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THE DAILY ASTORIAN • FRIDAY, JANuARY 18, 2019
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Seaside Story Slam
draws from life
Photos by Katherine Lacaze
David Ambrose, of Astoria, shares a story about Stuart, the hitchhiking dog, during the Seaside Story Slam on Jan. 10. The theme for the evening was Luck, and Ambrose was
one of eight storytellers who participated in the performance competition.
Eight minutes. No notes. True stories that make you laugh and cry.
By KATHERINE LACAZE
For The Daily Astorian
IF YOU GO
E
veryone has a story.
That’s what Sadie Mercer
believes.
“It’s all part of the
human condition,” Mercer, owner of
Maggie’s on the Prom, in Seaside,
said. “It doesn’t matter what (the
story) is, we can relate to it.”
Earlier this month, she and her
husband, Andy, launched the Seaside
Story Slam series, which takes place
at the restaurant from 6 to 8 Thursday
nights, January through April, with
the Grand Slam scheduled for May 2.
It’s a simple concept, drawn from
a similar competition held monthly at
Rhythm & Rye in Olympia, Washing-
ton, that Mercer attended one night in
the fall and thought, “Seaside needs
something like this.”
At the Seaside version, patrons at
Maggie’s can sign up to tell a story
that relates to a theme. One by one,
in random order, they have up to
eight minutes to share a true personal
account, told in first-person from
memories, which means no using
notes or cue cards.
Three judges score the stories
based on the following criteria:
• Does the story address the
theme?
• Is it compelling? Do you want to
know what happens next?
• Does it have a clear beginning,
middle and end?
“The end is very important,” Mer-
cer told storytellers at a recent slam.
“You don’t want to forget the end.”
The Seaside series was intro-
duced Jan. 3, with eight storytellers
and about 40 people in attendance, a
dozen of which had “no idea it was
story slam,” Mercer said. On Jan. 10,
another eight storytellers — hailing
from Seaside, Astoria and Vancou-
ver, Washington — shared memo-
ries pertaining to the chosen theme:
Luck.
The winner, Dee Saidi, of Asto-
ria recounted the time she used her
friend Doreen’s birth certificate to
accompany another friend, Kathleen,
SEASIDE STORY SLAM SERIES
Where: Maggie’s on the Prom, 580
Beach Drive, Seaside
When: 6 to 8 p.m. Thursdays
through May 2 (Sign-up starts at
5:30 p.m.)
For more information: Call 503-
738-6403 or find Seaside Story Slam
on Facebook
ABOVE: Dee Saidi, of Astoria, was the winner of the Seaside Story Slam at Maggie’s
on the Prom on Jan. 10. The competition takes place each Thursday, with each
weekly winner receiving a giftcard and entry into the May 2 Grand Slam. BELOW:
Kat Metzler, of Seaside, shares a humorous story about her mother, who claimed the
‘My Fair Lady’ title at the Columbia County Fair. The Seaside Story Slam performance
competition runs for several weeks, culminating in a Grand Slam on May 2.
on a spontaneous overnight cruise
to the Bahamas in the 1990s. While
she made good memories on the trip,
she was constantly fretting about
what could happen — especially
when the boat lost an engine and she
thought they might go under. They
made it back to shore safely, without
“Doreen” dying, and Saidi learned a
big lesson: Never go on a cruise with
your friend’s identity.
David Ambrose, of Astoria, talked
about his encounter in the 1970s with
Stuart, the hitchhiking dog who half-
way through the journey “made up
his mind to stay in L.A. and have a
good time with the other dogs there.”
Mary Kemhus, of Seaside, talked
about losing vision in her right eye as
an 8-year-old during a Fourth of July
accident, and the process of gaining
back her sight and sense of gratitude.
The stories run the emotional
gamut — some are funny and enter-
taining, others poignant, even sad —
and give a bit of insight into the sto-
ryteller’s life.
Patrons don’t have to be a story-
teller or judge to participate. They
can also provide an anonymous writ-
ten answer to a Curious Question,
which changes each Thursday. The
Curious Questions cover a range of
topics, from the item a person would
want if stranded on a deserted island,
to what they would order as their last
meal on Death Row. Mercer reads
the answers — whether they are sim-
ple and straightforward, or clever and
comical — during breaks.
The winner of each slam gets a
$20 gift card, entrance into a draw-
ing for a two-night stay at the Ocean-
front Inn, and an invitation to partic-
ipate in the final Grand Slam. Future
themes include Second Chance, For
the Love of, Courage, Kids Say the
Darnedest Things, Instincts, Degrees
of Separation, and It Seemed Like a
Good Idea.