Posts by Live Talks LA
Stephen Gee, “Los Angeles City Hall-An American Icon”
4:00 pm
An Afternoon with
Stephen Gee
discussing his book,
Los Angeles City Hall: An American Icon
Live Talks Los Angeles HQ
Maker City LA/The Reef/LA Mart
1933 S. Broadway
Suite #1156
Los Angeles, CA 90007
FREE EVENT, RSVP HERE
The talk is at 4pm, but join us from 2-6pm for our summer Pop Up Book Sale and Party
Stephen Gee is a writer and television producer based in Los Angeles. A graduate of City, University of London, he began his career as a newspaper reporter in Norfolk, England. He has lived in Los Angeles since 1995. He is the author of Iconic Vision: John Parkinson, Architect of Los Angeles (Angel City Press), and co-author, with Arnold Schwartzman, of Los Angeles Central Library: A History of its Art and Architecture (Angel City Press), which won the 2015 Glenn Goldman Award for Art, Architecture, and Photography, presented by the Southern California Independent Booksellers Association.
“So much history has been made beneath these muraled ceilings. So many people have walked these marble floors and transformed our city with their ideas, energy, and passion. And that work continues today….” — Mayor Eric Garcetti
Marking the 90th Anniversary of the building, Los Angeles City Hall: An American Icon is the first comprehensive history of Los Angeles City Hall.
Los Angeles City Hall is among the most iconic buildings in America; some say, the world. A bold symbol of the ambition of America and its people, City Hall graces California as one of its most enduring landmarks. Stephen Gee’s Los Angeles City Hall: An American Icon is the definitive book chronicling its history.
When it opened its doors in 1928, the new Los Angeles City Hall was the tallest building in the city and undeniably beloved by its people—and they hadn’t even been inside yet. More than a half-million people lined the streets to celebrate the dedication of the monolith that symbolized Los Angeles’s transition from West Coast outpost to world-class metropolis. President Calvin Coolidge pressed a gold telegraph key in the White House, sending the signal to officially switch on the Lindbergh Beacon atop Los Angeles City Hall, its brilliant beam of light shooting an equally brilliant message into the night sky: Los Angeles City Hall was complete. The news spread round the world.
In the pages of Los Angeles City Hall: An American Icon, author Stephen Gee shares the dramatic saga of the building’s creation and showcases the architecture, artwork, and details that define City Hall in more than 200 lavish images, blueprints, and drawings—many of them never-before published. Gee also chronicles the effort to restore the building and the political fight that preceded its return to glory.
Nancy Cartwright, Yeardley Smith, Mike Scully, David Silverman & Mike Reiss
Thursday, June 14, 2018
8pm
Nancy Cartwright, Yeardley Smith, Mike Scully, David Silverman & Mike Reiss
celebrating 30 years of The Simpsons discussing Mike Reiss’ book,
Springfield Confidential: Jokes, Secrets, and Outright Lies from a Lifetime Writing for The Simpsons
Ann and Jerry Moss Theatre
New Roads School
Herb Alpert Educational Village
3131 Olympic Boulevard
Santa Monica, CA 90404
PURCHASE TICKETS
$45 General Admission Section Seat + Book
$50 Reserved Section Seat + Book
$20 General Admission Seat
In celebration of The Simpsons thirtieth anniversary, the show’s longest-serving writer and producer offers a humorous look at the writing and making of the legendary Fox series that has become one of the most revered artistic achievements in television history.
Nancy Cartwright
Best-known as the spiky-headed underachiever Bart Simpson, Emmy Award-winning voice actor Nancy Cartwright is also the unique voice behind 6 more of The Simpsons’ characters. In her 38th year of the entertainment industry, Nancy’s work includes popular characters from Richie Rich, My Little Pony, Snorks, Pound Puppies, Animaniacs and Pinky and The Brain. Nancy also became a hit with the millennials as the voice of Chuckie in Rugrats and Rufus—the Naked Mole Rat—in Kim Possible.
Yeardly Smith
Yeardley Smith has been the voice of Lisa Simpson since the beginning of time, she is the co-host of the popular true crime podcast Small Town Dicks; and, yes, she’s that girl in that cult classic movie you love from the ‘80s.
David Silverman
From 1987 to the present, David Silverman has been an animator, director, supervising director, producer, consulting producer, and even a writer on The Simpsons. He directed The Simpsons Movie and the Oscar-nominated Simpsons short The Longest Daycare.
