Results tagged “author”

We don't listen to the "radio" but we do know of Thom Hartmann from his analysis of the rise of corporate culture, which is good reading. His Threshold: The Crisis of Western Culture, though, got us all stirred up with nowhere to go. (Check out the excerpt on sociopathic CEOs on HuffPo.)

URGENT ASSESSMENT: Tonight at Town Hall, author and Canadian David Suzuki will offer what his blurb calls "an urgent assessment" of environmental issues. We're picturing him lecturing in double-time; after all, the environment might collapse before he finishes with even one of the topics he's planning on urgently assessing. No time to lose. Anyway, the lecture sounds promising, if you can bear to leave the park tonight.

BEGLEY VISION: We don't know about you but we are stoked about this visit from Ed Begley, Jr., who wants to tell us all about--and write his name on--his new book, Living Like Ed: A Guide To Eco-Friendly Life. It's not clear if Ed bicycled up here from L.A., but you know he could have. The Siskiyou Pass would have been a challenge on a bike this time of year, though, so maybe he stuck with his electric car or jet or what-have-you. The great thing about Ed, really, is that he's (in)famous in L.A. for riding that bicycle--you know, holy shit! a bicycle! A man is riding a bicycle! L.A. could just choke on its exhaust and it wouldn't bug us. If Ed was out of town at the time, we mean.

HAPPY WASHINGTON WINE HOUR: The Sorrento is marking the Washingtonization of The Hunt Club's previously Californicated wine list with a series of “Winemaker Happy Hours!” every Wednesday in March, with dueling winemakers, their wines, and appetizers--all for just $10. Tonight's guest vintners are Lantz Cellars (Yakima Valley, focus on Bordeaux and Rhone varietals) and Baer Winery (Woodinville, blends of Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Cabernet Franc, Malbec and Petit Verdot).

John Updike has died of lung cancer. He was 76. He was just in town in mid-November for a talk at Seattle Arts & Lectures that we attended and wrote about. It was our first and last time seeing him in person. We feel very lucky to have had that chance, now, and so we repeat what we said then: "He mentioned that the name Updike is what happens when the Dutch name 'Op de Dijk' hits American shores. Maybe that’ll be our updated image of this writer who has never lost his boyish enthusiasm for fiction’s impossible task. There he is, in front of his earthworks, holding back the sea—though the sea of course will inevitably win."

This American Life-r Sarah Vowell has written a new book, The Wordy Shipmates, which is the most readable history of New England Puritan thought you're likely to come across in your lifetime. It's a bit like reading the journal of a grad student who's doing their thesis on Puritan rhetoric--with all the marginal asides and musings left poignantly in. We emailed her a few questions, and she wrote back, double-spacing after periods, which extra space we edited out to save on pixels. If you have better questions, super-genius, she's in town on Monday, October 13, at Town Hall. Hie thee hence, why doncha.

DARK, CRAZY MEMORIES: Augusten Burroughs has a new memoir out—A Wolf at the Table. We don't have it yet, but a friend who does says it's exquisite. He'll be hitting Town Hall tonight to read from it. The Town Hall site sums up the story quite well: "Burrough’s dark story follows the radical pendulum swing between love and hate—stunning psychological cruelty, and ultimately, the redemptive power of hope."