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- Israeli women's rights slipping in face of ultra-Orthodox Jewry—LA Times
Favorites & Recommendations
Reza Aslan Book Party & Concert with Kutsal and Omar Offendum
posted April 16, 2009 - 3:39pm by Editor
Reza Aslan's new book: what's a book party without cool music?Join Reza Aslan when he debuts his new book, How to Win A Cosmic War on Terror, God Globalization and the War on Terror, at Fais Do-Do, Saturday, May 2, 2009. Doors open 7:30 pm, show starts at 8:30 pm.
Joining Reza are indie rocker Kutsal and her musicians, and later in the evening, the hip hop innovator Omar Offendum. Tickets are $28.50 and include a complimentary copy of How to Win A Cosmic War. Get them online at Ticketweb. Hurry, tickets will sell out.
This cultural happening is brought to you by Book Soup, BoomGen Studios, Largo and Levantine Cultural Center.
More info at 310.657.5511.
Advance Praise for How to Win A Cosmic War
"Aslan makes the case that War on Terror is an unwinnable one exactly because it is the wrong war to fight. A war between religions, a battle between good and evil, "A cosmic war," fails to address the underlying social and political roots of conflict and terror. For people of faith and all those concerned with peace in our world, Aslan's exacting prose and depth of discernment create an enticing and necessary read." —Jim Wallis, author of The Great Awakening
REZA ASLAN is an internationally acclaimed writer and scholar of religions. He is a columnist at the Daily Beast. Reza Aslan has degrees in Religions from Santa Clara University, Harvard University, and the University of California, Santa Barbara, as well as a Master of Fine Arts from the University of Iowa, where he was named the Truman Capote Fellow in Fiction.
He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, the Los Angeles Institute for the Humanities, and the Pacific Council on International Policy. He serves on the board of directors for both the Ploughshares Fund, which gives grants for peace and security issues, Abraham's Vision, an interfaith peace organization, and PEN USA.
Reza AslanAslan’s first book is the New York Times Bestseller, No god but God: The Origins, Evolution, and Future of Islam, which has been translated into thirteen languages, short-listed for the Guardian First Book Award in the UK, and nominated for a PEN USA award for research Non-Fiction. His new book How to Win A Cosmic War will be followed by an edited anthology, Words Without Borders: Writings from the Middle East, which will be published by Norton in 2010.
Aslan is Cofounder and Chief Creative Officer of BoomGen Studios, a hub for creative content from and about the Middle East, as well as Editorial Executive of Mecca.com. Born in Iran, he now lives in Los Angeles where he is Assistant Professor of Creative Writing at the University of California, Riverside. Rezaaslan.com.
KUTSAL is a Turkish songwriter and vocalist—an indie rock singer who writes songs from within. With her bold lyrics she strives to bring honesty and truth to everything she does. Kutsal has been singing all her life but started working with bands when she was 16. Since then, she sang at dozens of rock clubs across Turkey. She was discovered by the big names of the industry and was in demand singing back up for some of the legendary figures like Sezen Aksu, Nazan Oncel, Sebnem Ferah (and many others) at concerts and on their studio albums. She started writing her own songs and released her debut album “Susuzlugun Gecti Mi” (“Have You Lost Your Thirst”) in late 2001—a week before September 11th.
KutsalUnexpectedly, in 2003 Kutsal won the “Green Card” lottery and moved to Los Angeles, where she met with Jimmy Waldo (Alcatraz, New England, Quiet Riot) and got positive feedback on her Turkish debut album, giving her courage to write new songs both in English and in Turkish. Kutsal began working with American songwriters and studied new ways of writing songs. It was a challenge to write in English and also to write for two albums (Turkish & English), but Kutsal managed to finish 14 songs and started recording them with producers Jimmy Waldo and Alper Cakir (a well known Turkish rock producer). It was a blessing to have Pat Torpey on drums (Mr.Big) and Matt Bissonette on bass (Ringo Starr, David Lee Roth, Joe Satriany,etc.) as the guest musicians on two songs and also having Grammy winner Michael C. Ross on mixing and another Grammy winner, Gavin Lurssen on mastering, gave the album a very high sound quality. Kutsal released her Turkish album “Cirilciplak” in April 2008 and her English album “Naked” in March 2008. Since then she’s been touring with her band in Turkey and also in US. Music Connection described Kutsal’s music as “The unbridled emotion and dark psychological overtones that fuel this artist’s music may elicit comparisons to Evanescence, Alanis Morisette and maybe PJ Harvey, but Kutsal is exploring a realm all her own.” Kutsal.net.
Omar OffendumOMAR OFFENDUM is a Syrian-American MC/Producer - born in Saudi Arabia, raised in Washington DC, and living in Los Angeles. He started his musical career off as 1/2 of The N.O.M.A.D.S., co-produced the critically-acclaimed "FREE-THE-P" Mixtape, participated in "The Arab Summit" project, co-authored the "Brooklyn Beats 2 Beirut Streets" performance-lecture, & has been featured on several major news outlets (BBC/ Yahoo/ ABC News/ Aljazeera/ Reuters). He has helped raise thousands of dollars for various humanitarian relief organizations (PCRF/ Islamic Relief/ Kinder USA/ ANERA) & toured the world to perform his ground-breaking music.
Offendum is currently hard at work on his upcoming solo release - affectionately dubbed "SyrianamericanA" (Fall 2009). Myspace.com/offendum.
Reza Aslan's new book: what's a book party without cool music?Join Reza Aslan when he debuts his new book, How to Win A Cosmic War on Terror, God Globalization and the War on Terror, at Fais Do-Do, Saturday, May 2, 2009. Doors open 7:30 pm, show starts at 8:30 pm. Joining Reza are indie rocker Kutsal and her musicians, and later in the evening, the hip hop innovator Omar Offendum. Tickets are $28.50 and include a complimentary copy of How to Win A Cosmic War. Get them online at Ticketweb. Hurry, tickets will sell out.
