What a night we had Thursday! The view from the top floor of the Swedish Club was superb and the stories were just what I needed. Sun, friends, and stories. It’s a perfect day for me.
In all the years I’ve been running FGS, I’ve never been able to relax and enjoy a few minutes of quiet before the show. I’ve always been driving in circles looking for parking, running around setting up chairs, and wrestling with a PA system. But ever since we moved to the Swedish Club, things have been…kinda perfect.
There are tons of free parking. The PA system must be some kind of Scandinavian because it hasn’t given me hardly any trouble, and the chairs are magically in place when I get there. That means I can sit on the deck of the club and stare quietly over Lake Union before everyone gets there. What a treat.
The stories, of course, were wonderful. We had everything from the importance of following your moral compass, to a personal living room concert from Jimi Hendrix, to the joys of seeing your sweetheart on a dating site a few days after she dumps you.
As always, the best of the evening was talking afterward to everyone. FGS is a great place to learn how to tell a compelling story, but the real-and-not-so-secret reason I keep this thing running is the people I get to meet. A lot of friendships have started at our show and that’s the real reason for telling any story, really. We tell stories to connect and there’s no better way to do that live, in front of a room full of people who are rooting for you.
FGS isn’t the only place this happens. There are some great places around here to tell or just listen to stories. Here are three of my favorites:
7 Stories – This Friday – suggested theme is “Letting Go”
Bar Stories https://www.meetup.com/free-monthly-storytelling-meetup
Artist’s Way open mic – You get 10 minutes to tell a story, sing a song, read a poem, or tell the audience how much you love quantum physics. Yes, that really happened when I was there Monday. I love this show. It’s now on my list of places to work on new material. The audience was full of kind, patient folks who laughed, smiled, and applauded for everyone who walked on stage.
Don’t forget the FGS free monthly online workshop is Sunday, August 3
If you feel like singing instead of telling stories, come out to the Swedish Club Friday for Beserkaraoke! I’ll be in Olympia that night but I’d love for some of you to go to beserker karaoke and tell me what it’s like. There will also be a taco bar so it’ll be guaranteed fun watching people hit the high note in Unchained Melody with a tummy full of ground beef.
Click here to RSVP: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/berserkaraoke-tickets-1511010465979
The next FGS is Thursday, August 21. The theme is “First Love” but you can tell a story about anything as long as it follows our usual rules and guidelines.
I hope you’re all having a great summer so far and managing to keep cool. Write me if you can’t make the workshop and want help working on a story.
See you next month!
Paul
freshgroundstories at gmail dot com
Fresh Ground Stories 