, "the fingermonsters" (sic).[19] Banana Seat also includes Irwin telling a story about learning to play drums, a bicycle race and race. One of the songs from Banana Seat, "Clamydomonas (sp?)", (sic) is featured on the website of the International Society of Protozoologists.[20]. Another song on that album, "Clarice", (which a reviewer described as "Boy meets girl. Boy loses girl ... to the Klan.") [21] was recorded live at Eddie's Attic by Shawn Mullins and Matthew Kahler for their album, Jeff’s Last Dance, Volume II.[22][23]

Christmas at Southern White Old Lady Hospital, Irwin's second album, (2004, Echo Lake Records), is a collection of stories about his (fictional) Aunt Marguerite who became a medical doctor at the age of eighty[1] and still enjoys a good practical joke. On November 4, 2006, Christmas at Southern White Old Lady Hospital was awarded Storytelling Album of the Year by Just Plain Folks, a community of over 40,000 music professionals.[24][25] The album also won a Storytelling World Award.[26]

Book Every Saturday for a Funeral
Book Every Saturday
for a Funeral
Bootsie in Season
Bootsie in Season

Irwin's third recording, Book Every Saturday for a Funeral (2006), is another collection of stories (most featuring Aunt Marguerite). As its title implies, the third album is a bit darker than the second and humorously deals with the topics of loss and grief, including the death of Irwin's step-mother while she was in Tennessee to attend Irwin's debut at the National Storytelling Festival.[2] Book Every Saturday for a Funeral has received a Storytelling World Award.[26]

Bootsie in Season, Irwin's fourth album (2007, Echo Lake Records) and third storytelling compilation, contains more tales of Aunt Marguerite including how she became a self-described "recovering racist". The title track recounts Irwin's boyhood adventures as he roamed about freely on his bike in a small, Southern town.[27]

[edit] Marguerite

Most of the stories on Irwin’s albums revolve around his fictional aunt, Dr. Marguerite Van Camp. Aunt Marguerite founded Southern White Old Ladies Hospital in rural Georgia because (as Irwin explains in Marguerite’s old lady voice) "all our husbands have moved on, and we were tired of the garden club and the bridge club and the ladies club. So Mary Frances and Julia and I all went back to medical school".[8]

While Aunt Marguerite is fictional, Irwin loosely based the character on his mother[2] and his maternal grandmother.[1] The character of Marguerite is one that evolved from a nurse character Irwin created to entertain his mother while she was hospitalized with cancer.[28]

[edit] Johnny & Kenny

While Marguerite is fictional, two other recurring characters in Irwin's stories, Johnny and his brother Kenny, are not. When the all-white elementary school that Irwin attended in the 1960s was forced to integrate, he became classmates with Johnny Norrington, an African American. They became good friends despite lingering racial barriers. In "Rudiments" on Banana Seat, Irwin describes an accident he caused while riding his bike on a visit to the Norringtons' all-black neighborhood. Genuinely afraid of retaliation, Irwin was whisked to safety by Norrington's mother. On the album Bootsie in Season, Irwin recalls how he and Norrington managed to watch the movie Dr. Terror's House of Horrors together despite Norrington having to sit in the "colored section" in the balcony while Irwin watched from the level below. Friendships that crossed the color barrier were unusual at the time and Irwin had to endure vicious taunts from other white children.

[edit] Mouth sounds and imitations

Irwin has a unique ability to make an extremely wide variety of sounds with his mouth, whether he is imitating the voices of others, musical instruments or the sounds found in everyday life.[29] Utilizing these vocalizations in both storytelling and musical performances, he has been called "a veritable master of sound effects and voices",[1] and a "virtual sound factory".[3]

In storytelling, he is best known for his "old lady characterizations"[1] as he recounts tales of Marguerite and her friends, giving each a distinct voice that, with just a few words, can convey a great deal about that character’s personality. His storytelling albums showcase a wide variety of sound effects as well, ranging from the annoying musical ring of a cell phone to the low bellow of a fog horn. In his musical performances, the instruments he imitates include electric guitar, trumpet and tuba, leading Irwin to note, "The closest thing I have to a keyboard player is my face".[3]

Additionally, he is an extraordinary whistler, able to make sounds on both inhalation and exhalation, which allows him to whistle without pausing for several minutes. The Beacon, the student newspaper for the Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts, recounted a portion of Irwin’s performance:

