If you missed the StorySlam Tuesday night, you missed quite an evening of employment-related tales.  The winner of the night was the first storyteller of the night, Alex, with this hilarious story about his relationship with a personal assistant:

And now, the audience votes have been tallied, and Kent’s Phone Sex Operator story took Audience Favorite honors:

Thanks to everyone who came out on Tuesday! The next StorySlam is May 26th at L’Etage, and the theme is “Baggage.”

Also upcoming:

May 5th: Found with Sound! Davy and Peter Rothbart of Found Magazine at the Philadelphia Arts Bank.
May 13th: First Person Salon at the Philadelphia Arts Bank featuring memoirist Mark Rudd, dancer Gabrielle Revlock and filmmakers Barbara Attie, Janet Goldwater and Shannon Kane-Meddock
May 26th: StorySlam at L’Etage: Baggage
June 13th: Edible World: Joe Sixpack’s Northern Liberties

And ongoing, our annual writing, photography and film competition: First Person America: In These Hard Times

Here at First Person Arts, we just heard from one of our regular storytellers, Ben Drinen, that he’s published a new story in a French journal, thanks in part to the strength of his StorySlam performances.  Here’s a sample of Drinen’s Forced March.  Read the rest here.

Simeon and Baruch came around the bend in the long tradition of travelers, adventurers, weirdos, hobos, tramps, and thieves. It was a hot day five miles outside of San Antonio, Texas. The sky in its usual fashion was blue as blue could be, and that old Texas sun was burning oh so bright. Simeon was fat and Baruch was thin. Simeon’s bald head gleamed in the sun, and Baruch’s hair hung in a long braid down to his waist. Simeon had a harmonica and Baruch had a Takamine guitar, polished by raindrops, smacking his legs with each step, as it hung low on its strap, carried without a case. And the sun shone down on them both on the side of the road.

Baruch was hungrier than the devil on Halloween, and he started digging around in his pocket for a pull of pemmican beef jerky.
“Man,” said Baruch digging in his pocket for a pull of pemmican beef jerky, speaking with some kind of drawl that can only be formed in the backwoods bars in Cameroonian logging towns and creek beds of Central Pennsylvania, and front seat hitchhiking across the state of Tennessee courtesy of freewheeling epileptic preachers of the Lord, “Man, beef jerky sure tastes good in the morning.”

Read the rest…

Here’s Ben from last year’s “Secrets” StorySlam:

If you’re feeling ambitious, bring your “Odd Jobs” stories to L’Etage tonight!

Theme: Odd Jobs
When: Tuesday, April 28th.  Doors at 7:30.  Slam begins at 8:30.
Where: L’Etage Cabaret at 6th and Bainbridge
Who: Inquirer reporter Dianna Marder hosts.   We’ll have guest stories from Ted Passon and Chris Oberlin.
Why: Work.  Sheesh.  Who doesn’t have a story?
How much: $8 with $4 well drinks all night (6-pack of tix for $40)

Veteran StorySlammer and 2007 Grand Slam champion Juliet Wayne talking about work:

“Odd Jobs” stories tonight at L’Etage!

Theme: Odd Jobs
When: Tuesday, April 28th.  Doors at 7:30.  Slam begins at 8:30.
Where: L’Etage Cabaret at 6th and Bainbridge
Who: Inquirer reporter Dianna Marder hosts.   We’ll have guest stories from Ted Passon and Chris Oberlin.
Why: Work.  Sheesh.  Who doesn’t have a story?
How much: $8 with $4 well drinks all night (6-pack of tix for $40)

I wonder what ever became of the Deathwalkers? Here’s Davy Rothbart from the 2008 First Person Festival with an amusing find detailing notes from a gang initiation among 12 year-olds:

See Davy Rothbart and his brother Peter on May 5th when they launch a new book: Requiem for a Paper Bag: Celebrities and Civilians Tell Stories of the Best Lost, Tossed, and Found Items from Around the World

Details
May 5th, 2009
8pm with cocktail party and reception to follow

The Philadelphia Arts Bank
601 South Broad St.

General Admission
15$ (First Person Arts members: $10)

Cocktail Party and Reception
$35 (First Person Arts members: $25)

Buy Tickets Here!

And, for a great local collection of found oddities, browse the fascinating Found in Philly archive at the Sherman Community Arts Blog and contribute your own local finds.