Mike Scully
Emmy and WGA Award-winning writer/producer Mike Scully has been part of The Simpsons writing staff since 1993, and was showrunner for Seasons 9 through 12, considered by many to be the four most consecutive seasons of the series. He co-wrote and co-produced The Simpsons Movie, released in 2007, and has written for Parks and Recreation, Everybody Loves Raymond, and The Carmichael Show.
Mike Reiss (pictured top left in Matt Groening caricature) has won four Emmys and a Peabody Award during his twenty-eight years writing for The Simpsons. He ran the show in Season 4, which Entertainment Weekly called “the greatest season of the greatest show in history.” He is the co-creator of The Critic. In addition, he’s written jokes for such comedy legends as Johnny Carson, Joan Rivers, Garry Shandling… and Pope Francis! For his comedic contributions to the charitable group Joke with the Pope, in 2015 Pope Francis declared Reiss “A Missionary of Joy”.
Mike Reiss—who has worked on The Simpsons continuously since episode one in 1989—shares stories, scandals, and gossip about working with America’s most iconic cartoon family ever. Reiss explains how the episodes are created, and provides an inside look at the show’s writers, animators, actors and celebrity guests. He answers a range of questions from Simpsons fans and die-hards, and reminisces about the making of perennially favorite episodes.
In his freewheeling, irreverent comic style, Reiss reflects on his lifetime inside The Simpsons—a personal highlights reel of his achievements, observations, and favorite stories. Springfield Confidential exposes why Matt Groening decided to make all of the characters yellow; dishes on what it’s like to be crammed in a room full of funny writers sixty hours a week; and tells what Reiss learned after traveling to seventy-one countries where The Simpsons is watched (ironic note: there’s no electricity in many of these places); and even reveals where Springfield is located! He features unique interviews with Judd Apatow, who also provided the foreword, and Conan O’Brien, as well as with Simpsons legends Al Jean, Nancy Cartwright, Dan Castellaneta, and more.
Mark Seliger with Judd Apatow
8:00 pm
Mark Seliger
in conversation with Judd Apatow
a discussion with images from his book,
Mark Seliger Photographs
Ann and Jerry Moss Theatre
New Roads School
Herb Alpert Educational Village
3131 Olympic Boulevard
Santa Monica, CA 90404
PURCHASE TICKETS
$30 Reserved Section Seat
$20 General Admission Seat
$75 Reserved Section Seat + a copy of Mark Seliger Photographs*
* Mark Seliger Photographs ($75) is a gorgeous coffee table book, showcasing his best-known portraiture
Mark Seliger’s extraordinary portfolio is 30 years in the making. In 1987 Seliger began shooting small assignments for Rolling Stone; in 1992 he became their chief photographer, a position he kept for 15 years. During the course of his time at the magazine, he photographed more than 125 covers. His work has appeared in Vanity Fair, ELLE, GQ, Vogue Italia, New Yorker, Purple, and in museums and galleries worldwide. He has captured some of the most iconic images of the most famous and influential faces of our time, including Kurt Cobain, Nelson Mandela, Leonardo DiCaprio, Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, Emma Stone, Angelina Jolie, Bruce Springsteen, David Byrne, Matthew Barney, Jennifer Lawrence, Mick Jagger, Bob Dylan, Jerry Seinfeld, Jay-Z, Misty Copeland, Amy Schumer, and Paul McCartney.
Judd Apatow is a writer, director, and producer. His films include the romantic comedies The Big Sick, Trainwreck, and This is 40. For television, he is the producer of HBO’s Crashing, Love on Netflix, and was the executive producer of Girls. Recently, he released his first stand up special Judd Apatow:The Return for Netflix and directed the new HBO documentary The Zen Diaries Of Garry Shandling.
Mark Seliger Photographs showcases his best-known portraiture, as well as never before seen outtakes, and select standouts from his landscape and personal work including portraits of Holocaust survivors and transgender men and women on Christopher Street, and documentary photography of Cuba. Accompanying the photographs is an interview between Mark Seliger and Judd Apatow, in which Seliger shares stories behind some of his most iconic work: Kurt Cobain showing up for a Rolling Stone shoot in a “Corporate Magazines Still Suck” T-shirt; taking a road trip with Brad Pitt; and navigating a room full of Tibetan monks while shooting His Holiness the Dalai Lama. In addition, the book also features an essay byLyle Lovett. Mark Seliger Photographs is the ultimate celebration of one of the most in-demand portrait photographers.
