826 Valencia and Another Planet Entertainment present Revenge of the Book Eaters, a star-studded night featuring some of today's most recognized names in indie-rock, literature, and comedy, including Dave Eggers, Mark Kozelek, Aimee Mann, Patton Oswalt, Jonathan Richman, Zach Rogue and Sarah Vowell, in an event that promises to once and for all settle the debate: word or music—which is better?
Revenge of the Book Eaters will be held at the Palace of Fine Arts on Monday, August 28 at 8:00 pm. Tickets will be $32.50 and will go on sale August 6, available through www.ticketmaster.com.
This event, which is named after a story by an 826 student, is part of a series of six concerts in six cities to raise money for children's literacy programs in the 826 writing centers across the country. These events, which comprise the Revenge of the Book Eaters tour, include a line-up of celebrated musicians, comedians and authors.
About the performers:
Dave Eggers is the editor of McSweeney’s and the author of several books, namely A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius, which spent 46 weeks on the New York Times Best-sellers List and was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize. He is a founder of 826 Valenica, the editor of Best American Non-Required Reading series, and a contributor to many major magazines around the world.
Mark Kozelek, a prolific and influential songwriter, has recorded six studio albums with Red House Painters, three solo albums, and two with Sun Kil Moon. Kozelek’s haunting and pristine songs have earned him a reputation as a supreme craftsman and paramount artist. Recently, Kozelek has also been seen in Steve Martin’s Shopgirl and Cameron Crowe’s Almost Famous.
Aimee Mann’s songs have a wonderful literary quality to them—sharp, spare short stories set to music. During the ‘80s she led the post-new wave pop group ‘Til Tuesday. In the ‘90s she embarked on a critically acclaimed solo career. Early in 2000 she wrote the soundtrack for the film Magnolia and her song “Save Me” was nominated for an Academy Award. Since then, she self-released the album Lost In Space, she made the Live at St. Ann’s Warehouse CD/DVD, and this year she put out the much-lauded Forgotten Arm a concept album built around a drug-addicted boxer’s return from Vietnam.
Patton Oswalt headlines at comedy clubs all over the United States and appears in his own stand-up specials on Comedy Central and HBO. In 2002, he was chosen as Entertainment Weekly’s “It” comedian. He is a regular on Late Night with Conan O'Brien and the sitcom King of Queens. Other television credits include appearances on Seinfeld and NewsRadio. His film credits include Starsky & Hutch, Blade 3, Man on the Moon and Magnolia. Oswalt has written for the MTV Music Video Awards and for two seasons of Mad TV.
Jonathan Richman, one of rock's most eccentric and unpredictable cult figures, is a performer whose eternally childlike public persona and seeming naiveté tends to obscure the dexterity and craft of his music, which skirts from garage rock to country to Latin stylings and back. Richman formed the influential proto-punk band the Modern Lovers in 1973 and has released 21 albums since then, gaining a fiercely devoted fan base, which expanded substantially in the 1990s, thanks to his frequent guest spots on TV's Late Night with Conan O'Brien , and his prominent appearance in the 1998 film comedy smash There's Something About Mary.
Zach Rogue is the front-man and songwriter for the Bay Area indie band Rogue Wave. His songs are gentle, undeniably charming, full of timeless sophistication, and the fierce, penetrating hooks that define classics. Somewhere between Simon and Garfunkel and Yo La Tengo, Rogue’s songs feature wispy, spectral tunes, embroidered with intricate details.
Sarah Vowell has turned her gimlet eye—and razor-sharp tongue—toward everything from her father’s homemade (and life-size) cannon and her obsession with the Godfather films, to the New Hampshire primary and her Cherokee ancestors’ forced march on the Trail of Tears. Vowell is best known for her monologues and documentaries for public radio’s This American Life. A contributing editor for the program since 1996, she has been a staple of TAL’s popular live shows around the country, for which The New York Times has commended her “funny querulous voice and shrewd comic delivery.” Her most recent book, Assassination Vacation, was a New York Times Best-seller.
To learn more about the The Revenge of the Book Eaters Tour go to www.bookeaters.org
