Berkshire Community Radio Presents James Howard Kunstler & The Yes Men11:16AM / Monday, August 31, 2009
GREAT BARRINGTON, Mass.– Berkshire Community Radio announces two special events at the Mahaiwe Performing Arts Center to raise funds for WBCR 97.7 LP-FM, the volunteer-based, noncommercial, community radio station in the town of Great Barrington, Mass.
Celebrated social commentator, James Howard Kunstler, author of The Geography of Nowhere, will give a talk titled “Living in the Long Emergency” on Sunday, September 20 at 7pm. Anti-corporate pranksters, The Yes Men, will present a screening of their new film, The Yes Men Fix the World, followed by a Q&A with director-writer-producer-troublemakers Andy Bichlbaum and Mike Bonanno, on Friday, November, 20 at 8pm. Tickets are $11 and $6 for full-time students with ID. To purchase tickets, visit www.mahaiwe.org or phone the Mahaiwe box office at 413.528.0100.
Bestselling author James Howard Kunstler is an outspoken critic of suburban and urban development trends throughout the United States and is a leading proponent of the New Urbanism movement. A one-time staff writer and editor for Rolling Stone magazine, Kunstler has written four nonfiction books and nine novels, but he is perhaps best known for his observations about the urban landscape and life in big cities. In The Geography of Nowhere: The Rise and Decline of America's Man-made Landscape, he offers an irreverent critique of the suburbanization of America, arguing that endless highways and nondescript strip malls are in part responsible for the deterioration of civic life and the growth of social and economic problems.
A native of New York City who has no formal training in architecture or city planning, Kunstler also addressed urban life issues in the books, Home from Nowhere: Remaking Our Everyday World for the Twenty-First Century (1996) and The City in Mind: Meditations on the Urban Condition (2001). In 2005, he published The Long Emergency: Surviving the Converging Catastrophes of the Twenty-First Century, in which he asserts the world has passed its peak oil production and reflects on the implications of living in an industrialized world with diminishing energy resources. His most recent book is a novel, World Made By Hand (2008), depicting the post-oil American future.
The Yes Men have been called “the Jonathan Swift of the Jackass Generation” by author Naomi Klein. They pose as corporate bigwigs, infiltrate the world of big business, and scandalize unsuspecting audiences in ways that shame the world’s biggest corporate criminals. Although fronted by Andy Bichlbaum and Mike Bonanno, their membership includes hundreds of agents who prefer to remain anonymous – until duty calls. The group first gained international notoriety a decade ago by impersonating World Trade Organization spokesmen on international TV and at business conferences. In 2004, United Artists released a feature documentary about their hijinks (The Yes Men directed by Chris Smith, Sarah Price, and Dan Olman) which became an instant cult hit, received numerous festival awards, and was distributed theatrically and on television around the globe.
Founded in 2004, WBCR 97.7 LP-FM is a volunteer-operated and listener-supported noncommercial community broadcast and Internet radio station in the town of Great Barrington, Mass. Each week, WBCR-LP broadcasts over 90 locally-produced or sponsored radio programs; with programmers ranging from elementary school students to retirees; with topics including local community issues, astrology, skate-boarding, women's issues, and water preservation and protection; and with live and recorded music ranging from classical to Italian folk to death-metal. In addition, dozens of community volunteers perform the myriad of tasks required to maintain the studios and keep the station running. For more information about the station, see www.berkshireradio.org.
The Mahaiwe Performing Arts Center is located at 14 Castle Street in Great Barrington, Mass. Box Office Hours: Wednesday through Saturday from noon to 6pm and 3 hours before show times. Tickets can also be purchased online at www.mahaiwe.org or via phone at 413.528.0100. |