Sponsored by:

NEXT STORYSLAM:

Theme: Odd Jobs
When: Tuesday, April 28th.  Doors at 7:30.  Slam begins at 8:30.
Where: L’Etage Cabaret at 6th and Bainbridge
Who: Inquirer reporter Dianna Marder hosts!
Why: Work.  Sheesh.  Who doesn’t have a story?
How much: $8 with $4 well drinks all night (6-pack of tix for $40)

Here’s veteran storyteller Lou Ludovici from 2008 with a story about the Road Not Taken:

Other First Person Arts stuff you really MUST know about:

May 5th: FOUND with SOUND! Davy and Peter Rothbart of Found Magazine perform live!
May 13th: First Person Salon at the Laurie Beechman featuring Mark Rudd, Gabrielle Revlock and scenes from a new documentary by Janet Goldwater, Barbara Attie and Shannon Kane-Meddock.

And don’t forget to enter our new competition: First Person America: In These Hard Times.

You packed the house for Davy Rothbart’s performance at the 2008 First Person Festival, and this spring, to celebrate the release of FOUND’s brand-new book, Requiem for a Paper Bag, intrepid FOUND road warriors Davy and Peter Rothbart are climbing back in the tour van for a 50-city cross-country odyssey.  On May 5th, they’ll steer that van into Philadelphia for the official launch date of the new book!

At the show, Davy (FOUND’s plucky point guard) will  share the latest magnificent and mesmerizing finds that’ve landed in the mailbox at FOUND HQ, plus hilarious found tales from contributors to the new book including Seth Rogen, Chuck D, Sarah Vowell, Devendra Banhart, and Weeds creator Jenji Kohan. Meanwhile, Davy’s brother Peter (FOUND’s international heartthrob) will dazzle with a glittering constellation of new breathtaking songs based on FOUND notes.

Guests at the cocktail party and reception afterward will have an opportunity to dig into the Found Magazine mailbag and open fresh submissions from around the world!

Details
May 5th, 2009
8pm with cocktail party and reception to follow

The Philadelphia Arts Bank
601 South Broad St.

General Admission
15$ (First Person Arts members: $10)

Cocktail Party and Reception
$35 (First Person Arts members: $25)

Buy Tickets Here!

And, for a great local collection of found oddities, browse the fascinating Found in Philly archive at the Sherman Community Arts Blog and contribute your own local finds.

Sponsored by:

Carl Sandburg’s Chicago

Hog Butcher for the World,
Tool Maker, Stacker of Wheat,
Player with Railroads and the Nation’s Freight Handler;
Stormy, husky, brawling,
City of the Big Shoulders

First Person Arts’ Chicago:

The Windy City Story Slam!  Much love and thanks to the die-hard storytellers who drove 13 hours each way to share their stories on the Free Library Festival stage.  Though Team Philadelphia walked away with an overall victory and audience favorite (in Amy Malissa), individual honors went to Max Glaessner of Chicago, and as such, he’s invited to the 2009 First Person Festival Grand Slam in November.  If you’d like to help Max get to the Festival, please pledge whatever you can here!

And now, the City of the Big Shoulder’s finest storytellers:

Enid Maldonado Ruiz

Nicolette Kittinger

Sam Snow

Max Glaessner

Bill Hillman

Thanks again to our wonderful new friends from Chicago.  It was an honor to have you, and we hope to see you again soon!

This is the seventh and final installment in a weekly series by Dianna Marder about her volunteer work with prisoners serving life sentences in a local prison.  The series will return in July.  Read it all here.

Yesterday was the last formal session of my Memoir Writing series with the lifers. But now that they’re hooked on the idea and I’m hooked on working with them, we agreed to meet again in July and early August for another four sessions. At that point, I hope, each participant will be able to re-write and polish a favorite piece that can be posted online.

For the last session, I asked them to write about a time when they were sick and needed care – and whether or not they got what they needed. Their stories were, of course, contrary to any you’d  get on the outside.

I was pretty much the only person in the group who had never been stabbed or shot, and those that had been debated which Philadelphia-area hospital treats gunshot and stabbing victims the worst. The competition for that designation is tough.

The lifers offer these words of wisdom:

• Stay out of a particular hospital known as is The Fray.
• Make sure your friends take off quickly after dropping you at an emergency room, so they don’t get questioned about what happened.
• You will probably end up getting arrested anyway after the incident, so don’t focus on that. Just concentrate on surviving and recovering.

And finally, here’s a riddle from one young inmate: What’s worse than being born blind? Having sight without vision.

That’s it from me until mid-summer.

-dianna marder

Yet another team of Philadelphians has done our city proud!  At this weekend’s Free Library Festival, five storytellers, all veterans of the First Person Arts StorySlam stage, took on the challengers from Chicago’s Windy City Story Slam and walked away with a victory!

Here they are, a parade of champions:

Rob Kogan

Angel Hogan

Ryan T. Barlow

Katonya Mosley

Amy Malissa

Stay tuned tomorrow for the videos from the challengers from Chicago, featuring overall winner Max Glaessner.