Visit your local bookstore or music retailer, and you’ll encounter the very small “spoken word” section somewhere near comedy. You’ll find anything from Martin Luther King’s greatest speeches to audio versions of some notable books to the non-musical performances of Henry Rollins. As a word geek, I’m usually on the lookout for something with great storytelling and eloquence. Most of the time, I am let down. If you were to ask me who my favorite storyteller is, I would say without hesitation-- Spalding Gray . It has been roughly ten years since I’ve witnessed his word mastery at the old Goodman Theater in Chicago. But his work has had a profound impact on me. Picture a solitary man sitting at a table with a glass of water and some notes. This, I’m sure, does not sound like an interesting scenario. But Spalding had a virtuosic ability to tell a story with equal parts comedy and tragedy. Whether he described the “perfect moment,” his relationship with his live-in girlfriend, or becoming a...
