Our April Story Slam is themed Ink! This theme encompasses both Ink in all forms – books, magazine articles and even tattoos. Perhaps a classic novel changed your life. Maybe you penned something that changed someone else’s life. Do you have a tattoo story to share? There’s opportunities to take the theme Ink in a variety of directions. We will see you in April!

NOTE ON TICKETS: We’ve made a few changes to our ticket policy. When you visit our ticket page, you will now have the opportunity to choose either reserved seats or standing room only tickets for each show. Tickets for each event will only be available starting the day after the previous month’s show.

Our March Story Slam gives you a choice. Evil or Genius? Maybe both? Do you have a story about meeting someone who was an Evil Genius? Perhaps it was your college roommate, or someone you knew in high school. Could it be your ex? Maybe you pitched or even executed an idea you thought was ingenious and someone perceived it as evil. Ideas often have unintended consequences as they ripple out into the atmosphere. You story could just be about being a genius – or be solely about being evil. One or the other, or both. 

Please remember we have limited seating at Side Bar. For a seat, please purchase your ticket here and be sure to arrive early. We can only hold seats until 7:45 due to popular demand. We do allow to pay at the door ($10) and stand back at the bar. 

We heard a wide range of stories on the theme Warning Signs, including tales of lentil soup in Africa, condemned college buildings, bad real estate dealings, and exposing oneself while at Jewish summer camp. We heard a few stories about bad drivers – including one who was a bus driver. We also heard one story about overcoming the warning signs from a potential father in law, and another story about overcoming the warning signs of a potential son in law.

Big thanks goes out to all our storytellers – and to our sold out, and rather rowdy live audience. Your cheers and applause is inspiring to everyone who takes the stage.

Here’s the two winning stories. First up is Karen Randall and the awkwardness of visiting her gynecologist for the first time.

Here’s Eryn Travis’s story about sending her son to school in his pajamas.

Warning Signs.

Could there be a better theme for a Story Slam set for two days before Valentine’s Day? Perhaps when you met your significant other, you didn’t heed the warning signs that they were the one. Or maybe you dated someone you were crazy about, only to discover they were just plain crazy. Okay, we’re just having fun here, but lets discuss more ideas on what the theme Warning Signs could entail.

Are you a person who takes risks? Perhaps you’ve taken physical risks or monetary risks? Maybe you’ve traveled to exotic locations – skied down a glacier or hiked an amazing summit? We take a risk when we make a career change, when we stop to help a car broken down on the side of the road. Helping others often means we put ourselves at risk. Loving others means we put ourselves at risk. Our world is fraught with risk, and we are left to visualize the warning signs based on our own experiences.

Perhaps you a person who plays it safe? Maybe you lived a vanilla life until one day you were struck with the inclination to “toss caution to the wind” and go for it. That may have proven to be exhilarating…or a catastrophe. We hope it was the former.

The photo below shows the Warning Sign that stands at the summit of the Canyons Ski Resort in Park City, Utah. My brother and I once stood at that sign during a blizzard – me on my snowboard and he on skis – before plummeting down the backside of the mountain in some stellar back country skiing. A month later, we read that a skier was killed in an avalanche on the same out of bounds path.

We spend our lives evaluating Warning Signs – on prescription bottles, on highways, on wine bottles, on restaurant menus – and making decisions as to whether we will heed them or blow past them. Our decisions sometimes lead to glory, at other times they may lead to tragedy. We want to hear your story!

The Warning Signs Story Slam is Tuesday, February 12th at Side Bar in West Chester, PA. For your tickets, click HERE. Also – don’t forget to read our Parking Tips. We hope to see you there!

Thanks so much to all our storytellers who took to the stage for our first story slam at Side Bar in West Chester. Videos of the rest of the stories should be posted over the next few days so check back soon.

The next West Chester Story Slam is themed “Warning Signs,” and will be held at Side Bar on Tuesday, February 12th. Tickets for all our 2013 regular season Story Slams are now available HERE!

If you are looking for an event to attend before then, the Delco Story Slam, themed “Good Intentions,” will be held at Burlap and Bean in Newtown Square. Tickets for Delco Story Slam can be purchased here.

The theme for the night is Social Media. What do we mean by Social Media?

We’re looking for stories about how the internet has changed your life. Social Media is thought of mainly as websites such as Facebook, Twitter, or Linked In, but we are happy to hear stories based on relationships made through the internet. Perhaps you are now married to someone you met on an online dating site. Maybe through using a Family Tree website, your learned something unique about your family history.

We’d love to hear stories where virtual reality slams into physical reality. We can’t help but think of the famous Seinfeld scene where George Costanza discusses Relationship George vs. Independent George. Social media brings about instances where your work friends now mingle with your family, where your mother may respond to Facebook posts from your college roommates. If you use Social Media, you know it becomes one big melting pot – for better or for worse!

We hope to see you on January 8th.

Oh, and here’s a Parking tip for West Chester. The Chestnut Street Garage (across from the YMCA) is a ticketed garage. If you pull in to park, they will hand you a time-stamped ticket. However, their attendants are only in the office until 9:30, which means if you exit the lot after 9:30 the gate is open and their is no charge.