Grand Slam StorySlam

The Moth is at it again. This time we went to the Grand Slam held at King King, where winners from the past 10 months of StorySlam all compete against each other with a new theme - Crossing the Line. Perhaps this theme begs for storytellers to go to the lowest common denominator. Perhaps I was tired. Several of these stories ended up feeling cheap and manipulative. Tell a story of masturbation, or bi-sexual trysts, or lesbian sex. Of course those cross the line, and the titillation factor gets a rise out of the audience. But they were not necessarily well told stories. In contrast, my personal favorite was the story of two kissing cousins observed at a wedding. It also could be considered cheap and manipulative, but the story teller was charismatic, and the story was told not for shock value, but as an OMG - I can't believe what I am seeing, people watching bonanza. So as obvious as it sounds, good story telling is only partly in the text, and largly in the delivery.
3-stars