New York Confidential

Join me this Monday, February 21 for New York Confidential: Stories Exposed where I'll be telling a story of champagne dreams and cavier wishes with, of course, a fair dollop of smutty roe.

My upcoming storytelling events include:

Friday, March 4, 8pm: Ravenous Readings at Happy Ending Lounge.

Tuesday, March 22, 8pm: Standard Issues at Pacific Standard.

I regularly throw my name into the hat at The Moth, where anyone can be chosen to tell a story. I announce booked appearances and planned Moth nights on my Twitter; subscribe for updates.

See you there.

HNT

Preparing to take the stage at the Highline Ballroom for last night's Moth GrandSlam, I was nervous that I had chosen a story too awful for the given theme, “the point of no return.”

This was my first time to make it to the Moth’s championship round of storytelling competition. Like the nine other storytellers on the bill, I had won a previous StorySlam before moving to the GrandSlam. Competitors had been provided with the evening’s theme about two weeks prior to the event. Given the five-minute time limit and what I’ve so far ascertained about the audience’s familiarity with subjects I generally address as “Jefferson,” I felt a keen awareness of the challenges in choosing a story and telling it well.

A few days prior to the GrandSlam, I scrapped the story I had chosen in favor of something much more raw. The story went back two decades and yet its new revelations were only days old. As I told my story, I found myself shaking with a mix of emotions—fear, rage, numbness—and the audience’s dead silence as my only feedback.

I came in second place.

It’s not a story I anticipate telling on this blog, so to those who heard it live, thanks for allowing me to share it even as I’m not sure what happens next.

Welcome to those who found me through the Moth. By way of introduction, be aware that my blog isn’t safe for work, as I write graphically about sex. I also write about parenting, dating and relationships—our secret, but these are the real subjects of my sex blog—and each Thursday, you’ll keep up with the ongoing adventures of my right foot.

If your heart aches for stories of love and loss, you might start by reading Old Roads. If hot sex is more to your liking, that all began with my first post nearly six years ago. To keep up with my day-to-day meanderings, follow me on Twitter.

Enjoy.

Moth GrandSlam

I recently told a story at The Moth, the competitive storytelling event you know from NPR and podcasts. And, as it happens, I won! That means I advance to the next Moth GrandSlam on July twenty-eighth.

Want to join my pervy pals in cheering me on? I have the inside skinny. Tickets are on sale now at the Highline Ballroom. This is an early announcement for the storytellers and their friends. Moth members will be notified this afternoon. The general public will be notified tomorrow. It will promptly sell out with the general announcement, so get your tickets now. You can save the online surcharge by buying them at the Highline.

Kinky Sticks and The Moth

You never know what to expect from The Moth. Even its organizers can’t be sure what will happen.

Organized in eight cities, The Moth is a storytelling event in which audience members are encouraged to stand up to tell a story on a given theme. The stories are limited to five minutes duration and must be told extemporaneously. Prospective storytellers put their names into a hat and are drawn at random; each open-mike night is limited to ten stories, so one can’t be sure of being picked. If selected, a reader has only a few minutes to prepare to take the stage. Storytellers are scored by judges, and the winner of each open-mike night goes onto to the next round of competition, The Moth Grandslam, which invariable sells out immediately to audiences of several hundred people.

Each storyteller is recorded, whether at open-mike or at the Grandslam. The best are chosen for NPR, podcasts and DVD release.

Participating as a storyteller can be a harrowing experience. I’ve prepared on several occasions, only to go home without being selected. I was chosen once, told my story and had ‘em eating out of my hand, only to run afoul of the five minute limit. I didn’t go on to the Grandslam.

By contrast, my darling Lori Baird has the luck of The Moth. She’s been picked twice to tell stories and won each time. You may already know her as a storyteller—Lori is the wiseacre behind Kinky Stick Figure. (Lori has shed her former pseudonym “Lynsey” because, well, Lori’s more famous and all.)

On May twenty-fourth, you’ll find Lori at the next Grandslam—that is, if you can get tickets. They went on sale today. The venue is B. B. Kings Blues Club. That’s right, Kinky Sticks is going to Broadway.

Today also saw the release of Lori’s first Moth podcast, recorded at her first event. I joined her that night at the Bitter End. See, I had a vested interest in hearing how this story turned out. Perhaps you’ll figure out why.



G Marks the Spot