Last week, Ira Glass, host of This American Life spoke with This American Life contributor David Rakoff at UC Berkeley. What a nice thing for the students! But the engagement was spoiled by New Yorker writer Cynthia Gorney, who can't moderate an event to save her ass. The Berkeley student paper wrote, "In addition to her excessive exaltation thinly disguised as interview questions and an inexplicable penchant for interrupting the witty banter between Ira and David, Gorney's determination to get Ira to elaborate on precisely how he decided to mix in one song over another was an utter failure." Her moderating was so uncomfortable that the school offered tickets to another show to make it up to the guests. After the jump, Berkeley's admission of Cynthia Gorney's failures.

From Cal Performances:

Dear Valued Patron:

At Cal Performances, we're committed to bringing to our stages the very best in dance, music, theater and the spoken word, and to making your experience while in our halls enjoyable.

It concerns us, therefore, that a number of patrons who attended the Saturday, February 23 talk by Ira Glass and David Rakoff have written to express their dissatisfaction with the event. A moderator for the talk was provided at Mr. Glass and Mr. Rakoff's request, but many of you felt disappointed by this format. We apologize for the unfortunate circumstances that detracted from your enjoyment of the evening.

As a way of expressing our appreciation of your continued patronage and to show how much we value your trust in Cal Performances, we would like to invite you to be our guest at either the performance of the SF Jazz Collective on Saturday, March 15 at 8 pm in Zellerbach Hall; or the upcoming taping of the nationally broadcast radio program, From the Top, on Thursday, May 29 at 8 pm in Zellerbach Hall.

Please contact the Ticket Office at 510.642.9988 or tickets@calperfs.berkeley.edu by March 15, 2008 to complete your ticket request. Please note that only tickets purchased through the Cal Performances' Ticket Office and only the original purchaser of the tickets to the Ira Glass/David Rakoff event is eligible to take advantage of this offer (as we must have a record of your purchase in our system). Seating will be based on availability.

We hope to see you at Cal Performances very soon!

Sincerely,
Robert Cole, Director of Cal Performances