Joe Gunderman -- The Old Man's Last Christmas

Joe Gunderman tells the story
Dave Savord wrote and plays the piano score

Joe used to write a Christmas story every year. From 1984 until 1995 he had a magazine showcase for creative writers called The Gundie Weekly Journal, which came out monthly, even quarterly, but never weekly. What's in a name? And each December he took it upon himself to find yet another angle on a simple story for the holidays.

This one started as a poem. The setting and storyline were immediately attractive to him, but the whole thing got bogged down very quickly. Something wasn't right. When he backed off from a set meter and rhyme scheme, it clicked immediately and practically wrote itself. Having started in a poetic form, the prose stayed clean and concise, but being free of the constrictions of verse allowed the style to flow. This story received some very strong responses from the readership (which was all of about 150 at the time).

Joe is a freelance voice, as well as the producer of Ornaments and Icing, and the Production Coordinator at WKSU.

Dave Savord is a long-time collaborator with Joe. The two have composed several songs together, recorded a living room music album back in 1983 (before digital made it a lot easier), and Dave scored the poem Joe offered last year to this program. Dave plays a variety of different instruments and composes in various styles. He and his wife author/librarian Marie Savord are cofounders of Digbog Publishing.

For more information about Joe Gunderman, check out the Joe Gunderman web site.