Heroes of Grand Slam brings you the cast of Story Slammers you’ll see go head-to-head at the 2008 First Person Festival Grand Slam on Saturday November 15th from 9-11pm.  This one will sell out, so buy your tickets right away! You can make a day of it and check out Girls Rock from 3-6 pm and Doubletime! from 6:30 to 8:30pm.

Here are our heroes, and these are their stories:

Ted Passon won the “Caught” slam back in July with this story:

If you were at Tuesday’s “Strange Coincidence” Story Slam, you learned that the Grand Slam theme for 2008 will be “Champs and Chumps.”  And speaking of strange coincidences, it turns out that while everyone was out last night celebrating the hometown Champs, some Chumps went and destroyed Ted Passon’s car where it was parked at Broad and Ellsworth.  Get the full picture and maybe help him out a little here, especially if you were one of those chumps! You have to admit, that Champs and Chumps story is tough to beat.  Come cheer him on, along with the other Heroes of Grand Slam as they go head to head on Saturday night, November 15th from 9-11pm.  Tickets are going fast.  Get ‘em here.

Heroes of Grand Slam brings you the cast of Story Slammers you’ll see go head-to-head at the 2008 First Person Festival Grand Slam on Saturday November 15th from 9-11pm.  This one will sell out, so buy your tickets right away! You can make a day of it and check out Girls Rock from 3-6 pm and Doubletime! from 6:30 to 8:30pm.

Here are our heroes, and these are their stories:

Sam Malissa, winner of August’s “Worst Ever”

Unfortunately for Sam, he’ll be leading a tour of Japan with the Japan America Society during our Festival, but fortunately for you, the second-place finisher that night, notorious gadabout and self-proclaimed diva, Donald Carter will be filling his shoes:

Ryan T. Barlow won September’s “Belonging” (and is a guest storyteller tonight!)

You’ve got one more chance to join this pantheon of Philadelphia storytellers TONIGHT at L’Etage.  The last regularly scheduled slam of the season is “Strange Coincidence”.   Doors open at 7:30 and the slam begins at 8:30.  We’ll be announcing the Grand Slam theme to the audience!  See you there…

Heroes of Grand Slam brings you the cast of Story Slammers you’ll see go head-to-head at the 2008 First Person Festival Grand Slam on Saturday November 15th from 9-11pm.  This one will sell out, so buy your tickets right away! You can make a day of it and check out Girls Rock from 3-6 pm and Doubletime! from 6:30 to 8:30pm.

Here are our heroes, and these are their stories:

Angel Hogan, winner of the special Summertime StorySlam, part of the Kimmel Center’s Summer Solstice Celebration.

Unfortunately, we don’t have any video from that slam, and that’s a shame, because it was a real doozy.  Fortunately, if you’re not in the Complaint Choir, you can join her tonight for a Fiction Slam at the Standard Tap, with the Liberties Scribblers:

LIBERTIES SCRIBBLERS PRESENTS:
HALLOWEEN STORY SLAM
“The Stranger”
Monday October 27th 2008

THE STANDARD TAP
(901 North 2nd Street Philadelphia)
BRING IN YOUR 5-MINUTE REVELATIONS!

Ten contestants, five-minute time limit
(~600-800 words),  $5 registration to read.
Proceeds go to cash prizes for the top performers. Contestants will be judged on delivery and substance. Prose please.  Sign-up starts at 7pm, show starts 7:30. Presented by the Liberties Scribblers, a Northern Liberties writing group.

Tell your friends! SEE YOU THERE!
FREE to listen
$5 to read
For more information, visit:
www.myspace.com/libertiesscribblers

Katonya Mosley, winner of May’s “Secrets”

George Dougherty, winner of June’s “On The Road”

You’ve got one more chance to get into the pantheon of Philadelphia storytellers this week at L’Etage.  The last regularly scheduled slam of the season will be “Strange Coincidence” on Tuesday, October 28th.  Doors open at 7:30 and the slam begins at 8:30.  And don’t forget your Grand Slam tickets…

If you’re out and about and looking for something to do, come say hello at the 215 Festival at the Latvian Society at 7th and Spring Garden.  We’ll be here from now to 6pm:

Heroes of Grand Slam brings you the cast of Story Slammers you’ll see go head-to-head at the 2008 First Person Festival Grand Slam on Saturday November 15th from 9-11pm.  This one will sell out, so buy your tickets right away! You can make a day of it and check out Girls Rock from 3-6 pm and Doubletime! from 6:30 to 8:30pm.

Here are our heroes, and these are their stories:

Sandy Beaches, winner of March’s “The Road Not Taken”

Kevin Lee, winner of April’s “The Awkward Pause”

You’ve got one more chance to get into the pantheon of Philadelphia storytellers next week at L’Etage.  The last regularly scheduled slam of the season will be “Strange Coincidence” on Tuesday, October 28th.  Doors open at 7:30 and the slam begins at 8:30.

In 2005, Liso, a teacher in South Africa and mother of teenage twins, hears about an opening for a “missionary” for a Houston church. Any South African will jump at the chance to go to America, she claims, even if it’s “to wash someone’s pig.” Liso knew she wouldn’t be paid much, but she hoped that it would lead to better paying jobs that would help her support her family back home. When the “teaching” job she had been promised was taken away, and she was given menial labor day after day, and not fed properly, she began to realize she’d been had. Now here she was, with an expired visa, for all intents and purposes a slave in America.

