‘Ballad of Moby Dick’ Now on Tape

Storyteller Ed Dobyns of San Clemente has recorded “The Ballad of Moby Dick,” his 28-verse story based on the classic Herman Melville novel.

The ballad, which Dobyns wrote to perform at the Festival of Whales in Dana Point last spring, is one of seven stories he has recorded on his cassette, “The Ballad of Moby Dick and Other Yarns as Told by Storyteller Ed Dobyns” ($10).

The A side of the cassette, which he self-produced and recorded at a studio in Westminster, includes the 20-minute Moby Dick ballad, “The Bedford Whaler” (a short poem by John Masefield), and “Greenland Fisheries” (a traditional sea story sung a cappella).

Side B features three oral tradition sea stories by unknown authors and Robert Service’s “The Cremation of Sam McGee.”

Dobyns, 55, is a mechanical engineer at the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station. Fifteen years ago, he discovered that the stories he was telling his three daughters also went over well with their classmates at school.

“Over the span of time my life changed to make storytelling a primary thrust of my work,” said Dobyns, who now works part time at San Onofre and spends much of his time spinning tales to student and adult groups.

Dobyns, who looks downright Ahabian with his white beard (sans mustache), sailor’s cap and turtleneck sweater, appears on the cassette cover as the immortal Captain Ahab. The pastel portrait is by Fountain Valley artist Ruth Hollis.

Dobyns was originally asked to write and perform “The Ballad of Moby Dick” at the opening concert of the Whale Festival.

Donn Lawrence Mills, conductor and music director of the Capistrano Valley Symphony Orchestra, had agreed to compose underscoring so Dobyns could read the ballad with musical accompaniment. But Mills died about three weeks before the concert and, Dobyns said, “the music he was writing for ‘Moby Dick’ died with him.”

Dobyns, however, performed the ballad a cappella and “it was very well received.”

In writing and performing his ballad on the cassette, Dobyns hopes to share his own “enjoyment of the genius of Melville.”

“I happen to think ‘Moby Dick’ is one of the greatest pieces of literature ever written,” he said.

In writing his ballad, “I tried to preserve at least some of the flavor of the magnificent poetry of ‘Moby Dick’ as well as the theme and some characterizations. Obviously, a good deal of paraphrasing and condensation was necessary, and the strictures of using metered verse complicated the task even further.”

Dobyns hopes his audience enjoys the ballad as it is. But he also hopes listeners “will be inspired to read the novel and experience the full impact of Melville.”

His cassette is available at the Book Site and Sam Jones Bookseller, both in San Clemente, and at Dana Book and Navigation and the gift shop at the Orange County Marine Institute, both in Dana Point. It also may be ordered by calling Dobyns at (714) 498-1832.

Book Signings: Marcia Muller (“Trophies and Dead Things”), Karen Kijewski (“Katapult”) and Meg O’Brien (“Salmon in the Soup”) will sign from 6 to 8 p.m. Friday at Book Carnival, 870 N. Tustin Ave., Orange. . . . Jackie Hyman (“Echoes”) will sign at 1 p.m. at Brentano’s in the Brea Mall. . . . Barbara Keller (“Le Belle Americaine”) will sign from 1 to 4 p.m. Saturday at Waldenbooks in the Brea Mall. . . . Jack Prelutsky (“Something Big Has Been Here”) will sign from noon to 2 p.m. Sunday at Ted E. Bear and Friends, 6029 Warner Ave., Huntington Beach.

Author Talk: Bruce McAllister, author of the critically acclaimed novel “Dream Baby,” will speak at the Orange Coast College Writers Club meeting at 7 p.m. Friday at instructor Raymond Obstfeld’s home, 190 Greenmoor, Irvine. For more information, call Obstfeld at (714) 786 4204.

Poets Reading: A “Night of Vampire Poetry” will be read at the Poets Reading meeting at 8 p.m. Saturday at the Fullerton Museum Center, 301 N. Pomona Ave., Fullerton. Cost: $10, includes red wine and a copy of Rouge et Noir, a new Vampire literary journal.

Author Lunch: Diane Johnson (“Health and Happiness”), Jonathan Kellerman (“Time Bomb”), MacDonald Harris (“Hemingway’s Suitcase”) and Mark Childress (“Tender”) will speak at a book and author luncheon Nov. 15 at the Red Lion Hotel in Costa Mesa. Reservations are now being taken.

The luncheon is co-sponsored by the Laguna Hills branch of the Brandeis University National Women’s Committee and Rizzoli International Bookstore in South Coast Plaza. Cost: $25 for alumni association members and $30 for non-members. For reservations, call (714) 768 5104.

Romance: Etiquette commentator Letitia Baldrige will discuss “Romance, Manners and Other Things Disappearing From Our Lives” at a luncheon-reception at 11 a.m. Wednesday at the Red Lion Hotel in Costa Mesa. Cost: $35 per person. For reservations, call (714) 497-9563. The lunch is sponsored by “With Style: A Collective Consciousness,” a collaboration of the Design Alliance to Combat AIDS and the South Coast chapter of the International Furnishings and Design Assn.

Elephant-ear: The Elephant-ear, a community journal produced by the school of humanities and languages at Irvine Valley College, is accepting submissions for its spring, 1991, issue.

All Orange County residents are encouraged to submit their work in the areas of nonfiction, fiction, poetry and art. Copies of the 1991 issue will be available in May. For more detailed submission information, call managing editor Linda Thomas at (714) 559-3299.

Local Poet: Thomas C. Odar of Laguna Niguel has had one of his poems published in “The American Poetry Anthology,” a treasury of contemporary poetry compiled by the American Poetry Assn. Odar says his poem, “Privacy’s Arms,” deals with how society craves companionship but is addicted to privacy.