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar with Frank Buckley
8pm (Reception: 6:30-7:30pm)
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
in conversation with Frank Buckey
Becoming Kareem:
Growing Up On and Off the Court
Ann and Jerry Moss Theatre
New Roads School
Herb Alpert Educational Village
3131 Olympic Boulevard
Santa Monica, CA 90404
PURCHASE TICKETS
$95 Reserved Section Seat + Reception (6:30-7:30pm)
+ a copy of Becoming Kareem
$40 General Admission Seat + a copy of Becoming Kareem
$50 Reserved Section Seat + a copy of Becoming Kareem
$25 General Admission Seat
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar is the NBA’s all-time leading scorer, a six-time NBA champion and the league’s only six-time MVP. He is has a national platform as a regular contributing columnist for newspapers and magazines around the world, such as The Guardian and The Hollywood Reporter where he shares his thoughts on some of the most socially relevant and politically controversial topics facing our nation today. After 50 years as an athlete and activist, he offers his perspectives as a nationally recognized speaker who regularly appears on the lecture circuit.
Currently, Abdul-Jabbar serves as the chairman of his Skyhook Foundation whose mission is to “Give Kids a Shot That Can’t be Blocked” by bringing educational STEM opportunities to underserved communities through innovative outdoor environmental learning. A New York Times best-selling author, he has written 14 books, including two recent memoirs: Becoming Kareem for young readers, and Coach Wooden and Me about his lifelong friendship with famed UCLA coach John Wooden.
His Emmy Award-winning HBO Sports documentary, Kareem: Minority of One, debuted as HBO’s most watched and highest rated sports documentary of all time. In 2017 Abdul-Jabbar, an avid numismatic coin collector, was appointed as the first African-American to the CCAC (Citizens Coin Advisory Council) in its 100-year history, where he helps decide on all coins that are to be minted in The United States.
Before leaving office President Barack Obama awarded Abdul-Jabbar The Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation’s highest civilian honor.
Frank Buckley is an anchor of KTLA Morning News. Frank joined KTLA in June 2005 from CNN where he had been a national correspondent. Frank is also host of the “Frank Buckley Interviews” podcast.
Frank’s reporting experiences have taken him around the world and have included assignments covering the U.S. Navy in the Persian Gulf and the Arabian Sea, politics for CNN, frequent reporting from the White House during George W. Bush’s presidency, natural disasters in Japan, the Los Angeles riots, the Hong Kong handover, the OJ Simpson trial and countless other stories in Southern California and across the U.S.
Prior to KTLA and CNN, Frank reported for Los Angeles station KCAL-TV, WXII-TV in Winston-Salem, N.C., and at KESQ-TV in Palm Springs. He has also written for the Los Angeles Times and the Detroit News.
Ehud Barak with Jonathan Kirsch
8pm
Presented in association with Wilshire Boulevard Temple
Ehud Barak
in conversation with Jonathan Kirsch
My Country, My Life:
Fighting for Israel, Searching for Peace
Wilshire Boulevard Temple
3663 Wilshire Boulevard
Los Angeles, CA 90010
ONLINE SALES HAVE ENDED
A few General Admission tickets available at the door
$20 General Admission Seat
Ehud Barak served as Israel’s Prime Minister from 1999 to 2001. He was the leader of the Labor Party from 2007 until 2011, and Minister of Defense, first in Olmert’s and then in Netanyahu’s government from 2007 to 2013. Before entering politics, he was a key member of the Israeli military, occupying the position of Chief-of-Staff. Barak holds a B.S.c in Physics and Math from the Hebrew University in Jerusalem and an M.Sc. degree from Stanford in Engineering-Economic Systems.
“My Country, My Life is a rich and engrossing memoir from one of Israel’s premier political leaders, who went from being a decorated soldier to a staunch advocate for peace. Ehud Barak’s love of Israel pours through every page of this book, which makes his warnings about the country’s future as a Jewish and democratic state all the more powerful, urgent, and real.”—Former U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright
In the summer of 2000, the most decorated soldier in Israel’s history―Ehud Barak―set himself a challenge as daunting as any he had faced on the battlefield: to secure a final peace with the Palestinians. He would propose two states for two peoples, with a shared capital in Jerusalem. He knew the risks of failure. But he also knew the risks of not trying: letting slip perhaps the last chance for a generation to secure genuine peace.
It was a moment of truth.
