The performance, which packed about 350 of us into the spare ballroom at the Knights of Columbus on Liberty Street, was simply beautiful on many levels. George Dawes Green, founder of The Moth, is the visionary behind The Unchained Tour, but he obviously has a huge cast of supporters.

The host for the evening was the sharp-tongued Peter Aguero, who in the second half of the show told a bawdy, hysterical story involving an appendectomy wound and sex with his then-girlfriend-now-wife. Aguero works routinely with The Moth and has his own “improvised storytelling rock band”: The BTK Band.

The musicians for this tour were Rachel Kate (Gillion) and Joel T. Hamilton. Some in the audience probably remembered Rachel Kate from her former band The Shaniqua Brown, but she is quite a different presence with just a guitar. I had never heard or heard of Hamilton, but I loved being transported by his music. I will listen to him again, for sure.

Dawn Fraser told a beautiful story about her twin brother — a runner who participated in the Special Olympics after her own competitive career was cut short by a bad injury.

Savannah native Edgar Oliver, whose one-man show Helen & Edgar opens in NYC on October 9th, told a story of losing all the “military records” in his care when he was a cadet at Benedictine Military School. The subtle and very funny details conveyed the dreamy distractions coupled with the mundane duties of adolescence.

At one point George Dawes Green took the stage to extol the virtues of independent bookstores specifically and local shopping generally. He called Joni Saxon-Giusti to the stage — The Book Lady. George is passionate when he talks of tuning out the online world and focusing on old-fashioned hardbound books. George had asked Joni to come to the stage with a book, and she chose The Devil’s Highway by Luis Alberto Urrea, who recently gave the Ursrey Memorial Lecture presented by the Flannery O’Connor Childhood Home. (Both Joni and I are past presidents of the Home.)

George’s message is compelling, for sure, but I’m in the camp of taking ownership of the technology rather than shunning it. I think newer technologies have much more power to overcome isolation than to create it.

During the intermission, some audience members submitted their names for a chance to tell 1-minute stories.

Tom Kohler, longtime head of Chatham-Savannah Citizen Advocacy was among them. Seeing his old Armstrong history professor John Duncan with his wife Ginger (owners of V&J Duncan with its trove of antique maps, books, prints, etc.), Tom began his story: “I love you, John Duncan.”

Peter Aguero and Rachel Kate applaud Neil Gaiman at the end of his story. At least a few of the hearts are in focus.

After the class calmed down, Duncan gave the young adults a simple lesson in free speech, academic freedom, and the adult world:

“Ladies and gentleman, I’ve just shown you the difference between high school and college,” John Duncan told that history class 40 years ago. “If we were in high school, you could get me fired. But we’re in college, so you can’t.”

I’d heard Tom tell that story before, just sitting around somewhere, and I was thrilled that it found a larger audience.

No secret: many in the crowd were there to see Neil Gaiman, whose works like The Sandman and Coraline have made him a towering figure in some literary spheres — and a huge favorite among a subset of young readers. Gaiman was the final storyteller of the night, and he told a moving one of finding a dog, of adopting it, of going on a 3-day date only to be spurned, but I’ll let him describe it:

Last night I told a story about chains: about my dog, who spent the first three years of his life on four foot of chain, and about the chains that bind us, and about love, which, only after I told it, I realised was peculiarly appropriate, given the name of the tour. It’s called Unchained.

Neil Gaiman graciously greeted fans and signed autographs after the show.

George was effusive at the end of the show in his praise of Gaiman, who apparently has pledged a significant sum for five years to The Moth’s new high school slam storytelling program. It was amazing and generous that someone of Gaiman’s stature and apparent wealth gave nine days of his life to The Unchained Tour.

George was also effusive in his praise of Samita Wolfe, The Unchained Tour producer, and other supporters.

What a great night. But a little long — I think almost everything goes on too long. Except life.

Later on at one of my usual haunts, I talked to two close friends deep into the night.

George of course also founded The Moth.

