Recording Review

Pouring the Sun: An Immigrant's Journey
Jay O'Callahan
Artana Productions {http://www.ocallahan.com}
jay@ocallahan.com or (800) 626-5356
R eviewed by Alan Irvine

"Pouring the Sun" is the story of the steel workers in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. It is the story of immigrants making a life in the United States. It is the story of one family's triumphs and tragedies. If that sounds like a lot, it is. This is a big story – a single piece running 74 minutes, and one well worth the listening.

The story starts off with an introduction where O'Callahan takes us back to the beginning of the piece (originally commissioned for the 1999 Bethlehem Steel Festival.) He lets us see his first reactions to taking on such a big, sprawling subject as the story of Bethlehem's steel mills and workers. (His first thought is that it can't be done.) He takes us through his first tentative research into steel making, his conversations with local people, the discovery of John Waldony and Mary Soltysiak and their tales of their mother, whose life becomes the final focus of the story. This introduction serves several purposes. It eases us into the world of the story, provides important background information and language, explains why this woman will be the center of the story – all without being obvious or didactic about it.

From there, we move into the main body of the story, which unfolds in two layers. O'Callahan slips into the character of John and Mary's mother Ludvika, but he sets her up as the conscious narrator of the tale. We meet her as an elderly woman, sitting in her kitchen, peeling potatoes and making dinner, telling the story of her life as she does. We thus experience Ludvika in the "present" as well as in the past. "She" starts her story when she was girl growing up in Poland, and takes us through her voyage to America and her efforts to make a place for herself, through meeting and marrying her husband, through the years of raising her family – years filled with hardship and work, tragedies and courage. The family's story is intertwined with the story of life in the mills. The hard work, the various jobs required to produce steel, the struggles with foremen and bosses, the inevitable accidents, the strikes and battles to form a union all unfold through this family's life. (The story reminded me of Thomas Bell's classic novel Out of This Furnace, which tells the same story of immigrants and steel in Pittsburgh. If you like this story, you should go on to check out Bell's novel as well.)

The introduction is told in O'Callahan's voice and style, with everything big and dramatic, with lots of CAPITAL LETTERS. But as he moves into Ludvika's voice, he moderates his rhythm and tone. He takes on a more conversational tone than usual, sounding more like he is telling a tale around the kitchen table. He slips a faint accent into the voice, not enough to be obvious and distracting, but enough to clearly distinguish Ludvika from O'Callahan. I can't say I ever thought I was actually listening to an elderly, Polish woman, but for long stretches, I did forget that I was listening to Jay O'Callahan, which is the intent. The story is well constructed, with an easy, natural rhythm. The narrative is organized into smaller sub-stories, relating the events of a specific time period. Between each of these tales, we come back to the "present," as Ludvika comments on the progress of her work in the kitchen, which gives us time to digest and react to what we have just heard before pressing ahead. Because of this, we never wear out from marching through year after year. The hour and more flies by, as quickly and easily as it does when sitting in a real kitchen telling tales.

(I did wonder how the story would play out on stage. I would think that seeing O'Callahan along with hearing him, would make it harder to envision the story as really coming from Ludvika. On the other hand, the immediacy of live performance would bring the audience into the place of that imagined audience sitting in the kitchen hearing the tale, which doesn't happen (or at least doesn't happen as well) listening to recorded story on the stereo.)

In short, I think this is the best piece O'Callahan has done. The only flaw I found in the piece is more of a format problem. On the CD, the story is only broken into 2 tracks (the break is not noticeable, and probably reflects the break between two sides of the cassette tape.) The proves a problem if you are planning to listen to the story in small pieces. Admittedly, you shouldn't break this story up into pieces, but listen to it all in a sitting, but that means finding a 75 minute chunk of uninterrupted time. For me, that meant the CD sat on the shelf for a while before a proper chunk of time opened up. But that is a pretty minor flaw, and, thinking back, I enjoyed the story more in one sitting than I would have listening to it piecemeal. (The story is available in cassette format if you prefer.) Whether your interest is in the industrial heritage, immigrant experience, family biography, or simply a well-told story, "Pouring the Sun" is worth seeking out.

—posted July 2002