Get Your Lunch on With Political Satirist David Rees December 4^th at the Knitting Factory

Creator of the acclaimed and reviled viral internet sensation “Get Your War On,” David Rees will be doing the only central LA speaking engagement at the Knitting Factory, 7021 Hollywood Blvd. in Hollywood on December 4^th, 2002 starting at 12 noon. The event will consist of selected readings from the incredibly popular comic strip, recently published in book form by Soft Skull Press, with a foreword by acclaimed author Colson Whitehead. The event will also feature a video presentation about Adopt-A-Minefield and Adopt-A-Team who will receive the author’s royalty on book sales. A portion of the admission to the event will also benefit this worthy cause. The Knitting Factory will have a reasonable priced buffet available for event attendees. Tickets will be $10 in advance and available on www.knittingfactory.com.  Tickets at the door will be $15.

David will read selections from "Get Your War On," with comments and source material for some of the more infamous strips. He will give an explanation of what led to the creation of "Get Your War On,” his feelings of despair, anger, and frustration with mainstream media and a desire to prove cultural doomsayers wrong (e.g. Graydon Carter, Vanity Fair: "Irony is dead."). He will be commenting on the power of popular culture and the role of humor in dealing with personal and national trauma. He will try to put some perspective on how and why "Get Your War On" spread via the Internet, receiving millions of hits in a number of weeks, and he will discuss the positive and negative feedback to the strip.

David will also lead a presentation about Adopt-A-Minefield and Adopt-A-Team, with specific emphasis on the Mine Dog and Detection Center Team #5 and their work in western Afghanistan. He will be giving information about how the coalition bombing campaign in Afghanistan has complicated the work of deminers.  Topics covered will include problems of unexploded ordnance (UXO) from coalition cluster bombs, post-9/11 changes in AAM's operational plan in Afghanistan, the additional stress placed on deminers due to change in tactics, and the pressure put on deminers from local populations. He will also discuss "What's a typical day in the life of a deminer?"

Additionally there will be a screening of a 15-minute video, shot in Afghanistan in the spring. The video features interviews with Afghani  and Pakistani deminers regarding their work, personal lives, etc., footage of MDC Team #5's dogs and deminers at work in the field, black-market gun dealers trying to make a sale, kids at play, kids in the hospital due to landmine accidents and more.

The event will also feature live music, celebrity guests, and silent auctions & raffles of valuable gifts. More details will be announced soon. David will also be signing the book version of Get Your War On. This event is being produced by Hugh Bush Crum, founder of the digital effects software, hardware and services source 3-Dfx.

Newsweek says Get Your War On “conveys a hilariously deadpan fatalism while managing to provide a surprisingly articulate expression of our anxieties.” Please come hear David Rees an important new  voice in today’s cultural landscape on December 4^th at noon and Get You Lunch On!

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For more information please contact Susan Mainzer at Green Galactic, 323-466-5141 or email susan@greengalactic.com.