The Abundance of Less

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THE DEPLORABLES

PRESS CONTACT:

Lorna Garano

lornagarano@gmail.com

510-759-6655

THE DEPLORABLES CARDS™

Two pernicious packs of 10 collectible cards 

(do the math: 2 x 10 = 20. Wow!) satirize the entire Trump crew, including Ivanka, Spicy, Betsy, Bannon, and—of course—the Deplorable in Chief, Donald Trump.

Clint Werner, Eclipse Chaser Extraordinaire

 

WARNING: POLITICIANS, PROFITEERS, BUREAUCRATS, CORPORATE SHILLS!

The Man Behind Some of the Most Outrageous Acts of Political Pranksterism, Subvertisement, and Cultural Sabotage Shares His Secrets in a New Book

“(L.M. Bogad) is (t)he love child of Lenny Bruce and Saul Alinsky…” —Guillermo Gómez-Peña, writer, performance artist and pedagogue

“Appalling bad taste and worse judgment make Bogad’s interventions memorable and frequently effective…”—Peter Sellars, theatre and opera director

L.M. Bogad’s artful activism blends the strategies of Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King with heaping doses of Harpo Marx. He is a professor and “tactical performer” who is committed to “speaking mirth to power.” In his long career he has used his talent for outrageous theatrical spectacle to skewer governments, corporations, and power brokers of all sorts. Bogad has worked with the Yes Men and with unions and human rights groups on picket lines and occupations around the world. He helped to create and train the spectacular Clandestine Insurgent Rebel Clown Army (CIRCA) and to make the Billionaires for Bush—with their calls for “Government of, by, and for the Corporations”—a fixture at the protests that shadowed George W. Bush’s time as president. All of this “serious play” is informed and inspired by constant research into the long history of creative resistance.

Now, Bogad has released TACTICAL PERFORMANCE: THE THEORY AND PRACTICE OF SERIOUS PLAY (Routledge, February 2016, paperback), a complete how-to guide and comprehensive study of creative nonviolence, pranksterism, subvertisement, and cultural sabotage for activists, performers, and anyone who is ready to take the streets. If that’s not bad enough news for the status-quo, a second edition of his landmark ELECTORAL GUERRILLA THEATRE: RADICAL RIDICULE AND SOCIAL MOVEMENTS (Routledge, April 2016, paperback), which explains how to run for office as a gnome and actually get elected, also recently hit the shelves (especially apropos for this bizarre election season).

Bogad is available for interview. He can also write a short article for your site or magazine and provide excerpts. Here is just some of what he can discuss:

• Why we need street theater, pranksterism, and cultural sabotage now more than ever; reflections on more recent creative movements, and a dramaturgical critique of the performances of our current coterie of politicians

• Some of the best classic examples of tactical performance and why they were successful. These include the lunch counter sit-ins used by Civil Rights activists, the Yippies showering the New York Stock Exchange with dollar bills, the work of ACT-UP, the “beautifully bizarre and mischievous communications” of the Zapatistas’ Subcommandante Marcos, and the Native American take over of Alcatraz Island

• How tactical performance serves as a “political crowbar, or force multiplier” for movements

• The little-known history of how the Civil Rights Movement used tactical performance, and rehearsed and theorized their “sociodramas” and “creative suffering”

• Seeking synaptic misfire: How street theater jars us into new ways of thinking and seeing the world, and inspires us to act

• What tactical performers can learn from their opponents, or why Exxon is also a tactical performer

• How to gauge risk, read the local cultural terrain, and avoid direct, pitched battle with authority figures, or why the clown-kissing-police stunt happened in Scotland not the US

• How his upcoming performance, “The Glamorgeddon Limo Lectures”, will incite radical dialogue from a pink limo on the streets of Oakland in June

L.M. Bogad is Professor of Political Performance at U.C. Davis. He is the author of the books Tactical Performance: The Theory and Practice of Serious Play and Electoral Guerrilla Theatre: Radical Ridicule and Social Movements, and the plays COINTELSHOW: A Patriot Act, HAYMARKET, SANTIAGO 9/11, and GGPS: The Guillermo Gómez-Peña Global Positioning System. Bogad is a veteran of the Lincoln Center Director’s Laboratory and cofounder of the Clandestine Insurgent Rebel Clown Army, and this strange duality informs his activist work. He’s performed on many picket lines and with the Yes Men, La Pocha Nostra, Reclaim the Streets, and many labor unions and other activist organizations. He has also performed, lectured and led art-activist workshops from Finland to Egypt to Argentina, and was “Art and Controversy” Fellow at Carnegie Mellon and “Humanities and Political Conflict” Fellow at Arizona State University. Bogad is the world’s best, worst, and only economusician.

ON THE WEB

• lmbogad.com
• TEDx Talk: youtube.com/watch?v=psRuhwkwt5Q

PRAISE

“Lucid, sharp, funny, Bogad’s Tactical Performance is the book we’ve been waiting for on creative activism.”

—Diana Taylor, Director, Hemispheric Institute of Performance and Politics; Professor of Performance Studies, New York University; author of Performance

“Tactical Performance rehearses theatre and social justice strategies at their best: historically connected, culturally informed, alive and nimble in their responses to the political moment.  With the savvy of a participant/observer and the acuity of an historian and critic, Bogad provides a lively overview of important activist performances, asking us to reconsider its effects and its promise.  A crystal-clear argument in a must-read book for all who care about performance and social change.”

