Hollywood Voice Pro and 5-Time The Moth Story Slam Winner Bill Ratner To Wow Crowd with Nine Others at The Moth Grand Story Slam October 11

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
West Hollywood, California, United States of America (Free-Press-Release.com) October 9, 2010 -- BillRatner.com
Media contact: WJ Carrel

Los Angeles – “We’re storytellers, but still we should have the equivalent of the WBA weigh-in with the long silk shorts, bare chests, and braggadocio,” exclaims five-time The Moth Story Slam winner Bill Ratner who returns for a show down with nine other Story Slam winners for The Moth Grand Slam Storytelling Competition Monday, October 11, 2010, at the famed rock’n’roll club Echoplex in Echo Park, Los Angeles (enter through the alley at 1154 Glendale Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90026), at 7:30 pm. Ratner and the nine other Moth Story Slam winners will tell five-minute true tales based on the evening’s theme, “Without a Net.” The Moth producer Kerry Armstrong heralds Monday night’s stories as, “tales of daring acts! . From calculated risks to plain foolishness, thin ice to shaky ground. Stories of speculation, rewards and flops, conquests and consequences.”

Entrance to the event is $18 and tickets can be purchased at ticketweb.com. The evening of tales, hosted by comedy writer Brian Finkelstein, will be recorded by The Moth for archiving and possible rebroadcast on The Moth Radio hour which airs on NPR affiliate KCRW (89.9 FM.) The Moth stories are also downloadable on i-Tunes.

“The Moth Grand Slam is a battle of wits and words – fierce, hilarious, heartbreaking and all points between,” comment its producers. “We are dedicated to finding intriguing people to tell inspired stories.”

Each month of the year LA storytellers gather at Los Angeles bars and nightclubs – El Cid, Busby’s East, and the Air Conditioned Supper Club - to compete in that evening’s The Moth Story Slam. Three winners emerge each month, one from each venue, and 10 winners compete at The Moth Grand Slam Storytelling event. The winner of the Grand Slam gets to travel to New York to perform a one-minute version of their championship story at The Moth 2010 Grand Ball November 16 at Capitale in New York City’s Bowery district.

Ratner, a well-known Hollywood voice-over artist, recently returned from two successful storytelling appearances at the National Storytelling Festival in historic Jonesborough, Tennessee. Currently, he is the voice of numerous movie trailers, TV networks, and affiliate stations around the U.S. where he is recognized for his soothing delivery, inimitable charm, and wry humor. He has a huge following of fans who remember him as “Flint” in GI Joe, Family Guy, and Robot Chicken. His short stories and essays are published in Los Angeles’ new literary magaine The Amor Fati, Pleiades: A Journal of New Writing, Cheng Kung Literary, Southern Anthology, Papier Mache, Nightblade, Spork, Marquee, and Coast Magazine. Ratner is a long-standing member of Actors Equity, the American Federation of TV & Radio Artists where he serves as a National Board Member, and the Screen Actors Guild. He is also a member of the National Storytelling Network. He lives in Los Angeles, CA. More about Bill Ratner can be found at billratner.com.

The Moth is a New York City based non-profit that conducts live on-going story-telling events at venues in Chicago, Detroit, Los Angeles, and New York. The concept is the brain child of George Dawes Green, a Georgia native, whose intention was to recreate storytelling on sultry summer eves at Wanda’s porch on St. Simon’s Island. The screen around Wanda’s porch had a hole in it “where moths would flutter through and stay trapped in the light,” hence the name for the storytelling sessions. Since The Moth’s inception in 1997, over 3,000 live stories have been told across the country, and in January 2010 The Moth was ranked among the top 10 innovative media companies in the U.S. along with NPR, the Huffington Post, and Scribd. The Moth is one of the top podcasts on i-Tunes, and its radio show can be heard on over 60 public radio stations. For more information on story slam performances visit themoth.org on the Internet.

Bill Ratner     humorous speakers     master storytellers     storytelling     The Moth Story Slam Winners     The Moth Story Slams