Harvey Pekar and Alison Bechdel will be @ UCLA Live on Friday 4.23

Titans of the Graphic Novel: Harvey Pekar and Alison Bechdel

The unlikely ascent of Harvey Pekar began in the halls of Cleveland’s VA Hospital, where he worked as a file clerk for 35 years. In his spare time, Pekar wrote and self-published the autobiographical “American Splendor” comics, which illustrated his less-than-splendid life. The series gained a large and loyal cult following, and eventually was adapted into a 2003 feature film.

Joining the master of mundane is cartoonist Alison Bechdel, the author of “Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic,” an account of her childhood and complex relationship with her father. The graphic memoir, which took Bechdel seven years to complete, was named the best book of 2006 by Time magazine. She is also author of the syndicated strip “Dykes to Watch Out For.” Together, these two explore the power of graphic novels as a confessional medium.

Fri, Apr 23 at 8pm @Royce Hall
$48, 36, 24*
($15 UCLA students)

More Here...

Events for Tuesday October 6

SPOKEN WORD w/ Nick Hornby at The Skirball Cultural Center

Don't miss an evening with award-winning, bestselling British author Nick Hornby (High Fidelity, About a Boy) celebrating the publication of his latest work, Juliet, Naked. Called a "must-read" by Publishers Weekly, this much-anticipated novel centers around a reclusive 1980s rock star forced out of isolation when the re-release of his most famous album brings him into contact with some of his most passionate fans. Be there as Hornby reads from and shares insight into this engrossing, humorous story of two lonely people finding each other across decades and continents. A book signing follows the program.

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Wednesday March 11 - Jerry Stahl @ Diesel Books in Santa Monica

Jerry Stahl discusses and signs Pain Killers @ Diesel Books in Santa Monica

From the acclaimed and controversial author of Permanent Midnight comes one of the most vividly subversive, savagely funny, and explosive novels yet unleashed in our tender century. Pain Killers is a violent and mind-wrenching masterpiece in the gonzo noir style that has earned Jerry Stahl his legion of avid fans.

Down-and-out ex-cop and not-quite-reformed addict Manny Rupert accepts a job going undercover to find out if an old man locked up in a California prison is who he claims to be: the despicable—and allegedly dead—Josef Mengele, aka the Angel of Death. What if, instead of drowning thirty years ago, the sadistic legend whose Auschwitz crimes still horrify faked his own death and is now locked up in San Quentin, ranting and bitter about being denied the adulation he craves for his contribution to keeping the Master Race pure—if no longer masterful?

More on this here

An Evening of New Fiction with John Haskell, Eileen Myles and Darcey Steinke

Eileen Myles photographed by Robert Mapplethorpe

February 5, 2009 at 8:30pm @ REDCAT

Three genre-busting, multitalented writers come together for a night of bracing performance and lively conversation.

John Haskell is the author of three inventive works of fiction: I Am Not Jackson Pollock, American Purgatorio, and the brand-new Out of My Skin. "His hypnotic writing creates its own genre, unsettling and quietly bizarre," according to Publishers Weekly. Haskell is currently teaching at CalArts.

Eileen Myles is a legendary writer and performer who has produced more than 20 works of poetry, fiction, essays, plays and libretti. Her fiction includes Chelsea Girls, Cool for You, and a forthcoming "poet's novel" called The Inferno, which chronicles the hell of being a female poet.

Darcey Steinke has written four powerful and critically acclaimed novels: Up Through the Water, Suicide Blonde, Milk, and Jesus Saves, which was touted by The Village Voice as "the most ferocious and chilling portrait of suburbia in years." She is also the author of the memoir Easter Everywhere and the co-editor, with Rick Moody, of Joyful Noise: The New Testament Revisited.

Tickets available here.

An Evening with Edward Albee

Described by The New Yorker as "the greatest living playwright," Edward Albee has defined modern American theater for nearly five decades with his provocative, controversial and groundbreaking plays. Lauded as "one of the eternal innovators" in American drama, this three-time Pulitzer Prize-winner challenges his audiences with stories that express the bone-simple, shattering truth of the human experience, perhaps best exemplified by his 1962 masterpiece Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? 

Still as prolific and relevant as ever, Albee makes his Royce Hall debut in a fascinating discussion about the power of the arts as a catalyst for change. He believes that art should be dangerous, that it should reveal all of our shortcomings and complacency, hopefully inspiring us to live our lives more fully. He also explores charged topics such as government repression, censorship in the arts, and cultural literacy.

SATURDAY - February 7 at 8:00 pm, Royce Hall.  Purchase tickets online at www.uclalive.org  or over the phone at 310.825.2101, and of course in person at the UCLA CTO windows at the James Alumni Center.

TAKING OVER: Danny Hoch vs. Culver City

I read recently that president Obama's mother-in-law is not a big fan of health food. She likes fried chicken and doesn't want to be told what to feed those sweet little girls when she's taking care of them - likes the old neighborhood on the south side of Chicago and doesn't like "alot of fuss". Well she's moving into the White House and she's going to have to get used to some serious changes.

The characters in Taking Over, the newest play by writer/director Danny Hoch, don't like the changes to their neighborhoods and they don't have to watch what they say in order to stay politically correct - so they let you know loud and clear and in their native tongues. Hoch comes out near the end of the show, sans any character trappings and confesses his ambivalence about the phenomena of gentrification. The point is made very effectively - I get it.

I'm around Hoch's age, I grew up in New York in the 70's 80's 90's. I just moved out here about a year ago. I miss the old days and I get the lure of the new days. I'm sure the same thing has happened out here to one degree or another.

While watching the show, I was thinking how I've lived through gentrification as a parent. But when you've got a kid, you look at where you live through their eyes and that makes it a little easier to bear the loss of your own youth and the world you grew up in. Taking Over is great. Hoch is a huge talent. 42nd street has become Disneyland, Hollywood Boulevard has become Disneyland. I don't really like Disneyland , but my kids - they love it.

TAKING OVER runs until Feburary 22, 2009 at the Kirk Douglas Theatre. For tickets and showtimes click here. To watch an exclusive video interview with Danny Hoch, click here.