—Jill Dolan, Annan Professor of English, Princeton University, and author of Utopia In Performance: Finding Hope at the Theatre

“Beautifully written; a playful, potent mixture of history, how-to, and theory, informed by the author’s many years of personal front-line experience.”

—The Yes Men (Andy Bichlbaum and Mike Bonanno)

“The love child of Lenny Bruce and Saul Alinsky, Bogad has worked, on the street and behind the scenes, at the nexus of some of the most compelling art-interventions of the past 15 years. He brings his truly original and bizarre performance-art sensibility both to his activism and to this ground-breaking book. Read it!”

—Guillermo Gómez-Peña, writer, performance artist and pedagogue

“Appalling bad taste and worse judgment make Bogad’s interventions memorable and frequently effective.  Don’t try this alone at home.  These actions should be undertaken with friends, and preferably with very good friends.”

—Peter Sellars, theatre and opera director

 

 

 

 

Find Lasting Love by Knowing What You DON’T Want

When it comes to finding lifelong love we don’t ask ourselves the most important question.

So says Venus Rouhani, MA, LMFT, author of the groundbreaking new book, THE NO-NO LIST: HOW TO SPOT MR. WRONG

SO YOU CAN FIND MR. RIGHT.

If you want a relationship that will endure, a partner with whom you can build a life and who will stand by you in good times and bad, zero in on potential mates with whom you share common interests, likes, and personality traits, right? “Wrong,” says Venus Rouhani, LMFT, MA, and author of the forthcoming book, THE NO-NO LIST: HOW TO SPOT MR. WRONG SO YOU CAN FIND MR. RIGHT (Greenleaf Book Group, January 2016, paperback). “Having things in common is simply not enough. “In fact, you actually need to be more aware of what you don’t want than what you do want,” she adds. In her practice Venus has seen scores of couples who have plenty in common, yet their marriages are hanging by a thread. That’s because they, like many of us, focused exclusively on the question of what they want in a mate and gave barely a thought to what they can’t tolerate in a partner. As a result, red flags were ignored and critical issues overlooked until the relationships became mired in bitterness and resentment. That’s why she says that before choosing a potential mate we need to think about what we would find unacceptable in a partner and create a “No-No List” to guide our choices. Her forthcoming book gives you a step-by-step process for doing just that. Whether you are just starting on your romantic journey or are tired of failed relationships, THE NO-NO LIST is essential reading.

Venus is available for interview. She can also provide author-penned articles and excerpts. Here is just some of what she can discuss.

• The 31/69 percent ratio: Research conducted by the world-renowned psychologist John Gottman shows that only 31 percent of married couples’ issues are resolvable, and a whopping 69 percent are not. Venus asserts that this 69 percent comprises the ways in which individuals are different in personality and needs. Understanding just what makes up that 69 percent is essential to picking the right mate and making a relationship work.

• Why you should spend plenty of time at public gatherings and venues with your potential partner: “It’s crucial to see your potential long-term partner in an array of social settings with a variety of people. This will allow you to observe him or her and detect red flags,” says Venus. For example, if he or she belittles a waiter or sales clerk it might suggest snobbery and if that is something you can’t tolerate, it’s time to step back and re-think.

• “Yes, but he can change!” It’s so tempting to believe that we can have so much in common with another person that what we don’t like about them can be changed. The hard truth is that he is unlikely to change and in most cases expecting him to only leads to resentment and frustration for both parties. “In my practice I see couples almost every day who started out with this assumption and ended up in trouble,” says Venus.

• How to use the No-No List for online dating: Online dating profiles connects people who have common interests, but does little to highlight areas of difference between potential partners. While Venus does not advise against online dating, she stresses that you must still have plenty of real-world, real-time interaction and not get caught up in thinking that a happy virtual relationship will automatically lead to a successful real-world one. “Online dating all starts with the unspoken question: ““Are you a possible match?”” But once you meet, you must switch to a new unspoken question “”Are you a possible No-No?””

• How to differentiate between No-Nos and Never-Evers: In The No-No List Venus walks you through a step-by-step process for rating your individual list of No-Nos, so that you can differentiate between what you might be able to overlook and what you will never be able to tolerate.

• How preparing to navigate the virtual sparks of attraction is like fire drill training: We’ve all been there. We meet someone who sweeps us off our feet and reason goes out the window. Our brains are hardwired to do this, but they can be trained to override it. Just as fire drills help us to respond rationally in emotionally charged situations, we can train ourselves not to be hijacked by the emotional fireworks. Creating and refining your No-No List is key to this process.

• How understanding what you don’t want is crucial to understanding who you are: If we are truly going to know and, eventually, accept ourselves we have to get clarity on not only what we value, like, and enjoy, but what we don’t—and ask ourselves why. In The No-No List Venus urges you to probe your dislikes to discover what they suggest about your deepest values. This is essential because self-awareness and self-acceptance are part of the foundation of all successful relationships.

