Unchained Tour stops here

A host of storytellers, raconteurs, artists and other performers will visit A Novel Experience in downtown Zebulon Tuesday, Feb. 7 at 7:30 p.m. as part of the Unchained Tour. The group of multi-talented travelers includes musicians and authors who will travel on a 1972 Blue Bird school bus painted and renovated for this year’s Unchained Tour across the Southeast. Tickets for the evening of storytelling, music and more are available at A Novel Experience.***************©The Pike County Journal Reporter/pikecountygeorgia.com: This information may not be reprinted, broadcast or distributed electronically in any form or fashion without express consent. For reprint permission, e-mail news@pikecountygeorgia.com.***************’The tour is called Unchained because its aim is to encourage people to buy their books from independent sellers rather than big chains ‘“ and to break the chains of the Internet and promote print instead,’ said Hillary Brenhouse. ‘We’re for real community gatherings, not just virtual ones.’ Confirmed storytellers for the February tour include Edgar Oliver, Savannah-born playwright and raconteur star of the Edinburgh Festival; Peter Aguero, a multitalented artist hosting The Moth and leading New York’s improvisational storytelling rock band, the BTK Band; Elna Baker, famous Mormon, comedian, author and contributor to ‘This American Life;’ Tina Brown, award winning reporter and author best known for her crime tales; and Joan Juliet Buck, the novelist, actress (‘Julie & Julia’) and former editor of French Vogue.Musical talent will include Shovels and Rope, a Charleston based ‘sloppy tonk’ band consisting of Michael Trent and Cary Ann Hearst. Hearst’s song ‘Hell’s Bells’ ended episode six of this season’s ‘True Blood’ series on HBO.For updates on raconteurs and musicians and information on ticket sales, venues, the photo gallery, videos and news coverage, go to theunchainedtour.org.The Unchained Tour is the brainchild of novelist George Dawes Green. In 1997, Green founded The Moth, a series of storytelling nights in New York. The Moth has featured such celebrated raconteurs as Salman Rushdie, Garrison Keillor, Malcolm Gladwell and Sam Shepherd. There are now regular Moths in Los Angeles, Detroit, Chicago, Atlanta and Boston, with plans to expand to four new cities this year, including Berlin, Germany and Savannah.The new ‘Moth on the Radio’ program on National Public Radio reaches more than 200 radio stations, and received a 2010 Peabody Award. The Unchained Tour is inspired by the Moth but not affiliated with the program other than by the shared founder and celebration of storytelling.