This cultural happening is brought to you by Book Soup, BoomGen Studios, Largo and Levantine Cultural Center.
More info at 310.657.5511.
Advance Praise for How to Win A Cosmic War
"Aslan makes the case that War on Terror is an unwinnable one exactly because it is the wrong war to fight. A war between religions, a battle between good and evil, "A cosmic war," fails to address the underlying social and political roots of conflict and terror. For people of faith and all those concerned with peace in our world, Aslan's exacting prose and depth of discernment create an enticing and necessary read." —Jim Wallis, author of The Great Awakening
REZA ASLAN is an internationally acclaimed writer and scholar of religions. He is a columnist at the Daily Beast. Reza Aslan has degrees in Religions from Santa Clara University, Harvard University, and the University of California, Santa Barbara, as well as a Master of Fine Arts from the University of Iowa, where he was named the Truman Capote Fellow in Fiction.
He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, the Los Angeles Institute for the Humanities, and the Pacific Council on International Policy. He serves on the board of directors for both the Ploughshares Fund, which gives grants for peace and security issues, Abraham's Vision, an interfaith peace organization, and PEN USA.
Reza AslanAslan’s first book is the New York Times Bestseller, No god but God: The Origins, Evolution, and Future of Islam, which has been translated into thirteen languages, short-listed for the Guardian First Book Award in the UK, and nominated for a PEN USA award for research Non-Fiction. His new book How to Win A Cosmic War will be followed by an edited anthology, Words Without Borders: Writings from the Middle East, which will be published by Norton in 2010. Aslan is Cofounder and Chief Creative Officer of BoomGen Studios, a hub for creative content from and about the Middle East, as well as Editorial Executive of Mecca.com. Born in Iran, he now lives in Los Angeles where he is Assistant Professor of Creative Writing at the University of California, Riverside. Rezaaslan.com.
KUTSAL is a Turkish songwriter and vocalist—an indie rock singer who writes songs from within. With her bold lyrics she strives to bring honesty and truth to everything she does. Kutsal has been singing all her life but started working with bands when she was 16. Since then, she sang at dozens of rock clubs across Turkey. She was discovered by the big names of the industry and was in demand singing back up for some of the legendary figures like Sezen Aksu, Nazan Oncel, Sebnem Ferah (and many others) at concerts and on their studio albums. She started writing her own songs and released her debut album “Susuzlugun Gecti Mi” (“Have You Lost Your Thirst”) in late 2001—a week before September 11th.
KutsalUnexpectedly, in 2003 Kutsal won the “Green Card” lottery and moved to Los Angeles, where she met with Jimmy Waldo (Alcatraz, New England, Quiet Riot) and got positive feedback on her Turkish debut album, giving her courage to write new songs both in English and in Turkish. Kutsal began working with American songwriters and studied new ways of writing songs. It was a challenge to write in English and also to write for two albums (Turkish & English), but Kutsal managed to finish 14 songs and started recording them with producers Jimmy Waldo and Alper Cakir (a well known Turkish rock producer). It was a blessing to have Pat Torpey on drums (Mr.Big) and Matt Bissonette on bass (Ringo Starr, David Lee Roth, Joe Satriany,etc.) as the guest musicians on two songs and also having Grammy winner Michael C. Ross on mixing and another Grammy winner, Gavin Lurssen on mastering, gave the album a very high sound quality. Kutsal released her Turkish album “Cirilciplak” in April 2008 and her English album “Naked” in March 2008. Since then she’s been touring with her band in Turkey and also in US. Music Connection described Kutsal’s music as “The unbridled emotion and dark psychological overtones that fuel this artist’s music may elicit comparisons to Evanescence, Alanis Morisette and maybe PJ Harvey, but Kutsal is exploring a realm all her own.” Kutsal.net.Omar OffendumOMAR OFFENDUM is a Syrian-American MC/Producer - born in Saudi Arabia, raised in Washington DC, and living in Los Angeles. He started his musical career off as 1/2 of The N.O.M.A.D.S., co-produced the critically-acclaimed "FREE-THE-P" Mixtape, participated in "The Arab Summit" project, co-authored the "Brooklyn Beats 2 Beirut Streets" performance-lecture, & has been featured on several major news outlets (BBC/ Yahoo/ ABC News/ Aljazeera/ Reuters). He has helped raise thousands of dollars for various humanitarian relief organizations (PCRF/ Islamic Relief/ Kinder USA/ ANERA) & toured the world to perform his ground-breaking music. Offendum is currently hard at work on his upcoming solo release - affectionately dubbed "SyrianamericanA" (Fall 2009). Myspace.com/offendum.
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Reza Aslan’s insightful new book
Reza Aslan’s insightful new book, How to Win a Cosmic War, tracks the history of antiestablishment thinking in the Islamic world, and explains that al Qaeda is really a social movement for Muslim middle-class youth. But has the election of Barack Obama transformed our thinking about the war on terror?
With Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s recent declaration that the phrase “war on terrorism” is no longer operative, there is trouble ahead for those in the Islamic terrorism studies industry. Early obsolescence is too pessimistic, but at best the forecast is for a marked slowdown in the industry’s rate of growth. Same goes for the Bush-bashing business. With President Obama and his new team announcing changes in the Bush administration’s national-security policies almost as fast as they as they can roll them out, the sun is surely setting on those who made a career out of dissecting the ideological, intellectual, and management disasters that constituted American foreign policy in the new century.