THE NO-NO LIST: HOW TO SPOT MR. WRONG SO YOU CAN FIND MR. RIGHT               Venus Rouhani, MA, LMFT | January 2016 | 158 pages | ISBN: 978-1-63299-058-7 | GreenLeaf Book Group Paperback | $15.95 | eBook: $7.99

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Venus Rouhani, LMFT, MA, is a psychotherapist and author whose approach to relationship counseling emphasizes the importance of using the rational mind to guide the desires of the heart. While recognizing the importance of emotion and chemistry in the pursuit of love, Venus advocates that awareness of undesirable qualities in a partner is more vital than the pursuit of common interests. Specializing in pre-relationship, pre-marital, couples, and family counseling, Venus also encourages those looking for love to develop self-understanding and self-acceptance as a strong foundation for lasting relationships.

After her retirement from dentistry (DDS) due to a shoulder injury, Venus earned a Masters degree in Mental Health and is licensed in both Marriage and Family Therapy (LMFT) and Professional Counseling (LPC). She is certified at Level 2 in John Gottman Marital Counseling and is a trained provider of Prepare-Enrich pre-marital counseling. Venus also draws from personal expertise to help her clients address and overcome their personal challenges: She has been happily married for over 40 years.

PRAISE

“Venus Rouhani provides a new approach to solving the age old problem of selecting a loving mate. Her recommendation that you know what you don’t want in relationships should be taken seriously. She provides guidelines and experiential exercises applicable to young and old, first time relationships, re-partnering, and even non-romantic relationships. Take time to integrate her hope-inspiring ideas and then create your own “no-no” list. You will undoubtedly make better choices that will help your interpersonal relationships thrive.”—Karen Chitwood Ph.D., Licensed Psychologist, Fulbright Scholar, Assistant Professor, St Edwards University

“Venus Rouhani offers a fresh and practical approach to decision making about relationships. By identifying No-No’s in relationships she reveals the deal breakers that so often end up in divorce. Grounded in brain science and relational research, her book provides a clear guide to recognize and eliminate unhealthy love interests.”—Katy Swafford, Ph.D., Licensed Psychologist, Founder and Director, Eidetic Institute, Adjunct Professor, St Edward’s University

“Easy read with a simplified approach to finding love and staying in love. After reading Venus Rouhani’s The No-No List, I decided to apply some of her advice in my failing marriage, (this book is not just for single people looking for love). It helped not only save a marriage but change my focus and ask myself some simple yet effective questions.  Common sense that is not so common in today’s busy world.”—Laura Ibarra, Client, Denver, Colorado

Happily Ever After Is Over

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

For interviews and excerpts contact:

Lorna Garano

510-759-6655

lornagarano@gmail.com

An evil queen has put a spell on Snow White, Sleeping Beauty, Rapunzel, and Cinderella, turning them into the undead. And if that’s not bad enough, their only hope for de-zombification is an anxiety-ridden fourteen-year-old girl who fell (literally) into their bizarre underworld home when she became the target of a mean-girl prank.

ONCE UPON A ZOMBIE will forever change how you see your favorite fairytale heroines.

Fourteen-year-old Caitlin Rose Fletcher’s got it rough. She’s in a new school and a new country. Her mother has gone missing and her know-it-all little sister (“Girl Wonder”) is always at her heels. On top of all of that, she’s plagued by panic attacks that leave her gulping for breath and feeling like she’s drowning in fear. But maybe things are looking up. Jack, the most popular boy in school, has asked her to the Halloween dance. What poor Caitlin doesn’t know is that a mean-girl clique has set it sights on her and tricked her into what she thinks is a pre-dance meeting with him at Mount Cemetery—where Lewis Carroll is buried. What no one knows is that Carroll’s grave—like the graves of The Brothers Grimm and other famous spinners of fairytales—is a portal to the a fairytale universe that includes Wonderland, Neverland, the Enchanted Forest, and the Emerald City. So begins ONCE UPON A ZOMBIE: Book One, The Color of Fear by Billy Phillips and Jenny Nissenson (The Toon Studio, October 2015, hardcover).

Soon Caitlin has gone down the rabbit … er… grave hole and into an underworld that is home to some of the most beloved fairytale heroines, except that they are now blood-eyed zombies who are doing their best to stave off their cravings for human flesh and return to life. Caitlin realizes that, frightened or not, she must lead the charge against the evil queen and restore life in the fairytale world. But will panic hold her back and what happens when her fear—the very thing she needs to vanquish—becomes a shield that can protect her from being zombified? ONCE UPON A ZOMBIE is a fairy tale for the age of anxiety. It offers young adult readers a fast-paced, riveting story and a new way to think about their own fears.

Billy Phillips is available for interview. Here is just some of what he can discuss:

• Why he felt the time was right to zombify some of our most beloved fairytale characters;
• How his own struggles with anxiety and OCD inspired him to write this novel;
• Why he made the Once Upon a Zombie a multi-media experience, with the main character having a blog, videos of zombie sightings, and dolls (contact me for an advanced product sample).
• What Once Upon a Zombie can tell us about conquering fear;
• Why he chose to make the main character of the story a flawed, but ultimately heroic, teenage girl and how he hopes she can serve as a role model;
• Why he wants kids to know that they can overcome their fears, even when the seem overwhelming;
• How he had to battle the US Patent and Trademark Office for access the iconic fairytale heroines—and why it was worth it.

