Penn Jillette’s Atheist Guide to the 2012 Election. Jillette at Live Talks 11/15

We look forward to hosting Penn Jillette — the taller and louder of the comedy/magic dou, Penn & Teller — on November 15 at Live Talks Los Angeles at Track 16 at Bergamot Station.  He’ll be discussing his new book, Every Day is an Atheist Holiday. Here’s a video on Jillette’s guide to the 2012 elections.  Ticket info, here.

Excerpt from Oliver Sacks new book Hallucinations — “Hearing Things” Sacks w David Milch at Live Talks LA Nov 14

If you are as intrigued by Oliver Sacks new book, Hallucinations, like we are, you can read a chapter from his book thanks to NPR’s First Reads.  The chapter is on ‘hearing things’… Read/listen to the chapter here. Here’s an excerpt from NPR….Tickets to the event can be purchased here. Sacks will be in conversation with writer/producer David Milch (Deadwood, NYPD Blue)

Hallucinations can be terrifying, enlightening, amusing or just plain strange. They’re thought to be at the root of fairy tales, religious experiences and some kinds of art. Neurologist Oliver Sacks has been mapping the oddities of the human brain for decades, and his latest book, Hallucinations, is a thoughtful and compassionate look at the phantoms our brains can produce — which he calls “an essential part of the human condition.” In this chapter, Sacks examines auditory hallucinations. “Hearing voices” has long been the classic signifier of mental illness, but many otherwise healthy people just happen to have hallucinatory voices in their heads, according to Sacks. 


Q&A with Penn Jillette in Los Angeles Magazine. Jillette is at Live Talks LA on Nov 15 Track 16 @bergamotstation

We’re looking forward to our Live Talks Los Angeles event with Penn Jillette — the taller and louder of the magic and comedy duo, Penn & Teller.  He’ll be discussing his new book, Everyday is an Atheist Holiday, November 15th at Track 16 at Bergamot Station. Purchase tickets here.  Here’s a Q&A Jillette did with Los Angeles Magazine.

November 15 — An Evening with Penn Jillette

Thursday, November 15, 2012
8:00pm (Reception 6:30-7:30pm)

An Evening with Penn Jillette
discussing his book, Every Day Is an Atheist Holiday

Track 16 at Bergamot Station
2525 Michigan Avenue, Bldg C-1
Santa Monica, CA

PURCHASE TICKETS
$20, $40 includes Jillette”s book,
$35 signed book purchase only (shipping included to US destinations)
$95 includes the book + pre-event reception*

The larger, louder half of legendary magic act Penn & Teller is back with a new collection of spiritual rants and hilarious ravings 

He’s danced with the stars, been nominated for more than fifteen Emmy awards, and published a bestselling book, God, No!  In his new collection of essays, Every Day Is an Atheist Holiday, Jillette applies his trademark wit and sharp observations to subjects like the horrors of Christmas carols, celebrating his children’s birthdays, to the finer points of Fourth of July and Halloween.

When he isn’t headlining with Teller at the Rio All-Suite and Casino in Las Vegas, Jillette has been writing books, making countless TV and film appearances, and producing the movie The Aristocrats.  He’ll be an upcoming contestant on The Celebrity Apprentice.

Jillette’s passionate proselytizing has long delighted fans, believers and nonbelievers alike. In this Live Talks LA appearance, experience Jillette up close and personal in an intimate setting.

PURCHASE TICKETS

* Proceeds from tickets to the reception support the upcoming Live Talks Los Angeles emerging voices/authors series of events that commence in 2013.

$20, $40 includes Jillette’s book,
$95 includes pre-event reception (6:00-7:00pm) plus book

Track 16 at Bergamot Station
2525 Michigan Avenue, Bldg C-1
Santa Monica, CA

November 14 — An Evening with Oliver Sacks in conversation with David Milch

Wednesday, November 14, 2012
8:00pm (Reception 6:30-7:30pm)

An Evening with Oliver Sacks
in conversation with David Milch
discussing Sacks’ new book, Hallucinations

The Aero Theatre
1328 Montana Avenue
Santa Monica, CA

PURCHASE TICKETS/SIGNED BOOKS 
(SORRY EVENT IS SOLD OUT.  THERE MAY BE SOME  STAND BY TICKETS IN THE EVENT OF NO SHOWS. 
YOU CAN STILL PURCHASE SIGNED BOOKS THAT WILL BE MAILED TO YOU. VIDEO WILL BE POSTED ON OUR VIDEO PAGE SOON AFTER THE EVENT, APPROX 10 DAYS) 

$20, $40 includes Sack’s book,
$35 signed book purchase only (shipping included to US destinations)
$95 includes the book + pre-event reception*

Oliver Sacks in the news…(Reviews, interviews, features, radio pieces and video)
New York Times, Wall Street Journal, NPR, New York Magazine, The New Yorker, Entertainment Weekly, and more… 

A provocative investigation into hallucinations—their many guises, their physiological sources, and their personal and cultural resonances.

In his latest book, neurologist and bestselling author, Oliver Sacks  (Awakenings, The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat, Musicophilia, The Mind’s Eye) presents a provocative investigation into hallucinations—their many guises, their physiological sources, and their personal and cultural resonances.  Join us at Live Talks Los Angeles as he discusses what hallucinations say about the organization and structure of our brains, how they have influenced every culture’s folklore and art, and why the potential for hallucination is present in all of us.

Hallucinations, for most people, imply madness. But there are many different types of non-psychotic hallucination caused by various illnesses or injuries, by intoxication—even, for many people, by falling asleep. From the elementary geometrical shapes that we see when we rub our eyes to the complex swirls and blind spots and zigzags of a visual migraine, hallucination takes many forms.

In his new book, Hallucinations, physician and best-selling author Oliver Sacks draws on a wealth of clinical examples from his own patients as well as historical and literary descriptions as he investigates the fundamental differences and similarities of these many sorts of hallucinations.

David Milch is an Emmy-Award-winning writer and producer responsible for some of the most celebrated television dramas of the last three decades. Milch, who won the Tinker Prize for highest achievement in English at Yale University and earned an M.F.A.from the Writers’ Workshop at The University of Iowa, left a teaching career at Yale to write for Hill Street Blues. He subsequently served as Executive Story Editor and then Executive Producer for Hill Street Blues. In 1992, Milch co-created the history-making police drama NYPD Blue. Milch took home Emmys for Best Writing in a Drama for the 1996-1997 and 1997-1998 seasons. Milch created another police drama, Brooklyn South, and co-authored, along with NYPD Blue producer Bill Clark, True Blue: The Real Stories Behind NYPD Blue, and served as creative consultant for Steven Bochco’s Murder One and Total Security. Milch also created and was the Executive Producers of  Deadwood and Luck for HBO. He is currently developing a legal drama for NBC with Steven Bochco, and the feature film Heavy Rain for Warner Bros.

PURCHASE TICKETS

* Proceeds from tickets to the reception support the upcoming Live Talks Los Angeles emerging voices/authors series of events that commence in 2013.

$20, $40 includes Sack’s book,
$95 includes pre-event reception (6:30-7:30pm) plus book

The Aero Theatre
1328 Montana Avenue
Santa Monica, CA

Merrill Markoe interviews Chris Elliott at Live Talks LA, Oct 11

 We are excited to welcome the very funny and Emmy Award-winning Merrill Markoe to Live Talks Los Angeles on October 11 to interview  funny man Chris Elliott discussing his memoir, The Guy Under the Sheets: The Unauthorized Autobiography.  Event details here.

Markoe’s latest book, is Cool, Calm and Contentious: Essays.