Stay Up With This Is Your Library

On Saturday, March 2, the doors of the downtown Central Library will stay open later than usual for the seventh installment of “This is Your Library,” the Library Foundation’s series of live late-night-style talk shows. The upcoming episode will feature punk legend Exene Cervenka; actor, writer and producer Mike White of HBO’s Enlightened; author and Los Angeles Times journalist Héctor Tobar; and City Librarian John Szabo, all in conversation with host Justin Veach, the Foundation’s Director of New Initiatives. What might they be discussing? Here’s a quick rundown of some of the guests’ work to get you ready for your library after-hours. Purchase tickets for the event, which will also include music by dublab djs, food by Mas Malo, a post-show concert featuring the psychedelic sounds of Feeding People, and more.

Exene Cervenka is an American singer, songwriter, artist, and activist. Together with John Doe and guitarist Billy Zoom, they formed the seminal Los Angeles punk band X. Exene has covered a lot of artistic territory over the years: publishing poetry, prose, and art books; exhibiting her collages in museums and galleries; recording and touring with her other bands. Watch a performance below.



Mike White
 is an award-winning writer, director, actor and producer. His writing credits range from the indie black comedies Chuck and Buck, The Good Girl, and Year of the Dog to main-stream comedy hits School of Rock and Nacho Libre. His TV credits include the short-lived but critically praised Freaks and Geeks and Pasadena. He also twice competed in the Emmy-winning television show The Amazing Race with his father, Mel. The second season of White’s Golden Globe-winning HBO television series Enlightened premiered this January, starring Laura Dern and White (also the series co-creator). Listen to White talk to Terry Gross on Fresh Air about Enlightened here and flashback to the hilarious trailer of Chuck and Buck below.

Héctor Tobar has worked as a journalist for the Los Angeles Times for nearly twenty years. He shared a Pulitzer Prize for the paper’s coverage of the 1992 riots, and then served as the national Latino Affairs correspondent, the Buenos Aires bureau chief, and the Mexico City bureau chief. Héctor currently serves as a book critic for the paper, is the author of three books, including most recently, The Barbarian Nurseries. Listen to his interview with Michael Silverblatt of Bookworm here and his interview with Karen Grigsby Bates of NPR’s Morning Edition here. And of course, get lost in the history of Los Angeles as you browse his many columns for the Los Angeles Times.

John F. Szabo is the City Librarian of the Los Angeles Public Library, which serves over four million people—the largest population of any library in the United States—through its Central Library, 72 neighborhood branches, and website at www.lapl.org. Szabo has more than 20 years of leadership experience in public libraries and is a champion for innovative library services that address critical community needs in areas including health disparities, workforce development, adult literacy, school readiness and emergent literacy for preschoolers.  Read the Los Angeles Times’ take on John Szabo’s appointment to City Librarian.

Feeding People, a band of teenagers making some of the heaviest psychedelic around, have just released their latest album Island Universe from Innovative Leisure. Watch their newest music video below.

Feeding People will be presented in collaboration with Spaceland Productions.

We hope you’ll stay up with us for This is Your Library!

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