ONCE UPON A ZOMBIE: BOOK ONE, THE COLOR OF FEAR | Billy Phillips | October 2015 | 349 pages | ISBN: 978-1935668343| The Toon Studio Press | Hardcover | $17.95 | OnceUponAZombie.com UnexplainableNews.comCaitlinFletcher.com | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | YouTube

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Billy Phillips is the President and CEO of Toon Studio Licensing, an intellectual property licensing business. He is a writer, creative director and producer, and has ghost written over 15 non-fiction books. He has lectured on the subject of spirituality and science around the world, including at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center and Goddard Space Flight Center. He has conducted interviews on the subject with a number of notable individuals, including Nobel Prize winner and physicist Arno Penzias, physicist Michio Kaku, former U.S. President Bill Clinton and more. He is a father of four and resides in California with his wife.

PRAISE

“… this story will surely delight readers of all ages … A fast, fun read that’s undeniably cool, just like its princesses.” —Kirkus Reviews

 “…an intriguing and original story … fun … engaging … witty… The imagination at work is wonderful … Young readers looking for reinvented, well-known characters and a light-hearted romp of a read will no doubt enjoy Once Upon a Zombie.” —The Children’s Book Review

“This wise and witty take on a famous classic will delight both zombie fans and lovers of Lewis Carroll’s imagination and humor … a gripping and involving story.” —Jenny Woolf, author of The Mystery of Lewis Carroll

“An imaginative and exciting blend of modern teen life and beloved fairy tales gone awry.” —Diana Winston, Director of Mindfulness Education UCLA’s Mindful Awareness Research Center

“Intriguing, exciting and fun.” —Bookbite Reviews

“Compassionate … Humorous … Written with gusto and sensitivity.” —Jack Zipes, Professor of Comparative Literature, former editor-in-chief of The Oxford Companion to Fairy Tales, Guggenheim & Fulbright Fellow.

Ocean Country: One Woman’s Voyage from Peril to Hope in Her Quest to Save the Seas

PRESS CONTACTS

Lorna Garano, lornagarano@gmail.com, 510-280-5397

Peter Handel, peterlhandel@gmail.com, 510-280-5327

SLIDESHOW AVAILABLE: SAMPLE PHOTOS 

“Especially for those of us who live inland, this book comes as a great gift—an overwhelming reminder of the ocean planet on which we live, with its great wonders and the risks it faces.”—Bill McKibben, author of Eaarth: Making a Life on a Tough New Planet

Finding Hope in Dire Times

In Ocean Country: One Woman’s Voyage from Peril to Hope in Her Quest to Save the Seas Liz Cunningham shows us how people around the world are practicing “hope in action” and why it’s time for all of us to join them.

After Liz Cunningham was nearly swallowed by a rogue wave in a kayaking accident in which she was temporarily paralyzed, she was left with a sense of despair and alienation from the waters that she had always turned for solace and healing. As she recovered physically, Cunningham vowed that she would reconnect with the ocean and recover hope—hope for herself and for the planet’s ailing waters. In OCEAN COUNTRY: ONE WOMAN’S VOYAGE FROM PERIL TO HOPE IN HER QUEST TO SAVE THE SEAS (Foreword by Carl Safina, North Atlantic Books, September 2015, Paperback) Cunningham shares her two-year global journey to discover how communities and individuals are fighting to save the marine world that every living being depends on and how they are creating hope through action in dire times.

From a former “dynamite fisherman” in Indonesia who walked away from heftier profits to save the ocean ecosystem his community relies on for subsistence to a culinary school in Paris that teaches sustainable cooking practices, people are rescuing our oceans and coming together to fight the destruction that can seem inevitable. And they are effecting change—though we rarely hear about. Recently, Bluefin tuna—a species all but declared extinct—has seen in an uptick in their stocks. This turn-around is a result of massive, coordinate effort across industries and communities. It is one of the remarkable stories of people practicing what Cunningham calls “hope in action.” From the San Francisco Bay Area to the Turks and Caicos Islands to Sulawesi, Indonesia to Papua, New Guinea to French islands in the Mediterranean, Cunningham shows us how people throughout the world are beginning to see that we can have hope, that we must act, and—most importantly—that the two are interdependent.

OCEAN COUNTRY is an adventure story, a call to action, and a poetic meditation on the state of the seas—but most of all—it is a story of finding true hope in the midst of one of the greatest crises to face humankind.

Twenty-one percent of royalties will be given to the New England Aquarium’s Marine Conservation Action Fund (MCAF), which aims to protect and promote ocean biodiversity through funding of small-scale, time-sensitive, community-based programs. This amount was chosen to highlight the percentage of oxygen in each breath we take and that the fact that over one half of that oxygen comes from marine plants and algae in the ocean.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR 

LIZ CUNNINGHAM is the author of Talking Politics: Choosing the President in the Television Age (Praeger), which features frank and probing oral-history interviews with top television journalists such as Tom Brokaw, Larry King, and Robin MacNeil. She has written for Earth Island Journal, East Bay Express, the Marin Poetry Center Anthology, The Outward Bound International Journal, Times of the Islands, and The San Francisco Chronicle. She has collaborated with institutions such as the Academy for Educational Development, the Constitutional Rights Foundation, the Tides Foundation, and the Smithsonian Institution. She also serves on the board of Outward Bound Peacebuilding and holds a B.A. in Human Ecology from College of the Atlantic in Bar Harbor, Maine. Visit her at: lizcunningham.net.

