Now that Cosmos is over, the big man is going to travel about the country, bringing enlightenment.
Best-Selling Author and Host of COSMOS to Appear in LA, D.C., Chicago and More
Tickets On Sale June 13
Chicago – June 9, 2014 – Innovation Arts & Entertainment is proud to announce that Dr. Neil deGrasse Tyson, the Host of Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey, Best Selling Author, and the Director of the Hayden Planetarium, will be appearing on a six-city U.S. speaking tour. The tour will be produced by Innovation Arts and Entertainment. Renowned astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson has guided the Ship of the Imagination to transport viewers to the nucleus of an atom, and the farthest reaches of the universe as he explores humanity’s quest for understanding. The tour begins January 26, 2015 in Madison, WI, with dates also confirmed at Los Angeles’ Pantages Theatre and Chicago’s Auditorium Theatre, among others.
Tickets are on sale Friday, June 13 and available at www.NeildeGrasseTysonLive.com.
Each family-friendly event features an engaging multi-media presentation bringing the expanses of modern science direct to audience members, and engages them in a Q&A that rivals the presentation itself. In the past, he’s been asked a myriad of questions about everything from television appearances and space elevators to parenting advice. He often takes questions from children since he is fascinated with young ones who are interested in science.
The New York City native is host of StarTalk Radio and FOX’s Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey (season finale airs June 8); he is a New York Times bestselling author of 10 books and is also a frequent guest on The Daily Show and The Colbert Report. President Bush appointed Tyson in 2001 and 2004 to serve on commissions studying the future of the U.S. aerospace industry and the implementation of the U.S. space exploration policy, respectively. Tyson is also the recipient of 18 honorary doctorates and the NASA Distinguished Public Service Medal, the highest award given by NASA to non-government citizens.
For more information and tickets, visit www.NeildeGrasseTysonLive.com
A confirmed list of tour dates follows:
Madison, WI
Monday, January 26
Overture CenterChicago, IL
Tuesday, January 27
Auditorium TheatreDenver, CO
Friday, January 30
Temple Hoyne BuellLos Angeles, CA
Monday, February 09
Pantages TheatreSan Francisco, CA
Tuesday, February 10
Orpheum TheatreWashington D.C.
Thursday, February 26
DAR Constitution HallMore dates and cities will be announced in the coming weeks.
I notice that there is an omission: where’s Morris, Minnesota? I’m sure that was an accident. Or perhaps it will be added to the list in the later announcement.
Personally I think he should kick it off in Petersburg, Kentucky, home of the… well, you know what’s there.
Then wind his way through the rest of the South.
Come on, PZ, you know you always try out a new show on the road before you take it to the Big Time.
Why do things like that never ever come to Dallas? /retorical Q
Okay, Cosmos was viewed by any number of folk outside the US.
Why is this a US only tour? Is it being paid for by the fed government? a state government? Then why sell tickets?
harrumph. NdGT is behind only Jennifer Clack and Per Ahlberg in scientists whose lectures I would want my children to see.
Have we reached the tipping point on global warming and climate change yet? No, not the tipping point where we’ve waited too long and now the consequences are inevitable (although we well might have). I mean the tipping point where enough of the population wakes up and starts taking the problem seriously. If this latter point has been reached, I think Tyson’s “Cosmos” may have been the crucial contribution to the critical mass. He made the denialists look like fools with his measured expositions on evolution and climate change. The denialists have never seemed to care about this before (they’re “true believers”), but one can hope that Tyson has kicked the props out from under them and exposed them for the anti-science fanatics they are. His speaking tour will keep the pressure on.
We’ve looked at getting him as our science Guest of Honor for Norwescon. He’s in such demand, though, that his speaking fees are through the roof. I suspect that tickets for these talks will not be cheap.
Minneapolis is also conspicuously missing. The nearest venue to Morris is either Madison, Wi., or Chicago.
Come, come, PZ, you are obviously not trying hard enough. He is coming to my small liberal arts college town in the fall, out in the boonies, no less.
Gregory, I just looked up the event prices for when he is coming to my small town, and they look to be $38-$100, so, while not cheap, not too terrible.
I just saw him in Dallas (at the Winspear) in May! Really enjoyed it!
I wish I could see him , but the ticket prices are a hindrance. He was in my town last year, and it would have been $160 for the whole family to go. That’s the rub – even when an individual ticket price is doable, the entire amount per family knocks us out of the running.
Sarcasm?
I did notice the lack of anything in the South. It would be nice to be able to get him here to Alabama.
Pooh, Madison! Depending on the ticket price, I might go to that one.
$80 for a single ticket?!?!?!
How are we supposed to spread science education to the masses if the masses can’t pay admission?
$100 is a lot just to hear a scientist talk.
You could get Prof Brian Cox to lapdance for that.
@4
Maybe he’ll go international if he’s successful with his US Tour. That’s not that uncommon.
From the OP:
This is awesome!
elephantasy:
Or Florida :)
I did notice the same thing. I feel the same way about some of the secular, atheist, humanist conventions that occur throughout the year.
