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>> our most popular streaming video is another expression of japanese culture. a form of comic story telling produced without background scenary, make up or stellar performers. main stage taped a performance. >> important. new dudes are too soft and soggy. no good. should be nice and firm. slurp.... h hum... disgusting again. to soft a noodles.

it's good for my -- it's hard to pick up a noodles without breaking them. ha, ha, do you use a fish cake? yes, really? really? i have been looking for it. [laughter]. but i cannot find any. i got one. oh , no wonder i could not find it it is so thin. i can see through to over there. [laughter]. that's okay. sometimes at the noodle shops you use sponge cake it's terrible. hum, hum, yes. this is real sponge cake. that's okay. that's okay. i am a [inaudible] person anyway. do i have to eat it all? slurp... hum, yuk.

slurp, hum... disgusting. i'm almost done. [laughter]. slurp, slurp. i gave up eating noodles. thank you, thank you. >> sometimes notable authors come to main stage and do more than read passages from their work. they sit in a live conversation with a reporter, playwright discusses the relevancy of his work with one of his theatre critics. as part of the yearly 1 city one book event. fields questions from sm scott chauffeur. >> before writing the book you want to louisiana and did a lot of research. what reception did you get there? what obstacles did you find?

well -- it depends on which decade you are talking about. i did research, actually starting in from the time i was very small. and we went back every summer even though i was born here in berkeley, as a matter of fact we went back every summer to louisiana and i was always interested and did a lot of -- um -- both formal and informal research. starting in the 50's and the 60's. and i will tell you that when i first startd that research and a lot of the research i did in that time period was i was largely unaided by any official source. i would go to the courthouse and i would ask for records. they would not give them to me. it was just -- it was very clearly -- it was very clear

they were not going to give them to me. >> what records were you asking for? >> i was looking for land records. i was looking for records of the fredues. the concept was there were black fredues and white fredues and there was not an acceptance of me setting out to prove they were commingleded even though everyone knew they would. >> very southern. >> i wanted to make it contemporary times. doesn't anybody care, they took away our rights. is the constitution a piece of paper that means nothing that the president can sign another ask we lose our citizenship and they can do what the hell they want. it's wrong then and now and i don't care what kind of

questionnaire it is i will yell it at the president, roosevelt, whoever, it was wrong and it matters. he says it has to matter. to me it's the speech i gave him was drawn from what's happening i think in the country right now in relationship to the war. who is considered patriotic who is considered a trader? and the point of a play to me is that it isn't just the museum piece. that, in fact, it does have relevancy now. and that it does spark a certain amount of controversy in relationship to what goes on now. >> twice in the same day the auditorium was standing room only. new york times best seller crediting mortson came to talk

about his book. cup of tea. . he talked about the penny for peace campaign. the provides education for the communities of pakistan and afghanistan. >> i came back to america, i was broke after k 2. i had to raise 12 thousand dollars. and i didn't know how a clue of how to raise money like that. i went to the local library. any librarians here? let's give them a big hand. [applause] so, i went to the library, i talked to the librarian we looked up 580 cell rities and sports heroes. over 3 months i hand typed 580

letters and wrote dollar michael jordan and dear mr. stalone. guess what happened? nothing. at christmas i got a check from tom brocaw for a hundred dollars. i sold my car a buick for 500 dollars in a seedy area in oakland. by spring i raised 200 dollars. my marth was a principal at an elementary school. she invited me to talk to the kids. when i was leaving a fourth grader looked me in the eye and said, i have a piggy bank at home and i will help you raise money for the school in pakistan. i didn't think anything of it. 6 weeks later the school is

raised 65,000 penes. >> main stage's loud efts performance was about bief the detroit native high strung. they had an energyic performance. the concert was a plash back to the kinks and the who and tv shows like hala blue. ladies and gentlemen. the high strung. [music]

>> hope you enjoyed this look back at some of the entertaining guests that graced the stage of the main library. you can watch more highlights from main stage on you tube and new episodes on sfg. org. watch for more readings, speakers and performances during the next year.

we leave you with a bonus performance from the high strung. and a thank you to everybody that made the last season possible.