'Someone ask me if I smoke,' said Irwin. The audience complied. Then he whistled without taking a breath for over a minute. After which he answered with a sly 'No.' [29]

Ironically, a quote by Irwin--"Don’t be afraid to be amazing"--appeared on The United Pro Choice Smokers Rights Newsletter Issue #178.[30]

[edit] Kandinsky Trio

Irwin also performs with the Kandinsky Trio, a classical, chamber music trio that features piano, violin and cello. The Trio first saw Irwin when they were performing at the National Storytelling Festival in October 2005. The Trio was so impressed with Irwin that they suggested collaborating. In December 2006, Irwin joined the Trio in concert at Roanoke College. The evening featured Irwin performing with the Trio by whistling several songs specifically arranged for the Trio and Irwin.[31] Their repertoire ranges from jazz standards including “A Kiss to Build a Dream On” to Romanian folk music to unusual arrangements of popular music. They have posted a video of their version of the New Wave tune "She Blinded Me with Science" on the video sharing website YouTube.[32]

[edit] Radio

Irwin serves as host, storyteller, and self-proclaimed "audience trainer" of the Evening Star radio show,[33] a one-hour program of music and storytelling on Georgia Public Broadcasting.[34] Evening Star can be heard on the GPB radio network and on-line every fouth Sunday afternoon at 4 PM Eastern Time. Irwin begins each radio broadcast by performing the show's theme song (which he composed),[33] then he tells a story and introduces the musical performer(s).[5]

The Evening Star radio show is recorded live at the Evening Star Music Series at the Sautee Nacoochee Center, which is located in the foothills of Northeast Georgia near Helen .[34] The monthly series of concerts feature the nation's top songwriters and contemporary folk musicians.[5]

[edit] "Don't be afraid to be amazing."

"Don’t be afraid to be amazing," Irwin said to friend, musician and Irwin’s website designer, Cyndi Craven during a late night conversation at a Waffle House. This quote was subsequently posted by Craven on the internet and now appears on dozens of websites including the quotation search-tools Think Exist[35] and Famous Quotes[36] plus various other websites such as the social networking website Gaia Community,[37] the New Age site Beyond the Rainbow,[38] and numerous personal websites.

Irwin's quote was chosen to be the message of the murals created by artist Susan Guevara for the post-Katrina renovation of the New Orleans Children’s Resource Center branch library.[39]

[edit] Personal

In 1992, Irwin and his wife, Kathleen, married. Later that same year, Kathleen gave birth to twins. One of the twins, Ian, was stillborn and the other, Tristan, was born profoundly disabled with the spastic quadriplegia form of cerebral palsy characterized by extremely limited motor skills and cognitive abilities.[5] Irwin's song, "You Are My Ka-Pooh," reflects his experience of loving a severely disabled child.[29] Defying medical expectation (Irwin jokes that Tristan flunked out of in-the-home hospice care for not dying on schedule), Tristan lived to the age of eleven, dying in 2004.[5]

Irwin resides in Covington, Georgia with his wife and their son, Liam (born 1999).[5] Irwin is 6 feet 4 inches (193 cm) tall.