It was one of many in a life intertwined, from the start, with that of Israel. Born on a kibbutz, Barak became commander of Israel’s elite special forces, then army Chief of Staff, and ultimately, Prime Minister.
My Country, My Life tells the unvarnished story of his―and his country’s―first seven decades; of its major successes, but also its setbacks and misjudgments. He offers candid assessments of his fellow Israeli politicians, of the American administrations with which he worked, and of himself. Drawing on his experiences as a military and political leader, he sounds a powerful warning: Israel is at a crossroads, threatened by events beyond its borders and by divisions within. The two-state solution is more urgent than ever, not just for the Palestinians, but for the existential interests of Israel itself. Only by rediscovering the twin pillars on which it was built―military strength and moral purpose―can Israel thrive.
Jonathan Kirsch is the author of 13 books on Jewish history and the history of religion, including, most recently, The Short, Strange Life of Herschel Grynszpan: A Boy Avenger, a Nazi Diplomat and a Murder in Paris. Kirsch was a longtime book reviewer for the Los Angeles Times and now serves as the book editor of The Jewish Journal, where his review of My Country, My Life by Ehud Barak will appear next week. Kirsch is an adjunct professor on the faculty of the Professional Publishing Institute at New York University, a three-time president of PEN U.S.A., and an attorney specializing in publishing law and intellectual property.
Marcia Gay Harden with Lisa Napoli
8pm
in conversation with Lisa Napoli
The Seasons of My Mother:
A Memoir of Love, Family, and Flowers
Ann and Jerry Moss Theatre
New Roads School
Herb Alpert Educational Village
3131 Olympic Blvd.,
Santa Monica, CA
PURCHASE TICKETS (On sale Friday, March 23, 10am)
$45 General Admission Seat + Book
$55 Reserved Section Seat + Book
$20 General Admission Seat
$95 Reserved Section Seat + Reception (6:30-7:30pm) + Book
Marcia Gay Harden is one of the most celebrated actors of her generation. In 1993, she originated for Broadway the now-iconic role of Harper Pitt in Tony Kushner’s Angels in America, a performance that earned her a Tony Award nomination. In 2001, she won an Academy Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role for her portrayal of the painter Lee Krasner in Pollock and in 2009, she won a Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play for her portrayal of Veronica in Yasmina Reza’s God of Carnage. Her films include Miller’s Crossing, The First Wives Club, Mystic River (for which she received a second Academy Award nomination), Into the Wild, Magic in the Moonlight, and Fifty Shades of Grey. Her television credits include Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, The Newsroom, How to Get Away with Murder, and Code Black. She holds a BA in Acting from the University of Texas at Austin and an MFA from the Graduate Acting Program at New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts. Visit her website and follow her on Twitter.
In The Seasons of My Mother, Marcia Gay Harden uses the imagery of flowers and the art of Ikebana to depict the unique creative bond that she has had with her mother throughout the years—and how, together, they are facing her mother’s struggle with Alzheimer’s disease.
Marcia Gay Harden knew at a young age that her life would be anything but ordinary. One of five lively children born to two Texas natives—Beverly, a proper Dallas lady, and Thad, a young officer in the US Navy hailing from El Paso—she always had a knack for storytelling, role-playing, and mischief-making. As a military family, the Hardens moved often, and their travels abroad eventually took them to a home off the coast of Japan. It was here that Beverly, amidst the many challenges of raising a gaggle of youngsters, found solace in Ikebana, the Japanese art of flower arrangement.
Using the imagery of flowers and Ikebana as her starting point, Marcia Gay Harden takes us through the different seasons of her mother’s life, all the while weaving in the story of her own journey from precocious young girl to budding artist to Academy Award-winning actress. With a razor-sharp wit, as well as the kind of emotional honesty that has made her performances resonate with audiences worldwide, Marcia describes the family’s travels overseas, her flourishing career in New York and Hollywood, and, most poignantly, Beverly’s struggles today to maintain her identity as she tackles her greatest challenge yet: Alzheimer’s disease.
Featuring photographs of gorgeous Ikebana arrangements created specially for this book, this memoir illustrates the uniqueness, beauty, and unforgettable love of motherhood, as Marcia does what Beverly can no longer do: she remembers.
Lisa Napoli is the creator and host of the podcast, Gracefully: Your field guide to growing old. A career journalist who has worked for the New York Times, MSNBC, and public radio’s Marketplace, she’s also the author of two books, Ray & Joan and Radio Shangri-la.