OCEAN COUNTRY: ONE WOMAN’S VOYAGE FROM PERIL TO HOPE IN HER QUEST TO SAVE THE SEAS

Liz Cunningham | Foreword by Carl Safina | September 2015 | 315 pages | ISBN: 978-1583949603

Paperback $16.95 | Kindle $16.95 | More info & sample slideshow photos: lizcunningham.net Facebook.com/Liz.CunninghamAuthor | @lizcunninghamwr

PRAISE

“…With genuine emotion and great pragmatism, Cunningham makes passionate pleas for the continued health of the planet.”

—Publishers Weekly

“(Cunningham) ably conveys her enthusiasm to readers. A moving testament to the human spirit.”

—Kirkus

 

“…Cunningham’s earnest narration of travels to remote seas around the world is a compelling read. Citing examples of sustainable fisheries and marine-protected areas around the word, the book ends on the hopeful note that we may have stopped hitting the snooze button when it comes to taking action against climate change.”

—Booklist

 

“Ocean Country is a heroine’s journey of near-death and discovery, of hopelessness and rebirth. Cunningham’s odyssey reveals how immersion into the problems that overwhelm us is a blessing of self-discovery. Where there is carelessness, we find our tenderness; where there is human suffering, we find our sense of compassion. Where there is damage and degradation, we find faith in ourselves and know that human beings can both resist and change all human ignorance.”

—Paul Hawken, author of Blessed Unrest and director of Project Drawdown

 

“Especially for those of us who live inland, this book comes as a great gift—an overwhelming reminder of the ocean planet on which we live, with its great wonders and the risks it faces.”

—Bill McKibben, author of Eaarth: Making a Life on a Tough New Planet

“As the ticking time bomb of our ocean crisis gets ever closer to detonating, Liz Cunningham brings us face to face with the hard facts. Her description of the transformation of a reef devastated by coral bleaching in just the space of a week, made me want to cry. And yet, even while aching with sorrow for the plight of our oceans, she pushes on through her despondency to find causes for hope. Common sense is breaking out around the world, as people come together to collaborate and build trust, to shift from short-term greed to long-term conservation. A beautifully-written memoir that shows us the ocean through Cunningham’s eyes, with grief for what is lost, awe for what remains, and glimpses of future redemption.”

—Roz Savage, National Geographic Adventurer of the Year, author of Rowing the Atlantic and Stop Drifting, Start Rowing

 

“I am full of awe and gratitude to Liz Cunningham for sharing her personal story interwoven with the joy and tragedy of the oceans, an account that is both intimate and universal.  Ocean Country inspires me to take action to preserve our underwater wilderness. I hope it will have the same effect on many other readers who will enjoy this riveting narrative.  A must read for those who want to preserve the beauty and diversity of our world both on sea and on land.”

—Arlene Blum, author of Annapurna: A Woman’s Place and Breaking Trail: A Climbing Life

 

“Liz Cunningham, in the rich tapestry of her book, documents better that any scientific treatise could, what we stand to lose if we continue to let the oceans go.”

—Daniel Pauly, author of Five Easy Pieces: The Impact of Fisheries on Marine Ecosystem

 

“Thrilling adventure tale, searing exposé, and moving memoir rolled into one, Ocean Country charts Liz Cunningham’s quest for healing after a near-death encounter with a rogue wave. The story of her odyssey sparkles with wit, wisdom, and excitement. Cunningham doesn’t flinch from devastation and despair. Instead she finds meaning and inspiration in local but sometimes tectonic shifts: fishermen cooperating to reduce catches, citizens guarding ocean refuges, French chefs serving only sustainably-caught fish. Her heartrending—and heart lifting—tales eloquently capture flashes of insight when the dots connect and new options open up. Her book also did something rare and precious: it burnished my hope for the future of our oceans.”

—Karen Garrison, former codirector of the Natural Resources Defense Council’s Ocean Program, recipient of the “Heroes of the Sea” Peter Benchley Award

“Cunningham has searched and found a powerful response to one of the greatest questions of our time from the deepest part of herself and expressed it with eloquence and wit and discernment, taking the reader along with her for a marvelous ride into a greater state of awareness.”

—Susan Murphy, author of Minding the Earth, Mending the World

“Wave after wave of gripping narrative—mysterious, funny, prophetic and profound—deftly delivers knowledge crucial to our times You can give it as a gift to friends and family, you can assign it at any classroom level in any field. You can let it teach you how to take yourself seriously enough to make a difference.”

—Catherine Keller, author of Cloud of the Impossible and The Face of the Deep

“A stunning account of our endangered oceans—of vanishing coral reefs, collapsing fisheries, mindless exploitation and species loss. But that is only the beginning. Time and again, Cunningham discovers threads of hope in people committed to reversing these tragedies. Taken together, by the end, they unlock a hitherto unimagined and hopeful revelation. You can feel it in the author’s heart. You will feel it in your own.”

—Richard J. Borden, author of Ecology and Experience

“The ocean is medicine. That’s what Liz Cunningham’s book shows us. It describes the winding, unpredictable neurological cascades that happen when we connect deeply with our waterways. We experience awe, wonder, purpose, insight, calm, excitement, solitude, romance, empathy, creativity. We become advocates, warriors, custodians, fixers, champions—we become unstoppable. In Ocean Country we meet people where they are as they heal and are reminded how much we all need such healing now.”

