Merry Prankster and sixties psychedelic icon Ken Babbs will be livestreamed from the Booksmith in the Haight on Tuesday May 17th at 7:30pm Pacific Time. He will be presenting his first novel, Who Shot the Water Buffalo, a tale of friendship, honor and survival in the Vietnam era. Tune in to here for the stream.

Then join us the following evening at 6:30pm PT for Hustler publisher Larry Flynt from the Commonwealth Club for the provocatively titled event, One Nation Under Sex. May 18th, live, on beNOW.tv.

Join us for two more exclusive Livestreamed shows from Yoshi’s Oakland this week.

The Queens of Boogie Woogie perform Monday night, April 25th at 8pm Pacific Time. The streams are always live right here at www.beNOW.tv and at www.livestream.com/yoshis.

Then join us Wednesday for Estaire Godinez, same time, same channel. More information about the artists can be found at www.yoshis.com.

Freedom on the Net 2011: Growing Threats to the Internet and Digital Media

beNOW.tv is pleased to launch a series of live webcasts from the Sutter Street auditorium of the World Affairs Council of Northern California in San Francisco. This week, we will livestream two terrific programs to kick off this unique partnership.

As the recent uprisings across the Middle East have shown, information technology facilitates political change, but for that very reason, authoritarian regimes are intensifying their controls over the internet. Freedom House is now issuing its report in levels of freedom on the internet around the world, which rates internet access, censorship, and user rights in 37 countries and assesses key trends in freedom of digital media. The presentation of report findings will be followed by a panel discussion with internet freedom experts. Brought to you by the Yahoo! Series on Business and Human Rights.

Panelists:
Alex Fowler, Mozilla
Gwen Hinze, Electronic Frontier Foundation
Ebele Okobi-Harris, Yahoo!
Nicole Wong, Google
Moderator:Joseph Menn, The Financial Times
Presenter: Sanja Kelly, Freedom House

Coming Wednesday:

From Tribes to Citizens: The Evolution of Government
Francis Fukuyama, Olivier Nomellini Senior Fellow, Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies, Stanford University

Virtually all human societies were once tribal. Why have some gone on to create stable liberal democracies, while others have failed to form legitimate and accountable institutions? Francis Fukuyama traced the origins of political history back to primates in search of the answer for his new book, which has been described as a “magnum opus.” Join him for his insights on the development of political order, the nature of government, and what it might mean for modern man.

Wednesday, April 20th at 6pm PT at www.livestream.com/worldaffairs2011

Set in Bolivia at the time of the election of President Evo Morales, “A Young Man’s Guide to Late Capitalism” tells the story of a young recent college graduate’s moral journey as he works for an unscrupulous hedge fund while pretending to be a freelance journalist. And Mountford writes from what he knows.

While writing about economics in Ecuador for a nonprofit think tank straight out of undergrad, Mountford noticed his byline read “Senior Associate” for a hedge fund he’d never heard of. It turned out the think tank was running the hedge fund out of its back office—which became the inspiration for his first novel.

On his first assignment for a hedge fund, early 20-something Gabriel is dispatched to Bolivia to ferret out insider information about the plans of the controversial president-elect. If Gabriel succeeds, he solidifies his place at the company and wins a bonus that could secure him for life. Standing in his way are his headstrong mother, herself a survivor of Pinochet’s Chile, and Gabriel’s new love interest, the president’s passionate press liaison. Caught in a growing web of lies and questioning his own role in profiting from an impoverished people – arguably his people – Gabriel sets in motion a terrifying plan that could cost him the love of all those he holds dear.

In the tradition of Martin Amis, Joshua Ferris and Sam Lipsyte – set against the stunning mountainous backdrop of La Paz and interspersed with Bolivia’s sad history of stubborn survival – Mountford examines the critical choices a young man makes as his world closes in on him.

“A Young Man’s Guide to Late Capitalism is a terrific debut novel—smart, moving, beautifully written. Peter Mountford’s parable of the voracious global economy reminded me of Graham Greene’s The Quiet American in its clear-eyed depiction of the realpolitik of our age.” — Jess Walters, The Financial Lives of the Poets

Peter Mountford has lived in Washington, D.C., New York and Los Angeles, as well as Scotland, Sri Lanka, Ecuador, and Mexico. His fiction has appeared in Best New American Voices 2008, Boston Review, and Conjunctions. He currently lives in Seattle with his wife and daughter.

Edgardo Cambon and His Orchestra “Candela” returns to Yoshi’s for an unforgettable night of Latin Dance Music styles: Mambo, Cha-Cha-Cha, Timba, Son, Bolero, Bachata, Merengue, and even some Uruguayan Candombe!

Featuring: Edgardo Cambon, Abel Figueroa, Jeff Cressman, Miguel Martinez, Julio Areas, Omar Ledezma, Alex Conde, David Belove, Walter Gonzalez, Jorge Domingez, Javier Cabanillas, Marty Wehner.

With special guests: Salsa Rueda Demo Show By Ryan and Sidney, Harpist Carlos Reyes and DJ Fab Fred.

“His tenor voice- at times reminiscent of Rubén Blades- will deliver amazing non-stop improvised verses”  Jesse “Chuy” Varela. (KCSM Radio, Latin Beat Magazine).