He was obviously intimidated at the thought of taking on one PZ Myers in a science-off.
And what do you suppose our friends at Fux News will do with that bit of information?
Kevin Alexander:
Indoctrination!!!!
$100 is mega-steep to hear a scientist speak, but to hear a Science Popularizer!! Now you’re not just competing with nerds for seats but Soccer Moms (this is a good thing.) We talk a little about NdGT’s effect on people, especially their attitudes about Global Warming, in this episode of our podcast: http://www.cancelthefun.com/global-warming-part-deux/#sthash.0gOVqA84.dpbs
The LA tickets are $200. And UP. (They have cheap seats, too: $172.)
Ah, apparently that’s through one specific vendor. Ticketmaster has ’em for $62-95.
Unless NDT decides to come to the Genesee Theater in Waukegan, I’ll have to take a pass on his Chicago visit. The Redhead’s bladder schedule doesn’t fit the travel times.
yup.
http://www.vox.com/2014/6/5/5779040/7-reasons-America-fail-global-warming
I just saw Lady Gaga for 38 bucks. And I doubt Tyson has that many costume changes.
Cool as he is, there’s a limit to what I would be willing to shell out to see him do a canned performance.
I know this might not be a popular opinion here, but just a heads up:
I saw Tyson a couple of months ago in Rochester (NY) as part of his tour and was thoroughly disappointed. While I was prepared for an easily accessible pretty/showy wander through life, or at least the universe and everything, all we got was a series of pat gags about how his twitter feed was going, how stoopid headlines are that use lightyears as a measure of time, how new stars are named goofy things like XCGK14, and a whole lot more that wasn’t even that memorable. Im a biologist, not a physicist, so I expected to learn *something* but felt I left the ‘show’ with a net loss of information. To add insult to injury, he received a standing ovation, entirely I hope on the basis of reputation, not content presented (as an ‘alien’ I will reserve comment about my thoughts on the American blind celebrity-worship culture for a later unpopular comment).
Just to spite me, he’ll probably be in Fargo in February/March, and in NYC sometime after September 2015 :-p
bortedwards:
Nothing wrong with expressing an opinion shared by few others. I doubt you’ll get looked down on bc you didn’t enjoy his talk. It’s not as if people here are swept up in hero worship.
Comment on what you choose to. I think that’s a valid criticism of American culture (and one that you don’t have to be from the US to make). This may or may not be appropriate to this thread, but that’s not my decision to make. You could post your thoughts in the Thunderdome (open thread; no specific topic; anyone can comment) if you wanted to share.
I will say I find it curious that twice in your comment you’ve remarked about sharing an unpopular opinion, as if this blog is made up of PZ’s mindless minions who all agree on everything.
Neil deGrasse Tyson’s writings and videos are available in libraries and the internets.
This tour is a Live Rock Concert.
Tyson will give a talk at Apostacon in Sept. Possibly closer to Morris than Mad City.
Thanks Paul. The reticence partly because of the cult of personality I mentioned, which can make for irrational responses. Partly also having read these boards for several years I have grown less and less inclined to join in as a lot of the nuance can seem to be lost under the weight of a few loud voices and a fair bit of crowd confirmation bias. A helluva lot better than most places on the interwebz, granted, but off putting for many non-regulars with genuine questions or opinions (and this is from someone who agrees with 99% of the general trend of opinions on here anyway). Just an observation.
*Tony.
Blegh, don’t type one conversation while having another, apologies!
::sigh::
That’s what I suspected.
oh my, yes. “these boards” are just so viciously hateful towards resident aliens who criticize aspects of American culture. I myself have been burned at the stake no less that 4 times this year already.
And what “these boards” are also super famous for is being in favor of hero worship that doesn’t permit criticism of our supposed thought/movement leaders and promoters.
*giggle*
I still haven’t finished Cosmos. I watched the first three episodes and just haven’t had the necessary intersection of free time and inclination to watch the rest.
Must get on that.
Yes, noticed too he’s skipping The Belly of The Beast: the American south bible belt. And that prices are prohibitively steep. But then, this is a celebrity science show tour, it seems, more entertainment than information or inspiration. He does give good stand-up.
Reply to comment #1 (drivenb4u): Personally, I think he is kicking off his tour in Madison, WI because that is the center of the known Universe.
I’m taking my 10 year old daughter – the ticket will be her Christmas gift – yes they are steep (with ticketmaster fees etc – about $80/ea, but IMHO money better spent than on a toy)
So which was better? The Sagan Cosmos or the Tyson Cosmos?
To me, it is kind of a Kirk v. Picard thing.
It’s a tough one. I was expecting the original to be the winner early on (Carl Sagan is a big reason that I got into Astronomy as a kid, watching the original Cosmos on VHS tapes rented from the local library; I was born about a decade too late to watch it on PBS), but the new one, especially in its relentless focus on telling the truth about climate change, has really grown on me (and Tyson has always been my favorite science communicator of this generation).
Kirk v. Picard does seem like a good way to put it, honestly.
I wouldn’t be surprised if a creationist shows up at one of NDT’s appearances and during the Q&A will ask “Were you there?”.