The Moth: "True Stories, told Live and Without Notes"

For some time, I've been listening to the free weekly podcast of "The Moth" (available on iTunes).

What is "The Moth"?  Here's what Wikipedia says: "The Moth is a non-profit group based in New York City dedicated to the art and craft of storytelling. It was founded in 1997 by poet and novelist George Dawes Green, who wanted to recreate the feeling of sultry summer evenings in his native Georgia, when moths were attracted to the light on the porch where he and his friends would gather to spin spellbinding tales. George and his original group of storytellers called themselves "The Moths", and George took the name with him to New York. The organization now runs a number of different storytelling events in New York City, Los Angeles, Chicago, Detroit, and other American cities, often featuring prominent literary and cultural personalities."

Back in March, I attended a sold-out evening of "Moth" storytelling at UCLA's Royce Hall that featured amazing true stories, hilarious and sad, told by a wide range of people--from writers to a professional poker player to a hand surgeon (and the surgeon told the best story of the evening).  There are nearly 100 videos of "Moth" stories on You Tube HERE .

"The Moth" also holds StorySLAMs, open mic storytelling competitions where anyone can show up to tell a five-minute-long story that relates to the evening's chosen theme.  The storytellers put their names in a hat, and ten are chosen.  Judges score the stories, and the evening's winner moves on to compete at the semi-annual GrandSLAM.  There are plenty of StorySLAMs coming up for you to attend (see "The Moth"'s WEBSITE for more information).  Generally, tickets are $8 (and if you go to one of the shows at Busby's East, near LACMA on Wilshire, you can get half-priced food and drinks before the show--it's Happy Hour).

A couple weeks ago, I went to the GrandSLAM at a very packed Echoplex near Echo Park.  That night's winner was Jessica Lee Williams.  Here's a video of a story she told at a previous competition, when the night's theme was "Fight or Flight":

And here's a video of a previous GrandSLAM-winning story from Caltech neuroscientist (and regular L.A. slammer) Moran Cerf, about his bank robbing days back in Israel:

There are about three StorySLAMs each month in the L.A. area.  There's one tonight, but the next one is at my favorite "Moth" venue, Busby's East, on August 14. HERE is that website again.