The Lowdown, produced by Rare Bird Lit and Jeff Norman, is a bold cultural revival that challenges conventional wisdom on all fronts. It’s fueled by artists, thinkers and doers who creatively confront the most serious problems facing society. Our mission is to uplift the human condition via awareness, understanding and fun.
Join us for a lively discussion and sumptuous buffet the second Sunday of every month on the world famous Sunset Strip!
Pi on Sunset
8828 Sunset Boulevard (next to Book Soup)
West Hollywood, CA 90069
310.657.1774
Free street parking on Sundays!
Sunday, August 8, 2010, 6:00-8:00 PM
Tonight’s topic of discussion:
Pushing the Envelope
Hosted by JEFF NORMAN
with
Author ORIANA SMALL
Admission: $12 includes Lebanese buffet
Soft drinks and Lebanese beer & wine available for purchase.
In her upcoming memoir, Girlvert, self-proclaimed “girl-pervert” Oriana Small, AKA Ashley Blue, weaves through the intricacies of a decade in and out of the adult film industry, love, drugs, and her own firebrand of what it means to live ecstatically. From accolades to agony, Girlvert illuminates the surreality of a life lived beyond all comprehension.
PREVIOUS EVENTS
Sunday, July 11, 2010, 6:00-8:00 PM
Tonight’s topic of discussion:
How to Make Love to Jann and Adrian
Hosted by JEFF NORMAN
with
Author ADRIAN COLESBERRY
Comedian JANN KARAM
Admission: $12 includes Lebanese buffet
Soft drinks and Lebanese beer & wine available for purchase.
As a public service, Adrian Colesberry has written an exquisitely detailed guidebook on how to please him (and how to be pleased by him) in bed and beyond. Full of self-indulgent and incredibly bawdy humor, How to Make Love to Adrian Colesberry is a sexual memoir disguised as a manual on Colesberry’s pet peeves, favorite positions, and surefire ways to turn on your man (aka Adrian Colesberry).
Jann Karam is a comedian, actor and writer whose numerous TV credits include stand-up appearances on Late Show with David Letterman, The Tonight Show and HBO’s Young Comedians Show. In addition to playing one of Jerry’s girlfriend’s on Seinfeld (The Switch), Jann has guest-starred on Norm, Mad About You, Politically Incorrect, Dr. Katz and more.
The evening will conclude with a book signing by Adrian Colesberry.
Sunday, June 13, 2010, 6:00-8:00 PM
Tonight’s topic of discussion:
What is a Patriot?
Hosted by JEFF NORMAN
with
Author KATIE ARNOLDI
and
Veterans’ advocate ROBERT ROSEBROCK
Plus special guest WW II veteran STEVEN PALMER
Admission: $10 advance/$12 at the door, includes Greek-Mediterranean buffet
Soft drinks and Lebanese beer & wine available for purchase.
Click here to buy advance tickets.
Katie Arnoldi’s literary debut, Chemical Pink, set in the competitive world of female bodybuilding, became a surprise bestseller, winning her praise from critics and readers alike. Her second book, The Wentworths, also graced the bestseller list. Arnoldi’s new novel, Point Dume, is about human trafficking, the Mexican drug cartel, illegal pot farms on public lands, environmental devastation, obsessive love and the death of surf culture. Watch her video in the sidebar.
Robert Rosebrock is a Vietnam-era Army veteran and the main organizer of a long-running peaceful protest against plans to turn the 16-acre Veterans Administration property in Los Angeles into a public park. He feels the land is legally and morally bound to be used for the care and housing of homeless veterans. On July 26, 2009, after he hung an American flag upside down (in the distress mode), he was cited by VA police for holding an unauthorized demonstration. The American Civil Liberties Union is now waging a First Amendment fight on his behalf.
The evening will conclude with a book signing by Katie Arnoldi.
Saturday, October 10, 2009, 5:00-8:00 PM
THE LOWDOWN
The Warehouse Restaurant
4499 Admiralty Way
Marina del Rey, CA 90292
Featuring performances and a discussion about
The State and Future of Journalism
Hosted by JEFF NORMAN
with
Music by I SEE HAWKS IN L.A. (Full set at 5 PM)
Author PETER RICHARDSON
Journalist ROBERT SCHEER
LA Weekly founder JAY LEVIN
Comedian ED CRASNICK
Musician-satirist GARY GORDON
Drinks and appetizers available - no minimum required.
Happy hour discounts from 5 to 6!
FREE admission
Seating is first come, first served.
The evening will conclude with a book sale and signing by Peter Richardson, author of A Bomb in Every Issue: How the Short, Unruly Life of Ramparts Magazine Changed America, hosted by Book Soup.
Click here to read the LA Times book review of A Bomb in Every Issue.
Click here to read the NY Times book review of A Bomb in Every Issue.
Click here to read the NY Times book excerpt of A Bomb in Every Issue.
Valet parking only $2.75 or park free at adjacent bank or library.
Click here for directions.
“This is the music the 1960s counterculture was meant to produce in its brightest hours. The fact that it appears now some forty years later in a world arguably more hopeless is a sign of hope in itself. Despite the echoes of that lonesome whippoorwill, I See Hawks In L.A. wipes away those tears we are sometimes too blue to cry.” - Counterpoint
Given the state of investigative journalism - competition driving out printed publications in favor of online ones - the publication of Peter Richardson’s A Bomb in Every Issue couldn’t be more timely.
A Bomb in Every Issue is, surprisingly, the first book to recount the short (1962-1975) but utterly remarkable life of Ramparts magazine, which quickly became the premier leftist publication of its era. Deeply committed to the civil rights and antiwar movements, Ramparts‘ list of contributors, which includes Noam Chomsky, Robert Scheer, Cesar Chavez, Seymour Hersh, Angela Davis and Tariq Ali, forms a veritable who’s who of politics and journalism. It was in its pages that Che Guevara’s diaries and the prison diaries of Eldridge Cleaver first appeared, and it is where neo-con David Horowitz cut his teeth in journalism, before renouncing his left-wing political radicalism.
Former staffers Jann Wenner and Adam Hochschild founded Rolling Stone and Mother Jones, respectively. Ramparts‘ combination of high audacity and solid reporting deeply influenced a generation of progressive writers and remains an inspiration for investigative journalists.
Click here to read Will Investigative Reporting Survive? by Peter Richardson.
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