HAPPY SUNSHINE KUNG FU FLOWER, with Special Guest, First Lieutenant Paul Rieckhoff, author of Chasing Ghosts, founder of IAVA, and nationally recognized authority on the War in Iraq will be July 26 at 10.30pm at The Zipper Factory.
Called 'Shocking, Engaging, Funny, and Totally Original,' by Rachel Maddow of MSNBC/Air America, Happy Sunshine Kung Fu Flower is a multimedia socio-political satire centering on a group of outsourced Japanese Ninjas hired by China to infiltrate the American Psyche by taking on roles in the Media, Pop Culture, and Politics. The savvy show, now at The Zipper Factory, began at Lotus and later moved to Comix and Ars Nova, gaining recognition and a cult following in NYC for integrating political pundits, celebrities, journalists, and music from the NYC underground scene into its raw comedy format. Past guests have included
Mo Rocca,
Amy Goodman, Rachel Maddow, Rachel Sklar, and
Michael Musto, among others.
HAPPY SUNSHINE KUNG FU FLOWER is written by Matthew-Lee Erlbach (Till the Break of Dawn), directed by Darren Katz (25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee), with music arrangements by Ian Wehrle, and features Lynn Andrews (Annie), Tarik Davis (Boom Chicago), Kevin R Free (TMLMTBGB), Brooke Ishibashi, Stephen Sheffer, and Stephen Reyes. Heath Calvert (The Huffington Post) serves as contributing writer and creative consultant, Kelli Jo Claxton (Countdown with Keith Olbermann) is Production Manager, and Wendy Harris is the General Manager.
PAUL RIECKHOFF, 33, is theExecutive Director and Founder of Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans ofAmerica (IAVA). A nonpartisan, non-profit founded in 2004 with tens ofthousands of members in all 50 US states, IAVA is America's first andlargest Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans group. Rieckhoff was a FirstLieutenant and infantry rifle platoon leader in the Iraq war from2003-2004. He is now a nationally recognized authority on the war inIraq and issues affecting troops, military families and veterans.
Honored by Esquire magazine as one of "America's Best and Brightest" in2004, Rieckhoff has appeared on hundreds of radio and televisionprograms. Recent appearances include: ABC's documentary "To Iraq andBack: Bob Woodruff Reports," The
Charlie Rose Show, 60 Minutes, TheNewsHour with Jim Lehrer, Paula Zahn Now, This Week With GeorgeStephanopoulos, Good Morning America, Anderson Cooper 360, Countdownwith Keith Olbermann, Hardball with Chris Matthews, The NBC NightlyNews, ABC World News Tonight, The CBS Evening News, Hannity and Colmes,The Big Story with
John Gibson, BBC World, NPR's Morning Edition, AllThings Considered, Fresh Air, and The Colbert Report.
Rieckhoff has had opinion pieces printed by The New York Times, theInternational Herald Tribune, Knight-Ridder and The New York DailyNews, and is a regular blogger for The Huffington Post andMilitary.com. He has been featured in The Associated Press, U.S. Newsand World Report, Newsweek, The New York Times, GIANT Magazine,Washington Post, L.A. Times, Army Times, Wall Street Journal, Reuters,The New York Post, and Newsday.
Rieckhoff's first book, a critically acclaimed account of hisexperiences in Iraq and activism afterwards, titled Chasing Ghosts, waspublished by Penguin in May 2006 and released in paperback in May 2007.
Rieckhoff enlisted in the U.S. Army Reserves on September 15, 1998 andcompleted Basic Combat Training and Advanced Individual Training atFort McClellan, Alabama. He then served in the U.S. Army Reserves, as aSpecialist with the 812th Military Police Company. While working onWall Street at J.P. Morgan in 1999, Rieckhoff transferred to the NewYork Army National Guard, graduating from Officer Candidate School inJune 2001. He was named a Distinguished Military Graduate. Rieckhoffselected infantry as his branch and joined A Company, 1/105th INF(Light).
Rieckhoff left Wall Street on September 8, 2001 with plans to traveland complete additional military schooling. Those plans would changedramatically. On the morning of September 11, Rieckhoff was at hisapartment on 24th Street in Manhattan when the first plane hit theWorld Trade Center. He saw the smoke from his rooftop, and immediatelyjoined scores of volunteers serving in the rescue effort at GroundZero. His unit was formally activated for rescue and securityoperations later that evening.
In February 2002, Rieckhoff began Infantry Officers Basic Course atFort Benning, Georgia. He graduated in June of 2002 and immediatelyvolunteered for active duty and a place in the pending war in Iraq.
In January, 2003, Rieckhoff got the call to go to Iraq. Two days later,he was on a plane to join the 3rd Infantry Division at Fort Stewart,Georgia. Rieckhoff was then assigned as a Platoon Leader for 3rdPlatoon, B Company, 3/124th INF (Air Assault) FLNG.
The unit was attached to 1st Brigade, 3ID and spent almost a yearconducting combat operations in Iraq, centered in the Adamiyah sectionof Baghdad on the Eastern bank of the Tigris River. Third Platoonconducted over 1,000 dismounted and mounted combat patrols. 3/124th INFwas the first reserve component unit in the Army to be awarded theCombat Infantryman Badge since the Korean War. All thirty-eight of themen in Rieckhoff's platoon returned home alive.
Rieckhoff was released from active duty on March 2004 and now serves asan infantry officer in the New York Army National Guard. He is astaunch political independent, and his organization is tied to nopolitical party or candidate. A 1998 graduate of Amherst College,Rieckhoff now lives in New York City.
Photo by Peter James Zielinski.
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