>> speaking spanish... >> from some of the sounds they

used to play we almost lost all of them we still have some that he remembers. for instance. >> this means attention, be alert. something's going to happen. wake up, wake up.

>> some of the drumming part has been rescued by compose the cultural association. drumming... [music] [applause]

[music]

>> 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.

[applause]

if you have lip gloss put it on right now. tuck your ties in ♪

>> thank you very much. >> one, two, three. ♪

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