If you are near Chelsea tomorrow night (Monday) I'll be reading from the book of burgers at Half King on 23rd Street. The bar has a projector so I'll be running the 'Endless Burger Slideshow' before and after the reading. The slideshow is made up of just about every shot I took during the research phase of Hamburger America the book.
The readings at Half King are usually done by well-respected authors, not goof balls like me. I apologize in advance if the evening is not as 'academic' as you had hoped for. On the other hand, if you don't know a thing about burgers in America this may just be the event for you. I hear the burgers at Half-King are pretty good too.