Driving in Jersey from Steven Berkowitz on Vimeo.

This was a great night. I had so much fun up there at the Bitter End. People really seemed connected to the story and had all kinds of kind words. Host Sara Barron was particularly encouraging and she ran with that Eiffel Tower story for the rest of the night. Too bad we can’t get video of that. Or can we?

What a weird and amazing night it was. January 24, 2011. The Highline Ballroom. The Moth GrandSLAM. Me.

Poor, poor me. The fates, in the form of Dan Kennedy’s delicate paw pulling my name from the hat, decreed that I had to go first, had to be the one to dive into the cold room. The moment he called my name, I knew my performance no longer mattered. You go first, you don’t win. It’s that simple. But as I stepped to the mic, I realized that it really did matter, just in a different way. I had to win the audience over, not just for me but for the nine super talented people stacked up behind me, each and every one grateful that that was my job and not theirs. For the rest of the night, they all treated me like a hero, as though I volunteered to jump on that grenade for them.

Let me tell you, that room was cold, which is no reflection on Dan at all. There’s an awful lot of mass in a big crowd like at the Highline and, as with supertankers and central banks, it takes a while to get a cold audience up to speed.

This is probably a good place to apologize to the other storytellers for not being as engaged in their stories as I could have been. I checked out a little after my performance. I was out of the competition before I even got my scores and the only way my reptile brain was going to handle that was if I put a serious chemical haze between it and the world. I stood apart for the rest of the evening, watching my friends run a race I was no longer in.

Still, it was an awesome night. I told a great story and I’m quite happy with, even proud of, my performance. So come ride the ferry with me and see how far Hope and Faith can take you.

Hope Floats from Steven Berkowitz on Vimeo.

The Wedding Story from Steven Berkowitz on Vimeo.

So here I am, dropping some hard truths about my family at a Moth StorySLAM. It was December 23, 2010 at Housing Works and the theme was Homecoming.

What I like best about this video is that is shows how far I’ve come as a storyteller and as a performer since I started this stuff in the summer of 2009. I’m calm, in command of myself and completely connected with the audience. I really am quite proud of this performance.

Beyond that, it was one of the best Moth nights ever, with a stage full of really solid stories and an audience full of great friends and friendly strangers.

The Gun Story from Steven Berkowitz on Vimeo.

With the GrandSLAM coming up in a bit over a week, I thought I’d post the story that got me there. This is an updated version of a story I told in November 2009.

This was the first time I was on stage anywhere, ever. (Well, ‘cept for a 6th grade turn as Ed Sullivan in Bye, Bye Birdie.) It was September 14′s Moth SLAM at Southpaw and I think I did alright. I actually came in second, being blown away by another first time teller, the untouchable Elizabeth Spector, who went on to win the GrandSLAM a few weeks back.

This is also the first time I’ve seen my performance, which is proving inordinately useful. (Slow down, less movement, read the audience better; still damned proud of my debut.) I’m also reminded that the Moth is a very kind room. And I remember Baron Vaughn’s (the host) early laughter let me know I was in the right place.