—Wallace J. Nichols, author of Blue Mind

“Ocean Country is a book about the art of the possible. How it is possible to protect the planet’s glorious richness of sea-lives and the life of fisherfolk? How can we harvest the sea without emptying it? How is it possible to bear the oceanic consequences of run-away carbon catastrophe? How is it possible to write a book that both celebrates and informs, calling us to respond with hearts and minds to the crises of the life-sustaining seas? In her book of underwater adventures, Liz Cunningham shows us how.”

—Kathleen Dean Moore, author of Great Tide Rising and co-editor of Moral Ground

VERMOUTH MAKES A COMEBACK!

PRESS CONTACTS

Lorna Garano, lornagarano@gmail.com, 510-280-5397

Peter Handel, peterlhandel@gmail.com, 510-280-5327

In VERMOUTH: The Revival of the Spirit That Created America’s Cocktail Culture, Adam Ford spills the forgotten history of vermouth, shares cocktail recipes, and explains why this spirit is becoming hip to drink again.

When you think of vermouth, do you think of Mad Men? Well, the spirit that once fueled America’s cocktail culture is roaring back. For almost a century, vermouth, an aromatized wine, was prized as an aperitif and a key ingredient in popular drinks like the Manhattan and Martini. While its popularity waned in the second half of the twentieth century, “today’s bartenders and discerning drinkers are thirstier for vermouth than perhaps ever before,” according to Paul Clarke, executive editor of Imbibe magazine. Craft producers have sprung up across America, and Atsby Vermouth, founded by Adam Ford, is one of the most noted. Now, Ford reveals the forgotten history of vermouth, shares new recipes, and explains why vermouth is not going the way of the hula hoop. In VERMOUTH: THE REVIVAL OF THE SPIRIT THAT CREATED AMERICA’S COCKTAIL CULTURE (Countryman Press, hardcover, June 2015) Ford shows why “vermouth’s place as a primary ingredient in cocktails and a stand alone drink is unquestionably here to stay.” Sprinkled with stunning photographs, VERMOUTH shows why this spirit has returned.

Ford is available for interview, and can provide original recipes, slideshows, vermouth samples, an author Q&A, and excerpts from the book. Here is just some of what he can discuss:

• Bottom’s up! Vermouth cocktail recipes. Brunch cocktails, forgotten cocktails, aperitif cocktails and more. VERMOUTH is packed with recipes that will help you enjoy this spirit at its best (see samples below). Photos of many of the recipes also available.

• A 10,000-Year-Old Spirit. Vermouth is the world’s oldest spirit. Ford takes you on a tour around the globe tracing its origins from China to Europe to the US.

• Vermouth in America. Vermouth hit the American shores in the late mid-19^th century and quickly became a favorite among drinkers, particularly in the raucous bar scene in New York City. The end of the 60s saw its popularity plummet as hippies rejected the cocktail culture. It’s now primed to be a favorite of the millennials.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

ADAM FORD, a lawyer by profession, is the founder of Atsby New York Vermouth. Inspired by a vermouth he tasted in Italy, Ford sought to create an American vermouth using local, artisanal ingredients. In the process of researching the perfect combination of botanicals for his product, he discovered the long-forgotten history of what was once America’s most glamorous spirit, and so this book was born. Ford lives in New York City with his family and produces his vermouth on the North Fork of Long Island.

PRAISE

“(Vermouth is a)…great read and a resource that I know I’ll be going back to again and again.

—Philip Greene, author of To Have and To Have Another

“Vermouth is a must-have book for anyone who is serious about cocktails. Adam Ford guides the reader masterfully from the historical beginnings of aromatized wines to an understanding and appreciation of contemporary vermouth. I wish this book was available to my generation of bartenders when we were starting out.”

—Dushan Zaric, Employees Only and The 86 Co.

“Adam Ford invites us all to fall in love with vermouth by teaching us about its rich history and expounding on its future. My advice is to first skip to the cocktail recipes and make yourself a drink, because this book will make you thirsty for more.”

—Sother Teague, Amor Y Amargo

“Vermouth has been the sleeping tiger of the drinks world for decades, but no longer—Adam Ford finally gives this venerable stuff the detailed attention it so deserves.”

—Paul Clarke, Imbibe executive editor and author of The Cocktail Chronicles

“… Not only does Ford craft one of the country’s more outstanding fortified wines, he also tool on the mantel of historical researcher, digging up facts and information to illuminate the very kernel and core of vermouth’s fascinating beginnings. In these pages, you will not only delve deep into the aromatic intrigue of vermouth’s ancient past, you’ll be able to do it while sipping on a cocktail via the spot-on recipes he provides. It’s a must for any lover of spirited and cocktail lore.”

—Amy Zavatto, Author of The Architecture of the Cocktail

Additional Recipes

Vermouth: The Revival of the Spirit That Created America’s Cocktail Culture | Adam Ford | June 2015 Hardcover | 224 pages | $24.95 | ISBN: 978-1581572964 | AdamFord.nyc | @NYCVermouth | facebook.com/adam.c.ford

“They never mentioned it would be glued to my head.”

 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Excerpt, interviews, and author Q&A available.

PRESS CONTACTS

Lorna Garano, lornagarano@gmail.com, 510-280-5397

Peter Handel, peterlhandel@gmail.com, 510-280-5327

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As he hit his 30^th birthday, MITCH FRIEDMAN, writer, improv comic and fledgling musician, felt he needed a boost—something that would make him feel better (much, much better)—about himself. Having once proudly possessed a full head of hair—a glorious “Jew fro” that had essentially vanished in a few short years, Mitch decided to get a “hair replacement” otherwise known as a hair system.

