The lure of storytelling at The Marsh

When you come home from an evening of emotional and intellectual satisfaction...so hard to wind down. I invited a friend to meet me at The Marsh in Berkeley tonight for the monthly Tell it on Tuesday, and from now on, whenever I mention storytelling - she will know what I'm talkin' about!

Here's tonight's roster:

Harry Richard Hall on guitar- not fair. This guy's got talent, but we were all talking. For Harry, I wish an attentive audience next time.

Nina G - Billed as "the world's only female stuttering stand-up comedian," she does not disappoint. A stand-up comic with gravitas. She was on first, too, which is a challenge for anyone.

Kenny Yun does an incredible story about growing up Korean in an ambitious family that lands in Salinas, CA., as seen, mainly, through his mother's eyes. He also portrays a grandfather, Kenny's dad, and Kenny, himself at Berkeley, where he couldn't stand the stench of geeks. I talked with him afterwards. A very gentle, humble guy with immense, focused talent.

Joya Cory is brilliant. A woman of a certain age goes to the city park, just to breathe...she overhears two 20-year-old gals talking about the creepiness of aging: and, she's off! In her monologue we meet her family, including Antonio, an artist husband she met in the happenin' 60s, now undergoing surgery for a dread disease. Ms. Cory plays it all, with an agile body and La Liz-like profile. She moves like a rippling stream on a summer day, has the timing of a Swiss clock, and the poignancy and textured voice of a prize-winning novelist.

Then, we get San Francisco comedian Michael Meehan's, "Hey, Monster, Hands off my City." Handsome as any Hollywood leading man, he wears an outrageous headdress, a set of wide-gapped teeth, and a mask that become integral to his humor at every level of an outrageous and hilarious delivery. (Mr. Meehan is shown above in a crop from a photo promoting The SF Fringe Festival in 2011.) Mike Meehan was on Craig Ferguson's TV show a while back, before he came up with the monster suit: http://youtu.be/maO8ckncx-k

Oh, I am so hooked on storytelling.