[edit] Downloads

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i Southern Voice(s): Through Stories, Georgia Teller Assumes Multiple Identities by Jill Oxendine for gotricities.com June 2006. Retrieved July 14, 2006.
  2. ^ a b c d e Grounded Energy: Newton County Native’s Music Career Flourishes by Brittany Edwards for The Covington News, January 8, 2006. Retrieved May 3, 2006.
  3. ^ a b c d Showcase Performer Enjoys Sounding Off by Kent Kimes for the Augusta Chronicle, web posted February 20, 1998. Retrieved June 24, 2006.
  4. ^ The Storytellers by Curt Holman for Creative Loafing Atlanta, January 30, 2008. Retrieved January 30, 2008.
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Have stories, Will Travel: Andy Offutt Irwin Shares Tales, Coast to Coast by Jackie Kennedy for Georgia Magazine, March 2007. Retrieved April 10, 2007.
  6. ^ "Miss Georgia College" from Evening Star, on Georgia Public Broadcasting Radio originally broadcast on April 9, 2006. Retrieved April 9, 2006.
  7. ^ a b Diverse Artist Andy Offutt Irwin Always a Crowd Pleaser by Alan Back for The Technique, May 28, 1999. Retrieved on May 15, 2006.
  8. ^ a b Irwin Adds Quirky Humor, Music to Renaissance Festival by Dan Treadaway for Emory Report, October 1995. Retrieved on August 18, 2006.
  9. ^ a b c Storyteller Takes Stage at Julyfest on The State, July 19, 2006. Retrieved on July 24, 2006.
  10. ^ Andy Offutt Irwin by Seeger Swanson for Fiddler’s Green Concert Series, June 2005. Retrieved on July 25, 2006.
  11. ^ Book Every Saturday for a Funeral on CD Baby. Retrieved on May 9, 2007.
  12. ^ 2007 Tellers National Storytelling Festival International Storytelling Center. Retrieved May 9, 2007.
  13. ^ a b ‘Give Me a Response’: Andy Offutt Irwin Thinks His Stories Are Funny But He Wants His Listeners To Take Away More” by Rick Brown for The Kearney Hub, January 18, 2008. Retrieved January 19, 2008.
  14. ^ Oh, the Tales They Do Tell in Tennessee by Phil Kloer for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, October 10, 2005. Retrieved on August 19, 2006.
  15. ^ Irwin Still a Kid at Heart by Jenny Humphryes for The Troy Messenger, January 14, 2007. Retrieved on February 23, 2007.
  16. ^ a b c Andy Offutt Irwin, Artist in Residence from Oxford College Directory, 2005. Retrieved on April 23, 2006.
  17. ^ YA Artists: Andy Offutt Irwin from Young Audiences, Woodruff Arts Center Artist Guide, 2007. Retrieved on May 6, 2007.
  18. ^ Books Ahoy! Georgia Library Public Information Network for Electronic Services. Retrieved January 20, 2008.
  19. ^ a b New CD, Banana Seat, by Andy Offutt Irwin by Randy Myers, Echo Lake press release, June 8, 1995. Retrieved on August 23, 2006.
  20. ^ For Fun; Songs about Protists International Society of Protozoologists. Retrieved on April 22, 2006.
  21. ^ Banana Seat Review by Wil Owen, for Rambles, A Cultural Arts Magazine, September 1, 2001. Retrieved on June 13, 2007
  22. ^ Jeff’s Last Dance, Vol. 2 (Live) Amazon.com. Retrieved on August 10, 2006.
  23. ^ Press Kits & Reviews: Better Than Andy? AndyIrwin.com. Retrieved on August 10, 2006.
  24. ^ And the Winner is . . . by Mosi Reeves for Creative Loafing Atlanta, November 22, 2006. Retrieved November 28, 2006.
  25. ^ Just Plain Folks Music Awards, Albums, 2006 Retrieved on November 21, 2006.
  26. ^ a b The 2008 Storytelling World Resource Awards. Retrieved February 5, 2008.
  27. ^ Bootsie in Season on CD Baby. Retrieved September 24, 2007.
  28. ^ The Storytellers, Audio Clip, Andy Offutt Irwin for Creative Loafing Atlanta, January 30, 2008. Retrieved January 30, 2008.
  29. ^ a b c Andy Offutt Irwin Plays CC's Cafe by Timothy Hamel for The Beacon, February 8, 2001. Retrieved July 17, 2006.
  30. ^ The United Pro Choice Smokers Rights Newsletter, June 28, 2002. Retrieved on October 10, 2006.
  31. ^ Roanoke College Announces Kandinsky Trio Concert, November 8, 2006. Retrieved November 27, 2007.
  32. ^ Arts & Culture: Blinding with Video by Kevin Kittredge for The Roanoke Times, November 25, 2007. Retrieved November 27, 2007.
  33. ^ a b Evening Star Compilation, Vol. II Retrieved on May 2, 2007.
  34. ^ a b Featured Programs for January, 2006 WSVH-FM. Retrieved on January 7, 2007.
  35. ^ Andy Offutt Irwin Quotes Think Exist. Retrieved on October 10, 2006.
  36. ^ Quotes in Category: Afraid Famous Quotes. Retrieved on October 10, 2006.
  37. ^ Quotes by Andy Offutt Irwin Gaia Community. Retrieved on January 20, 2008.
  38. ^ Inner Vision: Quotes about Creativity Beyond the Rainbow. Retrieved on October 10, 2006.
  39. ^ Children’s Resource Center Renovation Project New Orleans Public Library. Retrieved March 27, 2007.

[edit] External links