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Bruce Vogel’s been putting on a lecture series for 10 years. “I’m in the business of providing people with intellectual entertainment,” he said. 

The lectures began in San Mateo 1990 and expanded to Marin four years later. He attempted a further expansion of the series to San Francisco, but found that ticket sales lagged, probably because there is so much to do in the city, he said. So this year he moved the third arm of his operation to Berkeley. 

Subscribers buy a series of eight lectures by a wide range of people. This year’s lecturer’s include Frank McCourt, author of Angela’s Ashes, Wesley Clark, former Supreme Allied Commander, Beck Weathers, who climbed Mt. Everest, and former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger (Benjamin Netanyahu replaced him when he had a heart attack). Lily Tomlin and Neil Armstrong are among those scheduled to speak in 2001. 

Vogel describes the speakers as people demonstrating “lifetime achievement.” They are chosen by the interest of ticket holders, who are presented with a list of 100 possible names. They indicate a first, second and third choice for a group of speakers.  

Most people are drawn to the series by one or two speakers, then “they get hooked. They hear others they would not have heard,” he said. Vogel said he was taken by surprise with the “extent and intensity” of the demonstration, which he credited, to a degree, with the announcement that day, calling for new elections in Israel. 

“It’s my first time dealing with demonstrators,” he said. 

The Peninsula-Marin-Berkeley Lecture Series Web site is: http://www.speakerseries.net/home.htm