In HELL TOUPEE: MY RIDICULOUS YEAR WEARING A HAIR REPLACEMENT, (December, 2014, Paperback, $14.99) Friedman describes in detail – sometimes excruciating detail—how his life changed during the year he sported this new head of “hair.” As his story moves back and forth through time, it’s clear that his childhood, with two parents who came to hate each other, and divorced while he was a child wasn’t exactly a recipe for healthy self-esteem. Having a girlfriend, feeling confident among his peers—these things eluded him, and once he lost his full head of hair, his balding dome became a symbol of all that was wrong.

He signed on with a well-known company in New York City and started the $1500 process. Little did he know what he was getting into. “…a clump of wet, dark brown hair…had been expertly adjoined to the top side of an oval-shaped piece of vinyl mesh, bearing a resemblance to canvas one might do needlepoint on. Flipping it over to reveal its seedy underbelly, one could see that the mesh template was fortified with a solid strip of…one-inch wide plastic around its perimeter.”

It goes downhill after that. The color and texture of the system doesn’t match his remaining hair, and the daily struggle to wash and style it is an ongoing trial. “Well, now, not only did I have to wash my hair, but I also had to wash under my hair—and when I say under my hair, I mean under someone else’s.”

This frequently hilarious and vividly candid memoir, takes us from the 60s through the 90s and is set against the backdrop of the always difficult odyssey of growing up, from his childhood in a troubled family on Long Island to an early adulthood shaped by a litany of bad hair, bad jobs, clueless friends and a single girlfriend he loved…and lost.

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THE AUTHOR BEFORE AND AFTER GETTING THE SYSTEM (click to enlarge)

High School Yearbook with “Jew Fro” — 1981

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

One month before the “system” — February 1993

 

On stage with the “system” — July 1993

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

…AND (GASP!) THE SYSTEM ITSELF!

 

 

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

MITCH FRIEDMAN has been telling humorous stories for five decades, whether it has been as a funny kid, a comedy performer/monologist, exhibited ironic street photographer, award-winning quirky pop songwriter of five albums, or on the job as a film/video editor for the likes of Howard Stern and Ellen DeGeneres. Hell Toupee is his first book. He lives in Brooklyn. For more, including photos, audio and video, visit him at mitchfriedman-author.com.

 

 

 

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HELL TOUPEE: MY RIDICULOUS YEAR WEARING A HAIR REPLACEMENT

by Mitch Friedman | December 2014 | 308 pages

ISBN: 978-0-9863008-0-6 | Paperback $14.99 | ebook $4.99 |

mitchfriedman-author.com | Facebook.com/MitchFriedmanAuthor | @mitch_friedman

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SUGGESTED INTERVIEW QUESTIONS

1. You had a full head of hair when you were a teenager, and lost it in your 20s. Did baldness run in your family?

2. What prompted you to sign on with Head Restart for Men? Convincing ads? The only game in town?

3. Once you realized the process was going to be uncomfortable and the pay-off would call attention to your hair more than simply your regular appearance, did you consider stopping?

4. What is it with men and hair? Why do men think a full head of hair makes them look more virile, or more desirable?

5. Since toupees, and hair transplants are relatively easy to spot, and thus stand out because the viewer knows they are fake, why do intelligent, active men persist in wearing them?

6. Do you think your love life – and lack thereof during the year you wore the “system”—might have been different without the toupee?

7. Did your life change after you stopped wearing it and came to terms with your appearance?

8. Any advice for a thirty-something considering a similar scenario?

# # #

 

THERE IS A CON GAME BEING PLAYED ON AMERICA’S ELDERLY

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

PRESS CONTACTS

Lorna Garano, lornagarano@gmail.com, 510-280-5397

Peter Handel, peterlhandel@gmail.com, 510-280-5327

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Elder mistreatment—ranging from physical abuse and neglect to financial fraud—is a silent epidemic in the US.

In THE CON GAME: A FAILURE OF TRUST, T.S. Laham exposes it and shows you how to protect yourself and your loved ones.

The numbers are staggering. Experts estimate that between 1 and 2 million Americans age 65 and older have been mistreated by someone in a trust relationship with them and that they often fall prey to financial abuse—only one in 25 cases of which are ever reported to authorities. Just as alarming, guardianships and conservatorships designed to help elders who can no longer look after their affairs are often poorly regulated and give unscrupulous actors the opportunity to fleece and abuse those in their care. In THE CON GAME: A FAILURE OF TRUST (paperback, November 2014) T.S. Laham presents an exhaustively researched and unsparing look at this quiet crisis and offers a primer on everything you need to protect yourself, your property, and your loved ones.

Laham is available for interview. She can also provide excerpts and a Q and A to run on your site or publication. Here is just some of what she can discuss:

 

The trouble with conservatorships and guardianships for elders who can no longer manage their own affairs:

• These programs are subject to no federal oversight and state laws vary.

• Conservatorship is the most restrictive form of court intervention and it may deny you all, or some, of your freedoms indefinitely.

• No particular qualifications are required to become a conservator or a guardian. In most states the only prerequisite is that you are mentally competent.

• Courts usually appoint a family member as conservator, but they are often ill-equipped to carry out their responsibilities. One study found that fewer than 20 percent of courts furnished guardians with sufficient direction.

