[courtesy of The California Majority Report]

Say what you will about former Speaker Willie Brown, but the man's got a stage presence. At the Crest Theater in Sacramento today, Brown, joined by former Sacramento Mayor Phil Isenberg, delighted the audience with reflections on his youth, his time in politics, and his perspectives on the political intrigues of today.

Brown grew up in Mineola, Texas, a rural segregated town. When asked how the boy from Mineola wound up in San Francisco, Brown joked, "I took the train," before going into a fascinating response involving segregated education, fleeing townsfolk who didn't like him, and having a bookie uncle in San Francisco. Brown detailed his first encounters with John Burton while in ROTC at San Francisco State College, the two having met because their names were next to each other when the squad lined up in alphabetical order.

On his accomplishments in the Assembly, Brown highlighted his role in removing state prohibitions on consensual adult contact. You can read an excerpt from Willie's book, "Basic Brown," on what happened here.

[courtesy of The California Majority Report]

This should be a good show: Former Assembly Speaker and San Francisco Mayor Willie L. Brown Jr. will speak at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday at the Crest Theatre as part of the California Lectures subscription series. He will be in conversation with former Sacramento Mayor Phil Isenberg. A 6:30 p.m. lecture preview will be hosted by Professor Tim Hodson of California State University, Sacramento.

Brown is promoting his autobiography, "Basic Brown: My Life and Our Times" (Simon & Schuster, $26, 368 pages; in collaboration with P.J. Corkery).

Individual tickets ($25) are available at tickets.com or (800) 225-2277, and at the Crest box office, 1013 K St., (916) 442-7378. For more information: (916) 737-1300 or http://www.californialectures.org.

Image courtesy Society of Corporate Secretaries and Governance Professionals.

[courtesy of California Progress Report]

By Tony Quinn
Co-editor
California Target Book

[Editor's Note: Former Speaker Willie Brown, whose book gets a Tony Quinn treatment below, is scheduled to discuss his book at the Crest Theater Feb. 19 in a conversation with his former staffer and now lobbyist Phil Isenberg. It should be a great show.]

Generally autobiographies of politicians are best left on the bookstore shelf, but that is not the case with Basic Brown, My Life and Our Times, by former Assembly Speaker Willie L. Brown. [Published by Simon and Shuster, the book is scheduled for publication Feb. 5.] While excessively self laudatory, and not as introspective as one might like, nevertheless this book provides a rare look at the rise of an unusual politician from segregation in Texas to being the most powerful legislator in America.

The first 40 pages or so might have been left on the bookshelf; their purpose is largely to demonstrate he is the most brilliant politician he ever dealt with. But then Brown begins talking about his views on race and politics, and finally gets around to his own rise from poverty in Texas to style and power in San Francisco.