Neil Gaiman has a huge, rabid following — I mean that in a nice way — and his presence on The Unchained Tour as it winds through the American South will certainly attract international attention.

Gaiman has already posted on his journal about the first stop on the tour: In which I am Unchained…

He reflects on both George and on Edgar Oliver, who is among the raconteurs on the un-air-conditioned bus:

Two of the storytellers in the bus have scenes from stories they have told painted on the outside of the bus. They are Edgar Oliver, and George Dawes Green. George’s story picture shows him listening to stories as a boy, while the moths flutter into the porchlight. When George grew up he founded the storytelling movement/institution/ organisation called The Moth. This bus, and the tour, is George’s idea too.

Edgar Oliver’s story shows Edgar and his mother and sister, and painted next to it, the opening of one of Edgar’s stories about Savannah, and his childhood. Edgar is from Savannah, and he lives in New York, but his accent is unlike anyone else’s, probably in the world: it is musical and it is theatrical and it is unplaceable, vowel sounds that are English or Eastern European.

It’s a lovely and elegant post. Click here to read it.

Check out Edgar Oliver’s voice in this preview of his upcoming one-man show in New York, produced by George Dawes Green:

Click through the link on the pic below to get to The Unchained Tour’s Facebook page:

Tickets seem very likely to sell out for most of the cities on the fall 2012 version of The Unchained Tour, so I’d recommend reserving seats as soon as possible. That’s especially true for Savannah.

If you’re not familiar with The Unchained Tour, it’s an evening of storytelling and music conceived by novelist George Dawes Green to spotlight independent bookstores in the South. George created The Moth, which has been a sensational success — first as individual performances and later as a public radio show.

Check out this recent six-minute video that I’ve posted before, including George Dawes Green, Wanda Bullard, Dan Kennedy, Kate Pierson of The B-52s, Peter Aguero, Elna Baker, Joan Juliet Buck, Michael Trent and Carey Ann Hearst of Shovels and Rope, Edgar Oliver, and a number of other folks.

According to the event page on Facebook, the list of raconteurs for this tour includes:

Neil Gaiman, an internationally acclaimed author of four novels and the recipient of the Hugo Award, Newbery Medal and Carnegie Medal in Literature, among other prizes; Mr. Edgar Oliver, Savannah-born playwright and raconteuring star of the Edinburgh Festival; Peter Aguero, a multi-talented artist currently hosting The Moth and leading NYC’s improvised storytelling rock band, The BTK Band; Rachel Kate and Joel T. Hamilton, two talented Charleston based musicians—music made with hands and feet, chords and teeth.

Neil Gaiman has a huge following and commands really high speaking fees — he’s certainly an amazing get for The Unchained Tour, but I fear a ton of folks are going to be disappointed that they won’t be able to attend the relatively small venues.

An additional storyteller — presumably a woman — is TBA.

$20 tickets for the Savannah show are currently for sale at The Book Lady Bookstore and E. Shaver Booksellers. Click here to purchase tickets online.

If you’re interested in other stops on the tour, click here for the event listing with relevant links on The Unchained Tour website.

Here’s the full schedule:
9/14: Columbia, SC Columbia Museum of Art 7:30pm
9/15: Spartanburg, SC The Showroom 7:30pm
9/16: Tryon, NC Historic Sunnydale 2:00pm
9/16: Asheville, NC Diana Wortham Theatre 7:30pm
9/17: ETSU – Johnson City, TN East Tennessee State University 12:00pm
9/17: Boone, NC Beadbox :: Alchemy Coffee 7:30pm
9/18: Charlotte, NC Booth Playhouse 7:30pm
9/19: Winston-Salem , NC Hanesbrands Theatre 7:30pm
9/20: Chapel HIll, NC Varsity on Franklin 7:30pm
9/21: Charleston, SC Charleston Music Hall 8:00pm
9/22: Savannah, GA Knights of Columbus Hall 8:00pm

Click here for my review of the winter 2012 version of The Unchained Tour.