• Just a handful of states prohibit convicted felons from becoming guardians.

• Families and friends are often helpless to protect loved ones from an abusive guardian.

• Few restrictions protect an elderly ward from an unscrupulous guardian, according to a report titled “Abuses in Guardianship of the Elderly and Infirm: A National Disgrace” produced by the US House Permanent Select Committee on Aging.

Act now to protect yourself later:

• Understand alternatives to conservatorship/guardianship and make a smart decision about which options are the best for you.

• Learn what you need to ensure that you remain in control of your medical decisions and your wishes are respected should you lose the ability to communicate them.

• Discover estate planning musts.

What to do if an elderly loved one becomes a victim:

• How best to work with Adult Protective Services (APS) and what you can expect if you file a complaint with them.

• Understand which elders are greatest risk for abuse and exploitation.

• Discover the critical agencies involved in intervening in and prosecuting elder abuse.

• Learn about state laws that cover elder abuse.

• Recognize the signs: Spin doctoring, isolating an elder, enhancing dependency are just a few of the typical tactics of an abuser.

• Understand why elder abuse is often difficult to detect and learn the warning signs.

Scam detection 101: How to recognize some of the most common scams against the elderly:

• Learn about rolling lab schemes, telemarketing fraud, charity contribution scams and other frauds commonly perpetrated against the elderly.

• According to the National Center on Elder Abuse Bureau of Justice Statistics, financial exploitation represented 12.3 percent of reported elder abuse cases in 2012.

• One in four seniors living in the US was a victim of elder financial exploitation at a total annual cost of more than $3 billion annually, according the Professional Fiduciary Association of California.

• Over half of reported cases of elder financial exploitation were perpetrated by strangers, followed by family, friends, and neighbors.

EXCERPT DESCRIPTIONS

Excerpt 1: “Perpetrators and victims.” 1,570 words. Offers a concise description of who is most likely to perpetrate crimes against the elderly, their most common tactics, and which seniors are most vulnerable to them.

Excerpt 2: “Pros and Cons of Conservatorship.” 663 words. Offers a bullet list of pros and cons regarding conservatorship.

Excerpt 3: “Detecting and reporting elder mistreatment.” 2,543 words. Shows you how to recognize the signs of elder mistreatment and offers guidance for reporting it.

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The Con Game: A Failure of Trust

by T.S. Laham | November 2014 | 267 pages

Paperback ISBN: 978-1-4834-1723-3 | $24.95 | Paperback | Kindle | $7.99

Facebook.com/marthatslaham

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

T.S. Laham is a writer, professor, and consultant. She has authored books and instructional resources and scripted audio and video products for commercial publishers. She teaches business at Diablo Valley College in the San Francisco Bay Area and lives in Oakland, CA.

 

 

 

 

 

SUGGESTED INTERVIEW QUESTIONS

1. Why did you decide to write The Con Game: A Failure of Trust?

2. You talk about both physical abuse and neglect and financial abuse in The Con Game. How widespread is each?

3. Why it is so hard to detect abuse against the elderly and who is often responsible for it?

4. Which older Americans are mostly likely to fall prey to abuse or financial fraud?

5. Much of The Con Game is dedicated to exposing the problems associated with conservatorship (also called “guardianship”). First, tell us what purpose conservatorship is supposed to serve?

6. Now, explain why conservatorship can lead to abuse and exploitation.

7. In The Con Game you profile the Lyon family whose matriarch, Selma, was allegedly abused by family members. Can you tell us about this case and how typical is it of elder abuse cases?

8. What is the “protection industry” and why do you say it has a dark side?

9. You say that a conservatorship can strip people of their basic freedoms. So how can a person avoid a conservatorship and what are some of the alternatives to it?

10. One of the major problems with end-of-life care is that so many people don’t prepare for the later years or the possibility of becoming unable to communicate their wishes. Why do you think this is, and what are a few things that you think everyone should do when they are young to lessen the chances that they will be vulnerable to abuse and exploitation in later years and to ensure that their wishes are respected?

PRAISE

“T.S. Laham gives us a powerful step-by-step examination of conservatorship.”

—Gwen Boozé and Karen Anderson, Congress of California Seniors

“This book is an asset for anyone involved with or interested in elder mistreatment, or the practical legal resources solutions available to assist and protect the elder.”

—Susan A. Katzen, Elder law and estate planning attorney

“A compassionate and true-life story that provides perspectives of an aging America and presents the formalities of estate planning and conservatorships. A must-read if you have or will have an elder adult under the care of family members or others.”

—Tim Murphy, CPA, attorney, professor

“…I would recommend this book as a primer to other physicians and health care professionals who care for the elderly population.”

—Mark Adlard, MD, Family practice physician

“Anyone who has an interest professionally or personally with the complexities of senior abuse and issues will find this book to be a great resource.”

—Cliff H. Oilar, President, Back Home Senior Care

“You had me at the table of contents!”

—Deborah Wright, Financial advisor

“The content of The Con Game is invaluable.”

—Dr. Natalie Gelman, Clinical Psychologist

“The Con Game is an eye-opener.”

—Shana Yi, Marriage and family therapist

“T. S. Laham’s The Con Game is a testament to her comprehensive level of understanding on the subject matters addressed regarding elder care coupled by her compassion for underserved societies.”

—Karla Garcia, Commercial banker and community volunteer