Day Two of Global Philanthropy Forum

And tune in for another exclusive day of live webcasts from  #GPF2011 featuring a conversation with Jane Wales, Ben Affleck (actor, founder of the Eastern Congo Initiative) and Laurene Powell Jobs (founder of the Emerson Collective) at 1:30pm PT. Live here on beNOW.tv and at www.livestream.com/gpf2011. Full schedule for the conference is on the prior blog post.

beNOW.tv will livestream the world’s premiere philanthropy forum for a second consecutive year, from the Sofitel Hotel in Redwood City, California. The program will touch on many of the planet’s most pressing challenges and opportunities, with leading thinkers, givers and activists. The telecast begins Wednesday morning, April 13th at 10:30am with opening remarks and will include evening programs and entertainment. Follow and participate on Twitter at #gpf2011. beNOW will provide both an on demand archive of the livestreamed sessions and edited excerpts on www.livestream.com/gpf.

As the Forum  celebrates its 10th anniversary, it will ask once more: What are the new  fundamentals of philanthropy that have enabled success? What has  worked and what has not? Which changes were fads; which are now facts of  life? What are the remaining gaps – and how will we fill them? “And when we sense a problem at a turning point, a  solution near at hand, we will act. Philanthropy, now unbound, finds new  opportunities for impact. Which issues and actors are at an inflection  point?  What are the game changers? And will we act now so as to change  the nature of tomorrow? These  are the questions we will address at the 10th  Annual Conference. Please join us to take part in this conversation,  this celebration, this inquiry.”

Here is the livestream schedule:

Wednesday, April 13               Turning Point: Sustainable Agriculture in Africa

10:40 AM PDT

Aziz Akhannouch, Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries, Kingdom

of Morocco

Donald Kaberuka, President, African Development Bank

Namanga Ngongi, President, Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa

Moderator: Heather Grady, Vice President, Foundation Initiatives, The Rockefeller Foundation

______________________________________________________________________________

Wednesday, April 13               Turning Point: Disruptive Connective Technology

1:00 PM PDT

Nick Hughes, Managing Director, Signal Point Partners

Ken Roth, Executive Director, Human Rights Watch

Andrew Zolli, Curator, PopTech

Moderator: Jane Wales, President, Global Philanthropy Forum

______________________________________________________________________________

Wednesday, April 13               In Conversation With…

2:15 PM PDT

Jeff Raikes, Chief Executive Officer, The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation with Jane Wales, President, Global Philanthropy Forum

______________________________________________________________________________

Wednesday, April 13               Rapid Fire Talks – Speed Bumps and Bottlenecks

3:00 PM PDT

°       Technology’s Limits

Reuben Abraham, Executive Director, Centre for Emerging Markets Solutions, Indian School of Business

°       Reinventing Fire—When National Governments Lag Behind

Amory Lovins, Chairman and Chief Scientist, Rocky Mountain Institute

°       When Data Need Standards

Ruth Levine, Deputy Assistant Administrator, Bureau for Policy, Planning, and Learning, USAID

Howard White, Executive Director, International Initiative for Impact Evaluation

°       The Fallacy of Openness

Tim O’Reilly, Founder and CEO, O’Reilly Media

Moderator: Elliot Gerson, Executive Vice President, Policy and Public Programs, International Partnerships, The Aspen Institute

______________________________________________________________________________

Wednesday, April 13               Conrad N. Hilton Humanitarian Prize Dinner

8:30 PM PDT Presentation of Prize to Handicap International

Steven M. Hilton, President & CEO, Hilton Foundation

Dr. Jean Baptiste-Richardier, CEO, Handicap International

Special Address: Michelle Bachelet, Executive Director and Under-Secretary General for UN Women

______________________________________________________________________________

Thursday, April 14                   Turning Point: Toward an Impact Economy

9:00 AM PDT

Kofi Adjepong-Boateng, Vice Chairman, Standard Chartered

Capital Markets, Africa

Ron Cordes, Co-chairman, Genworth Financial Wealth Management Malcolm Hayday, Chief Executive, Charity Bank Limited

Sonal Shah, Director, Office of Social Innovation and Civic Participation, The White House

Moderator: Antony Bugg-Levine, Managing Director, The

Rockefeller Foundation

_____________________________________________________________________________

Thursday, April 14       Philanthropy’s Teachable Moments

12:30 PM PDT

Dina Habib Powell, President, Goldman Sachs Foundation and Global Head, Corporate Engagement, Goldman Sachs, in conversation with Jane Wales, President, Global Philanthropy Forum

______________________________________________________________________________

Thursday, April 14                   In Conversation With…

1:30 PM PDT

Ben Affleck, Founder, Eastern Congo Initiative, with

Laurene Powell Jobs, Founder and Chair, Emerson Collective

______________________________________________________________________________

Thursday, April 14                   Special Address

2:30 PM PDT                          Paul Farmer, Co-founder, Partners In Health

2:45 PM PDT Rapid Fire Talks –Turning Point: Disease Eradication

Richard Adegbola, Senior Program Officer, Global Health Program, The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

Aziz Memon, Chairman, Pakistan National Polio Plus Committee, Rotary International

Ernesto Ruiz-Tiben, Director, Guinea Worm Eradication Program, The Carter Center

Moderator: Kathy Calvin, Chief Executive Officer, United Nations Foundation

______________________________________________________________________________

Thursday, April 14                   Special Conversation with Members of the Giving Pledge

7:45 PM PDT

Lorry I. Lokey, Chairman and CEO Emeritus, Business Wire

Tashia and John Morgridge, Co-founders, TOSA Foundation

David Rubenstein, Co-founder and Managing Director, The Carlyle Group

Moderator: Elizabeth Farnsworth, Special Correspondent, The PBS

NewsHour 

______________________________________________________________________________

Friday, April 15                       Special Address

9:00 AM PDT

Maura O’Neill, Chief Innovation Officer, USAID Forward

______________________________________________________________________________