The Moth Ball: La Dolce Vita

Salman Rushdie received The Raconteur award last night at The Moth Ball, the annual benefit event sponsored by the storytelling group, The Moth.

Rushdie proved himself worthy of the award by telling a tale about driving across Europe and Asia as a young man in the 60s, accompanying a friend whose stubbornness nearly gets them killed. Rushdie had a bad cold and only his sniffles got in the way of a great story.

Garrison Keillor, last year's winner and the event co-host, presented Rushdie's award. Keillor also entertained the audience with a tale, a story set in New York rather than the typical Minnesota setting of Keillor's A Prairie Home Companion yarns. Among other literary celebrities at the ball were actors Lili Taylor, John Turturo and actor/writer Tony Hendra.

The evening also featured an East Coast versus West Coast storytelling showdown. Winners of recent Los Angeles and New York story slams competed against each other. Both yarn spinners told stories about youthful swagger, but the west coaster won hands down with his account of seven scary days in jail.

Many guests at the gala were frocked out in feather headdresses; colorful, flapperish dresses stood out among the standard black cocktail dresses. All fitting with the theme "La Dolce Vita." (This, like all Moth events, are themed.)

Despite the finery and the fancy locale, the Capitale ballroom, The Moth Ball did not entertain as well as the Moth Mainstage events that I have been to. Somehow, the obligatory award show flow (an introducer who introduces the presenter who does the presenting) doesn't entertain as well as dig-right-in storytelling.