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>> as the city of san francisco has grown, there are a number of cultural organizations that have grown with it. the san francisco symphony, the ballet, and ensure we are celebrating the 75th anniversary of the san francisco museum of modern art's. one of the things many of our viewers may not understand about museums is the way they grow and evolve is really about a broad. his patient and support from many individuals who give their collections -- and broad support from many individuals who give their collections to the museum. this year it will be celebrating and abolishing those individuals through exhibition -- and acknowledging those individuals throughout asia. joining me is janet bishop, the curator. i understand you have been with

the museum quite a number of years. you remember its original home on van ness. now you are part of that transition to the center, the civic center, and of course your museum has been really the anchor of cultural tenants that has helped us transform this area of the city. >> to my mind, it is wonderful to be part of such a rich cultural community. when visitors come to this area, that have so many different options. >> let's talk about the anniversary show, which will be a phenomenal opportunity for san franciscans and all visitors of the city to get a real sense of how the city has grown and the importance of culture. >> we focus on moments where it was involved in pushing the dialogue about contemporary art

forward. the jackson pollock exhibition in 1945 is a perfect example of that. our founding director was deeply interested in abstraction and was engaged in dialogue with the guggenheim about bringing the jackson pollack showed to the west coast. the original price for the painting, $750. are directors thought that was too much of a stretch before the board of trustees, so she convinced them to reduce the price to firefighter dollars. it was just -- to $500. it was what was needed to persuade the board. it is a very subjective history of art. it has been very much shaped by the individuals involved with the museum over the years. in 1935, would start with the gallery with works that came in through albert bender, one of our founding trusties.

when we opened our doors in 1935, 181 of the 186 pieces in our permanent collection had been gifted. >> what are the names that pop out as the museum evolved? >> we have another gallery that looks at the theories that the museum has since the late 1980's. we focus on a particular aspect of that program that developed under one of art curators. he arrived in 1989 and was especially interested in artists. >> are some of the highlights? >> one of the aspects of the museum program that i have been especially involved with have been the exhibitions that stand for society for the

encouragement of contemporary art. it is encouraged to honor exceptional bay area artists during their careers. for instance, an early worked who showed here in 1996. for this exhibition, he has extended an updated it to 2010 with the addition of photographs and other frameworks. >> thank you for joining us. >> my pleasure. >> as we examine the 75th anniversary, we cannot overlook its important role as an educational institution and how it brings public program to all of our citizens in the bay area. try me now to talk about that is dominick, the curator of education and public programs. you are vested with a multifaceted responsibility,

with education and also multimedia. could you explain that? >> there are three main areas. we produce education activities for all ages, k-12, and adults, and we also produce a lot of educational media, a lot of interviews with artists, stuff that we published online, and other galleries. there's also a public program, which include some educational activities, but also live cultural programming for the artists projects. >> what are all the ways that the museum reaches out? >> the latest platform for educational media is launching right now with his anniversary. we have gotten to the point where we could put a lot of the content about artists, the

stories behind artists we have had on line, but those on to the ipod touch. >> could you talk about the education role that the museum plays in the city of san francisco? >> we are in the middle of a new initiative to provide more resources and programs for families and the locality. we are benefiting from a grant from the wallace foundation, and in the last two years many more bay area families have come to the museum, participated in the programs, most of which take place on sundays. we will see more and more different offerings rolled out in the coming months. >> thank you, dominic, for being part of "culture wire." >> the museums are almost like a

team sport. there is a tremendous amount of talented staff that puts together patrons to help support the institutions, but they all need a coach. the coach is the director. neal, could you let the viewers know, you have been director how long? >> we are working on eight years. >> now you have the 75th anniversary. how does that feel? >> we opened this building in 1995. it was bought at that time as a move from the civic center and the veterans building 2 third street, into our new building, a much expanded space, better space. it will be wonderful for the museum for decades to come. and 15 short years we have been amazed by we have outgrown the

building. the collection has grown to 26,000 works. >> was a challenging to decide what was going to be put on display during the anniversary year? >> 3 people on our staff spent 2 1/2 years of going through archives, the storage vaults, honor think all kinds of works that we have not seen -- uncovering lot of works that we have not seen but also history we uncovered about how we presented a television show produced by the museum, in the museum, in 1950. a lot of great stories that the presentation tells. >> the most recent news was the incredible decision on the part of donna morris fisher to give their collection to sfmoma. >> think it is commonly understood that the fischer collection was 1100 works by

some of the great contemporary works, one of the great collections in the world. in fact, the collection has not been seen. it has been largely stored at the headquarters, there has never been a publication or exhibition. >> but fischer collection and the additional expansion over the next 50 years, what in the next 25 years will the museum be doing? >> we are very committed to expanding the museum, expanding the collection, the overall growth of the museum. that is one of the things that is very important to us. we are about to enter a strategic planning process. the fundamental question we want to address is, how wil sfmoma growth and enhanced its engagement with the coit