Los Angeles Times Festival Of Books

We lost the big store booth this year. No Borders or Barnes and Noble. That space was taken by the LA Times Pavilion which was out in nowhere's land in past years. Did we miss the big stores presence? No. The great assortment of writers were still there and just as approachable as ever. Sunday morning James Ellroy was at the Mystery Bookstore signing. A long line of his fans snaked down the center court. Royce Hall was closed to the festival. It was reported that the school wanted to much money. Budget crunch for the school and the La Times. Strangely we didn't miss it's use. The smaller panels were always more informative and entertaining anyway.

One thing that didn't change was those dreadfull Janss Steps. Any plans I made were based on minimizing climbing up or down those steps.

Ended up buying half a dozen books. One was Walker Evans CUBA. The book was discounted 75% off list price at the Getty booth. I paid $6.87. For the other five books the total was $70.

Here's a small group of photos from both days at the festival.

God those steps again!

Big crowds.

The lawn that borders the Janss Steps is always a good place to relax and read that just purchased book. Good place for photos too. The photo from yesterday of the young boy was also taken on this lawn.

These two young ladies were taking snap-shots of what they entered on the What Are You Reading wall. Ding? Shout.

James Ellroy greeting his many fans at the Mystery Bookstore booth.

The lady in the very short skirt just may be the woman that Tod Goldberg encountered while signing books at Mysterious Galaxy booth. There is a link below to Tod's account of the festival and the mystery of the short skirt.

Tod Goldberg with the creator of the popular TV show Burn Notice, Matt Nix. Tod is the author of the Burn Notice tie-in books. His first second Burn Notice book is The End Game. Down in the right corner is Bill Rabkin who has worked with Tod's brother, Lee Goldberg, and I guess still does. Bill writes the Psych tie-in books. His first Psych book was: Mind Over Magic. He has two more in the works. He has also written for that show. Hey I didn't notice that Mr Rabkin was trying to sneak into the picture. It's OK.

Bill Rabkin, Tod Goldberg and Tod's brother Lee Goldberg were all at the Mystery Bookstore booth signing books and just about anything else that was put in front of them.

Here's Tods's take on the festival. He does a MUCH better job of describing the weekend.

And here is Lee Goldberg's take on the festival.

Giada De Laurentiis at the Culinary Stage. It was very crowded. OK? I didn't have a Stinking Badge so what you see is it. Well not entirely. I did get a partial of Giada. Maybe later I'll post it.

That's it for this year.

LA Times Festival of Books -- Day Two

It's over. 364 days until the next one.

I think this picture tells it all. Will post more tomorrow. I'm tired.

Saw a lot. Listened to a few excellent panels. Spent a lot. Can't wait until next year so I can do it all over again.

LA Times Festival of Books -- Day One

Panel Subject was Humor and Race. I can tell you there was plently of humor during this panel's discussions. Great way to end the first day of the festival. From left: Tod Goldberg, panel moderator, Lalo Alcaraz, and Larry Wilmore. Missing from the photo is Christian Lander.

LA Times Book Festival April 25 and 26

Get all the info on the LA Times Book Festival at their web site. Tickets will be available online at Ticketmaster on April 19, 2009.

I Can't Wait.

Los Angeles Times/Goldberg Festival Of Books

The Goldbergs were everywhere. The rumor is that there are maybe a hundred more Goldberg writers and artists. All related somehow. Only four were represented at the festival. We believe the LA Times put a limit to the number of Goldbergs that could participate. Otherwise God knows how many would have been at the festival.

The sisters: Linda Woods (Left in the picture). She's the artist. Could be the only Goldberg artist. Karen Dinino is the writer. They were signing their books - JOURNAL REVOLUTION and Visual Chronicles: The No-Fear Guide to Creating Art Journals. Their blog is here.

If you can't tell which picture is of the sisters then as Tod would say "You are a . . . " Sorry the word has been copyrighted by Tod and only he has the use of it. If you are confused don't worry we all are. Read on to discover the location of the real Tod.

The brothers: Tod Goldberg (Left in the picture.) Tod is a writer and a teacher. I think it's best that you experience Tod rather then me trying to describe his work. Check Tod out over here. If you're reading this a year after the event then go directly to Tod's account of the 2008 Festival of Books.

Tod's brother, Lee, is a screenwriter as well as writer of mysteries. Lee can be experienced at his blog.

Not only were Tod and Lee signing books but Tod participated in two panels. They (The LA Times) actually let Tod moderate one of the panels, Crime with an Edge. (Correction he moderated both panels.) Mad magazine couldn't have selected a more unfit person. Turns out he was very good. Tod does know his shit. He steps in it enough. That said if you could get past the FUCK word his comments were insightful and . . . oh forget it. It was an interesting panel because of Tod. The panel included: Christopher Goffard, Rob Roberge, and Mark Haskell Smith.

Note to the Goldbergs. You use Typepad and I still can't figure out how to sign-up and leave comments. I've decided that is probably a good thing.

Note to Tod: I'm glad you were busy at 10am on Saturday because I had Shelly Jackson all to myself. Unfortunately she doesn't like tall, blond, blue eyed good looking types. She prefers short, tubby guys with hairy backs. I gave her your phone number.

It should be noted that UCLA is probably the ONLY location that can hold the book festival. It looks the part. No other location saids books like it. Please do not change the venue. I promise the Goldbergs will behave if you keep the book festival at UCLA. You can also ignore Tod Goldberg's demand that you install an escalator at the Janss Steps.

Los Angeles Times Festival Of Books - Three

Saturday was way to hot. Sunday was just hot.

Plently of writers. They're all rock stars to us.

From the top:

Lisa Lutz.
Mary Lou Henner.
Robert Crais.
T. Jefferson Parker.
Michael Connelly.
Joe Wambaugh.

There were many, many more writers. For book lovers, and we count ourselves as one, this is as good as it gets. This is the second book festival for us. We missed the first eleven. Can't wait for number 14.

Los Angeles Times Festival Of Books - Two

Saturday was way to hot. Sunday was just hot.

Plently of writers. They're all rock stars to us.

Plently of book publishers. There is something for everyone.

To many crazies handing out you name it.

Except for Disneyland I've never seen so many families. Could be the price of admission - $0.00. This is good. Very good.

Far to many signs declaring "Absolutely no photography." Boring.

$5.00 lemonade. The stuff probably had plently of sugar. In which case you just got more thirsty and wanted more lemonade. What a racket.

Los Angeles Times Festival Of Books - One

Saturday was way to hot. Sunday was just hot.

Plently of writers. They're all rock stars to us.

Plently of book publishers. There is something for everyone.

To many crazies handing out you name it.

Except for Disneyland I've never seen so many families. Could be the price of admission - $0.00. This is good. Very good.

Far to many signs declaring "Absolutely no photography." Boring.

$5.00 lemonade. The stuff probably had plently of sugar. In which case you just got more thirsty and wanted more lemonade. What a racket.

Los Angeles Times Festival Of Books

The crowds at the festival were large. LA loves their books. For two days in April writers are rock stars.

Just as the book lovers showed up the sun and heat made an appearance. It stayed hot all day Saturday and should make a repeat Sunday. Water was needed and plently was abailable at $4.oo a bottle.