Posts by Live Talks LA
Emeril Lagasse with Roy Choi
Essential Emeril: Favorite Recipes
and Hard-Won Wisdom from My Life in the Kitchen
Crest Theatre, Westwood
1262 Westwood Blvd,
Los Angeles, CA 90024
PURCHASE TICKETS
$47 General Admission seating + Book*
$57 Reserved Section seating + Book*
$95 Pre-Reception(6:30-7:30pm)** + Reserved Section seating + Book
Reception includes selections prepared from the book, California wine
* Books will be pre-signed, available for pick up at check-in
** Books will be personalized in person at the reception
Emeril Lagasse is the chef-proprietor of 12 restaurants across the country. He has received numerous Best Restaurant, Best Chef, and Best Service awards, and in 2013 received the Humanitarian of the Year Award from the James Beard Foundation for his work through the Emeril Lagasse Foundation, which supports children’s educational programs. The author of 18 cookbooks, his phenomenally successful Food Network show Emeril Live! launched a new era in culinary TV. In 2014, Lagasse participated in his third consecutive season as a main guest chef on Bravo’s hit food series, Top Chef, and joined TNT as co-host for their cooking series, On the Menu. Most recently, Emeril’s Florida entered its third season in January 2015 on the Cooking Channel.
Before hitting the streets with his popular food truck Kogi BBQ, Choi executed classical techniques in professional kitchens and banquet halls for twelve years in New York, San Francisco, Portland, and Lake Tahoe. Then came the Great Recession. Laid off, having lost everything, with a family to support, Choi had to get creative: He said yes to a friend who rented a truck and co-founded Kogi BBQ, which Newsweek later dubbed “the first viral eatery.”
Choi provided yet another source of culinary revelation with his first sit-down restaurant, Chego in April 2010, now located in Chinatown, followed by A-Frame in 2010, and Sunny Spot just east of Venice Beach in 2011. His newest restaurant venture, featuring the tastes of Korea translated through an L.A. state of mind, opened at a new hotel, The Line, in L.A. in late 2013. Choi’s first book, L.A. Son: My Life, My City, My Food, was published in the Fall of 2013.
Shepard Fairey with Moby
8:00pm (Reception, 6:30-7:30pm)
An Evening with Shepard Fairey
in conversation with Moby
COVERT TO OVERT:
The Under/Overground Art of Shepard Fairey
Ann and Jerry Moss Theatre
New Roads School
Herb Alpert Educational Village
3131 Olympic Boulevard
Santa Monica, CA 90404
THIS EVENT IS SOLD OUT.
VIDEO WILL BE RELEASED ON FRIDAY.
THERE WILL BE NO TICKETS AVAILABLE AT THE DOOR.
Shepard Fairey is an American contemporary street artist, graphic designer, activist and illustrator who emerged from the skateboarding scene. He earned a bachelor of fine arts in illustration from Rhode Island School of Design in 1992. His work has been included in the collections of several museums, including the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C.; the Los Angeles County Museum of Art; the Museum of Modern Art, New York; and the Victoria and Albert Museum, London.
To call Shepard Fairey a “street artist” is a little deceptive. Although he rose out of the skateboarding scene creating his “Andre the Giant Has A Posse” sticker campaign in the late ’80s, he has a mainstream recognition that most street artists never achieve. The title of his new book, Covert to Overt: The Under/Overground Art of Shepard Fairey, acknowledges his evolution from unknown to established artist.
His upcoming book, Covert to Overt — focusing on his post-Obama HOPE poster output — showcases the significant amount of art he has created the last several years. This includes street murals, mixed-media installations, art-music events, countless silkscreens, and work from his extremely successful OBEY brand—all in his signature black, white, and red colors.
— Mark Sloan, Director and Chief Curator, Halsey Institute of Contemporary Art
Showcasing his cross-cultural collaborations with musicians, athletes, celebrities, and even cities, as well as covering all his work from paste-ups and prints, to his sculptures and murals, Covert to Overt shows Shepard Fairey as equal parts cultural chronicler and cult-hero artist. It also includes previously unpublished work as well as contributions from collaborators, the likes of Russell Brand, Chris Stein and Jello Biafra.
Moby has been making music since he was 9 years old. He started out playing classical guitar and then went on to play with seminal connecticut hardcore punk group ‘the vatican commandoes’ when he was 13. He started DJ’ing after leaving college, and was a fixture in the late 80’s new york house and hip-hop scenes.
He released his first single, ‘go’ in 1991(listed as one of Rolling Stones best records of all time), and has been making albums ever since. His own records have sold over 20,000,000 copies worldwide, and he’s also produced and remixed scores of other artists, including David Bowie, Metallica, the Beastie Boys, Public Enemy, among others.
