The opening to John Keats' poem Endymion performed by Bob Gonzalez, with music by Chopin performed by Donald Betts. 

A Thing of Beauty

Sample of full audiobook by Matt Hughes and narrated by Bob Gonzalez available on Audible at tinyurl.com/y9y9fvvj
 9 hours and 18 minutes.
Regular Price: $19.99  Member Price: $13.99

Freelance speechwriter Sid Rafferty signs on to help a neophyte candidate run for election as an alderman in Cumberland, once a booming coal-mining town on Vancouver Island that's now shrunk down to an out-of-the-way little village. But first another writing job makes Sid a witness to a violent death the Mounties are calling murder, then a pair of marijuana-growing brothers want to know what he's doing poking around near their grow-op.

An old colleague from his newspaper offers Sid a job spying on environmental activists, but he finds working undercover is no picnic. And he's about to find out that in Cumby, old currents run as dark and deep as the abandoned mine shafts. Dig down too far and the past can reach up with a deadly grip.

©2014 Matt Hughes (P)2016 Bob Gonzalez

Old Growth

Old Growth Sample

Sample of full audiobook by Matt Hughes and narrated by Bob Gonzalez available on Audible at tinyurl.com/ydcnaeay
  
5 hours and 43 minutes.
Regular Price: $14.27  Member Price: $9.99

Sid Rafferty is between writing jobs, a rock and a hard place, and the poles of his luck. At this point, he's willing to take on just about any writing gig. But when a return to his political spin doctor days collides with what should be a simple promo piece about a new ski resort in British Columbia's playground, Sid finds himself out of his depth, over his head, in love and at risk of his life.

©2012 Matt Hughes (P)2016 Bob Gonzalez

Downshift Sample

The Way of Life According to Laotzu is a poetic and highly accessible translation of the Dao De Jing (Tao Te Ching). In these 81 brief passages, the ancient Chinese sage lays down a philosophical, socio-political, personal view of the universe and guide for action that has inspired generations around the world for centuries.

Witter Bynner (1881-1968) was an American poet and translator with Kiang Kang-Hu of The Jade Mountain: A Chinese Anthology, Being Three Hundred Poems of the T’ang Dynasty 618-906.

Text copyright © 2017 by Witter Bynner
Audio recording copyright (P) by Bob Gonzalez

The Way of Life According to Laotzu

A 5-minute sample from the title story of my audiobook, "The Elephant's Child and Other Just So Stories." Available soon on Audible.com. The eight stories in the audiobook are "How the Whale Got His Throat," "How the Camel Got His Hump," "How the Rhinoceros Got His Skin," "How the Leopard Got His Spots," "The Elephant's Child," "The Sing-Song of Old Man Kangaroo," "The Beginning of the Armadillos," and "The Cat That Walked By Himself."

Published by Spoken Realms.
Text, published in 1912, is in the public domain
Audio recording copyright (P) 2019 by Bob Gonzalez

The Elephant's Child And Other Just So Stories Sample

In Act 2, scene 7 of William Shakespeare's comedy, As You Like It, the melancholy Jacques gives his cynical view of life, here performed by seven rhapsodes of Rhapsodize: Bob Gonzalez, Caprisha Page, Carol Box, Winston Tharp, Martin Geeson, Denis Daly, and Jannie Meisberger. This is the final audio file of Rhapsodize's maiden project, Eclectic Rhapsody I from December 31, 2012.

The Seven Ages of Man by William Shakespeare, performed by Rhapsodize

A collage of famous quotations and passages from the plays of the Bard of Stratford-upon-Avon, performed by Denis Daly, Jannie Meisberger, Caprisha Page, and Bob Gonzalez, rhapsodes of Rhapsodize Audio.

A Rhapsody of Words by William Shakespeare

Robert Gonzalez, Ph.D. is an Associate Professor of Speech and Theatre in the Department of Speech, Theatre and Dance at the University of Tampa, where he teaches courses in Voice and Diction, Oral Performance of Literature, Acting Shakespeare, Play Analysis, and Oral Communication (Public Speaking).  Bob is the founder of Rhapsodize (http://reverberance.org/?page_id=209), a non-commercial cultural initiative dedicated to engaging in, encouraging, instructing, guiding, and facilitating the art of rhapsodizing, that is, dramatically performing classic poetry.

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