Live Wire with Luke Burbank

Show starts at 7:30pm • Doors open at 6:30pm
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Live Wire is thrilled to collaborate with Literary Arts and this year’s Portland Book Festival!

Murray Hill is a one-man entertainment machine: comedian, host, actor, writer, and producer with decades of classic showbiz charm. Television audiences know him as Fred Rococo on HBO's Somebody Somewhere as well as from appearances in Life & Beth, Drag Me To Dinner, Elsbeth, Welcome to Flatch, and King of Drag. On film, he starred in Paul Feig's Jackpot! with John Cena and Awkwafina, and will next appear alongside Arnold Schwarzenegger in Man With The Bag. He's also reported for ABC News and Hulu's Pride Across America, and NBC News named him one of the "30 Most Iconic and Influential Drag Performers in Modern History." Library Journal calls his memoir, Showbiz! My Life as a Middle-Aged Man, “laugh-out-loud ridiculous, sweet and wholesome, and heartbreakingly poignant."

Priyanka Mattoo is the author of the memoir Bird Milk & Mosquito Bones, a filmmaker, former Hollywood talent agent (UTA, WME), and cofounder of the women-led podcast network Earios. She's a contributor to The New York Times and The New Yorker and a MacDowell Fellowship recipient. Her latest book is How To Be Less Useful: The Joy of Inefficiency—a mix of self-help and memoir on reclaiming pleasure in mid-life and investigating why pleasure gets back-burnered in American culture. Born in Kashmir and raised in England and Saudi Arabia, she now lives in LA.

Lisa Hanawalt is an artist and writer living in Los Angeles, CA. She is the creator of the animated series Tuca & Bertie and the production designer/producer on BoJack Horseman and Long Story Short. Lisa has published four books with Drawn & Quarterly: My Dirty Dumb Eyes, Hot Dog Taste Test, Coyote Doggirl, and I Want You. Her fifth book, I Can't Stop Thinking About Horses and Sex, comes out this October.

Before he was San Gabriel, writer and music producer James Bookert contributed heavily to the recording, production, and arranging of the Whiskey Shivers’ songs that appeared on the soundtrack to the movie Pitch Perfect 3—collaborating with artists like Harve Mason Jr, Anna Kendrick, EsterDean, and Trinidad James. Following the release of the film, his then-band the Whiskey Shivers’ tour was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. It is during this time that his new journey as a solo artist began, writing and recording his debut record Nights and Weekends while working at a liquor store in East Austin. This quickly caught the attention of Austin’s NPR affiliate station, who named San Gabriel “KUTX’s Artist of the Month” in January of 2022. A collection of singles later, Bookert started regularly touring with the band Goth Babe as a keyboardist, singer, and guitarist. In 2024, he was selected as the winner of Hyundai’s “Your Journey, Your Track” contest, and his song “Over My Shoulder” was named “Best Synth Pop Song” of the year by the PNW Music Awards.

Joseph is the Oregon-bred sister trio of Natalie, Allie, and Meegan Closner, known for powerful harmonies, emotionally honest songwriting, and a blend of indie pop, folk, and rock. Their 2016 breakout album, I’m Alone, No You’re Not, featured the hit single “White Flag” and landed them on The Tonight Show, TODAY, and the Billboard charts. Since then, they have built a loyal following through live performances, national tours, and festival appearances including Coachella, Glastonbury, and Bonnaroo. Their later records include Good Luck, Kid (2019), The Sun (2023), and Closer to Happy (2026). After stepping back from the band in 2024, Allie rejoins her sisters onstage to celebrate the 10th anniversary of I’m Alone, No You’re Not.