Get out of your comfort zone and out of your box to meet/mingle/network and brainstorm with new people who also work in the arts, entertainment or nonprofit/NGO communities.

Tuesday, Dec. 9, 6-8 pm but you can stay as long as you want.

El Toro Cantina/Busby's has the best margaritas, 20 draft beers, good food and happy hour specials. No cover and no RSVPs needed, really, but you can call us anyway if you feel like it (questions welcome): 310.657.5511.

More at levantinecenter.org and busbysonline.com.

Hosted by Noora Elkoussy/Levantine Cultural Center the second Tuesday of every month in a different location around L.A.

Bridges LA: third in the monthly series

A new bimonthly series of mixers, "Bridges L.A.," seeks to weave together L.A.'s disparate cultural arts producers and nonprofit activists to create stronger bonds of community and solidarity across demographic boundaries.

Organized by Levantine Cultural Center, which bridges cultures of the Middle East/North Africa through the arts to foster peaceful coexistence and a more informed American public, "Bridges L.A." will take place at social watering holes around the Southland, with the first mixer slated for Tuesday, October 21, 6-8 p.m. at The Parlor in Santa Monica.

Produced by Famous Stage Entertainment, Beirut Nights is a regular monthly feature in Los Angeles. Advance cover is $20, available online, or $25 at the door, and includes free mezze appetizers, premium hookah, international dj mixes, a live band and belly dance shows. Upscale dress code and reservations required. For info/RSVPs call 818.378.7550 or email Famous Stage.

At the Mirage,16925 Ventura Blvd., Encino CA 91316.

Beirut Nights

Middle East in Focus Live at Levantine Cultural Center

Two panels 7-8 pm & 8-9 pm

Listen to the broadcast | Hosted by Don Bustany & Hagit Borer

Americans are about to choose a new president. What effect will a John McCain or Barack Obama administration have on U.S. involvement in the Middle East?

Middle East in Focus, KPFK’s Weekly broadcast on the Middle East, will do a special two-hour broadcast presentation on the effects of a McCain or Obama administration and U.S. involvement in the Middle East. Eight Middle East experts will discuss and debate what John McCain and Barack Obama have already said about the Israel-Palestine issue, our simultaneous wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, what influence Israel has on the White House and the Congress, whether we ought to bomb Iran to prevent its development of nuclear power, and more.