He has toured tirelessly, playing well over 3,000 concerts in his career, and has also had his music used in hundreds of different films, including Heat, Any Given Sunday, Tomorrow Never Dies, and The Beach, among others.
Moby works closely with a variety of different charities, including the Humane Society and the Institute for Music and Neurologic Function, and in 2007 he launched Mobygratis, which provides free music for independent film makers.
Moby’s latest album Innocents, his most collaborative project to date, featuring Wayne Coyne, Cold Specks, Damien Jurado, Mark Lanegan, and Skylar Grey, was released in october 2013.
Do you have a question for Shepard Fairey?
Shepard Fairey, Moby
Tomorrow, October 6, we host Shepard Fairey in conversation with Moby at a sold out event at the Ann and Jerry Moss Theatre at New Roads School. Here’s your chance to win a signed copy of Shepard Fairey’s new book, COVERT TO OVERT:The Under/Overground Art of Shepard Fairey.
If you have a great question for Shepard Fairey, here’s your chance to win a signed copy of his book. We will pick 10 questions, and if yours is selected, we ship you a signed copy of Shepard Fairey’s book.
Questions must be received by noon, on Oct 6.
Please email your question to info@livetalksla.org with “Shepard Question” in the subject line. If we pick your question, we will email you and ask for your address.
Richard Dawkins with Penn Jillette
8:00pm (Reception, 6:30-7:30pm)
in conversation with Penn Jillette
Brief Candle in the Dark: My Life in Science
Ann and Jerry Moss Theatre
New Roads School
Herb Alpert Educational Village
3131 Olympic Boulevard
Santa Monica, CA 90404
EVENT IS SOLD OUT.
VIDEO WILL BE POSTED ON THE VIDEO PAGE EARLY NEXT WEEK
$20 General Admission seating — SOLD OUT
$30 Reserved Section seating — SOLD OUT
$45 Reserved Section Seating + Dawkins’ book — SOLD OUT
Richard Dawkins, voted Prospect magazine’s #1 World Thinker, has previously published 11 books, including The Selfish Gene, The God Delusion, and his magnum opus The Ancestor’s Tale. Dawkins is a fellow of both the Royal Society and the Royal Society of Literature. He was the inaugural holder of the Simonyi Chair for the Public Understanding of Science at Oxford University and is the recipient of numerous honorary degrees and awards, including the International Cosmos Prize of Japan.
In Brief Candle in the Dark, an entertaining sequel to the New York Times bestselling memoir An Appetite for Wonder, Richard Dawkins delves deeply into his intellectual life spent kick-starting new conversations about science, culture, and religion and writing yet another of the most audacious and widely read books of the twentieth century—The God Delusion.
Called “one of the best nonfiction writers alive today” (Stephen Pinker) and a “prize-fighter” (Nature), Richard Dawkins cheerfully, mischievously, looks back on a lifetime of tireless intellectual adventure and engagement. Exploring the halls of intellectual inquiry and stardom he encountered after the publication of his seminal work, The Selfish Gene; affectionately lampooning the world of academia, publishing, and television; and studding the pages with funny stories about the great men and women he’s known, Dawkins offers a candid look at the events and ideas that encouraged him to shift his attention to the intersection of culture, religion, and science. He also invites the reader to look more closely at the brilliant succession of ten influential books that grew naturally out of his busy life, highlighting the ideas that connect them and excavating their origins.
On the publication of his tenth book, the smash hit, The God Delusion, a “resounding trumpet blast for truth” (Matt Ridley), Richard Dawkins was catapulted from mere intellectual stardom into a circle of celebrity thinkers dubbed, “The New Atheists”—including Christopher Hitchens, Sam Harris, and Daniel Dennett.
Throughout A Brief Candle in the Dark, Dawkins shares with us his infectious sense of wonder at the natural world, his enjoyment of the absurdities of human interaction, and his bracing awareness of life’s brevity: all of which have made a deep imprint on our culture.
Penn Jillette is half of the Emmy Award-winning magic duo and Las Vegas headliners Penn & Teller. Together since 1975, Penn & Teller’s live show spent years on Broadway and is now the longest-running headliner show in Las Vegas where it plays nightly at The Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino.
His podcast, Penn’s Sunday School, was the No. 1 downloaded podcast on iTunes during its debut week and was named by iTunes as Best New Comedy Podcast for 2012. His commentary has appeared in the Op-Ed pages of The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and the Los Angeles Times
Penn’s latest book, “Every Day Is An Atheist Holiday,” takes an insightful and very humorous look at holidays from an Atheist’s perspective. He also authored, ”God No! Signs You Might Be An Atheist and Other Magic Tales.”
