What's the Story (Morning Glory)?

Friday night I went to a new event called, "The Tell," held at El Cortez downtown. It was an evening of storytelling in the tradition of "The Moth," hosted by Dayvid Figler. It featured Mike Bunin and other Vegas alums such as Prof. Todd Jones, Historian Dr. Michael Green, San Francisco storyteller (and founder of "Porchlight") Beth Lisick. Art seller Naomi Arin and Cindy Reed rounded out the bill. There was a loose theme to all the stories: cheating.

As I listened to the stories I wondered if that was something if I could do. Stand on stage in front of people and tell a true story from my life. Sort of like the pieces in my Master's thesis. Or something from this blog. If it were any good. And...I almost said "more polished" here, but that would be missing the point. They are supposed to be unrehearsed. And they were. But they seemed to have been thought out beforehand. Dayvid Figler brought a prop.

He told a hilarious story about his quest to earn a Letterman's Jacket in high school. Figler is well known around Vegas for his commentaries on KNPR, his poetry and his work as an attorney and Judge. I remember he hosted a poetry slam at First Friday one time when I was there with Keir. I asked Keir to point him out for me, since they were friends. But we never found him. I guess we were in the wrong place. But I was excited then to meet the guy who did the KNPR commentaries.

I eventually ran into him at Dan Bunin's New Year's Eve party. And Janice introduced me to him once at the Arts Factory. She just said he was her friend Dayvid. He seemed quiet, so I wasn't quite sure he was the same one. But I remember he had the Google phone.

Anyway, when I got there I saw Dan and Martin sitting at a table in the back. I went over and said hi, and chatted with Dan about the Mets. I also said hello to Mike. Then I went to find a seat. The place was filling up fast. They say there were around 200 people. It was a very enjoyable, free night out.

The event was held in conjunction with the Vegas Valley Bookfest which starts next month. So they also had the audience members write some .Vegas-related haiku for the mayor to read at the kick off. There were some good ones. I tried to come up with something really fast in my head. But "really fast" is not a phrase I would use to describe my thought process. At least where coherent thought is concerned. My mind can be racing at a mile a minute, but it's usually in a jumble of random ideas.

On the way out, I saw Joel and Sandra and said hi. I'm pretty sure they didn't know who I was. I stood around for another 5 uncomfortable minutes. Then I gave up and headed for the parking garage. Gave up on what? I'm not sure what I was hoping for. I would've liked it if Ralph and Kate were there. I scanned the crowd for Janice or anyone else I might know. But in the end, I just bagged any further effort to socialize. I got in the car and headed home.

On the way, I tried to decide whether or not I should stop for some doughnuts. Turned out Krispy Kreme was closed. Not much of a story.