Greetings from L’Etage, the second story of Beau Monde on 6th and Bainbridge. The candles are lit, the mood is festive, the wifi is tenuous but holding steady. Stay tuned for live updates on Philly’s first story slam of 2008!

If this is your first slam, here’s some background: ten people are selected at random from a group of people who have signed up in advance, and have five minutes each to tell a (true!) story centered around this month’s theme of “Good Intentions,” and they are judged by audience members. There are no limits set on who can participate, so it looks to be an eclectic cross-section of tellers of stories and livers of lives.

The space seems conducive to the baring of souls: dim and bistro-like, it kinda just makes you want to get snookered on red wine and reveal a dark secret.

8:27 - It’s filling up in here! The crowd has settled in with drinks. The audience is beautiful and hip. The reward for winning this evening’s slam is a golden ticket to the “championship” storyslam in November, the winner of which will be crowned the Best Storyteller in Philadelphia.

8:37 - The evening’s host, Ed Tettemer, starts us off with a charming Garrison Keillor-like story whose punch line involves an escort service. I would try to re-tell it, but I think the nuance would be lost in the printed word . This evening’s judges will be Tippy, Susan, and Alex. Major audience shouts-out to last years winner, Juliet Wayne (my apologies for any misspellings.)

First up, Kevin Lee!