Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson, who will be at Live Talks Los Angeles on September 22 at Track 16 in Santa Monica, recently appeared in Mission Viejo at the public library.  Dave Barry was interviewed by Jane Smiley last May at Live Talks and here’s the video of that pairing. Here’s an excerpt from AOL Patch — some “choice comments from Dave Barry from the evening”:

  • We’re here to talk about our book … Skippyjon Jones. (another famous children’s book that they did not write)
  • Neither Ridley or I thought of ourselves as writers of children’s books. In fact, for most of our careers, neither one of use wrote anything we would want a child to read.
  • I wrote a humor column. I sat around in my underwear and made stuff up. Little tip: You can sit around in anyone’s underwear and make stuff up.
  • It’s not when your child moves off to college that’s the big moment in your life. It’s when your child gets his own medical benefits.
  • Ridley is very good at thinking of ways to kill people–in print, so far. But we have to keep buying his books, so he has a healthy outlet for this tendency.
  • He (Capt. Hook) loses his hand in a duel with Peter Pan, but our book started before that. So what are you going to call him? You can’t call him Capt. Hand.
  • I live in Miami. I moved there in 1986 from the United States.  I know you think we have a bad reputation, but it’s a great city. We have a new attitude down there, a new tourism promotion slogan: Come back to Miami, we weren’t shooting at you.
  • There are six Wienermobiles. Lot of people don’t know that. This nation leads the world in Wienermobile technology. Although Iran is developing one.
  • We did a lot of research in London (for The Bridge to Neverland). Ridley and I went over there on tax-deductible trips.
  • Your main job as a parent is to embarrass your children. That’s how you control them. You have to remind them that at any moment you could burst out into song and ruin their lives. It’s a very effective tool.
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Thursday, September 22, 2011
8pm (Reception 6:30-7:30pm)

An Evening with Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson

TICKETS ON SALE: FRIDAY, AUGUST 26, 2011 at 10am

Track 16 at Bergamot Station
Santa Monica, CA
PURCHASE TICKETS 

Pulitzer-prize winning humorist Dave Barry and prolific best-selling suspense novelist Ridley Pearson may not seem like obvious collaborators.  But with the sixth in their series Peter and the Starcatchers: Bridge to Never Land, they’re re-enforcing their place as the dynamic young-adult duo.  Come hear them commiserate about their latest beloved prequel to the classic Peter Pan, and what it’s like to write together.  They are the coauthors of Peter and the Starcatchers, Peter and the Shadow Thieves, Peter and the Secret of Rundoon, Peter and the Sword of Mercy, Escape from the Carnivale, Cave of the Dark Wind, Blood Tide, and Science Fair. Both are founding members of the all-author rock band, The Rock Bottom Remainders who, after 20 years are still trying to stay on key. Other members include Stephen King, Amy Tan, Ridley Pearson, and Mitch Albom. They are not musically skilled, but they are extremely loud.

Dave Barry  is a humor columnist. For 25 years he was a syndicated columnist whose work appeared in more than 500 newspapers in the United States and abroad. In 1988 he won the Pulitzer Prize for Commentary. Many people are still trying to figure out how this happened.

Dave has also written more than 30 books, including Dave Barry’s History of the Millennium (So Far); The Shepherd, the Angel, and Walter the Christmas Miracle Dog; Dave Barry’s Money Secrets; and Big Trouble. Dave has also made many TV appearances, including one on the David Letterman show where he proved that it is possible to set fire to a pair of men’s underpants with a Barbie doll.  Niether of his children think he’s funny.

Ridley Pearson is a best-selling adult crime novelist with more than 25 titles, which have been translated into 22 languages and distributed in 70 countries. Pearson was the first U.S. citizen to be awarded the Raymond Chandler/Fulbright Fellowship in Detective Fiction at Oxford University. Among his adult thrillers are:  Killer Weekend, Cut and Run, The Pied Piper, The Diary of Ellen Rimbauer, Beyond Recognition, and Undercurrents.

He is also author the fantastical YA thriller series, the Kingdom Keepers, the latest of which is Kingdom Keepers lll: Disney in Shadow. Others include Kingdom Keepers: Disney After Dark and Kingdom Keepers II: Disney at Dawn, as well as Steel Trapp—The Challenge and Steel Trapp—and The Academy.

Purchase Tickets:
$20 Live Talks Los Angeles with Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson, 8pm (doors open at 7:30pm)
$40 also includes their book,
$95 includes pre-event reception (6:30-7:30pm), and the book
$25 signed book (includes tax & shipping to anywhere in the US)

Proceeds from this event support the good work of First Book, a national organization that distributes new books and educational resources to programs and schools serving children from low-income families.  Through a partnership with First Book,  we are supporting libraries, schools and literacy organizations in underserved communities in Los Angeles. A minimum of $3 from every ticket purchase will be donated to First Book.

Track 16 at Bergamot Station
2525 Michigan Avenue, Bldg C-1
Santa Monica, CA 90404


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