Tonight (Fri 11/3) will be an absolutely first of it’s kind event. As best as we can tell this has never been done anywhere, ever.
The Nomad Story Slam – Election Edition will feature candidates running in contested elections for mayor, City Council, and School Committee telling stories. No campaigning, no electioneering, no notes – just get up and tell us a five minute true personal story.
Our hat’s are off to all those who signed up. While you may think that this would be like ducks to water, nothing could be further from the truth. For the candidates, this is a bit of a plunge into the unknown and we’re delighted that they’re ready for that plunge.
Tomorrow we’ll be celebrating the people behind the candidacies. In the midst of a political campaign it’s easy to forget that all of these candidates are just our neighbors – people, like us all, with stories to tell.
I can’t wait.
The event has been sold out for a week but we have been getting a few last minute cancellations. Email me at [email protected] and we’ll pass on any tickets if we get them.
Super idea !
Leave it to Jerry to think of new ways to bring us all together! I am personally looking forward to hearing stories from Janet and Jake…Janet always makes me smile and I can’t wait to see Jake let loose!
Thanks Jerry! Can’t wait for tonight 🙂
A round of applause for Jerry & the Nomad Story Slam – Election Edition ! What a fun night and opportunity to come together as one community and share a good laugh or cry. What great stories. I think this has the making of an election season tradition! Thanks Jerry and despite your confession you’re not a weasel 🙂
Kudos to Jerry Reilly, a jewel in the crown of Newton, albeit a weasel jewel.
And a shout out to ever candidate who got up for five minutes (well, more like seven minutes in some cases) and told their stories. Thank you all for keeping it 100.
I tell a lot of stories about me and my family, and people sometimes ask me if they’re true. My answer is always the same; they’re true enough.
Peace out.
Jerry, you are a great weasel.
Thank you to all the candidates who put themselves out there; vulnerable and exposed. You all showed great courage.
Great fun! For five minutes (sometimes six!) the candidates stopped their campaigning and became just regular people, talking about themselves. Thank you Jerry!
One question: were the escaped tortoises ever found?
Thanks, @amysangiolo. Now I’m all like, Stephen King’s #petsematary.
Ok really? WTH?
People are doing “Thumbs Down” to the complimentary comments about a wonderful community event? #Sad
@Gloria, pay no attention to the Fellowship of the Miserable. Haters gonna hate. They’re out there in force on Village 14 this weekend, and they’re not doing their candidates any good by being so vitriolic and petty.
BTW, @amysangiolo, my wife is still trying to figure out how a tortoise was fast enough to escape your yard. Twice.
What Councilor Hess-Mahan said. Hateful or petty
comments will not help your candidates or your ballot question. If you want to help go hold a campaign sign on a street corner, preferably a noisy one where no one can hear you.
Honestly, that’s a problem with the thumbs up/thumbs down system. As soon as it was implemented I noticed it because people will thumbs down certain people regardless of what they post. Look at how many thumbs downs Bryan Barash tends to get even if he isn’t posting anything contentious or charter related.
What a wonderful night! We loved that so many candidates were willing to take the leap and tell such wonderful personal stories. The highlight of the whole event for me was the sheer (and shared) humanity of it all. We do have some very special people running for office in our town.
As for me, confession certainly cleared my conscience. Make no mistake, I am guilty but absolution ends with “go forth and sin no more”, so I’ll get to work on that.
For those who weren’t there … if all goes well at New TV today, we hope to have the stories available for viewing over the weekend.
Thanks to all those who attended and also those who made generous donations. This event was a great financial shot in the arm for the Newton Nomadic Theater and we appreciate it.
One of my favorite moments of the evening was at the very end. While a very enthusiastic Matt Miller was telling me what fun the whole night at been he said “next election you’ve got to do ‘Candidate Karaoke'”. I’m definitely going to get started on that one 😉
For the record, I do endorse every one of the candidates who were there last night. So on Tuesday – go vote for them
@Ted: Not one but two ran away!
@Jerry: That was lots of fun. Thanks for inviting me to participate!!!
@Ted: You are always a hard act to follow!!
Sorry I had to miss it because of a previous engagement I couldn’t get out of. I hope this may be a fitting replacement to the South Boston Saint Patrick’s Day roast that has really run its course.
Great idea!! Who attended? It wasn’t filmed by any chance (not that it would be the same watching it online)?
LOL about Candidate Karaoke. I hope you are serious about pursuing the idea, Jerry!Would it be possible to move future events to Saturday night?
Ok… So for karaoke night, Jay Harney and I are doing Islands In The Stream (he’s Kenny) and Ted and I are doing Paradise by the Dashboard Lights. This was confirmed last night.
What other duos would y’all like to see?
See you on Tuesday!!
@Matt: Can I join in on the Paradise by the Dashboard Lights. There is a female voice in that!
@Patricia – see Jerry’s posting a few comments up:
“For those who weren’t there … if all goes well at New TV today, we hope to have the stories available for viewing over the weekend.”
Last night’s event was the light in the storm of the past few weeks. Lots of laughter, and more than a few tears shed too.
One of the funniest stories was Amy Mah Sangiolo’s about run away tortoises. Owen’s crossing was one of the more poignant.
I hope everyone gets to catch it on replay.
@ Jo-Louise Allen – thanks! I will definitely check it out!
@Matthew: I’ll sign up to do a song with Jake, but only if we can go last. I’ve got about as much tone as he does and I don’t want to ruin the vibe!
I arrived at 6:30 to get front row seats…and I’d do it again! Story Slams are special, but this one, with candidates who may have become disembodied figures of our disdain and marginalization as we stamp our approval on others, brings us back to the realization that all the candidates are human, love Newton, have a passion to serve and a capacity to pursue and promote what is dear to their political hearts. It puts a third dimension to the figures that two-dimensional mailers cannot paint. They were funny, poignant, revealing, interesting, and educational. Even the ones I won’t vote for!!!!
All the stories from last night’s event will go out tonight (Sat 11/4) at 10 PM on NewTV, Newton’s cable access television. We’ll have them all here on Village14 soon (maybe tomorrow) with individual story links