Saturday, May 06, 2006
EVENT REVIEW: LA TIMES FESTIVAL OF BOOKS, BOOK PRIZES & ROCK BOTTOM REMAINDERS
by Don Rose
(Westwood, CA : April 28-30) The annual LA Times Festival Of Books (took place once again in Westwood. What an event, where can I begin. Star authors, exhibitors galore, taking over the entire middle of the UCLA campus on two picture perfect LA days. At the annual LA Times Book Prizes Friday night, Joan Didion was honored as literary luminaries of every stripe came to celebrate the best in lit, then enjoyed fantastic food and drinks at the festive afterparty on the Royce Hall outdoor patio. Saturday night was the benefit for Dave Eggers' fine organization, 826LA, which provides free tutoring for teens -- and the "best selling" band Rock Bottom Remainders (comprised of best-selling authors) rocked Royce. Jake "Brokeback" Gyllenhall was one of the celebs in attendance, and the mix of comedy plus tunes worked well. The best part for me was the before-music comedic bits featuring Dave Barry (attention, Hollywood: give this guy another shot with his own TV show -- he is hilarious, and the Boomer generation is the true hot demographic right now, buds). Dave was introduced as if running for President; after walking up to the stage surrounded by sunglassed guards ("Secret Service" suits played by author Scott Turow and a couple other writers), Barry proceeded to lay out his agenda for America with laugh-inducing lines aplenty. He also took questions (via clever taped-video trickery) from Catherine Cryer and, yes, even Ted Koppell (a two parter from Ted: if you are elected, to quote the last line in the film "The Candidate", "What will you do now"? And then the second part: "What will WE do now?"). Funny stuff, and heck, Dave was so direct yet appealing you almost want to vote for the guy. In the music portion of the evening, Dave led the RBR band in a cute and clever ditty he wrote about his special Proofreading Lady ("...she nevers says 'Between You and I'). Legendary ex-Byrds-man Roger McGuinn, and CBS late late host Craig Ferguson, also graced the stage with the RBR regulars (sans Stephen King, who Barry admitted was "weird" -- see, he is so honest!). The LA Report highly recommends the FoB for next year; it is easily in the Top Ten LA Events every single year.
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(Westwood, CA : April 28-30) The annual LA Times Festival Of Books (took place once again in Westwood. What an event, where can I begin. Star authors, exhibitors galore, taking over the entire middle of the UCLA campus on two picture perfect LA days. At the annual LA Times Book Prizes Friday night, Joan Didion was honored as literary luminaries of every stripe came to celebrate the best in lit, then enjoyed fantastic food and drinks at the festive afterparty on the Royce Hall outdoor patio. Saturday night was the benefit for Dave Eggers' fine organization, 826LA, which provides free tutoring for teens -- and the "best selling" band Rock Bottom Remainders (comprised of best-selling authors) rocked Royce. Jake "Brokeback" Gyllenhall was one of the celebs in attendance, and the mix of comedy plus tunes worked well. The best part for me was the before-music comedic bits featuring Dave Barry (attention, Hollywood: give this guy another shot with his own TV show -- he is hilarious, and the Boomer generation is the true hot demographic right now, buds). Dave was introduced as if running for President; after walking up to the stage surrounded by sunglassed guards ("Secret Service" suits played by author Scott Turow and a couple other writers), Barry proceeded to lay out his agenda for America with laugh-inducing lines aplenty. He also took questions (via clever taped-video trickery) from Catherine Cryer and, yes, even Ted Koppell (a two parter from Ted: if you are elected, to quote the last line in the film "The Candidate", "What will you do now"? And then the second part: "What will WE do now?"). Funny stuff, and heck, Dave was so direct yet appealing you almost want to vote for the guy. In the music portion of the evening, Dave led the RBR band in a cute and clever ditty he wrote about his special Proofreading Lady ("...she nevers says 'Between You and I'). Legendary ex-Byrds-man Roger McGuinn, and CBS late late host Craig Ferguson, also graced the stage with the RBR regulars (sans Stephen King, who Barry admitted was "weird" -- see, he is so honest!). The LA Report highly recommends the FoB for next year; it is easily in the Top Ten LA Events every single year.
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