On the big screen, Penn produced the critically lauded 2005 documentary The Aristocrats, which features over 100 of the biggest names in comedy telling their versions of the dirtiest joke in history. He produced last year’s Tim’s Vermeer, which follows the journey of an eccentric inventor determined to solve one of the art world’s oldest mysteries.
As a philanthropist, his efforts have resulted in raising thousands of dollars for Las Vegas-based charities AFAN (Aid for AIDS NV) and Opportunity Village.
Kunal Nayyar
8:00pm (Reception, 6:30-7:30pm)
in conversation with Owen Benjamin
Yes, My Accent Is Real:
And Some Other Things I Haven’t Told You
Ann and Jerry Moss Theatre
New Roads School
Herb Alpert Educational Village
3131 Olympic Boulevard
Santa Monica, CA 90404
PURCHASE TICKETS
$20 General Admission seating
$30 Reserved Section seating
$43 Reserved Section Seating + Nayyar’s book
$95 Includes pre-event reception, Reserved section seat
+ Nayyar’s book
Kunal Nayyar was born in London and raised in New Delhi, India. He first came to the United States in 1999 to pursue a bachelor’s degree in business administration and went on to receive an MFA in acting from Temple University. Playing the character of Raj on The Big Bang Theory, he has been part of the ensemble since the show debuted in 2007. He lives in Los Angeles with his wife, Neha, who was named Miss India in 2006.
Of all the charming misfits on television, there’s no doubt Raj from The Big Bang Theory—the sincere yet incurably geeky Indian-American astrophysicist—ranks among the best of the misfits. He is every bit as loveable as the character he plays on TV. In this revealing collection of irreverent, hilarious, and self-deprecating essays, Kunal Nayyar traces his journey from a little boy in New Delhi who mistakes an awkward first kiss for a sacred commitment, gets nosebleeds chugging Coca-Cola to impress other students, and excels in the sport of badminton, to the confident, successful actor on the set of TV’s most-watched sitcom since Friends.
Going behind the scenes of The Big Bang Theory and into his personal experiences, Kunal introduces readers to the people who helped him grow, such as his James Bond-loving, mustachioed father who taught him the most important lessons in life: Treat a beggar as you would a king. There are two sides to every story. A smile goes a long way. And, when in doubt, use a spreadsheet. Kunal also shares his college years in Portland, where he takes his first sips of alcohol and learns to let loose with his French, 6’8” gentle-giant roommate, works his first-ever job for the university’s housekeeping department cleaning toilets for minimum wage, and begins a series of romantic exploits that go just about as well as they would for Raj. (That is, until he meets and marries a former Miss India in an elaborate seven-day event that we get to experience in a chapter titled “My Big Fat Indian Wedding.”)
Yes, My Accent is Real is a witty and often inspiring collection of underdog tales follows a young man as he traverses two continents in search of a dream, along the way transcending culture and language (and many, many embarrassing incidents) to somehow miraculously land the role of a lifetime.
Owen Benjamin is a comedian and actor, best known for his hilarious blend of stand-up and musical comedy. He has appeared in the movies The House Bunny (2008), All’s Faire in Love (2009), Jack and Jill (2011), and the soon to be released Staten Island Summer with the cast of SNL.
Owen is no stranger to television, having recently held one of the lead roles on TBS’s Sullivan & Son. He’s performed his unique stand-up sets on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, Chelsea Lately, Inside Amy Schumer, and Comedy Central Presents: Owen Benjamin. His first hour-long special High Five Till It Hurts premiered on Comedy Central in 2014. Owen can be also heard on an upcoming episode of the long-running Fox comedy Family Guy.
Presently, you can catch Owen Benjamin perform stand-up live throughout the country leading up to his second hour-long special Huge Pianist. Visit his website.
Do you have a question for Richard Dawkins? Your chance to win a signed book.
Tomorrow, October 1, we host Richard Dawkins at a sold out event at the Moss Theatre in Santa Monica. He’ll be interviewed by Penn Jillette. Here’s your chance to win a signed copy of Dawkins’ book, Brief Candle in the Dark: My Life in Science.
If you have a great question for Richard Dawkins, here’s your chance to win a signed copy of his book. We will pick 10 questions, and if yours is selected, we ship you a signed copy of Richard Dawkins’ book.
Please email your question to info@livetalksla.org with “Dawkins Question” in the subject line. If we pick your question, we will email you and ask for your address.
Questions must be submitted by 12pm on October 1.
Richard Dawkins in the news…
— Wall Street Journal, Sept 29 — A Biologists Worldview
— Wall Street Journal, Sept 29 — video interview with WSJ’s Gautam Naik