Too often we see immigration as an “issue,” without knowing anything about immigrants themselves and their own stories about their experiences here.  Liso is just one example of the stories that Peter Orner has collected in Underground America: Narratives of Undocumented Lives. At the First Person Festival, stories from the book will be presented in a dramatic reading.

No doubt you will be affected by these stories, many of which are harrowing. But these people can’t just be seen as victims. Says Orner in a Salon interview, “It’s a vulnerable population, but they’re not 100 percent victims at the hands of our society. It’s more complicated than that. It’s a relationship that’s navigated by them and by us, to sometimes very bad and violent effect.”   Orner names some of the myths about immigrants that can hold sway, like how they want to steal jobs and take our money.  He asserts, “I didn’t personally find any success stories.”

You are invited to learn more at a panel discussion afterward led by Pete Orner and other immigration experts.

Tickets for this event may be purchased at Brown Paper Tickets.

Underground America
Wednesday, November 12th
Time: 8:30-10:30PM
Location: Painted Bride

Cost: $15

Heroes of Grand Slam brings you the cast of Story Slammers you’ll see go head-to-head at the 2008 First Person Festival Grand Slam on Saturday November 15th from 9-11pm.  This one will sell out, so buy your tickets right away! You can make a day of it and check out Girls Rock from 3-6 pm and Doubletime! from 6:30 to 8:30pm.

Here are our heroes, and these are their stories:

Kendra Gaeta, winner of January’s “Good Intentions”

Ingrid Wiese, winner of February’s Brotherly Love (and Sisterly Affection)

You’ve got one more chance at admission to this pantheon of Philadelphia storytellers next week at L’Etage.  The last regularly scheduled slam of the season will be “Strange Coincidence” on Tuesday, October 28th.  Doors open at 7:30 and the slam begins at 8:30.

Girls Rock

Location: Painted Bride
Time: 3-6PM
Cost: $10

Camp isn’t what it used to be.

Learn the story of Girls Rock Camps in the dynamic documentary Girls Rock!, to be screened at The Painted Bride as part of First Person Festival. Girls Rock Camps are a growing phenomenon, widely acclaimed for the confidence that is instilled in these girls. But mostly, it’s the original music–raucous, poignant, true down to the bone. In one week, the girls get a band together, write lyrics and music, and then perform. It’s transforming, empowering, amazing.

Girls Rock Camp first started in Portland, but now there are several more, including Philadelphia. In fact, this isn’t just a screening. Local Philly girls will perform after the show. Also, Rock Camp veterans sts, Nicole J. Georges, and Katy Davidson will be on hand to talk about the new book, Rock ‘n Roll Camp for Girls, and to answer your questions.

If you have a daughter, niece, or granddaughter, or just want to inhale some girlpower energy, you can’t miss this event! Listen to what Claudia Lucero said about her experience as an adult working at Rock Camp:

One particular girl changed my life. She pounded her drums so hard that they would creep away from her constantly while her cymbals simultaneously unhinged. When she finally noticed, she giggled with delight, not at all apologetic, fixed the gear, and did it again. She focused hard on her counts, sweated up a storm, and messed up over and over again, but was never deterred. Watching her, I came to realize that messing up is part of the fun!

What if I lived my life like these girls live in Rock Camp? Can I recreate a nine-year-old’s fearlessness in my life–with music and everything else?

It is night. A boy of about twelve stands on the sidewalk, a halo of light from the Clearfield Beer Distributor framing his dark outline. The boy looks to our right, toward the darkened storefront of the Front St. Gym Boxing Club. Caught between two choices on the lonely street, the boy takes a step the other way, black hightop a quick-stepping blur.

Charged with tension and steeped in atmospherics, Jim Lommasson’s photographs of the vanishing world of boxing gyms will be featured at The Painted Bride as part of the First Person Festival. Five of the gyms are in Philadelphia: Front Street Gym, Joe Frazier Gym, Blue Horizon, James Shuler Memorial Gym, Joey Eyes and Goodfellas. The bound version of this exhibit is found in Shadow Boxers: Sweat, Sacrifice & the Will to Survive in American Boxing Gyms.

On Friday, November 7th, join us for American Fight Clubs

Location: Painted Bride Art Center, 230 Vine St.

Time: A reception will run from 5-9pm in the Painted Bride Gallery, and Jim Lommasson will lead a discussion at 7pm.

Cost: Free

Jim Lommasson is a photographer based in Portland, Oregon. He and writer Katherine Dunn were awarded the 2004 Dorothea Lange-Paul Taylor Prize by the Center for Documentary Studies at Duke University for their collaboration on this book. Recently, he has been photographing and interviewing returning Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans. “Recovery Mission,” a photo essay featuring their stories, appears in the September issue of Portland Monthly Magazine. The complete work will be exhibited at the New American Art Union this fall.

The exhibit will be on display in the Painted Bride Gallery during the Festival and throughout November and December.

Find out more about Lommasson at his website, and if you happen to be in Portland over the next month, stop in and see his work Exit Wounds: Combat Trauma and the Trials of Homecoming at the New American Art Union.

Check out our full page ad in this week’s City Paper:

Get tickets here:
American Fight Clubs (FREE, no tickets required)
Best Impressions
Okie Noodling 2
Swallow Your Pride
Doubletime!
Grand Slam